4. Please Keep It a Secret from the Grand Duke of Harzent
Anette still couldn’t believe this wasn’t a dream and quickly pinched her cheek with her fingers.
“Ouch!”
Despite her poor physical condition, the strength in her grip made her cheek burn.
Rubbing her cheek with a grimace, Anette looked around in confusion and spotted a full-length mirror in one corner of the room.
She couldn’t tell if the bed was too high or if she had simply gotten too short, but she finally managed to climb down and stood in front of the mirror.
“……!”
In the mirror stood a small girl with long, red hair cascading down to her hips in a tangled mess.
With pale, translucent skin, large round eyes under a smooth forehead, a small pointed nose, and slightly parted rosy lips—despite the hollowness in her cheeks from malnutrition, her delicate features were strikingly beautiful.
Fluttering her long lashes like butterfly wings, Anette couldn’t take her eyes off the child with crimson eyes staring back from the mirror. Suddenly, a certain face came to mind.
It was the former queen in the portrait Franz had always cherished.
“It’s not a lie. Your Highness really does look just like Her Majesty.”
‘Now that I think about it, my nanny used to say that often…’
Back in her childhood, in the secluded palace where Anette had stayed, there had only been a small, shattered piece of a mirror.
Anette used to stare into that tiny mirror for a long time to check if she truly looked as monstrous as the maids said, like a beast.
And every time, all she ever saw was a distorted, grotesque red mass.
‘That’s why I thought Nanny was just a liar…’
Absentmindedly, Anette raised her small, maple-leaf-like hand to the mirror—and suddenly recoiled in shock.
Her rabbit-like red eyes trembled violently.
“What in the world is this…?”
“Oh my.”
Just then, a stranger’s voice came from behind her.
Anette stared blankly at the woman before her.
The woman with flowing, lavender-colored hair and luminous violet eyes was breathtakingly beautiful.
Even Bridget, hailed as the most beautiful woman in the Kingdom of Hayworth, paled in comparison.
“You’re already awake? They said it would take a long time for you to regain consciousness!”
The woman’s voice was as clear and pure as a bell, and she made direct eye contact with Anette.
Startled, Anette quickly lowered her gaze.
‘Idiot. People hate seeing these eyes.’
As the woman tried to say something, looking flustered at Anette’s obvious attempt to avoid her gaze, urgent footsteps sounded from outside. The bedroom door swung open.
“……!”
Anette instinctively raised her head and her eyes widened as she saw the man with perfectly handsome features.
Before coming to the Empire, she had learned some basic information about the Alkhan imperial family.
‘Direct imperial members have golden hair like melted pure gold.’
And the man in front of her undeniably possessed that magnificent golden hair.
‘The Emperor is supposed to be in his mid-thirties…’
But the man who had entered looked like he was in his twenties at most.
It couldn’t be the Grand Duke of Harzent either. He was said to wear a mask due to his hideous appearance.
‘Then… is he really the Emperor?’
As Anette hesitated, unsure of what to do, Lucius, Emperor of Alkhan, was also frozen in place, his mouth slightly agape in surprise at the sight of Anette already awake.
Just then, the woman shouted at him.
“Your Majesty, how could you barge into a woman’s quarters?”
“I just heard the Empress was here and came in without thinking…”
At the Emperor’s mumbled excuse, Anette, now fully alert, quickly dropped to one knee with a thud.
“Princess Anette of Hayworth greets Your Imperial Majesty and Your Imperial Consort.”
Though she greeted them formally, Anette’s face twisted in pain.
Her knee and wrist throbbed and ached from hitting the marble floor, but that wasn’t the real issue.
She had instinctively taken a knight’s posture while giving her greeting.
Aside from a few things Sarah had taught her long ago, Anette had learned etiquette mostly by observation, so she had never been confident in her manners. And now, an old habit had surfaced at the worst moment.
“Good heavens, please get up!”
Seeing this, the Empress—Charlotte—shouted in shock.
