If I were at the castle, my army of maids would have done anything to stop me from crying, but now I was hopelessly sobbing in the arms of a girl I had just met…

Needless to say, the princess was looking pitiful right now, if Ellen saw me like this I wouldn’t hear the end of it. But at this moment that didn’t matter to me, Kathie was hugging me tightly, she was so small…

My worries seemed to vanish as a warm feeling started to fill my chest.

“Are you okay now?”

Noticing I had stopped sobbing she asked me sheepishly.

“Ye- yeah~”

I tried to sound cheerful at the end, but it didn’t come out as I had hoped.

When she let go of me and I looked her in the eye my words seemed to get stuck in my throat.

“You don’t look that we-”

“I- I am fine”

She worriedly looked at me, I truly was hopeless, letting my chances go by like that.

I started to remember a conversation I had with one of my maids…

Some time ago

I took another sip of my lukewarm tea, the thick book on my lap, the title of which I had already forgotten, had stopped making sense to me a few pages ago.

“Your tea seems to be getting cold, should I make you some more?”

A gentle melodic voice rang from behind me, there was no mistake whose it was.

“There is no need Anna, I plan on going back soon”

She stepped closer to me as I looked at the sky, the orange hues of sunset were already showing, I truly had been there for a while.

When I noticed she had gotten close enough to me to be able to see the page I had stopped at.

“125~ that makes it 10 pages today~”

Had I really spent the whole day reading 10 pages?
“Good job Ori~”

I didn’t know if she was being sarcastic or not, but her head pats were great. My gaze wandered around the castle garden. Apparently, mom had ordered for it to be completely rebuilt during her pregnancy so that “my dear child wouldn’t have to look at an ugly garden”, I don’t know how it looked before but it looked stunning now.

The flower bushes were all perfectly kept, the grass looked spotless, the stone paths had no-

Interrupting my thoughts were a couple leisurely walking on the path to the greenhouse, apparently during the many balls held in the castle that place became a hot spot for couples to get some alone romantic time.

Unfortunately, Shea had never allowed me to spy on them…

The couple made their way there as if they were glued to each other, they must have been visiting the king and decided to go on a lazy stroll through the famous castle garden. I didn’t blame them.

I heard an uncharacteristic sigh leave Anna’s mouth.

“hmmm”

I gazed inquisitively at the figure standing beside me, she was one of the tallest maids in the castle, her long fiery red hair stood out above anything else.

She had a gentle look in her eyes.

“Don’t you feel kinda jealous?”

I would have never expected something like that from her. My surprise must have shown as she explained herself.

“Even maids dream about meeting their sweet prince~”

“Even Shea?”

She grinned from ear to ear at my question.

“Shea has already found her sweet prince~”

I almost jumped from my chair in excitement, Shea and a mysterious prince, I couldn’t start to imagine it.

“Who is it?”

She giggled after seeing my reaction.

“If you haven’t noticed I won’t ruin the surprise~”

I knew better than to try and press Anna for answers, she was the only maid that wasn’t affected by my pleading face, and that was the reason she was responsible for watching over me as I studied.

“But Shea needs to act soon before her prince is taken away by someone”

“What do you mean?”

She suddenly got all serious.

“You’re young and inexperienced, so I will give you a piece of advice, don’t let your prince get away, grab him at the first opportunity you have, and don’t let go”

I once again gazed at the stone path the couple had just gone through.

“You mean like that?”

“Yes! A stroll through a beautiful garden is sure to make his heart flutter and leave an everlasting impression on him!”

She seemed to have gotten too into it and took a second to regain her composure. I reflected on her advice as we were getting ready to go back inside.

As we were walking back through one of the stone paths I noticed another couple sitting at one of the tables that were set up along the garden.

No, looking carefully it was just Ellen and Shea.

We were close enough to hear what they were saying so I stopped for a bit.

“…Even if you have a lot of work to do you can’t forget to eat!”

Exasperated, Ellen was lecturing Shea over her habit of skipping meals to get work done. This wasn’t an unfamiliar thing to happen.

Sometimes I wonder if Shea doesn’t do it on purpose…

“Here have some of this that I grabbed for you in the kitchen”

Shea sheepishly accepted the food handed to her

I lost interest in their conversation but I noticed Anna giggling to herself, I didn’t pay much attention and just kept walking.

Thinking back on her advice I started to wonder how much experience did Anna have in love matters…

I had finally understood her words, I couldn’t let my opportunity pass, I had to grab onto my ‘prince’ and not let go.

As the fire of resolve burned inside me, my brain worked on devising a new plan on how to approach this situation.

topoko

New character seems to know a lot! Anyways I hope you liked it and see you on the next one! <3