Chapter 41
“Heeyah!”
“Please lower your voice.”
“Heeeeyaaaah.”
“And don’t drag out the endings like that.”
“…But whyyyy do I have to do thiiis?”
Under Theron’s guidance, Aveline continued her training while raising a fundamental question.
Theron, seemingly dissatisfied with something, had suddenly proposed that Aveline should practice controlling her magical power right away.
As a result, Aveline had been endlessly repeating the training exercises.
“As I mentioned earlier, we don’t have much time while you’re in Chloe’s body.”
A faint smile appeared on Theron’s face as he spoke.
‘Devil!’
Seeing that smile, Aveline was convinced he was enjoying tormenting her.
“Think of the magical power in your body as tangled threads.”
“I’m twying.”
“Now try to untangle the magical power while imagining unraveling each thread one by one.”
“Ugh.”
Aveline collapsed onto the floor, seemingly unable to continue.
What he was asking of her was like telling a child who hadn’t even learned to walk:
-Can you imagine yourself walking?
-Yes.
-Now try running.
It was that absurd.
Asking someone who couldn’t properly handle magical power yet to untangle it.
“Chloe.”
Just as Aveline was protesting that she couldn’t go on, someone opened the door and entered.
“My little darling.”
“Big bwother!”
Never had Klein’s face been more welcome than at this moment.
Aveline jumped up and ran toward Klein.
She could feel Theron’s disapproving gaze from behind but deliberately ignored it.
“Hmm?”
However, Klein’s expression seemed slightly odd as he looked at his sister.
“Your hair color…”
As Klein tilted his head in confusion, Aveline suddenly remembered that her hair was currently pink.
‘Oh no!’
Theron had changed it earlier!
“I-I azked for it!”
Aveline quickly exclaimed before Klein could notice anything else.
“I-I begged for pink hair!”
Aveline turned her head to give Theron a look that clearly said to back up her story.
“…Her Highness is correct. She was struggling with the intense magical training, so I changed it briefly to lift her spirits.”
Theron sighed once before responding in a reluctant tone.
“Hmm. Is that so? It’s cute on you.”
Fortunately, Klein didn’t pursue the matter further.
“Your Majesty! Duke Charles is waiting for an audience!”
And behind him, the chamberlain followed with a distressed expression.
“Tell him I’m busy.”
Klein coldly replied before turning back to smile at his sister.
“By the way, Chloe, are you doing well in your lessons?”
Klein asked, completely ignoring the chamberlain.
“Yez!”
When Aveline responded with her most innocent smile, Klein’s expression softened completely.
“I stopped by to give you this.”
Klein pulled something from his inner pocket and handed it to her.
“A fwower?”
What Klein handed over was a single yellow rose.
“You said you liked this flower before.”
“Wow…”
Aveline was touched by the unexpected gift.
‘It was just something I mentioned in passing.’
When she first entered the novel, Klein had asked her what kind of flowers she liked.
Aveline, who was still afraid of Klein then, had just named the first flower that came to mind.
‘He remembered that all this time.’
Even though he was characterized as being sister-obsessed, she hadn’t expected him to be this thoughtful.
“Thank you.”
“Little one.”
Klein ruffled her hair affectionately.
“Your Majesty!”
“Ah, fine, let’s go.”
When the chamberlain cried out almost tearfully, Klein turned around in resignation.
“Keep up with your lessons, alright?”
“Yez.”
Even after Klein left, Aveline continued smiling while looking at the yellow rose in her hand.
‘For me…’
Though she had been frightened of him at first, the tyrannical ruler, as time passed, she increasingly wished Klein really was her brother.
Through Klein, she learned how happy it could be to receive someone’s affectionate attention.
“It smellz nice.”
As Aveline sniffed the flower with a satisfied expression, Theron’s eyes narrowed as he watched.
“It’s disrupting the lesson.”
“What!”
Theron, who had approached without notice, suddenly snatched the flower from Aveline’s hand.
