The Kids Have Changed - Chapter 27

I was a little nervous.

So nervous that I couldn’t hear what the prince, who was sticking close to me as we danced, said.

“Sharon. Sharon!”

Eventually, the prince raised his whispering in my ears to a shout. I opened my eyes wide.

“You really can’t dance.”

At Julien’s words, I looked down.

What?

I was currently dancing like I was floating in the sky.[1]

I descended to the ground quickly enough to make a tapping sound. The wrinkle on the prince’s forehead smoothed out.

“Sorry. I’m a little unfamiliar with dancing.”

“A little? Not a lot?”

His mischievous face as he asked me was so sweet that I felt even more sorry.

“I said I’m sorry. It’s because this is my first time dancing.”

The prince’s lovely lips curled in a long arc. His face approached closer to my ears. I was so shocked that I tipped my head back, but Julien quickly wrapped his arm around my waist to pull me back.

W, what a surprise! Why are kids like this these days?!

Then, he whispered in my ear.

“Then, I’m the first person to dance with you, hmm? All right. It’s an honor, Lady Sharon.”

I was offended by how satisfied he sounded.

“Are you laughing at me now? Since this is my first time?”

I raised him, and now he was treating me like this.

“…Sharon.”

I felt a little resentful at the face of the prince, who uttered my name while looking bewildered.

The reason I was so nervous I could die right now was that Julien’s engagement with Carol might not be successful.

I was going out of my mind trying to figure out when the engagement would be announced.

“What do you know?!”

“…Right back at you. What do you know?”

The prince’s sigh tickled my bangs.

I felt it again.

When I first saw him, he was shorter than me, but he grew up a lot.

After digging the ground with my heels and tensing my body, I guess I was thinking too many useless thoughts.

“You don’t think I can tell when you’re laughing at me.”

“Yeah.”

As if he didn’t want to talk, the prince curtly, then slowed down his movements as the music ended.

“Go and play with Carol.”

“I don’t have any friends anyway.”

“…Why aren’t you counting me? Anyway, I think I have to be with my mother today, so stick with Carol. Okay?”

I nodded as this child started to treat me like a child.

Kids usually tend to think that they are adults when they become a little older.

I, as a real adult, should be patient.

Besides, they got engaged before me… And will be married… Hohoho.

“Really, just go… And no matter what you hear today, don’t be surprised.”

That was the request I was asked before I went to Carol. The prince whispered it as if he didn’t want me to hear, but I understood.

Thank goodness.

Today, according to schedule, there will be an engagement announcement.

The two of them will have an engagement ceremony this winter, as they are 14 years old (and 15 years old in Korean age).

In the novel, Carol started to become obsessed with the prince from the day of their engagement.

The relationship between Carol and the Crown Prince now will be a little different, as they seem to dislike each other.

But even if it isn’t love, they will still be loyal friends. Wouldn’t that change the future?

I stared at Carol, who was waving her hand enthusiastically at me.

What choices will she make in this life?

Before the announcement of the engagement, my thoughts were tangled like a knotted thread.

I wish that it won’t come to the worst.

***

“Are you okay? People were staring at you like pinpoints.”

I looked at Carol’s expression.

As soon as I got close enough, I dragged her to the powder room and locked the door. Carol’s face was clear.

There was no hint of anger or jealousy.

“Yeah. I’m okay. Thanks to you, it became comfortable. Nobody bothered me.”

“…Do you know what that meant?”

There is no way I wouldn’t know. In this complex social world, what does it mean for a man who is not my blood relative to take my first dance?

“Sharon, the prince has been doing the first dance with me for years. But after dancing with me, he also took your first dance. You’ve officially become the crown prince’s mistress.”

“…Carol. What do you mean, mistress? Who taught you such a bad thing?”

I can’t believe she learned something like this when she hasn’t even learned what sex is.

Was it Madame Berna?

As I trembled, Carol sighed sweetly.

She started to notice that I seemed genuinely angry.

“Are you… angry? No, I know that it’s not a good thing… Um. Sorry. I won’t use that word again. Don’t get angry, yeah? Yeah?”

Carol, who hugged my shoulder and patted my head, made me calmer.

I guess it was something you learn as you enter society. Nevertheless, I wanted Carol to see only good things and a good world.

Is this what it means to be a parent?

I couldn’t be angry anymore. Carol laughed like a puppy and I burst into laughter as well.

“I’m not angry. And I don’t care what rumors there are about me. I have no intention of getting married…”

“…That’s a little…”

I didn’t hear the end of Carol’s words, so I asked,

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“It’s nothing.”

She shook her head and smiled, so I wasn’t worried.

“But did you know that Julien laughed at me when I told him it was my first time dancing?”

“Huh?”

Carol murmured with her eyes wide open.

“No way.”

Look at how she was covering for him like a friend. And she still says that they hate each other. It was cute, but I didn’t say so out loud.

It would be really embarrassing for her.

“No, really. It’s the truth. Don’t you believe me?”

“I believe… I believe you.”

Ha. Carol was also on my side.

I didn’t notice Carol’s conflicted look as she saw me looking triumphant.

