Chapter 137
“Those suspicious groups from foreign countries were indeed ‘suspicious’ groups from ‘foreign’ countries.”
“Yes. They were an alliance of three kingdoms surrounding the empire, so they were foreign, and they were certainly engaged in suspicious activities, trying to encroach on the empire’s borders under the pretext of trade commissions.”
So the border dispute from before her regression started here.
This time, since His Majesty the Emperor had taken action himself, the situation would be resolved even before such a border dispute could occur.
Or perhaps the empire would flip the borders instead.
Either way, she probably wouldn’t have to go to the border in person this time.
Having organized her thoughts, Riina asked about the most important matter.
“What about the epidemic?”
“Your prediction was correct.”
“So it’s not an epidemic but poison.”
Based on the report Riina had submitted to the Emperor, experiments combining several specific mushrooms had confirmed that they produced exactly the same symptoms observed in those suspected of having the epidemic.
“That’s truly a relief.”
Perhaps the reason the epidemic hadn’t spread even before her regression was because it wasn’t actually a disease with real contagion.
“Then if we have an antidote, that issue is resolved.”
“Before that, we need to prevent the severe cases from becoming fatalities. His Majesty said he’s entrusting that matter to Sierre.”
“The Youngest Prince? I thought the First Prince would step forward… ah, that would be difficult for him now, wouldn’t it?”
The news that the First Prince had lost all motivation and had entered what might be called a ‘mountains are mountains, waters are waters’ state was no longer a big secret.
“Right. If the Fourth Prince were entrusted with such a task, he’d dig a tunnel underground and lie down, so Sierre is the only one left. His Majesty doesn’t have much choice.”
As Einar spoke as if it were obvious, leaving himself out, Riina looked at him with narrowed eyes but soon shook her head.
He was a man who had lived without attachment to anything.
It wouldn’t be like him to suddenly take an active role in such matters now…
“Einar.”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you take on the completion of this matter?”
With his personality, he could have slipped away without accepting the task, no matter what His Majesty the Emperor said.
“Because when you start something, you should finish it.”
“That’s what I…”
“Right. Because you said so.”
Einar stated the fact that he followed her words as if it were as true as the sun rising in the east, and Riina unconsciously rose on her tiptoes and stroked his smooth forehead.
“Is that praise?”
“It is praise.”
Belatedly realizing what she had done, instead of withdrawing her hand, Riina smiled as she gently tousled his hair as he bent down.
Thus, the two quite naturally finished discussing the resolution of the poison disguised as an epidemic, treating the Third Prince, Smith, as if he didn’t exist at all, regardless of whether he was a Crown Prince candidate or responsible for concluding this matter.
“Einar.”
“Hmm?”
“So the place we’re going now is the base of which kingdom…”
Patter.
And at that moment, as soon as they heard small footsteps, there was a thud, and pink liquid stained the hem of Riina’s skirt.
“Uh, uwaah. Ice cre… sniff. I’m sorry.”
The child who had collided with her dramatically, spilling ice cream, whimpered looking at the empty cone, but after taking a sharp breath, immediately brought both hands to their navel and bowed deeply.
And from behind, the father’s voice calling the child rang out loudly.
“I told you not to leave my side!”
After chasing the child who had run ahead, the father instinctively checked on the child first before assessing the situation.
Within just a few seconds, he realized that his child had caused an accident and also recognized who the other party was.
Red hair and blue eyes.
A combination that anyone living in the empire, no, the continent, would recognize.
Bolshevik.
The fact that such a high aristocrat was casually passing through this area seemed unreal, but he couldn’t escape reality indefinitely with his surprised child in front of him.
The father immediately bent his waist so deeply that his head nearly touched the ground and shouted:
“H-huk. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’M SORRY! The child is still young. I’m sorry!”
The child’s father bowed repeatedly, not knowing what to do, and the child, who had been whimpering because their ice cream had disappeared in an instant, began to whimper for a different reason after seeing their father’s expression and gestures.
Even the child, whose attention had been focused on the ice cream, now recognized the symbol of Bolshevik.
“I’m, I’m sowwy.”
With a pronunciation garbled by tears, the child bowed repeatedly beside their father, their hands a mess from the crushed ice cream.
Looking down at the child, Riina first placed a hand on the father’s shoulder and said:
“That’s enough.”
