The ears of a tiger.

That was when I was eagerly scanning around, eyes darting this way and that.

Suddenly, my feet gave way beneath me.

"Your Highness!"

Just in time, I was caught mid-fall, lifted up before I could crash to the ground.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah, thank you..."

Kai set me down gently on the ground with a soft thud.

"Too much looking around, and you'll trip over your own feet."

I couldn’t help but stare—Kai laughing like that was unusual. I was so surprised I just gaped.

"Ah... um, sorry, I was laughing..."

"Wait—oh, sorry..."

Even as I apologized, I kept staring. Kai slowly started blushing, tilting his head with a quiet, "What?"

"It's just... you laughing is rare, that's all..."

"Oh... well, I'm a guard. Can't afford to be distracted."

Guard training, apparently, means keeping emotions in check.

"Ah... right..."

"Ah… um, Lady Elen? I’m not gonna laugh anymore, even if you keep looking at me like that, sparkling and all…"

"Eh?!"

I’m grinning like an idiot when Van suddenly snaps, yanking Kai away with a sharp tug and growling.

"Kid, I’ll grant you saved the princess—but keep your distance, you hear? No need to get too cozy."

I’m shoved hard from behind Van, who’s growling like a beast about to tear something apart. I’m yelling, "I can’t see Kai anymore!—"

"...You two always do this?"

A tired voice cuts in. Hume. We glance at each other, shrug, and answer in unison: "Yeah, just like usual?" Hume laughs. "Honestly, you two are too close for comfort."

"Sorry for stopping. I’ll be more careful not to trip next time."

I apologize, take another step forward—and then, just slightly… something feels off.

(…?)

A faint, wobbly sensation washes over me. Probably just my imagination, though.

Deeper in, the forest trail suddenly opened up into a wide clearing.

At the far end stood a large lake, surrounded by a fence to keep students out.

Just before that, there was a smaller, artificial pond—like a reservoir. From it, the same water channel stretched out as before.

“This is… quite something…”

It was a meticulously planned field. There was even a small shed-like structure.

In the evenly spaced plots, some plants were arranged in a peculiar way.

“Why are these plants planted around the edges of the field?”

“Ah, those are called karen. Strong-smelling ones. They keep insects away.”

“Such plants exist?”

I’d smelled this scent before. My eyes widened—so that’s what it was for.

Different name, but definitely geranium. Didn’t know geraniums did that.

It’s strange, thinking there are plants here like on Earth. Feels like remembering something long forgotten—like old memories surfacing, making me a little sad.

“Princess?”

Van noticed my mood right away.

I smiled and shook my head, saying it was nothing. Then, suddenly, I spotted something familiar among the trees by the spring: a plant I’d seen before, covering the ground completely.

Leaves spread across the soil, thin brown stems stretching up, white flowers blooming in clusters.

Huh? I stepped closer, and Hume explained it to me.

“That’s snowleaf. Prefers shady spots near water. Use it for anything. Squeeze the leaves and rub them on wounds—works on inflammation, even helps with colds. Dry it, and it becomes an antidote. That’s how healing apprentices start: learning to grow it.”

I’d been told it was a basic plant—basic stuff, really—but I couldn’t help shouting out in sudden nostalgia.

“Hoo-ear grass!—!”

“Huh?”

I just kind of collapsed onto my knees, staring at it, overwhelmed.

My grandparents in Kyushu had grown it carefully. Said it was used as folk medicine. I remember, when I was little, scraping my knee and having them crush the leaves in their hands, then smear them right on the wound.

Same with mugwort. Yeah, mugwort too. Was it around? I started scanning the area, eyes darting left and right.

You can even fry hoo-ear grass leaves. That’s amazing—something you can eat and still be medicine.

“Princess, you know a lot about this?”

“Just had a friend who grew it—so I picked up a few things!”

“Then in Vanclift territory, where healers are common, there should be plenty planted, right?”

"Ah... I usually try not to get involved with people much. I've been getting this rumor going that I hand out medicine...?"

"Oh... right, sorry about that."

"No, it's fine. But it's kind of nostalgic. That person said something called 'tiger's ear herb.' It's edible, and can be used as medicine too. The meaning of 'tiger's ear'... well, it's because the leaves look like a tiger's ear..."

Just as I was about to say that the leaf shapes were similar, I suddenly heard a startled yelp from behind me and instinctively turned around.

Van had both hands clamped over his head, trying to hide something.

"Van...?"

"Y-You're not eating my ears, Your Highness!!??"

Van's face was pale, trembling violently.

Closer inspection revealed that, overwhelmed by shock, Van had two little perky ears poking out from his head, and his tail was fluffed up in alarm.

I couldn’t help but grin, and Van, seeing that, let out a high-pitched, flustered scream: “H-H-Hime-sama!!”

I couldn’t hold it in—I’d been mimicking Ashth, and I just burst out laughing.

“Just kidding~. ‘Tiger Ear Grass’ gets its name because the leaves look like tiger ears. See? Doesn’t it?”

I tapped the large leaf with my finger, and Hume casually plucked two leaves of the same size. Then she stuck them right onto my head.

“Wow, really… they look like ears.”

While Hume beamed at me, Van brightened up and chirped, “We’re practically twins now!” Kai, though, stared at me intently, then slowly broke into a grin. And then—boom—“You’re adorable.”

I nearly yanked the leaves off my head, thinking, *Is this cosplay or what?*—but before I could even move, Hume grabbed both my hands.

“Nuh-uh. Princess.”

“Eeep! So embarrassing!!”

I’m pleading, “Stop it, stop it,” but Hume just keeps grinning with that black smile, utterly unmoved.

Van’s practically glowing with delight, and Kai’s going full-on smug, grinning like he’s won something.

