#20.
To my unreliable friend Archie,
Did you forget how diligently I described my appearance to you?
I even told you how handsome Liam is.
I even told you about Mark’s eye color.
Yet, Anne Selin writes five lines unnecessarily about your golden hair and light blue eyes, and why did you hold back so much about Florian’s appearance?
Tell me more quickly.
Is Florian handsome?
He must be handsome, right?
Princess Edwina was beautiful, after all.
I already like him.
-Waiting for your next letter, your Coco.-
P.S. You still haven’t explained why Cecil’s heart softened, lazy Archie. Don’t leave that room until you’ve confessed everything that happened to me.
* * *
To Cordelia, who only likes handsome men,
Your preference for handsome men isn’t necessarily a bad thing for me either.
How fortunate it is that we cannot meet.
Even if we didn’t meet, if you could have at least glanced at my face, you would undoubtedly have fallen for me.
As for whether Florian is as handsome as me, well, can we call him handsome?
He’s a bit… peculiar.
He’s a little shorter than me but wears clothes that are much bigger, making him look even shorter. He’s slender.
He’s a bit too young to be called a man, but not so young as to be a boy. However, his cheeks like unripe fruit, white skin, and red lips make him look young.
Yes, he’s not entirely unpleasant. His white face, like a seashell, and greenish eyes are a bit too much to be called pretty.
But I don’t know if Florian will look handsome to you. Last time you talked about Liam, Coco, it seemed you liked more masculine men.
But to my sister Cecil, the ambiguous beauty between a boy and a young man was just right.
You understand what I’m saying, right? Yes, Cecil has completely taken his side.
Actually, I understand why the old king fell for him. Who could blame an old man for wanting to believe that his grandson had returned alive, even if it was a lie?
My mother is the same. Although she did ask, ‘Edwina?’ immediately, as the boy apparently resembles Princess Edwina, she quickly regained her senses and became a bit suspicious of him.
She sat him down and calmly asked how he had lived in the hut, when Princess Edwina and Sir Arthur Gillan had died, and so on. Her tone was gentle, but I could tell that she was testing the boy.
But the boy answered all the questions smoothly and then said:
“Queen Adelaide, don’t be sad anymore. Don’t worry anymore. Princess Edwina has forgiven you for everything. She lived happily as you wished. You know that.”
For a moment, tears welled up in my mother’s eyes.
I don’t understand why her heart is so weak.
But the boy didn’t stop there and began to recount how Princess Edwina searched for Sir Arthur Gillan and how happy they were after reuniting.
He recounted exactly what was in the book you gave me, Cordelia, which I recently read to my mother and the old king.
Even though Cecil and I had already read the entire book to them, it felt different when the princess’s son spoke those words directly. My mother and the old king couldn’t hide their tears.
As some of the moved nobles sniffled, the audience hall turned into a sea of tears. It seemed as if the Windsor royal family had fallen into the hands of that tiny fellow, Florian.
However, I had one last hope.
My sister, the cunning Cecilia Windsor.
Cecil, who had returned from the border, did not easily fall for his tricks.
When Florian approached her cheerfully and suddenly grabbed her hand, Cecil immediately shook off his hand as per her nature.
Yet, the boy wasn’t discouraged and greeted Cecil with a smile.
“Princess Cecil, right? Wow, you’re truly amazing. I heard you were, but I didn’t expect this. I’m really a fan of yours.”
He rambled on, saying how he had heard ‘legends’ about Cecil even while living in the hut. He knew all about her beautiful appearance, strong physique, excellent swordsmanship, and diligent studies, and whenever his parents brought such news back from the village, he thought she was really cool.
Naturally, Cecil scoffed.
“Move.”
Seeing Cecil pass by him without hesitation and hearing him mutter ‘so cool’ made me think that Florian was no ordinary boy.
For the first time, I felt how reassuring it was to have Cecil around. I hurried to her, planning to start a long discussion about how suspicious he was and how we should deal with him.
But then, Mother called me again.
She said she would grant me a title and an order of merit. When I was hastily summoned, there stood the old king, several key figures including the court minister, and my sister, Cecilia.
