I heard knockings on the door and I groaned awake.

Aaaagh, I need more sleep. Time is too short…

But, I can’t be like this… If I fell into the temptation of falling back asleep, I would be a failure.

But it feels so good to sleep… but I can’t.

I forced myself up and opened the door with droopy eyes. The first face I saw was the cute Mera, I have gotten used to seeing her face first thing every morning. I then noticed that both Vernon and Rogan had arrived.

“Your highness, you look more sleepy than usual,” Vernon commented.

“I’m… fine.”

I yawned while covering my mouth after returning to the inside of my room. Then I noticed my dirty room filled with crumpled papers.

“Princess! What did you do to your room?!” Vernon exclaimed in utter surprise.

Well, my room has always been clean.

“Looks like a storm just passed through here,” said Rogan, he looked genuinely surprised.

“Let’s clean this up.”

Sweet Mera was the first to suggest, but!

“N-No! I’ll clean them up myself, they’re my mess!”

Dammit, no way I’m letting them see my cringe drawings! I’m burning these to ashes.

I hastily picked up those nearest to my bedroom since I don’t want them looking down near the bed. Even though the sheets covered the under of the bed, I still couldn’t take the chance.

“Milady, you don’t have to.”

“We’ll take care of this.”

“Yeah sure I’ll help.”

“No, that’s an order!”

I could have not opened the door then cleaned up, but that would take time and they would surely open it up themselves so… no wait, am I just making up excuses? Dammit, alright I thought I wouldn’t be embarrassed if they saw these, but now they’re actually here, I don’t want them to see these.

This kind of situation never happened in my past life. Every time I show off, I master it first before showing it to everyone, or to the point that I’m satisfied. Like playing music for example.

But this time, I’m not satisfied with these yet! Who the hell shows something they were obviously bad at?

… Huh, aren’t I too embarrassed right now? Too embarrassed… much more than I would expect.

I am this embarrassed with such a thing? I’m ridiculous.

Of course, even though I had given an order, it was a little too late. Though Mera froze halfway, and Rogan hesitated, Vernon noticed something. He saw a fraction of my drawing! He picked and opened it up.

“This is…”

Mera and Rogan immediately looked at the paper in Vernon’s hand.

“Clothes?”

“A dress?”

Rogan and Mera murmured.

I tried making these look almost like dresses, but they ended up impractical, and most just sucked.

They got curious and so each picked up a rolled paper and opened them, seeing my sketches, with the exception of Mera who just stood there anxiously.

But witnessing this, my face almost contorted.

Disobeying orders! Unacceptable! How dare they! These imbeciles! They would dare disobey me?! Me?! The nerves!

I violently snatched them from their hands.

“Don’t. Look.”

I said to them sternly, holding back my anger. As Estelia, I must not lash out.

I crumpled them again and began picking up the other remaining scattered on the ground, ignoring them. Good thing they only quietly stared at me, otherwise I might have lost my cool a little again.

After gathering everything in my arms, I got an idea. A bit risky, but I’m not alone, so it should be fine. Not like I’ll mess up something so simple anyway.

I used the barrier spell and shaped it into a ball, keeping the papers inside it. A gap opened and with a finger, I cast the fire spell, instantly setting the papers inside the ball ablaze. I closed the gap and waited until the papers burned into ashes.

As the fire dwindled, I opened my windows, letting in the fresh air of the morning. When the fire had disappeared, I moved the hovering ball to the outside and opened it bit by bit, and the ashes flew away in the wind.

When they were no more, the barrier vanished.

I heaved a relieved sigh. Now, no one else will get to see my defective creations.

I turned around to see the dumbfounded faces of my servants, I still felt a little irritated and I had no intention of hiding it, as seen through my slightly wrinkling frown. Needless to say, I don’t care about what they think of my actions.

But, this anger may be misplaced. Still, I was displeased by them disobeying my order like that, it was one simple order, and it was not that easy to tolerate. Mera was a bit safer from my wrath though, but she still took a peek at them.

“Now then… that’s about done, get on with it.”

I said with a neutral expression. That said, there was another thing, or rather, two things that caught their eyes. Namely the sketches I did of myself. I don’t really mind them looking at those, I am confident of the outcome of the two.

“Your highness, I didn’t know you have a talent for the arts.”

Vernon casually approached my desk and picked up the sketch of my portrait. Probably sensing my irritation just now, Rogan and Mera didn’t pick any paper but only peeked at the paper in Vernon’s hand and to the other drawing.

“Magnificent, such detail and accuracy,” Vernon said with awe.

“Yeah, I would never be able to do something like it,” Rogan added.

Mera only quietly stared at my drawing with wide eyes, filled with awe.

“And this…” Vernon picked up the other one. “To be able to draw your entire body, and even the fluttering dress. Not to mention the landscape and the angle.”

How flattering, but now time to stop this. I snatched the papers from his hands and put them inside the drawers.

“Now I understand why you wanted paper. Princess, since when are you able to do something that amazing?” Vernon asked.

“Is the answer to that truly important?”

“... N-No, but—”

“Then there is no urgency, nor am I obligated to answer.”

I was about to walk away but Rogan casually spoke.

“Those dresses, princess, were you trying to design some clothes?”

I glared at him, prompting his smile to freeze.

“It’s not that they look b-bad, in fact I think they were d-decent.”

No, they were defective designs.

“If they were decent, I wouldn’t have thrown them away.”

