# 45
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“Your Highness.”
Lucio frowned.
Nicholas smiled again as if he understood, then changed the subject and looked at Diana.
“Why don't you say hello now? I'm busy too.”
Lucio had a disapproving expression, but turned his head to look at Diana.
“Diana.”
“Hmm.”
Diana frowned at Lucio's voice, but after spending so much time with the child, she noticed that the child was shy.
I think he didn't grow up with her as much as Aline, she liked Lucio but felt unfamiliar to her.
Lucio didn't care about Diana's reaction and hugged her.
“This is the First Prince, His Highness Nicholas Raxten, greetings.”
Diana must have been afraid of meeting a stranger, so she quickly hung on Lucio's neck.
However, it was really nice to see him nod and say hello.
Nicholas smiled widely as if he had similar thoughts to mine.
"Isn't it really nice? Can't I just hug you once?"
Are you crazy?
“Are you crazy?”
I was shocked.
Because I thought I couldn't hold back the words in my heart and spoke out loud.
Fortunately, it wasn't me who said that.
“Huh, Lucio, no matter how much you treat me like a prince, I can’t say such harsh words...”
Nicholas shook his head with a pitiful expression.
“Why are there all these men?”
I let go of all the tension I felt a moment ago because I was a member of the royal family, and looked at him disapprovingly.
First Prince Nicolas Laxton, the only prince of the Imperial family and the next born after the First Princess, was seventeen, the same age as Lucio, and twelve years older than Diana.
'However, he is an extremely evil thief who was targeting Diana from the future!'
Of course, there was no way he was looking at baby Diana like that now, so maybe he was calling her cute, but he still felt uncomfortable because he looked like a soul thief.
“Go away!”
At that time, Diana must have felt frustrated because Lucio was holding her tightly, so she slapped his arm and screamed.
As soon as Lucio let go of her, Diana immediately ran towards me.
I slowly turned my body as I held Diana as if I was hiding her from Nicholas.
Nicholas laughed at that, but Lucio opened his mouth first.
“If you have seen everything, please leave.”
"What?"
Nicholas seemed puzzled by Lucio's sudden order to congratulate him.
“I just arrived, and you're sending me away without even offering me a cup of tea?”
Nicholas, whose green eyes were sad as if in disbelief, looked extremely pitiful.
Especially if you know how his situation became thanks to the complicated circumstances of the Imperial Palace and his mother's origins.
But to my eyes, he still looked like a thief.
Moreover, although he acted cunningly, calling himf a prince who had been treated badly, I thought that even his slight appearance was not all about him.
“My relationship with Lucio won’t be just friendship either.”
Among the information handled by the Information Guild, the most difficult and valuable is the story of the Imperial Family.
It was important to understand the relationship with high-ranking nobility, the complex power structure, and the political situation.
Terenceum, who was unrivaled in dealing with such information, took notice of Nicholas, who had been excluded from the battle for the throne despite being the only prince born from a humble background.
His ambition, to be precise.
Unlike other royals, Terenceum saw Nicholas's unusual move of entering the academy not simply because he had no desire to become emperor and was trying to find his own way.
In particular, since the person closest to him was Lucio Ellard, there were some suspicions that the Ellard family might be supporting Nicholas behind the scenes.
Of course, with the Emperor Sword, Duke Elad was always in a neutral position and only followed the Emperor's will, so I didn't think much about it.
Therefore, not many people actually cared about Nicholas, and the Empress and First Princess were not wary of him.
'But ever since I became an adult, his movements have become abnormal.'
Nicholas, who had once had an easy-going image, suddenly showed great negotiating skills in disputes with other countries, protected his interests, won public support through relief projects, and eventually fell into the emperor's favour.
At that time, she felt a hidden magical power from Nicholas.
It was a fact I didn't know because in my previous life I had only seen her a few times from afar.
However, since this magical power was processed instead of pure mana, it seemed that a magic item was used.
Considering that the prices of magic tools are astronomical.
“No matter how badly they treat me, I'm still a member of the royal family, right?”
However, because it was captured so well, it was impossible to know what artifact was used.
“Noona....?”
As I stared at Nicholas curiously, Diana suddenly shook my sleeve.
“Hit.”
she suddenly asked Diana, who was frowning as if she didn't like something.
“Noona, my brother is handsome, isn’t he?”
“Huh?”
“Kkk haha, Diana, you are asking the obvious.”
Allen made a strange expression as he tried to hold back his laughter.
Diana seems to be dying of happiness.
