"Well then, allow me to introduce myself again."
Within Lucy's room, the princess happily smiled like she was enjoying the current situation and so addressed Shien.
"I am Liadella Mitra. Although it's something that I'll be handing to Lucy sooner or later, but for now, I'm basically the first princess and inheritor of the throne. Go ahead and call me Lia."
The first princess of the kingdom said so happily while even winking at Shien. She had a mischievous look on her face, and it must be said that it was pretty cute.
"… I'm Shien. Please take care of me, your highness."
Shien answered listlessly.
"You can just call me Lia." The princess however didn't let him off at all and happily spoke, "There's no need to hold back now. Since Lucy is already having you call her by her nickname, if you end up treating me differently, I'm going to be unhappy you know?"
In response, Shien wanted to roll his eyes, but he refrained from actually act so casually.
That's because standing behind Lia was that cold female knight who was glaring at Shien the whole time. It was like she was silently warning him to not act rude toward Lia, and Shien really didn't want to provoke her.
The main reason for that is because it'd be troublesome.
On the other hand, Lia herself didn't seem to notice that at all, and she was still teasing Shien and trying to make him call her directly by name.
Lucy, who couldn't just keep watching, ended up speaking up.
"Big sis Lia, you are at least the princess, so can you please not tease people so casually like that? If someone really did take you seriously and thought that it would let them get close to you, then Charl is going to go out of control again." Lucy sighed and, as if the two of them had switched places when it came to who the elder sister is, started lecturing her, "Also, that bit about handing to me sooner or later is unnecessary. Elder sister will always be the first successor to the throne, the future queen of the Kingdom, so please don't just casual try to hand something like that off."
Lucy's word not only did not manage to douse Lia's spirits, but instead even got her to puff up her cheeks.
"But all the nobles of the Kingdom thinks that you're better suited to be queen than me." Lia spoke like she's mad, "Plus, with your terrifying popularity, everyone will support you. There's no one who will support me taking the throne you know."
"That's just others' own baseless thoughts." Lucy's attitude was indifferent, "I myself had already made my will clear. I won't go to the divine realm and become a resident there, nor do I wish to succeed the throne and become the queen."
"But that's just Lucy's own baseless thoughts though, right?" Lia turned to Lucy and said, "Everyone believes that this is just some temporary stubbornness from you. They're still just waiting for your mind to clear some point."
"That's just too bad for them then, because my mind has been very clear the whole time." Lucy spoke without even thinking about it, "Thus, I will be disappointing everyone in the end."
"You really are stubborn. Even though the past Lucy would realize everyone's expectations no matter what, so why can't you just be good and listen when it's on such an important matter?" Lia sighed before turning to Shien like she was trying to get help, "Sir Shien thinks to too, right? That girl has always been really stubborn on this you know?"
Shien let out a few dry laughs. He glanced over to the calm looking Lucy while furiously muttering in his head.
(That's not stubbornness. No, that slacker's afraid.)
Even though Lucy was currently doing a good job of pretending to be cool and calm, Shien knows. That woman is definitely rolling about and objecting with all her might in her mind.
Originally, the princess who tried to fulfill everyone's expectations had already become stressed enough, but if she really ended up as the queen or a resident of the divine realm to live among the goddesses, then wouldn't that be a super crisis for that princess?
If she became queen, then there would simply be even more expectations piled on her. She might even be weighed down by some major expectations like leading Kingdom to be the greatest in the world. That's something that would definitely end up making her throw up blood.
Becoming a resident in the divine realm needs even less explaining. If she was forced to maintain her image among the goddesses at all time, then she'd be unable to show her true self or eat any of her favorite deserts. If that happened, that brat would definitely end up collapsing.
Thus, the princess panicked. She's afraid. She just plain doesn't dare to accept any of those things, right?
Shien saw through Lucy's inner thoughts, and his gaze toward her became even more scornful.
Lucy seemed to have discovered Shien's thoughts, so she glared back without showing a trace to anyone else like she was saying something like "you try it then".
Shien naturally wouldn't bother spoiling the brat, so he just directly gave her a kick under the table.
"…!"
Lucy nearly yelled out in pain, only barely managing to hold it in. Then she gave a kick right back in embarrassment and anger.
But Shien was ready for that, and he caught her foot.
With that, Lucy was no longer able to move, so she could only pick up her red tea while grinding her teeth and take a huge gulp as if trying to hide something with that action. Such inelegant motions ended up even giving Charl, the cold knight standing guard behind Lia, quite the scare.
"Hehe."
Lia on the other hand just observed Shien and Lucy as they acted a bit strangely. Although she didn't discover the battle between the two under the table, she was sharp enough to notice that the two would communicate with their eyes every once in a while, so she started giggling happily.
It was like she found something very interesting and fun.
"Alright, fine. It's not like I can convince you. There's also father and Aldia around anyways. When it comes to the matter of the succession, they'll definitely bother you over it." Lia's pretty eyes shifted like she had calculated the exact right time and suddenly spoke, "That said, I am very interested in the relationship between the two of you, you know? How about telling me about it?"
Lia's words not only made Lucy stop her tea drinking, it also seemed to have attracted the attention of the cold knight named Charl behind her.
Shien continued to act like he's mute. He isn't saying a thing, so as to avoid ending up as collateral.
In the end, this question could only be answered by Lucy.
"Big sis Lia, can you stop acting so curious?" Lucy showed a rare dissatisfied expression to an outsider and spoke, "My relationship with Shien is quite normal, and that's one between friends who get along relatively well. I hope that you won't act like those nobles who make those wild predictions and guesses. I'm begging you here."
It seems that this princess does have a bit of self-awareness after all. She knows well that her special treatment of Shien had already made many nobles start guessing all sorts of things. They had even started taking certain actions as well.
Since even those nobles are doing such things, Lia, as a royal, would definitely be no exception. Especially given that the person in question is her overly talented little sister.
Thus, Lia spoke very bluntly. "It's because Lucy had never been so close to anyone of the opposite gender. Believe me, it's not just me and those nobles. Even father is also paying attention to this matter."
As Lia said that, she looked toward Shien and spoke meaningfully.
"Plus, I'm pretty curious too. Just what's so special about an adventurer that could catch my Lucy's eyes."
"Don't go telling me that it's just because you defeated Old Demon Faction members like Baydr and Jillian now?"
"If you want to gain the recognition of my overly talented little sister, that much is nowhere near enough."
With those words, the atmosphere in the room changed somewhat.
It became tense and somewhat strange.
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