kscans

Chapter 17 - The Secret Little Person

"That child... she was real."

Among his few memories, that child was there.

A cute baby with fluffy, pale blond hair.

"It was real...."

The boy leaned against the window frame, on the verge of tears.

"Fatimah... where did you go?"

An infant’s astonishing memory.

His name was Theodore. He was Chihiro’s twin brother. The child, with dark blond hair much like the king’s, had a look of anguish in his eyes that was ill-suited for his age.

Cyril and the others had been careless. They never dreamed that a baby, having met another only a dozen or so times between birth and the age of two, would remember them. That was why they had left the two of them together when they were swapped.

That fleeting rendezvous of just a few minutes.

Theodore remembered it.

"She was really there."

It was his own little secret, one that no one else believed.

That it would later be revealed as the truth would not happen until the winter New Year's party.

Until then, Theodore was supposed to have agonized over this worry alone.

"Fatimah.....?"

But he found her.

The nostalgic face that was becoming hazy in his fading memory. A girl who looked so much like him.

"Eh?"

The girl who turned around was, without a doubt, the girl from his memory. She had grown bigger, but her features were the same.

From this point on, the needle of Theodore’s heart, which had been frozen in place so as not to forget Fatimah, began to move.

"Fatimah? It’s Fatimah, right? It wasn't a dream after all."

"Heh? Who might you be?"

"It’s Teo. I’m Teo. Theodore."

"Teo...."

Chihiro thought for a moment, dragging a net through her memories of Fatimah. Then, she remembered a baby she used to meet occasionally since she was very small.

They definitely called him that, Theodore-sama or something......

At that, the Little Person gasped.

He was also called the Second Prince... the Second Consort’s child.

Perhaps because they were the same age, she had a memory of them playing together sometimes.

You remember that? What an amazing memory, huh?

Chihiro was one to talk.

"I knew it, you were in the castle. Everyone said it was a dream, but it wasn’t a dream."

The Little Person stared with a fixed gaze at Theodore approaching her with a beaming face, and she slowly backed away. Theodore noticed and stopped in his tracks. A shadow of anxiety crossed his face.

"Um... you don’t remember? I used to play with you sometimes, ever since I was little."

As expected of royalty. You speak so well for your age.

Chihiro thought something Naya would surely scold her for, telling her to mind her own business, and gritted her back teeth.

Just then, Dolphen appeared, oblivious to the atmosphere.

"Chihiro-sama, the delivery of the sweets is finished... What. Your Highness? Why are you here?"

"Chihiro?"

"Yes. She is the daughter of Baron Giorge. The chef."

Dolphen spoke as if it were nothing.

"Eh? Fatimah is a baron’s daughter? But she was in the castle, right?"

"Fatimah?"

"It’s Fatimah, you know? Cyril and the others called her that."

Please stop....

Images of the King and Queen, Cyril, the wet nurse, and many other palace officials surfaced in Chihiro’s mind and came flooding out.

"What on earth is the meaning of...."

Just as a perplexed Dolphen was about to ask the prince, he heard a sound from behind. There was the Little Person, on her knees. Her eyes were wide and tearful, and she was clutching her chest, breathing in wheezing gasps, hyuu hyuu.

"Chihiro-sama??!!"

Dolphen rushed over in a panic, and Chihiro whispered softly.

"Going home... home..."

Beneath her ragged breaths, Chihiro mumbled as if squeezing the words out.

"Yes, yes, right away!!"

Dolphen swiftly scooped Chihiro up and gave a slight bow to Theodore.

"Your Highness, please excuse us."

"Ah, wait!"

No sooner were the words spoken than Dolphen was running toward the baron's mansion. Theodore, left behind, couldn't even hear the voices of his attendants calling him from behind.

"Fatimah....."

Theodore’s whisper was not heard by any ear.

"Chihiro?? What happened? Lord Kigris!!"

Hearing that Chihiro had collapsed, Drago came flying. He rushed to his daughter, who had been laid down, and looked at Dolphen with a worried face.

"I do not know. When I realized it, she seemed to be in distress..... Ah, His Highness Prince Theodore was beside her."

