255 - Secret Tea Party 2
Felicia called it "Mother's detached palace," but the detached palace where the consort lives is a building connected to the royal castle by a corridor. The detached palace itself has its own main gate separate from the castle, but either way, it's terrifyingly large. The detached palace where I'm staying was said to be "on the smaller side," but since it's larger than the Grenore residence, I never really felt it was small. However, looking at this detached palace, I can indeed think of it as a small detached palace.
...It's just that the comparison is ridiculous.
The building is spacious, but since I've met both of Christoph's consorts once before, I feel a little at ease. I wonder if using the queen consort as a partner for my independence training is appropriate, but perhaps she's just the right person for it. She's the kind of person I need to be moderately tense around, but can't afford to show a disgraceful appearance to.
...Who is that? Could that be the First Prince (Elvis)-sama?
Even though I'm supposed to be guarded, while walking through the corridor escorted by Leonardo, I spot black hair bouncing in the courtyard. My eyes were drawn because a small boy with black hair was jumping around, and the boy turns out to be Anselm, whom I met at the martial arts tournament.
Since Joslynne, who gave birth to Anselm, also lives in the queen's detached palace, it's not strange for Anselm to be playing in the courtyard. It's not strange, but I don't recognize the blonde man who's with Anselm.
Thinking simply, the only man I can think of who would be blonde is the First Prince. The First Prince is Dietfried's father. Since he's the father of the blonde Dietfried, there's a possibility that the First Prince himself is blonde. If his face resembles his mother (Gloriana), I could be sure, I thought as I looked over, but Leonardo's body blocked my view.
...Huh? Was I blocked?
Is it my imagination? I look up at Leonardo's face. His expression is sharp and stern as he looks forward, and I can't tell what he's thinking.
...Leonyaldo-san in work mode is cool. His face used to be scary before, though.
I feel like he said he'd show me a cool side at the martial arts tournament, but I think the face he makes when seriously working is cooler than the sight of him swinging a sword in the competition venue. Honestly, watching stick figures sparring through a telescope isn't all that thrilling. If there were a big screen showing the athletes' expressions and flowing sweat like at a concert venue from my previous life, there might be excitement and fluttering, but unfortunately there were no such wonderful facilities. There was no commentary either, only the referee's signals for the start and end of the match.
...It's similar to sports broadcasting. I'm sure it'd be enjoyable if you understood the rules.
It wasn't enough for me, but for the people of this world where big screens don't exist as a matter of course, it seemed like an exciting match that they could enjoy normally. Anselm, who was watching alongside me partway through, was thrilled, and because of that, even though Felicia had coordinated with me, Leonardo found out that I had watched the match from Ethelbert's seat. Since Ethelbert had even stricter security than Felicia, I wasn't scolded too much, but I had been told to stay with Felicia for security reasons. Indeed, leaving Felicia's side meant it was only natural to be scolded.
Guided by a steward of the detached palace, we proceed through the corridor and are led to a reception room. The detached palace apparently has a large reception hall, but private guests are shown to this room. When the steward opens the double doors, inside are Gloriana and an unfamiliar blonde man.
...He's different from the person I saw earlier, but who is he?
I think this, but I don't show my doubt on my face and follow Felicia. Since it was Felicia who said we would visit the queen's detached palace today, following Felicia's lead should be fine.
"Good day to you, Mother. Big Brother Elvis. I've brought the rumored owl."
I wonder if "owl" means me, I think to myself while offering a greeting since I've been introduced. This is my second time meeting Gloriana, but my first time meeting the First Prince.
...At the martial arts tournament, I hid in Ethelbert-sama's seat before I could meet all the royal family.
It seems there's no need to meet princes and princesses without Royal Peerages, but it's better to greet the king who seems to protect me, his wives, and those with Royal Peerages. In that sense, I haven't met the queen counted as the official wife yet.
"It's an honor to meet you, First Prince Elvis. ...And thank you for the lovely sweets the other day."
"How polite of you. But there's no need to be so formal. I've heard you're the tomboy little sister who's always kicking Leonardo's shins."
...Where did that information leak from? It can only be Alfred-sama. Now then, what should I do about this.
If it were Leonardo, I'd treat him to a baptism of custom-made shoes, but since the other party is a prince, I can't exactly do the same. The only revenge I can take against Alfred is to withhold information about Alf, or after returning to the city of Grenore, tell Alf about Alfred's deeds.
"But I heard we were visiting the queen's detached palace, so why is Elvis-sama also joining us?"
