The Empire’s Flower (2)
There was a growing problem in the cabin that Vergil had no idea how to address.
“Seris…”
“Two hours. You said you’d give me two hours.”
“Damn it, and you’re just going to sleep for the rest of the day!”
Her addiction to the gallery notebook was becoming unbearable.
The Dragon, who once couldn’t sit still, who insisted on leaving the cabin at every opportunity, now refused to take a single step outside.
The moment her allotted hours ran out, she would crawl into bed and sleep.
The only times she was awake were to eat, drink, or use the bathroom.
At this rate, Seris was quite literally turning into a hikikomori.
“Then what am I supposed to do?!”
“Have you forgotten who you are?”
“I’m… I’m…”
She seemed to hesitate. Her eyes turned away as if trying to remember something profound.
“I’m the UncrownedQueen!”
That was her username in the gallery community.
Vergil pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You’re a damned Ice Dragon! Weren’t you going to avenge your race?!”
Seris deflated at once, sinking deeper into the blanket she had wrapped around herself.
“Vengeance starts with the gallery notebook, Vergil. You don’t understand. They fear me there. They tremble before my threads like I’m their ruler.”
“...You argued with a man named CabbageEnthusiast for forty minutes yesterday.”
“And what do you think happened? I got him banned. He got banned, Vergil.”
She was a lost cause.
“You know what? You’re banned from using the notebook.”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“You’re not the admin. You can’t do that!”
“But I can certainly do this—”
Before she could react, Vergil lunged forward and snatched the notebook from her hands.
In the same motion, he pulled out a knife and held it dangerously close to the cover.
“V-Vergil… what are you doing?”
“What needs to be done.”
“H-Hey, let’s not be hasty, okay? V-Vergil, put down the notebook. We can talk about this…”
A thin layer of frost began creeping across the floor toward his feet.
Vergil noticed immediately, so he moved the knife even closer.
“......”
The frost evaporated on the spot.
“Good.”
“V-Vergil… you wouldn’t actually hurt it, right?”
“Try me.”
“That notebook is innocent!”
“It’s destroying you.”
“But… but Vergil… My two hours aren’t finished yet..."
“Hour.”
“You can’t do this to me!”
Ever since that day, Seris finally began going outside again.
At first, it was only for a few minutes, wandering just far enough from the doorway to make sure Vergil wasn’t holding the notebook hostage.
Yet as the days passed, she ventured farther, no longer burying herself under the blankets from morning until night.
Of course, she still complained, but at the very least, she was moving.
And for Vergil, who had nearly watched her turn into a shut-in dragon, it was progress.
* * *
After breakfast, Anneliese rode the Imperial carriage. Its wheels rolled over the streets, and as soon as the citizens spotted the royal crest, voices rose one after another to greet her.
——Oh, it’s the Princess!
——Good morning, Your Highness!
——Blessings upon your day, Princess Anneliese!
Vendors paused mid-sale just to bow. Children waved with both hands. Even the guards stopped in their tracks as the carriage passed.
Anneliese gave each of them a warm smile through the open window, placing a hand over her heart.
“May the morning treat you kindly.”
The Empire of Amesticross, located at the heart of the Human Domain, was peaceful as always.
Though humans were known as the weakest of all races, their weakness became neutrality, and their neutrality became value.
Thus, their lands naturally turned into the safest hub for all races to cross paths without fear.
Inside her carriage, Anneliese leaned back into her seat and loosened her posture.
From her bag, she retrieved a notebook bound in dark leather.
The gallery notebook.
A curious man-made artifact that allowed races across the continents to communicate with one another through written words, all while remaining within the safety of their homes.
With a warm smile on her face, Anneliese dipped her quill into the ink and pressed it to the page.
[Fuck, why are street children so fucking dirty?]
Outside, citizens waved joyfully at their passing carriage, unaware that the Empire’s beloved treasure was committing verbal arson with a serene expression.
┕ MoralityPaladin: What the hell, OP?
┕ DirtIsNatural: They live on the street. What did you expect, jasmine-scented orphans?
┕ OP (Anneliese): Shut up. It’s basic human courtesy to shower. You’re probably a street urchin yourself. Go take a bath, you skunk.
┕ SewerWizard: Who even writes shit like this in the morning? Touch grass.
┕ OP (Anneliese): If I touch grass, will it make them cleaner?
Anneliese covered her mouth with her hand, nearly breaking into a laugh.
There was something refreshing about speaking without the filtered grace of royalty.
┕ AnonymousUser: stop calling them dirty, they’re earth-touched
┕ OP (Anneliese): They are mud-sculpted.
┕ AnonymousUser: am reporting you to the church
┕ AnonymousUser: OP please stop writing like someone with servants fanning her right now.
┕ OP (Anneliese): I only have one maid present.
┕ MageWithDebt: OP complaining about dirt while sitting in a silver-trimmed carriage is the most noble thing I’ve ever seen.
┕ OP (Anneliese): It is gold-trimmed, actually.
┕ MageWithDebt: …Why are you helping my argument?
“Princess, this is really undignified… Are you asking to get banned again?”
Naturally, Ivette was the only one in the entire Empire who knew this side of Anneliese.
“Oh, come now, Ivette. I’m not doing anything harmful. I’m contributing to the cultural development of the community.”
“By insulting the youth of the streets?”
“They insulted me first.”
