CH 3

For Nicolette who was raised in a monastery, she was never taught how to dance except for a few steps. Her form was full of mistake. Sure enough, as the lesson started, Nicolette always ended up stepping on Aisura's feet.

"I'm, I'm sorry..."

"No problem... I know that this is the first time her Highness is dancing, but I think her Highness is quite a good dancer already. Your muscles are pretty good, eh"

"Tha, that... is a relief"

It means that if she practices a lot then she will become a better dancer. But if by chance he said, it can't be helped, she would perhaps cry from the shock...

After the lesson was over, it was time for lunch. The lunches are also so extravagant that Nicolette has never seen this kind of feast before. As she thought, she saw lots of bread stacked inside a basket that were a bunch of different kinds.. Also, Consomme soup and Minced roasted meat. Nicolette, who has never eaten real meat like this, chomped down on the meat that she stabbed with her fork while her heart was beating fast.

"! Delicious... ...!"

Her face became relaxed, she even had the self-awareness that she was making a ridiculous melted face at the time.. The slight chewiness of the meat, and the juices that flowed every time she took a bite was really amazing. However, just like the breakfast she ate, she was being careful to not eat too much. Nicolette, who was raised at the monastery, on the top that she never ate food in such abundance was worried that there was a possibility that her stomach would become upset from the meat she had never eaten before.

In the end, as she felt regretful because of the leftovers, she realized that Helma and Marcus showing a warm gaze toward her. Helma was looking at Nicollette with the same eyes that she saw her having in the morning.

"Her Majesty. Is the food in our country to your liking?"

"Yes! It was very delicious."

As she gave a smile toward Marcus, he returned her with a similar smile back.

"There is nothing left on the schedule after noon, is there any place that Her Majesty would like to visit?"

Though the dance lesson continued from the morning until Nicolette became better at it, but if there wasn’t some kind of class to attend too or official business, her schedule was rather free. fter she thought about it a little, Nicolette looked up at Marcus and then said,

"I want to go to the library."

"I understand."

"Eh, is it okay?"

"By His Majesty’s command, as long as Her Majesty doesn’t cause any trouble, he told us to let you do whatever you want."

"Heeh. Next time we meet, I will say my thanks to His Majesty."

For now, she will say her gratitude to Wolfgang in her mind. Thank god that he was an understanding man. She was wondering what will happen if he told her to just stay quiet inside her room.

"Is that so. By the way, Her Highness."

"What?"

"Does Her Highness understand the Hainzel Language? Almost all of the libraries books are in the Hainzel language."

"... "  

Nicolette raised her face toward Marcus with a smile. That was a foolish question.

"It's alright. I can speak and understand the Hainzel, Darimoa, and Ancient language and their dialects, I can do it all."

"Is, is that so?"

With a cramped smile, Marcus nodded.

The dialect that was used in Nicolette's homeland, Roware kingdom and this Hainzel empire is completely different. Roware with Roware dialect, and the Empire with Hainzel dialect. There are some people who even call the Hainzel dialect as the Empire dialect.Even if they originated from the same ancient language, it has quite a few differences in Syntax, grammar, and it's pronunciation. For now, there was no problem for Nicolette regarding language. Even right now, Nicolette, who originated from the Roware Kingdom, was speaking fluently in Hainzel dialect.

Nicolette, who had an existence  similar to a researcher in the monastery, learning ancient language and various other languages of various countries is a must. For that reason, she remembered it frantically. While consulting the dictionary, sometimes she asked the nuns that were able to speak in a certain language what she wanted to know and how to say it.

Fortunately, Nicolette's learning ability seemed to be high, right now she already reached a level where she can use a foreign country's language without much issues.

Again, they also wrote the manuscript at the monastery. There were a lot of occasions where the monastery translated something. The nuns had a vast amount of knowledge because of this. This was perhaps also good fortune for her.

Thus, Nicolette, who didn't have any problems regarding language, went to the great library of the empire palace and raised a voice of admiration upon seeing it.

"Oooooooh!"

