ODBP 06

Chapter 6

Walking endlessly through the flower field, I happened to look up without a second thought and found myself somewhere I’d never seen before. The palace grounds were so vast that you could never tell where one end met the other, but this was especially disorienting. Worse still, I hadn’t walked in a straight line, so there was no way to retrace my steps.

For the first time since arriving in this world, I was lost.

O-okay, calm down. The palace is enormous, so no matter which direction I look, I should be able to see it. And sure enough, my thinking was right.

The moment I lifted my gaze, I spotted the outer walls of the palace not too far away. Clutching an armful of wildflowers, I broke into a run.

“What’s this?”

But the place I arrived at wasn’t the Ruby Palace. Not a single soul in sight—not even a strand of hair. It was as quiet as my own residence. No, even quieter! Much, much emptier.

Is this place abandoned? It seems to be cleaned, but why isn’t there even a single mouse scurrying about? I only wanted to pick a single flower, but somehow I’ve ended up at a different palace. How absurd.

Oh, but wait. An unused palace, you say?

“Hoh?”

My eyes suddenly lit up. If no one uses it, then couldn’t I use it myself?

I’d been agonizing over the lack of a good hiding spot for my escape funds, and this felt like destiny. Until now, I’d been stashing them little by little inside the Ruby Palace, but that had its limits. Plus, something about Lily going to see the head maid today left me with a bad feeling.

I quietly held my breath and carefully surveyed the interior of the palace. Then, tiptoeing silently, I began to move.

After a brief investigation, I confirmed that while the palace was clean, not even an ant dared come near it. It was probably one of the palaces used during the previous emperor’s reign, now ownerless and only occasionally maintained.

That meant I only had to be careful when the palace staff came to clean. And the distance from my palace seemed close enough. As expected, my luck is incredible. And so, this abandoned palace became my new hideout.

Thinking it over, I’m pretty sure I died four years ago from accidentally taking the wrong sleeping pills. It was the middle of winter, and my room had no heating, so maybe I froze to death? Kheukh. Well, anyway, I was a penniless orphan, so it’s not like I had any lingering attachments or regrets about my previous life. Even if someone offered to send me back right now, I’d absolutely, definitely refuse.

Honestly, if I set aside that darn novel and think about it calmly, where else could you find such a paradise on earth? Food would come regularly without me lifting a finger, I could eat and play all day without needing to earn money, and I had a house (sort of) in my name.

On top of that, maybe it’s a possession buff, but I was able to learn the language here easily.

“Lil! Lee!”

I beamed, holding up a piece of paper covered in crooked handwriting. In this world, the education level is low, so it’s apparently not unusual to start learning letters at my age.

My goal was to live quietly and unobtrusively, so I thought this was good enough. But when I first showed my writing early last year, it was a complete disaster. Lily and the other maids were astonished, looking at me as if I were a century’s genius.

“Our brilliant princess.”

After that, they started giving me proper early education. Whether my “brilliance” sparked some kind of educational fervor, the older maids who usually doted on me began teaching me basic etiquette and proper penmanship.

I found out later that nobles in this world normally begin serious studies at around age eight.

“I’m so happy to be by Princess Atanasia’s side.”

I felt a twinge of guilt being treated like a genius by people who didn’t know I was just a possessed soul. But it’s not like I intended this! So I’ve been desperately trying to appear dull—deliberately making spelling mistakes, spilling tea, and so on. It doesn’t seem to be working, though. Ugh.

“Ati happy to be with Lily too, yay!”

The silver lining is that the Ruby Palace is isolated from the outside, so my news is unlikely to leak out. That’s a great relief.

Because I’m not going to meet Claude in the imperial garden at age nine like the Atanasia in the novel! I’ll pack my fortune early and get out of here before I turn eighteen!

Eugh, I’ll avoid that bastard Claude no matter what. I don’t know where it is, but I won’t even glance at the Imperial Palace. Then again, it’s where the emperor lives, so it must be an incredibly splendid palace, right? I’ll just avoid the most grandiose and glittery place.

“Princess, shall I bring you some milk?”

“Yes! Don’t like cold!”

“All right, I’ll warm it up for you.”

After Lily left the room, I sprang up from where I’d been lying on the floor scribbling letters.

Then I pulled out two pouches I’d hidden under my bed and began to move.

