Chapter: 13
I stopped in my tracks.
Realizing he was pointing at my sky-blue collar, I puffed out my cheeks in annoyance.
“It’s not a bib—it’s a collar. It’s supposed to represent the sky. The dress is a flower, and the socks were supposed to be grass, but there wasn’t any green, so Zenda said they could be snow-covered grass.”
“The stars… Then why are your shoes pitch black?”
Oh, Uncle.
You really don’t know?
You seriously have no sense of fashion whatsoever.
Ignoring the way his face scrunched up, I focused on explaining.
“Uncle, you don’t even know that? They’re dirt. You need dirt for grass and flowers to grow.”
“So your hair is a raincloud?”
“…”
I froze mid-step, stunned by his words.
…H-How could he say something so cruel?
“Go back and tell Zenda to dress you properly.”
Properly?
But it’s so pretty!
I stomped my foot angrily.
“I-I’m wearing this. She said as long as I bring a handkerchief and wear my bag properly, I can wear whatever I want.”
“Sure. Do whatever you want.”
Even then, he still looked completely uninterested. Curling his finger, he beckoned me closer.
“Uncle, did you see the present I gave you yesterday?”
“You think I did?”
“Huh? I asked Leto to put it on your desk. You didn’t see it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I did.”
Afraid it had been lost before he even saw it, I bounced anxiously on my feet.
“Make sure you look for it later, okay? I told him to put it right in the middle of your desk. It’s a square box with blue, purple, and yellow on it.”
“I’ll think about it.”
His tone was as irritating as ever, but today Uncle looked incredibly cool.
His uniform was similar to the one Mom used to wear to work every day, except it had a lot more decorations on it.
As I walked up to him, he hung something around my neck.
“Uncle, what’s this?”
I looked up at him with wide eyes.
The thing he gave me before we left for the Imperial Palace was a necklace.
But it was a very strange necklace.
Attached to it was a long rectangular gold plate almost as big as both of my palms put together, with something engraved on it.
Cassel de Reguire
Written in huge letters.
What in the world was this?
It wasn’t even my name.
“…That’s your name, Uncle.”
And why was a necklace this huge?
I could only stare at it in confusion, but Uncle simply tapped the necklace bearing his own name with a finger, looking completely satisfied.
“Anyone in the Empire with eyes should know my name.”
“…”
“Just because you’re wearing that doesn’t mean you can go charging around like a little mutt. If anyone gives you trouble, show them this. Don’t go making a headache for other people.”
Holding the flat rectangular pendant, I looked back and forth between it and my uncle.
This is basically a dog tag…
“Uncle.”
“What.”
“…I’m embarrassed to wear this.”
I’m not a puppy, so why do I have to wear something like this?
I’d gone through all the effort of dressing nicely, but now all anyone would notice was this giant shiny gold necklace.
“You’re the one who keeps causing trouble and making life difficult for everyone.”
“I won’t cause any trouble. Then can I take it off?”
“No.”
“Aww…”
“Go finish getting ready in your room. We’re leaving.”
“I’m already ready.”
“Then follow Gerard and wait by the carriage.”
“…I really have to wear this?”
Seriously?
I really don’t want to.
I’d dressed up so nicely—what is this?
I tried everything I could to persuade him, but he warned that if I took it off, he’d hang an even bigger one on my back.
So I clamped my mouth shut.
Still… it was better than the giant golden turtle.
With no other choice, I wore the oversized gold necklace and headed toward the carriage.
It kept swinging around and clanking against me with every step.
It felt like everyone was staring at me, including Zenda, who was coming along with us.
After helping me into the carriage, Zenda said she would follow behind and told me to have lots of fun talking with Uncle.
I wished Zenda would ride with me, but it seemed she was too scared to share a carriage with Uncle.
A moment later, Uncle climbed aboard, and the carriage set off.
It rolled slowly through the garden before picking up speed as soon as it reached the road.
Fresh green leaves rushed past us in a blur.
The sun had climbed high into the sky, and even though the windows were closed, it somehow felt like I could smell sunshine and fresh grass.
I pressed my hand against the window, trying to catch the fluffy white clouds faithfully following us.
“Uncle, do you work at the Imperial Palace too, like Mom did?”
“No.”
“But Mom went to the Imperial Palace every day.”
“That’s because she was the Chancellor.”
A question suddenly came to mind.
Who was doing Mom’s job now that she was gone?
“Then who’s doing Mom’s work now?”
“The old man’s handling it temporarily.”
I whipped my head away from the window.
“Grandpa?”
“Yeah.”
Then Grandpa must be busy too.
Whenever I asked him to play with me, he always made time.
Come to think of it, there were mornings when he wasn’t there when I woke up, but whenever I looked for him, he would appear before long.
Grandpa must be someone who could work even faster than Mom.
“Then will I get to see Grandpa today?”
“You probably will.”
The moment I heard that, I wished the carriage would go even faster.