Cordelia, as you know, when I was serving the old king in the forest, Cecil wasn’t just idling. She had risked her life to assist the margrave in dealing with the border monsters under her ‘heavy duty as a princess.’
The delay was because Cecil’s work was thorough. But neither the old king nor Mother mentioned Cecil’s efforts, and only heaped praise on me for finding Florian.
Mother was especially fussing over me, unlike before.
Our prince, who had been dodging all sorts of duties under the pretense of reading books at the monastery! The one who refused all marriage proposals and roamed around at balls, tarnishing the royal image until he was twenty-four! In fact, he turned out to be such a solid character!
…She was so busy with this nonsense boasting that I was mortified.
The old king also kept nodding, emphasizing my embarrassment, possibly feeling indebted to me for being with him when Florian was found. Cecil just bit her lip. I really felt my life was in danger then.
Mother, intent on killing me, whispered in my ear.
“Though they say Cecil discovered the hut, everyone knows it was you, Archie. Where would Cecil go near a monastery? Of course, it was you.”
Naturally, that whisper was loud enough for Cecil, who was standing right next to us, to hear. Of course. Our queen has a loud voice due to an ear injury she sustained when she was young, and Cecil has cat-like sharp hearing.
Thus, I was awarded a title for doing nothing.
As I mentioned in my previous letter, my name has grown by two syllables, making it even harder to remember. I am no longer Archie Albert William Rendaike Ellington Windsor, but Archie Albert William Rendaike Ellington Baelish Windsor. I was quite satisfied with the rhythm of Ellington-Windsor at the end of my name.
The title was not awarded to me alone. Florian, who did nothing, received a dukedom simply for being alive. The territory around the hut where he was found was named ‘Elfindel’ by royal decree, and he became Duke Florian Elfindel, son of Princess Edwina.
And there stood my sister, Cecil, by our side, with eyes gleaming like a venomous snake.
You can imagine, Cordelia, how furious my sister must have been.
Her gaze was so menacing that I thought either Florian or I might die that night.
But, being kin, Florian had a higher chance than me.
Though he was suspicious, I couldn’t let him die.
So, right after the investiture ceremony, I grabbed his thin wrist and pulled him aside.
Quietly, I asked him in a corner.
“Florian Elfindel, I cannot trust you. We sealed off the forest. Over a hundred soldiers thoroughly searched the hut. Yet, during that time, you were nowhere to be found. How did you suddenly appear at the hut?”
“Did you just call me Florian Elfindel? Is that my name now?”
“Yes, isn’t that the name you received?”
“Oh my, my name is really pretty. Prince, I really like my name!”
No matter how serious my expression was, he kept smiling brightly.
Suddenly, I felt like the most serious person in the world. Coco, this is all your fault. Before I met you, I could have wandered around like that Florian kid, cheerfully saying silly things.
My strict angel Coco, if I hadn’t known you, I could have said something like, ‘Yes, the name Elfindel has a nice ring to it,’ and joked around with that kid.
But if I did that now, you would surely scold me, right?
Even if not, I felt that his life depended on me.
So I sat the kid down and started asking him various questions. He answered readily with his chattering lips.
“There is a basement under the hut. I was hiding there secretly.”
“I know there’s a basement. The soldiers checked it thoroughly and confirmed there wasn’t even a mouse.”
“When the soldiers came, I was scared, so I went up. When they came up again, I went down.”
“You avoided over a hundred soldiers?”
“I look pretty agile, don’t I, Prince Archie Albert William?”
His face, which answered back so readily, was smiling, so it didn’t look annoying.
Finally, I asked how he managed to survive over a week in the hut without any food left and no game to hunt in the forest. Florian, with that innocent face, firmly said:
“Do I look like someone who has starved a lot, Prince Archie? There was some food left. I ate it. It’s true. Please believe me.”
As he said that and smiled, his round cheeks looked charmingly plump.
He was right. Florian, though a bit thin, was too fair and rosy-cheeked for someone who had starved for several days.
Looking at his cute face, I thought, well, maybe some food could have been left in a place like the basement.
As I looked closely at his round face, thin body, and lively movements, I noticed something wrapped around his waist through the gap in his shirt.
