286 - Side Story: Solana's Perspective - Christina's Detached Palace
The day after my fellow maid Kalisa finished the big stuffed toy, an anomaly occurred with Lady Christina. When I say anomaly, it is nothing terribly serious. It is simply that Lady Christina, who almost never inconveniences us servants, did not show her face from outside the canopy when morning came, and when I peeked inside, she was wrapped in her sheets, pressed against the belly of the big black dog stuffed toy.
"Lady Christina, it is time to wake."
"I am not Christina. I am Tina."
Her voice slightly muffled as she answered, Lady Christina pressed her face into the black dog stuffed toy. I heard a sniffle, so she must be crying.
"When will Leo come back?"
"If you mean Leo... that would be Leonardo-sama. Leonardo-sama is stationed at Lugmilama Fortress through the autumn, so I believe he will return to the capital once winter comes."
"I know that."
Puffing out her cheeks, Lady Christina looked at me with reproachful eyes. I must confess, though it is improper to say, that seeing this sulky side of Lady Christina for the first time made me want to roll over in sheer delight.
...That is it. This is what children are supposed to be like!
Having grown up around Prince Alfred and his princess sisters, I could only ever think of children as dangerous creatures, but when I think calmly, children are exactly like Lady Christina now. They are fragile beings who cannot be left alone, who need the protection of adults.
...Ah. She has slipped under the sheets. She was so cute, I wanted to keep watching...
I was sure I had not let my selfish desires leak out, but Lady Christina pulled the sheets over her head. And then she hugged the black dog stuffed toy's belly with all her might.
...This is, well, that. She misses her big brother... She is lonely!!
I wished I could comfort Lady Christina as my desires dictated, but I decided to go call Kalisa instead. Prince Alfred had firmly warned us that Lady Christina was shy with strangers. I thought she had grown somewhat accustomed to us, but she was probably not yet ready to want an adult by her side when she was lonely. In this case, calling Kalisa, who had served as Lady Christina's nurse maid, was surely the right choice.
I called Kalisa and handed things over to her. She asked me to fetch Elke and Petrona. Those two were newly hired maids from outside for Lady Christina, but in truth, they were a consideration from Alf Big Brother in the city of Grenore. The thinking was that having familiar people nearby would put Lady Christina at ease, so they were expected to serve more as emotional stabilizers for Lady Christina than as maids.
When I brought the two back to the room, Lady Christina was clinging to Kalisa's chest. The sheets that had been over her head had fallen, revealing Lady Christina's black hair.
"Lady Tina, what is wrong?"
"Does your stomach hurt, Lady Tina?"
As Elke and Petrona hurried over to Lady Christina, she raised one hand without lifting her face from Kalisa's chest. Her arm groped through the air as if searching for something, and the two girls, understanding her intent, dove into Lady Christina's arms. From where I stood a little way off, it looked like Lady Christina was embracing all three of them.
...So this is Lady Christina's way of being affectionate!
Simply wanting a hug... how childlike and adorable. I wish Prince Alfred and his princess sisters would learn a thing or two from her.
...Ah, but Prince Alfred and the others are past the age of wanting hugs from their guardians just because they are lonely, are they not.
In any case, they do not have such endearing qualities. Those brothers and sisters, whenever anything happened, would immediately start brawling with hands and feet, and once they grew a little more clever, they pretended non-interference on the surface while scheming in the shadows to eliminate each other as political rivals. What settled it down was when Felicia-sama received the Royal Peerage. Felicia-sama persuaded her younger siblings. Brawling between royal children was meaningless, she said. If you genuinely wanted to eliminate each other, then you should obtain a Royal Peerage and wield its authority. Upon hearing this, Prince Alfred and his sisters were inspired... but only Prince Alfred obtained the Royal Peerage. And in the process of his education to earn it, Prince Alfred lost interest in his sisters who had fallen behind. An old saying goes, 'conflict only arises between those on the same level,' and that was exactly it. In the course of the education for the Royal Peerage, Prince Alfred pulled ahead by a head, leaving his sisters behind.
...But this was no time for wistful reflection. I had been ordered to report even the smallest anomalies regarding Lady Christina.
To borrow a Silver-White Knight as a means of communication, I visited Felicia-sama, who was staying at the detached palace. It seemed information about Lady Christina was to be shared within the royal family, so I was also to report to Felicia-sama.
"...I feel like I want to go see Christina, who is missing someone, but if she is lonely for Leonardo, then it is not my turn. Alfred sent her friends from Grenore, but... for him, that was unusually a failure, it seems."
She had never cried from loneliness before, Felicia-sama murmured, then quickly corrected herself. On the contrary, she said, perhaps Christina now had enough emotional leeway to be able to say she was lonely.
...That is right. Lady Christina has gained some leeway. Alf Big Brother could not possibly have failed.
As far as I know, Alf Big Brother, Prince Alfred's milk sibling, is a considerate and wonderful older brother. He is a true gentleman who even shows consideration toward me, the milk sibling of the Eighth Princess Claudine. There is no way that Alf Big Brother's thoughtfulness could have backfired.
