119 - The Selfish Tyrant Diet 1
"One more time! Let us have another match!!"
Diet, who was forcing Reversi on me with the attitude that he would keep playing until he got at least one win, seemed more like he was from Alfred's lineage than Alf's. Perhaps the old gentleman had deliberately called him 'Alf' as a nickname for Alfred. As a cover-up for Diet, who had carelessly given his real name.
...Well then, I would have no reservations about treating them as Alf's relatives either.
A retired noble and a former king were far too different in status, and the treatment would naturally differ as well. And the old gentleman had called himself 'just a retiree,' even if it was self-proclaimed. There was no way I, who had only learned a little about etiquette for nobles, would know how to behave around royalty. If I was going to commit some fatal faux pas anyway, it would be better to just pretend I had been fooled.
"Young lady, you seem quite strong at Reversi."
"That is because I was the one who brought it to Grenore."
While clearing the pieces from the board where black occupied most of the spaces, I told the story of how Reversi had started in the city of Grenore. It was an explanation mixed with the lie I had told Leonardo, that I had first played by painting stones in Mey Village. I thought it was important to leave the impression that I was not the originator of Reversi.
...After all, I did not want to suddenly be asked if I was a reincarnator again, like with Alfred-sama. That would be scary.
"So you are saying you are the original creator of Reversi, young lady. It was impossible for Diet to beat you from the start."
"The original creator is Oban-san. The strongest player in Grenore is Alf-san. Hermine-sensei is also quite strong."
Leonardo, who was weak at first, had been having close matches with me lately, as if he had grasped the knack of it. The black knights left behind as guards at the inn were from Mandez Fortress and did not know Reversi, but Kalisa knew it since I had taught her. If Diet wanted to beat someone, he might have a chance in the first match against someone I had just taught Reversi to.
...At this point, trying to beat me was just unrealistic.
As always, I lacked the skill to deliberately lose. No matter when, no matter who my opponent was, I always gave it my all. As a result, I had been dragged into playing with Diet for three straight hours after having my lunch interrupted.
"This time I am black! You are white."
"We are done here. I demand my nap time."
"No way! I have not won even once yet!"
"You are bothering the other customers."
Every time he lost he made a fuss, and he had been occupying the seats for a long time. This place, an equally upscale restaurant and hotel, was supposed to be selling its atmosphere with luxurious furnishings and musician performances. But Diet got frustrated with every loss and kept clamoring for one more round, one more round, completely ruining the restaurant's carefully crafted ambiance. It probably was not the kind of establishment that relied on turnover, but this was definitely a nuisance to their business.
...Cidur-san looked like he had a headache too.
The old gentleman just smiled wryly while drinking his coffee, but Cidur, who was standing where he could see this corner, had a rather complicated expression. I was sure that if the child making all the noise were not Diet, he would have been tossed out of the restaurant long ago.
"There is no reason it would be a bother to the shop. I am the one gracing them with my patronage."
My patience was just about at its limit with Diet, who pouted with his lips pursed. I had heard he had grown into a selfish tyrant, but Diet's current cover story was 'a traveling retiree and his great-grandson.' There was no need for me, a child, to watch my words considering the feelings of Diet's parents behind him the way the other adults did.
"Well then, since I am the one being bothered, I am not playing anymore."
"What!? What is so bothersome about it!? I, the great..."
"I do not know who this 'great' you is, but you are being a nuisance. Please be aware of that."
I counted the 'nuisances' I was currently suffering from Diet right in front of him on my fingers. I listed every complaint I could think of. My lunch had been interrupted and I was hungry. I had already been playing the same game for three hours. I was not even enjoying it because he was too weak. I had been kept from the things I wanted to do in my room. But it did not seem to get through to Diet. After blinking his blue eyes wide, he twisted my words somewhere in his interpretation, raised the corners of his mouth smugly, and said something he absolutely should not have.
"I see, you do not know who I am, so you are saying things without understanding how troublesome this is? Fine, I will tell you. I am the child of Elvis, the first prince of His Majesty the current King Chris..."
"My motto is that a king is nothing but a slave to the country."
I cut Diet off to stop him from finishing, and Diet closed his mouth and tilted his head, as if he did not understand what I meant. Instead, it was the old gentleman who spoke. I felt like maybe that was not something I should have said in front of the old gentleman, but it was better to teach Diet this lesson now.
"You say interesting things, young lady. What do you mean by 'country'?"
"I think a country is a country. The people living there, the land, everything altogether is the country."
"And what do you mean by 'slave'?"
"A king is someone who thinks about how to make everyone's lives better, consults a lot with their civil officials, and decides things for the country while bearing a terribly heavy responsibility, right?"
"So 'slave' because they bear the heavy burden of the country."
"At least, I do not think a child who swaggers around saying things like 'I am a prince's child' without thinking about inconveniencing others is the same kind of person as those amazing people doing such hard work."
Kings and royalty are loved and respected as those in charge because they have done work worthy of it. There was no way I could feel respect for Diet, who was acting like a complete selfish tyrant, just because his name was on the royal family register.
"I see... Young lady, you should learn better wording from Ms. Hartmann. As you are now, you might invite unnecessary misunderstandings."
