Beatrice asked politely, “Your highness, may I draw you holding Lottie right now?”
Bina smiled happily. “Of course. I can’t wait to see the finished product.”
What a smart princess. Lady Lindel and all the maids in the room became expectant.
After the second princess was born, Lucretius gave Beatrice a separate wing he used to occupy as the heir when he was young. This showed that the emperor and the empress had decided that the first princess will become the next ruler of this kingdom.
There were many concerning rumors. The emperor and the empress were still very young, so it seemed irrational to designate the first princess as the next heir at this point. People were concerned whether a female ruler would be able to successfully run a kingdom.
However, those who knew the first princess weren’t worried at all. Princess Beatrice was extremely too mature for her age, and she was incredibly intelligent.
This was why the maids were excited to see how artistically talented the princess might be.
Beatrice studied her mother and her sister intensely and started to sketch.
***
“…”
Bina held her second daughter and stayed still for quite a long time for her first princess. Liselotte was very small, but it was still difficult to hold her for a long time. Bina’s arms and back started to become very uncomfortable.
“Beatrice, may I move now?”
A portrait usually took days to finish, so they could begin again later. Beatrice nodded confidently.
“Yes, your highness. I am almost done with the sketching part.”
“Really? You are very fast.”
Bina handed Liselotte, who was asleep, to the nanny and walked towards Beatrice and Lady Lindel to take a look at Beatrice’s work.
“…”
“…”
Both Bina and Lady Lindel became speechless. Bina could understand why Lady Lindel couldn’t say anything because they were probably thinking the same thing. Bina realized that her daughter was born at the wrong time in the wrong world. Beatrice should have been born in the 21st century on earth. If she did, perhaps she could have become famous as an abstract artist.
On the canvas was countless rough lines arranged erratically. Bina smiled awkwardly.
“Y, you’re very good, Beatrice… Is, is this part me?”
Beatrice pouted. “No, that’s the curtain behind you.”
No matter how hard she looked, Bina couldn’t tell between the curtains and herself.
“Umm, I see…”
Bina smiled awkwardly again. This form of painting was familiar to her. She vaguely remembered the drawings she did when she was younger. Bina herself had no artistic talent and she always got horrible grades in art classes at school.
Bina felt sad. ‘… Beatrice sings like her father and draws like me… It’s the worst combination.’
She remembered when Beatrice took a singing lesson recently. The vocal teacher became pale as she listened to the princess sing.
“Hmm…!”
Beatrice continued to sketch with her charcoal angrily. She seemed frustrated, most likely because it wasn’t going as she expected. Lady Lindel, who was standing behind the princess, seemed concerned.
Bina smiled and whispered to her very quietly, “Don’t worry. The princess needs to learn the basics of art no matter what, so please continue with the lessons.”
Lady Lindel sighed in relief. She was thankful for this job and was relieved that she would be able to keep it.
Luckily, music and art lessons were not the most important pieces of training a royal member needed. Studying subjects like language, mathematics, and history was the true priority, and thankfully, Beatrice excelled in all of them.
‘I suppose no one can be perfect.’
Bina patted Beatrice’s head gently. The princess was glaring at her work intensely when her mother said to her, “Don’t worry, Beatrice.”
“Your highness…”
Beatrice was a smart child and rarely failed at anything. She was also a royal princess, which meant she was surrounded by those who complimented and praised her constantly.
Therefore, it seemed normal that Beatrice was very disappointed at her failure. After the recent singing lesson, this was the second time.
Bina thought this was actually a good thing. Nothing was ever certain, but whether Beatrice became the female ruler or another high ranking female figure, the princess would have to live for the kingdom and its people. To do this well, she had to know what failure felt like.
Bina consoled her in a light voice.
“There is no need for you to be perfect at everything. You can order famous artists to paint the portraits and have the professional musicians to perform for you.”
Beatrice was royalty; therefore, she could afford to do all these things. The princess smiled at her mother.
“Yes, your highness!”
For a moment, Beatrice was angry at her failure, but she seemed to feel better after her mother explained things.
