96 - Alf and Alfred
...Something's weird, isn't it?
At the unshakeable sense of wrongness I'd been feeling for a while, I secretly stole a glance at Alf's face. Alf, who was now playing Reversi with Timon, had initially suggested they play Saik. Ever since the Reversi board was finished, we'd been playing nothing but Reversi in our house, so this was a bit unusual. When I asked Alf, who'd told me to bring the Saik board, "Isn't it Reversi?", Timon asked what Reversi was. Since the Reversi board was something Leonardo had paid to have made, the guest who seemed to be from the capital had no way of knowing about it, and I ended up explaining the rules to Timon... though I felt like Alf could have explained them too. During my explanation to Timon, it bothered me that Alf sat silently next to me without supplementing my clumsy explanation.
Since Reversi has simple rules where you just flip pieces, Timon quickly learned how to play. I wondered if it was really okay for him to be playing Reversi with Alf when he was supposed to be someone's guard, but the other guard was standing properly in front of the door, so I suppose it was fine. Probably. Surely.
...Something's weird. What is it that's weird?
There was definitely a sense of wrongness, but not knowing the answer made me feel itchy and restless. As usual, Kokumaro was pressed right up against me, and I worried about his future as a watchdog.
His golden hair, his hairstyle, his eye color... they were all just like the usual Alf, but there was a strange sense of wrongness. I felt it wasn't just that he was wearing clothes in a color I didn't usually see him in.
"Tina-sama, might I have a moment?"
"Hai resu"
Called by Bart, I seized the opportunity and fled the living room. Since not being able to pin down the source of the wrongness was making me uncomfortable, I was grateful for the chance to clear my head. Apparently a guest had arrived, but for some reason I ended up going to greet them at the entrance, and seeing Alf standing on the other side of the door, I couldn't help but open my mouth in shock.
"...Ah, aeh? Alf-shan?! Huh? Then, that one over there, that Aryufu-shan?!"
I was so surprised I stumbled over my words terribly, but I didn't care. Alf, who was supposed to be playing Reversi with Timon in the living room, was standing on the other side of the door. I couldn't help but look between him and the other Alf, letting out a confused sound. But Alf seemed to understand what was happening in the residence just from seeing my confusion. After saying a brief word to Bart, he strode across the entrance hall with large steps. I thought he'd just go straight through the hallway, but then he threw open the living room door wide.
"So you were in here after all, Alfred-sama."
"Ah, Alf. As beautiful as ever."
Following Alf at a trot and peeking into the living room, I saw the usual black-uniformed Alf and a red-formal-attired Alf.
...Two Alf-sans?!
Ignoring my confusion, Bart looked at the two Alfs, nodded in understanding, and headed to the kitchen. He was probably going to brew tea for Alf. It was unfair that he got to escape this bizarre space alone.
As for me, I compared Red Alf and Black Alf for a moment, then approached the black-uniformed Alf.
...This one feels like the real one.
Their facial features were exactly the same, but I chose the Alf who somehow had his usual atmosphere about him. Kokumaro was also hiding by Black Alf's feet, as if confirming that this Alf was the real Alf.
"...Is he an acquaintance of Alf-san, resu ka?"
They looked this similar, so they were at least acquainted, probably. When I asked to confirm, Black Alf twisted his face in a thoroughly displeased manner.
"Didn't you hear from Leonardo that 'a guest from the capital is coming'? This... thing. No, this guy... that's not right either. This person is that guest."
When Black Alf reintroduced him, Red Alf smiled brightly, and Timon, perhaps remembering his actual duties as a guard, took his post at the door. Looking at Red Alf and Black Alf again to compare, they really did look very similar, but the color of their eyes was subtly different. Also, though it was hidden by clothes and hard to tell, Red Alf's hair was clearly longer than Black Alf's.
...So, I've been mistaking the red Alf-san for the black Alf-san this whole time?
Now that I realized it, it was embarrassing. I felt like crawling into a hole. That said, there was something I had to do before crawling into a hole.
"Um, I'm sorry. I mistook you for Alf-san, deshita."
I'd been acting toward a man I'd just met for the first time the same way I would toward Alf. Looking back on it now, it was embarrassing. Red Alf must have been inwardly confused too, having a little girl he'd just met act so familiar with him. I felt a little resentful that he hadn't pointed out the mistake sooner, but blaming him for it now would just be taking my frustration out on the wrong person. I was the one who'd mistaken him on my own.
To my bowed head, Red Alf nodded magnanimously, forgiving the mistake.
"No, no, being treated as Alf was a rather delightful experience."
"Delightful, resu ka?"
"To be mistaken for Alf, to be treated as Alf. That means I have, as it were, become one with Alf. If one cannot distinguish between Alf and myself, that means there is no difference between us, and I am Alf!"
