A tiny, adorable ambush specialist.

Elen and Gadiel stood there, eyes wide open, stunned.

What comes to mind is that incident four years ago—the curse of the spirit clinging to the prince, a black mist.

...Elen, I missed you.

Gadiel tried to step closer to me, but one of the guards stopped him.

"Absolutely not, Prince!"

"Just talking! We finally met! Let go!!"

Gadiel’s eyes staring at me were terrifying. My hand, clinging to Sauvel without thinking, trembled.

The curse mist writhed and stirred, agitated by Gadiel’s forced approach.

Seemed like Gadiel realized I was the target of his longing.

"Y-ya… don’t come near…!"

That’s when I squeezed my eyes shut.

Could you please keep your distance from my daughter?

From behind Gadiel, my father's voice came.

The scene froze in an instant. My father had teleported directly behind Gadiel, his hand already at Gadiel’s throat.

A warning, whispered toward her ear from behind Gadiel.

"Prince...!"

"Lovell Vanclift!?"

The guards cried out, startled by the presence of Gadiel’s father behind them.

Father’s face was smiling, but his voice was ice-cold. Gadiel stood frozen, face pale as a sheet, aware of the chill emanating from behind.

"Four years ago, don’t you remember what happened when you got close to my daughter?"

Gadiel couldn’t find words to speak in response to her father’s words.

I wasn’t forgetting. Just… finally getting to see you, and my nerves were jumping like a kettle on a boil.

The guards frowned, unsure what their father meant. But only one—Hume—noticed something.

"...Four years ago? Getting close...?"

Four years ago was the year the royal family was exposed to a curse from the spirits. And the girl’s sheer terror—how she trembled—was eerily similar to the way the spirit Ashth, her friend, had once reacted to Gadiel.

"...Could it be? The rumors about the Spirit Princess... are they true?"

Hume’s dazed whisper hung in the air. His father looked at him. The moment their eyes met, Hume gasped—no, not a gasp, a full-on shriek. His father’s eyes weren’t smiling. Not even a little.

"Who are you?"

The father smiled—warm, gentle, too warm. Hume broke out in cold sweat. But he straightened up, regained his composure, and stared back without flinching.

"I am Hume, the court healer."

"Oh? So that’s what you’ve been sneaking around for—quietly sniffing out secrets, huh?"

The father chuckled, effortlessly taking control of the room.

Now then, why don’t you tell us everything, Father urged, gesturing toward Gadiel and the others.

＊＊＊

"Bringing a court healer, huh. Probably came to poke around with the medicine, more like."

"Brother, wait. More importantly, where's Raffilia? Why isn't she here? You called her, didn't you?"

Gadiel and the others exchanged glances at Sauvel’s words.

"What are you talking about?"

When the guard Vogel asked, puzzled, Sauvel forced his irritation down with a visible effort.

The girl who received a letter from the Prince slipped out of the manor alone... and then vanished without a trace.

"Raffilia?!"

"You're the ones who called them! The maid was handing a letter stamped with the royal seal to the girl!"

"Wait a second—I haven’t sent any letter to Raffilia!"

Sauvel stiffens at Gadiel's words.

"What the hell is going on...?"

Even Gadiel and the others couldn’t hide their confusion at Sauvel’s bewildered voice.

That would mean some third party forged a letter bearing the royal seal and handed it to Raffilia.

"Raffilia and the Prince were being monitored beforehand...?"

Sauvel seemed to recall something in response to his father’s words.

I asked him if he’d realized something, watching the heavy sigh escape him.

"Daughter... She used to boast about it. That she was exchanging letters with the Prince..."

The people around him stared, eyes wide—unbelieving.

To even whisper about having intimate correspondence with a royal family member could land you in all sorts of trouble. Raffilia herself had already been fooled by a forged letter and nearly ruined.

And if word got out that she’d been in contact with the royal family, the noble circles would start whispering nonsense, spinning wild rumors with no basis at all.

It's being used deliberately to bring down the Vanklyft Family.

"I warned her a few times... but apparently she didn't take it seriously enough..."

If she were a girl, it'd be only natural to brag about writing letters to a prince, right?

Raffilia was raised in the common streets. Saying she's ignorant of noble customs—well, maybe she just hasn’t realized it yet.

And I heard she’s in her rebellious phase. The more she’s told what to do, the more she’ll push back, wouldn’t you think?

"I thought I’d been mistaken for Elen... but..."

