[Chapter 60] - The First Friend (1)
The road leading to the forest where the hunting competition was being held.
Inside the swaying carriage, I busied myself enduring motion sickness as I read through the documents I had organized. Written in the documents were things like the personal details of the ‘Lady’ who had invited us to the hunting competition and her family. Since we had decided to stay at the lady’s mansion for a day before the hunting competition began, this information was essential.
Countess Serena.
One of the five ladies who had attended the Princess’s first tea party, and the lady who had invited the Princess to the ‘hunting competition.’ And she was also the mother of the young lady who had burst into tears at the tea party upon seeing the wolf, hugging a girl named Emily.
‘The Count, her husband, passed away in an accident the year before last... The Count’s estate was inherited by the lady, but currently the Count’s unmarried younger sister has inherited the Count title and is leading the family together with the Countess... Currently, what House Serena is most focused on is the joint venture with Lady Sergio...’
Honestly, I was a little surprised when I first read the part about the Count’s ‘younger sister’ inheriting the household, but thinking about it again, it wasn’t exactly impossible in this world.
After all, this was a country that had even had a ‘Queen’ ascend to the throne long ago.
There were even two women among the ministerial positions, so it wasn’t very surprising.
It would be troublesome if I made a slip of the tongue upon meeting the Countess, so it was easier to memorize anything that might be a landmine beforehand. Thinking I had memorized it all, I furrowed my brow and then glanced sideways to look at the Princess.
Perhaps because it was her first time outside the palace since she was born, the Princess had been busy looking out the window ever since we boarded the carriage. Things she had only learned in books and lessons were appearing before her eyes—how amazing must that be?
The palace was not a small place, but compared to the outside, it was infinitely narrow.
‘Well... it’s my first time outside the palace too.’
Even though it was clearly my first time outside the palace as well, I didn’t feel as moved as the Princess. I merely thought, ‘Ah, so this is what it feels like.’ I didn’t burst into admiration at every single thing passing by like the Princess did. Wasn’t it simply the difference between a child’s gaze and an adult’s?
The Princess couldn’t close her mouth, busy asking Ainsel about every single thing they passed. Whether it was the windmill spinning round and round in the center of the village, the crops ripening to a golden hue over the wide fields, or even a single bird briefly resting in a tree.
The curiosity of the Princess, who had come outside the world for the first time, knew no end. Ainsel was struggling with the endless questions too, to the point of crying out to me for help. Ainsel, who had climbed onto my earring for the first time in ages, whispered to me in an exhausted voice.
“Vivian... I’ve already been at this for ten hours... Could you please take the Princess’s questions for me just for a moment...?”
“Why should I?”
“Huh...? Why, you ask...?”
“You don’t even pay attention to someone like me anymore, yet you only come to me when you need something? Do I look that easy to you, oh ‘Mirror Fairy’ who hasn’t even made a contract with me?”
“Ah, no, are you still sulking?! I apologized, didn’t I?!”
At Ainsel’s voice shouting in bewilderment, I let out a small scoff. These days, Ainsel didn’t even come to her main body in my room, living instead in the Princess’s necklace and only seeking me out when needed. I was sick with hatred for her.
During the Princess’s ‘running away incident,’ Ainsel hadn’t said a word to me and hadn’t come to me. I had said I would forgive her, but it was still hard to forgive easily. How absurd it had been when she said she ‘couldn’t remember’ because she had fallen asleep.
“Ah~ I suppose it’s because you’re a fairy, Ainsel, but you really don’t understand the human heart~ Did you think my heart would be soothed so easily with just a single apology?”
“But you said you’d forgive me!!”
“Perhaps because I fell asleep, but I don’t seem to remember?”
“Ah!”
Ainsel let out a short sigh and eventually made a whimpering sound. Hearing that sound, a chuckle escaped me without realizing it. I tapped my knee and called the Princess, who was looking out the window. Then the bundle of curiosity hopped onto my lap and smiled bashfully.
“Titania, is the outside that fascinating?”
