I Raised Snow White!

“Waaah!! Waaahhh!!!”

Once she started crying, there was no sign of her stopping soon. When Fran took a step closer, the princess screamed as if she was about to faint and cried out in terror, motioning for Fran to stay back.

“Ahh—!! Don’t come any closer!!”

“This is strange. The children in my homeland enjoy it when I tell them a Fran joke.”

Fran tilted her head curiously, looking at the princess clinging to me. Who would have imagined that screws and gears would spill out of her mouth?

The princess buried her face in my chest, unwilling even to lift her head, claiming she’d seen something she shouldn’t have. Though Fran moved side to side, puzzled by the princess’s reaction—

“Go awayyy!!”

“This is shocking. How could there be such a reaction…”

Fran trailed off, genuinely shaken for the first time. Although her face remained expressionless, she seemed truly dejected as she turned her back to the princess and sank into a chair.

The princess, however, was too busy sobbing in my arms to care if Fran was feeling down. She had been startled just by the thought of swallowing a needle, so seeing something similar firsthand must have been quite a shock.

Gently patting the princess on the back, I tried to calm her down.

“Princess, should I tell her to leave right away?”

“Hmph! Hmph!”

The princess nodded vigorously, still sobbing. Hearing that she might be sent away, Fran turned her head and looked at the princess from a distance where her sobbing didn’t intensify.

“Princess, please look at this.”

Fran held up her thumb and performed a trick, pretending to detach it with her finger covering the joint. The princess, who had been watching it out of the corner of her eye, scoffed.

“I’ve already seen that trick! And Her Majesty the Queen does it even better!”

True enough. After showing her the finger trick so many times, the princess was now unfazed.

Seeing this, Fran seemed a bit offended—

“Is that so? Just cutting a finger isn’t enough, then.”

With a popping sound, Fran went ahead and pulled off her whole wrist. The detached hand began to do a little dance on her other palm, as if it had a life of its own.

The princess’s reaction, of course—

“Ewww, gross!!”

“I don’t understand. My masterpiece of a Fran joke didn’t work.”

Fran reattached her hand, then grabbed her head in disbelief. Indeed, this was more the type of prank that young boys might enjoy…

But it had no effect on the princess. With her pride as an artificial human seemingly shattered, Fran muttered, “The pride of a Frankenstein has been broken,” and slumped her shoulders.

With no other option, I sighed and addressed Fran.

“Thank you for treating Ainsel… but the princess… well, I wonder what sort of reward would you need? I’ll prepare as much as possible.”

Though she’d done a great favor by fixing Ainsel, the princess practically had a fit just looking at her, so I thought it best to give her a reward and send her away from the palace.

“In that case, I’d like some high-quality oil, please.”

“O-Oil…?”

“Just kidding. A Fran joke.”

Fran made a V-sign with her fingers in my direction. It was hard to tell where this poker-faced artificial human’s jokes ended and her real words began.

“No reward is necessary. And, I can’t leave right away.”

“Noooooo!!!”

Hearing that Fran wouldn’t be leaving, the princess shrieked in dismay. I’d never seen her dislike someone so intensely, which was surprising but also a little concerning.

Even as the princess shouted in outrage, Fran didn’t seem to mind, giving a sideways glance at Ainsel, who was struggling on the table.

“My work with the patient is not yet finished. As a doctor, I have a duty to care for her until she returns to full health.”

“O-Oh… if that’s the case…”

Hearing that Fran still needed to care for Ainsel, the princess had no choice but to hold her tongue. Though she found Fran deeply unpleasant, her concern for the ailing Ainsel forced her to reluctantly glare at Fran.

“You’re really treating Ainsel…? For real this time? You’re not lying, right?”

The princess cast a suspicious gaze at Fran. Watching her, Fran gazed back with her usual impassive expression, but then, contrary to her expression, she gently patted the princess on the head.

“Yes, this time, I’m not lying. I, Fran the Frankenstein, never lie when it comes to healing fairies.”

Fran, who said she would stay by Ainsel’s side until she recovered, decided to stay here for the time being.

When I asked her how she planned to hide, considering she had somehow snuck into the heavily guarded palace, she replied:

“You don’t need to worry. As you can see, I am a perfect maid. If you just play along, I’ll work as your maid for now.”

“…Seems like you’ll get caught.”

“I won’t, as long as you speak for me. I’m very capable.”

