The Reincarnated Count's Daughter Is the Strongest as She Is Loved by the Spirits, Though She Is Only Wishing for Regular Romance!

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Author Notes:

  Since I woke up early, I'm updating this in the early morning.

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The trial run of the spirit carriage, equipped with the cartridge, had begun. They were already in actual operation, testing how much magical power was drained from the cartridge and checking how much difference from the owner's magic the spirit beasts could tolerate without discomfort.

The quality of chocolate was also steadily improving, and now various kinds could be made. Although everything was still handmade, and customers selected each piece in the style of a chocolatier, I wanted to create more affordable and easily accessible chocolates. The possibilities kept expanding.

As early summer arrived, my older brother Chris went to Luftanen with the crown prince to attend the coronation. That crown prince would become king, and Lady Tatiana would be the queen, finally putting an end to Luftanen's long era of turmoil. Even the Empire was moving in a better direction after the reconciliation between the crown prince and the second prince.

At the next debutante, Suzanna and Irene would officially come of age, paving the way for their engagement and preparations for marriage. And next year, Chris and the crown prince would graduate from the academy. Half a year later, the crown prince’s coronation ceremony would be held. So many things to celebrate!

"So, how's it going with His Highness?" 

Monica’s training as the future consort didn't pause just because the crown prince was away, so today, I came to the royal palace with Patty to visit her. When I invited my older brother Alan, who was also visiting the Royal Guard, he unexpectedly brought the second prince along. Not that I minded.

"What do you mean, 'how's it going?'"  

"Marriage proposals."  

"Hold on, Dia!"  

"Men take their time with decisions, unlike women," Monica and Patty hastily added, trying to smooth things over. But this former arrogant prince, now our beloved "big dog" prince, wasn’t the type to be handled cautiously.

"There are guys who make quick decisions, though."  

"Exactly!"

Despite the attention from the prince and me, my older brother Alan continued to sip his tea nonchalantly. However, Patty, sitting next to him and blushing, seemed pitiful, so I decided to drop the topic.

"There are discussions. It can’t be officially confirmed yet since I'm not of age, but I’ll probably end up marrying one of Duke Powell or Marquess Corquette's granddaughters."

Both Duke Powell's and Marquess Corquette's granddaughters were two years younger than me, making them ten years old this year. They would enter the academy this winter. So, royal marriages end up as political arrangements, huh? Particularly now, with the aftermath of Lady Eufenia’s ill-fated love marriage, the atmosphere was hardly conducive to royal members seeking love matches.

"That's surprising. I thought you'd be aligning with a neighboring country."  

"There’s talk of that too. This fall, during the joint birthday celebration with my brother, neighboring countries are expected to attend, right? Some of the guests planning to study at the academy will also be invited, and there should be ladies and princesses among them whose marriages have been under discussion."

The crown prince and the prince’s birthdays were close. Both were born in the fall. The prince had been reluctant to hold big celebrations after a major incident occurred during one of his birthday parties. However, he finally agreed this year due to the joint celebration with the crown prince, so it was decided to invite foreign dignitaries and celebrate on a grand scale.

The Empire, which had focused on internal affairs to avoid unrest during the succession and due to the crown prince's youth, had recently started investing efforts into diplomacy. The decision to distribute special manuals to various nations served as a starting point for expanding trade and diplomatic relations.

"I think the real goal of these foreigners is figuring out how to win over the Fairy Princess."  

"Well, it's brave of them to even think about that!"  

"Indeed."

You should laugh it off instead of agreeing so seriously. But I guess they can't help but be curious about the state of affairs within the Empire.

"After so many years of only inviting a select group of diplomats to official events, this time, royalty and representatives of major noble houses will be flocking in."  

"That sounds tough."  

"Don’t act like it doesn’t concern you."

Getting scolded by His Highness? Oh, how you’ve grown. Your big sister is so proud—or is it "aunt" now? Recently, it’s been hard to get a sense of my original age.

Rather than simply adding my past life’s age to my current age, it felt like my past life’s age ran parallel to this one. Up until I was around ten years old, I tried to act a bit more childish to avoid making others uncomfortable. Though, it wasn’t all that convincing. Now, no one seemed to mind my behavior, and instead, they saw occasional signs of my childishness as proof of my age. My family was especially overprotective.

