[Episode 14] - Great Teacher Vivian (1)
The time system of the child-rearing simulation game “Snow White” was broadly divided into four periods. Named after the seasons, it was a system in which Snow White grew up in the order of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
From age 5 to 10 was spring.
From age 10 to 15 was summer.
From age 15 to 20 was autumn.
And after age 20 came winter, the ending.
In other words, excluding “winter,” the ending, the game set its standards every five years using the names of the four seasons.
Each season had “Main Events” that absolutely had to be cleared, and the gameplay of “Snow White” revolved around gradually raising the princess with the goal of clearing those events.
At present, the princess was 6 years old.
In fact, her birthday was coming up soon, and she would be 7.
Spring’s “Main Event” would be held on the princess’s seventh birthday, but there was no need to pay it any particular mind. Since it was an event from the very first season, it was one that could be cleared regardless of how she had been raised.
Rather than an event, it was closer to a “declaration.”
What worried me more than that event right now was...
The princess’s “timid personality.”
Originally, in the game, she was a tomboy princess who would practically grow thorns if she didn’t play a prank at least once a day, but from what I had seen of her so far, the princess’s personality didn’t seem to be like that.
Perhaps because the strange situation that hadn’t existed in the game had overlapped with the marchioness’s oppression, the princess’s “timid personality” seemed worse than I had expected. I wanted to make her at least a little less timid before “summer,” which started after age 10, but...
“Princess, it isn’t scary, so hurry and climb aboard.”
Having climbed onto the boat to go boating, I held out my hand to the princess, but she shook her head violently and busied herself hiding behind Ellie’s skirt.
Ordinarily, if the princess hated it this much, I would have given up too, but I couldn’t do that today. After all, this lake was the most suitable place to test what I had practiced with Ainsel all night yesterday.
With her face buried in the hem of Ellie’s skirt, the princess refused to meet my eyes, as if she truly hated the idea. Watching her, I let out a small sigh, stepped down from the boat, and approached her.
“Princess, do you not want to go boating with me?”
“N-no...”
“Then, is the boat scary? Or the lake?”
At my question, the princess glanced toward the small boat. Perhaps she was frightened of getting into the little boat, because the hand clutching Ellie’s skirt tightened with a squeeze.
“It can’t be helped.”
“U-ack!”
I slipped my hands under the princess’s armpits as she clung to Ellie’s skirt and lifted her up in an instant. In that moment, the princess’s eyes widened in great surprise.
“N-no...! Ellie! Ellie...!!”
Dangling from my hands, kicking both feet, the princess called for Ellie with tears in her eyes. Hearing the princess’s frail cry, Ellie flailed her hands behind her, not knowing what to do.
“Y-Your Majesty... must she really get on the boat...?”
“What will happen if she remains afraid forever? And don’t worry too much. We won’t be going that far today.”
Since the dangling princess was struggling too much, I had no choice but to hold her in my arms.
Using my hand supporting her bottom like a chair, the princess hooked both legs around me, placed both arms over my shoulders, and busied herself clinging to me as though she were choking my neck.
She buried her face in my shoulder and hid it while sniffling, as if she didn’t even want to look at the lake. Every time the princess sniffled, I could feel my shoulder growing wetter and wetter.
Holding the princess like that, I climbed onto the boat and sat in the middle of the wooden vessel, seating the princess between my legs. Normally we would sit facing each other, but since the princess was so frightened, there was no helping it.
“Ellie, we’ll be back, so prepare something for the princess to drink later.”
“A-are you really sure it’s all right for just the two of you to ride...?”
Looking at Ellie’s worried face, I smiled faintly, then lowered my head to look at the princess. Sitting between my legs, the princess had curled up like a pill bug and showed no intention of moving.
“Princess, you should wave to Ellie and tell her we’ll be back.”
At my words, the princess did not lift her head, but she raised just one hand from where it had been hugging her knees and gently waved at Ellie. Ellie, too, looked at her and gave the princess a small wave.
“Now then, let us depart.”
“Huu...”
Clunk.
When I moved the oar, the wooden boat rocked greatly. I began rowing toward a spot that wasn’t very far from land, but was far enough that other people wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation between the princess and me.
As I slowly rowed and cut across the lake, the shaking gradually lessened. I glanced down and asked the princess wedged between my legs.
“Princess, lift your head a little. The scenery is beautiful.”
The princess, who had thoroughly soaked her dress with tears on the way here, slowly raised her head. Perhaps because she had cried so much that she couldn’t see properly, she shook her head from side to side.
“Slowly. It’s all right. It isn’t scary.”
I carefully wiped the tear-filled corners of the princess’s eyes. She must have cried quite a lot, because my palm quickly became damp enough that I needed a handkerchief.
The princess slowly steadied her breathing, straightened her back, and gazed at the scenery spreading out from the boat. The view seen while sitting aboard a boat gliding through the wind.
It was only a small lake inside the royal castle, but even so, it was beautiful enough.
A cool lake breeze brushed against our bodies, and the sound of the wooden boat cutting through the ripples reached our ears. In her wide-open eyes were engraved the slowly shifting scenery and the clear sky.
The princess no longer hugged her knees.
Slowly stretching out her legs, the princess leaned against me and raised her head high to look up at the sky. As if she wanted to take into her eyes the scenery moving slowly like clouds.