“That is objectively not true, Princess.”
Anneliese ignored her again.
[Shit, one of them threw a mudball at the carriage. Where do they even get this much mud?]
┕ CityGuardAnon: Stop antagonizing children. They have perfect aim.
┕ OP (Anneliese): Should I throw it back?
┕ AnonymousUser: DO NOT THROW IT BACK.
┕ BitterBard: Throw it back. It builds character.
┕ MageWithDebt: Stop giving noble brats bad ideas.
Ivette glanced out the window, then back at the princess with a flat stare.
“There’s no mud, Princess?”
“It’s just funny. Hee-hee.”
Anneliese returned her full attention to the notebook.
A moment later, the ink on the page began to fade as the pages slowly dissolved to black.
Anneliese let out a sigh.
“Ah, I’m banned again. Give me another notebook, Ivette.”
Ivette closed her eyes for a long moment, already feeling the ache of a growing headache.
“…Yes, Princess.”
Anneliese accepted another gallery notebook with a bright smile, as if she hadn’t just committed an offense grave enough to exile lesser users for life.
The old notebook continued to darken in her lap.
It was the universal sign of banishment that could not be overturned.
In the early days, many were deceived by scammers selling banned notebooks, which they falsely claimed were “safe to use.”
To counter this, the company responsible for the artifact implemented a failsafe.
Any notebook that received a permanent ban would have its pages stained black, rendering it unusable and condemned.
“How many does this make, Princess?”
Anneliese tapped her chin with a thoughtful look.
“…Five?”
“That is incorrect.”
“…Seven?”
“Princess.”
“…Fine. Ten.”
Ivette sighed again, while Anneliese cheerfully opened the new notebook, dipping her quill with all the innocence in the world.
“Now then. Where was I?”
As Anneliese continued scribbling down one inflammatory line after another, Ivette watched the pages, already anticipating the next ban.
The princess, on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered.
She wrote with the serene grace befitting royalty, even while insulting three different species in the span of a minute.
By the time the carriage began passing through the palace grounds, Anneliese was still hunched over her notebook.
The guards saluted as the carriage rolled by, though neither occupant acknowledged them.
The horses slowed.
“Princess, we have arrived.”
“Mm. Let me just finish this.”
Ivette glanced at the quill.
[Dwarves generally have stinky armpits—]
The ink vanished mid-stroke. The entire page slowly turned ashen black.
Anneliese's brows rose.
“…Oh. Another ban.”
Ivette shut her eyes and sighed.
“I’ll fetch another notebook when we return to the estate.”
“That would be wonderful, thank you.”
The carriage door opened. Palace attendants bowed in unison as the princess stepped out, smiling as if the last ten minutes of vulgar scribbling had never happened.
As of this very moment, she was the Empire’s beloved flower.
One of the attendants greeted her.
“Princess Anneliese, your father awaits you in the main hall.”
Anneliese nodded gracefully and began walking.
Meanwhile, Ivette discreetly tucked the banned notebook into a pouch already too full of its brethren, wondering if the palace should begin ordering them in bulk.
Anneliese lowered herself to her knees, bowing her head before the dais where the Emperor sat under the banners of the House of Friedeberg.
The sunlight filtering through the tall stained glass cast a golden glow over her hair, making her appear like a divine being.
“Father.”
The Emperor, Wilhelm Alexander von Friedeberg, regarded her for a moment before nodding.
“Rise, Anneliese.”
Anneliese obeyed, lifting her head but keeping her posture straight and respectful.
“I trust your morning with Lord Noah proceeded without issue.”
“Yes. He was courteous.”
“That is good to hear. The Duchy of Liebert remains one of our strongest allies. These relations must be handled with care, especially now.”
Anneliese felt the atmosphere grow tense.
She stepped a little closer, her hands clasped gently before her.
“Has something happened?”
“The dragons have been growing restless. Reports from the northern border indicate unusual activity among their clans. They have even sought our assistance. This is our chance to strengthen our political ties with the Dragons.”
Anything involving the Dragon Empire was never trivial.
Their power alone could tip the balance between peace and ruin.
“So our involvement is no longer optional?”
“Yes. The Dragon’s Council rarely acknowledges external affairs, yet they have reached out.”
“But what exactly is the problem, father?”
“I don’t know if it came out of a fairy tale or a bard’s drunken tale, but apparently, my daughter… an Ice Dragon has emerged, and they seek to hunt it down.”
“…An Ice Dragon?”
In the past, the Ice Dragons had been the most revered clan in the Dragon Empire.
Yet despite their prestige, history recorded their extinction centuries ago with no proper explanation.
And whatever the cause, the fact that the Ice Dragons were gone remained a finality.
So why, now, was the Dragon Empire claiming one had resurfaced?
Before she could dwell on the question further, the great doors of the throne room swung open.
A man in deep black robes entered, the fabric of his robes embroidered with the sigils of the Holy Church.
And the man who had once saved Anneliese from a foolish past she preferred never to remember.
“Ah. It is a blessing to find you awake and radiant as ever, Princess.”
“Good morning, Cardinal.”
The Cardinal then turned his attention toward the throne.
“Your Majesty.”
“Rise, Cardinal Richelieu. Your presence graces these halls.”
Cardinal Richelieu, the very man who had brought Vergil Eichel-Streiber’s wicked misdeeds into the light.
