As the little girl proudly introduced herself as the Empress's niece, I found myself recalling the Mintia of the future.
Even before I had turned back time, she had treated me with nothing but disrespect all the way into adulthood. And after Voltaire ascended the throne, she openly sneered at me, calling me nothing more than a royal in name while mocking and humiliating me whenever she pleased.
No matter how spoiled she is... she's still just a child.
I'm the one with decades of memories. I'll be the bigger person.
Fine. I'll accept her greeting.
I gave a lazy nod.
"Ah... I see."
The moment I did, the little brat slapped me across the face without a second's hesitation.
Smack!
How could such tiny hands hurt so much?
My cheek throbbed fiercely. With the delicate skin of a three-year-old, the sting was far worse than it should have been.
"My grandfather is Marquis Cherrier! My aunt is the Empress! Why are you talking to me so casually?!"
"Eek! My lady, please calm down! She could be a noble too! Please!"
Mintia's maid stamped her feet in panic.
She wasn't worried about hiding the incident anymore. Instead, she desperately scanned the surroundings, clearly praying that my guardian would appear quickly so the matter could be settled in a civilized manner.
Meanwhile, I stood there dumbfounded, clutching my burning cheek.
Only then did Mintia turn toward her maid.
"She's a noble too?"
"I... I believe so. So please apologize, my lady."
"...Is her grandfather more important than mine?"
For a split second, I nearly let a string of curses fly.
You've got to be kidding me.
"W-Well..."
"But my aunt is the Empress."
Your aunt is the Empress?
Well, my aunt is an Imperial Princess...
...Actually, that loses in rank.
Then my grandfather is the Emperor!
Still, just because a five-year-old slapped me didn't mean I was mentally childish enough to burst into tears. Besides, I didn't have the energy for such a ridiculous argument.
If I announced that I was the Emperor's granddaughter, what then?
Her maid would probably panic and drag Mintia away.
Then there'd be no witnesses, and I'd just be left as the kid who got slapped.
...Maybe I should just hit her back.
Fine.
To hell with it.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
Your marquis grandfather and Empress aunt can deal with your aftermath.
As for mine...
Well, my Emperor grandfather would surely handle it.
Heh.
If someone slaps your face, common courtesy demands you repay them with interest.
Both cheeks.
Plus a few fingernail marks.
I raised both hands, curling my fingers tightly.
Then I swung.
Smack!
Smack!
Alternating hands, I slapped both of Mintia's cheeks with my nails extended.
Instantly, long crimson scratches bloomed across her soft skin.
Fresh welts swelled bright red.
Children's fingernails were thinner and sharper than adults', making them surprisingly effective.
Seeing those vivid red claw marks filled me with immense satisfaction.
Mintia stared back at me, her crimson eyes wide with disbelief.
Within moments they brimmed with tears.
Then came the hiccups.
I took a deep breath and deliberately shouted loud enough for her maid to hear.
Naturally, I made sure to spray a little spit onto Mintia's face while doing so.
"Y-You viiilllain! How daaaare you lay hands on a member of the Imperial Famiwyyyy!"
Before she could run, I grabbed both of her ears and a fistful of her hair.
Mintia immediately clawed at my hands while clutching her own ears.
Then she burst into ear-splitting sobs.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Her cries echoed through the garden.
Moments later, my nanny and Jeanne came running.
"Y-Your Highness! Wh-What are you doing?!"
My nanny rushed over and, for the first time in my life...
smacked me squarely across the back.
"Ow!"
The blow made me yelp, and I involuntarily released Mintia's ear.
Tch.
I could've ripped it right off.
My nanny shrieked in horror.
"W-What in the world is this?! Pulling each other's hair?!"
Wait.
Why aren't you taking my side?!
"She hit me fiiirst!"
It was self-defense!
"Even so, you can't grab another young lady by the ears! And what happened to your cheek? Why are your hands and knees all scraped up?"
While my nanny scolded me and anxiously inspected every inch of my body, head maid Jeanne turned to Mintia's maid.
"What exactly happened here?"
"W-Well... there was... a misunderstanding..."
Mintia's maid trembled violently.
"I'm sure my lady never intended to harm Her Highness."
"A misunderstanding?"
"I-I don't know the details! Please forgive us!"
"Whether to forgive you is for His Majesty and Her Highness to decide, not me."
Jeanne's voice remained perfectly calm.
"Whatever the misunderstanding, you caused a disturbance in the Imperial Palace. And regardless of intent, a member of the Imperial Family has been injured."
"I will report today's events to His Majesty."
"Take your young lady and leave."
Cradled in her maid's arms, Mintia fled toward the Empress's Palace while screaming at the top of her lungs.
"I'm telling Grandfather! I'll tell Auntie everything! WAAAAAAAH!"
Our pleasant outing had been completely ruined.
Curled in my nanny's arms, I returned to my room.
"Oh dear... what are we going to do? Your elbows are scraped too... and you haven't even cried..."
She sniffled, tears pooling in her eyes.
If there hadn't been others watching, she looked ready to unleash a torrent of the foulest curses imaginable.
Quietly, I sat where she placed me.
The maids carefully removed my tattered clothes.
The moment they saw my knees and thighs—raw skin mixed with dirt and sticky blood—they gasped.
"Oh my goodness! We must report this to His Majesty and formally protest to House Cherrier!"
"Exactly! This is far beyond a childish quarrel. How could anyone do something so awful?"
They were so furious on my behalf that I, the actual victim, felt too embarrassed to get a word in.
Watching them fuss over me made it painfully obvious how dearly they loved me.
