Chapter 6: PBDK

“Even if Sir Elias knew you before your coming-of-age ceremony, he currently knows Your Highness as ‘Chloe Evergreen.’ My situation is different.”

“…What?”

It meant there would be penalties even if Elias found out.

In other words, my hopes of being treated as a “princess” by Elias were gone.

‘No… my sleep and rest!’

My eyes stung at the loss of my hopes.

So even Elias couldn’t help me with my coming-of-age ceremony.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

At the question with the subject omitted, Camilla couldn’t bring herself to answer.

The omitted subject was my brother—the Crown Prince of the Empire.

In the end, I didn’t actually need Camilla’s answer.

I stomped my foot on the ground in frustration.

“If it’s my brother, it’s definitely intentional. There’s no way he didn’t know he could inform Elias beforehand.”

I gritted my teeth.

I almost wanted to take back my gratitude for sending Camilla.

“Actually, His Highness the Crown Prince did leave a message.”

“What is it?”

Probably another teasing remark.

Still, I decided to listen.

Camilla imitated my brother’s voice, lowering hers slightly.

“‘Sir Elias is a strict man of principle, so he would never bend the rules for the ceremony. It would be better if she didn’t know—at least that way, the penalties would be reduced.’”

Surprisingly normal and reasonable.

As she finished, I could already imagine Elias saying something like, “Even if it’s a coming-of-age ceremony task, you are currently a knight, so you should participate in training.”

That cold, indifferent expression I’d seen a few times was so vividly imagined it made me feel annoyed.

“…That does sound like something he’d say.”

The anger I’d directed at my brother fizzled out.

“I’m glad you’re here, at least.”

I leaned on Camilla a little.

“I’m happy I can be by Your Highness’s side like this as well.”

Camilla gently patted my shoulder.

I suppressed the urge to whine more at her.

‘I’m an adult now.’

Instead, I lowered my voice and asked:

“Elias will be here soon, right?”

Camilla also lowered her voice.

“Probably about ten more minutes.”

Ten minutes.

A short time, but enough to use well depending on how I spent it.

I decided to use it to get information from Camilla.

“By the way, how did my brother even learn about this?”

What I was most curious about was whether I was the only one who didn’t know.

There was a fairly large age gap between us siblings—my brother was six years older than me, and my sister five years older.

‘What was their coming-of-age ceremony like?’

No memories came to mind.

Twelve was an age where you quickly forgot things you weren’t interested in.

‘I do remember my sister being really sad about not seeing us for a while…’

But I remembered nothing about my brother’s ceremony, which was only a year earlier.

Now that I thought about it, it was strange.

Camilla, as if prompting an answer, looked at me. Then she explained hesitantly.

“His Highness the Crown Prince drew the ‘Prince Card’ during his ceremony.”

The roles during the ceremony are assigned by drawing cards.

“What? So he didn’t actually do his ceremony?”

I asked, feeling a little unfair.

Camilla answered carefully, trying to comfort me.

“He was a prince, not yet Crown Prince at the time. So for one year, he couldn’t perform the duties of Crown Prince.”

“What difference does that even make!”

As the eldest of the three siblings, my brother was the emperor’s legitimate heir.

The empire had strict primogeniture.

So even if he wasn’t Crown Prince in title, he was still first in line to the throne.

Of course, he might have lost some authority, but…

‘So he just got a year of freedom?’

Eight days into being a trainee knight, still suffering from full-body soreness, I felt intensely envious.

‘I… I should’ve drawn the princess card too.’

There were 64 possible ceremony role cards—maybe I had just drawn the worst one.

Seeing my increasingly gloomy expression, Camilla panicked.

“I-I’ll do my best to assist you…”

Moved by her concern, she tried to comfort me.

‘Having the deputy instead of the commander isn’t so bad.’

I kept my sad expression but smiled inwardly.

My brother drawing the prince card and me drawing the trainee knight card wasn’t Camilla’s fault.

My brother had it easy, but if there was even a slightly easier path, it was natural to take it.

I quickly accepted Camilla’s hand.

“Really?”

Seeing my expression shift instantly like the sky after rain, Camilla looked momentarily stunned, as if she had been tricked.

I smiled brightly at her.

Camilla winked with one eye, resigned, and smiled back.

At that moment, the door to the commander’s office opened.

Camilla, with her sharp hearing, noticed first and signaled me.

I quickly changed my expression, pretending I had been sitting properly all along.

Camilla subtly stepped away from me.

Elias paused as he entered.

A brief silence filled the room, and Camilla mouthed to me:

‘You should stand up?’

Only then did I realize my posture.

As a trainee knight, I had been sitting comfortably on the sofa even though the commander had entered.

I quickly stood up.

“G-Greetings, Commander Elias!”

Fortunately, Elias didn’t seem to care about my disrespectful posture.

His attention wasn’t even on me.

“Sir Camilla, it’s been a while.”

It seemed they had matters to discuss from when she met my brother.

‘He’s surprisingly oblivious.’

Good for me.

I quietly moved toward the corner of the office.

Camilla shifted slightly, positioning herself as if to shield me.

Only then did she begin speaking with Elias without acknowledging me.

“I’ve heard from His Highness the Crown Prince. You’ll be serving as my deputy while Princess Violetta is away.”

“That is correct. I look forward to working with you for the next year, Commander.”

It was common knowledge in the empire that young royals were given a one-year task upon reaching adulthood.

Only Camilla and I flinched slightly when Elias mentioned my name.

Elias began discussing the handover documents in detail.

He seemed to have fully reviewed the thick stack of reports.

‘Though he might need some help deciding how to handle them.’

Camilla offered advice as they spoke.

Her opinions, learned from the same mentor as mine, were almost identical to what I had expected.

I pretended not to listen while eavesdropping on their conversation.

After urgent matters were finished, there was a short break.

Camilla glanced at me and asked:

“What about that side?”

She meant the trainee knight—why was I here at this time?

It was a natural question, but I felt a wave of embarrassment knowing Elias would answer.

‘Elias, don’t say it. This is humiliating.’

But my desperate wish didn’t come true.

Elias explained matter-of-factly what had happened between me and the trio of fools.

“So she’ll be handling odd jobs for a month after training.”

“I see…”

Camilla’s voice lowered noticeably.

Her gaze, previously on Elias, briefly turned to me.

She quickly scanned my entire body from top to bottom, as if checking for injuries.

I smiled brightly to show I was fine.

But the concern didn’t leave her eyes.

Camilla gave a composed, almost picture-perfect smile.

“Commander, may I join training starting tomorrow as well?”

Sensing something unusual, Elias casually agreed.

‘W-what are you planning?’

I knew that fake smile of Camilla’s all too well.

It was deeply ominous.

And then—