Fran lifted the hem of her maid’s uniform, spun around gracefully, and showed it off to me. I’d been wondering for a while—why was she dressed as a maid?

As I looked closely at her outfit, Fran elegantly twirled again, then struck a poised stance, showing off her maid’s uniform before asking me:

“Are you curious about my attire?”

“A little…?”

“There’s no particular reason. It’s simply a hobby. I enjoy having hobbies—ballet, ballroom dancing, and cleaning and laundry. I just like wearing clothes that suit cleaning and laundry.”

“A hobby in cleaning and laundry… That’s unique.”

Fran stood on one toe, lifting her opposite leg in an ‘arabesque’ pose, casting a quick glance at the princess and me.

The princess, captivated by Fran’s graceful stance, clapped her hands as she watched Fran’s ballet. With each clap, Fran began to dance more and more, as if she were showing off a variety of tricks.

Then, suddenly, a thought came to me.

Recently, the princess’s progress in dance has been slow. She was still struggling with a wobbly waltz that hadn’t quite moved past her squid-like flailing, so perhaps Fran could help her?

Looking at Fran, who was dancing with such elegance, I asked her:

“Fran, if you have some free time while you’re here, would you mind teaching the princess to dance, even if it’s just briefly? She’s learning the waltz right now…”

“You want me to teach the princess to dance?”

Hearing this, the princess’s eyes went wide with shock as she looked at me. She shook her head vigorously, clearly unwilling to learn dance from Fran.

Fran hesitated for a moment, watching the princess, then gently extended her hand, as if inviting her to dance. The princess glared intensely at the hand offered in front of her.

“First, I need to assess the princess’s current skill level.”

“…No way. I’m going to learn from Her Majesty the Queen.”

I gently patted the princess’s head as she scowled, sticking her lower lip out. Although her dance skills were still lacking, the princess could at least perform the waltz now.

After practicing hard enough that her feet nearly bled, she had finally learned to waltz just yesterday. But while she could do the waltz, it wasn’t perfect.

She still made plenty of mistakes, and if I didn’t clap along, she couldn’t keep the rhythm on her own. There was still time to improve bit by bit…

Perhaps this was just a parent’s wish—to see the princess perform a flawless waltz without any mistakes in front of an audience.

It might have been selfish, but it was undeniably for the princess’s sake. I slipped my hands under her arms, lifted her up, and set her on my lap.

The princess, clearly unhappy with my request for her to learn from Fran, pouted her lips. I hugged her gently and tried to calm her down.

“Won’t you try learning from Fran just once? Who knows? She might be a better teacher than I am.”

“No.”

“…I just really want to see you dance beautifully at the ball.”

“I can do it just fine already.”

The princess was resolute.

If I pressed her any further, I might actually annoy her, so I found it difficult to say anything else. Just when I was about to give up, Sylph appeared beside us, perched on the princess’s shoulder, and whispered something to her.

“Really…?”

—Yes, if you ask, dear princess, she would never say no.

“…?”

Whatever Sylph had told her, the princess looked up at me with a curious expression. Then, with a slight frown, she hopped off my lap and grabbed Fran’s hand.

“Sylph? What did you tell the princess?”

—Oh, just a little motivation. At the ball, the princess might ask you to dance with her, so she’d better practice diligently.

So, the princess had taken Fran’s hand, even though she didn’t like her, because she wanted to dance with me?

How precious and adorable. I wanted to scoop her up and hold her right then.

As I watched with a fond smile while the princess and Fran began to dance, Fran’s face—usually so expressionless—started to break out in a cold sweat and gradually grew paler.

Her normally fair skin turned a faint shade of blue, and by the time the dance with the princess was over, Fran let out a sigh for the first time.

From what I saw, she seemed to dance pretty well, so what was wrong…?

“…This is not what I would call dancing.”

“?!”

The princess shot Fran a deadly glare, as if saying, “I did my best! How could you say something so harsh?” Fran shook her head, then turned to me and asked:

“How much time is left until the ball?”

“Hmm… About three weeks?”

“We don’t have much time. We’ll start immediately from today.”

With that, Fran looked down at the princess, who was still holding her hand.

Feeling the intense, unreadable gaze in Fran’s usually impassive eyes, the princess frowned deeply and yanked her hand out of Fran’s grip.

“I… don’t like you…”