Hehehe..."
Mia wore a bright smile as she chuckled softly to herself.
"Did something good happen, Princess Mia?" asked a curious Anne.
"My, how did you know?"
Ever since returning to her room, Mia had been in good spirits. Great spirits,
even. After all, that miserable four-eyes — Ludwig, rather — had called her
brilliant.
Brilliant... He called me brilliant! Me! Oh ho ho ho!
She was in seventh heaven. Or cloud nine. Whatever was up there, she was in
it. Her mood was fantastic, and it wasn't likely to change for a good long while.
"Ah-hah! I need to write down the events of this memorable day in the diary
so I don't forget..."
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Mia grabbed her diary and dove
onto her bed. She rolled her tiny body across her duvet, brimming with energy.
Finding it rather enjoyable, she kept rolling back and forth, feeling the gentle
embrace of the moonfowl down that filled the high-quality mattress. With her
face buried in a soft blanket, she kicked her feet up and down as though she
were being tickled. The fluttering motion flipped up her skirt, exposing the
smooth skin of her young legs. It was, all things considered, a rather unprincessly look.
"Oh he he. Ohhhh ho ho."
"...Princess Mia, please. That's indecent."
Even Anne's admonishment failed to have any effect. Mia looked at her with
the same delighted grin and said, "Oh ho ho. I'm the empire's brilliant princess,
didn't you know? Her Brilliant Highness Mia sees no problem here."
It was the kind of brattish comment that would have irked most people, but
Anne simply smiled as if she'd just heard the most adorable thing.
Oh, look how she beams! She must be so happy to have been complimented
by that gentleman she's fond of!
Anne was in the midst of her own misinterpretation of Mia's actions. As a
result, she felt in every way the older sister watching over the blossoming of a
younger sister's first love, and she saw Mia's every action through a lens of
kindly affection.
As the Tearmoon saying goes, a single misplaced button messes up the whole
shirt. Misunderstandings, once ingrained, can be fiendishly difficult to undo.
Meanwhile, Mia was still beating at the bed with her feet as she wrote a new
entry into her diary. She began with making Anne her personal maid-in-waiting
and continued through all the events that led up to today, adding a few bells
and whistles here and there to enhance the reader's experience.
My, how quickly I'm writing! It would appear that I have a talent for literary
composition! Perhaps I should be a poet or playwright!
Her pen flew across the pages with an ease that spoke of her good mood.
When she finished writing the final word and closed the book, a thought
crossed her mind.
Ah-hah! Since I've changed the contents of this diary, I wonder what has
happened to the diary from the future?
A bout of curiosity led her to place the two diaries side by side. One was still
pristine, while the other was blood-soaked. If both were the same item, what
would happen now that she'd written something different into one of them?
Without expecting anything in particular, she flipped open the bloody diary.
"Wh-What in the world?!"
The words in the old diary blurred and twisted into misshapen blots before
reappearing as new lines of text that mirrored what she'd just written in the
other one. Furthermore, the phenomenon did not stop there. It continued into
further entries, each of which warped in similar fashion and reshaped their
contents accordingly. It looked like the future was being rewritten before her
It doesn't just look like it... The future is being rewritten!
Suddenly, it all clicked. She realized that by gaining Ludwig's support and
having him begin his efforts earlier, she'd caused significant changes to the
course of history.
Could this mean that...
She quickly sat straight up on her bed. Then, she reached toward the bloody
diary with one trembling hand and flipped through it. Upon reaching the final
page, a short, sad sigh escaped her lips.
It... still didn't change... After all that...
The final entry, cruelly unchanging, yet foretold of her execution.
How... does it come to this...
Her whole world seemed to darken under a cloud of despair. Faced with the
unforgiving fact of her tragic end, panic gripped her heart. She felt a sudden and
overpowering desire to run far away. To escape it all.
It's all right. It's all right. I still have time.
She took a deep breath to calm herself. Then, she read through the diary a
second time. There were entries that detailed how, after gaining Ludwig's help,
the empire's financial difficulties did see a turn for the better. However, it was a
mere droplet of water upon the empire's blazing wildfire of woes. Ultimately,
there were too many problems that couldn't be solved. From the outbreak of a
plague in the capital's slums to the revolt of a minority tribe in the Outlands —
along with much more — the empire had no shortage of crippling issues that
threatened its existence. And Mia hadn't the slightest clue how to solve any of
them.
Th-This is no good at all! This is no time to be letting Ludwig's compliments go
to my head!
Feeling like she'd just had a bucket of cold water poured over her head, she
leapt to her feet.
"Miss Anne!" She addressed her personal maid. "I must think!"
Then, in a voice that rang with command and purpose...
To allow my brain to work better, I request that you bring me some sweets!"
She asked for so little...
To Be Continue...