So errr… Why is the princess here?

As though remembering something, the young girl quickly smoothened her dress and curtsied, "Umm… I am the third princess of… Ummm… The Lehcarouc Kingdom! Umm… Princess Tiara!"

I'm guessing that's probably a self introduction that her tutors taught her to say when meeting new people.

Ok, so she's not 'the' princess, but 'a' princess.

At first I thought that Prince Lucius called himself the third prince simply meant he had at least two older siblings.

But now that I know there's also the existence of a third princess which meant that there were at least two other princesses and three princes.

I say three princes because there should be a prince younger than Lucius whom I had to wait for him to graduate from Aerialla Academy before I was enrolled in the school.

That means there's at least four princes and three princesses, the king must be a really busy man.

Mother giggled, "Hello little Princess Tiara~ What could you be doing out here on your own?"

She looked down at the plate of cookies that Mary had gathered for her, "Umm… Sweets?"

Ohhh! Is that a fellow sweets lover I see? Please tell me she likes sweets as much as I do!

I went up to her, "Do you like sweets?"

She tilted her head at me, "Who doesn't like sweets?"

"Ehehe~ That's true~ So what kind of sweets do you like?"

"Cookies!"

I guess that should have been obvious since I only found cookies on her plate when I first saw her under the table.

The little princess then started munching on the cookies that Mary gathered for her while I ate my own plate of sweets that Katsuki gathered.

She then picked one of her cookies and unexpectedly offered it to me.

"Big sister, do you want a cookie too?"

"Ohhh~ Is that for me?"

She nodded, "This one is nice!"

Awww~ Don't mind if I do then!

Ohhh~ I haven't tried this one yet and it certainly is nice! It's one that I wouldn't mind eating again right now!

I used my fork to cut a piece of my cake and offered it to her, "Do you want to try some cake too?"

"Yes, please!"

I let the little princess eat the cake off my fork, giggling at the sight.

Mmmm~ Eating sweets together with someone else just makes it more delicious!

"So why are you hiding underneath the table? Are you not allowed to eat sweets?" I asked.

She shook her head, "Umm… I'm not supposed to be attending the party… And I'm not supposed to be going around on my own…"

I guess that's to be expected. I'd wager that her caretakers were in an uproar turning everything upside down just to find her right now.

Oh well! I'm sure it'll be fine! In the meantime, I get a sweets buddy to enjoy sweets with!

And as though on cue, a maid appeared out of thin air behind her, almost like she was walking out of the mist with how she just materialised like that.

"Princess Tiara, what did we say about you wandering off on your own?"

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"Ahhhh! Noooo!! I don't wanna go yet!! There's still so many cookies!!" She screamed before hiding behind me.

That caused the rest of the hall to turn in our direction to see what the commotion was and the prince even personally came over to inspect the situation.

Though he looked surprised to see Tiara there with us at first, he quickly recovered as though this was not the first time he found her like this.

"Sister Tiara, did you run away from your caretakers again?"

She puffed her cheeks, "I did not! I just came here to eat cookies! I didn't run away at all!"

Everyone could see that was clearly a lie though no one called her out on it.

The maid that had just appeared behind Tiara offered her hand, "Come now Princess. You should not be here and your lessons will be starting soon."

Princess Tiara hid herself further behind my back, "I don't wanna! I want to stay here!"

"You're disturbing the guests, Princess. And it's rude to Prince Lucius for you to do so."

"Mouuuu! I don't wannaaaa! I want sweeeeeets!"

The prince smiled wryly at her, "Sister Tiara, how about I let you take as many cookies as you want to bring back to your room to eat? That is good enough, right?"

She hesitated for a moment, "Mmm… I guess that's fine…"

The fact that she kept peeking at the cookies just showed that it was all she cared about and she looked quite cute because of that.

I thought that would be over but the princess suddenly pinched the hem of my sleeve with her fingers, "I want to eat with her!"

