Translator: Darling | Editor: Coming soon…

“Oh, it’s Rachel.”

The door to the guest room opens and Yuki enters.

She didn’t knock or anything, so it caught me by surprise when she suddenly entered the room. But as soon as I saw Yuki’s smiling, I wasn’t able to say anything. From her smile, it seemed like she was happy.

“So, you’re going to be next door, huh? I look forward to being your neighbor. But still, Makoto sure works fast though.”

“Me too.”

Yuki laughs with a beaming smile on her face. Kuro and Shiro suddenly appeared behind Yuki as well.

“I look forward to being your neighbor too, Kuro, Shiro.

“Meow.”

As I greet the two little cats, both of them cried out to me in response as well. These two sure are clever. It’s almost as if they truly understood what people were saying. 

As if to greet me, they started rubbing their heads against my leg.

I crouched down and lightly scratched Kuro and Shiro’s little head. As soon as I did, the two little cats looked up to me and started licking my hands. It’s a bit hard to describe the rough texture of their tongues, but for some reason, it felt kind of nice.

“Shiro and Kuro sure like you, huh? They usually just lick the people that they like.”

“Really? How cute.”

They were licking my hands for a while until suddenly, they stared at each other and pounced at one another.

“Oh? Are they fighting?”

“No, they’re just playing around. If they were actually fighting, they would shriek and make all sorts of loud noises.”

“Oh, I see.”

Their movements were quick, they tumbled around the floor over and over. For play, this is a little bit rough.

“Since you’re here, I guess the preparations are almost all set.”

Yuki cheerfully laughs. I wonder what she meant by preparations.

I tilt my head in confusion.

“Hey, Rachel. Did you really want to become the crown princess and eventually the empress?”

“Huh?”

What is she asking all of a sudden?

I’m engaged to the crown prince, Lord Edward, so naturally, I would have eventually become the crown princess. When Lord Edward succeeds the throne, I would also become the empress. It’s just the way things work, so I’m not exactly sure why she’s asked me that.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but did you just assume you were automatically going to be the crown princess? You’ve never thought of being or doing anything else?”

“…Yeah.”

I have only ever thought about following the path that was set for me, not once have I ever even imagined being or doing anything else.