Since it's his mother's detached palace, it's possible Elvis also lives in the detached palace, but I think I heard that royalty with Royal Peerages are given residences in the noble district and live there. If this memory is correct, Elvis should also have a mansion in the noble district. If so, it's hard to imagine a prince with a Royal Peerage being at his mother's detached palace during the day for work.
"That's not so strange. Big Brother is a hard worker, you know."
"If he's a hard worker, is he here at the detached palace? In other words, does he have a room in the detached palace to shorten his commute...?"
Even within the same royal castle, people use carriages to move around. Commuting daily between a mansion in the noble district and the royal castle would take considerable time in itself. Since he's a prince, he would have lived in the queen's detached palace as a child. He could use the room he used then as is, or since this detached palace is so large, they could prepare a new room.
As I piece together the logic on my own, I somehow find it convincing. However, hearing my muttering, Felicia smiled with her beautiful face and said, "That's one way of thinking about it," so I understand that my idea is wrong. It seems there's a reason I can't imagine for the First Prince, who should be living in the noble district, to be in his mother's detached palace.
"...First of all, I'd like to thank you, Lady Christina. Perhaps inspired by you, Dietfried has learned to write letters."
Since he was a child not expected to approach the throne, he was raised freely, but Elvis says he at least wanted him to be able to write, and I can feel my eyes narrowing. Come to think of it, Elvis is Dietfried's father. He should bear part of the responsibility for raising such a selfish, impatient son. And now this father is cheerfully delighting in Dietfried's growth, talking about how his handwriting has become neat lately, and how he can use aristocratic phrasing.
"...If you wanted to raise Dietfried-sama to be a normal person, why did you dismiss the tutor?"
If it were Hermine, no matter how prone to tantrums or how much of a willful tyrant Dietfried was, she could have patiently worked with him and educated him into a proper prince. She's far too valuable to have let go midway.
"Ms. Hartmann was a tutor my grandfather prepared for us, and well, how should I put this..."
"She clashed with Nadine, who wanted to spoil Dietfried, and grew disillusioned with you, Big Brother, and your wife, who wouldn't engage with Dietfried's education at all, and ran away, if I recall correctly."
As if to replace Elvis's vague words, Felicia told me about that situation. It seems that Hermine, who was enthusiastic about education, quickly saw that the environment surrounding Dietfried was bad and demanded improvements to the environment. Either separate him from his nurse or replace the servants. Elvis didn't accept Hermine's appeal, but he couldn't dismiss Hermine either since she was prepared by his grandfather Ethelbert, so the conflict between Hermine and Nadine continued for three years. Then, on a certain day in the third year, upon seeing Dietfried finish his meal quietly and politely, Hermine reportedly said this was the limit of what she could achieve and requested resignation. In the current environment, teaching something as basic as being quiet during meals was her limit, she said.
"She was a good teacher. I thought so, so I explained to her that I had no intention of bringing Dietfried closer to the throne... but unfortunately, she couldn't understand or empathize with the idea of deliberately raising a royal as an ignoramus from the start."
"...Did Nadine understand and empathize?"
I glance briefly at Nadine, who is accompanying us as a lady's maid today, then return my gaze to Elvis. Honestly, I agree with Hermine. As a citizen, I'm not happy about a prince who was deliberately raised to be incompetent sitting on the taxes paid by the people. If he's going to reign as a prince, I'd want him to show corresponding effort and results.
"Nadine was also my nurse. She knew everything and agreed to take the mud for us."
...In other words, Diet was deliberately raised to be a failed prince, and the evaluation of her being an excellent lady's maid is indeed true.
Even so, I have mixed feelings about that. The part summed up simply as "everything" probably corresponds to what I heard from Christoph on the day of the Recollection Festival.
"Why was I assigned Nadine?"
If she's a nurse and an excellent lady's maid, Elvis probably wouldn't want to let her go either. Yet somehow, she was given to me as a lady's maid.
"Nadine is an excellent lady's maid. She's highly loyal, and since she's served the royal family for many years, Father also trusts Nadine. If it's the king's command, she'll accept the status of a new young mistress as a trivial matter and serve faithfully."
"...I think I understand somehow."
In other words, an excellent lady's maid is also good at compartmentalizing, I suppose. Even if her new mistress is a commoner or an orphan, if commanded to serve by the king, she's the kind of person who can serve as a mistress without any doubt or dissatisfaction. In that sense, I think she's excellent talent.
"How Nadine treats you, Lady Christina, is up to you. If you want to be spoiled like Dietfried, she'll do that, and if you want to become a prince's bride, she'll raise you accordingly."
