CH 79

The air was tense and tight.

A dazzling blue carpet covered the great dining room.

At the far end of the long table in the center is His Majesty, then Her Majesty the Queen on the left, and Her Majesty the Second Queen on the right. Next to Her Majesty the Queen were Brother Seth, and me. Likewise, Brother Vincent sat next to Her Majesty the Second Queen.

If my mother had lived, I don’t know what the order would have been. Because it was the queen, Lady Willemina, who decided the seating order.

Many fruits were lined up on the beautiful silverware made by Francois Dale, who has a workshop in the Count’s territory of Chardin. I have heard that the tableware used in the royal castle is supplied by Mika’s brothers. It is the custom in Pluvia for everyone, whether royalty, nobility, or commoners, to celebrate the New Year with their families at the very first meal of the year.

I was relieved just to have His Majesty in this seat together with us. His Majesty then opened his mouth.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude for the beautiful morning we have together today.”

That’s the New Year’s greeting. In Pluvia, since the founding of the country, we are grateful to be able to welcome the new morning. Perhaps, it was because for the king and knight who were in the midst of a battlefield a long time ago, it was the greatest joy to welcome a new morning in the New Year.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for this beautiful morning.”

“Yes. I have made you all concerned. Still, my condition is getting better and better every day. I might be able to show up in political affairs a little more this year.”

I can certainly see that His Majesty’s complexion looked better today. When I was born, His Majesty was already in poor health. To tell the truth, I have little memory of calling him ‘Father’ and touching him. However, Brother Seth’s face closely resembled His Majesty’s, so I felt familiar with it.

Besides, he always smiled so generously.

Lady Willemina replied to His Majesty’s words.

“Well, Your Majesty, you mustn’t overexert yourself.”

“Yes, that is true. Willemina, I will return to my room while I can still walk.”

In response to Your Majesty’s reply to Lady Willemina, I thought to myself, “Eh, already…?!”

If His Majesty leaves his seat, the breakfast is over. That’s the custom. But His Majesty turned his hand toward us and continued speaking.

“No, it is alright. Allow yourselves to enjoy the breakfast leisurely.”

Those words sent a chill down my spine.

That’s not a good thing either.

The world is surely different when His Majesty is awake and when he is asleep, the world is exactly the opposite. Like an overturned basin, like heaven and hell, the world would be as different as could be.

Both Brother Seth and Lady Willemina, as well as Brother Vincent and Her Majesty the Second Queen, were beaming with royal smiles, and their appearance was even glamorous.

I was alone among them, and I thought.

(How terrifying…!)

Everyone stood up to see His Majesty off, and then he smiled, waved, and disappeared behind the door.

The heavy door closed without making a sound.

My heart was making unpleasant thumping noises. The pain in my stomach was already unusual.

And soon the battle began.

“Your Majesty the Queen, hasn’t your hair turned a lot whiter in the little time since I last saw you?”

“Is that so? Your Majesty the Second Queen, as always, you look very good in a vulgar outfit.”

The Second Queen said so as she held a dazzling royal blue fan over her mouth. Her eyes even look like a crescent moon. Why she would want to say something so mean is totally beyond me.

Lady Willemina, on the other hand, did not even glance at her, but only at the meal at hand, and responded.

I didn’t want to listen to such a prickly family conversation in a quiet room, where people called each other by their job titles, so I spoke to my brother next to me.

“B-Brother Seth, thank you for a beautiful morning.”

“Yes, good morning, Nagi. Thank you for a beautiful morning.”

As soon as I saw Brother Seth smiling softly, a spring breeze blew in my heart. So soothing. Brother Seth is so soothing.

After I watched Brother Seth bring an appetizer of vegetable terrine to his mouth, I finally decided to start eating as well. At that moment.

“Speaking of which, the carefree third prince was dancing happily last night, too.”

“…!”

“How lamentable, since the first prince should have been the one to dance.”

Apparently, it wasn’t the time for me to eat yet.

Maybe it was not a good idea to talk to Brother Seth and smile at him. I thought that the breath that the Second Queen exhaled was like poison. Every word is just a disaster that befalls the person she speaks to. Her curly, swirling hair sometimes looks like Medusa of the legend. I think inwardly that perhaps it really is true.

