120 - The Selfish Tyrant Diet 2
The experience of being hung from the third-floor open stairwell seemed to have left quite an impression on Diet. Perhaps relieved to have his feet on the ground for the first time in hours, he created a large puddle along with tears of relief.
Good thing he didn't do that while being hung, huh.
I chose to take that positively, but the surrounding adults all had pale faces. Everyone except Kalisa, that is.
Leaving the cleanup of the puddle to the hotel employees, we escorted Diet to his room. Since Diet seemed to be a year older than me, that made him ten years old. Wetting himself at age ten... even he seemed to be taking that hard. He walked with his lips pressed tightly together, letting himself be led by the hand.
"...right?"
"Yes? Did you say something?"
I thought I heard a small voice from beside me and stopped walking. When I turned around, Diet looked up at me with his ears bright red and a face about to burst into tears.
"You're gonna tell everyone, aren't you!? That I wet myself at age ten!"
After shouting "Laugh if you want to!", Diet turned his face away with a huff. As for me, who had been suddenly yelled at for some reason, I didn't understand what was going on and thought about it for a while.
"...Well, for now, the only one spreading the news about the accident is you, Diet, you know?"
"You get that?" I pointed out, and Diet hurriedly covered his mouth. Even so, the words that had already left his mouth couldn't be taken back, but fortunately we were on the third floor. The third floor accommodated at most two groups of guests, and those two groups were me and the old gentleman. So even if someone had heard, it would be easy to silence them, and besides, there were hardly any people around. Even with a bit of a slip-up, no one would call him out on it.
"I won't spread it around. Because I wouldn't want it done to me."
"Liar! You're definitely going to tell everyone and make fun of me!"
"...To begin with, that thought hadn't even crossed my mind."
Wetting yourself was just a child's mistake. I didn't have the kind of hobby where I'd go around spreading that sort of thing.
"If you think about it the other way, does that mean if I wet myself, you'd spread it around?"
"I-I wouldn't do that! I...!"
"Is that so?"
If it's not something you'd normally do yourself, it wouldn't even occur to you in the first place. And if it doesn't occur to you, you can't do it. But Diet had thought of it. That proved that, just as he'd claimed, Diet had the groundwork laid for "spreading" and "making fun of" a child who had wet himself.
"I would absolutely never do that."
"Yes, yes. I hope that's true."
"You don't believe me!"
...I can't trust a boy this age, you know.
Given the personality I'd seen so far, Diet's words couldn't be trusted. If the roles were reversed, he'd be clapping his hands and gleefully making fun of me by now. He was only acting humble because he was aware that he was in a position where I had leverage over him.
...Is it really 'humble,' though?
Either way, it was nothing but troublesome.
"This time it was just... an emergency situation? You just didn't make it to the toilet in time."
I tried to console him by saying there was no need to worry, but Diet pouted with a huff. It seemed he'd perked up a little, at least.
"It's your fault!"
"Why would it be my fault? I don't know."
"Your maid was the one who hung me up there! Isn't it your fault as her master!"
Whether from the shouting giving him momentum, Diet puffed out his chest arrogantly and pointed at me. He seemed to be trying to look cool, but the stain on his pants made him look utterly ridiculous.
"It's Diet's fault for doing something that got you hung. You barged into a girl's room twice without permission."
When I pointed out that he'd already apologized for that yesterday, Diet fell silent. It seemed he'd tried to intimidate me by shouting and shift the blame. That it was my fault he wet himself, not his.
"To Diet, who at age ten can't listen to others' warnings, got hung as punishment for repeating the same mistake, and ended up wetting himself, I'll teach you a wonderful phrase."
"Do you know the saying 'troubles of travel can be cast away'?" I asked, and Diet blinked in confusion. Well, that was to be expected. Even I knew it from my previous life.
"Once I and Diet leave the city of Lagarette, we're people who will never see each other again for the rest of our lives anyway."
As the child of a prince, Diet probably counted as a prince too, more or less. He was apparently born into nobility, but for me who planned to live my whole life as a commoner, unless I happened to run into him, I would likely never have had a chance to associate with him in the first place. We happened to be staying in adjacent rooms at the same inn, so we had interactions, but once we left the inn and departed from this city of Lagarette, we would probably never meet again in our lifetimes. That was all it meant that someone knew he'd wet himself. In truth, there was nothing for Diet to worry about so much.
"Even if I go back to the city of Grenore and tell someone, 'A boy I met while traveling made Kalisa angry and wet himself,' no one would think a prince living in a castle wet himself."
"...I see. Yeah... you're right."
Diet, who had almost recovered for a moment, furrowed his brow with a "Huh?" I'd deliberately emphasized it, so he must have noticed. That I understood it was a prince who had the accident.
I took the suddenly pale Diet's hand and started walking again. Rather than having a long conversation in the hallway, it would be better for Diet to change his stained pants quickly.
