#061. Why Don’t You Open Your Eyes Now, Sleeping Beauty
Time passes as swiftly as flowing water. Close your eyes once and open them again, and ten years have gone by.
“Even if you blink a hundred times, this still won’t turn into a dream. So how about opening your eyes now, Sleeping Beauty?”
Not that I ever wished it were a dream. Maybe I kept my eyes closed a bit too long—there was a gentle touch tapping the back of my hand as if nudging me to wake.
When I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the Archduke’s hand. Following the long, jointed fingers upward, I met eyes that were peering down at me.
Clear and blue like water. And in stark contrast, hair blazing red like fire. Just like ten years ago.
The changes had occurred elsewhere. His voice, once barely distinguishable from a girl’s, had deepened considerably, and his jawline had sharpened.
His eyes had grown sharper, his limbs longer—now a full hand-span taller than me. He stood a whole head above me.
Ah, how truly water-like time is. It flows swiftly, unnoticed, but its accumulated weight inevitably leaves marks—like rocks hollowed beneath a waterfall.
“…I wasn’t exactly asleep. Just thinking how quickly time flies,”
I murmured, dazed, as I looked down at my hand resting beneath the Archduke’s.
I had thought my hands had grown, but underneath his, they looked small once again. Odd, that.
Even though I was the one practicing martial arts, and the Archduke hadn’t undergone any training aside from basic self-defense, his hand had stronger bones and more prominent joints. Definitely a boy’s hand.
Not that he ever didn’t seem like a boy, but if he had been a ‘boy’ before, he now felt distinctly like a ‘young man.’
In my previous life, I’d only ever raised daughters—my younger sibling was a girl, too. So this was my first time watching a boy grow up beside me. The emotions were… unique.
Especially since I had my own body growing beside his to compare with. Boys and girls really are different.
“Getting sentimental about the passage of time? That’s a bit much for escapism.”
The Archduke chided lightly, withdrawing his hand.
Hmm, but I wasn’t trying to escape reality. Still, I didn’t think he’d believe me if I said so, so I shifted the conversation back to the topic.
“So you’re saying there are fresh rumors about discord between us again?”
It was honestly exhausting.
Though not officially announced, I was basically recognized as the Archduchess-to-be. It had been ten years since we first became childhood playmates, and yet some people still insisted we didn’t get along.
At this point, I felt like applauding their persistence—even if I were the one being slandered.
“Exactly,”
The Archduke replied, clearing his throat again. Was this the age when boys’ voices started changing? His now deeper tone echoed across the table.
“It’s a bit embarrassing, but I’d really like to squash those rumors before our engagement is publicly announced. Would you mind helping me with that?”
Of course I didn’t. After all, rumors about discord with me didn’t actually hurt him. The fact that he was going out of his way to settle them only proved he cared. So why would I object?
“Of course. But what can I do to help?”
At this point, weren’t the people spreading these stories just determined to stay blind? No matter what we did?
Sure, seven years ago when the Archduke ignored me for a month, we might have seemed a little distant. But ever since his proposal, we’d been flaunting our closeness—having weekly tea time together at the Archduke’s Starlight Palace, even.
Granted, that wasn’t only to flaunt. The Archduke had grown sick of the Jasper Palace, filled wall-to-wall with laboratories.
Unlike Jasper Palace—where the only private space was my bedroom—the Starlight Palace had accessible gardens and parlors where we could spend time together.
Today, as usual, we were having tea in the garden.
After showering me with flowers all this time, I was starting to suspect it was he who liked them more than I did. His palace garden was truly a sight to behold.
Seasonal flowers bloomed so extravagantly that even if I visited every week, it always felt like a different place. Apart from winter—when the cold made flowers wither—we both preferred to drink tea outdoors.
Currently, it was early spring, and rapeseed flowers were in bloom.
During these tea times, the most beautiful, freshest bloom of the day would be placed at the center of the table. Since rapeseed flowers were small, today’s arrangement included five blossoms bundled together.
I idly toyed with the flawless petals—so perfect they could be mistaken for artificial—and voiced the core issue.
“Even after ten years of closeness, if people still whisper about us not getting along, wouldn’t they just keep talking no matter what we do?”
If, after all our efforts, the rumors persisted—wasn’t it better to just ignore them altogether?
There were always people whispering behind your back. But if they didn’t have the guts to say it to your face, wasn’t that all it amounted to?
Even in my past life, there had been tension between my family and His Majesty’s. When I first pledged loyalty to the Emperor, many opposed the idea of someone from my house being appointed.
At first, they mocked me openly.
Later, they stopped addressing me directly and resorted to petitions—until even that stopped.
Not because they changed their minds. My accomplishments didn’t erase past grievances. The fault had never been mine, but my family’s.
But eventually, they shut up. Without a single apology or hint of reflection.
Which showed they never really thought my family was the issue.
They just wanted an excuse to keep me in check. If they’d truly believed it was serious, they would’ve kept submitting those petitions despite the risk.
That’s the nature of most slander. If they think they can get away with it, they run their mouths. If not, they stay silent. Whether we explain ourselves or not doesn’t matter.
With that in mind, why bother caring about petty gossip?
Still, the Archduke seemed to think differently.
“If the rumors had started naturally, I’d agree with you. But this time, it’s different. There’s a group actively stirring things up.”
“Even now?”
“Precisely because it’s now.”
He took the rapeseed flower from my hand, trimmed the stem, and tucked it behind my ear.
This guy really does love giving me fresh flowers. Just how far back does he intend to relive our first meeting?
“Everyone knows we’re going to be engaged.”
Ah. So those who scoffed at the idea of a powerless hostage from a minor nation becoming the Archduchess are now scrambling to spread rumors because it’s suddenly becoming real.
“Normally, baseless rumors would fade on their own, but this time, unfortunate timing and convenient ‘firewood’ are fueling it.”
Even someone like me, ignorant of imperial noble gossip, could guess what that “firewood” was. Seems a juicy opportunity finally fell into the laps of those waiting for one.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“Like I said at the start—it’s not your fault.”
The Archduke was firm, but I still couldn’t lift my head.
The root of the issue traced back to a tea party hosted by House Martina.
After that day, I took on the role of building bridges between imperial nobles and the peace delegation—to help broaden scholars’ networks.
I arranged for scholars with similar research interests to meet in mixed gatherings.
It was a win-win. The empire benefited from incorporating talented scholars more smoothly into academia, and the peace envoys gained access to valuable research resources.
But the friendships didn’t stop at the scholarly level, as I originally intended.
Over the past three years, the peace envoys—regardless of their countries of origin—had formed a close-knit community.
This, too, was rooted in the social circle I created when I first sought to impress the Emperor.
That circle allowed the envoys to grow closer to each other. And with me acting as a bridge, they soon connected with imperial nobles, until the entire peace delegation had ties to the Empire’s aristocracy.
Originally, I only introduced researchers to the nobles, but within a year, all the envoys had formed connections.
Which wasn’t a problem in itself. Despite travel restrictions within the capital, the Empire didn’t want to keep the hostages locked up like prisoners.
The problem arose when an affair blossomed between a peace envoy and an imperial noble.
—(Translation continues into the next chapter)—
Let me know if you’d like the rest translated!