I can feel my cheeks heating up—no, wait, my ears are probably red too.

Later I’ll realize I should’ve just shaken my head, but in the moment, I’m frozen in embarrassment, trembling like a leaf.

Then—out of nowhere—I feel a presence right beside me.

“What are you doing to my little princess, hm?”

I flinch at the sudden, unnerving pressure from my father, and Hume instantly lets go.

I try to grab the leaves off my head with my freed hand—only to have my father catch my wrist instead.

“Hmm… seems my daughter’s gotten even cuter, hasn’t she?”

I nearly blurt out, “You too?!”—but before I can, Dad’s expression shifts. He immediately releases me.

Before I can even finish scolding Hume and the others for plucking leaves off my head, I wobble again, dizzy.

"Whoa."

This time, Dad catches me instantly. "What's wrong?" he asks, pressing his hand to my forehead. "You're burning up."

"...Huh?"

"You're sick, Elen. You're hot."

Our foreheads bump together as he holds me, and sure enough, his feels cool.

"Wait—no way!!!"

Van panics and blurts out what happened just now. Dad frowns. "You mean... everything in the room?" he repeats, sounding skeptical.

"Elen, you know how it is when you push yourself like that... Why on earth did you do something so reckless?"

He sighs, shaking his head—just as I look away.

"Sorry... I'm sorry..."

I must've overestimated my strength. I'd forgotten completely—again—how Dad always stops me when I'm making medicine, how he'd always warned me, "Only this much a day." I just... forgot.

"Let's call it a day. Kai, let the headmaster know we'll be borrowing Hume for a while."

"Understood."

"U-um, me too?"

"You're a healer, aren't you? It's only natural you'd come when someone's unwell... though I suppose I should consider that Elen's already on her way back here. We can't afford to leave you looking like you had no time to hide your mother, now can we?"

Hume bowed deeply, apologetic.

I’d played the part of the sick one so well, I’d even looked guilty about collapsing just to make their dreams come true.

"Elen, why don’t you rest a bit now? Papa’ll take you to Sauvel once night falls."

"Yes…."

I slumped against my father’s shoulder, utterly spent. My body, it seemed, had finally reached its limit.

Fell asleep instantly.

Kai and the others panicked—were you okay? You just passed out like that!

"Y'all… learn to stop Elen before she goes too far."

"I'm sorry."

"Even with me here…"

"I've said it before. Elen pushes herself unconscious. Whatever she does, it always escalates. Use power, pay the price—proportionally. If words could fix it, fine. But when force is used, this happens. That’s why I don’t want her involved in the human world anymore…"

Lovell’s voice, brushing Elen’s head, was thick with the kind of love only a father could know.

"Hume. Once we return to the castle, orders will come from the Emperor. And your mother…"

"Y-yes?"

"Advise her to divorce you as soon as possible."

"S-sure? I’d like to, but… why?!"

"Reported what that man’s been doing behind the scenes to the Emperor. The Emperor himself said, ‘You’ve made me and Elen enemies.’ Your stepfather will be punished."

"Wha—?!"

"You’ve got the Emperor’s favor. He’ll let you live a little longer before turning on you—so you’d better hurry. We’ll be discussing this tonight. Be present."

"Y-yes…?"

Too stunned to say more than that.

My stepfather, who’d been so eager to learn the medicine’s formula, must’ve been doing something truly monstrous behind the scenes.

If the Emperor moves this fast, "treason" isn’t just a word—it’s a verdict.

"Touch Elen, and this is what happens. Remember that."

Lovell said that, then vanished straight back to the guest room.

The rest of us just stared at one another.

"I’m heading to the headmaster’s office."

"Then I’ll stay here and gather herbs. …Hey, will this work on the princess? She’s a spirit, right?"

"Since the princess has human blood, it should."

"Ah, that’s right. So…"

Hume looked at the tiger ear herb and said, "Then I’ll go with this one."

"I'm heading back first. Come later."

With that, Van vanished too. The two remaining people exchanged glances, nodded, and split off with a "see you later."

Alone now, Hume reached for the tiger ear herb hanging in the shed.

Then, softly, muttered:

"Touching Elen-sama like this... this is what happens..."

Her stepfather had wanted the recipe for Elen’s medicine. Elen herself had said, quite clearly, that the royal family wouldn’t stay silent about it.

But the weight of it—why it was so serious—only just dawned on her. She turned it over in her head, finally grasping the full scale of it.

"Wait... could it really be... giving the princess’s medicine to another country...?"

Elen’s medicine was a national asset. She’d heard, firsthand, that foreign courts had been sending endless letters to the royal family, offering all sorts of things just for the recipe.

As a healer, she knew firsthand that Elen’s medicine was kept under strict guard.

The recipe for Elen’s medicine had stumped court healers completely—no one could crack it. Even when ordered by her stepfather, all she could say was “impossible” without hesitation. There was no point in teaching such a man something the royal family couldn’t even learn themselves. Not when it wouldn’t help Elen at all.

“But why…? I should be happy he’s getting punished… right?”

She *had* been saved by that man once. But after watching her mother suffer, she should’ve been seething with hatred. So why didn’t she feel… happy?

She’d pushed herself so hard, determined to stand on her own and save her mother.

She’d been planning to rent a tiny room in the capital, just before graduation. Just… get away from him.

“Just… getting away… would’ve been enough.”

Honestly, I didn’t care what happened to that guy afterward. I’d have loved to see him dead—but yeah, I’d also felt gratitude. Which was exactly why I’d planned to use him as a stepping stone.

“Mom’s probably gonna make a face like she’s eaten something sour…”

The Hume lets out a wry smile. No matter how you sliced it, we’d really been saved by that stepfather. That fact hit me harder than ever now.