238 - Chris and Chris and the Dog-Cat Struggle
"So then... where shall I begin?"
To me, who had moved closer to the altar while gauging the distance, Christoph made a gesture of thinking, his hand on his chin. Having come out into the area lit by the torches beside the altar, I could see Christoph's face more clearly than before. If he kept his expression blank as he had during the rites, he had the stern, dignified air of a king, but once he opened his mouth, he was indeed Alfred's father, and seemed to be of a genial disposition after all. As I looked up at him timidly, our eyes met and he suddenly made a funny face at me.
...Hey, I'm not a baby who laughs at peek-a-boo, you know!?
When I took half a step back, unsure how to react, a look of panic appeared on Christoph's face. He seemed to have finally realized that his action was the kind that would put a girl off.
...I see. Neither of us knows how to gauge the distance right now.
Leonardo had also seemed a bit bewildered after I told him I was a reincarnator. In this life, my body is small and I look younger than my actual age. And my actual age is eleven, a very awkward age in every way. Putting aside my mental age, my life experience doesn't match the years I've lived. Perhaps meeting me face-to-face knowing all of this inevitably causes some hesitation.
"Do you like sweets? I don't think there are any children who dislike sweets... Ah, but is treating you as a child all right? Or would you prefer alcohol?"
Saying "Come closer, I'll give you sweets," Christoph went around to the back of the Spirit's Seat and, of all things, began arranging sweets on top of it. Only water had been placed on the cart for the Spirit's Favored Child to wait with, but behind the Spirit's Seat, various sweets seemed to have been hidden.
"...Huh?"
Curious, I also went around to the back of the Spirit's Seat, but no sweets were placed there. Even though many sweets were laid out on top of the Spirit's Seat, there was nothing behind it.
"Where do the sweets come from?"
If I thought about it calmly, Hermine would probably scold me for saying something so absentminded to the king, but the words had slipped out naturally, so it couldn't be helped. In fact, in a situation where I was alone with someone I'd just met, it was rare for me to find words so quickly.
"You're curious, are you? Then I'll tell you as a special treat."
So saying, Christoph slid his fingers along the pedestal portion where the Spirit's Seat was mounted. To me, it had looked like just decorative grooves, but it seemed there was a catch there. Just when I thought I sensed him putting a bit of force into it, part of the pedestal slid to the side.
"...A hidden compartment?"
"The Recollection Festival keeps one confined here for the whole day. Originally, one should conduct the rites without food or drink, but doing that makes you hungry and chanting the ritual prayer becomes tiresome."
So he prepared food and drink like sweets and sake in advance, Christoph said with a mischievous child's smile. He even winked playfully, adding that he'd been surprised too when he first found this hidden compartment.
"I heard from Alfred that you seemed to like cheesecake. I had the same shop's goods prepared. There's Norakamu too."
Seeing the cakes and Norakamu lined up one after another, I was slightly taken aback that he was truly prepared to stay here for a long time. I'd heard the rites continued until around midnight, but he was thoroughly prepared to slack off.
"Let's start with introductions. I am Christoph Ethelbert Angela Margareta Ivisia. Quite long, isn't it? If you find it long, feel free to call me 'Chris' with familiarity."
"I am Christina Dupre...? Is that right? Huh?"
I meant to return the greeting to Christoph, who had introduced himself formally but with a playful air, but I stumbled. Until now, I'd thought of myself as 'Tina' and introduced myself as such, but if 'Christina' was my real name, I should probably introduce myself with that to someone I was meeting for the first time. That much I understood, but what came after was unclear. I was just plain 'Tina.' Whether I even had something like a family name was a mystery.
...Actually, I do apparently have a name as a noble, you know?
Since I had no intention of becoming a noble, using that name didn't feel quite right. As I tilted my head wondering how I should answer, Christoph pointed out that 'Dupre' was incorrect.
"'Dupre' is the name of the orphanage where Leonardo was. Although you are under Leonardo's protection, using Dupre as a surname is not proper."
Christoph then told me that the name Leonardo had written on documents like reports was 'Christina Mey.' Since she was from Mey Village, Christina Mey.
...I never knew that.
"Then, allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Leonardo's little sister, Christina Mey. My nickname is also 'Chris,' so if you find that too long, please feel free to call me 'Chris' with familiarity."