"I am aware that the way I said that just now was bad, so I will work hard on my studies. Lord Ethel, please keep what I said just now a secret."
I warned him not to tell anyone, and the old gentleman laughed 'kah kah kah' like some traveling official from a folk tale. I really did not want him taking the idle chatter of a little girl he had met on his travels back to the castle.
By the time the old gentleman's mediation freed me from Diet, it was far too late for a nap. It was too late for a nap, but my brain was completely exhausted from being forced to play Reversi for three hours. There were plenty of things to think about, that dinner would be late, that I wanted to continue my embroidery, but for now, I collapsed face-first onto the bed. I was tired from dealing with Diet.
When I woke up, it was morning. My stomach, which had ended up skipping dinner entirely after my interrupted lunch, let out a pathetic growl the moment I opened my eyes.
...I guess it was not that I could not sleep because I missed Leo.
Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Thanks to using my head on Reversi, I was so exhausted I had fallen asleep, without any spare energy to think about unnecessary things before bed, and I had not woken up in the middle of the night either.
As I was rustling around on the bed, Kalisa must have sensed I was awake. She opened the canopy for me.
"...Tina-sama."
"Good morning, Kalisa."
I felt like taking a bath, but first I wanted something to eat. When I told her that, Kalisa, who had prepared water for washing my face, brought me tea and sandwiches.
...Egg sandwiches, delicious.
While I was eating with delight, the bath was prepared. As I soaked in the warm water and let out a sigh of relief, I heard a high-pitched child's voice from outside the room, followed by three loud bangs of what sounded like something large being slammed down.
...N-no, surely not? After everything that happened yesterday? Surely they would not do the same thing again, right?
After I finished getting ready and was eating breakfast properly, Kalisa did not say anything in particular. In time, I cleanly forgot about the loud noises during my bath and started on my embroidery, but around noon, Cidur and the old gentleman came carrying armloads of gifts like flowers and sweets.
"Would you please forgive that person now?"
"That person?"
I tilted my head, wondering what he meant, and Kalisa, who was waiting behind me, clapped her hands together. It seemed she had remembered something.
"What do you mean by 'that person'?"
"...While you were bathing, Tina-sama, the boy Diet..."
...Ah, of course.
It seemed the noises I heard during my bath were the sounds of Kalisa taking down Diet and his guards, who had once again barged in. That selfish tyrant had not reflected on yesterday's events at all.
"So what happened to Diet?"
"...Hung him."
"Pardon?"
When I asked again because I could not hear well, Kalisa answered with a serious face, "Hung him."
"...You hung him?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"...the open stairwell of the inn."
"What floor was this again?"
"The third floor."
In other words, Diet, who had learned nothing and invaded the room without the owner's permission, had been hung from the third floor stairwell by Kalisa's hand. It certainly made sense that Ethel would come to bow his head first before dealing with Diet himself. Cidur had probably accompanied him simply to preserve the hotel's dignity. A luxury hotel with a boy hanging from the third floor was a complete disaster in too many ways.
"...Lord Ethel, I think rather than showing Diet the outside world, you should lock him up somewhere and thoroughly correct the tyrant first."
Invading a girl's room while she was bathing the very next day after being scolded was just too bad. If he pulled this on someone who would want to use Diet's status against him, it would become excellent blackmail material.
"Hermine-sensei is my tutor, so I will not give her up, but I recommend finding a strict tutor for him."
"Could you spare me one of your maids, young lady? There cannot be another maid who would hang Diet without mercy."
"Kalisa is one of ours, and she is a borrowed person, so no."
Even aside from that, Kalisa had been borrowed from the Mandez Residence out of necessity. I could not lend her out elsewhere. Besides, while I was the master now in Leonardo's absence, the true master was Leonardo. Even if by some mistake it came to lending out Kalisa, that could not be decided without Leonardo's judgment.
"...Ah, there is one person. A capable butler who raised Kalisa. Iridal."
"Oh, what kind of person is he?"
I made a spur-of-the-moment suggestion to Ethel, perhaps they could separate Diet from the wet nurses and servants who only spoiled him, and entrust him to the Mandez Residence instead. If it was Iridal, who had raised Kalisa, he would thoroughly correct Diet without mercy, no matter how adorable the boy's appearance was.
"That is an interesting idea. However, to execute that plan, we would need permission from the master of Mandez Fortress..."
"How long will you be staying in this city, Lord Ethel? I think Leo will be back in about a week."
"We travel as the mood and the wind take us. We have no set schedule. If the master of Mandez Fortress is returning, we will wait here for a while."
As we were discussing future educational policy in the absence of the person in question (Diet), Cidur hesitantly joined the conversation. He said that normally he would never commit the outrage of interrupting a conversation between nobles, but before discussing educational policy, he would like them to please remove the suspended person (Diet) who was damaging the hotel's interior.
...Sorry. I completely forgot.
Tina is the type who likes to relax alone, so she is not good with the type who aggressively invites her to play. Since Diet grew up in an environment full of yes-men, he finds Tina and Kalisa's completely different reactions endlessly amusing. These two will never understand each other.
Typos and errors will be fixed later. There are a few phrasings that bother me in this story, so I might add revisions later. The main story will not change.
I have fixed any typos I found.