“She is fast asleep.”

“Queen Lilia has only just started her travel, so she must be very tired.”

“I will prepare a jug of water for her.”
“Yes, thank you. And Philiane, I want you to rest as well when that is finished.”

“Very well.”

Tiararose left the rest to Philiane as she retired to her own room.

As she walked down the hallway to her room, an adorable plate that was decorated with pressed flowers caught her eye. It read, ‘Library.’ Now that she thought about, Olivia had recommended this room to her.

“There must be important documents inside…”

These were books that were collected by Olivia, after all.

Tiararose had meant to get some rest, but she was so curious now that she decided to take a look…and so she stepped into the library.

The room was about the size of ten tatami mats, which was not very large. However, there were many shelves of books. On top of that, the shelves were a part of the walls. There was only one window near a wooden desk and chair. There was a small lamp there as well, and Tiararose could imagine Olivia sitting there and reading a book.

“This is amazing. I don’t know where to start.”

She took the book that was closest to her, which turned out to be a history of Lapis Lazuli. There was a similar book right next to it, showing that the books were organized by genre and country.

“What else is here?”

She slowly scanned the rest of the shelf. The lineup was just what she would have expected from Olivia. ‘On Fairies,’ ‘World Maps,’ ‘History of the Royal Family,’ etcetera.

While she looked through the interesting titles, she found a book that had nothing written on its spine.

“What is it…?”

She pulled it off the shelf and saw that there was nothing written on the cover either. Tiararose tilted her head to the side and opened the book. She was greeted by words written in beautiful handwriting.

“Uhh. ‘Marineforest. Places to collect CGs. Outside the flower field, great road, the famous cafe.’ This! It’s writing about the game!”

As she continued to read, she saw that there were profiles on the capture targets. What they liked and disliked. Their personality and status. Not only that, but it even had Olivia’s reactions as she compared the people to their game counterparts.

“It’s a game guide made by Lady Olivia! Incredible!!”

She had not expected to find a hand-written game guide.

“This is interesting. There is a lot about Marineforest that I didn’t know. Uhh, ‘The Town Square Where it all Began’? Oh, yes, I remember that in Lapis Lazuli.”

It was talking about the town square that was also in the logo of the Ring of Lapis Lazuli game.

Generally, it was where you met up for a date, and was where most of the important events occurred. To think that there was a similar place in Marineforest as well…it was amazing.

While she was not Olivia, Tiararose also felt that she must make time and go visit all of the famous sites.

As she read more, the more absorbed she became. Before she knew it, she had been reading through the book for quite some time.

“…Oh!”

It was already morning.

She blinked in surprise and then looked out of the window. The sun was already starting to rise. That was how she knew that it was morning. It was too early to get up, but it was still morning.

To think that she would be so absorbed in a book that she forgot to sleep.

“Ah, Prince Aqua!?”

He had been terribly worried about her catching a cold. And yet she had stayed up all night—She could hardly tell him about this. And so she tried to sneak back to her room when she suddenly realized something. No one had come to look for her.

Tiararose tilted her head with puzzlement as she headed to the room she had been given. She was worried that Aquasteed would be waiting for her with a less than pleased expression on his face. She cautiously opened the door.

But there was no one there.

When she moved to the bed, the sheets were tidy and cold.

“Did Prince Aqua not return to the room last night either?”

–What had happened?

Maybe he drunk too much and collapsed in the living room.

Tiararose rushed downstairs, but there was no one in the living room. There weren’t even any wine glasses. The place was clean.

“…Prince Aqua?”

She started to feel worried as she rushed around the villa in search of Aquasteed. However, he wasn’t in any of the rooms. The only rooms she hadn’t checked were the ones that were occupied. And she couldn’t just enter rooms where people were sleeping.

So the only other place to search was outside. It seemed rather unlikely, but perhaps he wanted to see the beautiful sunrise. And so Tiararose went out the door and into the garden.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful…”

The trees shone under the morning sunlight. A sight that she wanted to stare at forever now spread out before her. Then she suddenly heard a voice. ‘Tiara.’

“Huh! Prince Aqua?”

She turned to look, but there was no one there. Was she just hearing things? As she wondered about this, the voice came again. This time she knew it was coming from above. ‘Over here,’ it called.

“Good morning, Tiara. I seem to have forgotten the time while talking with King Pheles…I’m sorry.”

She looked up and saw that Aquasteed and Pheles were sitting on the roof. He was chuckling with a look of embarrassment. She could tell that he had also been so absorbed that he lost track of the time.

However, what could they have been talking about to stay up all night?

Aquasteed and Pheles came down from the roof to where Tiararose was standing.

“Now, let’s return to our room.”

“Yes, it’s too early to get up. I must return to Lilia as well.”

“Ah, um, Prince Aqua. What were you…”

“We had a lot to talk about. By the way, Tiara. Why are you still wearing the same dress?”

“Huh? Oh…this…”

She had tried to ask Aquasteed about what he had been talking about, but he interrupted her and asked about her dress. Obviously, she had not changed because she stayed up all night reading a book.

While he was smiling, he did not seem too pleased. Next to him, Pheles was laughing pleasantly.

“What about you, Tiara? I think we might have to talk about what you’ve been doing.”

“…Yes.”

Tiararose nodded somberly at Aquasteed’s words. He would probably be angry if she told him she had been up reading.

—But. It also seemed like he was just trying to dodge her question?

What had they been talking about? She could tell that Aquasteed did not want to talk about it. And Tiararose could not help but feel a sense of gloom.