"Not leaving her bed is rather cute. Let her sulk as she pleases for a while."
Saying that it was probably for the best since she had been overworking lately, Felicia-sama selected a Silver-White Knight to send as a messenger. Indeed, when I calmly considered Lady Christina's workload lately, it was probably appropriate to recommend she take a rest sometimes. The trouble was that she herself had no awareness that she was working, so we could not insist she take breaks, but she had been doing transcription work with a concentration and speed that even adults could not match. Lady Christina had told the man from the Sedovara Church working on the same task, "The reason I work fast is because I can read Japanese," but the speed of her work was not only because she could read the texts she was copying. It was because she spent all her time except for sleep at her desk. Unless Felicia-sama or Prince Alfred took her out to tea parties, Lady Christina was always at her desk making transcriptions. She herself said she was happy to be able to do what she could and did the work without showing any fatigue, but she had indeed been pushing herself. With the slightest trigger, the worm of loneliness had begun to stir within her.
"...Quietly."
When I returned after reporting to Felicia-sama, Kalisa signaled me to be quiet. Carefully minding my footsteps, I approached the bed and peeked inside the canopy. Lady Christina, her eyes swollen red, was sleeping with her chin resting on the leg of the black dog stuffed toy. It seemed she had cried herself to sleep. At the edge of the bed, the black shiba inu she called 'Kokumaro' was resting his chin on the bed just like her, looking up at her with a worried expression. It was adorable.
"When she wakes, let us suggest a walk in the garden."
"Before that, we must tell the cook to prepare a light meal."
"What should she drink first upon waking? Lemon water? Or perhaps tea?"
Their voices were hushed, but everyone was whispering to each other, uncertain what to do. Lady Christina never made selfish demands. In a sense, she was an easy young lady to serve, but she had little sense of self-preference and was pleased with whatever we prepared, so she was also a difficult mistress to gauge the preferences of for ladies-in-waiting and maids. In this regard alone, our original master Prince Alfred was easier to serve. Really, only in this regard, however.
"She cried a great deal, so let us prepare lemon water for when she wakes. For breakfast, her favorite egg sandwiches. And let us change the soup to a simple vegetable soup."
Though she was the lowest-ranked among us as a common-born maid, Kalisa, who had served as Lady Christina's nurse maid, knew Lady Christina's preferences best. Since Lady Christina did not strongly express her likes, we had to rely on Kalisa's experience.
"...It may be difficult to recommend a walk, but let us have Kokumaro do his best."
Hearing her name, the black shiba inu lifted his head. When Kalisa showed him the wooden disc, she started directing him on how to beg as if he wanted to play when Lady Christina woke up. I wondered if saying such things to a dog would actually work, but the black shiba inu seemed enthusiastic. Usually he was trained not to wag his tail, but now he was wagging it happily.
...Is this also acting?
And so, whether thanks to Kalisa's direction or not, upon waking, Lady Christina had her light meal, then put on a light coat and went out to the garden to respond to the black shiba inu's begging. This was unusual for Lady Christina. Before heading to Lugmilama Fortress, Leonardo-sama had instructed her to go outside sometimes, but Lady Christina did not follow this very well. She always made excuses to avoid going out... wanting to do transcription, or wanting to read interesting materials.
"Maro? Go fetch!"
With a toss, Lady Christina threw the wooden disc horizontally. She was playing fetch with the black shiba inu, but seeing how the Black Dog occasionally snatched the disc from the side, perhaps the Black Dog also wanted to play.
"...Well, you look lively."
"Ah, Alfred-sama."
The news must have reached Prince Alfred through a Silver-White Knight. Seeing Lady Christina start a game of chase with the two dogs, Prince Alfred looked somewhat relieved.
"Alfred-sama, is there something you need?"
"I received word that you were blubbering and crying because you missed Leonardo, so I came to see for myself."
"I was not blubbering. I was just sniffling a little."
You came because you were worried, did you not? Thank you very much, Lady Christina said, bowing her head. Prince Alfred replied dismissively, "It is work." If it were me, I would have worried I had done something to offend him... that is how Prince Alfred's attitude was... but Lady Christina did not seem bothered at all. This morning, as she herself said, she had been sniffling and crying, but now she was laughing without a care. Running around the garden with the dogs must have been a good change of pace.
"After sleeping half the day on Curry Rice's belly, I calmed down."
"Curry Rice...?"
At the strangely sounding word, Prince Alfred furrowed his brow. When a gaze seeking explanation came my way, I quietly supplemented Lady Christina's words. 'Curry Rice' was the name of the big black dog stuffed toy that had been completed just yesterday. It seemed to be the name of a food, but I had never heard of it. Perhaps my uncle, who traveled around the domains with Ethelbert-sama, might have heard of it.
...I will ask my uncle next time I see him.
Lady Christina, puffing out her thin chest as she explained the stress-relieving effects of hugging a big stuffed toy and crying, was very adorable. Very adorable, but her delicate appearance and mischievous expression were somehow mismatched. This was why Prince Alfred had judged that if people knew Lady Christina's true personality, the love letters would decrease. Those who were drawn by Lady Christina's appearance would flee barefoot once they learned of her surprisingly tough and tomboyish inner nature.