What an impertinent thing to say to the king. I thought so myself, but a mischievous impulse was rising in my head, and the words slipped out. Even without thinking calmly, telling the king "you may call me by my nickname" was far too presumptuous.
"Is that so. Then, Chris."
"...I'm sorry. That was a joke. I'd prefer 'Tina.'"
He responded to my joke with a deadpan face, and I surrendered immediately. I never expected he'd actually take 'Chris' seriously and call me by a nickname as the king.
...But speaking of nicknames, shouldn't Christoph-sama also be 'Chris'?
It would be like calling someone else by my own nickname, but I wondered if Christoph felt no discomfort with it. For my part, it was just a nickname I'd jokingly matched to Christoph's, so being actually called 'Chris' would be problematic. Mainly because, since it was an unfamiliar nickname, I wouldn't immediately recognize it as my own name.
"By the way, Christoph-sama, do you hide sweets and conduct the rites like this every year?"
To avoid having my failed joke dragged out, I quickly changed the subject. I directed my gaze toward the Spirit's Seat, which had started being used more as a table than a seat, and looked at the cakes and sweets arranged there.
"No, preparing this many sweets was because Christina-dono was an eleven-year-old girl."
"So normally you don't bring sweets and conduct the rites seriously... No, I understand. The sweets are only for this year, and ordinarily you bring something different, don't you."
I could tell from the way he averted his eyes mid-sentence. The sweets might have been prepared for me, but ordinarily that hidden compartment was probably used to satisfy one's hunger. Given that he'd looked away, he might have kept sake in there.
...Come to think of it, he did ask earlier if I preferred sake.
When I looked up at Christoph with eyes that said I was suspicious of him, unable to bear my gaze, he began to defend himself unprompted. He wasn't the only one who used the hidden compartment, he said. Generations of kings had created and used the hidden compartment to store emergency provisions.
"For the first few years after I ascended the throne, I conducted the rites properly too."
However, the years he'd conducted the rites properly until midnight were only those few years. One time, he noticed this hidden compartment and opened the mechanism, and inside were what seemed to be care packages of alcohol and light snacks. With careful consideration, along with encouragement bearing Ethelbert's signature.
What happened afterward was the same as with all the past kings, he insisted. Since the rites continued until around midnight, no one came into this underground temple. Though it was somewhat dim, for someone in the position of king, this was a precious once-a-year holiday where he could enjoy relaxing time without worrying about being watched, and he approached the rites with that in mind.
"The rites have become remarkably hollow, haven't they."
The ritual prayer he had chanted so sonorously earlier was supposed to be an earnest plea calling for the Divine King's return. But knowing the reality, it was treated as a once-a-year holiday with no one's eyes to mind.
...Well, no wonder prayers don't reach the Divine King-sama.
I never expected the rites to have become so thoroughly hollow.
"Speaking of which, I heard that Christina-dono exchanged words with the Divine King at last year's Recollection Festival. How was His Majesty's demeanor?"
"The Divine King-sama? Well..."
I knew he was changing the subject after his unseriousness had been exposed, but I decided not to press it. Even a king is human. Sometimes he needs to let his hair down.
...The Divine King-sama is also human, right?
While giving Christoph a harmless answer about the Divine King I'd encountered last year, I suddenly thought about this. Looking only at the characters, one might misunderstand it as 'God King,' but the Divine King is 'a human king chosen by God.' He is ultimately a human king who governs the human world. According to mythology, he's been wandering, searching for someone since the age of myths. Doesn't he get lonely or tired? He was a man with an otherworldly impression, but he was also human.
...He's a person whose impression keeps changing, isn't he.
He seemed to be a person with a charm that made him loved by gods, spirits, and humans. The personality inferred from mythology was kind, good-natured, and a diligent hard worker. In the myth of the Penitence Festival, he becomes a victim who is envied and unilaterally harbored murderous intent toward. According to the ritual prayer I heard today, he is someone who must never be angered, and if he gets angry, the world ends. Part of that anger is said to be the scar carved into the world, the Viloop Desert.
...In the Menhishumi Church play, the one who created the Viloop Desert was the young man who challenged the Divine King, though.
The more I heard about the Recollection Festival, the less I understood. There were many different theories and slightly varying conclusions, and while they should all be based on the same events, they never quite came together into one.
...I feel like he was a playful person. Also, perhaps starved for someone to talk to?
