I Didn’t Even Want to Live, But God Forced Me to Reincarnate!

After that, among the delegation sent to Cielle, the ones I knew were Luca, Kiri, Medea-san, Gale-san, Alt-nii, and Celeste. The others… I was pretty sure I didn’t know them.
Celeste was disguised as a relative of the Fumitsuna family, named Fumitsuna Michiyo.
Though this operation seemed risky, Celeste promised not to do anything disadvantageous for Riviera, and there would be others to help her.
During the party to see them off, I was really nervous, hoping that they’d succeed with this out-of-ordinary plan.
It was also the first time Alt-nii would be away for a prolonged time on an important mission, so I couldn’t help but worry for him.
[Don’t worry too much. Believe in him.]
Fenrir’s reassuring words resounded in my mind.
[We don’t know what the future holds. But he’s a very rare Void magic user, so…]
Though it didn’t completely erase the worry I had in my mind, at least I relaxed a bit thinking about it.
‘
Although he was my Familiar, it felt as if he was my guardian angel as well.
When the delegation from Riviera set off to Cielle, so did the delegation from Cielle.
Not long after, the delegation from Cielle finally arrived in Riviera and another banquet was being held to welcome them.
I imagined that at the same time, Alt-nii and the others had also arrived in Cielle and were in the same kind of a welcome party.
Obviously, I was present in the welcome party that was held for the delegation from Cielle kingdom.
The party composition from Cielle was more or less the same as our country’s party, with the highlight being the crown princess of Cielle, just as Luca who was the crown prince of Riviera being sent to Cielle.
As such, she instantly became the highlight the moment she showed herself in front of all of us.
When I saw her golden hair that was shining like a sun and her beautiful pearl-like eyes, I thought that surely even without any announcement about her being the crown princess, everyone’s eyes would be drawn to her.
The crown princess of Cielle was a year younger than Luca and I. However, from her looks alone, I thought she would be at the same age as me and Luca.
“Greetings to all Rivierans. My name is Phoebe Nevanthi la Ciela, the crown princess of Cielle kingdom. It is my pleasure to be able to stay and enjoy all the delicacies and experiences the unique country of Riviera has to offer. May Aion-sama smile upon all of us.”
With a dazzling smile, Princess Phoebe said with an unwavering tone and clear voice. Her eyes seemed sincere and she wasn’t lacking in etiquette at all, despite when she looked and greeted us who were nobles below her rank.
Based on her introduction alone, I had a good impression of this crown princess from Cielle.
Afterwards, I got the chance to talk with her, perhaps because I was the highest nobility aside from the royal family here, I was a girl too, and my age was close to her.
Of course, there were others around us as we talked.
Ein, Frey, Freyja, Leticia, Dmitria, Valerie, and Briar were there too.
Since only nobles were invited to this party, some of my friends didn’t come.
That included Kuu-chan or the dragon Carbuncle too, despite her status as a special guest to our country. Not many knew that she was a dragon and that she was staying in Riviera, so we couldn’t have the Cielle party be intimidated or wary because of her presence.
They’d think we were cooking up something behind them!
…Although that was actually the case here.
“You’re only two years older than me, but you’re very impressive, Princess. Is it because you’re almost an adult? Or is it because you’re the crown princess? My big brother has always been mature in my eyes ever since I was younger,” Leticia said with an admiring look towards Princess Phoebe.
“Oh please, you’re also a princess as well. Just call me Phoebe, and I will call you Leticia!” Phoebe laughed and responded in a friendly manner to Leticia who gave her honest opinion.
“And what do you mean I am almost an adult? There’s still a few more years before I have my rite of passage,” Phoebe said.
“Rite of passage?” Freyja tilted her head.
“Ah. I’ve read about it before. Cielle’s coming-of-age ceremony is called as rite of passage,” Freyr quickly responded.
“Indeed. And in their kingdom, people will have their rite of passage once they have their sixteenth birthday. In the rite of passage…,” The walking encyclopaedia, Ein started to blabber. His Oracle granted him something like a perfect memory, so when he spoke, it was as if he had memorized the article page of rite of passage.
“Oh yeah. We’ve learned about this before. Every country has their own rules and culture. Even if Riviera acknowledged our coming-of-age at the age of thirteen, it wasn’t the same with Cielle and Naraka,” Valerie softly muttered.
“Hmmm, how come I forgot all about it…,” Briar scratched her head.
“Eh? It’s my first time hearing about it,” Dmitria dumbly said.
“…,” I decided to ignore them…
“Pfft, hahaha! You guys are so funny!” Phoebe-san laughed. Even when she laughed heartily, she had a hint of elegance in doing so. As expected of a crown princess!