“By the way, Sharon.”

Carefully, Carol called out to me.

“What is it?”

“Today… The imperial family may announce the engagement…”

Carol seemed a little nervous as if she was telling me this since I lived in a different world and didn’t see it coming.

But I knew that this would happen before anyone else.

I’ve known it since I was 8.

“Is there a problem with that?”

But even as I said that, my heart thumped and sank. Something subtle was eating into me.

I shook it off and smiled brightly.

“No matter what…”

Carol seemed nervous. She looked askance then back at me, scrutinizing.

Why was that?

Ah. Was it because I hadn’t told her congratulations yet?

“Congratulations, Carol. You’re finally getting engaged. You two can stop fighting now. He’s a handsome boy, and you’re a pretty girl. You suit each other.”

“…What?!”

She seemed embarrassed. Seeing such a reaction. Well, of course she would be embarrassed, since they’ve been fighting since they were little. I patted Carol on the shoulder a couple of times.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I already know everything. Anyway, congratulations!”

Carol was silent.

She must still be embarrassed. It was her first time getting engaged…

“Then, let’s get out of here. Who knows when they’ll make the announcement, but the protagonist should be out there!”

I led Carol, who had a shell-shocked expression, away. At that time, I had no idea what Carol was thinking.

***

’…I don’t know where to start correcting her… I’m sorry. Julien.‘

Carol realized that it would be a difficult task to correct Sharon’s misunderstanding.

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

They were being forcibly engaged by the adults, but after the prince established his base, they would each go their own way.

Until then, she had no choice but to manage Sharon.

‘Hahahahaha…’

It was disappointing. How could she be so oblivious?

To use one of Sharon’s terms… Maybe her brain was bleached.

Chapter 6. The Kids Move On.

As Carol and I returned to the hall, the representative from the imperial family took out a scroll and climbed up to the podium.

“I think he’s finally going to announce it.”

“I guess.”

Funnily, it was me who was excited. Unlike Carol, who was looking at the scene calmly, I was nervous.

Carol’s birthday party was held at the largest hall in the capital, ‘Levina Hall.’

In the capital, there were a total of five halls that could be rented for banquets, one of which was Levina Hall. The scale and luxury were by far the best of its kind.

I was proud of Carol, who was not overwhelmed by the splendor of the hall.

The eyes of all the people in the spacious hall were all focused on the podium.

It was the first time the people who were rushing to make a connection with the influential Duke Gratoni, rather than trying to celebrate Carol’s birthday, were focusing.

It was now.

I turned to find the prince.

He was next to the Empress, though I didn’t know when she arrived.

She was neglected by the Emperor, so only the prince and some noble ladies were by her side.

The abandoned empress who entered the hall late but did not even get attention. That was her position.

Nevertheless, knowing the wrongs the Empress did to Julien, I felt less compassion and more revulsion toward her.

Her gaze was persistently following the representative.

As far as I knew, the Empress offered a lot to Duke Gratoni to set up this marriage.

For example, the right to speak in the state affairs and the military rights that were monopolized by her blood family.

Well, if the Gratoni dukedom became Julien’s, it wasn’t that important. The Gratoni dukedom possessed economic, social, and military power.

The family particularly had a considerable influence on liberal aristocrats. It was always a well-regarded family, but Duke Gratoni was known as a cool-headed nobleman (despite his personal life) and his achievements were great.

“And so the gears turn.”

“What’s up?”

“…It feels weird.”

Well. It was understandable.

They’ve been friends for that long, but now they have to face each other as lovers. It would feel awkward, if not strange.

The appearance of Carol as she danced with Julien earlier was lovely and beautiful. It was a pair that no one could reject.

Snap.

At the moment, I felt frustrated and stuffy without knowing why.

What was this? Why was I like this?

Carol’s gaze returned to me, my heart thumping in my chest.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“I think I ate too much. I feel bloated inside.”

“You didn’t eat too much!”

“No, I did eat a lot.”

“You have to eat more! That way, you’ll grow up big. Even though you nag at me to eat properly every day.”

Carol’s grumbling face returned as usual. Sticking out her lips in a pout, Carol added,

“Nagging witch!”

“It’s out of love.”

My argument didn’t work.

“Hmph! Hmph!”

“Your nose is going to fall off like that.”

She was acting like an upset 7-year-old, but I still thought that this was better. At least she wasn’t looking at her parents bitterly like before.

According to the original story, Carol heard from a maid last night that her engagement would be announced.

It must have been a month since she hadn’t seen her mother and father in person.

I sighed.

Is it enough to just give birth to a child?

They were so busy going outside that they didn’t even know what their daughter was thinking.

Even though Sharon’s parents died young from sickness, they were quite different from the Gratonis as they had truly loved their daughter.

I entered the novel on the day of Sharon’s parents’ funeral. So I’ve never felt their affection.

However, I believed in their love for Sharon as they left me an inheritance and wrote with trembling hands to Duke Gratoni, asking him to take care of me.

[1] Dancing as if she was floating: I think this means that she was stepping on his shoes, not the ground.