“How is it? It isn’t scary, is it?”
I smiled brightly and lowered my head to look at the princess. Perhaps a little embarrassed that she had been crying until just now, the princess said nothing and turned her head to look at the surrounding scenery.
As I continued rowing like that, we were soon able to arrive at a suitable spot. It wasn’t the exact center of the lake, but it was still a somewhat ambiguous place, a little distance away from land, and there I stopped rowing.
Then now... it was time to begin the lesson.
“Princess, don’t stick your head out of the boat. Watch the lake closely.”
—You remember what we practiced yesterday, don’t you?
Recalling the things Ainsel had taught me all night, I gave a small nod. Then I slowly reached my hand out over the side of the boat and tapped the calm surface of the lake with one finger.
Splash.
I felt something circulating within my body slip out through my finger and seep into the lake. Each time that something flowed out little by little, ripples spread from the finger touching the lake, and the sky reflected on the water’s surface quivered.
Splash. Splash.
As the splashing sound rang out again and again, I slowly felt something crawl up over my finger. Glug, glug. The water making those sounds crawled up my arm and slowly formed a small shape.
The thing that had climbed up my hand looked like a cute little mermaid, with the lower body of a fish and the upper body of a person.
—Did you call? Did you call?
“Yes, I called you. Undine.”
When I stroked Undine with my finger, Undine giggled and began rolling around on my palm. When I placed that Undine on the princess’s palm, the princess blankly looked up at me.
“A-as expected. Your Majesty the Queen, are you a witch...?”
“H-hm?”
At the question I had never expected, I tilted my head and looked down at the princess. Usually, if I showed someone something like this, I thought they would say, “Your Majesty can see them too!” or deny it with, “I-I don’t know anything about that.”
The princess looked up at me with a slightly uneasy gaze. Looking at that gaze, I smiled softly, placed my hand over the princess’s, and looked at Undine playing on her hand.
“Why do you think that?”
“B-because... the marchioness said so... She said I can see things like this because I was cursed by a witch... That Your Majesty put a curse on me... S-so... that’s why I see things like this...”
“......”
You’re still tripping me up to the very end, Marchioness.
Gently stroking the anxious princess’s head, I continued speaking.
“First of all, the reason you can see things like this is not because of a curse.”
“R-really...?”
“Of course. If anything, it’s more like a blessing. Not just anyone can see these ‘beings.’ In this vast royal castle, I’ll bet you and I are the only two people who can see these children.”
As if to say my words were correct, the Undine on the princess’s palm began hopping up and down. Perhaps the princess found that Undine cute, because she looked at it and smiled bashfully.
“And in this world, there aren’t only bad witches. There are plenty of good witches too.”
“...I can’t imagine it.”
Actually, neither can I.
I had never met any other witches, and the witch who appeared in the game was also someone with that sort of personality. Still, there was probably at least one good witch somewhere.
Ahem. I cleared my throat and looked at the princess again with a bright smile.
“In any case, being able to see things like this is neither a curse nor anything of the sort. And why would I put a curse on you? There’s no way I would torment a young child like you, is there?”
“B-but last time, you called me a damned little brat...”
Damn it, Vivian.
There’s nothing she won’t say to a six-year-old child. It wasn’t even something I had said, and yet I was at a loss as to how to get through this situation, so for a moment, my breath caught in my throat.
I let out a small sigh and turned the princess’s body so that she was facing me. As if that memory had truly hurt her, the princess’s cheeks began to puff up more and more.
“A-at that time... I truly am sorry. Won’t you forgive me?”
I apologized as I pressed a finger into the princess’s plump, puffed-out cheek. Then, with a pshoo, the air escaped from the princess’s mouth. At the same time the air left her, the princess’s expression crumpled sharply.
The princess lifted her chin and frowned as if she had a lot to say, but as though I had no interest in such an expression, I patted the wrinkle between her brows with my finger and smoothed it out.
Perhaps my touch simply tickled her, because the corners of the princess’s mouth, despite her fierce frown, began to loosen slightly. I didn’t miss that moment and asked the princess.
“Will you forgive me?”
“...Just this once.”
“Hoho, thank you.”
Though reluctant, the princess turned her head as if there was no other choice and forgave me. Then she turned her back to me again, sat between my legs, and looked at the Undine on her hand.
Perhaps trying to cheer the princess up, Undine was busily showing off on the princess’s hand. It did somersaults in the air, spun round and round on her palm—at any rate, it diligently whirled about.
Pointing at Undine with my finger, I spoke to the princess.
“To return to what we were discussing... Princess, what do you think this child on your palm is?”
“I don’t really know... The marchioness said they were things like evil spirits or demons.”
At that answer, I placed my hand on the lake again and scattered the “mana” circulating in my body into the water. Then, unlike before, Undines gathered in little droplets and swarmed up my arm onto the boat.
One, two, three. As more than ten Undines gathered and began showing off, the princess was busy staring at them and exclaiming, “Wow, wow.”
“These children are fairies.”
One Undine, hopping about on the boat with little splashes, climbed onto the princess’s shoulder. The princess looked completely absorbed in watching the Undine while listening to my story.
“In my lessons from now on, I will teach you about ‘fairies.’”
Until you meet the “Seven Dwarfs.”