[Episode 137] — Alcohol Is to Be Drunk with Adults (2)
Not long after Veronica left.
Titania returned here once more, breathing slightly hard. In one hand, she carried a bottle of alcohol that looked expensive at a glance, and in the other, a basket filled with suitable snacks.
As I watched Titania hesitate in front of the door, unsure whether to enter, I let out a frustrated sigh. If only she would stick to a single attitude, I could at least hate her to my heart’s content.
Aside from the coercive actions she took to keep me here, Titania’s behavior was as kind as ever. Just like the young Titania who had treated the old me with affection when I knew nothing.
And so, from time to time, I found myself looking at Titania as I had before all this happened. As though I were looking at my ordinary, beloved daughter, putting all the pain I had suffered aside and simply seeing her as I had in the past.
As though Titania had done nothing, as though there had been no gap between us. There were times when I looked at Titania and forgot all the painful things. It was all because of Titania’s ambiguous attitude.
I gave Titania a bitter smile. She smoothed down her disheveled bangs with her fingers, having hurried all the way here, then gently curved the corners of her eyes and smiled at me.
That smile made everything feel like a dream.
As though nothing had happened to me, and nothing had happened to Titania either. As though we had made no mistakes and had simply returned to being a close mother and daughter, just as we had been in the past. Truly, as though nothing had happened at all.
Titania. What exactly should I call our relationship now? Mother and daughter? Friends? Mere acquaintances? What did you think our relationship was? Titania’s answer clearly wouldn’t be that we had an ordinary relationship.
I beckoned to Titania, who was waiting by the door for me to call her in.
“Titania, come here.”
Only then did Titania cross the threshold and approach me.
Your attitude makes me dizzy. Your expressions confuse me. I just want things to return to normal between us, but you don’t want that. What am I supposed to—
I let out a small sigh and looked at the expensive-looking bottle in Titania’s hand. The bottle seemed familiar somehow. But it wasn’t one of the cheap wines I had seen many times before. Where had I seen it...?
“Where did you get this?”
“Ah... I brought it from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. When it comes to things like alcohol, the Minister of Foreign Affairs knows best. He was also the only minister who hadn’t left work yet... So...”
Titania smiled innocently, as though she truly knew nothing of the ways of the world—
“I asked him to give me the most expensive and precious one. Since I was going to drink with Mother, I thought ordinary alcohol wouldn’t do... so I put a little thought into it.”
—and answered as wickedly as possible. Was this what pure evil looked like? I felt as though I could hear the Minister of Foreign Affairs wailing in grief from somewhere far away. No, he was probably clutching his liquor cabinet and sobbing by now.
“...I see. Thank you.”
But that was that, and this was this. The joy of drinking expensive alcohol for free was more than enough to make me ignore the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ anguished cries. Thank you, Minister of Foreign Affairs. I’ll enjoy it.
Excited by the free alcohol, I accepted the bottle and snacks from Titania, climbed onto the bed, and settled down. Seeing me like that, Titania narrowed her eyes slightly, as though something seemed strange, and asked me,
“Why... are you drinking on the bed? There’s a table and chairs...”
“Hm? Well... because we always drank on the bed? It’s convenient to fall asleep right away once you get drunk, isn’t it?”
“...? Always? You mean when you drank alone, right?”
“What? No? Didn’t everyone in high society drink like this? When I drank with the other ladies, we mostly gathered together on the bed like this. Then, when we got drunk, we went straight to sleep...”
“What? Everyone drinks like this?”
Back when I attended high-society gatherings as queen, this was how everyone drank. In particular, whenever the ladies gathered together, it was standard to drink on the bed while wearing nothing but nightclothes. Lady Serina was the one who taught me that...?
“Do people not drink like this these days?”
When I asked worriedly, Titania furrowed her brow with a troubled expression.
She extended her hand toward me as though she didn’t know what to do, then repeatedly withdrew it. After pondering for a moment in front of the bed, Titania eventually climbed onto it cautiously and took a seat beside me.
“...Mother suggested it first. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“...? Yes, since I was the one who suggested drinking.”
Ignoring Titania, who let out a small sigh, I smacked my lips, opened the bottle, and took out the glasses. The dark-red wine filled Titania’s glass with a clear, ringing sound.
After filling Titania’s glass, I filled my own as well. When I brought the glass to my nose and savored its aroma, Titania stared blankly at me as though fascinated. She looked as if she didn’t know how she was supposed to drink it.
As though demonstrating, I put the glass to my lips and took a gulp. The expensive wine I was drinking for the first time in a while really did have a reason for being expensive. So this was what the Minister of Foreign Affairs had lost?
Its aroma and flavor were on an entirely different level from cheap wine. The wine flowing down my throat heated it up, and the pleasant intoxication rising through me made the corners of my lips curl up before I knew it.
“Phew... It’s delicious.”
“Really?”
After watching me drink, Titania finally brought the glass to her lips and took a sip. The tip of her tongue must have tasted bitter, because she slightly stuck it out and frowned. It was rather cute.
I emptied my glass in an instant and began filling it again. The sensation of breathing out hotly, of my head growing hazy as I became slightly drunk, felt wonderful as always.
*
“Titania, are you all right?”
“...I’m a little dizzy.”
Once the bottle was somewhat empty, Titania’s expression looked slightly dazed. Her eyes were completely unfocused, half-drunk. Just as I thought I should make her stop drinking, I tried to take her glass—
Titania quickly whisked it away and giggled. She held out the nearly empty glass to me, clearly wanting to drink more, but I pushed it away and refused.
“That’s enough. You’ll have a hard time tomorrow if you drink too much.”
“...That’s a shame. I was planning to get completely drunk and have Mother nurse me here all day tomorrow...”
