“You see, you will be welcomed into the royal family, there is simply no other choice.” The queen broke the news to me, curious about how I would take it.


    I simply stood there, shocked, my mouth agape. My mind was racing.


    What does she mean? How can a someone like me become a member of the royal family?


    Despite all of the questions that I wanted to ask, only one word managed to escape my mouth. “What…”


    The queen simply continued, attempting to ignore my reaction. “You may either be adopted by the king and I, or engaged to either of my youngest sons. Do keep in mind however, that both are over double your age. The engagement would only be announced after your baptism and debut, as you are currently not recognised as a member of society. You may take your pick between Leon or his twin brother Albion.”


    She then paused and smiled expectantly, as though she knew what I would choose.


    “Umm… I’d prefer to be adopted please.” These words had come out of my mouth before I even thought about whether I even wanted to be a member of the royal family.


    I just really don’t want to be engaged at such a young age. Besides, if I have to be a royal I’d prefer it by way of adoption, then my place would be secure even if something happened to my fiance. Maybe being a royal wouldn’t be so bad. The villainess definitely wouldn’t be able to kill me then.


    I shook my head, not letting myself be convinced by my inner thoughts, about to take back what I said, but the queen had heard me, she grinned slyly. Knowing that by giving me only those two options, she’d get what she wanted either way. Without giving me a chance to take back my words, she began speaking once again, backing me into a corner.


    “In that case, you may now call me mother or Cordelia, however I’d prefer ‘Mother’ when in public. We will organise a baptism for you as soon as possible, for now you may do whatever you wish, a permanent room shall be provided for you at a later date.”


    His Highness Prince Leon then chimed in “You may call me Big Brother Leo”. With this he grinned. Not answering either of them, I stayed silent, I wasn’t exactly sure whether they even wanted an answer, but I didn’t provide one regardless.


    A door to each side of the room then opened, near the thrones where the royals had sat. Prince Leon… Big Brother Leo, left through the door closest to him, on the left. While the ruling monarchs left through the door on the right. Before I had even realised it, I was standing in the middle of the throne room on my own. The huge doors behind me then creaked open, I hastily excited through them, feeling embarrassed for just standing there with my head in the clouds.


    That was certainly… A turn of events. But what did she mean by ‘arrange a baptism for me’. I’m already eight, I should’ve asked while I had the chance.


    With that, I trudged back to my room, following a maid to avoid getting lost.


    When the guards posted at the door opened it, I saw a familiar figure sitting on the couch. It was the queen. I quickly curtsied before taking a seat on the couch opposite to her. It was my room, so it was okay. I was slightly relieved to go see her, while also being uncertain. This would give me a chance to ask about the baptism.


    Once had sat down, Cordelia cut straight to the chase. “I understand that this may be difficult for you to speak of, but please, tell me what your life has been like until now. As the queen, and your mother, I need to know.”


    While she hadn’t glamorised her question in the slightest, it felt gentle, not pushy. I felt as though I did have a choice, even though she hadn’t phrased it as such. I simply sighed before responding.


    “I understand, please don''t worry, I don’t mind telling you.”


    Keeping out the details of my reincarnation and such I began to retell my tale, I twisted my words to make it seem as though I hadn’t used my knowledge from my prior life, but instead found out about things normally.


    “I was born in a church in the duchy of Lambourg, my mother was called Constance, my father was unknown. I spent the first week of my life in that same church, before we left to live in a house as commoners. I mostly lived there alone, my mother wasn’t home much. Whenever she was it was as though I wasn’t even there. I survived through the charity of the neighbours, who would occasionally give me food. I remember that some newer neighbours in the area had once commented on my always staying indoors, they didn’t know of my situation yet. After my mother overheard them, she took me shopping with her. That was first time that I had left the house with her.”Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    “There I learnt a bit about the world, and what normal people and families were supposed to be like, it wasn’t the same as how I lived. On this outing, I did discover the personality of nobles in the duchy. They were rude and horrible to be around, they looked down on us commoners. When I turned two, my mother took me out of the house once again, this time there was a fancy carriage outside, we entered. After a bit of driving we stopped outside an orphanage, there my mother forcefully ejected me from the carriage. From then on, I was an orphan. I hardly got anything to eat as the priest running it was corrupt. He would sell us children to nobles, often as slaves or workers. We weren’t fed well, only scraps, I barely survived, and I only did because a friend of mine would help me to get some food. Often, I was too weak to walk. After the priest had been unusually generous, after selling one of us for a good price, he began giving us more to eat. I could finally walk, but I was still tiny for my age.”


