61. First Friends (2)
[Chapter 61] – First Friends (2)
At the news that the adults were away for a while after the tour of the mansion, Titania had no choice but to stay with her viola. As if Viola hadn’t expected such a situation, she looked at the empty restaurant and tilted her head with an ‘Ehh?’
“Where has everyone gone?!”
“Ah… The Count, his wife, and Her Highness the Queen said they would enter the room for a while and talk with the adults. How would you like the princess to stay with Lady Viola for a while?”
When I went back to the room, my mother was gone, and there was no Ainsel on her necklace. Titania, who was bored because she was completely awake while touring her mansion, began to worry about her maid’s words. Viola, who was looking at her, asked Titania while hesitating with a very nervous expression.
“Go, princess… Then would you like to play in my room for a while…? There are delicious snacks… And a little bit of fun. And I want to get closer to the princess…”
Delicious snacks and fun things. There was no bait as good as this for Titania, who was bored. And… She was Titania, who already knew that her mother would prefer her to go than to not go in this situation, so she had no reason to refuse.
“Do you have egg tarts?”
*
“What are your hobbies, princess? It’s not a lot, but I think I have everything I need in my room! There are toys…And social games…”
“Huh? Hobby…?”
Shortly after entering her room, Titania’s head went blank for a moment at Viola’s sudden question. Come to think of it, she had never had anything like a hobby before. Because in the first place, she had no time for hobbies.
She has classes every day, and when she isn’t in class, she stays with her mother. She had no memory of her ever doing anything that could be called a hobby. ‘Could she have something?’ She wondered, but she didn’t either.
“Umm… I don’t think there is.”
“Huh?! Really?!”
Wow! Titania took a slight step back at Viola’s momentum as she rushed at her. Surprised by her own momentum, her viola faltered, and after a moment of thought she headed to her bookshelf, which was stacked with her books.
“Um… Then why don’t you take up a hobby now? Like reading a book…?”
“I read books every day…?”
“Apart from boring books that are only used in those classes. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, so I can’t really recommend it, but…! Grunt!”
Viola jumped up and down in place, and she began to take out books one by one that were barely within reach of her height. Then, she took out another book hidden behind a book and she held it out to Titania. What the hell kind of book is this so tightly hidden…?
“This is a book that a young lady I met told me about when I had my first children’s tea party last year. Now, this book is the sweet water and driving force of my life!!”
“I don’t believe in religion…”
“I am not evangelizing!!”
A startled Viola hurriedly held out a book to Titania. Titania looked at the book she was handed over, but she couldn’t figure out what the book was about because the title wasn’t written on the cover.
“If you read it once, I guarantee you that you will fall in love with it like I did! It’s a really fun book! Because of this book, I even joined the social club that young lady joined!!”
“…Isn’t that some kind of strange religious doctrine?”
“Because it’s not!!”
I asked for an explanation of what kind of book it was, but Viola refused to explain, saying that doing so would diminish the emotion of reading it for the first time. At this, Titania could not erase her suspicious eyes.
Seeing Viola’s eyes shining and urging her to read it quickly, Titania let out a small sigh and opened her book from the middle. Thinking that she should read what the hell it was about, she opened the book-
[I felt his touch on the tip of my chin and my lips overlapped. His large hand, which had been wrapped around her shoulder, slowly moved down and brushed her back. Soft lips sucking softly-]
“…?!?! Eh, what is this?!”
Titania, her face flushed, looked at her viola with her eyes wide open. She was Titania with no knowledge of her s*x, but she knew nonetheless. That this is not a book for young children like her to read.
Titania, who hastily closed her book and threw it on her bed, looked at her viola with an exasperation. Viola was busy looking at her titania, giggling as if the reaction was hilarious.
“Whoops, how are you? Isn’t it fun? When I first read it, I had a princess-like reaction. I was so surprised that I threw the book in the face of the young lady who introduced me to it.”
“Not funny!! You shouldn’t read something like that!!”
Approaching her bed and grabbing the book Titania threw, Viola returned to her place and looked at the book in her hand. Then she continued her explanation of her book in front of Titania.
