Adel looked at me with uncertain eyes before lowering her head. She played with her fingers for a minute as if lost in thought. "You are the first…. From the moment we met, you have not treated me special at all. You treated me as if I was a normal girl without much concern for doctrine. As you may have guessed, I am not some ordinary girl. I am none other than Princess Adellia Gravos. I am the first and only princess of the royal family. When I first heard my father speaking about you, I instantly wished to get to know you more. A girl my age who was able to fell multiple armies of an enemy nation and did so without asking for anything in return. When I thought about the courage that it must have taken to confront such an adversary, I wondered if I would ever have to make such a choice in my life. If I could do what you did.
"When I found out that my father wished to reward you by giving you a chance to join the royal academy, I begged for him to let me be the one to see you in person. I begged and even made my case saying that since you were a young girl having some ugly old man show up would make you feel uncomfortable. It was only then that he finally allowed me to make the trip to go to your house.
"When I saw you for the first time, I watched as you laid on the stone wall without a care in the world chewing on a blade of grass. The sight alone tickled me slightly and made me giggle. It was then that I thought to myself. Wouldn't it be nice if I could have a friend like this who was so carefree. A true friend….
"Faith, you might not believe it, but as someone who is a princess, I should have girls my age flocking to my side wanting to be my friend…." I watched as Adel's expression turned to one of self deprecation. She gave me a forced smile as she continued: "But you know…. Each one of those girls does not care a wink about me. They care about my status. They care about propping their family up and getting a higher rank. They care about using my royal status to bully those as they want. And then get angry when I tell them to never do such acts again.
"I am someone who loves the people of the Gravos Kingdom. I love each and every person in it as it is what allows the kingdom to flourish. Whether it is demi human or human, each one plays an important role in our economy and allows our kingdom to stand tall amongst those who wish to see it fall.
"But even so... I do not wish to be treated like a princess. I do not need fake friends. I only need a single true friend and nothing more. I am sorry for keeping my title a secret, but I did not wish for you to change your attitude about me due to my status. I just wished for us to be true friends, someone I could confide in and who would confide in me.
"I will understand if you do not wish to be friends with me anymore after this. But I hope you will mophh…" I placed my finger on Adel's lips before pulling her into a hug. A person in high standing is not always happy. Only having those around you who only care about using you is never fun. I can feel Adel's sincerity. I can hear the cries from the bottom of her heart that are asking for someone to truly be her friend. Someone she can trust and rely on.
"Then, Adel, let me reintroduce myself." I pulled away from Adel and took a step back, and bowed my head slightly. "My name is Faith Cyrilia. I am nothing more than a farmer's daughter from the border village of Cyrilia. Born and raised by two wonderful parents. I hope on this day the two of us can truly become friends."
Adel's eyes were staring at me in disbelief before a smile finally formed on her lips. She then pulled the hem of her skirt into a curtsey and bowed her head to me. "Miss Faith, my name is Princess Adellia Gravos. First Princess of the Gravos Kingdom. I may be royalty, but I do hope you will treat me as a normal girl and will become my true friend."
"Hehe, you can count on me!" I smiled and pulled Adel's hand. My worries about before were completely gone. I did not see a princess in front of me but a true friend that I can rely on in the future. Her being a princess was only a side bonus. Because I can tell from how Adel acts, that she truly does love the people of this nation and is thinking about how to best benefit the people. If I can help her in this endeavor, then I will do so. I can also tell she is not lying about wanting to be my friend. Some may say I am being too naive but one does not know what is over the hill unless one climbs to the top to see for themselves. I feel being true friends with Adel is worth the risk. The worst thing that can happen is I get mad and blow up the kingdom, right?
Maybe one day, I will tell her about my system and ask her if she is willing to allow me to use my appraisal on her. As of now, I only use it on monsters and plants, but I do wonder what kind of information I will get when used on a human. Maybe their three sizes? I gazed at Adel's chest, then at my own. A sigh escaped my lips as I realized that life may just be unfair after all. I am still growing! But so is Adel!
With our formal introductions now over, Adel chased me to the bathroom so I could wash up, before running off to the kitchen. And I must say the bath in this inn was absolutely amazing. It was just the right temperature, and the hot water was sinking into my bones, causing me to almost pass out from comfort. It had already been well over a week since my last hot bath, so I was a little stinky. And now that I think about it, Adel had been quite close to me. No wonder she was pushing me into the bath so quickly! She must have smelled my stink! Hah…. So embarrassing…. Aw well. Not like I am trying to impress her or anything.
"Faith, I left a nightshirt and some underwear here for you. I do hope they will fit. I am not sure since they are not meant for demi humans." Adel's voice came in from the other side of the door. The bath had a dressing room area where you could change your clothes that was split from the bath area by a door. To be honest with how Adel acted, I expected her to come waltzing in to take a peek. But I guess that only happens in those Japanese light novels back on earth. Not that it matters. I got everything she has, so it's not much to look at unless she had a tail fetish. Rachel had such a fetish…. Would a Princess be willing to shine my scales for me though I wonder….
My mind wandered a bit more before I noticed my fingers pruning, so I decided it was time to get out. I slipped out of the bath and used magic to dry myself off from head to toe before wrapping a towel around me and walking to the dressing room. As Adel said, there was a nightshirt and some underwear for me to wear. Surprisingly the underwear was a lower cut. While I had clothes in my inventory, I remembered what Gesel said about it and decided to just wear what was given to me. I mean, I can not just suddenly pull my travel bag out of nowhere and go: Teehee, I had this the entire time!
Adel was a bright girl, so this would not work on her. So I could only put on the clothes she offered and walk out of the bathroom. Luckily everything fit rather well and even took into account my wings with an open back. Although the back of the nightshirt rose up due to my tail, but there was nothing I could do about that. I mean, when I was in a good mood, my tail would curl up a little and not drag on the floor. Only when my mood was down, did it droop down on its own. My tail seemed to have a mind of its own.
As soon as I opened the door to the bathroom, my nose was filled with the smell of cooked food, and surprisingly it did smell quite good. I guess it goes to show that Adel did have a thing for cooking. "Faith, perfect timing. I was just setting the table, come eat!"
Adel's excited voice filled my ears. She looked much happier than before. Maybe because she was now open about her status? Either way, it was good to see someone as nice as Adel smiling. She reminded me a lot of Jen, my best friend on Earth. Maybe this was why I was starting to feel a kind of kinship with her. At any rate, she is the first friend I have made outside my family. Now let's hope I do not die to her cooking.