The eyes of the three members of the baron’s household flew open wide.

It’s the royal family again!!

As the three of them gnashed their teeth in frustration, they heard Chihiro's faint voice.

"Papa. I don't like the castle...."

Clenching the small hand that was weakly extended, Drago brought it to his cheek and nodded his head again and again.

"Yes, yes, you don’t have to go anymore. They promised that no royal family member other than the King's brother would approach you....."

A shadow fell over Drago’s face, and a dark light flickered in his sunken eyes.

"Resigning as head chef???"

"Yes. Please decide on or find a successor as soon as possible."

Drago spat the words out sullenly at the personnel official and quickly left the office. Staring after him in a daze, the official rushed to the King’s younger brother.

"Drago is quitting as head chef??"

"Yes, that is what he has said."

"Nonsense."

What on earth happened?

"I’ll try to hear him out first. Put that matter on hold for now."

"Understood."

The King’s brother immediately flew out of the room and headed for the kitchen.

On the way, he saw some people arguing a short distance away. He was about to ignore them and pass by, but he saw a small, blond figure among them.

Is that.....?

He clicked his tongue with resignation, and Romel approached the noisy attendants.

"Your Highness Prince Theodore. What are you doing in a place like this?"

"Ah, Your Highness, the King’s brother. What excellent timing."

Romel gave a light glare to the attendants, who looked openly relieved, silencing their unnecessary chatter, and crouched down in front of Theodore.

"Did something happen?"

Magnificent blond hair, just like the King's. Unfortunately, his eyes were hazel, but among the current King’s children, Theodore was the only one with blond hair.

The tearful child sniffled and desperately explained to Romel in a faltering voice.

"Fatimah... was here. Hic, she was really here."

"Fatimah?"

A suspicious Romel looked to the attendants for an explanation.

"Ah... It is a story from His Highness’s dreams."

"It’s not a dream!!"

"Aaargh!!" Theodore burst into tears. Romel entrusted him to a lady-in-waiting and heard the details.

"It is an imaginary friend His Highness has spoken of since he was very young."

With that preface, the attendants began their story.

Apparently, he had been saying things about a girl named Fatimah for a long time.

‘This is for Fatimah.’

‘When is Fatimah coming?’

‘I played with Fatimah today.’

And so on. The attendants had thought it a common and endearing childhood fantasy and had not denied it. However, at some point, he seemed to have stopped seeing this friend, and Theodore became emotionally unstable.

‘Where is Fatimah?’

‘Fatimah isn’t here.’

‘I want to see Fatimah.’

It was then that the attendants finally began to explain that she was an imaginary friend, a dream, and that he would stop seeing her as he grew older, but Theodore was not convinced.

He would wail that it wasn't a dream, that Fatimah was real, and that he wanted to see her. It had apparently been quite a difficult time for a while.

He had calmed down recently and had stopped talking about the girl, so they thought, ah, he has finally graduated from his dream friend. Then this commotion happened.

Romel also heard the story from Theodore, who was crying in the arms of the lady-in-waiting.

"Fatimah has fluffy blond hair. It's prettier than mine. Her eyes are pretty, too. She looks like me. She looks a lot like me."

At that, Romel's heart pounded loudly.

She looks like him? Come to think of it, His Highness also had light blond hair when he was born.

Yes, just like Chihiro.....

Thinking that far, Romel looked at Theodore. Now he had dark blond hair and boyish features, but looking back, the young prince had looked very similar to Chihiro.

Could it be? No, is it possible?

His Highness's friend who had always been there. And then disappeared.

"When did His Highness start saying that the girl was gone?"

"Eh? ...Well, I believe it was about half a year ago."

It matched the time Chihiro was found.

A clue about Chihiro was right here. As he thought, Chihiro had been raised secretly in the royal palace. Who? And for what purpose?

"Request an immediate audience with His Majesty the King. His Highness Prince Theodore will come along as well."

Romel had found the loose end of the tangled, twisted thread.

I will unravel it, no matter what. Just you wait, Chihiro.

His gloating face held nothing but wickedness.