“Calm down. Princess. This is a simple romance novel. Have you ever read a book like this before?”
“Oh no…! And such books do not enter the palace! Hurry up and get rid of me!!”
“No, I’m sure there is this book in the library in the palace. Yes, this is a novel that can be called a must-read for young girls!”
“A must-read for young girls…?”
Viola lifted her book above her head. It was like the figure in the myth of the man who lifted the stone slab and parted the sea, so Titania stared blankly at it with her mouth open.
“Yes! It is a must-read that is secretly passed down among young girls! It’s not an exaggeration to think that both my mother and Her Highness the Queen grew up reading books like this from a young age!”
“Uh, mother too…?”
Upon hearing that her mother had read it, Titania’s ears pricked up. Did her mother ever really read a book like this…? Thinking she should ask her mother later, Titania raised her head and looked at her viola.
“Really…? Did your mother read such a bad book…?”
“I can’t give you a definitive answer about this book, but… All the young ladies say that love blooms while reading romance novels. Even the author of this novel is said to be a noble lady with a small age gap with us.”
Titania felt as if her hammer had hit her head hard. Her head hurt when she thought that the person who wrote those strange words was her own age. What in the world is a book with such vulgar letters written on it…!
Viola looked at Titania, who frowned, and placed the book she had lifted above her head once again in front of Titania. Then she grinned, and she calmly continued her words.
“The young lady who told me about this book told me this… That young girls need to learn to love by reading books like this.”
“Love…?”
“Yes, love. Our love is always fixed, so we should learn a different kind of love by reading even a book like this. I confidently said that I should not dream of a life born as a young lady, even the love in a book.”
“No, I don’t know what you mean…”
Titania honestly had no idea what Viola was talking about. She had never thought deeply about what she was called love, and she had never shared such a story with anyone.
“If you want to understand what I said… I recommend reading this book. And, if this book is not your taste, I will no longer recommend it to the princess. But, please know. The fact that most young girls enjoy novels like this as a hobby.”
“Ugh, ugh…”
Titania nodded her head in bewilderment. Since she said it with such a serious expression, if she refused more than this, she could not refuse because she felt like she was becoming a bad person. And it was only a book, or even a thin book less than half the size of a textbook.
“Okay… Then I’ll read it just once. But, if you really don’t enjoy it, don’t recommend this book to me again. Understand?”
“Sure! Lol! Instead, read it once and talk about what you didn’t like?!”
Well… At that level…
Titania pursed her lips, and she opened the book Viola had handed her once more. Not in the middle this time, but from the first page. I wondered why novels like this were so popular with young girls, and when Viola said that even her mother would have read such a book, Titania began to wonder about books called romance novels.
So, she opened the front page and started reading the first paragraph of her novel. The story was pretty bizarre. It was the first time she had read such a novel, and the fact that she could learn the story of a nobleman other than the princess piqued Titania’s curiosity.
One page, one page. Titania’s expression gradually began to change as she read her book.
[The daughter of a family in ruins. The head of household is an idiot, and the only family is ugly people who only increase debt.]
“Hmm-“
[A young lady working hard to pay off her family’s debt. I met by chance, Young-sik from a well-to-do family.]
“Um…”
[They were not interested in each other at first, but there were many moments when they faced each other as they were intertwined by coincidences and coincidences.
“Hey-“
More than half the pages of the book have been turned over, but there are still many things I don’t understand. However, for a 10-year-old to read, the stimulating scenes and emotional descriptions that come out at the same time as each other’s hardships are resolved were enough to stimulate Titania’s interest.
I read the entire book without understanding even half of it, but for some reason I felt a tickle in her chest. And this book, it seems that there is a sequel without ending with this one book.
Titania hesitated as she looked at Viola, who was reading a book eagerly beside her. She was somehow ashamed to ask for her sequel. The fidgety Titania, wanting to know what to do with her, finally—
“Bar, Viola… Do you have the next volume…?”
“…Sure. Did you like the book?”
She just replied with a smile, but for some reason I thought Viola’s smile was sinister. Titania, somehow embarrassed that she was being looked at with that expression, blushed and nodded her head cautiously.
“Could you give me the next volume…?”
