LSOV Chapter 04 — [R15]

 004. Responsibility

***

Once the king made his decision, everything progressed quickly. It was now time for me to be handed over to the imperial princess.

The royal family sent word to the Princess that they would "release me as requested." Daimond told me that several confidential letters had been exchanged between the royal house and the imperial princess.

In the audience chamber of the central Leyla Palace, our royal family met Rachel again. Only the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Lundra, the two princes, the princess, and Princess Rachel were present, a secret meeting.

"I pay my respects to His Majesty the King of Lundra, ruler of the most beautiful land."

Rachel bent her knees in the Owen style and offered her greeting.

"Thank you for saving the life of our second prince, Daimond. We will remember the Empire's goodwill in keeping the related incidents confidential."

"I merely did what needed to be done."

Rachel once again lightly lifted the hem of her skirt and performed Owen's short formal greeting.

"Since this concerns a pact between our nations, I have prepared the treaty. Please review it."

I had also seen the contents of the treaty. It had been written in a way that it would still make perfect sense even if "Dragon's Tear" was replaced with "Daisy Leatria Lund," as if both referred to the same thing.

At the top, it read, 'At the request of the Owen Empire, the treasure of the Kingdom of Lundra shall be transferred to Owen for a period of three years.'

"I have reviewed it. It is as we discussed."

"The treasure is of great importance to our kingdom. We ask that you treat it with utmost care."

"I shall, Your Majesty."

Rachel raised her hand gracefully and signed the treaty. Shade received the signed document and handed it to my father, and he added his own signature.

"How do you intend to travel to Owen with the treasure?"

"Duke Cedric Deirton of the Empire will be coming. He commands one of the Empire's finest knight orders. The Duke himself is an exceptional knight. The journey to the Empire will be safe."

"The Duke himself is coming?"

My father asked again.

"Yes. He is someone I can trust."

"Is the Duke aware that the treasure is being sent because of Owen's request?"

"Not yet. I have only asked him to escort me home."

My father's gaze fell on me. Sitting on the throne and facing a princess of another nation, he wore only the solemn expression of Yones II.

"We will hand over the kingdom's treasure."

My father extended his hand. When he finished speaking, I stepped forward before the imperial princess. I greeted her according to the most traditional customs of Lundra.

"Your Highness Rachel Widnes, Princess of the Strongest Land, I am Daisy Leatria Lund."

When we met eyes after the greeting, Rachel's gaze shone with emotion. She tilted her head slightly, a gesture almost unbecoming of royalty.

"Lundra's royals introduce themselves with only two words, their name and family name. Are you revealing your true name as Leatria, Princess Daisy?"

"Yes. Since Your Highness is of Owen, born from the very founding legend, you must know the ancient tongue said to have been used by the dragons of old."

"Ahahaha! Leatria? A treasure?"

Rachel suddenly burst out laughing, loud and sharp. It was nothing like the composed manner she had maintained earlier.

"The treasure is Your Highness's true name, is it? Since you've revealed it, you must think I can no longer pretend not to know."

Rachel circled around me once, then stood before me again.

"But why should I believe that your true name is actually the treasure? You could have invented it just for this occasion."

"Rachel!"

Daimond leaped to his feet. His cheeks were flushed red.

"The royal family of Lundra does not lie with their true names! What on earth is wrong with you?"

"Daimond! Sit."

At my father's stern command, Daimond sat back down. Even so, I could still hear his angry, rough breathing from that direction.

"To reveal one's true name is an act of great honor for a member of Lundra's royal family. It means entrusting one's life to the other person. We are not so base as to taint such an act with deceit."

Shade added firmly.

I stepped one pace closer toward Rachel.

"Now that Your Highness knows my true name, you can harm me. Would you like to try it now?"

I extended my arm toward her, pulling back my sleeve to reveal my wrist. Before Rachel, I now stood without the protection of the ancient dragons' blessing.

"Daisy!"

Daimond shouted again, but Rachel didn't spare him a single glance.

She murmured softly, only I, standing directly before her, could hear.

"Since the deal was that I would hold the kingdom's treasure, I'll abide by it. It was my oversight not to speak clearly."

