Chapter 17
Bianca and Queen Elodia’s attendants were extremely busy all morning.
Preparing for the outing, arranging escorts, selecting simple clothes for the outing, packing snacks, and bringing a parasol to block the sun.
Phew, everything was packed.
“Hey, you there, the guard knight napping in the garden! You’ll need to work today!”
The royal guards who had been leisurely idling in the palace were finally getting a real assignment today.
But, hang on, Muriela had never even been assigned a guard? The honey pot was overflowing, but there was no bear to eat the honey?
The fact that a princess of the kingdom didn’t have even a single guard was a serious issue.
Of course, the Royal Palace of Silbrenoa was as safe as it could be, so nothing serious had happened until now. Eldric, please, pay attention to your daughter!
Fortunately, the issue of not having a guard was promptly solved by the protocol officer. He sent someone to the capital’s guard knights, summoning a young knight who had been enjoying his sweet holiday.
In truth, he wasn’t specifically chosen; he had lost a draw among the junior knights after being passed over by his seniors.
“Assigned to guard the princess suddenly? Is it right to be notified about such an important job on the same day?”
The young knight, Sir Hamilton, arrived at the Royal Palace with a sour look on his handsome face.
His expression darkened further when he heard that the royal children were going out together that day.
Sir Hamilton’s lips protruded in frustration like those of a child.
Serving as a royal guard was known as an easy post in the industry. But many knights avoided it because of the extreme lack of activity.
It was boring, sure, but more so, the list of places they could visit and people they could meet was extremely limited due to security concerns, effectively wasting their youth.
After finally getting into the knights’ order through hard work and getting close to his peers, he now couldn’t even hope for a girlfriend, and even seeing his friends would become difficult.
What’s more, while other royal guards had rotational shifts with plenty of days off, it seemed like Muriela was deemed too unimportant to warrant assigning two guards, so he was expected to work alone.
No wonder the seniors eagerly passed this assignment to the juniors.
His peers who eagerly raised their hands, thinking it was a sweet deal, all backed away after hearing the ridiculous work conditions, leaving the decision to a draw where Sir Hamilton lost.
Being an upright young knight with big dreams and no intention of cozying up to the royals for benefits, his discontent was understandable.
But what could he do? He was a salaried employee, and orders were orders. Even a minimally informed Hamilton knew that the kingdom’s affairs were in disarray.
Yet, he still loved his homeland and became a knight out of devotion to protect it. However, with the continuing mismanagement, corruption, and rushed policies, his patriotism was dwindling day by day.
Would it hit rock bottom soon?
***
For the first time in her life, Muriela was stepping out of the palace. For Solinor, too, it was an opportunity to see how the capital had changed after his passing.
How much had things changed? His heart thumped with excitement. Kasper and Adeline seemed just as thrilled about their rare outing.
“Since this is your first time out, Muriela, I’ll show you the way!” Kasper declared.
It was the instinct of every boy to try and impress the girl he liked.
“You don’t even know the way. You only went out once last year and act like you know everything,” retorted Adeline.
Even if she was his half-sister, Muriela was still technically his older sister. Among the two older sisters with Kasper, it was Adeline who delivered the blow.
“Adeline, mind your business! If I say I know, then I know. Hmph.”
Of course, following Kasper’s lead would likely end in getting lost. But not to worry; the attendants would never let that happen.
Bianca patted the detailed map of Solineum she had tucked into her dress. She, too, had been inside the palace for so long that the city landscape felt unfamiliar. When she last went out to buy a gift for Muriela, she had struggled to find the store and had to ask around quite a bit.
“Wow! What’s that? Is it a shop selling flowers?”
“Looks like it. We have so many flowers in our garden, but it’s interesting that they sell them too,” Adeline mused.
The children marveled at shops they hadn’t seen on their previous outing. Solinor, on the other hand, who had already seen flower shops in his past life, wasn’t as impressed.
He once foolishly gave a bouquet to Aiorin, who was from the forest, only to be called silly. Flowers were everywhere in the forest. Thinking about it now, he found his past self amusing.
