Echoes of Philomel

The Thorns of Royalty

"As expected, it's good that you made it here!"

Looking at the garden in full bloom, Philomel smiled contentedly. She was looking around the garden located in the backyard of the Imperial Palace. The flowers tended by the best gardeners were in full bloom.

'Such a beautiful scene always brings a smile'.

It was no exaggeration to say that even the worst enemies are stunned when walking in the garden, so beautiful was it.

"Could you take a walk with me?"

The wish Philomel told Eustis was to take a walk. She had never taken a walk with him before.

'While taking a walk, I'm letting him know how good of a person I am as a potential successor.'

However, the person who appeared in front of Philomel was not Eustis, but a completely different person. The boy, who looked two or three years younger than her, was looking at Philomel with his grumpy face.

"Hey!", the boy yelled, "This is a place where only the imperial family can enter!"

"...?"

Philomel calmly guessed the boy's identity. That was a garden that only the imperial family could enter. So, to enter the garden means to be a member of the collateral imperial family. And when she saw him with eyes of similar colour to the imperial family, with his dull blond hair...

"How dare you ignore me? What kind of family are you? Don't you know that just sneaking in here is a felony?"

The boy screamed, feeling that Philomel had ignored him.

'Oh, that's noisy. I don't think he can't be more of an idiot. Why don't you think I'm a member of the royal family?'

Philomel tried to be patient with him so she said.

"Hey, lower your voice. And you'd better be polite..."

"Shut up!"

Suddenly, the strings of her patience broke in her heart.

Many people had secretly ignored Philomel, but this was the first time she had been treated with such an open insult. A cold, dry voice came out of her mouth.

"Hey, you shut up.""What, what? What did you just say......""Are your ears clogged? I want you to shut up. Liam Elos.""You, knowing who I am, dare to do that...""You? Do you know who I am?""How do I know you?"

Two figures appeared behind Liam as he shouted.

"Liam! What's wrong? Did you get hurt somewhere?"

"It's noisy. What the hell is going on?"

The first person to catch her eye was a woman with a parasol. She was characterized by light blonde hair and gray eyes. The person next to her was a boy who looked three or four years older than Philomel. The boy's hair was a dull gold, like Liam Elros's. The two were the Marquise of Elros and her eldest son, Logan Elros.

The former name of Sylvia Elros, the Marquis of Elros, was Belerov. In other words, she was the former Princess Sylvia, the daughter of the emperor and half-sister of the current emperor. All of the children of the former emperor died or went into exile except for the current emperor and the Marquis of Elros, who quickly sided with Eustis, so they were the only collateral blood relatives.

'I heard that the Marquis of Elros had two sons...'

She knew the eldest son's face, but today was the first meeting with the second son. Since the Belerov family was not friendly, they rarely met each other outside of official occasions. Moreover, Liam Elos, the second son, was still young and had no chance to appear in public.