The changes during adolescence were astonishing. Suzanna, Irene, and Britan had developed distinctly feminine figures, becoming more and more beautiful. And the boys—when surrounded, it was like being walled in. Their voices deepened, their frames grew sturdier, and they shot up in height. Comparing myself to these older kids, I couldn't help but feel like a child, which was probably normal for a twelve-year-old.

"You won’t be attending evening parties or balls, so showing your face once should suffice, right?"  

"But there are lots of people coming specifically to see you, Dia. If you’re not careful, even Berisario might barge in."

Monica, who was only a year older than me, had become so striking recently, perhaps due to her already large build. Standing next to the crown prince, they made quite a flashy couple. Patty was my only solace. Friends of the same age were invaluable.

"I apologize, but there’s a guest here."  

"A guest?"

The maid cautiously approached after speaking with the guard who peeked in through the door.

"Who is it?"  

"Well, um..."  

"I said there’s no time!"

With a bang, the door swung open, and in walked my older brother Chris. Did he sneak away from his diplomatic duties in Luftanen? He was impeccably dressed in his formal attire.

"I need to return quickly. Sorry for the intrusion."

No hesitation whatsoever, even with royalty present.

"Camille, come on."  

"Are you sure about this?"  

"Camille?!"

What wind blew for my older brother to bring Camille here? And this was the royal palace! Was it okay to suddenly bring in a foreign duke? With his traditional attire, black hair, and black eyes, anyone could tell he was a foreigner. This seemed like blatant trespassing.

"Dia. You did it again."  

"Huh?! What did I do?"  

"Dia... I’m really happy about this, but..."

Camille’s left hand was adorned with the bangle I had gifted him. Could he not show it off in front of everyone like this? It was embarrassing.

"Wait, that’s Dia’s gift?"  

"How lovely."

Oh no, my friends’ eyes were twinkling. They were definitely going to tease me about this later.

"Is it really okay to receive something of a mythical class?"

Mythical class? What was that word?

"My older brother Chris called it national treasure class, but I made similar ones for my family and even use one myself, so I don't think it's a problem."  

"That bracelet uses spatial magic, right?"

I nodded at His Highness’s remark. Even the crown prince had been envious. But the royal siblings didn’t have enough magical power. They could only raise spirit beasts of two attributes. They could use bags or pouches that allowed for spatial magic to store a lot of items, but they couldn’t put in or take out anything larger than the opening. Doing so required combining spatial and teleportation magic, which consumed a lot of magic each time.

"That's not the issue. When you brought it to Lady Ruri, didn’t you do something?"  

My older brother Chris’s face was close and serious. Camille also had a solemn look. This wasn’t a laughing matter.

"Lady Ruri said, 'Is it okay for the Fairy Princess to give such a simple accessory as a gift?'"  

"In what way is that just a simple accessory?"

Wow, His Highness had taken on the role of the straight man. My older brother Alan was leaning over the table, intently staring at the bangle.

"I feel the same way, but the other party is a Spirit King, after all. To them, spatial magic isn’t all that extraordinary."

"So, Lady Ruri decided to bestow her blessing on it."  

"This isn't just some token gift. The power of all the elemental spirit kings has been imbued in it."  

"Huh?"  

"Who knows what abilities it might have, but it’s definitely not ordinary."  

"All the elements? You mean all the spirit kings blessed it?!"  

"And they did it quite earnestly."

Why would they do that? Was it to assert their dominance? As if to say, "We’re her backing."

"Is it really okay to accept this? I can feel a tremendous amount of magic from it."  

"If you don’t accept it, it might be seen as rejecting Lady Ruri’s blessing."

Camille cradled his head, and my older brother Chris stared off into the distance, looking tired. Please come back to reality. The coronation is tomorrow, you know.

"What are we supposed to do with this?"  

"It’s a problem if we don’t know its functions. Oh, I know

! How about trying to pour a bit of magic into it?"

If it’s a magical artifact, that should activate it.

"...I see."

Camille lifted his left hand, placing his right hand over the bangle, and infused it with a small amount of magic. A rainbow-colored light floated gently from it.

"Wow, it lights up like that when Lady Ruri blesses it?"

The light grew larger and then suddenly disappeared. At the same time, the bangle vanished, and in its place was a white fluffy creature with a bangle-like crown on its head.

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Author Notes:

  There's someone who always reports typos at an amazing speed, allowing me to fix huge mistakes right away. I feel like I shouldn’t take advantage of it, but I’m truly grateful every time.

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