I looked at Lady Willemina, and it seemed that she was not going to answer.

I gritted my teeth, thinking that since I was the one being spoken to, I should be the one to answer.

“Yes. I did not expect that I would be filling in for Brother Seth. I had assumed that Brother Vincent, whose fiancée had already been chosen, would be the one to fill in for him. I hope Brother Seth finds a match before he becomes a fine king.”

“Do you have something to say to my Vince?”

“No. The carefree third prince only had the pleasure to be able to dance with the beautiful young lady.”

Smiling softly, I quickly dared to act incompetent again and pretended that I had no idea what I was doing.

As I told Brother Seth before, I am not that hostile to Brother Vincent. Rather, it is the Second Queen who is the problem. Without her presence, I think that even though Brother Vincent, who hates to lose, might compete with Brother Seth, it would never become a big issue, such as a factional war.

Brother Seth hit the nail on the head, though, saying that it’s not such an easy problem to solve.

“She was a young lady with hair color that resembled royalty, wasn’t she? Perhaps she was chosen to cover up that grayish hair of yours.”

“…Umm, that is true. She has beautiful hair.”

I was frustrated inside.

Because the color of my mother’s hair was my grandfather and grandmother’s pride and joy. I wanted to go on acting incompetent, or so I thought, but I still wanted to say at least one word back. Speaking of which.

(The Second Queen! Is definitely more incompetent than me…!)

Last time, it might have been a good competition. I’m not sure why, but I feel like I can win now. That’s all I felt somehow. No matter what her background was, no matter how much she disliked Lady Willemina, there was no way that she was a smart person to put it into words like this. A truly competent person would not make so many enemies.

Knowing this, the always-smiling Lady Willemina doesn’t even try to play games.

I decided to complain. Complain!

“I might have been happy with a less inconspicuous color even if my hair was really gray. It seems like a lot of effort to have to dye it as often as Her Majesty the Second Queen.”

“Wha-”

I said just that and started eating the appetizer.

I also noticed that Lady Willemina and Brother Seth were staring blankly at me, but I didn’t care anymore.

The Second Queen, who was even refuted by the foolish third prince, clenched her fists for a while, trembling.

I know. I know that I will be harassed in some way in the future. I know that it wasn’t anything that would leave me feeling refreshed to refute. But now that I’ve said it, on the contrary, I’m sure that it showed my incompetence.

I chewed on my Terrine. The colorful terrine solidified with consommé julienne and cabbage leaves, was grinded by my back teeth and went into my stomach.

There was a loud noise and the Second Queen stood up.

“I have had enough. Vince, you are also done, aren’t you?”

“Ah, yes, Mother.”

“If you will excuse me.”

Seeing her reaction, I thought, “Oh!”

The lowly conflict seemed to have been unexpectedly meritorious, and the Second Queen seemed to be retreating. In my mind, I raised my fist high in the air. The lowly conflict seemed to be over. The two left the room.

I looked at the seat where Brother Vincent was sitting diagonally across from me, thinking that he was having a tough time, even though only appetizers had been served.

And then, I laughed a little when I saw that there were only paprika and bell peppers left on his leftover plate of the Terrine.

Lady Willemina signaled with her hand that the servants could leave, and it was just the three of us in the room. I breathed a sigh of relief, though I’m sure the servants would be back when the next plates were brought to us.

Then, Lady Willemina laughed as if breaking the silence.

“Fufufu, ahaha! Nagi, when did you learn to be able to say such a thing? Pfft. She did dye her graying hair, couldn’t say anything back, and ran away! Ahaha!”

Watching her laugh so hard, which is unbecoming of a queen, I was finally able to celebrate New Year’s with my real family.

Seeing her, a smile also broke out on my face.

“Your Majesty the Queen, thank you for the beautiful morning.”

“That’s right. Thank you for the beautiful morning, Nagi.”

“Hopefully this year will be a good one.”

The three of us sitting in a row made it a little difficult to talk, but it was still going to be a fun breakfast. I feel sorry for His Majesty, but I get very nervous when he is around.

