Honestly, the sweets prepared for this tea party weren't bad, but Mary and Heria, our resident pastry chef, still made better sweets.

I still enjoy eating them though, since they're still sweets after all~

Both Tiara and I leaned back after we were done consuming all the sweets that were prepared.

"Those were some really nice sweets~" I moaned, feeling especially satisfied.

Tiara was in a similar position as I was, "Mnnn~ Eating with big sister is always nicer~ Ehehehe~"

I have to agree with her on that. Since I also found eating with her to be an enjoyable experience.

"Aria, more tea please~" The princess instructed, prompting the maid to come forward to refill her cup.

Katsuki also came forward to refill mine at the same time.

Both the princess and I waited patiently for our maids to be done before taking a sip from our respective cups.

I enjoyed the aroma and taste of the tea before turning to Tiara, "So… Is there another reason you invited me to this tea party today or is it really just to enjoy some sweets?"

The princess giggled, "Ehehe… Big sister knows me well. Enjoying sweets is part of the reason but there's something that I hope to have big sister's help…"

I leaned forward, "Oh? What is it?"

Instead of answering me, she turned towards Aria, "Umm… Could we be allowed some privacy for now? I'm a little bit shy about it…"

Aria did not protest and merely bowed her head before leaving the balcony.

Katsuki tilted her head slightly, "Does that include me, Your Highness?"

Tiara nodded, prompting my maid to turn to me, "Does Mistress wish for me to leave?"

Eh… So she's prioritising my order over the princess's… Very subtle, Katsuki…

I nodded at her, "Just leave us for a moment, Katsuki, Don't worry about me."

She bowed before leaving, joining Aria outside in the living room as we continued our conversation.

"So what do you need? Just so you know, I agree with Aria that you need to be older," I cautioned her, thinking she was going to ask me something sexual like teach her how to do it or something…

Hey, you didn't see her face that day in the baths! She really had this 'I want to try it' face!

She tilted her head at me, "What is big sister talking about?"

Oh, so that wasn't what she wanted to ask me?

I shook my head, "Um… forget about that, what do you need from me?"

She clapped her hands together, "Oh! That's right! Umm… I… I guess it's better if I just ask directly but… Would big sister be willing to sneak me into the city?"

I knew it, she got tempted by the balcony overlooking the city didn't she?

I turned to look out at the city, "Let me guess… You have been up here looking out at the city but were told that you would never be allowed to walk out there. You were fine with it until recently when you were invited to come to my place and experienced what it was like outside the palace and now you yearn for more?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She poked her fingers together, "Ehehe… Big sister knows me so well~"

Not sure why she was even happy about that but whatever.

I sighed, "You already know about your curse… Are you sure that you still want to go out even when there's bad people outside who want to eat you?"

She puffed up her chest, "I'm already trained by teacher! I can protect myself! What's more, big sister will be with me right?"

But your training has only just begun… Plus you did nothing but strength training so you're not not even experienced in combat yet… If someone with malicious intent were to come and grab you, there's definitely nothing you can do…

But the second part of your argument…

While it's true that I most likely can protect you from most threats, I don't really want to do something that might piss people off though… What would the king and queen say if they knew I took you out of the palace?

…

Actually… I think they wouldn't say anything and just nod their heads… So forget I asked.

I do feel a little sympathetic towards her current predicament though…

I've made it my goal to explore this World especially after being reincarnated here from my previous life. I know the wonders that are out there and I really want to experience it all for myself.

Then there's this princess who was cursed to be stuck in one place for fear of bringing calamity to the people around her.

Her very existence became a shackle to her and she needed to live a life not of her own choices, forever dependent on the wills of the people above her.

Well, that's why we're training her to be strong enough to break free from those shackles of course, but she's still not ready yet.

"Hmm… You're still nowhere strong enough yet, Tiara… Could I convince you to wait for maybe another year or so at least before we go out?"

She puffed her cheeks, "But… But… Nnngghhhh!!"

Instead of arguing, she picked up a small spyglass and handed it to me while pointing in a certain direction.

"Why do you even have something like this?" I asked.

"Papa bought this for me when I said I wanted to see the city up close… But that's not important! Look over there!!"

I shrugged and peeked through the telescope to look at where she was pointing.

I found myself looking at what appeared to be a market street of sorts which was bustling with various shoppers out at this time of the day.

At first I thought that she just wanted to visit the market street to experience that bustling energy until I focused on the shop at the very end of the street. Displayed clearly just below the sign board was a relatively large banner with words that could be seen from here.

'For tonight only! Never before seen cookies and sweets from the forest people of the Elhiria Republic!'

I immediately turned to Tiara, "The cookie and dessert shop?"

She nodded her head up and down.

"I'll sneak here tonight and I'll fly you out to the city, leave your balcony door unlocked."

"Yayyy! You're the best, big sister!"

Hey, hey. The little princess wants her sweets, how dare you try to stop her from eating her sweets?! Of course, as her only ally as a sweet lover, I would definitely help her in her hour of need!

Nothing shall stop us in our quest of getting those sweets! Not even the curse of a demon! I'll beat that demon back to hell if I need to!!

Wait a minute…

"Actually… Can't we just ask Aria or someone to go and get the sweets for us tonight and we'll eat it here instead?" I asked.

She pouted at me, "That's not the same! Freshly baked cookies are different from ones that have been left to cool! Plus if we were to eat them in the shop surrounded by the sweet smell, it'd definitely taste much better!!"

Ok, I will have to agree with her there so I guess the plan is still going to be put into motion!

All I got to do is sneak in here in the middle of the night through the Royal Palace's security, steal the princess away from her tower, get to the sweet shops to eat the sweets with her, sneak back here through the security again and then sneak back out without alerting the guards!

Easy!

Ok but seriously, I'm not that blinded by the sweets to ignore the actual threat, I recognise a flag when I see one ok? Who do you think I am? I didn't write all those stories for nothing!

That's why, I'll just pretend to sneak her out of the palace but I'll let everyone else know about it too! Then they'll watch over us from the shadows! Genius!

And if push comes to shove, I can still fight off any idiots who try to take her! I have a literal army in my shadow and I'm not afraid to use it!

Even in the event that those guys trying to kidnap the princess to summon the demon actually show up, we can all beat them back together without any risks!

Yeah! I get to make her happy and eat sweets at the same time! It's a win-win!

Alright! I'm already looking forward to eating those delicious treats from the Trasifs!

Hmmm? Hold on… Isn't Mary a Trasif? Maybe all the sweets she's been making all this while were actually Trasif sweets? Heck, even Heria is a Trasif too…

…

Nahhh! It can't be, right? They'll need the ingredients found there to make sweets from there right? And it's not like they can teleport… Oh wait, Mary can…

Umm… I'll still go and try out those sweets though, the baker is different after all!! The taste might also be different!

Yeah! I can't wait for tonight!