I recalled the Divine King's blue eyes, expressionless as a Noh mask. As we talked for a while, his expression returned somewhat, and those blue eyes wavered with loneliness, but at our parting, he left behind a prank. I had no way of knowing how long he'd been wandering, but his heart must be utterly exhausted.
...I wish he'd come back.
According to mythology, the Divine King disappeared from the world of his own will. In other words, thinking conversely, he should also be able to return of his own will. But the Divine King has not returned. This world right now has been abandoned by the Divine King.
"Well then, I shall give you a test to see if you really have memories of being Japanese!"
While making slightly odd small talk and enjoying the cheesecake, the conversation paused briefly, and then Christoph straightened his posture and cleared his throat. Finally getting to the main point, was my honest impression.
"A test?"
I tilted my head, wondering what kind of content it would be. After all, he supposedly couldn't even read Japanese, so how would he investigate whether my memories of living as a Japanese person were true or false?
"A genuine Japanese reincarnator would be a huge help. So every year, several false claimants appear insisting they're the real deal."
"...I understand. I don't think I was particularly good at studying, but hit me with it."
If it was a test to determine whether I was Japanese, it was probably a question that would be obvious to a Japanese person. I was a little anxious, but I looked steadily into Christoph's eyes and waited for the question.
"San ben, waratte, nyanto, nake!"
"Huh?"
I blinked at the slightly odd Japanese that came out of Christoph's mouth. I hadn't expected to suddenly be spoken to in Japanese, and when I considered the meaning of the words I'd heard, it became even more nonsensical.
"...If you're going to say that, wouldn't it normally be 'Sankai mawatte wan to nake'?"
This was a kind of wordplay. I'd seen it used in dramas from my previous life when a person in a superior position humiliated someone beneath them. For some people, being told to do this might wound their pride as being 'treated like a dog.' It was probably used with that intention in some cases too.
"Wan?"
"Nyan?"
To my reflexive interjection that the question was strange, Christoph tilted his head and said "Wan?" while I tilted my head in the opposite direction and said "Nyan?" After staring at each other for a while, Christoph seemed to collect himself and began to say, "In that case, answering 'Nyan' is correct."
"No, 'nyan' is 'nyan,' but if we follow what Christoph-sama said, it would be 'laugh three times and meow nyan.'"
In terms of the sound, 'nyan' would indeed be correct, but considering the entire phrase, one should laugh three times first. While insisting that 'bark wan' was the standard, I dissected Christoph's Japanese.
'San' was the number, 'ben' indicated number of times, and 'waratte' meant to smile, I explained.
The 'meow nyan' part was only the demand of the latter half. In this case, simply saying 'nyan' would not be the correct answer.
"So, if we follow what Christoph-sama said, we first need to employ a three-stage laugh."
"A three-stage laugh?"
"Um, well... ku ku ku, ha ha ha, ah ha ha ha ha ha! ...Like that?"
If I added 'nyan' after that, it would be the answer as given in the question... but as I went on, I gradually became calmer and my voice got smaller, wondering why I was passionately explaining such a ridiculous thing. When I thought about it, it didn't really matter whether I was Japanese or not. In fact, being judged a fake might cause fewer complications down the line.
...I should have deliberately gotten it wrong. That possibility never occurred to me!!
It was only after I'd said everything and felt satisfied that I realized that possibility. Even for me, that was incredibly foolish.
"...Perhaps the screening method used so far should be reconsidered."
"On the contrary, I'm starting to think it's an excellent trick question."
It was such an excellent trick question that there was no way to fake it anymore. I had proven that I was sufficiently familiar with Japanese, enough to correct the strange Japanese that Christoph had brought from somewhere.
"So you truly are a Japanese reincarnator, or at least understand Japanese."
After a brief silence, Christoph's expression hardened. The playful atmosphere vanished, and he put on an unapproachable king's face.
"Christina-dono, let me ask again. How do you wish to live from now on?"
Asked with a serious gaze, I unconsciously straightened my back. I couldn't let out my usual contrary nature here. I had to answer what was asked sincerely. I could feel that in my bones.
"I wish to live peacefully as a little sister at Leonyaldo Big Brother's side."
I didn't want to become a noble or become a royal bride. Pathetically, I didn't even have any prospects for what job I wanted in the future, but my wish right now was truly only this. I didn't want to be separated from my family yet.
"Would you not make use of the fact that you can read Japanese?"