“Yes! There are so many things I’m seeing for the first time, so it’s fun! Many things are a little different from what I’ve only seen in books, so it’s amazing. And the bird called a swan that was at the lake we passed earlier, in the book—”
So this was why Ainsel had asked me for help? At the sight of the Princess showing off her knowledge without rest, I could only laugh. Seeing her chatter excitedly, I felt strangely sorry, thinking, ‘Should I have taken her outside the palace a little sooner?’
When I glanced toward the window, the knight escorting us outside made eye contact with me and nodded. It was the signal that we would soon arrive at our destination, House Serena. I stroked the Princess’s head as she chirped endlessly on my lap like a chick, interrupting her words.
“It’s good to be amazed, but we’ll be arriving soon.”
“Huh? Already?”
“Already? Didn’t we leave early in the morning and only now arrive as night falls?”
Outside the carriage, the sun had set and it had already grown dark. The Princess also looked out the window, her eyes going wide as if amazed that so much time had passed, and gazed outside. Some time passed like that, and the carriage gradually slowed before eventually coming to a complete stop.
“Your Majesty the Queen, we have arrived at House Serena.”
The escorting knight knocked on the carriage and announced that we had arrived at House Serena. When I peeked out the window, as if House Serena had already known of our arrival, the maids and servants of the household were gathered in a crowd before the main gate, busy bowing their heads to receive us.
The door opened, and as I stepped down from the carriage, I saw a familiar face among the crowd and wore a bright smile. Then I took the Princess’s hand and walked toward where the familiar face was. To Lady Serena’s side, the one who had invited us to the hunting competition.
“Lady Serena.”
“Welcome to House Serena. Your Majesty Queen Vivian. And Princess Titania.”
Countess Serena, who had bowed her head deeply, raised it and introduced the woman standing beside her. With a young face even when compared to Countess Serena, a delicate face that still looked to be in her early twenties. Perhaps because she was very nervous, the woman offered a faltering greeting, bowed her head deeply, and introduced herself.
“I-I am Evette Serena, the one currently serving as the head of House Serena.”
“I am Hailey Serena, the wife of the late Count Serena.”
After the two women introduced themselves, I noticed the young lady standing beside Lady Serena, extremely nervous. The young lady who had burst into tears at the sight of the wolf and collapsed on the floor, sobbing and hiccupping. That young lady, in a state of extreme tension, bowed her head deeply and greeted me in a loud voice that seemed like it would rupture one’s eardrums.
“I-I’m Viola Serena! Your Majesty and Princess, I sincerely! Welcome! A-and th-this is something I made myself...!”
Viola took out two small, cute bouquets she had hidden behind her back, trotted forward, walked up to the Princess, and handed them over. When the Princess received the bouquets and smiled shyly, some of the tension seemed to leave Viola, and she grinned with a heh-heh laugh.
I stroked Viola’s head like that and received a small, cute bouquet—a petite and adorable bouquet of lily of the valley bells. Looking at the bouquet that strongly gave the feeling of having been made by a child alone, earnestly worrying over it without an adult’s help, I couldn’t hide the laugh that escaped me.
“Hoho, I am delighted by such a warm welcome, Viola. I ask for your kindness while we stay here.”
“Y-yes!”
*
Having arrived at the Count’s estate, we first took a brief rest before being led by the hand to the dining hall by Viola. When we arrived at the dining hall, dishes that seemed to have been prepared with twice the usual care were laid out. They didn’t have to go this far...
“D-does the meal suit your palate...?”
“...Don’t be so nervous. It is an excellent dinner.”
Well, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t understand the Count and the lady’s feelings. No matter how bad the rumors were, having the country’s ‘Queen’ and ‘Princess’ stay at House Serena—how nervous must they be? I didn’t know about the lady, but the young Count had clearly been nervous throughout the meal with me.
As that dinner, where one couldn’t tell if the food was entering through the nose or the mouth, came to an end, perhaps because the fatigue of chattering incessantly in the carriage had finally caught up, the Princess began dozing off before the dining table. I was wondering what to do, as we had just finished dinner and it was still too early to go to the room, when—
“Princess, would you not like to tour the mansion with Viola? Though the mansion is humble and small compared to the palace, the garden visible from the terrace is truly beautiful.”
