Chapter 03
Oh, oppa….”
Princess Melissa looked up at her older brother with a tear-stained face.
“I’m sorry….”
“….”
Grand Duke Karditsa turned his body.
“My sister has caused you trouble. We will compensate you immediately. Please let my attendant know.”
“It’s alright, Your Highness.”
The Duchess of Bayreuth, approaching with several maids, spoke up.
“It wasn’t anything particularly precious, so please don’t worry. I’m more concerned that the princess might have been hurt.”
“She’s not hurt.”
Grand Duke Karditsa replied in an openly displeased tone.
“But compensation is only proper, isn’t it?”
“We are not so impoverished that we cannot afford a single handicraft. Please think of it as a gift we would have given anyway. After all, it was just recently the princess’s birthday.”
“That’s true.”
Grand Duke Karditsa let out a sigh.
“When will she ever grow up… Melissa, please behave yourself. Is that so hard, hm?”
…Something was strange.
At first glance, it seemed like a normal situation: a guardian at a loss over a child’s accident.
But considering Princess Melissa’s status, this was clearly not an ordinary situation.
Whether illegitimate or not, noble children are raised from a very young age with strict etiquette training.
But looking at Princess Melissa’s accidents and her reactions, she simply didn’t seem like a ten-year-old noble girl.
‘What on earth…?’
Just as I was bewildered, something even stranger happened.
“Waaah!”
Princess Melissa’s lips trembled, and with a pale, frightened face, she burst into tears and ran away, pushing through the crowd.
“…Sigh.”
Grand Duke Karditsa pressed his forehead and silently went off to find his sister.
Now people began openly whispering about Princess Melissa and her strange behavior.
“Just as you’d expect from a bastard…”
“Not all bastards are like that. I’d say she was just born a bit lacking.”
“She looks perfectly fine on the outside. Poor Grand Duke. Even with all that wealth and power, if his own flesh and blood is like that, he won’t sleep easy.”
“And finding her a marriage partner will be difficult. I’d bet my watch that she’ll become a burden to the ducal house.”
…That was enough.
Afraid my ears would rot if I listened any longer, I quickly walked away.
‘The balcony… Ah, this way.’
I found a small balcony and opened the door without thinking.
I shouldn’t have.
“Darling… more, mm, right there…!”
Bang!
As soon as I saw something I shouldn’t have, I immediately slammed the door shut.
‘What are they doing in someone else’s house…?’
And not just any house, but a duke’s residence.
I suppressed the urge to wash my eyes and headed toward another balcony.
This time, before I even opened the door, I heard a voice so deep and affectionate it made my ears rot.
“Honey, isn’t the moon beautiful?”
…It’s taken, it’s taken.
I was trudging back to the ballroom when—
“Uh, Mommy… Daddy…”
From beyond another balcony door, I heard a child sobbing.
Without thinking, I opened the door.
I thought the child, who seemed to have come with her parents, might be lost, and I intended to help find them.
But then.
‘…!’
A face covered in tears and snot, red, bloodshot eyes, small trembling shoulders.
This little girl, panicking and crying her eyes out, was none other than Princess Melissa.
Now, here’s the problem.
In a situation where I don’t even know which story I’ve possessed, what’s the best way to deal with a princess who is clearly one of the key characters?
Options:
- Quietly close the door and pretend I didn’t see anything.
- Comfort the child and step into a troublesome quagmire.
The correct answer is obviously number 1.
“Hic, huuuh… huaaah…”
But unfortunately, I’m not cold-hearted enough to abandon a crying child and run away.
Especially one who’s crying so hard she can barely breathe.
I carefully approached the child and knelt to meet her eye level.
Princess Melissa looked startled but still couldn’t stop crying.
“Hic, huuuh… uuuh…”
“Breathe.”
I gently held the child’s shoulders and patted her back to calm her trembling body.
“Hic, sob, I can’t stop…”
“Yes, you can.”
I said firmly.
“Shall we do it together? Breathe in… one, two, three. Breathe out… one, two, three.”
Fortunately, Melissa followed my lead, and her crying gradually subsided.
She had been crying so hard that she might have collapsed from exhaustion, so I felt relieved.
Then—
“Wh-who…?”
Melissa finally seemed curious about who I was.
I handed the princess my handkerchief and spoke.
“My name is Tessa Harrington. I’m the Deputy Director of the Child Protection Agency.”
The child snatched the handkerchief, blew her nose loudly, and answered in a choked voice.
“…Don’t know.”
“It means I’m someone who meets many young friends like you, Princess.”
I put on the kindest smile I could while lying through my teeth.
I thought to myself that this hollow title was useful for once, but only for a moment.
“…Like a kindergarten teacher? I’m not a little kid…”
…What?
For a moment, my heart seemed to stop.
The word “kindergarten” doesn’t exist in this world.
Maybe “nursery,” but not kindergarten.
So what “kindergarten” implies…
My lips moved. I wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
The princess reached out to me with a flustered face.
“I-I’m sorry. I said something strange again, didn’t I? I’m really sorry… I need to forget it quickly. I have to forget everything.”
The child rambled on, and then even stammered as she repeatedly apologized.
“I’m really, really sorry!”
I finally managed to squeeze out my voice.
“You’ve possessed someone too, haven’t you?”
The princess stared at me with wide eyes.
Her small lips fluttered, and then—
“Waaah!”
As if making a mockery of my efforts to calm her down, she burst into tears and threw herself into my arms.
I was flustered but patted the princess’s back. My guess seemed correct, but the princess’s behavior in the ballroom had been nothing like that of a possessor.
And honestly, seeing the princess now, it was the same.
When possessed people meet, shouldn’t they first exchange information and promise to cooperate?
Not just burst into tears and cling to each other.
‘Well, I guess she’s been through a lot. And there is a trope that possessing a child’s body makes you think like a child…’
I stroked the princess’s back and finally calmed her down.
If her crying got any louder and someone burst through the door, it would be a disaster.
“Please calm down. People outside will hear.”
“B-but…”
Princess Melissa whimpered.
“I never thought there would be someone else besides me. I’ve wanted to meet you so much! I’ve been so scared!”
I stared at her intently.
Outwardly she’s a child, but a possessor who lived as a modern person and just possessed someone—not regression or reincarnation—is fundamentally an adult, or at the very least a high school student.
Among all the novels I’ve read, there wasn’t a single protagonist whose pre-possession age was younger than high school.
I myself had been diligently attending high school before possessing someone.
No matter how much the mind follows the body, acting so helplessly like a child is not good for her own sake.
“First, calm down. Just because you possessed a ten-year-old doesn’t mean you have to act like one. Speaking of which, how old are you actually? I possessed someone when I was exactly eighteen.”
Whether adult or high schooler, if she realizes that her real mental age is not that of a child, her condition would improve significantly.
But things didn’t go as I thought at all.
Princess Melissa stared at me, her lips twitching, and then a sobbing voice emerged from her small mouth.
“I’m… in third grade of elementary school, unnie in high school…”
