[Episode 74] - For Mom! (2)
When I woke up and got out of bed, I realized Titania was not by my side.
Wondering where on earth she had gone, I asked the maids who had entered to attend me, but they merely looked at one another and giggled, evading any word of Titania’s whereabouts.
“I woke up to find Titania gone... Do you know where she went?”
“The princess seemed rather busy. I’m sure she’ll return shortly. Heehee.”
“That’s right. The princess will be back soon, so would you like to wash your face first? Or perhaps some tea?”
“I’ll wash my face first.”
Seeing the playful smiles on the maids’ faces as they looked at me, I figured nothing serious had happened, so I washed my face with the lukewarm water they brought and let them help me dress.
Having finished washing up and changed my clothes, I sipped the tea a maid served and spent the time until breakfast. I was drinking my tea, trying to recall today’s schedule, when I heard a knocking at the door.
“Your Majesty the Queen. May we enter? We have brought breakfast.”
“Breakfast?”
It was a man’s voice I had never heard before. Unless I specifically requested to eat in my room, meals were always taken in the dining hall. Yet suddenly, a meal in my room?
“Very well, come in.”
Since there was little difference between eating in the dining hall or in my room, I thought nothing of it and bid the man enter. But when the door opened, I couldn’t help but round my eyes wide.
Straining and grunting, Titania entered the room, carrying a large tray laden with food. Surprised by the unfamiliar sight, I looked with wide eyes at the man beside her dressed as a chef, and in his hands were yet more plates of food.
Titania set the food down on the table before me. Looking at the dishes, I could vaguely guess what she had been doing all this time. After all, piled upon the plate Titania brought was a clumsy-looking mound of mashed potatoes.
The mashed potatoes were heaped in lumps, taking up space where other food should have been. Bits of potato that had been too clumsily crushed to be fully mashed peeked through, revealing exactly who had made the dish.
I wondered what the man in the chef’s uniform was holding, but it was mashed potatoes as well. I looked around, wondering if there was any other food, but every single plate held nothing but mashed potatoes.
The moment I checked all the plates on the table, the smile slowly began to vanish from my face.
Whether he saw my expression or not, the man in the chef’s uniform cleared his throat and continued.
“Ahem, Your Majesty. Today’s breakfast is mashed potatoes made ‘personally’ by Princess Titania. We boiled the potatoes, but every other step—the mashing and the seasoning—the princess carried out ‘personally.’”
“...I see. Did Titania make all of this?”
Titania smiled shyly and nodded.
I glanced down and looked again at the mountains of mashed potatoes piled upon the plates. If every plate had been the same, I would have kept just one and sent the rest back, but inconveniently, the mashed potatoes on each plate were subtly different.
Some plates had bacon mixed in, some had cheese mixed in. Another had a slightly yellowish tint, as if sweet potatoes had been mixed in. I let out a hollow laugh at the dizzying mashed potato festival before my eyes when...
“The thing is... I’ve been avoiding you so much lately, Mom... so I’m sorry...”
Seeing Titania blush as if embarrassed, I felt a tight, choking sensation in my chest. I had been slightly worried that she had been avoiding me these past few days, so it was truly a relief to learn that it wasn’t because she disliked me.
And to think she had even made me homemade food like this, thinking of me...
“They say handmade food helps people grow closer...”
Saying so, Titania tapped the Einsel hanging around her neck. At that, Einsel let out an “Ahem!” and put on a proud expression.
Yes, the idea of making handmade food was fine. But why on earth...
“Thank you, truly... But why... only mashed potatoes...?”
“Allow me to explain that.”
The man standing beside me in the chef’s uniform bowed his head and continued explaining. Looking closely, I realized this was the royal head chef whom I had seen from afar before.
“The princess expressed a wish to serve you a dish she had made herself, Your Majesty, so I pondered the menu. The kitchen is already an extremely dangerous place for a young princess. Sharp blades lie here and there, and the kitchen fires never go out.”
“I see... And so?”
