The little princess was three years old now. Time flew by. She’d spent three years living as a girl, and she’d gotten used to it. At first, it hadn’t been easy to adjust, but when she thought about it, it wasn’t the end of the world. At worst, she just wouldn’t get married. But as a girl in a vast royal family, she’d probably be sent off to marry for political reasons unless she had some real power.
That was when the little princess started to panic. She didn’t want to marry a man! So she decided to study hard and keep a low profile.
She could read at one, speak at two, and write and do arithmetic at three. People called her a genius. What? How was that her fault? She just wanted to study hard and escape a political marriage. She didn’t want to be a genius!
The little princess was the third princess of the Kaslieno Empire and the youngest of the emperor’s children. She had an older brother and an older sister. Her brother was named Karen, her sister Leona, and Empress Heidiya was her birth mother in this life. Her father, Gretef, was the emperor of the Empire.
And she was Viltia Goresh Capedia, the Empire’s third princess—a princess in every sense of the word. She didn’t want this kind of status, though. Life was so short; just making it through in peace would be more than enough. Why had she been reborn into the royal family? She didn’t want to be a girl!
Just thinking about her future—holding hands with some man from who-knows-where, then having his big hands roam over her body, and even kissing him—made her go, “Cough, cough, cough… Bleh, bleh, bleh… Ptui, ptui, ptui.” She just couldn’t accept it.
The Kaslieno Empire was one of the world’s great powers—a top-tier nation. For the little princess, being born into its royal family might or might not have been a good thing. She was three this year. She’d once wondered if she could go back to being a boy after sleeping, or if the imperial physician was just a quack and she wasn’t a princess at all, but a prince. But reality was reality: at three, she was already a rosy-cheeked little girl, her hair had grown out, and she was wearing little dresses. No matter how you looked at her, she was an adorable little girl.
When she was a baby, the little princess had even been examined several times. No matter how they looked, she didn’t have a little brother down there. She was devastated.
But because she’d been reincarnated, she was mature for her age and could understand a lot of things. The writing in this world was a little complicated, but she learned it quickly. She was only three, yet she’d already started reading books. Her tutor even called her a once-in-centuries genius of the royal family.
“Your Highness! Please come down! That’s dangerous!”
That afternoon, the sun was gentle—a perfect day to air out the bedding. Under the clear, mild sky, the three-year-old princess was climbing a tree in the palace gardens. Wearing a little dress, she had no trace of a proper young lady about her as she climbed up to catch a cricket.
“Your Highness! Come down! You’re going to fall!”
“Guards! Go get the knight guards!”
“Your Highness, don’t be afraid! Jump down. I’ll catch you!”
The maids were terrified. They’d never seen anything like this, and they were scared out of their wits. If the princess got hurt, all their heads would roll.
Viltia didn’t care about any of that. She just wanted to catch the cricket.
“It’s fine! What’re you scared of? I’m just catchin’ a cricket!”
At three, she was still at the age where she couldn’t pronounce everything clearly. She could talk, but her words came out slurred. There was nothing to be done but take time and get used to it.
“You can’t do that, Your Highness! Please come down!”
“Romari, don’t look down on me! Back when I used to catch crickets in my village, I was the best at it!”
“Please come down! Her Majesty the Empress is coming!”
The little princess ignored them. All she cared about was catching crickets in the tree. For one thing, this was her first time catching crickets in the palace, and the variety was really good. It’d be even better if she had someone to compete with.
Empress Heidiya hurried over. When she saw her daughter climbing a tree to catch crickets, all the color drained from her face. Ignoring the maids’ attempts to stop her, she rushed straight over.
“Vivi! Come down right now! It’s dangerous up there—you’ll fall!”
She didn’t bother with anything else. She spread her arms and told Vivi to jump down.
“It’s okay, it’s okay! Don’t be scared. I’m really good at climbing trees!”
“Come down! Mommy’s scared!”
“The tree’s sturdy! I won’t fall… Ah! What the heck? Why’d it break?!”
The little princess had just been about to say she was fine when the branch she was sitting on began to snap. The cricket she’d caught escaped, too. With her tiny body, all she could do was grab the branch before it broke completely and hang there.
She’d been careless. She’d thought she was so small that the little branch wouldn’t snap under her weight. Who’d have thought she’d actually break it by sitting on it?
She was only three!
How could she possibly be that heavy?
“Vivi!!”
Heidiya was terrified. She didn’t care about anything else—if her daughter fell, wouldn’t she end up brain-damaged?
The little princess wanted to hang on, but a child’s body was too weak. She could only hold on for a little while before letting go. She fell from the tree, and Heidiya caught her just in time. Seeing her daughter safe in her arms, Heidiya finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Vivi! You can’t be so naughty! You’re going to scare Mommy to death!”
“Let me go! I don’t have a mommy.”
Viltia struggled, but there was no way a little child like her could break free quickly. The Empress held her tight, and soon she’d calmed down, too.
“Honestly, you’re so mischievous. Just like Leona.”
“How’m I like Big Sis? I’m the smartest one! I’m not naughty.”
“If Vivi doesn’t behave, Mommy’s going to spank her bottom.”
“Nooo! Mother is the prettiest big person ever. Please forgive Vivi!”
The Empress looked at the little girl. She wanted to scold her, but this was her most beloved youngest daughter, so she hugged her and soothed her instead. Of her three children, Viltia was the most trouble. She was also the youngest, which made her a little too fearless.