The sides of the library was just bookshelves with three levels of atrium in the middle. The books were piled all the way up to the roof causing Nicolette to smile at the sheer number. (ED: Atrium is a large open air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building.

"I wonder if I can read them all~"

"Eh, do you intend to read them all, this much books!? "

A retort from Marcus came quickly. Though, she said, 'I wonder if I can read it all~', but perhaps, it was impossible to read all the books inside this library while she was alive.

Marcus, that lost his focus, mad a cough, and then introduced the librarian man to Nicolette.

"Librarian Brahms. From now on, when Her Highness intends to use the library please call out to him."

"Nice to meet you, Her Highness. I am Brahms, librarian."

Perhaps he was someone around his fifties. He had slight wrinkles around his eyes and was portrayed like a kind looking man. Nicolette returned with a smile of her own."How do you do. My name is Nicolette Do Roware."

She already remembered the way to the library, and after this it seems like she will bother him a lot, or so she thought. (ED: Author uses this sentence a lot :D) Nicolette was brimming with enthusiasm to commute to the library on a daily basis.

Immediately afterward she asked him to guide her into the building. While looking at Nicolette who was fidgeting while looking at her surroundings, Brahms asked a question with a smile.

"Is there anything here that Her Highness wishes to read?"

"Hmm. Perhaps, I want to check something about Hainzel Empire... are there any history books, or something like that?"

"There is. Hmm, I think this one is for you because it is quite easy to read."

She was given two books, but inside them was just the court history of the Empire and the current society of Empire. Nicolette pushed a sound out of her lips with, " Muuu~"

"Isn't there anything more specific among the history books? If you can,  something that is at least five volumes,  an overview in history is alright too..."

"...Her Majesty is the one who will read it right?"

Brahms asks in doubt. Nicolette only nodded.

"Of course. Ah, it's alright, I'm able to read Hainzel language just fine."

"Is that so... Then, perhaps this will be to Her Highness’s liking."

While being taken aback, Brahms handed her thick history book that seemed aimed for specialists to Nicolette. Nicolette, who confirmed it's content, smiled.

"Then, is it alright if I borrow this?"

In the end, Nicolette borrowed six volumes of a book about Empire history.

Nicolette, who returned to her room, sat on the rocking chair beside the window, indulging herself into reading the books she just received. She already finished reading about the current society of the Empire, and now she is reading the first volume of history on the Empire.

As expected, even for Nicolette, reading these large books will take time. At any rate, even if she didn't have any problems with the language, for Nicolette, Hainzel language is a foreign language to her, reading it will still take quite a bit of time .

"...Umm, Her Majesty."

Called over by a small voice, Nicolette raised her head. After getting  called as "Her Majesty" many times, she is almost getting used to it.

The one who called her was Maria. Though, she also followed her going to the library, but she was so quiet that it made Nicolette question if Maria really followed behind her or not.

"What is the matter, Maria?"

As she asked Maria as gentle as possible, Maria answered with a trembling voice.

"Tea, I already prepared the tea."

"Tea?"

Nicolette tilted her neck. As she looked at the table near Helma, she realized  they already prepared tea for her. As she looked at the clock, she read that it was already 3 pm . Let's take a quick break, then.

"I understand."

Nicolette stood up, and put the book that she was reading on the side table then she sat on the sofa in front of the table .

"Please enjoy it . I don't know her majesty preference , so I prepare a tea that is easy to drink . we also prepare many kind of tea cakes."

Helma gave a smile toward her while Nicolette was looking at Marcus, Helma’s, and Maria's face."Is there something wrong?"

Helma tilted her neck. Nicolette opened her mouth,

"Actually I already thought this at breakfast and at lunch, am I going to being eating this food alone? The tea too?"

For Helma, Nicolette's question was something that has never crossed her mind at all.

After giving a surprised expression, She then smiled.

"We are just  mere attendants that will accompany Her Highness, we can't do such things as accompanying Her Highness in her meal."

"Then, even having tea together is no good?"

