#4.
Hello, Archie,
Aren’t you being too much?
You must be laughing in front of the box right now? Hurry up and read my letter and respond immediately.
6.9. Sunday. Angry office worker Cordelia.
* * *
To the impatient Miss Cordelia Gray.
Just wait a moment, I’m writing a reply right now, but you keep sending letters, so I don’t know which one to reply to first.
The ninth day of the pale green moon in the year 1314. Archie Alverd, writing a reply while skipping meals.
* * *
To Prince Archie.
Yes, I’m waiting right away.
P.S.: I know you’re in a hurry. You misspelled your name as “Archie Alverd.”
6.9. Calm Cordelia.
* * *
To the talkative Miss Cordelia.
No, stop writing and wait for a moment.
Otherwise, I won’t be able to write what I originally intended.
P.S.: I’m under a lot of pressure, but I’m starting to like this magic box because we can exchange letters so quickly.
P.S. 2. Anyway, wait quietly for an hour.
The evening of the ninth day of the pale green moon in the year 1314. Archie starving in Arly Palace.
* * *
To Prince Archie.
.
(Silent Cordelia waiting.)
P.S.: I only put a dot. Do you see it?
6.9. Silent Cordelia.
* * *
To the incorrigible Miss Cordelia,
I apologize for the delayed response.
The pale green moon of Windsor refers to the sixth month of the year. Cordelia, seeing that you wrote June, it seems the way seasons are counted in your place is not much different from Windsor’s.
At this time of year, Windsor is green all around. The ball that signals the start of the summer social season is always held at Arly Palace, so the palace is bustling with green decorations.
It’s beautiful, but I don’t particularly like the royal palace at this time of year. It’s busier than ever.
If you stay still, you’ll be dragged into fox hunts, balls, card games, and so on, with no time to breathe. Having spent 25 years in Arly Palace, I know how to dodge these things well.
My secret is to say I’m going to the scriptorium of the Lethe Monastery.
Having avoided all studies since childhood, my mother always approves as soon as she hears I’ll be holding a book. She thinks I’m staring at the walls and truly ‘meditating’ there. But the monks at the monastery are some of the most irreverent rascals.
Anyway, for these reasons, I’ve been on a monastery outing for the past two days. I apologize for not responding diligently to your letter. However, now I consider it fortunate that I couldn’t immediately return the manuscript to you. Why do I say that?
Cordelia, the manuscript you sent detailed the affairs of the Windsor royal family. You called it a ‘manuscript,’ but this is not a fictional story.
The people mentioned here are my family, real people. I stopped trying to deeply ponder how someone could present this as a ‘manuscript’ to you. There was a passage in your manuscript:
‘Deep thinking was not something Prince Archie was known for.’ (This is certainly true.)
So, after shallow thinking, my conclusion is that a writer named Anne Selin is a magician who can travel between where you live and where I live. That person probably wrote about our kingdom and handed it to you as a novel. Perhaps the fact that we can exchange letters so quickly is also due to Anne Selin’s magic.
Thinking that far, it seemed like nothing significant. Would publishing a book about the happenings in our kingdom in another world cause any big problems? Besides, as I read on, this author was indeed writing fiction.
First, some facts were missing from the manuscript. My mother is not a cousin of Princess Edwina.
She is the daughter of the Duke of Phelum and Princess Edwina’s close friend, having grown up together like cousins.
After the princess disappeared, she was formally adopted into the royal family and, having no other relatives, was approved by the Council of Elders to become queen. However, many people still criticize her for not being a royal descendant. Anne Selin completely omitted this important fact.
Furthermore, the story of Sir Arthur Gillen proposing to Princess Edwina is incorrect.
At that time, Princess Edwina was engaged to Charles Wellesley, the Duke of Ellington. As with most royal marriages, it was a political arrangement.
Charles Wellesley was very handsome, a darling of society ten years older than the princess. Though he was her first love, he had little interest in his fiancée, Princess Edwina. Even when the princess was taken hostage after the Imperial War, he never visited the empire, proving they were practically strangers despite being engaged.
Therefore, Sir Arthur’s words must have seemed even more significant to the princess.
“My life without you has no meaning.”
Words never to be heard from the mouth of Charles Wellesley, spoken by a stranger upon first meeting her, would have deeply moved the heart of a twenty-year-old girl.
However, my mother, Queen Adelaide, who was a few years older than Princess Edwina, prevented the hasty decision. My mother told the princess that falling in love at first sight and saying such things required no effort at all and advised her not to stake her life on a romantic word.
The princess asked my mother how she could tell if his words were sincere. My mother said:
– Make him do a very difficult task, princess. Something hard, painful, and meaningless. Like asking him to wait in front of the balcony for 100 days just looking at the princess’s face. If he accomplished that, his feelings would also be genuine.
Yes, that advice came from my mother, Lady Adelaide. Because of that, our kind queen has been tormented with guilt all her life, saying she was the cause of all this.
I thought the author was not an insider of the royal family, missing such an important story.
Moreover, the second chapter fabricated events that never happened.
Since the princess and the knight disappeared, they have never been found. I’ve never heard of the princess searching for the knight for 100 days. No one knows if they ever reunited. No one found the house they lived in. The idea that they had already died or that they had a son together only happens in the novel.
I thought it was a cheeky writing but something to laugh off lightly. So, I was about to return the manuscript right away.
Until yesterday, that was indeed the case, Cordelia.
But yesterday, “that event” happened.
Last evening, I got tired of just practicing wall meditation at the scriptorium, so I took my horse, Sherlock (that’s the name of my horse), to graze and entered the forest. Sherlock seemed to enjoy being outside after a long time and ran endlessly. By the time I thought we had come too far, it was already dark. Strangely, only the eastern side was still brightly lit. Sherlock dashed toward the light before I could stop him.
Deep in the forest, we found a small, cozy cabin. In the small front yard, yellow marigolds were blooming, and in the quiet backyard, a large grave mound stood for one person. The tombstone read:
[Here lie Princess Edwina Anne Marie Winterton and her knight Arthur Selin Gillen]
Yes, it was the house of the princess and the knight.
The presence of the grave and the tombstone meant that someone buried them and set up the tombstone. I entered the cabin. In a vase at the entrance were withered wildflowers, in the kitchen cup was orange juice with settled dregs a few days old, and in the kitchen was a shriveled onion. There was no sign of anyone. But there was no smell of decay either. Someone had lived here until just a few days ago.
I began to search the small house. Soon, I found a large painting in a small room on the second floor. It depicted Princess Edwina, the blond knight Arthur, and a boy with the princess’s red hair and the knight’s bright green eyes.
Yes, everything was exactly as described in Anne Selin’s manuscript.
I am now very confused. So, I keep losing my essence and falling into “deep thoughts.”
What is happening now, Cordelia?
Who exactly is this writer Anne Selin who gave you this manuscript?
I apologize, but until you tell me that, it will be difficult to return the manuscript.
On the night of the eighth green moon in 1314, Archie Albert William Rendaike, trying to be cautious for the first time in a long while.
———= Afterword =———
The “Prince of Ignoring” is stirring up trouble again from the early morning…
I scheduled the upload time for 7:30 AM in an attempt to become a morning person.
However, a very kind person taught me that Joara has a scheduling feature!!! So today, I’m scheduling the upload and going to bed with peace of mind…!
Thanks to this, I can’t express my gratitude to each and every person who comments in real time, but I want to say that reading your comments about how much fun you’re having and how much you’re enjoying it makes me want to dance.
Thank you always for the likes, recommendations, and comments.
P.S.: You can check out the animated version of the pretty cover in the announcements.
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