"I understand that if I could read Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials, some secret arts might be revived. So, as for reading the materials themselves... if it is desired, I will read them, but I would prefer the place of reading to be Leonyaldo Big Brother's home."
I emphasized that this was truly a child's selfishness. If it came down to it, since I wasn't truly a child, I thought I could endure being separated from my family, but I simply didn't like what I didn't like. In this life, I was bad at asking for things, yet deeply clingy. I didn't want to live alone in the capital away from my family (Leonardo), and I couldn't. If I had to do that, I felt I could die from loneliness.
"If you absolutely insist that I must read Japanese in the capital, please wait until I turn twenty."
"Twenty, you say?"
"That is the age of adulthood for Japanese people."
Once I became an adult, I would have no choice but to give up and become independent, so I might become willing to come to the capital. So please don't force me to stay in the capital, I pleaded. I wanted to stay by my guardian's side as a child while I was still a child.
"So if I want you to read the materials immediately, I should call you to Grenore, and if I wait nine years until you reach Japanese adulthood, you might come to the capital? However, there are two family members in the capital already. I've finished my investigation of you."
"If you mean Bertrand-sama, I do not consider him family."
He was a grandfather whose name hadn't even come up from his father on his deathbed. I'd seen his neglect of his granddaughter in the city of Grenore, and I'd seen physical evidence that torture had been carried out on Jean-Jacques. I didn't want to consider such a person my relative.
"Don't dislike him so much. He is an awkward man, but not a bad one."
"Does Christoph-sama know Bertrand-sama?"
"In his younger days, I dragged him around quite a bit as my attendant. Also, his wife was my second cousin."
"...Your second cousin, Christoph-sama?"
Told that the king's second cousin was my grandmother, my thoughts stopped. I couldn't understand it immediately, and my head filled with question marks.
...If I recall, Hermine-sensei taught me that up to the king's grandchildren are counted as 'royalty,' so second cousin would be... hmm?
The same thing was happening in my head as when I converted five thousand gold coins into Shivil. An inconvenient fact had been tossed at me, and my head was refusing to understand it.
"When you say Bertrand-sama's wife... wasn't Bertrand-sama a Black Knight (a commoner) at the time? Even as a Black Knight, could he really take Christoph-sama's second cousin as his wife?"
"Our country emphasizes ability, unlike the neighboring Saenard Kingdom. If one wishes to quickly bring someone into the country, such things happen."
At the follow-up that there had also been a period when a marriage arrangement with a princess was being prepared for Leonardo, my mouth dropped open in surprise. I'd heard he had a marriage arrangement with a noble lady, but I didn't know a marriage talk with a princess had also come up.
"He is a rare and complete honest man. On top of that, people like him. It's a talent necessary for royalty. It wouldn't be surprising to want to bring him in."
However, having said that, Christoph paused. At his slightly thoughtful gesture, I felt uneasy for some reason and closed my still-open mouth.
"For Leonardo, you seem to be a shackle, and for you, Leonardo seems to be a shackle."
At the word 'shackle,' the blood drained from my face. In the city of Lagarette as well, I had been kidnapped as a hostage against Leonardo. At that time, Leonardo had refused, saying he couldn't comply with the enemy's demands, but if the one holding me was the country Leonardo served as a knight, the conditions would change. Leonardo would have no need to refuse the demand.
And the reverse was also conceivable. I didn't want to lose my family (Leonardo). Which meant, for me, Leonardo would become the hostage.
"...I heard that my attempt to leak the content of the research materials to Aurelia-san was not punished."
"Ah, it was not punished."
In terms of actually leaking information, it hadn't been achieved, and although Aurelia had died, there was the accomplishment of making Aurelia, who had been holed up in the valley, willing to leave it. I had also heard that explanation from Alfred. By pretending my crime had never happened, many people could be saved, I was told.
"...What about Leonyaldo Big Brother's crime?"
When I had realized that leaking information was a crime, Leonardo had entered the prison with me. He said that a crime committed by his little sister was also a crime of his own as her older brother.
I still hadn't heard the verdict for Leonardo.
Time is up. By the way, Alfred's full name is "Alfred Christoph Evelina Angela Ivisia." Long. For siblings of the same mother, only the personal name changes. For half-siblings, in addition to the personal name, the mother's name also changes.
Typos and omissions again another day. Fixed any typos and omissions I found.