    “Just as I began to get healthier, a man, the duke, came into the orphanage. Apparently I looked like his daughter, who I suspect he had disposed of. He ‘adopted’ me and forced me to pretend to be his daughter. I was a replacement. He only needed me so that he could marry me off. But in my time at the estate, I overheard a chef selling a girl information on me. I tried to find out more, but all I could discover was that she wanted to kill me. This girl was obsessed with the boy that I was set to marry, and because she had somehow caught wind of the future engagement she wanted to murder me. I considered going to the duke with this information, but I overheard him musing to himself, thinking about disposing of me too. Apparently, I was causing too much trouble for him. I decided to run away, I snuck out the kingdom in a merchant''s carriage, before running into Prince Leon. He brought me here and well…”


    Cordelia nodded along with my story, obviously thinking about something as I explained. I had mentioned reasons for my decisions and such instead of the novel. Some parts were laced with truth, others not. The chef for example, in the novel it had turned out that he had sold my information, but at a later date because that’s when he had found out about my engagement. After wrapping up her thoughts, the queen gave me a radiant smile.


    “In that case, we can have him imprisoned. Allowing and taking part in the selling and purchasing of slaves, murdering a member of the royal family, plotting against a member of the royal family, these are all proof of his inadequate ability to rule a duchy. These are all crimes, and a reason to have him replaced. Does he have any good heirs? Perhaps a son or two who don’t take after their father? If they''re of age then even better.”


    The queen simply said all of this with a smile on her face, it gave me chills. I then replied with Albert in mind, I definitely wasn’t opposed to the idea, I wanted the duke to pay, both for his treatment of me, and whatever he did to his daughter.


    “Yes, he has a son, Albert. He is nice and didn’t seem to know about any of the duke’s misdeeds.”


    To this the queen deepened her smile. “In that case, this will be easy. They will be summoned to the palace for an official matter, I will not inform them of what it is in case they decide to flee. I take it you have no issues with this?” The queen prompted.


    “No, that is perfectly fine, I barely knew him as a father, if these are all crimes then do as you must.”


    “I shall have you officially invited to the duke’s sentencing, you are not required to go by any means, but considering what happened, I understand that you may wish to watch.”


    I nodded along, I would go. This would be good for me to see, the duke had wronged me and many others, it made sense that he should be punished. I had no tears to shed over whatever was bound to happen. Cordelia then promptly stood up, leaving the room without a single word. I let out a sigh of relief, I had been holding my breath for who knows how long, although I didn’t think that I cared, thinking back to everything that had happened throughout this life was difficult. Before now, I had been making false promises to myself, thinking that I had become emotionally mature. But to be honest, this just didn’t feel real. It had taken me eight years to learn how real this really was, even when I starved in the orphanage I hadn''t allowed myself  to accept it. This was all real.


    Oh, I forgot to mention the baptism.


    As I remembered this, I heard a knock on my door. Curious, I yelled “enter”. It was a young man, about 15 years old, he looked familiar.


    “It is a pleasure to meet you, sister. I am the third prince Albion Galandri. You may refer to me as Big Brother Albi.”


    He grinned, smiling at me. At this, I quickly came to my senses and introduced myself. He just stood there, grinning, before taking a seat uninvited, it felt awkward but I stayed seated. As he opened his mouth to speak, the door burst open. Leon was standing there.


    “Albiooonn, you can’t hog her all for yourself, she’s my sister too!” With that, he plopped himself onto the couch as well, sitting beside Albion.


    Once he was seated, I asked “So, why have you both come here so suddenly?” Albion was the first to answer.


    “Why to see this new, cute little sister of mine of course.” Leon then added, “I couldn’t let him keep you all to himself, I’ve always wanted a little sister too!”


    I opened my mouth to answer, “Leon, Albion…” They cut me off. “Big Brother Leo”, “Big Brother Albi”. “Call me that.” I tried again, this time using their preferred language.


    “Big Brother Leo, Big Brother Albi, do you know what mother meant by ‘organise a baptism for me?”


    I said the first part with a sigh, while Leon and Albion lit up at the words, they really were twins.


    This is so embarrassing, why won’t they let me call them anything else? Big Brother Albi definitely wasn’t a smart prince like I expected, hopefully the crown prince will live up to my expectations, or at least not be like these two. It feels so weird to call them that, I know that it’s what they want… but still.


    I had begun unconsciously referring to them in their preferred ways now, it felt kind of nice to have a family like this.


    “Well, she’ll set up a baptism for you. You’re a member of the royal family now, so your baptism is a big event, of course you get your own day for it, sis.”


    Leon answered my question, smirking at my reaction to being called ‘sis’.


    “We’ll both be there for your big day, I can’t wait to see you all grown up lil’ sis.”


    Albion decided to add onto Leon’s explanation, while Leon sat there nodding.


    So they’ve just decided to start acting like they’ve known me for ages? That’s… Odd. Is this what normal families are meant to be like? It’s definitely a different experience from Earth and the duke’s mansion. This is probably the normal way for siblings to act.


    Convincing myself of this, I replied with a simple, “Oh”.