"Hugs from stuffed toys and the stress-relieving effect of crying are truly wonderful. It was a good change of pace."
"Then I will make a daily walk of one hour your mandatory routine. I have heard about it. You have been so absorbed in transcription that you have hardly taken in any fresh air."
"One hour is far too long! Let me off with fifteen minutes."
On this point alone, the hearts of the ladies-in-waiting and maids were united in wanting to say, "Please press for more." The maids and I, standing where Lady Christina could not see us, looked as if we were about to nod vigorously at Prince Alfred's urging to make time for walks and Lady Christina's attempts to reduce that time. Since it was a conversation between the masters, unless asked for agreement, we servants were supposed to just stay silent and pretend we heard nothing... but everyone was worried about Lady Christina's tendency to hole up indoors.
...Lady Christina shuts herself up in the detached palace in a different way from Princess Claudine. It really is good for her to go outside sometimes.
Make time for an hour walk, let me off with fifteen minutes, split it into two thirty-minute walks in the morning and afternoon then... the verbal exchange between Lady Christina and Prince Alfred continued. If it were me being ordered by Prince Alfred, I would have no choice but to say "yes" even if I did not want to, but Lady Christina was stubbornly holding her ground.
...Ah, what is this. As an opinion, I agree with Prince Alfred, but I want Lady Christina to keep resisting until the end!
I cannot help but find it strange that there is someone who can defy this bully of a Prince Alfred. I have been told that Lady Christina is an important guest to the country and we must not displease her, but even so, she is the daughter of a Merit Peerage and he is a prince with a Royal Peerage. In terms of status, Prince Alfred is overwhelmingly superior.
"It is because you stay cooped up in your room all the time that you grow lonely."
"Uu..."
I could tell she was searching for some counterargument. Her gaze wandered around, and in the end, she gave up and hung her head. Prince Alfred does not leave openings when he acts as a public figure. And Lady Christina, though she was a little off this morning, is generally a girl who acts rationally. When given a logical explanation, she is the sort of girl who chooses what her reason judges to be correct.
"...I will take walks twice a day, for thirty minutes each in the morning and afternoon."
Clearly reluctant, Lady Christina visibly pouted her lips and accepted Prince Alfred's proposal. The servants, who were in positions Lady Christina could not see, were all smiling, though we could not tell her. It seemed everyone had their own thoughts about Lady Christina's seclusion.
"...If you are that lonely, there is that thing in this detached palace. The fountain of Leonardo that my foolish sister had built."
"I already found that, but... he is younger than my Leonyaldo Big Brother now, and he does not move, and he does not talk."
Just having the form does not change the loneliness, Lady Christina said, dropping her shoulders. Prince Alfred extended his hand to her. With a look as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Lady Christina took his hand.
...I never imagined Prince Alfred would escort a girl other than his fiancee.
He did not even escort his fiancee except on formal occasions. I had never seen him so naturally escort a girl just for a walk in the garden on a day that was not a formal occasion at all.
...Hmm? Is that not it? Is it not that Prince Alfred's kindness is based only on whether it is necessary?
Unable to understand the sight before me... Prince Alfred being kind to a girl... I could not help but search for a reason I could accept. From my perspective as a maid, Prince Alfred is an overwhelmingly strict master. In every sense of the word. I simply could not believe that such a Prince Alfred would be kind to a girl without calculation.
...Is Prince Alfred kind to Lady Christina because she is an important guest?
If I thought of it that way, it might not be so strange that Prince Alfred would escort her. I was confident I could assert that a Prince Alfred who was kind to others without ulterior motives was not Prince Alfred. That was how closely I had observed Prince Alfred as a person.
...I was wrong. Prince Alfred is a very strict person toward me, but he was always kind to people who were beneficial.
It is not that he treasures Lady Christina because she is a guest. It is that Lady Christina is beneficial, and because when he strikes up a conversation, praise for Alf Big Brother comes out of that adorable face... that is why he likes her. The same reason he took me on as a maid. Besides people who are beneficial, Prince Alfred also has a soft spot for devotees of Alf Big Brother.
The reason Prince Alfred is kind to Lady Christina. I feel that the most fitting explanation is a truly absurd one... that he simply wants to keep someone nearby who constantly spews praise for Alf Big Brother.
[Author's Note]
I tried making this a side story as a change of pace. Solana, who is victim number two of Alfred, barely got to appear... just a name drop, not really utilized. She is not suspicious of men, but suspicious of Alfred. Number one is of course Alf.
Having grown up as the milk sibling of Claudine and being caught up in the sibling fights between Alfred and Claudine, constantly suffering the consequences of both siblings' actions, Solana seems to look up to Alf, the mediator, calling him Alf Big Brother. Incidentally, the reason Alfred is kind to Tina is, well, that unlike his own sister, she is simply obedient and cute... there is also a normal (?) reason, just so you know.
I will fix typos and omissions another day.