The talkative Lady Willemina continued.

“Aren’t you starting to look a little like Shiki?”

“Huh…?! Like my mother? I-Is that so?”

“She was also quite stubborn, despite her relaxed appearance.”

Brother Seth also didn’t know about it, he said, “Hmm,” with a surprised look on his face.

I had often heard stories about my mother from my grandfather and grandmother. My face resembles my mother’s, almost like a living copy except for the color of my eyes. I had only heard that she had a calm personality, so I didn’t know she had a stubborn side.

Lady Willemina told me even more surprising facts.

“To tell the truth, His Majesty has always liked your mother.”

“Huh?”

“Although his age is far apart, it seems that he has always loved her. Unlike me and that person, who was on the list of potential fiancées from the beginning, he made his own decision.”

“Hmm~ Really? I didn’t know that at all.”

I got even more surprised after hearing Brother Seth’s surprised voice.

Perhaps because of her early death, I had not heard much about my mother from Lady Willemina. Lady Willemina has a laid-back personality that is hard to imagine from the time you meet her in the throne room. Like Brother Seth, she has many official duties in His Majesty’s absence, so she is very busy, but she is also a very kind person.

(She referred to the Second Queen as ‘that person’, though…)

Lady Willemina continued.

“But it was really regrettable! I thought I was going to be mean to her.”

“Huh?”

“Mother…”

“Once I saw her in person, there was nothing to complain about. I thought of her like a snow fairy or something. Ah, she is the kind of person that I need to protect, that was what I thought.”

Looking at her portrait, she is indeed, at best, a fragile and dainty person. At worst, she looks thin or has little life in her. Maybe as Lady Willemina just said, she was being protected. But she disappeared as fleetingly as she looked.

A shadow slightly fell on Lady Willemina’s eyes. Maybe she remembered something.

At that moment, the food was brought out again, and Lady Willemina immediately returned to the expression of the Queen again. A dignified, graceful, and noble figure.

I felt like this year was going to be a good one somehow, because I was able to enjoy breakfast with Brother Seth and Lady Willemina.

The three of us enjoyed our time together for a while, but when the meal was over, Lady Willemina quickly stood up from her seat.

“I will now respond to the New Year’s greetings on behalf of His Majesty. Please get along nicely with Seth. This child is also difficult to handle~”

“Wait a minute! Mother.”

Difficult to handle? I tilted my head in puzzlement.

Brother Seth’s situation seemed difficult, but I never thought that Brother Seth himself was difficult to handle. Not knowing what to do, I smiled and saw Lady Willemina off. “Shall we go back, too?” Brother Seth said that and stood up from his seat, so I also left the room, walked in the hallway, and talked to him.

“Brother, I heard that you were very busy at the end of the year as well. Are you feeling alright?”

“My mother is tired too, even if she acted like that. I’m not the only one who feels tired.”

“I see…”

I couldn’t help but wish I could be of more help.

I couldn’t help but wish I could be of more help.

But I was going on another expedition from tomorrow. I hoped that it would surely help Brother Seth and Lady Willemina someday. I smiled faintly when I thought of all the people I would meet in the future.

Brother Seth looked at me and said with a somewhat sulky look on his face.

“Nagi is so cute…”

“Huh? B-Brother? Why do you keep saying that to your younger brother…?”

In terms of appearance, it would be hard for me to be called manly, but it was indeed a little different to be called “cute” all the time. It’s like he’s pointing out how unreliable I am.

(Well…I think so because it hits the nail on the head!)

I made up my mind that one day I would be told that I was dependable and manly.

Then I heard again the line that Brother Seth has been blurting out a lot lately.

“Haa….My younger brother is only you, Nagi.”

But it’s only in front of me that my brother, who can’t be so vulnerable elsewhere, visibly slumps his shoulders. I patted him on the back. “See you,” He waved his hand, and even Brother Seth was gone.

A sigh escaped from my mouth. I thought to myself that it was troublesome with the royal family. I thought to myself, as I stepped into my office.

(I have a lot to think about, but one thing at a time.)

In fact, I was supposed to go on an official expedition in the afternoon.

The destination is…