"Do you understand why Ethel-sama introduced himself to me by his nickname when we first met?"
Thinking simply, it was probably a trip to conceal their status. Though Diet didn't seem aware of it, he was in the position of a prince, and Ethel had prepared a place for him to act freely as Diet the individual, not as a prince. That was probably not something easily experienced under his parents' roof, where status constantly clung to him.
...Well, Diet himself had destroyed that thoughtful consideration anyway.
Before old Ethel could stop him, Diet had already introduced himself to me by his real name. If it had been just that, I wouldn't have noticed anything, but the former king's name was the problem. I'd heard the former king's name a little during the lessons at the Menhishumi Church back in autumn. Since he was playing dumb, I planned to gratefully play ignorant as well, but if they went around announcing their true status, there was no way I could stay on the same floor as them.
"It's fine since we probably won't meet again once I leave Lagarette, but if you're going to other cities, don't mess up next time, okay?"
Diet shouldn't normally have the chance to forget his status and just be a child. And yet Ethel had prepared that for him by taking him on a trip where his status wouldn't be revealed.
"...Are you my friend?"
"I don't consider someone who calls me 'you' to be my friend."
I thought I was rather unlikable even by my own standards, but I didn't want to say things I didn't feel. I also didn't want to be oddly latched onto and followed around for my entire stay in Lagarette. I wanted to spend my time relaxing in a warm room doing embroidery and waiting for Leonardo to return.
"...Ti, Tina and I played together yesterday, didn't we?"
"I was forced into it."
I was inwardly surprised at Diet, who had suddenly started calling me by name. The fact that he'd obediently changed how he addressed me... did Diet want to be my friend?
...I think I've been treating him pretty coldly, but is Diet a masochist?
Or was he just that starved for friends his own age? Regardless, Diet didn't need to fixate on me. If he went outside to play without giving his real name, he could find playmates easily enough.
"I could be your friend, you know!"
"I decline."
When I answered freely that it seemed troublesome and I didn't want to, even Diet looked like he was about to cry. With an angelically lovely face, his blue eyes brimming with tears, he gazed at me pleadingly. If I didn't know how much of a tyrant he was on the inside, he was such a beautiful boy that I might have felt pity and wanted to grant him anything he wished.
...Well, to me he just looked pathetic.
Feeling a bit sorry for him after all, I conceded that I would play Reversi with him up to three times a day while we were staying in Lagarette. If I clearly became his friend, I felt like Diet would show up every day without considering my convenience, so I avoided making it explicit. Playing with a friend occasionally was fine, but I didn't want to be dragged around all day, every day.
After seeing Diet to his room, I was able to spend a truly peaceful time. I had lunch brought to my room from the restaurant, so I didn't see Diet or Ethel. After eating, I settled in front of the fireplace and resumed the embroidery I planned to send to Aurelia. The work of patiently stitching patterns was simple and required patience, but for me it was an enjoyable time. As I felt a mellow happiness and thought, "Maybe I should take a break soon?" I looked up and saw Kalisa, who had been waiting nearby, move. As Kalisa silently disappeared through the door leading to the waiting room, my cheek twitched at the thought that Diet might have come again.
...No, surely not? Even he wouldn't, right?
They say things come in threes, but if he'd still make the same mistake after all that lecturing, he'd be beyond hope. He'd truly be a child who couldn't be reasoned with.
"...A guest has arrived, Tina-sama."
"A guest?"
I'd been listening carefully, but I hadn't heard the sound of Diet running, nor the noise of his guards being subdued by Kalisa. Still, it was strange to have a guest for me, I thought, tilting my head. There shouldn't be any acquaintances in this city of Lagarette who would come to visit me.
When I looked behind Kalisa in confusion, Diet was standing there for some reason.
"...A guest? You mean Diet?"
Why had Kalisa not judged him as an intruder this time and had instead guided him here? As I blinked in confusion, Kalisa looked back at my face with a questioning expression.
"Just now, Tina-sama said, 'up to three times a day, I'll play with him'...?"
"You did say that, didn't you?" Kalisa furrowed her brow worriedly. Play with him three times a day. I had indeed said that earlier. I'd carelessly sympathized with Diet, who looked like he was about to cry, and conceded that this much would be fine. Since Kalisa had heard that, she had probably accepted Diet's visit as a guest this time. And indeed, I hadn't played even one of the "three times a day of Reversi" I'd promised.
...I shouldn't have conceded anything.
It was a short-lived peace, I thought, bidding farewell to the warm fireplace and embroidery tools. Then I took a deep breath and decided to switch my mindset.
In any case, Diet had finally learned to wait to be announced at the entrance. I should praise him for no longer barging in without listening to anyone's warnings.
...Well, really, encouraging him with praise should be his guardian Ethel's job, shouldn't it?
Short but it feels like a good stopping point, so I'll end here for now.
Typos and errors to be fixed another day.
Typos and errors found have been corrected.