Charlotte's bedroom was not so spacious that one could play soccer inside.
There was no reason for it to be excessively large.
There was a large canopy bed with elegant silk curtains, a table for meetings, comfortable chairs and sofas, and neatly arranged furniture including bookshelves.
There was a dressing room inside the bedroom, and it seemed to have a large attached bathroom.
Although the royal-class dormitory was quite impressive, it was, of course, incomparable to the princess's bedroom.
Suddenly, I became curious.
Did Charlotte dress herself or did her maids help her? She would have to do everything by herself in the dormitory.
Well, there must be some types of clothing that one cannot put on or take off alone. In that case, she might need someone's help.
Of course, I didn't ask.
As I looked around the bedroom, I finally voiced my thoughts.
"The bed... isn't it too big?"
"…Really, I want to praise your perspective."
Charlotte pointed at the gigantic bed, which was more than twice the size of a king-size bed as if she expected another bizarre comment.
Not only was it wide, but it was also that long.
"But, shockingly, you're right. That bed is too vast. However, I only realized how uncomfortable it was after using the dormitory bed."
The dormitory bed was also on the larger side, but not to that extent.
No, to be honest, if I exaggerate a bit, you could have a party on that bed, right? I've seen people living in cramped studios smaller than your bed! It's only slightly smaller than an average one-room apartment, isn't it?
The princess's bedroom was not big enough for soccer, but the bed was larger than an average studio.
"I thought I had to crawl to get off the bed. But in the dormitory bed, I just have to roll over once to the side?" Charlotte's words about realizing the discomfort of her bed after using a smaller one made me laugh.
Her expression was adorable.
Being able to get off the bed by rolling over to the side once. That's too good.
Imagining Charlotte doing that, separate from the seriousness of the current situation, I felt like bursting into laughter.
"Do you want to lie down?"
"…I know you think I'm really crazy, but I'm not that rude, you know?"
I do have some limits! It's just that others don't agree, but I definitely have them! I'm not the kind of lunatic who would roll around on the princess's bed, giggling like a maniac!
At my reaction, Charlotte covered her mouth and laughed.
"Why? That bed, honestly, is so big that if you sleep on opposite ends, even if you have the sleep habits of a dog, you won't touch each other all night."
"Why are you doing this?" Charlotte seemed to have gone mad at my whining and nonsense, talking nonsense herself. She didn't show me around the vast bedroom.
As it was a bedroom, there might be sensitive items. There were a few portraits, but I didn't ask who the people in them were.
A mature woman who resembled Charlotte.
There was no need to ask. It must be a painful name for Charlotte.
At that moment, there was something that was difficult to see as a human shape.
That something.
I stopped thinking about it.
"Do you want to see something interesting?"
"What is it?"
Charlotte smiled mysteriously, grabbed my arm, and led me somewhere. The place Charlotte headed to was the wall where the bookshelves were.
"In stories, you know, royals like those who live here have secret passages that they escape through when there's chaos."
"…Don’t tell me?"
Charlotte removed her necklace and fit it into a groove on the wall between the bookshelves, which was sculpted like a pillar.
- Click
The wall rotated while making such a sound, we were on the other side
I couldn't help but be surprised as the rotation ended.
"…What is this?"
"Isn't it fascinating?"
In front of me, there were stairs leading down.
The bedroom was on the second floor.
However, these stairs seemed to be designed to lead not to the first floor but to the basement without interruption.
"This is the secret passage of the Spring Palace."
"Isn't this… an important secret?"
Charlotte nodded calmly.
"Yes. Besides me, probably only His Majesty the Emperor knows about it? And Dyrus too. Of course, Turner doesn't know."
Charlotte shook her necklace. It was the item used to operate the secret door.
"This is the key."
It must be an item passed down through generations of the Spring Palace owners.
"…Should I be seeing this?"
"Why?"
Charlotte tilted her head.
"We're friends, aren't we?"
I was caught off guard by my own words.
But still, telling me all this is a bit...
It's getting a bit scary...
"So, where does this lead?"
"To the heart of the empire. The secret passage can’t be breached easily either."
Charlotte led me down a long staircase and took me to a room in the basement.
That's where the secret passage ended.
There was only one room. But there was definitely a path there.
Rather than a path, it was...
A warp gate.
"This is..."
"If it's a place to escape, it should be able to go anywhere."
There was a warp gate here.
A miniature warp gate. Of course, it's deactivated now.
I don't know how far it can go, but if it's connected to another warp gate within range, it's a perfect means of escape.
"Could you use spatial magic in the palace?"
"It's hard to use, but maybe you can only in certain areas?" Charlotte said casually.
I wonder why she's telling me all this.
Charlotte was revealing very important secrets just for fun. There seemed to be no other intention.
This wasn't a place to brag about like a child saying, "We have this in our house too!"
I'll have to consider this when the gate incident occurs. I can't tell if monsters will come out of here since it's always deactivated, but it's definitely a place I need to know. Even after leaving the bedroom, Charlotte continued to guide me around.
There were many spaces, but few or no people in them.
That's why it felt so empty overall.
"The palace is big, but we don't actually use that many spaces. It's even more desolate now because there are fewer people."
It wasn't as grand as the White Palace of Arnaca I visited before, but the Spring Palace also looked lonely.
It's a different kind of loneliness.
The White Palace of Arnaria looked like it was always like that.
The Spring Palace didn't seem to be originally like that.
It wasn't originally a lonely place, but it was becoming lonelier.
Somehow.
It felt like it was dying.
Nice
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