“Therefore, I thought of a menu that would not be dangerous for the princess to prepare. Something suitable for breakfast and safe for the princess—this was the only option.”
Don’t you make sandwiches without fire...?
The words rose to my throat, but I swallowed them down with a dry gulp and held my tongue. Well, perhaps they lacked the ingredients, or the prep work took too long. Even if it was the royal kitchen, such things could happen...
“And... we truly did our utmost. The princess did her best... and we... we truly did our best, Your Majesty. I hope you will understand...”
As the head chef spoke as if making excuses, I felt I could already tell what these mashed potatoes tasted like. Seeing him speak to this extent, just what on earth had happened in that kitchen?
I forced a smile and looked down at the mountain of mashed potatoes before me. In my heart, I wanted to eat everything since Titania had made it herself, but realistically it was utterly impossible.
Besides, to be honest, I didn’t particularly like mashed potatoes...
*Still, for now... I should eat as much as I can...*
I took a large spoonful from the plate and put it in my mouth. Lumps of steamed potato that hadn’t been fully mashed rolled around inside. Perhaps the salt hadn’t been mixed in well either; when a chunk of salt touched my tongue, I found myself reaching for water before I knew it.
One side tasted insanely salty, while another had absolutely no flavor at all. The sharp taste of salt stabbed at my tongue and the bland, flavorless taste of potato rampaged in my mouth, but I forced a smile and looked at Titania. When I smiled, her expression brightened immeasurably.
“Aren’t you... going to eat, Titania?”
“This is all food made for you, Mom...! And I already ate the food the chefs prepared in the kitchen, so I’m full! Ah, and adding the bacon and cheese was the head chef’s idea!”
“I see... I see...”
Somehow... I thought I knew.
I could clearly picture it: Titania eating in the kitchen and being too full to taste the food afterward; the head chef and other cooks beside her trying their best to salvage the dish, only to fail in the end.
The head chef must have taught her properly, but since it was handmade, he couldn’t completely interfere. Or perhaps when he tried to step in, Titania said, *“I’m going to make it myself!”*
When I glanced at the head chef, he bowed his head with a solemn expression. It was as if he was saying with his face, *“I am truly sorry I could not stop the princess.”*
Couldn’t this variety of mashed potatoes be the result of the head chef and cooks’ desperate efforts to somehow save the dish? In the end, I gulped down water to combat the saltiness.
When I raised my head slightly, Titania was looking at me with sparkling eyes. In a situation where I could neither say it tasted bad nor stop eating, I could only smile bitterly.
“Is it because you made it yourself? It’s truly delicious...”
“Hehe! There’s plenty, so please eat lots!”
Really... just what had happened in that kitchen...
*
I couldn’t eat everything, but I ended up taking at least one spoonful of every mashed potato. The first had been serious, but thanks to the head chef’s efforts, perhaps, the others were more or less edible.
As I sat there after finishing the meal, Titania kept glancing at me. When I smiled and tapped my knee, she recognized my signal and came running to my side with quick little steps. She hopped onto my lap and settled in. I wrapped my arm around her waist, leaned back in the chair, feeling full, and let out a tired sigh.
I felt it was time to talk, so I poked Titania’s cheek to make her look at me.
“Won’t you tell me now?”
“W-what?”
“Why have you been avoiding me these past few days? Did I do something wrong? If you’re going this far as to cook for me, I suppose that’s not it...”
When I asked, Titania’s face flushed bright red and her shoulders tensed. Unable to understand this reaction, I tilted my head, and she mumbled in a voice as small as ants crawling.
“...B-because... you... kissed me...”
“What?”
“M-Mom...... kissed my lips without permission... The book said you’re not supposed to do that without permission... it was written there...”
“...What?”
At Titania’s reaction, as if she were about to burst into tears at any moment, I was at a loss and could only busy myself with patting her head. So she was saying she hated it so much she’d cry? What was this...
Now that I thought about it, Titania had started avoiding me since then. Ever since the day after I got drunk and kissed her lips. Lately my head had been such a mess because of Snow White that I had completely forgotten...