***
After the art lesson, Bina took her two daughters and headed to Lucretius’ office. It was time to have a little family time. Afterward, Beatrice would go back to her own wing, Liselotte to the nanny, and Bina to her own office to work.
Bina and Lucretius were the busiest couple in the kingdom, but they tried their best to have as much quality family time as possible.
Liselotte reached out from Bina’s arms as she made various baby sounds.
Bina placed her down next to Beatrice. Liselotte flailed her arms and reached for her older sister as she tried to call her.
“S, siiisss!”
The baby’s left hand grabbed Beatrice’s long black hair. Beatrice frowned a little but didn’t move away from her baby sister’s spit-covered hand.
Liselotte tightly grabbed Beatrice’s hair and wouldn’t let go. Whenever Liselotte found something she liked, she held it for a very long time. For a while, she was obsessed with flowers, so she used to hold it until it withered. The nannies often carefully took the dead flower out from her left hand when she fell asleep.
Recently, Liselotte became obsessed with her sister’s hair. She grabbed it and laughed in satisfaction.
“Hehehehe…!”
“Phew….”
Beatrice sighed but offered to her mother, “Your highness, I want to hold her.”
“Would you?”
Bina handed her younger daughter to her older child. Beatrice was only a young girl herself, but she was used to holding her baby sister. When she hugged Liselotte, the baby screamed excitedly.
“Yaaaa!”
“Please be quiet, Lottie.”
Beatrice acted mature as she gently scolded her sister, but Beatrice patted Liselotte’s back lovingly.
As they approached the emperor’s office, they heard a commotion before a familiar figure appeared. Beatrice and Liselotte smiled excitedly.
“Father!”
“Faaath…!”
Beatrice walked fast towards him with her sister still in her arms. Lucretius smiled widely.
“My princesses!”
He lifted both of them.
“Yay!”
***
It was Lucretius who first noticed it.
“Lottie is left-handed, right?”
Beatrice was helping her little sister learn how to walk. Now that Bina thought about it, Liselotte always grabbed things with her left hand first.
Bina replied, “… I think you’re right.” Bina became curious. “Do people here also correct left-handed people to learn to use their right hands?”
Lucretius’ eyes widened. “… Oh! You’re left handed too.”
Bina’s eyes widened as well. “What? How do you know that?”
Bina was indeed a lefty, but in Korea, many children were taught to use their right hands as their dominant hands. It was the same for Bina, so eventually, she became ambidextrous. Of course, there were times when she subconsciously reached for things with her left hand, but most people couldn’t tell that she was originally left-handed. Even those who served her for a long time, such as Agnes and Samantha, thought Bina was ambidextrous.
Bina asked, “Everyone thinks I’m ambidextrous.”
Lucretius nodded and explained, “That’s what I thought at first, but as I continued to study you… I could see the subtle differences.”
“Oh…”
Lucretius reached out with his right hand while Bina did with her left. They held their hands together as Lucretius continued, “And I can also tell when I hold your hands. You left hand is slightly stronger, so that is how I knew.”
“That’s amazing.”
Lucretius said proudly, “I know everything about you, and I want to know even more about you. Even if it’s something very small and insignificant.”
Bina smiled gently and hugged him. “I don’t know how you survived before I got here.”
“I have been waiting for you my whole life.”
He hugged her back and kissed her.
They were surrounded by several maids and their children, but neither of them cared. Old Bina would have been shocked to see herself now, but she didn’t feel embarrassed anymore.
Beatrice glanced at her parents’ public display of affection before returning to focusing on her little sister. She was used to seeing them like this.
After a long kiss, they went back to their conversation.
“So do people here correct left-handiness as well?”
“Yeah, it’s similar here too.”
Bina started to think hard while looking at Liselotte, who was walking with help from her big sister.
Bina asked, “What… do you think we should do with Lottie?”
“What do you think?”
After a short silence, she answered, “I want her to grow up naturally the way she is.”
“Hmm.”
“In my homeland, the new trend is not to force this change to left handed children, and…”
“And?”
Bina looked down at her two hands.
“It’s just… I don’t think there is anything wrong with being left handed.”
Lucretius smiled and nodded. “If you think so, I am happy with that.”