“Huh?”
Lady Serena suggested to the Princess that she tour the mansion. The Princess, who had been nodding back and forth like a roly-poly toy, started in surprise at the voice calling her and wiped the drool from her lips. The Princess glanced up at me with sleepy eyes, as if trying to grasp the situation.
“...Will you go play with Viola for a while?”
The Princess blinked her sleepy eyes, covered her mouth with her hand to let out a big yawn, and nodded. Perhaps because she had been quite bored here, unable to even converse with Ainsel, the Princess hopped down from her chair and approached Viola. Then she turned her head again to look at me—
*Yawn.* “Where will we sleep at night...?”
“Ask to be guided to my room where you rested earlier. Weren’t we going to sleep together anyway?”
The Princess nodded lightly. Having woken up a bit from her sleep, the Princess was about to trot out of the dining hall with Viola. At that moment, Ainsel, smiling bashfully from the Princess’s necklace, caught my eye. Just before the Princess went outside, I flicked my finger and gestured for Ainsel to return to my earring.
“Why...?”
Why? What are you doing tagging along where the children are playing?
Normally I would have sent Ainsel to the Princess’s side, but in this place with no particular danger, I decided there was no need for Ainsel to follow the Princess, so I kept her by my side. Because if things went well, the Princess might gain her first human friend rather than a fairy one.
Leaving behind Ainsel, who sulked and let out a ‘hmph,’ I sipped from my glass of wine. Then Lady Serena and the Count exchanged glances and looked at me with soft smiles. Wondering if I had said something strange, I looked up at the two with widened eyes—
“Do you usually sleep together with the Princess?”
“...Is that strange?”
The two laughed even more gleefully at my answer. When I tilted my head, Lady Serena answered with the corners of her eyes curved in a smile, as if envious.
“No, it’s not strange at all. Viola is ten years old now, but... since last year she said it was embarrassing to sleep with me. So I couldn’t help but feel envious... hoho.”
The moment I heard those words, my heart sank without me realizing it. What if the Princess said it was embarrassing to sleep with me? Just imagining it made my chest ache as if I had been wounded. Would the day eventually come when she hit puberty and said, ‘I hate sleeping with Mom!’ like Viola?
Just imagining the Princess during puberty made my mouth go dry, so I only sipped wine. As I did, Lady Serena took one of the wine bottles placed on the tray and showed it to me. A wine bottle that looked expensive enough to tell at a glance that it was a high-class wine.
Perhaps slightly drunk, the lady kept looking at me and smiling. The corners of her eyes curved beautifully like a crescent moon, and her lips drew a soft arc.
“There is still much wine left... and the night is still long... If it is alright with Your Majesty the Queen, how about we go to the room and have a drink together? I’m sure it will be enjoyable.”
“Hmm? To the room? We could talk in the dining hall...”
“It’s rather awkward to talk only in the dining hall. The children’s eyes have disappeared for the first time in a while; how about we have a time to share our hearts ‘just among parents’? Such time is rare for parents.”
The words ‘just among parents.’ Enticed by that, I sipped my glass briefly and fell into thought.
‘...Wouldn’t it be fine?’
As Lady Serena said, a situation where ‘just parents’ gathered for the first time in a while. The Count wasn’t a parent, but well, she was an adult anyway. And indeed, such situations were rare. I also wanted to hear from Lady Serena about ‘raising’ a child. And...
‘I’m Vivian, whose nasty rumors make it difficult to step into social circles despite being the Queen. If I become close with the ladies and rumors spread that the current Vivian isn’t the ‘old Vivian,’ wouldn’t that be a good thing? And what, could anything happen? Isn’t a gathering where ladies share a drink also part of social circles?’
Having finished my calculations in my head, I set down my wine glass on the table and looked at the two with a bright smile, just like the lady. The lady and the Count, seeing my smile, grinned even more broadly.
“Let’s go right now!”
It was absolutely not that I had been swept away by the drinks I was seeing for the first time.
This was simply an extension of socializing.