[Episode 56] - The Children’s Social Gathering (1)
The princess’s first social gathering was arranged under the direction of the ministers. Vanchot, the Minister of Finance, prepared a modest tea-party venue in the garden, while the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Education carefully selected and invited the guests.
In effect, the first social gathering had been prepared in such a way that it could not possibly fail, even if someone tried to make it fail. It was a tea party hosted by us, and we had even chosen the subject ourselves. Wasn’t the tea party practically guaranteed to be a success already?
“For now, these are the people the Minister of Education and I carefully selected together. We chose parents who have children around the princess’s age, while also ensuring that they have no political ties to the royal palace—or at least none that would cause harm.”
I looked over the list of names handed to me by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Perhaps because of the difficult requirement of finding parents who had children around the princess’s age and no political connections to the royal palace, there were not very many people on the list.
Even the noble ranks were all over the place, ranging from barons to counts. The list even included a merchant who had children from another country. Had it really been that difficult?
“You have worked hard. It seems it was more difficult than expected to find children who met the conditions.”
“Unfortunately, yes. We selected mostly children who were attending their first social gathering. And on top of that, there were all the other conditions... Whenever someone seemed to meet them, it turned out they did not keep a pet.”
I wondered if we had been too selective, but I did not want the princess to be ignored by the other children as she had been in the game. I handed the list back to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and let out a small sigh.
“By the way, do you know when the puppy the Minister of Education said he would send is coming?”
“Why are you asking me that...? You know very well that I loathe that man and those animals of his. Well... I suppose he needs to make preparations in his own way.”
Why would he need so many preparations just to lend us a single puppy? When I frowned at him in puzzlement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs shook his head and replied that he had no idea.
Come to think of it, this had happened a few days ago when I went to visit the Queen Dowager. As we sipped our drinks in the night breeze, the subject of the Minister of Education lending the princess a ‘pet’ had come up.
The Queen Dowager had looked... honestly, quite shocked. She had opened one eye wide as though to say, “Has this person lost his mind?” Then, without saying anything, she had merely let out a long sigh and spoken to me as if she had given up.
‘Yes, I’m sure you know what you’re doing.’
‘Hehe.’
That was the last thing she said, and after that, the Queen Dowager never spoke about the ‘pet’ again. At the time, I had simply been happy, thinking that the Queen Dowager trusted me enough now that she did not even need to say anything...
With less than a month remaining until the children’s social gathering, I had begun to feel strangely worried about the ‘pet’ whose fur I had yet to see. Should I bring another puppy here even now? I wondered, but...
‘Of course. Would someone who holds a ministerial position for no reason be that foolish? He must be a perfectly sensible person. He is the Minister of Education, after all—a position one could not hold without common sense, right?’
Thinking that, I let the matter slide.
Even though letting things slide so carelessly had never once worked out well for me...
*
The day of the tea party held for Titania’s children’s social gathering arrived.
As Titania was getting dressed for the tea party, she stuck out her lower lip. Perhaps she had grown tired of everyone around her badgering her for the past few months under the pretext of preparing for the social gathering, because her face was full of sulkiness.
“I never got to see the puppy...”
She had waited, believing her mother’s promise that she would bring her a puppy, but she had yet to see the puppy’s face even once. And now, the subject of the tea party was ‘the animal you keep’...
Titania had no idea how she was supposed to introduce a puppy she would be meeting for the first time today. The animals the other children brought would all be ones they had spent a long time with, while hers would be a puppy she had only just met.
Seeing Titania looking so pouty and not knowing what to do, Einsel asked whether she would like to take a walk in the garden, since there was still time before the tea party.
“The weather is nice, and Vivian looks busy, so how about taking a short walk? There’s still time. Besides, the garden is close to the gate, so you might be able to meet the puppy soon.”
“...Okay. I will.”
Titania hopped down from her chair and began walking toward the garden with quick, light steps. Looking around, she saw maids hurrying about to prepare the tea party and gardeners tending to the grounds. Everyone was busy moving about.
As she wandered through the garden, feeling utterly at a loss over what she should do, Titania’s gaze fell upon a little girl crouching beside a stream trickling through a corner of the garden.
Her golden hair looked as though it had been spun from melted gold, and her eyes were a bright red much like Titania’s own. She even appeared to be around the same age, or perhaps slightly younger.
For a moment, Titania could not take her eyes off the girl. First, because there were almost no children her age in this vast royal palace, leaving her with a peculiar feeling—and second...
“What are you doing...?”
It was because of the small turtle in the girl’s hands. Perhaps she was trying to teach it how to swim, for the girl was playing beside the stream with the turtle. Titania stared blankly at the sight.
It also seemed strange that there was not an adult in sight and that a girl was playing alone by a stream in the middle of the royal palace. Where had she even come from?
After a brief silence, the girl fidgeted at Titania’s question before answering in a very small voice. Truly, it was so quiet that only Titania could hear it.
“The weather is nice... so I wanted to... let the turtle swim...”
“...Swim?”
Titania glanced at the small fish tank beside the girl. Perhaps it was the turtle’s home, for the tank was empty and barely contained any water.
Only then did Titania realize that this girl was one of the young ladies invited to the tea party. She smiled brightly and approached the girl.
“What a cute turtle. May I take a look too?”