“It has something to do with lifespan. Riviera’s main population is made of humans with shorter lifespan than Cielle’s elves and Naraka’s Onis, so it made sense,” I added, unable to bear to look at Dmitria and Briar’s look of embarrassment.
“Mhm! The Naraka empire’s rite of passage is called as ‘initiation ceremony’. And it’s held when one turns fifteen. Can you imagine? Just a year before us, Cielle! Are they competing with us?” Phoebe-san pouted.
“…”
It seemed that Phoebe-san didn’t really like the Onis, but I couldn’t fault her. She was the crown princess of Cielle, and Naraka empire has always been the first party to pick fault with her kingdom.
It would be strange if she loved everything about them.
Aside from that, I had a rather favourable impression of her.
From our little conversation, I could tell that she wholeheartedly wanted to become a good queen for her kingdom in the future. She even said that she had always strived to be the best ruler.
When I thought of our plan and how it might cause this little princess to lose her opportunity to realize her dream, I felt a little bad.
But she was the daughter of someone who had usurped his sister’s role despite the initial circumstances behind it, as well as the person who might be the one who had trapped his own biological sister and destroyed Celeste’s family…
Yes, the whole incident behind Oriel-san disappearing and the Oni-elves alliance being framed was so suspicious and even Fideline-san had her suspicion on King Deus of Cielle.
So, I ended up having a mixed feeling towards Phoebe-san.
After that, I tried to naturally steer the topic of the conversation to things I wanted to probe from Phoebe-san.
The conversational skills that I had been honing in my previous life was finally being useful here!
“Your older brother is one of the delegates to Cielle? That’s nice! Cielle kingdom is really a nice place, you know? You have to visit if you have the chances to,” Phoebe-san said.
“Ah, but do visit after I have returned. I can guide you, then. There are places that are uncommon as tourism spots, but I know of them and can freely go everywhere,” Phoebe-san quickly added after she looked as if she remembered something.
“Will that be fine, though? I mean, will your parents allow you to guide us?” Leticia asked with her eyes betraying her words. She was certainly looking forward to it.
“Yeah. I’m even thinking of letting you see the royal castle of Cielle since it’s much different than your royal castle. My king father is proud of the kingdom he’s governed, so he will definitely tell me to show you our kingdom’s beauty. He’s a little bit stern and has a domineering aura, but don’t be afraid of him! He’s kind at heart. But my queen mother is even more kind and gentle, and she would want to meet with my friends from another country. There’s also my younger brother. He’s timid and quiet, but he’s cute. I want to help him make new friends,” Phoebe-san nodded and happily told us about her family.
She was so open and bright that I appreciated her more. She wasn’t a spoiled or arrogant princess at all. She didn’t put up any pretense even in front of us too, maybe it was because she was still young…? But she was totally the opposite of what I had imagined her to be, much to my surprise.
“Right. You have a younger brother. How old is he? Is he the same age as me?” Leticia asked.
“Well, he is…,” Phoebe-san seemed to be thinking as she paused, then a slightly mischievous smile blossomed on her face as she continued, “I’m not telling. Don’t look it up. You have to guess when you see him yourself.”
“Ah? Okay…?” Leticia was confused, but she still nodded.
Anyway, if it was true that King Deus was kind-hearted at heart, then Alt-nii, Luca, and the others would be fine there, even if their operation were to fail.
But on another side, King Deus was the one who took the provocation and wanted to launch an offense towards Naraka too, showing that he could be bold, an eye for an eye kind of a person. Again, I repeat, King Deus might also be the one behind Oriel’s disappearance and the reason Celeste had to live in a runaway, so…
Still, if we were to trust Phoebe’s words, then I couldn’t tell at all.
Ah, but it made sense for a child to turn a blind side over their parents…
“Good. You remind me of my younger brother, I wonder how he’s doing now… I hope he’s fine even when I am not there to look after him. Oh well, he has his nanny anyway, but still…,” Phoebe-san suddenly muttered.
“If you miss him, you can contact him later! I am thinking of contacting my older brother after this, too,” Leticia said.
“Yeah, but I have to keep in mind that it’s monitored, so I need to uphold our image!” Phoebe-san said, she seemed as if she was a little bit upset she couldn’t tease her younger brother so much…?
At this moment, I was very thankful of technology because it allowed us to communicate with ease, no matter the distance.
Though it’d be a monitored communication as expected, at least I could see Alt-nii and the others’ condition and be relieved knowing that they were fine.
When I got to contact with Alt-nii for the first time after he had departed for Cielle, I was happy to see him looking fine, safe and sound at Cielle. He even told me enthusiastically about Cielle from the short time he had arrived.
Since the communication was monitored, we sadly couldn’t talk about our undercover mission at all so I couldn’t do anything more than pray that everything would go smoothly, so we could finally talk about it in the open after the objective was achieved.