Titania revealed her true intentions with a giggle. Who would have thought she was thinking something like that? Was she already drunk? I thought she had only had two glasses, but her face was already completely slack.
As Titania’s drunken head began to sway, I pulled her unsteady body toward me and let her lean against my shoulder. If I laid her down right away, she might feel dizzy and throw up.
“If you’re dizzy, stay like this for a while.”
“...Yes.”
Leaning her head against my shoulder, Titania let out a soft chuckle and closed her eyes. In the quiet bedroom, the only sound was that of me sipping my drink. Just as I thought I should stop drinking soon—
Titania’s palm, hot from the heat of intoxication, gently settled on the back of my hand. I turned my head slightly and looked at Titania leaning against my shoulder. Her eyes remained closed, and she wore a contented smile.
Her fingers fidgeted as they softly enclosed and stroked the back of my hand. Then they slipped between my fingers, interlaced with them, and firmly clasped my hand. Up to that point, it was fine. Interlacing our fingers was fine, but—
“...Titania.”
Titania lifted our clasped hands as they were and drew mine toward her face. When her heated breath brushed the back of my hand, a shiver ran down my spine.
Titania, who had been resting her head on my shoulder, opened her hazy eyes and looked up at me with half-lidded, drunken eyes. Then, squeezing my hand tightly, she asked,
“...How far can a mother and daughter go, in Mother’s opinion?”
“...What?”
“If I’m your daughter, can I kiss Mother?”
She was asking if she could kiss me? Of course—
“No.”
“What about on the cheek?”
“Not even on the cheek...”
Along with the thought that it was fortunate she wasn’t more drunk than this, I firmly rejected Titania. Even so, kissing was out of the question. We might have done it often in the past, but it wouldn’t be an ordinary kiss now.
“Then, is it all right if I hug you?”
“...Not right now.”
If Titania had been sober, I might have allowed it. But I couldn’t permit it when she was drunk and saying whatever came to mind. Leaning her head against my shoulder, Titania pouted and muttered, “Everything is forbidden as soon as I say it...,” but there was nothing I could do.
“Then, is it all right if I hold your hand like this?”
“...This is fine.”
“Then what about holding your wrist like this?”
Our interlaced fingers came apart, and Titania’s hand gripped my wrist without leaving the slightest gap. Her large hand could wrap around my wrist with room to spare. I unconsciously held my breath at the heat spreading across my entire hand, then let out a small sigh.
“...That’s fine.”
“Then what about your forearm?”
“...That should be fine.”
Titania’s hot palm moved from my wrist and began kneading my forearm. As she kneaded the flesh of my arm, Titania giggled and said, “You really have gained weight.” I nearly smacked her one.
Of course I had gained weight. I had been cooped up in my room for a month, unable to go outside, eating nothing but the meals and alcohol brought to me. It would have been stranger if I hadn’t gained any. Just as I began wondering whether I should exercise—
“Then... what about your thigh?”
Titania’s idle hand stroked down my thigh and moved toward the inner flesh. I hitched my shoulders and gave Titania, who was leaning against me, a light shove. I had suspected as much, but it really was just as I thought!
“What kind of scheme are you trying to pull?!”
“Hehehe.”
Titania’s movements when she touched my wrist and forearm had felt almost like a massage, so I had simply let her continue. Then she suddenly targeted my thigh. At that moment, I wondered if I should ban her from holding hands as well.
Titania asked me in a slightly choked voice,
“...Please tell me how far I can go. So I won’t make mistakes like this. I’ll do everything Mother says from now on. I won’t make any mistakes. So please, tell me.”
Looking at Titania, whose eyes had reddened as if she might burst into tears at any moment, I could do nothing but sigh without saying a word. I couldn’t push her away when she looked at me like that...
“You... Could it be...”
I wanted to ask if she acted this way on purpose because I forgave everything whenever she did, but I swallowed the question along with the wine in my glass. Looking at Titania’s expression, I knew she was sincere.
Titania’s attitude showed that she was being extremely careful because she didn’t want to hurt me anymore. She approached me as cautiously as one might approach an animal that could die if touched.
‘In the end, she doesn’t know the answer, so she’s asking this bluntly. Is it because she’s drunk?’
I couldn’t exactly tell her, “No more hugs! No more kisses! No more anything!” What should I do? I let out another deep sigh, turned my head, and answered Titania, who was waiting beside me.
“...Just keep it reasonable.”
“...Yes.”
Upon hearing my answer, Titania wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and smiled brightly. Yes, just keep it reasonable. Then I would overlook to some extent whatever feelings you had when you touched me...
*
The following afternoon.
I was eating lunch while conversing with Titania in the room when the terrace door suddenly flew open, and Veronica walked straight in. Titania seemed slightly startled as well, and raised her head to look at Veronica.
“Vivian, can you come to the hut right now?”
“Right now? Is it urgent?”
“It’s not urgent. It’s just that yesterday, when I told the dwarves you were coming to the hut, several of them hid already because they didn’t want you to come... So I thought it would be better to get it over with quickly...”
“...I really haven’t done anything to the dwarves...”
At the sudden news that I was hated, I couldn’t help but grow depressed. What could I do? It wasn’t only the dwarves who didn’t like me—the fairies didn’t care for me much either. It was simply a problem with Vivian.
I let out a small sigh, stood up, and answered Veronica.
“...All right, I’ll go right away. Oh, am I going alone? What about Titania?”
“Titania can come too. It’s not something we need to hide.”
When Veronica nodded to Titania to indicate that it was all right, Titania also rose from her seat and approached me. It wasn’t particularly urgent, and there was nothing we needed to hide. Hearing that, I felt relieved inside.
Without knowing what was about to happen to me.