After more than a month away from Gilliast Castle, Princess Tiran, the second daughter of Milanía, finally returned to her own home. However, when she left, she was riding a dragon and accompanied by Angel, but when she came back, she was alone with a sword and a horse, and even the originally escorting convoy was refused.

Mimi, the head maid, noticed something was off with Princess Tiran's mood from the moment she saw her. And back then, the princess's eyes were like a pile of burnt ashes, with no flicker of life in the dull gray color. After her return, she locked herself in her bedroom, only leaving temporarily during bathing. Even her meals were personally delivered by Mimi to her door. It has been almost half a month since then.

Although she was always annoyed by Aya, who robbed her of the princess's attention, and never liked the passionate Angel over there, she even had the thought of "letting these two cats in heat disappear completely." But as a loyal attendant to Princess Tiran, the head maid didn't want to see her in such a depressed state. Besides, she also had the responsibility for what happened to Aya.

That child named Vira, who was brought by the Beacon City's garrison and claimed to have information about Aya, secretly came to her room while she was sleeping and hypnotized her, obtaining Tiran's whereabouts by some means. After investigation, the clues in the massacre case in Beacon City also pointed to Vira. Entrusting such a dangerous person to the princess was undoubtedly a great dereliction of duty for Mimi, who had a strong sense of responsibility.

Waiting outside the door, Mimi twisted her hands anxiously and felt uneasy as well. "Chirp, do you think the princess will hate me...?" Mimi's tired and worried expression revealed her exhaustion as she slowly squatted down against the wall. Beside her, Chirp sat nibbling on a peanut candy, resembling a squirrel.

Even though Tiran had hardly left her room these days, Mimi had been personally guarding outside the door every day, barely getting any rest. "Chirp thinks dad won't blame sister Mimi because sister Mimi always cares about dad... um, although sister Mimi sometimes bullies mom..." "...", Mimi silently rubbed Chirp's little head, feeling a bit calmer.

Wuwuwu ( ' -ωก̀ ) Chirp is indeed a little angel, much more like an angel than that guy who always looks dark-faced and talks like a demon. Mimi was deeply moved and let out a heartfelt sigh.

Well, if there was something good that happened to Mimi during the time Princess Tiran was away, it was probably successfully gaining Chirp's favor by accompanying her every day, feeding her, and telling bedtime stories. It really feels like raising a daughter, and it even reminds Mimi of taking care of the young princess in the past. Ah... in the blink of an eye, the princess's child has grown so big... Phew! Phew! Phew! Chirp is not the princess's biological child! No, she's not!

It's not that Mimi denies the relationship between Tiran and Chirp, but she absolutely refuses to acknowledge Chirp calling the princess "dad" and Aya as "mom." Just because of that embarrassing dumb dragon? Why should she take the princess away from her? Forced marriage? No way!

Thinking about it, Mimi Miss's azure eyes began to turn red again.

...Hmmm, it seems that Mimi's thoughts are taking a strange turn, and her perception of Aya has started to shift as well.

"But..."

She recalled the things that happened since Aya arrived, and it seemed like she really did put in a lot of effort for His Highness, even helping to defeat the Holy Rank together.

In that case, maybe she had been too harsh on her normally?

"You better come back to me, you rascal. I don't want to see His Highness in tears."

Mimi said quietly.

"Mimi... is Chirp here too?"

At that moment, on the spiral staircase ahead, a figure hurriedly ran up the stairs. Upon seeing Mimi and Chirp, two creatures sitting by the door like dolls, a hesitant expression appeared on their face.

"Justice? What are you doing here... ah, um, sorry..."

Mimi also instinctively asked a question, but then a hint of guilt appeared in her tone.

Originally, she and Justice were supposed to handle the affairs of the castle together, but these days she had been by His Highness's side day and night, so naturally she had pushed everything onto Justice.

It was true that she had been working hard these days, but the head steward who had handled all the castle affairs alone might not have had it easy, especially considering that this was all her own doing.

"If you're referring to these past few days, please don't worry. His Highness is the most important person to us." Justice's face did not show any emotions,

"But if possible, I still need to disturb His Highness... The border incident, the war has started, and we have received a message from King War. It needs to be delivered to His Highness immediately."

Justice spoke calmly, delivering the news that was not calm at all.

"Achoo! Achoo!"

As soon as the words fell, a series of sneezes suddenly sounded from the bedroom, followed by a low murmur,

"Tsk, what's with this chill? Feels like being cursed and blessed at the same time... Ah!"

"Your Highness, are you alright?"

Through the door, Mimi asked.

"I'm fine, I can handle a small situation like this... " Tiran's voice sounded a bit panicked, but there was still a hint of the usual carefree tone of a spoiled princess.