Inside the pouches I’d wheedled out of Hanna were my escape funds. Gems that had been stuck to palace walls or statues, and gold pieces I’d been prying off little by little. After dividing them into roughly equal weights to balance the pouches, I quickly lifted my skirt.

There appeared my cute toddler underwear in the shape of pumpkin-like pants.

Before Lily returned, I hurriedly began tying the pouch strings around my thighs. I’d deliberately asked for hot milk to buy time, but I wasn’t exactly leisurely.

Hnngh. Why won’t this tie properly? After racking my brain, I’d concluded that this was the only way to sneak my precious treasures out of the palace without Lily or the other maids noticing.

“There!”

After fumbling with my little hands to tie the knots, I stood up. It was pretty heavy for this young body, but that couldn’t be helped. If I made a few trips like this, I’d probably be able to move all my stashed funds safely in no time.

Oh, and the reason Lily went to see the head maid recently was because she’s planning a thorough cleaning of my palace soon. She’d been wanting to for a while, and now that I’m somewhat older, she figured it was time to tidy up the residence. Of course, the strict head maid wasn’t going to provide extra staff for me and the maids, but according to palace rules, Lily still had to inform her.

Hearing Lily’s explanation, I felt a chill run down the back of my neck. And I decided to move my plan up a little.

So today, I intended to sneak out of the palace under the excuse of naptime. I’d secretly observed that Lily never came into my room while I was napping.

Probably because she knew that once I fell asleep, I wouldn’t open my eyes until someone woke me.

“Princess, sweet dreams.”

Today, once I seemed to be breathing softly in sleep, Lily kissed my cheek and quietly left the room. I lay still for a moment, listening at the door, then slowly opened my eyes.

Oww. My legs are killing me from the pouches pressing into them. Since everything inside is hard and angular, I’ve probably got marks on my skin. It’s so hard to safely transport my precious treasures.

Click.

I slipped out of the door as quietly as possible. Thanks to knowing the maids’ work hours and routes, I managed to reach the garden without being spotted—just as I’d simulated in my head many times.

But honestly, aside from Lily, the other maids were easy to sweet-talk, so getting caught wouldn’t have been a big deal. I hurried across the flower field. I’d already scouted the path last time, so I knew which direction to walk to reach the palace I’d seen then.

Still, running with this young body, weighed down with bundles, was no easy feat.

By the time I reached my destination, I was completely exhausted and panting. Worse, the legs with the pouches tied to them were trembling. Ha, damn. I feel like my legs are going to give out. But I only had two hours, so I couldn’t afford to rest.

“Hnngh.”

First, I untied the strings from my legs and dashed to the spot I’d picked out earlier. Hiding the money inside the building might cause problems later when I needed to retrieve it, so I planned to bury it outdoors—specifically in a secluded, thickly wooded back garden.

I pushed through the bushes, looking for a suitable place to bury the pouches. But there was a problem.

I didn’t have any tool to dig with! Since it hadn’t rained in a while, the ground was rock-hard, impossible for my soft little hands to break. Besides, if my hands got dirty with soil, Lily would surely notice. What should I do?

After groaning and agonizing for a bit, I finally hid my precious treasures deep inside the bushes and turned away. I’d have to come back tomorrow and bury them properly. I’ll ask Hanna for a toy gardening trowel or something. At least on the way back, without the burden, I could run a bit lighter.

On the way to my room, I made eye contact with a maid passing in the distance and nearly had a heart attack, but she seemed to just think I’d come out to play. Good thing I’d been running around busily all this time. By the time I returned to my room and lay down, I was completely wiped out.

Huff, huff. Oh my, I’m dying.

Click.

“Princess, it’s time to wake up.”

“Mmm, mm.”

A genuine groan of exhaustion escaped me. Lily seemed to think I was just fussing in my sleep.

“Huh? Why are you sweating so much?”

At Lily’s startled voice, I flinched. As expected, a perfect crime was too much to hope for.

“You might have a slight fever. Are you feeling unwell…?”

“Mmm, room hot. Sunny and hot.”

At my words, Lily glanced around the room, then wiped the sweat from my forehead with her hand and said,

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll open the window or draw the curtains. Summer must be coming early. Your room faces south, so the sunlight is indeed strong.”

“Ati want milk. Cold milk, please.”

“You already had some before your nap.”

But even as she said that, Lily left the room to fetch me some cool milk. The moment I was alone, I collapsed completely