Viltia was her third child and the one she doted on most. But the girl acted like a little adult. She’d learned to read at one, and unlike other children, she didn’t cling to people and beg to be held. Instead, she found new ways to get into trouble every day. She also refused to call her parents “Father” and “Mother,” insisting she had no parents and was an orphan. But the moment they gave her a stern look or spoke sharply to her, she’d start crying and call for them.
She really couldn’t make sense of this child.
Viltia was three years old, with golden hair, rose-red eyes, and a white dress. She took after her mother in looks. As a member of the royal family, she’d been doted on since birth. The Empress had thought it was fine if the girl was a little mischievous—she was only a child, after all. But Viltia had started reading at an early age and even asked to learn more. At first, the Empress hadn’t thought much of it. She figured the girl could play at studying. But after teaching her a few times, the tutor said the little princess was a genius who learned everything at once.
Then they hired a new tutor, and the little princess really did take to her lessons. Karen and Leona had started studying with tutors at four, but this third daughter of hers had begun reading at two and was ready for a tutor at three. It sounded ridiculous even to the Empress, but that was the reality.
And so the title of “genius princess” was bestowed upon her. The Empress had already adopted a rather hands-off attitude. She just wanted her children to grow up safe and sound; she wasn’t expecting them to achieve anything extraordinary. As for whether Viltia would someday take part in the struggle for the throne, she didn’t know yet.
But the Empress had no idea that the little princess studied so hard because she was afraid she’d grow up useless, learn nothing, and end up being sent off to marry like some useless princess. She didn’t want to get married! If she was useless now, they’d ship her off to marry later. She’d be better off studying hard and changing her fate as soon as possible.
“Vivi, you’re still young, but Mommy’s been thinking. How about we find you a manners tutor?”
Holding her daughter, Heidiya felt much better, and she headed back to the princess’s palace with the maids. Her daughter was still very young, but she was a member of the royal family. It was time to hire a tutor to teach her royal etiquette. The Empress couldn’t keep indulging and spoiling her forever. She thought of Leona, who was so wild she was practically out of control. Because she loved to play, she hadn’t gotten a manners tutor until she was seven this year—that was far too late. With Viltia, the Empress hoped to start as early as possible.
“I don’t wanna learn manners.”
“Why not? You’re royalty. Learning royal etiquette is your duty.”
The Empress stroked her daughter’s head and began coaxing her into taking lessons.
“Manners aren’t fun. I wanna catch crickets.”
“Vivi, if you climb that tree again, Mommy really will spank your bottom.”
“Waaah, I’m sowwy, Mother.”
She was still a child, after all.
Her daughter was always saying she didn’t need parents or siblings and shouting that she wanted to leave the palace. But she was a child. A little coaxing, and she’d come around soon enough.
Viltia behaved herself once she got back to the princess’s palace. Not for any particular reason—it was snack time. She’d just been climbing a tree, so her clothes were dirty. The maids changed her and checked her over for injuries. When they found none, they all felt much more at ease. The third princess they served was easygoing and never gave the servants a hard time. She got along well with the maids, too. But she had a wild streak and often did astonishing things when there were only maids in the palace: climbing trees, digging tunnels with a shovel, or roasting sweet potatoes.
Sometimes the Empress wondered if the daughter she’d given birth to was a little too wild—wilder than her second daughter, even.
So manners lessons really had to be arranged soon. Otherwise, she’d grow up into a wild child, and that would be hard to deal with. She was still a princess of the Empire, and she’d have to meet people someday. She couldn’t go to banquets looking like some wild girl.
Viltia might have been a little wild, but she behaved as soon as she got back to the palace. It was snack time, after all. The maids changed her into a fresh little dress and led her out. At last, the snack time the little princess had been eagerly waiting for had arrived.
The table was covered with all kinds of cakes and cookies, and just looking at them made her drool. She grabbed one and started eating. Royal snacks really did taste different. They were far better than all the food she’d eaten in her previous life. She couldn’t believe snacks could be this delicious. She was so happy.
The Empress sipped her tea and watched her own daughter eat without a shred of table manners. She thought to herself that manners lessons really couldn’t wait.
The little princess enjoyed afternoon tea and snacks more than anything. She hadn’t understood it before, but after becoming a princess, she realized that being born into a good family really was wonderful. There was afternoon tea every day, with delicious treats most ordinary people would never taste in their entire lives. She was still young, but she’d already spent a few years as royalty, eating refined food every day—including snacks. An ordinary person could only dream of such a life.
“Vivi, try to act like a proper young lady.”
“In front of yummy food, everybody’s equal!”
Watching her daughter eat with no table manners at all, the Empress could only sigh. Everything else was fine. It was just that her daughter loved food—especially snacks—and had no ladylike manners whatsoever.
Her daughter’s favorite was Neapolitan crisp. She had it almost every day. The snack was baked with oats, walnuts, and all sorts of other ingredients. To suit the princess’s tastes, half a strawberry was added to each crisp as a garnish. It was Viltia’s favorite treat in the palace.
The only problem was that she was limited to a certain number each day. The Empress said she was still little and couldn’t eat too many, so she was allowed only two a day. Well, getting to eat them at all was still nice. And there were other snacks, too—like doumian gao, one of her favorites.
Viltia ate very quietly, like a little hamster. The Empress found it a lovely sight. She was her own child, after all, and she looked so cute. The Empress enjoyed afternoon tea the most, too. She was busy with official duties, but she always made time for it, because she wanted to spend it with her youngest daughter.
