A few more days passed, and Lucoco arrived for the third time.
She woke up very early this time.
Dawn was just breaking, and the streets of the Royal Capital were still shrouded in mist.
It was still a long time before Adrian’s daily training session, but Lucoco used **[Levitation]** to hurry along anyway.
The sound of her bells was exceptionally crisp in the morning silence.
As she stepped into the shop, she found the landlady slumped over the counter, looking half-asleep.
Woken by the ringing bells, the landlady looked up…
The moment she saw the familiar little figure, she sprang up with a jolt!
She rushed forward in a blur, bringing a gust of fragrant air with her.
“Cutie! Big sister is so, so sorry. You! Were! Snatched! Away! Again!”
She immediately smothered Lucoco’s face against her chest.
“Mmph!!!”
Caught off guard, Lucoco nearly suffocated! She hurriedly reached out and tried to tickle the woman’s armpits.
“Oh!”
The landlady let out a yelp and released her.
With a look of slight grievance and lingering affection, she watched Lucoco retreat into a defensive stance.
“However, I managed to get a few sets from somewhere else this time. Take a look and see if it’s enough.”
With that, the landlady took a small cloth bundle from the cabinet behind her and opened it.
“…”
Lucoco leaned in cautiously and peered inside…
Hmm, there was enough for about six uses. It was quite a lot.
The landlady blinked.
“I had to pay twice the price to snatch these up, you know ~ they’re yours for free. Consider it a gift for being such a regular customer ~”
Her eyes were practically beaming with “please praise me” signals.
“Thank you, sister!”
Lucoco instantly switched from a defensive, bristling kitten to a harmless, sweet mode, leaning in with a bright smile.
Then, with lightning speed, she grabbed the bundle and darted back, dodging the landlady’s long-plotted “Hugging Strike 2.0.”
After putting the bundle away, Lucoco took out over a dozen gold coins and placed them on the counter.
“I need nine sets of Hell Blood Sunflower and Burial Blue roots.”
“Are you in such a rush?”
The landlady asked as she nimbly slipped into the storage room behind the counter to search.
“The price of those two items is several times more expensive than what you asked for before.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to wait anymore. I have the other materials. If I get fifteen sets together, it should last me a while.”
Lucoco let out a yawn.
Having woken up so early, she hadn’t slept well either.
“Oh dear ~ well, see you next time ~”
The landlady pushed two large bags of materials onto the counter and pushed back a few of the gold coins.
“I’ll give them to you at cost! Make sure to come by often ~”
“Mm, if I actually manage to refine it, I’ll definitely come find you, sister.”
Lucoco didn’t stand on ceremony; she took the materials and the gold, then quickly departed.
She moved so briskly that the landlady didn’t even have time to try and shove a cookie into her hand.
***
Once the sun had fully risen…
The warm sunlight woke the Royal Capital, and a familiar figure ducked into the alchemy shop as usual.
By all rights, seeing such a cute little girl, the landlady should have flocked to her long ago.
But!
She didn’t!
For many days now, she hadn’t gone near her—not even by a single step!
As if completely ignoring the girl, the landlady went about wiping a vase and started chatting with an employee.
“That little Morning Light Nun came by before dawn today. She paid several times the normal price to buy a bunch of substitutes for Equinox Flowers and Rebirth Grass.”
‘It seems she really is in a hurry…’
“My, my ~ why did things that usually nobody buys suddenly become so popular? How strange ~”
“There are rumors that a certain Alchemist discovered a new recipe. A few other shops have been offering high prices for those materials these past few days. Boss, what do you think?”
“Oh ~? Is that so?”
The landlady arched an eyebrow. She didn’t stop her wiping motion, but her lips curled into a smirk as if watching a good show.
“Let them compete. As for us, we just need to wait one month for our little Morning Light sister to bring us some treasures.”
***
The expression of the little girl who was eavesdropping changed repeatedly.
Her small hands gripped the hem of her skirt tightly, and a suspicious shimmer appeared in her eyes.
She turned around silently without making a sound.
Her tiny shoulders slumped, and her little mouth pouted.
She looked like a cat that had been denied its fish treat.
Finally, she shuffled out of the shop, looking lonely and resentful.
***
Time flew, and it was soon nearing noon.
Sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling onto the carpeted corridors of the Royal Palace guest house.
A small figure wearing a puffed dress was standing perfectly still and huffing outside Lucoco’s closed door.
She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest, trying her best to put on a “fierce and terrifying” expression.
At the other end of the long corridor, several maids peeked out secretly and whispered:
“Sigh, do you think… she’s just embarrassed and angry?”
“Can Princess Amy really pull this off?”
“Hard to say. Did you forget about that noble brat from a few days ago?”
“The one who got punched by the little nun and then started working hard, practicing his swordsmanship every day?”
“That’s the one! I heard he treats the little nun like an icon now.”
“Then… then if our Princess gets hit…”
“It’s fine. The tsundere archetype is out of style anyway!”
Though they were speaking very softly, in a place like a hallway, even the smallest whispers and murmurs were clearly audible.
Two red clouds gradually bloomed on Amy’s tender cheeks, and her small fists clenched.
She whipped her head around and glared toward the corner with “majestic” eyes.
“You maids over there!! This! Princess! Will! Punish you! Tonight! None of you are allowed to wear clothes when you sleep!!”
“Yes, Your Highness Amy…”
The maids knelt and bowed in unison, looking quite accustomed to this.
Silence fell over the corridor once more.
To be fair, almost nobody lived in the castle wing of the Royal Palace used for receiving guests.
The minutes and seconds ticked by.
By logic, the Prince’s training session should have ended long ago.
Based on her usual observations, Lucoco should have returned for her midday nap at this time without fail.
However, it was already past noon…
The little Princess had shifted from her “majestic standing” posture to crouching by the wall, irritably biting her fingernails.
‘That hateful brat! I’m working so hard, yet you! You!!’
‘Are you made of stone?! It’s already noon! Are you not even hungry?! Get back here and eat, you idiot! Just starve then, see if I care!’
*Gurgle— *
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
‘Ugh, the palace food is so heavy!’
Lucoco rubbed her stomach as she wandered through the market.
She lingered in front of meat shops and vendors’ stalls, purchasing a large amount of “commoner” ingredients.
As the saying goes, a wild boar can’t appreciate fine bran—and that perfectly described Lucoco.
After only ten days or so of the noble life, she felt like she was going to starve to death!
It wasn’t that the noble meals were too small, though they certainly were.
The main issue was that she simply wasn’t used to it!
It was a blunt way to put it, but it was the truth.
She decided that she would start cooking for herself from now on.
Her afternoon was free.
She didn’t return to her luxurious quarters today, nor did she choose to go to the Alchemy Tower.
The Prince had been hauled away by Raymond, who said he was going to test his progress.
Therefore, Lucoco decided to spend the entire afternoon at the snack street to properly reward her hard-working stomach.
She was a girl of her word!
It wasn’t until the sun was nearly setting that she stroked her bulging belly and shuffled toward the Royal Palace while burping with satisfaction.
Before leaving, she didn’t forget to pack two large bags of fragrant, delicious food.
One set was for the big brothers guarding the city gates who always complained about taking an arrow to the knee.
The other set was for her to snack on while reading at night.