Chapter 85

In the Empire, New Year’s Day came with a special tradition where everyone gathered to cut and share a galette pie after breakfast. Before baking, a hard bean was tucked deep inside the filling, and whoever found it in their slice got to be treated like royalty, king or queen of the house, for the entire day.

Since children get to make all kinds of wishes to the adults, children across the Empire look forward to New Year’s Day even more than the anniversary of the Empire’s founding.

“If I find the bean, I’m doing whatever I want today!”

Stella looked at Ignis and made him confirm and promise again. Even though she was already a princess, the thought of being queen for a day seemed to make her even happier.

Karentina had to suppress a laugh, her shoulders shaking at how cute Stella was.

“Alright.”

Ignis replied with a faint smile.

Once the table was cleared, a round galette was brought out on a cake stand, accompanied by freshly brewed tea. The pie was still steaming, its buttery aroma filling the room.

“Wow! In the North, it’s a snowflake pattern.”

“Oh, now that you mention it, it must be a sun pattern in the capital, right?”

“That’s right! It looks like a swirling shape, like this.”

Stella said, tracing the shape in the air with her finger.

The sun design represents the Empire itself, or more specifically, the imperial house of Badelstan. Every region in the Empire decorated their pie differently. In the capital and at the palace, the pies usually have a swirl pattern that stands for the sun. Up North, the pies have a snowflake design for ice. In the South, they use crisscrossing lines to look like a fishing net, and in the West, instead of a design, they just load the pie with lots of raspberry or fruit puree filling.

Traditionally, the oldest person in the family would cut the pie while the youngest handed out the slices. As Ignis took up the cake knife, Stella opened her mouth seriously.

“Brother, you have to cut it nicely.”

Ignis chuckled and sliced the pie into four perfectly equal pieces like he had measured them out. Zion then put each slice onto a plate. Cutting one more slice than the number of people gathered at the table symbolized sharing good fortune with those less fortunate than yourself.

Once everything was set, Stella stared intently at the plates, trying to decide.

“Brother, you get this one—wait, no, this one! Karentina, you get that one. And I’ll take this one!”

Soon, every plate had an owner.

Stella started chewing carefully, hoping to find the lucky bean. Karentina did the same, cutting her galette into small pieces and bringing them to her mouth, savoring the crisp crust, the moist almond cream filling, and the lingering taste of butter.

“Huh?”

That was when it happened.

Stella made a strange noise and spat something out onto her plate.

Karentina smiled happily, certain that the child was about to be crowned queen for the year. But when she looked at what had landed on the plate, her eyes went wide in shock.

What had rolled across the plate was a tiny and adorable baby tooth, about the size of a pinky nail.

“H-huh? My tooth fell out.”

The little girl’s eyes went wide as a rabbit’s, and she made a surprised, squeaky sound. Everyone in the dining room couldn’t help but tremble at the sight, overwhelmed by her unbearably cute appearance.

“Let me see.”

Ignis leaned in to check Stella’s open mouth before letting out a soft laugh.

“You said your front tooth had been loose for a while. It looks like it finally came out.”

Gemma explained gently, pressing a clean cloth to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, Stella let out a big sigh, disappointed she didn’t find the long-awaited lucky bean in her slice.

「 At the palace, it was always just me and my brother sharing the galette pie! If he was busy, I would do it with Gemma and Joseph. 」

Karentina gazed at little Stella with a sympathetic look.

“Losing a baby tooth is even more special than finding the lucky bean. It means your grown-up teeth are coming in.”

“But still…”

As she poked her pie with her fork, Karentina’s eyes widened when she spotted the hidden bean inside.

‘Uh-oh…’

Looking flustered, she tucked the bean deeper into her pie before glancing quickly at Ignis and asking.

“Did you happen to get the bean, Your Highness?”

Ignis, who had been looking at her plate, averted his gaze and shook his head.

“No.”

Karentina clapped her hands cheerfully with a bright smile.

“It looks like the bean is in the last remaining piece of pie!”

“R-Really? So that means none of us gets to be king or queen today?”

Stella’s face fell in disappointment.

“How about we give this year’s good luck to someone in need? And since we’re celebrating your lost tooth, why don’t we make Stella the queen for today? What do you think, Your Highness?”

When Karentina gave Ignis a subtle glance, his eyes widened before he slowly nodded back.

“Alright. Stella is today’s queen.”

As soon as he agreed, the child’s face lit up like she had the whole world.

“Really? I can really be the queen?!”

Stella, holding her peach-colored cheeks in both hands and beaming, bounced up and down on her chair.