Could it be an injury? I remembered the village doctor saying that when he fainted last time, it was just sleep. If there had been an injury, even a small-town doctor would have noticed.
I also recalled Edmund, the steward, saying that the boy insisted on washing and dressing himself. He found it too awkward to have an attendant now since he was used to doing everything alone in the hut. It seemed reasonable then, but now it felt very odd.
Could there be scars inside those bandages wrapped around his chest?
Could there be some sorcerer’s spell carved on his body?
Coco, you might know that symbols for black magic are most effective when drawn near the scapula or spine. This boy might be a sorcerer from Vallea, disguised as Princess Edwina’s son, smiling innocently.
I quickly grabbed the hem of his shirt. He just smiled.
“Why are you doing this, Prince Archie?”
“Take it off.”
“What…?”
“I said take it off.”
Florian was so flustered he even hiccuped. He probably didn’t expect me to ask him to take off his shirt. But if he had nothing to hide, he should have just taken it off. Instead, he backed away like someone hiding something.
There was no other way but to undress him myself. I lunged at the retreating boy. Or rather, it wouldn’t be right to say I lunged. Coco, you know that I am naturally graceful with elegant movements.
I merely extended my arm to strip his shirt, taking a few steps forward. But he ran to the window and jumped out. Now it was my turn to hiccup.
My goodness, it was the fourth floor.
Luckily, I didn’t hear a sound like a watermelon being split. That would mean his head was shattered, and he died instantly.
Florian seemed to have caught onto a tree, bounced off, and landed in the bushes. His body was limp as if he had fainted.
I don’t think I’ve ever run so hard in my life. I hurriedly went down and used healing magic on him before he could die. As I did, a long shadow fell over me.
“What are you doing?”
No one but my sister would speak so curtly to a prince of the realm. I was so flabbergasted I couldn’t even cry, and I mumbled incoherently while performing all the healing magic I knew.
Cecil clicked her tongue, walked over to the fountain near the garden, filled my helmet with water, and poured it over his face.
As soon as Florian came to with a splutter, Cecil spoke to me without even looking at him. Yes, she was really that cold at the time.
“He won’t die from this. You wouldn’t know because you’ve never done anything, but people don’t die that easily.”
Though it was frustrating, she was right. As I stood there speechless, Cecil clicked her tongue again and added.
“But you know some healing magic. Keep him steady. I’ll bring someone who can do it better than you.”
With that, Cecil was about to leave him when the newly conscious Florian grabbed her pants leg.
“What now.”
Cecil tried to shake him off as usual.
But the boy clung to her leg and asked her to bend down.
For some reason, Cecil did as he asked, and he seemed to whisper something in her ear.
He wasn’t as loud as our queen mother, so I couldn’t hear a word of it.
After a moment, Cecil stood up and said to me.
“Get lost.”
And then she picked him up like a princess and walked away. Despite being only slightly taller and much thinner than Cecil, he must have weighed a fair bit, being a boy.
I don’t know what they exchanged that day, but since then, Cecil’s attitude towards him has been unusually warm.
She gave him a handkerchief, telling him not to carry around dirty things (Cecil, giving a handkerchief!). Ignoring my insistence that he should have attendants, she moved his room next to hers and told him to let her know if he needed anything.
She even strolled through the garden with him when he said he wanted to see it, which was unlike her. Today, she called him “Flynn,” a nickname, while she still calls me “that Archie brat.”
How on earth did Florian win over Cecil?
I feel a great sense of betrayal now.
If I tell Florian to get out of my room, Cecil rushes in, yelling at me to be kind to him.
After scolding me, the way she looks at him is so softened.
What’s going on with Cecil?
What do you think, Cordelia?
Has my sister really fallen for that boy?
– Your friend, whose name has grown too long to say, (just) Archie.
———= Author’s Note ———=
Dear readers,
Today’s continuous updates have ended.
If there are any readers who read all nine episodes at once, I truly love you.
P.S.: I’ll work hard with my sore wrist to bring you the next episode tomorrow. As always, your reactions give me the strength to write. Thank you!
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