CH 220

Chapter 220 – Tea Party With Mother-in-Law

“Hello, welcome. Please come this way.”

After lunch, I went to the room where Seraphita-san was waiting for me, and there she was waiting for me with rosy cheeks and a flowery smile on her face. Before I knew it, I was led to a stylish tea table and seated in an antique-looking chair.

Then, a slightly mature maid who was waiting for us in the room immediately prepared the tea with a beautifully prepared dish and went back to the corner of the room. The woman was an unfamiliar wolf or canine type of beastman.

“She is Pieta, the maid who served me before I went to sleep. When she heard that I had awakened and was staying at the castle, she came running to me.”

Seraphita-san explained this to me, and the maid smiled at me silently. However, I somehow felt something strange about her mannerisms, her behavior, or something like that.

Upon closer inspection, I found that her maid uniform had a slightly unusual design. It had a turtleneck that covered her neck. I have spent a good amount of time at the castle and am used to seeing the clothes worn by the castle maidservants, so I could tell that her clothes were specially tailored.

Perhaps noticing my gaze, Seraphita-san put on a sad expression.

“Pieta was my first maid attendant, so it seems that when Merinesburg was destroyed, she was severely interrogated by the Holy Kingdom’s army to see if she had seen or heard any secrets concerning the royal family. Fortunately, she did not lose her life, but her throat was crushed so that she could not speak…”

Seraphita-san looked sad as she said this, while Pieta-san smiled and silently shook her head. I did not sense any resentment towards Seraphita-san in her expression. She must be a very loyal person to have spent 20 years in such a terrible situation and come running to her as soon as she knew that Seraphita-san was safe and sound.

“I wonder, if you don’t mind, if I could take a look at the wound on your throat?”

“Kosuke-sama?”

“I think I might be able to heal it.”

The splint is essentially a bandage and brace for a broken limb, so I don’t know if it would work on the neck or rather the throat. However, as long as the splint is applied and bandaged, any old injury can be healed, so I think there is a good chance that it can be done on the part of the body that can be bandaged with a splint, such as a neck.

Pieta-san seemed to be reluctant to accept my offer, but Seraphita-san persuaded her to give in, and she stripped off her jacket, exposing her neck to our eyes.　

“…How could they do this to you?”

It was a terrible scar. I don’t know how she was able to survive with such wounds. I wonder if she used some kind of restorative magic while she was wounded.

Twenty years ago, Pieta-san must have been in her mid to late teens. Since her throat had been crushed, plus she was subhuman, she must have been forced to live a very hard and severe life for the past twenty years.

“I hope I can manage to heal you…”

I took out the splint from my inventory, which I have been using with great success recently, put the splint on her neck, and wrapped a bandage around it. Why did you put a splint on my neck? Pieta-san had a strange expression on her face as if to say that, but when I finished wrapping the bandage around her neck, she suddenly looked distressed.

“…Uh! Cough, ugh!”

“Pieta!”

Seraphita-san tried to rush to Pieta-san, but Pieta-san restrained her with her hand and repeatedly took deep breaths while making a whimpering sound. As I watched her, I felt relieved inside that it had probably worked.

Soon the splints and bandages around Pieta-san’s neck crumbled and turned to dust, which also turned into particles of light and dissolved into thin air. By that time, Pieta-san had regained her composure and exhaled deeply.

“A-ah… Aa-aa. Seraphita-sama.”

“Pieta!”

Seraphita-san jumped and hugged Pieta-san, who uttered a voice, albeit with a slightly unnatural pronunciation. I took a plastic bottle of water from my inventory, opened the lid, and offered it to Pieta-san, who was hugged by Seraphita-san.

“Here is the water.”

“This too… Excuse me.”

Pieta-san drank some of the water she had received from me and checked her throat a few times. Seraphita-san, who had separated herself from Pieta-san, watched her with a harried look on her face.

“Ah, aa-aaa. Seraphita-sama.”

“Pieta!”

Seraphita-san hugged Pieta-san again, rehashing what she had just done. Yeah, yeah, I’m glad it went well. After all, I feel like I’m walking on the right path if I use my power for this kind of thing. I want to use my power in a direction that will make people happy and, if possible, to be grateful.

“Thank you, Kosuke-sama, for your kindness. I, how can I thank you…”

Seraphita-san was still hugging Pieta-san, tears streaming down her face and overflowing with gratitude. Pieta-san was also shedding tears herself as she wiped the tears overflowing from Seraphita-san’s eyes with a handkerchief.

☆★☆

“I apologize for my embarrassing appearance.”