Startled, Aveline jumped up and down, but her five-year-old limbs were far too short to reach Theron standing at his full height.
“I thought you didn’t like flowers.”
Theron examined the yellow rose, twirling it in his hand as if appraising its worth.
“It doesn’t look particularly special.”
His tone was inexplicably sulky.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
While Theron’s emotional fluctuations weren’t uncommon, right now he seemed almost hurt by something Aveline had done.
“The flowers I gave you were far more beautiful than this.”
‘Ah.’
He must have been holding onto his disappointment from when she said she didn’t like the flower basket he gave her before.
‘Why is he keeping track of such things?’
It was just a formality because of their pretend relationship, after all.
“This iz from my big bwother!”
At Aveline’s response, Theron’s lips twisted strangely.
“Big brother…”
After being lost in thought for a while, Theron spoke again.
“First it was that Edward fellow, and now you prefer this type of face?”
“Huh?”
Aveline’s eyes widened at the sudden question.
‘Why is he picking fights all of a sudden?’
Already annoyed at having her flower taken away, Aveline stepped hard on Theron’s foot.
“Ouch.”
However, Aveline was the only one who felt pain.
Theron spoke with an expressionless face, as if he hadn’t felt anything.
“He looks like a weak herbivore who can’t even protect himself.”
Theron suddenly lowered himself to meet Aveline’s eye level and brought his face close to hers.
“Look carefully.”
Aveline was startled by the sudden proximity.
His smooth, straight forehead, sharp nose bridge, dense eyelashes, and the blue eyes beneath them.
Though the look in his eyes was somewhat abnormal, there was no denying his extraordinary handsomeness.
“Aren’t I more handsome?”
Theron, who had been bragging about his looks, finally said something that others would find too embarrassing to even utter.
‘Why is he so obsessed?’
Theron had been persistently questioning Aveline about her preferences and ideal type since before.
First asking if Edward, who looked exactly like Serio, was her type.
“If you think I’m inferior to him, there must be something wrong with Your Highness’s aesthetic sense- oof!”
“I can’t take this anymore!”
Finally unable to endure it any longer, Aveline launched her small body forward and headbutted Theron’s forehead.
“You’re being so childish, I can’t stand it.”
Aveline said while rubbing her throbbing forehead.
“I don’t like things because they’re pretty. What matters is the heart behind them.”
Aveline had been happy about Klein’s flower gift not because of his looks or the flower’s beauty.
‘It was touching that he listened to and remembered even my smallest comments.’
“The heart?”
Theron raised his lowered head and repeated Aveline’s words.
“That’s wight.”
Aveline coolly blew her bangs away from her face and crossed her arms.
“If you understand, give me back my fwower.”
However, instead of returning the flower, Theron turned around.
“Let’s end today’s lesson here.”
“Wait! Where are you going?”
Although Aveline desperately tried to grab him, Theron had already opened the door and left.
“Come back!”
She immediately followed after him, but Theron was nowhere to be seen.
Is he upset because I didn’t compliment his looks?
What a strange personality.
As Aveline grumbled, she sensed something had changed.
“Huh?”
Following the strange feeling, Aveline looked down and realized her viewpoint was higher than before.
“This can’t be…”
As she examined her lengthened arms and legs, Aveline rushed to a mirror.
“I’m back to normal…?”
The pink hair, eyes slightly lighter green than Chloe’s, and cheeks thinner than a five-year-old’s – everything was back to the original Aveline.
Even her clothes were the white nightgown she had been wearing before falling asleep.
‘Is this possible?’
Though this had happened before, that was when Theron had changed her appearance.
But now Theron had already disappeared.
Could there really be a serious problem with Chloe’s magical power?
She decided to go back to her room to think things through.
Just as she was about to return to her room before anyone could see her current appearance.
“Who are you?”
A familiar voice – one that shouldn’t be heard right now – called out.