The girl alternated her gaze between the turtle playing in the stream and Titania, who had come up beside her. Then, with an awkward smile, she held out the turtle in her hands for Titania to see.
Unlike the other turtles Titania often saw in streams, this one had a spiky shell and a sharp-looking mouth. It was not exactly cute.
Its claws were sharp, and the spikes along its long tail were hardly features one would call adorable. It was smaller than Titania’s palm, so it appeared to be a baby turtle, but...
Puzzled by the appearance of a turtle she had never seen before, Titania asked the girl,
“It looks a little frightening... What is this turtle’s name?”
“Ppugi.”
“No, I mean, what is the name of its species?”
“Ah, they say it’s a wolf turtle. They call it that because its tail is long like a wolf’s, or because it’s fierce like one... I heard that when I received it as a gift last month. Hehe.”
At the mention of the turtle being fierce, Titania took a small step away from the girl. Indeed, the turtle looked not merely fierce, but frightening.
Titania had expected ordinary pets like puppies or cats to come to an event where children were supposed to bring their pets, so she found the situation somewhat amusing.
Putting the social gathering aside, perhaps this was an opportunity to see animals she had never encountered before in her life—Titania was carefully observing the girl’s wolf turtle when—
“Emily!”
“Ah, Sister!”
The girl, hearing someone call her name, put the turtle into the fish tank and began trotting toward the source of the voice.
At the place where the girl ran, a red-haired girl stood with both hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed out. She glared at the girl called Emily as if she were displeased.
“I told you not to go around by yourself!”
“But...”
The girl with the puffed-out cheeks had red hair, red eyes, and even a dress whose primary color was red. Her shoes were red as well. As Titania stared blankly at her, the red-haired girl ran over and bowed her head.
“I’m sorry! My little sister didn’t cause you any trouble, did she? She’s only six years old and the youngest, so... she’s rather free-spirited.”
“I’m fine. I even got to see an interesting turtle. Were you invited to this tea party too?”
The red-haired girl nodded, then shook her head again as if to say that was not quite right. She pushed Emily, who was still blankly gazing at the fish tank beside her, forward and introduced herself.
“I’m the one who was invited to the tea party... But my little sister Emily made such a fuss about having to come along... I told her to stay with the mothers, but... Ah, my name is Caroline Sergio.”
The mothers?
Titania tilted her head, wondering if she had heard incorrectly, but she missed her chance to ask about it again. With no other choice, Titania smiled brightly, gracefully lifted the edge of her dress, and offered a greeting.
“I am Titania Snow White. Thank you for attending this tea party, Miss Sergio.”
Caroline’s eyes widened when she realized that the person before her was the princess of this country. She bowed her head along with Emily, then fidgeted helplessly, unsure of what to do. Titania let out a small sigh.
“Shall we return to the tea-party venue for now? It will be starting soon, so the others must have arrived already.”
“Yes! Emily, shall we go now?”
At Caroline’s question, Emily smiled brightly. She looked as though anywhere would be fine as long as she could go with her sister. Caroline’s lips curled upward as well.
‘A little sister...’
Watching them, Titania was overcome by a vague sense of envy. She wished she had a younger sister or an older sister too... A loneliness and envy like that.
The sudden thought brought another unpleasant idea to mind, so Titania shook her head and chased it away. When she arrived at the tea-party venue with Caroline and Emily, she saw her mother speaking with another woman.
Perhaps because she had just felt lonely, Titania unconsciously rubbed her chest as if a hollow wind were blowing through it. She composed herself and was just about to quietly approach her mother when—
“Mama!!”
With that cry, Emily leaped toward the woman beside Titania’s mother. The woman, whose beautiful golden hair looked as if it had been spun from melted gold like Emily’s, possessed heterochromatic eyes as blue as the sea. She wore an embarrassed expression as Emily wrapped both arms tightly around her legs.
“Emily... I told you not to put your sister in such a difficult position...”
“I didn’t!”
The woman continued to look flustered at Emily’s bright smile, but eventually, as if admitting defeat, she smiled and lifted Emily into her arms. Caroline then approached them, sighing helplessly from the side.
Anyone who saw the three of them would immediately think they were family. They truly were a family. As Titania stared blankly at the sight, Vivian approached and introduced them to her.
“Titania, this is a merchant from another country who attended today’s tea party. She develops and sells items for children.”
After bowing her head, the woman knelt on one knee so that her eyes were level with Titania’s and smiled brightly. The merchants who usually visited the royal palace were all old, sly-looking men, so Titania could not help being surprised.
“My name is Elise Sergio.”
Emily, held in Elise’s arms, giggled. Then, stroking Caroline’s hair as she stood beside them, Elise continued,
“Originally, ‘Catherine Sergio,’ Caroline Sergio’s mother, was supposed to come... but due to unavoidable circumstances, I, as a member of the family, came in her place.”
“I look forward to getting along with you, Mrs. Sergio.”
Titania gave an elegant bow, and Elise accepted the greeting with a soft laugh. Then she pinched Emily’s cheeks while holding her and continued introducing her.
“And this is... my daughter, ‘Emily.’ Perhaps because she is my youngest, she adores her older sisters so much that she refuses to be apart from them even for a moment.”
“I don’t mind. It’s nice to meet you, Emily.”