"If you keep acting like that, you were bound to get caught eventually."

Sauvel’s pained voice was met with a weary sigh from the guard, Rafe.

Because of Raffilia’s selfishness, Gadiel and the others had their mission disrupted. He probably couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

Sauvel clutched his head, overwhelmed by the sudden loss of any clue to Raffilia’s whereabouts.

"...What do you mean I was mistaken for Elen?"

"Prince, isn’t this about that medicine? Rumor has it the Vanklyft Family’s princess is bringing it?"

Gadiel’s eyes snapped in unison toward me.

I flinched, trembling, and Sauvel immediately stepped behind me, shielding me with his body.

"Why are you asking about the medicine?"

"...There’s talk that the illness they called incurable has been cured. We’ve been tasked with verifying whether such a cure is real."

"Prince!?"

"There’s no point hiding it. To prove my innocence, I’ll have to speak—especially since Raffilia’s been missing."

"Typical of the king’s son. So quick to understand. So efficient."

Father smiled warmly—but his eyes didn’t smile at all.

Gadiel spoke, his face pale as ever.

"If rumors spread, people with illness will swarm in here... and the King himself was worried. They say Elen’s the one who found the skilled apothecary."

The King had ordered Gadiel to investigate the truth of the rumors—afraid Elen might get caught in some mess.

Hearing that the scheming bastard was actually worried about me? My brain short-circuited.

I was trying to figure out why he’d even care—my gears spinning, mind racing—when I finally noticed, too late, that someone had quietly approached.

"Hey, my name’s Hume. I’m a court healer. The Prince ordered me to come along to check the medicines. Real pain in the neck, right? Oh, by the way— are you the spirit princess?"

"…………"

I was so stunned by the sudden turn of events I just stood there, mouth open. Sauvel was on guard too, but he looked just as dazed. Father stared at me like I was about to do something dangerous, but Hume only stepped a little closer—didn’t even try to get any nearer—so it ended with him just watching us.

When I didn’t answer, Hume didn’t get angry or anything. Just kept talking with a smile.

“Me too, I’ve got a spirit friend. His name’s Ashth. So cute.”

“…You’re in a pact with a spirit?”

“Yeah. My best friend. Don’t believe me? I’ll show you. Oh—Prince. Just step over to the corner there.”

Hume pushed Gadiel toward the far corner, and both Sauvel and my father blinked in shock, including me. If he was making a pact with a spirit, he must know that spirits dislike members of the royal family.

Gadiel glared at the Hume, shoved aside as he was. Why, Gadiel was shouting at the Hume not to get near Elen. I tilted my head, baffled.

But apparently, none of that mattered to the Hume. Having shoved Gadiel into a corner, the Hume grinned like he’d just finished a chore.

“Come on, Ashth!”

The Hume called out, and suddenly a round puff of smoke appeared in midair. Something dropped from it with a soft *plop*.

I looked down at the floor—there, blinking in confusion, was a tiny rabbit.

‘Kyuu?’

The rabbit—Ashth, apparently—perked up its ears and stared at the Hume, head tilted like it was asking, *What’s up?*

“Meet Ashth. Ashth, look—princess!”

The Hume grinned, introducing me to the rabbit with a laugh.

But I had a bad feeling about this.

"Princess! Princess! Princess!!"

As expected, Ashth immediately sprang toward me, delighted beyond words.

＊＊＊

Caught. Completely caught. Exposed by a spirit… again.

I lift Ashth up with both hands, squeezing the little rabbit as it squeals with joy.

Both my father and I sigh in unison.

"Ah… an unexpected ambush…"

"Can’t stay mad when it’s this cute…"

I chuckle, ruffling Ashth’s head.

"Papa, isn’t it enough now? We could just keep it quiet, right?"

"Elen, you serious?"

"My medicine’s already spread too far. If it’s going to spread, better to let it be managed by the royal household than hoard it. That’s the problem—focusing it all in one place."

"…"

"Besides, we’ve long passed the limits of the clinic’s tolerance. You knew, didn’t you, Papa?"

My words made my father fall silent. I took that silence as acceptance.

"They’re investigating the medicine. I’ll tell you about that. But first, you help me find Raffilia."

I stared straight at Gadiel and stepped forward.

I set Ashth down on the floor and gave a proper lady’s curtsy.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Elen, daughter of Lovell. And the daughter of the spirit king."

Gadiel’s eyes flew open. They were speechless.