...Ah, he's a weird person.
I don't think I was wrong to intuitively understand that. I admit it's a pretty harsh opinion to have of someone I just met, but the more I examined his statement, the less sense it made. When I turned to Black Alf seeking an explanation, he was lightly holding his head as if he had a headache.
"You have the same face, but are you Alf-san's brother or twin, resu ka?"
I asked Black Alf in a slightly lowered voice, but both Red Alf and Black Alf answered simultaneously.
"We're complete strangers."
"We're blood brothers."
...Huh? Which is it?
Their voices were also very similar, but when I listened carefully, their breathing was different, giving them subtly different pitches. It felt a bit crude to say, but Black Alf's voice seemed subtly more attractive.
...Black Alf says they're strangers, and Red Alf says they're brothers. But both are Alfred-san?
That's right, Black Alf had called Red Alf "Alfred-sama." And I'd heard from Leonardo before that Alf was a nickname, and his real name was "Alfred."
"So you're both Alfred-shan with the same face and name? And you're brothers and strangers, nan resu ka?"
Unable to reach a satisfying conclusion, my thoughts spun in confusion. I even felt a little dizzy.
"If you go back seven generations or so, we're technically related, but well, we're just strangers."
"What are you saying, how standoffish. Alf and I are brothers who drank from the same mother's breast, aren't we?"
...So, like, foster brothers or something?
If I took Red Alf's statement charitably, that was probably it. Though his words and actions were so suspicious I wasn't sure if I should take them at face value. And then I realized something I didn't want to realize.
"If you're Alf-san's relative, then you're a noble-shama...?!"
Even though I hadn't known, I felt like I'd been incredibly rude. He seemed delighted, but I'd already done all sorts of things like mistaking him for Alf and beating him at Reversi over and over.
"More than a 'noble-sama,' I'm an 'easygoing-sama'?"
"An easygoing, carefree third son-sama."
Apparently, because their faces were similar and they even had the same name, which was confusing, Black Alf had started going by the nickname "Alf" when they were in the capital. It seemed Leonardo wasn't the type to be unable to separate public and private, like calling a friend by a nickname at work. He'd originally used them separately, but to distinguish him from Red Alf... I should start calling him Alfred... he'd deliberately used the nickname "Alf."
...Thanks to that, until a little while ago I thought "Alf" was his real name.
Watching Alf and Alfred start some kind of comedy routine in front of me, I felt a wave of exhaustion. Since I was already aware I'd made plenty of mistakes, I wanted to leave this place quickly to avoid making more mistakes in front of a noble. Now that an adult (Alf) had come, it would be fine for me to leave the scene. Or rather, ever since Alf arrived, Alfred's gaze had been fixed on Alf. I had a feeling I wasn't even needed here.
I put on a demure act and gently asked, "To avoid any further rudeness, may I ask Alf-san to attend to the guest instead?" but it was Alfred, not Alf, who refused. He said there was no point trying to cover it up now anyway. And that he wouldn't allow me to cut and run with my win.
...You're holding a grudge about losing at Reversi, aren't you? I see.
It was a simple game, so I thought it would be easy to learn. Maybe he just hadn't gotten the hang of it yet, but Alfred simply wouldn't let me leave until he'd won one game against me.
"...What happened to Tina?"
The reason Leonardo asked in a worried voice right after coming home was because I was sprawled out on the couch using Alf's lap as a pillow. I'd been dragged along by the persistent Alfred who insisted on getting that one win, and in the end, both my physical and mental strength had reached their limits. I should have just thrown a match before I reached my breaking point, but I'm not that clever. Being able to intentionally lose or put up a close fight is something only smart people with a decent level of skill can do.
...An ordinary person can't just deliberately lose.
If I held back too much, he'd notice, and even if it was just a game, it was still a competition, so I couldn't help but get serious. Unable to intentionally lose, I ended up playing Reversi with Alfred until my stamina ran out. When I reached both hands out toward Leonardo, who was looking at my face with concern, he quickly understood my intent and picked me up. When I wrapped my arms around his thick neck and let out a sigh of relief, my role of holding down the fort was finally over.
...I don't want to entertain guests while looking after the house anymore for a while.
In any case, dealing with Alfred was exhausting. I could lose just fine at Saik, but Alfred wanted to play Reversi, saying I was too weak at Saik for it to be fun. In Reversi, Alfred, who'd just started, was so weak that I wasn't having fun, and Alfred was so persistent about playing until he could win that I ended up having a terrible time.
...I'm at the point where I just want to sleep the rest of the day away.
But that's what I thought, and yet Leonardo invited me to have dinner together. He said I could go back to my room and rest a bit, but we'd eat dinner together.