Seraphita-san, who had changed her makeup, sat down again and cleared her throat. Her cheeks were redder than when I first visited this room, perhaps because of her embarrassment. Even her ears were slightly red.

“I didn’t see anything unsightly about it, though.”

“…It’s embarrassing for a woman of good age to expose herself crying like a little girl to a gentleman.”

Seraphita-san’s cheeks puffed out a little as she said this. This is the kind of situation that makes me think that she and Sylphy are mother and daughter. In other words, they are destructively cute.

“That’s that, Kosuke-sama. Once again, thank you very much for helping Pieta. I really appreciate it.”

“Thank you very much. I would like to serve Kosuke-sama and Seraphita-sama until the end of my life.”

Not only Seraphita-san but Pieta-san also expressed her gratitude in fluent language, which was a complete change from her previous words.

“I am glad it went well.”

“I can see why the saint and archbishop of the Adol religion call you a messenger of God. The power you wield is truly like a miracle of God… So, I hear you have something to discuss with me today.”

“Yes. The reason for this is that an envoy from the Dragonis mountain kingdom is coming to see Grande and me. However, I have no idea how I should behave even if we receive them, so I was wondering if you, Seraphita-san, could give me some advice.”

“I see, the Dragonis mountain kingdom. Certainly, it is only natural that that country would wish to have an audience with Grande-sama, a dragon who has assumed human form, and her companion, Kosuke-sama. For them, the relationship between Grande-sama and Kosuke-sama is exactly the same as that between the dragon and the daughter of the country’s founder.”

Seraphita-san nodded her head in agreement. The blush on her face seemed to have gone away before she knew it.

“I don’t think you need to worry about anything in particular when it comes to the audience. In the first place, it was the other party that initiated the request, and the use of the word “audience” means that from the beginning, the other party has acknowledged the lower position, that is, you as a superior. To begin with, I don’t think Grande-sama would care about the human race, no matter who the other party is.”

“That is true.”

Basically, the only people that Grande cares about are those who are stronger than her. However, since she is basically a thoughtful person, she rarely behaves arrogantly. If she acts too arrogantly and causes trouble for others, Melty and Sylphy will beat her to a pulp.

“If I were to give advice to Kosuke-sama, it would be that you should not be carelessly caught in their words. They would love to invite Kosuke-sama and Grande-sama to their country and take you in. Or, if Kosuke-sama and Grande-sama have a child, they may very well want the child to be their son-in-law or daughter-in-law.”

“A child?”

“Yes. The dragon’s blood that flows in the royal family of their country has been diluted over the years, I have heard. It is not surprising that they would like to bring in new dragon blood into the royal family.”

“…Wouldn’t that mean that, depending on the case, they might want Grande to marry into the royal family or something like that?”

Seraphita-san looked at my words with a puzzled look on her face, then giggled.　

“No way. If they do that, they will surely incur Grande-sama’s wrath, so they will never say such a thing. I have also heard how Grande-sama took on that appearance. No, absolutely may be an overstatement. I don’t think a person with a sane mind would say such a thing.”

“I hope so.”

If Grande were to snap, she would literally knock the hell out of them, and if it were me, I would not do such a careless thing. Or rather, I’d be the one to blow them away.

“All you have to do is to be at least polite and talk to them normally. They would probably like to invite you to the Dragonis mountain kingdom when the opportunity arises, so I think you should just tell them that you would be happy to visit them when the time comes. The only thing left to do is to see what kind of proposal they will make. Even I can’t read how they will react when it is the turn of the dragon and man, who is the founder of the country… I think that at this time, they will probably propose that the two countries establish diplomatic relations.”

“Is that something we can easily accept?”

“The Holy Kingdoms recognize their power abhorrently due to the existence of a small number of powerful flying dragon soldiers, and they are a presence that is looked up to by the Empire as well. It is also a country that has taken a neutral position in the conflict between the two major powers, so I think it would be good for the new Merinard kingdom if we could gain their backing. Perhaps Sylphy and Melty feel the same way.”

“I see. I will discuss this point with them again.”

“Yes, by all means. My knowledge is from 20 years ago, so the situation may have changed by now.”

Seraphita-san smiled as she said this.

After finishing the conversation about the Dragonis mountain kingdom, I had tea with Seraphita-san for a while and decided to leave the place. But, as expected of a former queen… I found myself getting caught up in Seraphita-san’s pace and enjoying drinking tea with her. I’ve promised to have tea with her again next time.

I wonder if it will be alright. I’m afraid that I might find myself in a situation where I’m stuck with Seraphita-san.

I’ll be very careful. Yeah. The other person is my mother-in-law, after all.