And they were not the design I was looking for. I did have a goal of making it at least a bit extravagant, maybe that’s the flaw when it is to be made for a special purpose.

“Be that as it may, I still find the way they were drawn to be lovely.”

I stared at him for a moment before nodding, no need for pointless debate.

“I also think they were lovely, milady. It’s a bit unfortunate they were burned to be honest…”

“Is that so…?”

Even so, hopeless defectives must be disposed of. Drawings are not people that can be changed and improved on top of, you need to start over again on a clean slate. That said, even people can be hopeless and worthless, so they must be disposed of…

Is that why I was killed? Did I become defective?

Where did I lack? I was useful. I am happy to be free, but I still felt a bit bitter about being thrown away. But, maybe my thoughts would have been different if I wasn’t brought here all of a sudden.

The afterlife, huh.

This made me wonder about my team. I hope they’re doing alright.

After apparently taking in their compliments with my timid nod, we continued on what we usually do. Vernon still appeared pretty occupied with his own thoughts, which I imagined he was pondering about what I just did — meaning my “talent.”

Well, whatever, he does what he does. I also don’t intend to scold them with something so trivial, this was nothing worth lashing out about. But in different situations, I will be strict. That said, I still couldn’t do whatever I wanted when Vernon was not completely mine, and Father has yet to say anything regarding my request.

I’ll wait for a while then.

Breakfast went on as normal, and the food had improved quite a bit compared to last week. Hm, I wonder who was doing this good work. Maybe that young man, I mean, he looked motivated to improve. Now that Allie was gone, maybe his insecurities had loosened a bit.

As I have no other purpose or reason to visit the kitchen, I don’t have any motivation to visit there. But if I feel like it, I think I’ll visit, that young man should amuse me, with him having a crush on me. Yeah boys, girls like to play around with boys’ feelings — I’m kidding, there’s only so few of us, I think. Nevermind.

On the dining table, I glanced at my eldest brother and he immediately noticed my gaze. He smiled as if we were two siblings having our little secret. Wew, good thing I’m such a precious sister that my request of keeping it a secret would be carried out by my brother with no problem at all. If my other family members learned about it, my plans would be thrown in the trash bin, slash trash can, or whichever term one prefers.

“Right, Estelia,” Father called me amidst the dining. “The library is finished with its repairs, you are free to enter now whenever you like.”

Oh cool. I suppose that would be a good place for a reading session — and there’s also the thing Mother was working on. Were they still there I wonder? I’ll take a peek eventually.

When we finished eating, I began making my way to the library. As I expected, Mother came along with me to the library.

She clung to my arm and pressed herself on me. She was pleasantly soft, and the warmth was soothing. I felt a little peace when she’s this close to me, making me recall our moments together in the library.

She’s growing on me…

I don’t know how to take these feelings. But what I’m certain of was that it was more pleasant to let it be.

“My my, there surely has become a crowd of people following you, Estelia. In the future, I can already imagine a group of retainers serving you with loyalty to you alone.”

“Um… Too many would be too much for me to handle… so I think this number is fine.”

Mother chuckled as though not believing my words. What I said might sound absurd since that surely won’t be possible with me being royalty. But I was a bit serious, I mean, if I’m a plain princess, what am I going to give them as a salary? If it doesn’t come from my own pocket despite becoming an adult, I would feel a bit uneasy.

Rewards also inspire loyalty to followers. Even the organization gives us a few “gifts” depending on the handler’s mood. Some free time, some weapons, and some just a rest day. Well, okay, it wasn’t much, but it already felt rewarding.

And me relying on the cash of the monarchs and not from me doesn’t exactly make me feel easy. But wasn’t that how it works? Paying the servants from the pocket of the monarch — ahem, tax money? I guess this was just me thinking about the depths of my follower’s heart.

I don’t want something motivated by money, I want from the heart. Don’t underestimate what the heart can make someone do. Such a thing was valuable, especially when it has its uses at the right time.

But if that’s the case, then I have to inspire loyalty in another way. I did it by winning Mera’s heart. As for Rogan, I got it by gaining his interest, but that was not yet enough. As for Vernon, he was following me because of the orders of my father.

I want my followers to take a bullet for me with no hesitation.

“If you say so…” my mother muttered.

Suddenly she held my hand.

“It’s been a while since the last time it was just the two of us.”

“Hm…”

I voluntarily gripped her hand gently, a smile I was conscious of slightly curled on the corner of my lips.

But before I knew it we had arrived at the library, it felt so short…

“I need to go. See you later, okay?”

“Uh....okay.”

When she let go of the hand, my own hand slightly moved forward, but I immediately held it back. I need to focus on something more important.

With a deep breath, I began walking just a bit behind Mother and towards a bit off her direction but I kept tracking her from the corner of my eyes. When she got a bit further, I slowly followed behind her until I saw her enter a private room. I tried getting a glance inside it but to no avail.

“Princess?” Vernon called out to me in puzzlement.

“Do you know what’s inside there?”

“I’m afraid not.”

That’s unfortunate.

“... Mera, just put down the book on the table,” I said to Mera who was holding my Magic Book, although I don’t particularly need it much anymore after a few pages. If she wants it, I’ll lend it to her. “I’ll be looking through the books on the shelves. Do not disturb me and do not follow me, that also applies to you, Sir Rogan. I want to be alone.”

Rogan casually nodded his head.