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Maria is serving me in the royal palace to learn etiquette, but she is originally a duchess' daughter.
Originally, after serving for a few years, she would either return to her parents' home as soon as possible or find a marriage partner here and leave, but Maria had stayed because of the situation around me.
Originally, Maria is at an age where she could be married already.
Well, let's put that aside for this time. In other words, Maria is a duchess' daughter, so she won't complain no matter what rank this child is.
For the time being, I can't leave the girl sitting in the hallway forever, so I invite her into my room and have her sit on the sofa.
See, because I'm a prince of the Centro Kingdom, my room is extremely spacious.
A living room and a bedroom. A toilet, a bathroom, and a small kitchen.
That said, all of them are spacious.
Are you kidding me? Why is the toilet as big as my room in my previous life?
What do you use that space for?
Furthermore, there's also a waiting room for my attendant.
And not just one. What's that, I only have one attendant, are you picking a fight with me??
Enough with the digressions.
"Then, I'll go prepare, so please wait for a while?"
"Y, yes! Raimondo-sama!!"
"Farewell, Raimondo-sama. Please call me if you need any assistance."
Leaving Maria and the girl behind, I retreated to the back of my room, to the bedroom.
I opened the door to the wardrobe myself, selected clothes that would be okay to wear at the ball, and changed from my room clothes to them.
If I'm being honest, I want to keep my bangs down as they are, but that's probably not allowed in public.
I rubbed natural hair oil with a flower-like fragrance into my hands and slicked back my hair, and I probably looked decent enough.
Although it's my own room, there are two women ahead of me, so I knock before entering.
"Maria. Has she calmed down?"
"Yes, Raimondo-sama. Come now, Leandra-sama. Shall we introduce ourselves to Raimondo-sama?"
"Y, yes!"
I don't intend to tell her to be humble just because I'm royalty, but it's not that simple for other nobles.
So, I wait for the words of the girl, now Leandra-jou, who stepped out in front of me with a nervous expression.
"Gerald Baltzer's daughter, Leandra Baltzer of the Baltzer Count's house, is here. I am honored to meet Raimondo-denka today."
The girl, now Leandra-jou, lightly bent her knees on the spot and greeted me.
Her voice trembled slightly, but considering her age of six, it's more than passing.
"Nice to meet you, Leandra-jou. Well then, Baltzer-shougun is probably in the great hall, so I'll escort you there."
I smiled at her and took her hand.
Based on what I heard from my brothers the other day, Leandra-jou should be six years old like me.
If so, it's the year before her social debut, so she's not supposed to be able to attend today's party.
"Leandra-jou. Who did you come to the royal palace with today?"
"With my father."
"With Baltzer-shougun? But Leandra-jou can't go to social events yet, right?"
When I slightly bent my arm at my side, Leandra-jou placed her hand on my arm as if she was used to it.
While escorting her to the great hall as it was, I asked her what I was wondering about.
"Yes. I will not participate in the party. However, I came here to see my father's work in the afternoon. I was originally planning to go home before the party, but the King-sama said that I could eat sweets even if I didn't participate in the party."
I see, Father did receive swordsmanship guidance from Baltzer-shougun's father, the previous Baltzer-kou, so it's likely that current Baltzer-shougun is like a younger brother to Father.
Even though Baltzer-shougun, who usually leads the knights as a general, is in the same royal palace, there aren't many opportunities to talk.
That's why he stopped Baltzer-shougun from taking Leandra-jou home when he saw him.
"So, were you in a room near the great hall until now?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know... I was taken to a room before my father went to the party."
"I see. Then there are several rooms that come to mind, so I'll guide you there."
I can't imagine leaving a six-year-old girl waiting in a room so far away from her parent. And if it's a room near the great hall where a duchess' daughter can be entertained, the location can be narrowed down to a certain extent.
"By the way, why are you here alone? There's quite a distance between here, the east corridor, and the great hall, right?"
Even though it's called the royal palace, its size is considerable.
The government and the royal family's residence are in a circular shape together. Moreover, each room is unnecessarily large.
The area around the great hall near the entrance of the royal palace and the east corridor where my room is located are a bit too far for a child to come alone.
It's a distance that I wouldn't bother to visit unless I had a purpose.
I asked that because I thought that someone might have deliberately brought her here, and Leandra-jou blushed slightly and averted her gaze.
"P, please don't laugh?"
I nodded at Leandra-jou's embarrassed appearance.
"The, the garden that can be seen from the window is beautiful. I snuck out because I wanted to see it up close. Then, I got lost..."
Hmm...
What to say,
"How lovely."
"Fee!!?!!?"
Childlike.
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