So I simply accepted their care.
They washed away the dirt with clean water before soaking expensive healing potion into soft cloths and gently wiping every scrape on my body.
Just then—
The door burst open without so much as a knock.
"My little darling! Who hurt my little darling?! WHO DAREEEEEED?!"
Grandfather.
His eyes were bloodshot with fury.
Behind him hurried Count Maron, the Lord Chamberlain.
"Y-Your Majesty! Please calm yourself! The council meeting in the throne hall is about to—"
"To hell with the council meeting!"
The Emperor roared.
"Who is the bastard that turned my precious child into this state?!"
"This state?"
It wasn't that bad...
Was I really that much of a mess?
I looked up at him uncertainly.
"What happened?"
He rounded on Jeanne with terrifying intensity.
"Well... Lady Mintia..."
"Mintia Cherrier? The Empress's niece? Why?"
For an instant, Grandfather simply blinked.
The maids hesitated.
His voice thundered through the room.
"I asked why she did this to my Melli!"
Since none of the maids had witnessed the entire incident, they stumbled over their answers.
Well then.
I'd explain it myself.
After all, I'd only fought back because I trusted Grandfather to have my back.
Putting on my most pitiful voice, I tattled dramatically.
"She hit me heeere... and heeere... and pulled me awound because I didn't greet her..."
I puffed out my cheeks and looked as though I were just about to cry.
The Emperor's remaining restraint vanished instantly.
"Ban Mintia from entering the Imperial Palace until she makes her debut in society."
"Go to the Empress immediately."
"Deliver my order."
"Then send the child home."
At that moment, I realized something.
The future...
was changing.
Before my regression, Mintia and I had never exchanged slaps.
Then again, everything today had happened because I had changed things.
I was the one who insisted on going into the garden.
I was the one who suggested hide-and-seek.
I was the one who deliberately chose that hiding place simply because I didn't feel like running.
If the future could be altered...
Then I couldn't keep sitting back just because I was a child.
I had to act.
If I started changing things now...
Could I make Grandfather realize that my parents' carriage crash hadn't been an accident...
but a murder?
But how?
I hadn't learned my uncle was responsible until I was imprisoned in the Cold Palace.
Even then, all I knew was that he had done it.
I had no idea how he'd disguised it as an accident.
I didn't know what evidence existed.
I didn't know anything.
Still...
If I could at least make Grandfather suspect there was something wrong...
My blood began to boil.
I wanted revenge.
As soon as possible.
But trapped inside the body of a three-year-old, there was so little I could do.
If only I were allowed into the Imperial Archives...
I took a slow breath.
Whoo...
No.
Don't get greedy.
For now...
Sending Mintia straight into disaster like this was already a major blow to the Empress.
In the future, Mintia would become the Empress's eyes, ears, mouth, and hands within high society.
And I had just severed that branch before it could even grow.
Wow.
Jackpot.
Of course, Mintia was still too young to serve that role.
But the Empress would simply have trained her little by little herself.
Even in my previous life, Mintia had frequently visited the palace.
The Empress needed a representative in noble society.
Without a daughter of her own, her niece was the obvious choice.
Mintia's father—the Empress's younger brother and heir to House Cherrier—had also been eager to show off the fact that his daughter, not even debuted yet, could freely come and go from the Imperial Palace.
It benefited both sides perfectly.
Which meant...
Today's incident would have a tremendous impact on the Empress's future influence within noble society.
Ha!
I wanted to rush over right now just to watch the Empress's face twist with rage.
Unfortunately, wanting to go somewhere didn't mean I could.
I was still three years old.
I went wherever my nanny carried me according to the day's schedule.
Even if I insisted, I had no excuse.
Instead, they dressed me in a magnificent gown far grander than usual before I went out with Grandfather.
Earlier, I'd worn simple, soft clothing with barely any decorations so I could run around comfortably.
Now...
I was dazzling.
A brilliant crimson dress.
And atop my head rested a jeweled tiara reserved exclusively for direct members of the Imperial bloodline.
"I'll stay beside you this time."
Grandfather smiled gently.
"Let's go play again."
Behind us, Count Maron let out a despairing scream.
"Your Majesty! The council meeting is waiting!"
Empress Kiyen was in an exceptionally foul mood.
When her niece arrived that morning, she had been shocked.
Mintia's cheeks were covered in fresh scratches, and her eyes were swollen from crying.
Before the Empress could even ask the maid what had happened, Mintia threw herself at her skirt and wailed.
"Auntieee! Waaaaah! That bad girl hit me! Boohoo! She's only this tiny!"
In summary, her story went like this:
While entering the palace, she'd met a little girl in the garden who was even smaller than herself.
The girl had scratched both of her cheeks and yanked her ears.
What she didn't explain was why she'd ended up getting hit in the first place.
Surely no one would attack without reason.
She must have done something first.
Yet Mintia insisted she'd been quietly minding her own business before being attacked for no reason at all.
That was exactly how five-year-olds were.
They instinctively omitted the parts where they were at fault.
But they weren't skilled enough to lie convincingly, so the truth still showed through every word.
The Empress hadn't expected a coherent account from a child anyway.
Instead, she questioned Mintia's maid.
"Who did this?"
Terrified of being punished herself, the maid answered in a trembling voice.
"It... it was Her Imperial Highness."
Kiyen swayed.
Her vision nearly went dark.
Of all people...
Her niece had picked a fight with royalty.
Not just any royal.
The Emperor's precious granddaughter.
His most beloved treasure.
A dreadful premonition slowly crept over her.
