I Didn't Even Want To Live, But God Forced Me To Reincarnate! 209 The Princess' Debut Party

Nevertheless, roughly everyone was curious about how Leticia was when she turned six.

And today, their questions would be answered!

"Now, we will begin celebrating the princess' sixth birthday party and debut to society," King t.i.tus said after giving a short opening speech.

"Please take care of our daughter," Queen Shaula who was standing beside the king also said.

Then, the two figures moved aside to make way for the princess to come out at the stage.

I could sense everyone holding their breath in antic.i.p.ation to the princess' adorable figure.

Well, who am I to say?

I was also holding my breath in antic.i.p.ation to what was going to unfold!

I believed that they purposely delayed the princess' appearance to build up the antic.i.p.ation first.

Just as our antic.i.p.ation was built-up... Here it is, the princess' debut!!

But the people gasped upon seeing what was happening.

Perhaps it was because the scene they saw betrayed their expectations.

Yes, in the stage, there was not only one figure, but there were three small figures!

The three figures were holding hands, or more precisely, it was as if the center figure was being guided or escorted by the figures next to her.

The center figure managed to steal the others' attention due to her most prominent dress. She was wearing a cute fairy-like dress with a small princess' crown decoration on top of her head. Her shoulder-length hair looked fluffy and soft. Her cheeks were rosy and her viridian-green eyes looked so round and bright.

...is she a rabbit?

Ahem!

Anyway, after feasting my eyes upon Leticia, I s.h.i.+fted my focus to observe the two figures on her right and left.

Wait a minute! Clarification!

It's not like I care less about them that I only observed them after Leticia. It's because I've already seen them before this party even began and they're two familiar figures to me.

Yup, the two figures acting as Leticia's small guards--or should I say, escorts--they are none other than Freyr and Freyja!

The two of them were wearing matching clothes that screamed their ident.i.ty of the Hartmann family. On top of their clothes, Freyr and Freyja wore cloaks with the royal family's insigni-making them look like the princess' escort!

This small set-up livened up the whole venue's atmosphere as most of the n.o.ble women were squealing with how cute the children were.

"Look, children guiding a child!"

"What a cute concept they're doing now!"

Various praises could be heard.

Even if I wasn't the one they praised, I still felt my pride welling up inside.

Is this how parents feel when someone praises their kids? Like, no wonder many parents want their kids to make them proud, then...

That thought unexpectedly crossed my mind.

Ah, must be due to my older mentality. I should be around my parents' age by this time if I didn't reincarnate, after all.

Shortly after, I was able to roam around the party venue. Therefore, I quickly headed to where my little siblings (plus one cute self-proclaimed sister) were! I saw there was still a flock (or some?) of n.o.bles around them, but okay, I'd just walk my way there anyway!

However, fate was indeed strange.

I overheard something intriguing on my way to my little siblings and halted my steps.

Not wanting to seem weird and blocking the way, I moved slightly to the side and continued to listen.

As I continued to listen to that intriguing talk, I felt the atmosphere around me getting heavier, it was quite suffocating.

Perhaps it was because the content of the talk caused my heart to feel uneasy.

"Hey, aren't those twins the Hartmann family's adopted children?"

"Yes, they must be! Look at those eyes!"

"Eeeh, the Hartmann family's oddly close to the royal family, huh?"

"Now that you mention it... They're very close, indeed."

"Wait, aren't their children engaged or planned to be betrothed?"

"There's no confirmation yet. But even so, aren't the royal family favouring one ducal family too much?"

"Well, I'm wondering the same thing, too."

...I took everything I had for granted. I never considered stuff like that.

Sure, the royal family's tendency to a ducal family will destroy the balance that the four pillars—the four ducal families of Riviera have maintained.

Things usually don't turn well when you don't maintain a balance.

And more importantly... the way the others view this condition... Yes, it's not good. Definitely not.

Even if the other ducal families don't think of it as such, the other n.o.ble families might think otherwise and it's very inviting envy.

As my mind was filled up with thoughts like that, suddenly I felt someone clapping my shoulders.

"So, tell me, why do I find my little sister dozing off alone in the middle of this place?"

I turned around to see the owner of that voice—it was none other than Alt-nii with his rare smile. It wasn't his usual mischievous smile, it was a "brotherly" smile. I couldn't describe how this rare smile of his looked like, but it made me feel safe somehow.

"Eh? N-nothing! I was just thinking about something—"

"Did you overhear something?"

"...!"

He knows!

Alt-nii knows!!

"Alt-nii, you...?!"

"Well, of course I know. But let's think about it rationally. Our parents are both working in the royal court. They hold important positions—well, Mom's more known as Dad's work in the royal court is either the secretive spy work or the usual duke's duty. Other families aren't as involved with the royal family as us."

"W-well, true..."

"Also. Your age matches Luca's. Freyr and Freyja coincidentally are at the same age as Leticia. It's only natural."

"Alt-nii..."

"So, don't worry about it. As long as problems don't occur, why bother?"

"But what if it will cause a problem in the future..."

Alt-nii suddenly put his index finger in front of my mouth.

"Sssh... Don't think about things that aren't even certain to happen. When it comes, we'll think about it at that time."

"Uuuh..."

I couldn't really agree nor disagree. After all, it's always better to prevent than to fix something after it's late... right?

"Anyway, the others are waiting for us. Let's go?"

Alt-nii didn't even give me any leeway to think.

Okay, then. Let's go to where everyone's waiting.

Unexpectedly, Alt-nii held my hand and guided me all the way to where everyone was waiting.

Could it be that he was too concerned about my bad sense of direction that he did so?

Ah, no...

He's acting more like a dependable big brother.

That's right, he's maturing.

Later this year, he will have his coming of age ceremony.

I reminisced as I looked at his back.

Starting with the twins' appearances, Alt-nii started to outgrow his mischievousness and childlike habits.

Perhaps his sense of responsibility as the first son just grew with the appearances of more little siblings.

Or it might be that he was also affected by my decreasing maturity—or sensibility. I started to loosen up more and act more like my age—I mean, closer to my physical age rather than restraining myself.

Time sure flies so fast and changes everything.

I still remembered when he was used to be so naughty and childish that I acted more like an older sister.

...I guess it's nice having someone I can depend on.

This bigger hand tightly grasping my hand sure felt warm and comforting.

Having someone acting protective towards you and guiding you like this... yes, it doesn't feel so bad. I don't feel that I'm weak despite being treated like this.

Before, I felt like I had to be able to do everything alone.

After thinking about it, I felt much relieved.

Okay then, let's not overthink about the "balance" matter now. Let's loosen up and don't miss out on the present time.