Thinking she was being scolded, Anette bit down hard on her inner cheek in frustration.
“How could you kneel like that in your condition?”
“……Pardon?”
Startled by the unexpected kindness, Anette blinked. Charlotte gently took her arm and helped her up as if handling glass.
Anette was so confused she didn’t know what kind of expression to make.
The warmth of someone else’s touch was too unfamiliar. So was someone reaching out to her without hesitation.
“This is all Your Majesty’s fault.”
“I truly apologize.”
At his wife’s rebuke, Lucius quickly apologized.
His polite tone matched his composed appearance.
Anette was even more shocked that the Emperor was using honorifics when speaking to her.
Moreover, he wasn’t even looking at her directly—he had turned halfway to face the wall.
Puzzled, Anette suddenly recalled Charlotte’s earlier words and quickly looked down at herself.
She was wearing a cream-colored nightgown that reached her ankles. The dress was slightly too big and concealed her figure almost entirely.
For some reason, she had turned into a child—so there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
And yet, Lucius kept apologizing as if he had made a grave mistake.
“The royal physician said you wouldn’t wake up until evening… Not that that excuses me barging in without permission. I’m sorry, Princess.”
Then he added something strange.
“Please keep this a secret from Cardin—that is, the Grand Duke of Harzent.”
“…Pardon?”
“If he finds out, he’ll definitely go berserk…”
“Your Majesty.”
Charlotte hurriedly cut him off and winked at Anette.
“This is a secret too, please.”
Blinking in confusion, Anette nodded and swallowed nervously.
“Um… by the way…”
Do Your Majesties not see me as a child?
She wanted to ask, wondering if only she was seeing herself like this, but trailed off.
Perhaps it was the aftereffect of the monster’s blood—maybe she was hallucinating. If she said something strange, they might think she was crazy.
She was more concerned about causing diplomatic trouble than about her own condition.
Thankfully, both the Emperor and Empress looked completely unaware of what she had been about to say.
‘Yeah, there’s no way I just suddenly turned into a child.’
Just as Anette tried to rationalize this as a lingering dream or hallucination…
“But you really are from House Hayworth. I thought so when I saw your hair, but with such a young-looking child…”
“……!”
Anette’s eyes widened at Charlotte’s words.
Among the Hayworth royals, she had been the only knight—so “Sir Hayworth” clearly referred to her.
‘But… a child?!’
Shocked, Anette looked up at Charlotte, who smiled and asked,
“Would you be able to explain what happened?”
“This way, Princess.”
Anette nodded as she followed the maids assigned by Charlotte.
They couldn’t bathe her without her permission, so for now, they had only wiped off the monster’s blood. But since she still had dust and grime on her, she agreed with the Empress’s suggestion to wash up first before talking more.
When Anette entered the bathroom with the maids, her eyes widened at the sight of the steaming tub.
‘Warm water!’
Even after becoming the captain of the royal knights, Anette’s residence in the annex remained unchanged.
Since she was rarely at the palace due to monster-hunting missions, she hadn’t complained. But there was one thing—even the least picky person would wish to bathe in warm water just once.
Having to sneak into a frozen lake in the dead of night during winter to avoid her subordinates had always been a nightmare.
“We’ll assist with your bath.”
As the maids poured aromatic oils and created a foamy bath, they reached to help her undress—but Anette stepped back.
“It’s alright.”
“But…”
“I can manage on my own.”
Aside from her nanny when she was very young, Anette had never had anyone assist her with bathing.
The maids hesitated, but having been informed in advance of her true identity, they had no choice but to obey her firm request.
Once they left, Anette immediately leaped into the tub.
Maybe it was because her body had become that of a child, but her actions felt unusually youthful. Still, the soft bubbles and perfect water temperature made her forget everything else.
But the peace didn’t last long. As she hurriedly finished washing up—knowing the imperial couple was waiting—an enormous problem greeted her.