I pointed a finger at myself, "Eh? Me?"

The princess nodded, "Eating with big sister is fun! I want to eat more!"

While I agree that eating sweets with others is indeed fun… We only just shared a cookie and cake together, you know?

Prince Lucius shook his head, "That's not good, sister Tiara. You shouldn't bother our guests like that."

The little princess pouted, "Mouuu! No one ever eats sweets with me! Big sister ate sweets with me! That's why I want to eat with her!"

The maid looked at the princess exasperatedly, "Princess, please understand your position… You'll be troubling others if you were to make a request like this…"

"But big sister is nice to me! She even offered me cake! No one else has offered me cake before!"

Umm… Has no one really not offered her cake before? I'm sure there must be someone right?

Also… That's quite a problematic way of thinking isn't it? If she were to meet some nefarious character who wants to take advantage of her, all they would need to do is offer her some sweets and they will be able to lure her away…

What, me?

Please, I have standards! I'll only follow them if they give me some really nice sweets ok?! I won't just befriend them just because they gave me a cookie!

No, the princess doesn't count! She's a princess! This is different!

Oh shut up, don't kink shame me! Sweets are life! And I've finally found someone else who has the same idea!

But it is true that it feels a little inappropriate for me to be invited like this… After all, we did come here for the prince's ball, not to eat cookies with the princess…

Prince Lucius turned to me, "I am terribly sorry about this, Madam Nilm, Miss Nilm… But my sister has always been like this…"

"Ara, ara? It's not a problem at all~ In fact, I would like to offer an invitation to the princess to come visit our home and have some tea with my little one when you are free?"

Before anyone could respond, the princess was already jumping up and down excitedly, "Can I?! I want to go! I want to go!"

The prince seemed unsure of the suggestion, "Are you certain of this, Madam Nilm? I'd think this would be the first time that anyone is personally invited to your family's estates… It might set a precedent for the other nobles, Madam Nilm…"

Oops… Better not let anyone know about Lisa, Odeta and Delmare…

Mother tilted her head at him, "Ara, ara? Why would it? Just because my little one invited the princess I have to invite everyone else? Ufufufu~ I'd like to see who is daring enough to even suggest such a ridiculous thing~"

The underlying threat was clear for everyone to hear.

Prince Lucius turned to me, "What are your opinions about this, Miss Nilm?"

Eh? Why is this on me now?

"I… I don't mind, I guess?" I decided, not even sure if that was the right choice.

I mean… We're inviting the princess of the kingdom to our house, aren't we? Is that even normal for nobles to do? Or is this just a Nilm family thing?

Mother then turned to the maid, "As you heard, if your little princess is available, do let her come over to visit, yes?"

Princess Tiara cheered, "Now! I wanna go right now! Let's go and eat more cookies, big sister!"

The maid seemed to be at a loss on what to do as well and looked to the prince for help.

Prince Lucius sighed, "Sister Tiara, you still have lessons today so you can't do that… Perhaps you should let Father and Mother know about this before going to visit the Nilm Family?"

"Why can't I go now?"

"Do you want your teacher to be angry?"

"Ughh… No…"

"Then you will need to behave, ok?"

"Fine…"

Awww… Look at that big brother and little sister interaction… It almost makes me wish that I have a sibling too~

I guess Odeta and Ardi do count as my 'siblings' since they kind of adopted me into their family. But the feeling is still different.

Since the princess received permission to visit us on another day, she grudgingly followed the maid to return to her lessons, wherever that was.

Speaking of that… Doesn't it mean that she's being homeschooled instead of attending Aerialla Academy like her other brother?

And here I thought it was a given that all members of the Royal Family attend the school since they were sponsoring them. I guess maybe it's still up to the child themselves to decide if they really wanted to go on their own.

Well, I wouldn't know anyway.

The main issue now is that there's a princess that will be visiting our house soon… What am I supposed to do about that?