Taking a handkerchief from her bosom, Riina casually wiped the child’s hands and spoke to the father, who had a blank expression:
“One apology is sufficient.”
The child’s father, not immediately understanding her words, gaped with a confused face, and Riina slowly bent her knee.
Meeting the child’s gaze, she embraced their small hand with a faint smile and whispered:
“Not crying and apologizing first—you’re a good child.”
The child, whose eyes had been brimming with tears, smiled brightly at the unexpected praise, like any child would.
“Thank you. Daddy says always ‘pologize first when I do something wrong!”
Although their pronunciation was still garbled from a stuffy nose, Riina readily nodded.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Finally, after pressing the handkerchief into the child’s hand, she stood up and addressed the father:
“Make sure to buy a new ice cream.”
“What? Yes. Yes, yes!”
Skillfully understanding her words as a dismissal, he bowed deeply again—with a different meaning than before—toward her who had not only not held them responsible but had even comforted the child, and then left.
Thus, having left the task of buying ice cream for the child to the father, the two watched the child walking away with a new ice cream in hand and suddenly lightened steps, and without anyone taking the lead, they both spoke:
“Shall we have one?”
“How about we get one too?”
“What flavor would you like!”
And as soon as the two finished speaking, an ice cream vendor right nearby shouted with a broad smile.
The vendor’s transparently mercenary intent was rather amusing, and Einar and Riina smiled as they each chose a flavor.
“Your clothes…”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. They’ll get dirty again anyway.”
Riina looked down at her skirt, stained with ice cream, without much concern, then blinked as she took the ice cream handed to her by the vendor.
“Hmm.”
Holding the unfamiliar ice cream cone, she let out a short groan and hesitated.
Though she had received the ice cream, she was a bit at a loss about where to start eating it.
Why is it so unstable? This is why the child’s ice cream slipped out completely, leaving only the cone when they collided with me.
Does it all come up in one bite?
While she was examining the ice cream from different angles:
“What are you looking at so seriously?”
Einar asked, tapping her slightly furrowed brow with his fingertip.
“This is my first time eating ice cream on the street. Until now, I’ve only eaten it with a spoon from a cup.”
As she spoke, Riina carefully bit the tip of the ice cream.
Fortunately, contrary to her expectations, the ice cream remained obediently attached to the cone.
However, a different problem arose.
“I was about to tell you that if you nibble at it like that, it will melt and drip down, but it’s already too late.”
Riina let out a faint sigh as her hand became sticky from the melted ice cream already dripping down the cone.
Should she consider it fortunate that her bad luck manifested in something so trivial?
No, it’s probably because Einar is by her side that it’s limited to this.
She was about to search for her handkerchief while holding the cone with dripping ice cream, but she paused as she realized that she had already used that handkerchief to wipe the child’s hands.
“Einar, do you happen to have a handkerchief? Ah.”
“Yes. I already used mine to wipe your skirt earlier.”
Somehow, they both ended up without handkerchiefs, and meanwhile, Riina’s hand was becoming increasingly covered with melting ice cream.
Einar briefly looked down at his own clothes, but as he was wearing a light shirt, there wasn’t anything suitable for wiping.
“I should do something about this ice cream first…”
Before Riina could finish her sentence, the top of Einar’s head suddenly drew close.
In the moment she thought “Huh?”, the ice cream dripping down her hand disappeared into Einar’s mouth all at once, and he smiled as he licked the ice cream from the corner of his mouth.
“One problem solved.”
“It… is solved indeed.”
Looking down at the cone that was more than half gone, Riina eventually offered the remaining cone, and Einar didn’t decline.
As Riina’s fingertips brushed against Einar’s lips when he swallowed the cone in one bite:
Einar smiled with narrowed eyes and gently bit her finger.
Since it was completely unexpected, Riina couldn’t react at all and just stared blankly at him as her finger was held between his teeth, and he rolled her finger with his tongue, licking off the ice cream.
Riina remained dazed until he released her finger with a little popping sound, but when he gripped her wrist and put his tongue to the ice cream flowing down the side of her hand, she shuddered greatly.
“Einar!”
“We don’t have handkerchiefs, so there’s no choice.”
“What do you mean there’s no choice! We could buy a handkerchief or something nearby… Mmph!”