Before Shade, who spoke of dignity, and before Daimond, with whom she once shared hardships, Rachel spoke of it merely as a transaction.

I thought once more of Rachel Rich with her brown hair. The girl in front of me had the same face, but now with red hair, Rachel Widnes.

Daimond once said that, during their Academy days, Rachel changed her appearance with magic. At this moment, I suddenly wondered if that magic had somehow gone wrong , if it had altered not only her appearance, but her very nature.

"Daisy, baby princess."

"Princess Daisy Leatria Lund."

"Your snow-white hair is lovely. But I find myself drawn even more to your eyes. Why is that? It's truly strange."

"As promised, I'll take custody of Lundra's treasure for three years. But we cannot tell the world that Owen is holding Lundra's treasure."

A smirk, almost a sneer, curled on her lips. Rachel continued.

"How about we say the imperial family requested my presence in the Empire? There are people who go abroad to study other cultures, aren't there? They called it… studying abroad."

"Ah, yes. Let's do that. We'll say that I invited Princess Daisy Lund."

Rachel's voice was icy.

***

As the days until our departure for the Empire grew closer, one evening I found myself seated at dinner with Father and Mother.

There were only three of us at the dinner table. For the first time in a while, we sat side by side along one side of the table. Seated between Father and Mother, I enjoyed a delicious dinner made up of all my favorite dishes.

"Daisy, do you know why your name is Daisy?"

"Because my hair is white and my eyes are yellow, so I look like a daisy flower… isn't that it?"

"Hoho. You are as lovely as a flower."

Mother gently ruffled my hair a couple of times.

"Iyi and I first met by chance at a café and began courting. At first, I didn't know your father was the Crown Prince. As the daughter of a count, it's not easy to meet the Crown Prince unless it's at a royal banquet. I hadn't seen him often, and I never had the nerve to stare closely at his face, so I didn't remember what he looked like."

Ahem. Father cleared his throat.

"But it turns out Iyi had seen me once at a banquet before and remembered me. One day, while out on official business disguised as a noble, he spotted me sitting in a café and approached me."

It was a scene difficult to imagine, given Father's usual personality.

"He spoke to me out of nowhere, but when I didn't recognize him, he panicked. Before he realized it, he'd already started pretending to be some refined young nobleman. That's how we made plans to meet again.. and then had another pleasant date… and another. By then, the lie had grown so big he could no longer manage it."

Mother let out a soft laugh as she recalled those memories.

"Every time we met, your father gave me a daisy. How was Iyi supposed to know how freely noble sons spent money? Yoir father was born and raised entirely in the palace, and he knew only palace life. He was raised to believe that any privilege one had must be repaid with equal responsibility. So he thought all nobles must live with extreme frugality. Daisies are quite common in the capital, so they were relatively inexpensive."

I looked at Father's face. He avoided my eyes, clearly embarrassed.

"He thought buying a whole armful of daisies was a grand romantic gesture and brought them to me every day. That's how I eventually learned he was the Crown Prince."

Daisies were such common flowers that they were only mixed in when wrapping bouquets; no one bought them in large bundles on purpose. But sometime after, rumors spread that the Crown Prince was buying up every daisy he could find in the capital.

"Honestly, if he was going to buy them, he could've done it quietly. Your father has never been good at subtlety."

"Dear, must you tell her that as well?"

Father interjected, and I couldn't help laughing.

"For us, daisies became a flower full of memories. And you… you were conceived on one of our wedding anniversaries. When you were born with hair that shone like a daisy, you became, to us, another form of our everlasting love."

At some point, Mother and I were holding hands. I noticed a hint of tears well up in her eyes, disappearing as quickly as they came.

"You've grown up just as your name suggests, pure and lovable. I hope you'll never forget that we have always called you our love."

They were my parents, but they were also the king and queen of this nation, a truth they could not bring themselves to voice.

But I understood. What they wanted to tell me was this... They were not sending me away because they did not love me.

Even in their love story, the word responsibility appeared, a word they could never erase.

I, too, was raised under such parents. Under parents who fulfilled their duties, I became a princess who understood duty. And because of that, I could decide… that I would go to the Empire.