Hmm, that's strange.

Mimi keenly sensed that something was off. Her Highness's voice seemed completely different from the feeling of "my heart has already died" when she first came back?

Could it be that Her Highness's mood has improved a bit?

But regardless of Tiran's mood, it was necessary to let her know about this urgent matter.

"Your Highness, this is an emergency. Sorry for the intrusion."

"Hey! Wait a minute, can't you just tell me what's going on outside the door? I'm still..."

However, at that moment, Mimi had already grabbed the doorknob and pushed open the door to Tiran's bedroom, revealing the princess's bedroom that hadn't been seen by outsiders for half a month.

"..."

Silence. A silence so freezing that the air seemed to solidify.

It was quite a sight to behold...

How should I put it, the room's structure hadn't changed, it was still a spacious bedroom with good visibility.

But the huge floor-to-ceiling windows were covered with sheer curtains and dark colored drapes, with only a small slit at the bottom allowing a bit of sunlight to seep through. The large bed, which could easily accommodate several people, was covered in all kinds of manga or novels. The sheets at the head of the bed were twisted into a mess, and a life-sized body pillow lay on top. The girl with white hair and red eyes had half her clothes on, her small face showing a coquettish expression of both resistance and welcome, with seductive eyes.

There were a lot of snack and beverage wrappers and other trash scattered on the ground. Although the air in the room didn't have a strange mildew smell, it felt stuffy due to lack of sunlight. Standing among the piles of garbage on the ground, wearing thin and loose pajamas, with her snow-white shoulders exposed to the air, Princess Mimi, with her long silver hair disheveled and scattered behind her, maintained the motion of running to lock the door, awkwardly smiling at Mimi.

"Yo...yo, Mimi, long time no see, good morning..."

"Your Highness... it's already afternoon."

Mimi felt inexplicably tired, turning around and closing the door to prevent others from seeing the less than presentable appearance of the princess.

Because of losing Aya, she had been hiding in her room for half a month... and the result was that she had become a complete shut-in for the past two weeks?!

"Your Highness..." Mimi's voice trembled slightly, like a girl who had been deceived by a scum man.

"Didn't I tell you not to eat snacks in the dormitory and on the bed?!"

...

About a year later.

- This is Tiran's subjective experience, as for the objective time, it's probably been about ten minutes.

Anyway, Mimi cleaned up the entire dormitory and returned it to the state it was half a month ago, finally remembering the purpose of coming in.

But before that...

"Your Highness, do you know how worried Chirp and I have been these days?!"

There was anger and a hint of grievance in Mimi's eyes. Although she didn't really hold any resentment towards Tiran, it was still heartbreaking to see Tiran acting like nothing was wrong while reading manga, eating potato chips, and drinking soda.

After worrying for half a month, she felt like such a fool!

"I'm really sorry! I just wanted to pass the time while waiting for news, but I didn't expect to get so engrossed..."

Princess Tiran clasped her hands together in front of her chest, bowing her head and apologizing sincerely. By all means, she honestly didn't consider that Mimi would be waiting outside in silence for more than ten days!

"Ugh, really! Your Highness, you need to reflect on your actions! And Aya--"

Mimi suddenly lowered her head, concealing her expression from Tiran.

And Aya, who was captured by the enemy and whose life or death was unknown, how can you be so at ease reading manga?

In the end, she managed to hold back and not ask, but deep down, Mimi still felt anger. Even though she didn't like that guy Aya, yes, not at all, she didn't want to see Tiran being so indifferent to a comrade whom they had gone through life and death with.

Subconsciously, Mimi believed that the princess was not that kind of person.

"Do you really 'not care about Aya, that would be so lame', don't you think that way?" Tiran tilted her head and asked.

Mimi didn't say anything, but her silence implied her agreement, hoping for Tiran's response.

"Well, I've already said it, I'm waiting for news. When I came back, I took the opportunity to visit a certain loli boss and asked her to gather relevant information. Even if I want to find Aya, I can't act randomly without obtaining any information."

Tiran shrugged confidently and said, "This lady is not the type to be depressed all the time. Moreover—"

"That guy is the Golden Dragon, even if he's a version of the albino disease, he is still one of the most outstanding creatures in the world. He's not that easy to die. I have confidence in him."

Right, Aya, you must be trying your best to find a way to escape, just like when I first caught you.

"Is that so...?"

A relieved smile appeared on Mimi's face. "Alright then, let's discuss the issue of educating the royal family's daily behavior."

"Um... this is unexpected..."

Tiran instantly started to stammer.

"But let's talk about that later after the incident."

"Welcome back, Your Highness."