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Mia sighed as her carriage rolled down the road. She was on her way home two days after the Thanksharvest Festival. If she had gone to Saint-Noel, it would have been summer break by the time she got there, so she chose to go back to Lunatear right away.

Shalloak and the two Forkroads all said they had more work to do in Perujin, so they decided to stay longer. Tatiana also stayed to be with Shalloak.

I told Chloe that we would go back to Saint-Noel together, so I guess this is fine.

The people who stayed in Perujin were in the middle of negotiations that would change the whole direction of history, but Mia had no idea what was going on, so she had no idea how important this moment was. Instead, she climbed into her carriage with Ludwig, Anne, and Bel and left Perujin.

Since Chloe, Tatiana, and Rania weren’t there, the car was much quieter.

“Well, somehow it feels a little lonely.” Mia mused.

There was a marked melancholy in the air—the kind thickest following a festive celebration.

“Yes. I agree that that trip with Miss Tatiana was a lot of fun,” Anne said in a similar tone.

“It surely was.”

Picking fruit, seeing the city for the first time, spending days in Auro Ardea’s cake-shaped castle, practicing dance… As each memory came to her, they all came together to make a shining mosaic of summer thoughts.

“Indeed. We had a great time here,” Ludwig said, putting his finger to his glasses in a standard toasting way. “If it were at all possible, I would have liked to stay a little longer…”

Even he seemed to be having an emotional moment.

My, my, I didn’t expect him to say something like that. I thought he wouldn’t be interested in summer memories and like that.

Mia thought with a curious tilt of her head.

She looked over at Bel.

“You must also be happy, Bel. This year, you’ll be spending the summer in Lunatear, so you’ll have a lot of time to spend with Rina.”

Last year, to Bel’s great dismay, she’d lost her summer to supplementary exams. Since she wasn’t going back this year, she didn’t have to take any tests before the holidays. The price was, of course, a series of terrible make-up tests after the break. But based on how Bel lived her life—in the moment—Mia thought she probably didn’t care too much. Bel’s reaction, however…

“Uh… Mia-neesama, I think I get it now,” the little girl said, looking surprisingly serious.

“Huh? Understand what?”

“I understand it’s risky to thank someone by giving them money.”

“…Huh.”

When Mia looked into Bel’s steady eyes, she was at a loss for words for a moment. So, she crossed her arms and gave Bel a look that said, “Go on,” to hide the fact that her mind was blank.

“Mr. Shalloak, that man… The lure of money got to him,” Bel said. “It led him wrong and made him think it was the most important thing. The whole point of his work was to make money.”

“True. An imbalance between work and pay makes people less likely to work,” Ludwig added. “Those who gain too great a sum of wealth too easily end up wanting ways to gain similar sums with similar ease. Their goal is to make as much money as they can with as little work as possible.”

Bel nodded. “That’s why we shouldn’t give people a lot of money without thinking, because it could bring them misfortune. I finally see what you mean.” She refocused her gaze at Mia. “You’ve always told me that money isn’t what’s important, and you’ve shown me that’s true.”

Mia thought about what she had done.

I guess I did say that money isn’t everything, but that was just to make Shalloak mad.

She didn’t feel comfortable telling her granddaughter what her real reason was.

“You were doing that ‘actions speak louder than words’ thing, right? And trying to tell me how I should act as an imperial princess?” Bel asked.

Was I? I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. Then, when she realized what the look meant, she quickly arched the other eye and pressed both of them shut. When the movements were put together, they looked like an intentional nod.

“So you were… I believed so.”

Ludwig said, “If I may be so bold, Bel-sama, you should know that Her Highness often acts this way. At times, she thinks in so many dimensions that our original interpretations of her behavior can be misleading. When you’re not sure, I think it’s best to err on the side of caution and confirm your idea aloud.”

He pushed up his glasses. As the first Mia translator, he spoke from a place of having a lot of first-hand knowledge.

“Yes, I’ll do that, Professor Ludwig,” said Bel, easily adding an honorific before his name. Then she looked at Mia again.

“Mia-neesama, what you’re trying to tell me is that as a princess of the empire, I should act in a way that matches the kindness and care I’ve received from others. Am I right?” She put her hands over her chest and closed her eyes. “That dance, the change to the treaty between Tearmoon and Perujin, and the start of a new friendship between the two… I can now see that everything I did was part of making up for what the Perujin people did for us. We should remember how well they treated us and act accordingly, which is exactly what you did.”

Mia couldn’t help but look away from her because of how intensely she was looking at her.

“Uh-huh. R-Right, you’re right. Of course. Oho ho.”

“But, uh, Bel, I do think that, in the end, it comes down to that. You’ve been helped by a lot of people, so you should try to live the best life you can. Live for yourself and live up to their goodness. Find your own way to be happy. That’s what the people who helped you would want to see, in my opinion.”

Mia wasn’t a philosopher, but when she looked at Bel, she couldn’t help but think that the Annes, Ludwigs, Elises, and everyone else from all those futures who loved and cared for Bel would want nothing more than for her to be happy.

“But don’t worry too much about it. Even if you don’t pay everyone back, I’ll do it for you by improving this kingdom. So relax a little and take it easy. Everything will be fine.”

She gave Bel a soft smile, and Bel replied with a perky “Okay, Mia-neesama!” and a relaxed, grinning nod that a girl her age would do.

Author’s Note: We will restart from today.