Chapter 106
Chapter 106: Is This How We Part?
Unlike her initial joy at seeing herself in the mirror, Anasha began glancing around nervously.
“But new sister… is it really okay for me to have this ribbon?”
At the child’s careful question, Elena showed a light smile and nodded slightly.
“Of course. It was originally yours, after all.”
Anasha tilted her head, wearing an expression of complete bewilderment.
“But this is new sister’s ribbon, isn’t it?”
‘Well, Anasha wouldn’t know about that.’
Though Anasha would surely be happy to know it was a gift Lupeon had prepared for her when he was young, Elena decided not to mention this for now.
“It’s a gift for you, young miss. Will you accept it?”
At the word “gift,” the child’s eyes grew round, and she nodded shyly with a clear smile.
“Thank you, new sister!”
“Will you make one promise in return?”
“A promise?”
As Anasha’s clear eyes sparkled with curiosity, Elena put her index finger to her lips and smiled slightly.
“Let’s not show it to Lupeon for now.”
She planned to reveal it herself once he completed his revenge, so she intended to keep it secret until then.
“Okay, I understand!”
After Anasha returned to her room with the gift, Elena wore a faint smile as she recalled her childhood memories.
‘I wonder if Lupeon ever gave them to Anasha.’
The storybook she hadn’t taken and the items she had given to him on that day, which she never thought would be their last meeting.
* * *
Near the end of the year when Elena was approaching twelve, she could barely contain her excitement as only a few nights remained until the new year.
For a child, gaining a year felt like taking one step closer to adulthood.
Lisette, two years younger, was also running around the mansion with a booming voice about turning ten soon.
Because of that, Elena got scolded by her mother for not stopping her sister, though.
Pouting her lips while earnestly wrapping something, she soon showed a satisfied expression.
“Good, it’s done!”
‘I hope the Princess will like it.’
Since Simon would also turn thirteen when the new year came, a blessing would soon visit the Imperial Family.
According to the news, when the Empress dipped her hands in the temple lake filled with holy water, golden fish gathered around her.
This meant the child to be born would be a girl.
Thus, she had heard news that the Imperial Family had been filled with joy for a while.
Though a bit early, Elena had prepared a pendant as a gift for the soon-to-be-born Princess.
She felt like she had unintentionally taken the unborn Princess’s gift on the day she first met Simon.
That ribbon was so precious to her that she felt she couldn’t return it to the Princess.
Of course, that was a secret she couldn’t tell anyone because she was embarrassed.
When a jeweler visited the mansion recently, Elena discovered a gem the same color as Simon’s eyes.
Seeing it immediately reminded her of Simon’s sister, so she asked her mother to buy that gem.
When she said it was a gift for the soon-to-be-born Princess, the Marchioness proudly helped her daughter choose a pendant to set the gem in.
Elena’s face was full of excitement as she held up the wrapped pendant.
‘I really hope the Princess has blue eyes too…!’
If the soon-to-be-born Princess had the same blue eyes as Simon, they would surely be as beautiful as sparkling gemstones.
Though this was merely Elena’s wishful thinking.
‘No matter what color eyes Simon’s sister has, she’ll be pretty.’
As the day approached to meet her friend as promised, Elena visited the Imperial Library, their meeting place.
In her hands were the storybook she often read these days and the gift for the soon-to-be-born Princess.
Recently, Simon had said his time sitting at his desk had increased due to his successor studies.
Perhaps because of that, he seemed to be running a bit late from their promised time.
Thinking she should read the storybook she brought while waiting for the boy, Elena took a seat at the long table.
“Yaaawn—”
Reading the book made her drowsy, and as she rubbed her half-closed eyelids, she unknowingly drifted off to sleep.
How much time had passed when she felt someone poking one of her cheeks?
“Mmm? Simon?”
“…!”
When Elena raised her body that had been lying on the desk, Simon’s eyes grew slightly larger.
For some reason, the boy’s earlobes seemed to be turning a bit red.
‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’
When Elena tilted her head with a puzzled expression, the boy cleared his throat a couple of times.
Then he glanced at the storybook she had been reading and asked.
“Do you like that storybook that much?”
“Of course! Especially since the prince is my ideal type.”
“…”
But for some reason, Simon’s face turned as red as a ripe tomato.
As the boy’s clear blue eyes trembled slightly, Elena stared at him directly and asked.
“Huh? Why is your face so red?”
“It’s not… What do you mean red.”
She raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked at her friend who was grumbling, seemingly flustered.
‘I really don’t understand what he’s thinking at all.’
Then, as if remembering something, she quickly pulled out the gift she had brought.
“Oh right! I have something to give you!”
“For me…?”
When Elena handed over the gift box, Simon quietly looked at it with sparkling blue eyes.
Showing a bright smile at his reaction, she soon let out a short sigh and corrected herself.
“Ah, to be precise, it’s for the soon-to-be-born Princess.”
“For my sister?”
Simon tilted his head questioningly.
Well, his sister hadn’t even been born yet.
Feeling awkward and slightly fixing her hair, Elena answered in a somewhat apologetic voice.
“Well… I have the Princess’s ribbon.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been worried about that all this time?”
“…!”
The boy slightly narrowed his brow, then let out a small laugh through his lips.
Now it seemed what had been quite a serious matter to her was nothing at all to Simon.
He shrugged his shoulders as if unbothered and continued.
“Though my sister hasn’t been born yet, one thing’s for certain.”
“…What?”
Simon looked at her while lifting his characteristically languid lips.
“That ribbon surely suited you much better.”
‘He, he…!’
At the boy’s sudden remark, Elena’s cheeks turned crimson.
But Simon seemed to have said it without much thought, so she soon made a slightly sulky expression.
Meanwhile, the boy looked at the pendant inside the gift box and asked, seeming a bit surprised.
“A pendant?”
“Yes, Mother helped me choose it!”
Elena proudly rubbed her nose, and Simon expressed his gratitude to her.
“Thank you so much, Rosie.”
Feeling somehow shy at his thanks, she rolled her eyes around and asked.
“If she looks like you, won’t the Princess have beautiful eyes that sparkle like the sun on the sea?”
“I hope so. I’m sure Anasha will like it too.”
“Anasha…?”
When Elena tilted her head at the unfamiliar name from the boy’s lips, Simon slightly furrowed his brows.
“Ah, Mother said it was still a secret…”
Then, as if it couldn’t be helped, he revealed his sister’s name.
Anasha Dia Argenta, the name of the Imperial Princess who would be like a new star of the Valdeon Empire, had already been decided.
“What a beautiful name!”
“Yes, Father spent days thinking about it, saying he had to name her himself.”
“I’m sure the Princess will love it later!”
Elena added, looking at Simon with sparkling golden eyes.
As she spent such enjoyable time with her friend, the evening sunset was already falling.
Having come out with her father, she needed to hurry back to the carriage.
Since Elena still hadn’t revealed her identity, the boy seemed to want to be considerate of her.
“Go carefully. I’ll head off first.”
Perhaps because she had spent such an enjoyable day that she lost track of time, Elena felt reluctant to part with him.
“Is this how we part? I don’t want to…”