"Alfred-sama is a work guest, nan resu yo ne? Is it okay for me to be there?"
"Alfred-sama will be staying at the residence for a while, so this doubles as an introduction."
"Introduction... I feel like I already know him well enough, shimashu..."
I buried my face limply against Leonardo's neck. I felt like I'd learned quite a lot about this noble named Alfred in the past few hours. First and foremost, it's Alf. Put Alf in front of him and he's happy. He's a sore loser. It's Alf. He's delighted when mistaken for Alf. And indeed it's Alf. That's what the young man Alfred is all about.
Since this conversation happened while I was being carried to my third-floor room, the person in question (Alfred) wasn't around. So when I freely shared my unfiltered impression of Alfred with Leonardo, I got his seal of approval that I was mostly right. That wasn't very reassuring.
After taking a nap for about an hour, I felt quite a bit of my fatigue had lifted. Since it was mental energy rather than physical energy I'd been using, the nap probably helped me recover. Since I'd be having dinner with someone of high status, I was told to dress up, so I changed my clothes. I put the lace ribbon Aurelia had given me in my hair for the first time in a while.
When I went down to the first-floor dining room, Leonardo properly introduced Alfred to me again. It seemed the fact that I'd mistaken him for Alf and treated him as such had been thoroughly reported while I was napping. To make sure I didn't mistake how to treat him again, he even properly introduced Alfred's status.
"...A prince-sama?"
"A prince-sama."
"Alfred-sama is?"
"Alfred-sama is."
Told Alfred's full name and status by a dead-serious Leonardo, I stood there dumbly with my mouth hanging open like an idiot for several seconds. If anyone were told that Alfred, who they'd thought was a weird person, was a member of this country's royalty, they'd also be standing there with their mouth hanging open. And they'd probably freeze up for several seconds too.
...A pervert (this guy) being a prince... I didn't want to know that!!
I don't remember ever feeling particularly dreamy or romantic about the word "prince," but still, when something has "prince" in its name, there are certain things you think. For a moment I thought something rude like "Is this country going to be okay?!" but then I remembered that Alfred had called himself a "third son" earlier. If there were two more above him, things would probably be okay. I hope so.
"...Why does the prince-sama look so much like Alf-san, nya?"
"Distant relation and his own perversion... no. Obsession... that's not right either. Mania... it doesn't feel wrong but that's not a good word. In any case, it's the fruit of Alfred-sama's efforts."
"Becoming just like Alf-san through effort, desu re..."
I swallowed the honest thought of "That's kind of scary." Even I have enough sense for that. I'd like to think I can tell the difference between what's okay to say and what isn't.
Leonardo's explanation during dinner was much easier to understand since Alfred's ravings weren't mixed in. They were distant relatives, and apparently Alf's mother had served as Alfred's wet nurse and raised him. If I forced an understanding, the "blood brothers" Alfred had mentioned could be interpreted (in the sense of distant relation) as "blood-related foster brothers."
...But that's way too forced.
Though he was a somewhat tiring person to deal with, I'd figured out one thing.
"If it was Alf-san's mother who nursed him, then she's an acquaintance of Aurelia-san, resu ka?"
When I imagined this tiring Alfred standing before Aurelia, I thought even she probably wouldn't do it to a prince, but in my head, Aurelia was already raising her cane and starting to spank Alfred's bottom. No matter how I tried, I couldn't imagine this boisterous prince and Aurelia having a quiet conversation.
"For my part, I'm more surprised to hear Aurelia's name coming from a child's mouth..."
"Tina is Aurelia's favorite."
When Alf tapped his head to indicate, Alfred's gaze fell on the ribbon in my hair. I was wearing the ribbon Aurelia had given me, and she'd told me she'd made it herself long ago. If someone knowledgeable saw it, they might recognize the maker.
"So that's what that ribbon is. My mother also had a lace handkerchief made by Aurelia..."
After staring intently at my ribbon, Alfred cut himself off with a "Well, never mind." Then he shifted his gaze to Leonardo and began to say something that made me want to doubt my ears.
"...So, the report stated that the reincarnated person from Mey Village was dead, but what does it mean that you're keeping them at your side and raising them, Leonardo?"
[Author's Note]
I couldn't get as far as I'd planned... Alfred-sama is seriously a pervert. With Alf and Alfred, Alf is having a gestalt breakdown falling apart... The conversation kept getting dragged off in completely wrong directions... orz Truly terrifying, Prince Alfred.
I'll fix typos and errors another day.
Fixed typos and errors I found. Come to think of it, the two princes above Alfred that Tina is hoping for. The second prince was already being treated as a dangerous person as of chapter one. We can only hope for the eldest son.