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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
Dinner that day, after Mikage was introduced as Mia’s escort.
Towa suddenly asked Floria, as if remembering.
“Speaking of which, Mother. Was it only because of Father’s words that you expected that she would need an escort?”
“No. How could royalty not have an escort even when travelling to and from school? I had always planned for her to have an escort.”
“Really?!”
Mia looked surprised at the conversation between her mother and brother.
“Of course. Besides, I already predicted something like that would happen to Mia once she was in school.”
“Predicted… You predicted it?”
Mia, who herself could not have predicted it, showed a face of surrender.
“Don’t look at me like that. I could only predict it because I had a similar experience a long time ago.”
“Long time ago?”
Mia tilted her head, to which Floria explained.
Floria had her education covered by private teachers, so she did not go to an educational institution, like an academy, like Mia did.
However, she still had to experience socializing after she presented herself to the nobility as the Queen.
She had a similar experience to Mia’s, so she knew what to expect.
However, Floria never expected others to pose as Mia’s fiancé when she had never arranged her daughter’s hand to someone else.
When Mia told her what had happened, Floria reflected on it and wondered if she could have done something to have prevented this from happening.
“Because from what I’ve heard, those born as princesses have similar experiences. It would be strange if I couldn’t predict it.”
“I see. That’s why you are not surprised as you listened to Mia.”
At Towa’s words, Floria shrugged.
“Everything is an experience, you know?”
Floria said casually, but frowned when she heard a giggle.
It was Alec who laughed.
Alec and Sonia were joining them for dinner today. They had been enjoying their conversation with Riku, and had been talking about something somewhat serious until then.
“Father. Don’t you think it’s rude to laugh?”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m just remembering something that happened a long time ago.”
“….A long time ago?”
“What, you don’t remember?”
Alec was amused as Floria tilted her head.
“…I wonder. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Floria got a bad feeling, but she did not stop him in time.
Rather, a verbal attack came from an unexpected direction.
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“Oh, my; did you forget about it, Floria? I remember what happened so clearly, as well.”
“Mother, what are you talking about?”
Sonia turned her gaze from Riku to Floria and came to join the conversation.
“It was not long after you made your debut in the social world, wasn’t it? I remember you were arguing with Alec that you didn’t need an escort to pick you up and drop you off.”
“Yes. That happened. She was even trying to figure out a way to convince me. But, it was all in vain.”
As if in a convulsive sequence, the two started to talk about the past.
Hearing this, Floria finally remembered that time.
Floria, who had to be told by her parents about her own failures in front of her children, became flustered.
“Oh, that was, um… Well, I was young once, okay?”
In fact, Floria had a similar experience when she started socialising.
Unlike Mia, she was not attacked on her way to and from social gatherings, but she was often passionately approached when she crossed paths with those in the castle or in public places.
It was clear that Floria’s position as a princess was attractive to others.
Of course, Floria’s own beauty and charm attracted endless attention as well.
However, unaware that such a situation would arise, Floria, like Mia, was once reluctant to have an escort.
But Floria soon lost her patience. Personality notwithstanding, when she was acting in public capacity, she was unable to forcefully shake her pursuers off.
It was the same situation as with Mia today.
However, after Floria’s true character became known to the public, she started refusing those approaches clearly and unreservedly.
When retelling what had happened, neither Alec nor Sonia spoke of this as mocking her for what had happened.
Mia listened to her mother’s story with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Well. So there was a time when mother was like that.”
“Of course. Perhaps all princesses have experienced this?”
Sonia said happily, but Alec was judging her statement in his mind, that there was no such thing.
Most royalty would have an escort, and it was only Sonia’s family that was in the minority.
Although Alec held such thoughts, he never mentioned it. It was obvious that the moment he mentioned it, he would receive a wonderful verbal rebuke from Sonia.
This was a measure of self-defence, cultivated through his years of experience with her.
Towa was looking at Alec as if he wanted to say something.
He silently shook his head from side to side. Towa seemed to have realised what Alec wanted to say but chose not to.
Without saying a word, Towa started to drink his soup.
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“From what Mia said, I’m questioning if socialising in this country is really safe, they were even making up an engagement story that never happened?”
Sonia’s frank impression was met with a wry smile from Floria.
To put it bluntly, this was far from acceptable.
If they did something similar in another country, they could face the possibility of having their title revoked if they were not careful.
In Razequa Amamiya, the title was not given by the royal family, so there was no way for Floria to directly revoke it.
If there was anything that could be done, it was only to make a <request> to the Lord of that town, as the royal family.
“Well, it’s not okay. But I’m glad we have the academy.”
The academy also drilled in the basics of socialising.
The nobles were severely punished for failing to achieve a passing grade each year. Those who fail would not be allowed to attend social events hosted by the royal family.
In addition, when meeting diplomatic partners, one did not meet nobles of Razequa Amamiya.
They were to be dealt with Razequa Amamiya bureaucrats.
The fact that Razequa Amamiya’s political system was unique was known throughout the world, and no country would complain about it.
If there were interests that were not met, they would simply say, “Negotiate is off”.
The reason why they could get away with it was not because Razequa Amamiya was a powerful country…. but because the products and processed goods from the Tower were so attractive.
“This is an opportunity, and you two should learn as much as you can.”
“Right. If you fail in socialising outside of school, it will all come back to bite us.”
Both Towa and Mia nodded at what their grandmother and mother were saying.
Both Towa and Mia have experienced firsthand how their words and actions could change the world around them.
Especially Towa, who had attended the school for a year, and had a real sense of this.
He had not been suddenly thrown into the adult world. He could still recover from his mistakes to a certain extent since it was still only the world of children.
Mia was just getting started. Even so, she had gained a lot from her time at school.
Both of them realised that there were many things that could not be gained by solely living in a castle.
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