“I-I’m sorry... I didn’t know you hated it that much...”
When I apologized, Titania trembled, holding back her tears, looking so wronged. With a heart half shocked and half worried, I tried hard to comfort her, but her sorrow showed no signs of stopping.
“Th-the book said it was precious...! It said you only give it to someone you love...! M-Mom...!”
“Y-yes, yes. I stole your precious first kiss, didn’t I? How on earth should I apologize... Won’t you stop crying first? Hmm?”
*—What on earth are you two doing...?*
Ignoring Einsel, who asked as if he truly didn’t know, I held Titania and comforted her earnestly. As if the sorrow that had burst forth wouldn’t stop, she sobbed and cried. Hearing those sobs, I wanted to wail too.
“M-Mom stole my ch-chastity... hic...!”
“Ah, n-no, it’s not as if a first kiss counts as chastity... And how in the world do you know the word chastity...”
A child’s growth was always a joyous thing, but this kind of growth was more bewildering than joyful. Was it my fault for putting off sex education? Titania, who misunderstood chastity, burst into wails at the shock of having her chastity stolen by me? Though this innocent sight was cute too...
*What am I going to do...*
I should have properly taught Titania about sexual matters here, but comforting her was the priority for now. Besides, it was both funny and cute to see a little child wailing on about chastity.
When Titania grew up, I would have to tease her with this story. *“Don’t you remember crying in my arms when you were little, saying ‘Mom stole my chastity~’?”* I’d tease her like that. I giggled secretly at the crying Titania and continued to comfort her.
I felt proud that Titania had already grown this much, yet also a little bitter. Soon she wouldn’t sleep beside me anymore either.
...There were exactly 8 years left before I left the palace, but I only had about 5 years left to spend with Titania. When she turned 15, she would enter the academy dormitory and live there. I planned to use the remaining 3 years without her to lay the groundwork for living outside the palace.
It might be nice to mooch off another witch, or buy a building with the money I’d received from the palace and live as a landlord. With Einsel around, I wouldn’t be lonely either.
Thinking of the future made me feel a little lonely. Then I couldn’t help but worry about Snow White... what would become of that child. What would happen if she was caught by other witches...
Thinking that Titania would have become like Snow White if she had grown up in misfortune, I couldn’t help but sympathize despite not wanting to. It was an inevitable pity.
*...It’s just 5 more years.*
I held Titania tight in my arms as she cried in sorrow. Time that was long if long, and but a moment if short. No other thought crossed my mind than that I should make her a little happier during that long yet short time.
I had tried to assign dwarves to keep her company so she wouldn’t be lonely without me... but Snow White had taken all the dwarves, so unfortunately, as Snow White said, I had to give up on them.
*...Can a Snow White who grows up with her stepmother without meeting the dwarves still be called Snow White?*
At this question that suddenly popped into my head, I lowered my gaze to look at Titania. When our eyes met, she began to cry even more sorrowfully. The sight of her bawling because her first kiss was stolen made me laugh involuntarily.
*What does it matter whether this child is Snow White or not?*
Even if she wasn’t Snow White, Titania was my daughter and my princess. The most precious princess in my life. My very own princess.
I patted the princess and engraved this moment of happiness deep in my heart. So that even if I were left alone someday, I could recall this memory and smile.
*
The seasons came and went several times.
The autumn of her tenth year passed, and winter came. Winter passed, and spring came. Spring passed, and summer came. Summer passed, and autumn came once again.
By the time this had repeated about three times, Titania, who had once reached only Bibian’s waist, had grown vigorously and stood as tall as Bibian’s shoulder.
Her once short arms and legs had grown long, and having matured and shed the traces of a child, Titania had finally become a ‘young lady.’ A young lady whom no one could treat as a child anymore.
And so, in the summer—a turbulent season when sprouts burst forth and flowers bloomed to cover the world. Turbulence came not only with the season.
On a summer day hotter than usual.
The thirteen-year-old Titania learns of first love.