“I figured it was about time you came.”
After Her Highness concluded our audience with a flutter of her sleeve and a curt, "That's enough for today," I walked back to the estate with Regulus-kun.
He pouted because I didn’t sing for him today, but when I promised we could play together after his nap, he let go of my hand without fuss.
So I went to visit Romanov-sensei’s room. He opened the door with his usual warm smile.
His room was one of the guest rooms and had a private study attached to the bedroom. When he wasn’t teaching me, he apparently spent time here, exploring the city, or diving into dungeons.
The room was furnished simply—a sofa, a writing desk with a chair, a bed, and a nightstand with a shaded lamp. It wasn’t elaborately decorated, designed instead for comfort, like a second home.
As soon as I entered, he gestured for me to sit on the sofa. He took the seat diagonally across from me.
“When you say you figured I’d come…”
“Well, knowing you, I assumed you’d be reporting everything to Her Highness in detail.”
“You saw right through me.”
“So, what did Her Highness have to say?”
His gentle green eyes fixed on me as I recounted the entire conversation.
When I finished, Sensei’s eyebrows drooped sympathetically. “As expected of Her Highness…”
“She said you already knew what the peach was and were just waiting for me to realize it.”
“Hmm, not quite,” he replied, shaking his head slightly.
“But you did say that peach was a Sentō, right?”
“Yes, I did. Good memory.”
Now that I thought about it, his reaction at the time had definitely been a little off—just as Her Highness had implied.
There was someone else whose reaction had been weird too, but… that could wait.
“The truth is, I wasn’t sure it was a Sentō at first. I’d never seen one in person, after all. But knowing it was a gift from Her Highness, and seeing its effects—and that it was a peach—I figured it probably was. Most legends say Sentō are gifts from the Lady of Blossoms.”
“I see…”
“And then there was the sorbet. I asked what it was made from, and was told ‘Sentō’—that clinched it.”
Just swapping the position of his crossed legs made him look so elegant. Must be nice having long legs.
If I tried that with my short, stubby limbs, I’d probably fall backward.
While I was glancing down at my not-so-graceful legs, Romanov-sensei looked up at me seriously.
“…I’d been thinking about how to approach you.”
“Approach?”
“Yes. How to get you interested in the outside world.”
“…The outside world.”
When I first met Romanov-sensei, Rottenmeier-san had introduced us. I’d been quietly working on some embroidery at the time.
I remember I gave him a polite tour of the estate, showed him my garden, and shared a meal with him.
He told me later that he’d observed me for several days afterward before deciding whether or not to become my tutor.
Apparently, the initial reports he got from Rottenmeier-san weren’t flattering. But she’d pleaded with him—asking him to teach me magic and academics—so he’d found it all a bit odd.
“After all, who begs like that for a child who supposedly can’t do anything?”
“Well… yes, that makes sense…”
Oof. I can’t remember much from before my illness, like it’s all fogged over, but I do remember being a bit of a mess. That hurts a little.
“To be blunt,” he continued, “it was clear your parents had no interest in you. Even if I refused, it’s unlikely Rottenmeier-san would have been punished. So why was she so desperate?”
That was what piqued his curiosity—so he kept watching.
Meanwhile, I was just tending vegetables in the garden, feeding horses in the stable, and learning how to care for chickens—getting pecked in the process.
So embarrassing.
Then he started noticing signs—signs of what elves call the ‘Green Hand’ or ‘Blue Hand.’ Just to test me, he showed me a traditional embroidery pattern passed down by elves—something even veteran seamstresses struggle with.
And to his surprise, I could do it.
On top of that, I didn’t act like the child described in the reports. I was quiet for my age, spoke clearly and logically, and could read complex texts—both written and numerical—without any issues.
“Well, I was honestly shocked. So I asked Rottenmeier-san why she’d given me such a bad impression of you.”
“What did she say?”
“In short: ‘She seems like a good child now, but she wasn’t always. That side of her might come out again, so please be prepared. And if it does, don’t abandon her.’”
Oh wow… I felt like crawling under a rock.
I averted my eyes in shame.
Sensing that, Sensei offered a gentle follow-up.
“Well, I haven’t seen any signs of that behavior yet. But once someone says something like that, elf or human, it’s hard not to keep a close eye on you.”
Which led him to notice something strange.
“Something strange?”
“Yes. I was your first visitor from outside the estate, and yet… you showed no interest in the world beyond these walls. Your world was entirely contained within the estate.”
Come to think of it, I never did ask Romanov-sensei about the outside world. He shared stories, and I listened, but I never pushed for more.
Whether that’s normal or not, I can’t say, but compared to the other children he had tutored in the past—most of whom begged to be taken into the city or got overly excited by adventure stories—I was… different.
I never once asked to go out.
Even when he told stories of adventures, I didn’t start playing explorer in the garden or anything. I just continued life as usual.
Sure, there were indoor kids too. Not everyone likes playing outside.
But even those kids, when they heard about fun festivals or city life, would usually express some desire to see it for themselves.
“Strangely though, you showed great interest in larger-scale topics—government, religion, world history. That was the only exception.”
Oh yeah… I remember that phase. I was more focused on understanding what kind of world this was. My past life’s knowledge didn’t quite mesh with my current situation, so I needed to fill in the gaps.
Besides, my daily needs were covered by Rottenmeier-san and the maids, so I didn’t prioritize learning about day-to-day life. That’s coming back to bite me now, though.
“So I asked Rottenmeier-san again—why you seemed so disinterested in the outside world. She told me that, before your illness, you used to throw tantrums wanting to go outside.”
That… rings a bell?
It's like some parts of my past self’s personality and memories were left behind when I came back, and the rest got swapped out. Only the happy memories stuck around. It's like one win, one loss, and one draw. Most of the past is just a blur.
As I fell into thought, Romanov-sensei reached out and gently touched my forehead—apparently, I’d been frowning again.
“That’s when I started to think… maybe, when you got so sick, you actually… died once.”
“Huh!?”
W-WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?
That was unexpected. I wonder if Ageha will tell Romanov that he has memories of his past life. Cause so far it’s only the Hime-gimi and probably Igor who knows about his “past life”
ReplyDeleteSLR. I can't say anything here cause it might be a spoiler for first time readers. Anyway, this is around ep 10 in the anime
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