Meanwhile, Allen looked at me as if he was waiting for my answer and was about to answer with a cold expression on his face.
“Noona, oppa...”
Diana whined and shook Lucio's sleeve.
“Diana!”
Allen, realizing it wasn't him, clutched his chest with a shocked face.
However, there was no change in the expression on Lucio's face as he was held in Diana's hands.
“Huh? My brother is handsome, isn’t he?”
When I said nothing out of embarrassment, Diana asked me again, as if I was impatient.
I blinked, not knowing why Diana was asking a question she had never asked before, but I finally realized the answer and said with a smile.
“Of course, since you look like a beautiful girl, he must be very handsome as well.”
“Heh.”
Diana made a frowning expression as if she was dissatisfied with something.
“Well, I hate to admit it, but Diana is more like my brother than I am.”
“Doesn't the princess look like Duke Elade, not Lucio?”
Meanwhile, Allen, who had successfully f-medicated, shrugged his shoulders and said, Nicholas replied.
Then his eyes lit up as if he realized something.
"Ah! That's why you were so afraid!"
“Are you afraid?”
“Yes, as soon as this maid saw Lucio, she completely froze and trembled. I think it’s because you look like the Duke.”
“Hmm.”
Allen tilted his head.
He didn't seem to understand because I'm usually not afraid of Duke Elad.
then.
“Oppa!”
Suddenly Diana waved Lucio's sleeve and called to him.
At that moment, a shiver ran down my spine from an uneasy feeling that I didn't know why.
'Impossible...'
Maybe not.
It shouldn't be.
Against my wishes, Diana's mouth opened harshly.
“Oppa, isn’t she beautiful?”
Argh!
I could barely stop myf from screaming and bit down on the tender flesh inside my mouth.
Diana told me I was beautiful in front of a lot of people, but of all those moments, this was the most embarrassing.
I couldn't keep my face up for fear of embarrassment, but I felt Lucio looking at me.
I gasped at the staring stare.
I feel like those extremely cold blue eyes pierce me like frost.
For some reason, my throat felt tingly.
“No, it's not pretty.”
I couldn't believe my ears.
I tried not to show surprise, but it was difficult to control my facial expressions.
Without even knowing why I was surprised, I suddenly became angry.
'I know ! I know I'm not pretty!'
But what is this feeling that says so publicly?
However, I am much cleaner than when I met a ar in my previous life, I don't have any scars on my body, and I happened to be wearing nice clothes today!
After sighing inside for a while, I suddenly wondered what I was thinking.
“Isn't it beautiful...?”
At that time, Diana looked even more shocked than me and cried.
As Nicholas watched Diana's plump cheeks tremble, he pushed the corners of his mouth down and scolded Lucio.
“Lucio, I thought you were being honest, but… aren’t you really going too far to hurt a little girl’s feelings?”
You bastard, you're worse. …!
Since he was a member of the royal family, he couldn't even open his eyes and suppress his anger, but Allen also opened his mouth.
“Wow, bro! Really, wow...”
…. This guy can't even speak properly.
Besides, what keeps saying “cool”?
What you said to my face was amazing, it was a lot.
As I muttered to myf, the answer came immediately.
“Leah, are you okay?”
Oddly enough, Allen asked me with a worried look on his face.
I was a little surprised and answered.
“Of course it's okay, there are teachers who call me ugly every day.”
“Buh, buhbh ha ha ha!”
In the end, Nicholas couldn't take it anymore and started laughing while holding his stomach.
Because I was in a very uncomfortable state, I looked at Nicholas with a look of shock on my face and then spoke to Diana who was still crying.
“Miss, let's go back, there's still time for dinner to be ready, so let's play with dolls in the meantime.”
"truly?"
“Yes, it's been a long time, hasn't it?”
“Yaaay!”
Diana, who quickly relaxed, jumped up and grabbed my hand.
I said hello to Nicolas, Lucio, and Allen and then turned around.
I thought I should ask Diana to never tell others that I was beautiful again.
* * *
“You're so bold, I thought she was hurt.”
Nicholas spoke as he looked at the backs of the three children, including Leah and Diana who were walking away, and Allen who was following them.
“But Lucio, why are you like this if you don’t want to talk nonsense, you can’t answer anything as usual?”
“In the academy, you don't say anything to annoying girls, you seem a little nervous today, what's going on?”
“...no, nothing.”
“Then why?”
"Good."
Lucio's strange reaction, Nicholas said: “Hmm?” That's when my eyes narrowed.