"I refuse both."
Cutting off Elvis's ominous words, I deliberately turn to look at Nadine. I think it's extremely rude behavior to clearly start talking to a different person while speaking with a prince, but this is deliberate. Since I don't want to become a prince's bride, I'll pretend to be a rude child.
"I am Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama's little sister, and I have no intention of becoming a prince's bride, but I also don't want to become a selfish child like Dietfried-sama, so too much spoiling would be a problem."
I welcome being disciplined since I want to learn proper lady-like behavior, but I'd also like to be spoiled in moderation. As I insist that moderation is important, I see Leonardo making a troubled face. Indeed, if one's little sister turns her back on royalty to talk to a lady's maid, a big brother would be troubled. Though as a guard, he can't move from his spot no matter how troubled he is.
"If you don't want to become a prince's wife, then why did you correct Dietfried? For you to become a prince's wife, Dietfried would be the closest in age..."
"As a citizen, I dislike such a selfish prince."
I puff out my flat chest as if to say there's no other reason. I'm still a child so I've never paid taxes with money I earned myself, but as a tax-paying citizen, I can't stand the thought of tax money being used for sweets that Dietfried whimsically nibbles on. If it were used for ink and chalk for studying, that would be fine, but I hate the idea of tax money being consumed so a selfish child can indulge in luxury.
"To cure his selfishness, how about assigning him some study companions? I think there's a lot he can learn from socializing."
Since he's also competitive, he might apply himself to his studies. When I suggested this, I was told it would be difficult to assign study companions now.
"The tutor in Mandez is excellent. I hear he's already drilled in most of the minimum necessary learning for royalty, including basic education, manners, horseback riding, and social skills..."
"I thought the person in Mandez was not a tutor but a steward..."
The capable steward (Iridal) seems to be correcting that Dietfried at an alarming speed. It seems he's gained enough foundational skills to begin studies for obtaining a Royal Peerage. Hearing the new information that he's about to acquire English skills too, I somehow feel more anxious. I still have a little difficulty with it, and since I've stopped writing letters to Aurelia, my motivation to study English has also decreased.
"...That's amazing, Dietfried-sama."
I honestly acknowledge that he's working hard. If the tyrant is being corrected by Iridal, maybe when the next letter comes, I could write back a slightly longer reply.
"That's also a headache. Since he's the child of me and my wife, I thought he was a child who could do it if he tried..."
But it's problematic if he's too excellent, Elvis says, furrowing his brow. Since he's a prince not expected to approach the throne, it's problematic if he shows too much excellence.
"How about sending him off as a bridegroom?"
"Would you take him?"
"I don't want him."
I answered almost reflexively, but that's far too rude a response. Thinking I should cover for this, I mention what I heard from Christoph at the Recollection Festival. That if I were made Christoph's adopted daughter and Dietfried became my bridegroom, it would bring Dietfried closer to the throne.
...Well, in that case, I'd probably be the queen and my husband would be the prince consort.
Either way, it's a future prospect I absolutely refuse.
"I don't know if it's still the case, but Basilia-sama of the Markov family seems to like Dietfried-sama. Why not send him off as Basilia-sama's bridegroom?"
If Iridal has trained him, I'm sure it's correct, and if he's truly excellent, he'll probably participate actively in territory management. Going to Lagarette as Basilia's bridegroom should be effective in terms of keeping him away from the throne as well.
"...What is it?"
As I'm listing the advantages and disadvantages of sending him off to Basilia that I can think of, I notice Elvis staring intently at me. I wonder if I got a little too carried away? I worried, but it's too late to feign innocence now. After showing my true self so freely, it's truly too late to do anything about it.
"It seems my son truly has no chance with you."
At his sigh-laden words, I breathe a sigh of relief that it's nothing more than that. Dietfried never had any chance from the start. Our first meeting was the worst possible, and our compatibility is not just slightly but terribly bad.
"As you may know, I am a reincarnator with memories of a previous life."
So I can't consider a child as a marriage partner. When I honestly told him that, Elvis looked puzzled, so I asked him to imagine the genders reversed. From a male perspective, a young bride might be pleasing, but from a female perspective, a husband who's too young brings unease. Our actual ages in this life might match, but I can only see Dietfried as a child no matter what. If asked whether I'd take him as a husband, I can only answer that I refuse.
Time is up. The tea party continues a little longer.
I'll fix typos and errors next time. I found and corrected some typos and misspellings. They were pretty bad.