‘Huh? What is that?’
“Wow! So interesting!”
Princess Muriela trotted with her short legs. The destination was the store opposite the flower shop—a shop selling household mana stone products.
Yes, not electronic appliances, but mana stone products. Items powered by mana stones, used for household purposes, were called that.
After Solinor’s passing, Silbrenoa saw an incredible increase in the variety of products made using mana stones mined from the north. Machines that automatically washed clothes, tools that easily cleaned dust off the floor, and even devices that told time.
Solinor never knew about these since Bianca managed everything for him, but the Royal Palace did have a washing machine.
However, it was installed in a room far from where the royal family resided to reduce noise, so the princess never knew about it.
The attendants still cleaned by hand due to the noise of the vacuum cleaners, so Muriela had never seen one.
Bianca and Anton always wore small wristwatches and told Muriela the time whenever she asked, but large clocks like the ones in the shop were something Solinor had never seen.
Just as Muriela, with her cute little steps that seemed to make sound effects like tap-tap-tap, started running toward the shop—
“Muriela! Wait!”
“Take it slow!”
“Murie-nuna!”
While the startled royals called out to Princess Muriela, a figure darted out like lightning from the group of guards and blocked her path.
“It’s dangerous to run off alone!”
It was Sir Hamilton.
He swiftly caught Muriela, who was about to lose her balance after being startled by someone suddenly blocking her, and ensured no one around witnessed the incident before quickly returning her to the other royals and resuming his post.
Solinor was taken aback.
‘’I can’t believe I didn’t sense someone approaching me!’
It seemed that switching bodies had stripped him of his warrior instincts.
Muriela walked up to Sir Hamilton, who was standing among the guards.
“Your name is Sir Hamilton, correct?”
“Yes.”
Sir Hamilton was inwardly worried that he might be scolded by the young princess. Children, especially those of high status like Princess Muriela, often tended to be self-centered.
Even when taking the best measures for their safety, it wasn’t rare for knights to face unexpected rebuke and subsequent consequences for mysterious reasons.
If their actual employers, the parents, understood, that was fortunate, but it wasn’t always the case.
This was why protecting young nobles, despite its high pay, wasn’t a highly favored assignment in the industry.
It was best to work with adults. Well, that also varied. However, what came out of Princess Muriela’s small, adorable lips was unexpected for Sir Hamilton.
“I was so excited that I didn’t even realize I was running. I’m really sorry. I’ll be more careful next time.”
And she even bowed her head to apologize!
It was a grave breach of etiquette for a royal to bow while others stood. Even though he knew the royal outing was a secret and shouldn’t draw attention, this was unavoidable.
Sir Hamilton hurriedly dropped to one knee to counter her bow-attack before it was too late, though he was so flustered that his response was slightly delayed.
“…No need for such words. It is my duty to protect you. Please feel at ease.”
“Yes. Thank you, Sir Hamilton.”
Solinor was sincere. With his danger-sensing ability and physical skills gone, having guards was essential! Honestly, if he’d run off on his own and no one had stopped him, what if he’d been attacked or even just fallen?
But why was Sir Hamilton still on his knee? Muriela, staring blankly in embarrassment, was rescued by Queen Elodia.
“Muriela, in situations like this, you need to tell him to stand.”
‘Ah, so that’s how it works now. Strange new etiquette rules must’ve developed after I died.’
“You may rise, Sir Hamilton.”
After Sir Hamilton stood up, Queen Elodia whispered to Muriela.
“The fact that the royals are on an outing is a secret, so we shouldn’t draw attention with such behavior.”
Only then could the group resume walking.
“Sis Murie, you shouldn’t run off like that!”
“Didn’t you get scolded by Mother the last time you ran off alone?”
“You too, Adeline!”
Solinor smiled as he listened to Kasper and Adeline’s cute argument, only to suddenly recall the true purpose of today’s outing and realize his mistake.
‘Just wandering around looking for capable people? How would that work?’
Full of enthusiasm but lacking knowledge and plans, Muriela’s outing-cum-talent search—how would it turn out?
—
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