If it's in the monastery, there was always someone who sat beside her. She also always ate her meal with many people, even in her free time, she always conversed with someone.

That’s why, it feels somewhat weird for her to be alone... rather, saying it frankly, she was lonely.

You don't know if Nicolette's feelings got transmitted, but Helma sighed then said, "I understand "

"We will accompany her Highness. Maria too, come here. Marcus-dono also, it is a rare occasion after all."

"Ye, yes."

"Well then, I shall accept this offer and take a seat too."

Maria answered nervously with a high pitched voice, while Marcus sat on the open seat on the sofa with displaying a face that seems he thought the situtation was amusing. Looking at these three people, Nicolette made a satisfied smile.

"Everyone, thanks."

Due to that word, Helma and the other two's faces broke into a smile.

It was the first time Nicolette had such tea. This tea had some kind of citrus aroma. Also, even though she didn't put any sugar in it, it tasted slightly sweet, it also had a reddish brownish colour. When you talk about tea, it'll always be about that bitter and brownish thing. Nicolette, who thought that felt like her general concept, was being overturned.

Furthermore, they prepared many kinds of snacks, there was many types of cakes lined up in front of her, but unfortunately, Nicolette could only recognize Biscuit, cookies, and madeleine.

Though they also baked cake at the monastery, almost all of it went to sale in a festival or was distributed to others, there was almost none that goes to their stomachs.

Since she didn't quite understand what it was called, she just asked Helma to get her that cake-like thing with a lot of fruits on top.

Cutting a big portion of that with her fork, Nicolette stuffed the piece into her mouth. It was a good combination between the tart fruits and the sweet cream.

"Really, no matter what I ate, everything is delicious."

If she can eat food as delicious as this, Nicolette seriously thought that perhaps it was a good thing that she came to this country.

"That was called a Tart, Her Highness. How about this one?"

<Tart

(ED: Latter half is a food describing chapter *Salivates*)

Helma cut different kinds of cake and served it on a plate while putting it in front of Nicolette. That white-ish cake had an un-cake-like soft texture when she ate it. This cake had a nice sweetness to it.

"Kaesekuchen...Well, you can also call it no-bake cheesecake."

<Cheesecake

"Cheese? This is cheese?"

As expected, she ate cheese before, but does it have this kind of taste? Well, even cheese has many different types, there was also a possibility of the taste changing when turned into a snack, so she didn't question it anymore.

"This one is my recommendation."

Said Marcus, giving her a fluffy and plump like cake. A fork can stab into it, but it's hard to cut. Helma, who cannot just stay silent and saw it, cut the cake with a knife. Thank you, Helma.

That fluffy cake entered and melted inside her mouth with a slightly sweet taste.

"Whoa! What is this?"

"Its called Chiffon cake. It is a cake that is baked from whisked egg whites."

"Heeh~"

Nicolette had the feeling that the taste was something similar to that and while it isn’t that expensive to use egg whites, it is not something that commoners would go out of their way to buy. Nicolette,who got the recommendations from Helma and Marcus, asked Maria who was sipping her tea in silence.

"Maria, is there anything that you recommend for me?"

Maria, who got called jolted and trembled, with her trembling hand, pointed at the plate where the cakes were placed. She pointed at a colourful pastry with many colours. Nicolette took the white one among all of them.

"This, I think I've seen it somewhere before."

"This is a pastry that came from Roware after all. It's a Macaron."

<Macarons

"That's right, Macaron!"

Marcus pointing out its name made her remember. Though she never ate or baked it before, but she saw it in the past. The colorful macarons looked amazing to the eyes. What in the world did they put in them to make them this colorful Next time she decided to look into it.

Nicolette's face bloomed into smile when she put it into her mouth. The amazing sweetness spread quickly around her mouth.

"This  is also delicious!"

As she looked at Maria while saying that, it looked like Maria slightly smiled.

Though Nicolette already had quite a fun tea time, she also properly ate her dinner. Just like the previous time, she didn't ate much, but if she ate a small portion of a  different menu, she could eat a lot of different dishes, or so Nicolette realized.

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