Chapter 2: Delicious Treats of Honey
“LOOK, look, Big Brother Claude! There’s so much honey!”
Honey was dripping and oozing down to the ground. The golden liquid overflowed from the part of the hive that had been removed.
My lips trembled. Just looking at the sight was making my mouth water with delight. “It’s so pretty! It looks yummy! Can we eat it yet?” I leaned forward, unable to contain my excitement.
Just then…
“Eek!”
A strong wind kicked up and blew through my hair. The gust had cast the honeybees around the hive in the opposite direction of me. I cleared the hair off my face clumsily with my little hands.
“Ahaha! You’re too hasty, Letty.”
“Geez, Big Brother Claude! Stop laughing and help me!”
“My bad, my bad. I’ll give you a hand.” He stroked my head to quell my anger. I hated being teased.
Big Brother Claude helped gather my hair away from my face. Satisfied by his gentle manner, I looked back at the honey with a renewed drive.
The honeycomb had been retrieved from a beehive in a box. The thick honey covering its surface dripped into a container below.
“Can we eat it right away?” I got as close as I could without hitting the wind again, licking my lips.
“No, not yet. You have to strain it through cloth first to remove the dirt and dust.” He wrapped his arms around me from behind, preventing me from getting too close, as he explained his reasoning.
“…I really can’t eat just a little?” I asked.
Big Brother Claude smiled like he didn’t know what to do with me. “No, not even a little. You don’t want to get sick, do you, Letty? You won’t be able to eat your cookies that way.”
“Hmph…” I grumbled when he brought up my snack for that day. I wanted my cookies, but it was hard to give up on the honey before my eyes. That inner war was going on when I took a look at the honeybees. “Hey, the bees seem kind of slow!”
“We hit them with smoke so that it’s harder for them to sting us while we harvest the honey, but it slows them down too. They’re perfectly fine over at the hives we aren’t harvesting from.” Big Brother Claude looked over at the other honeybees buzzing in and out of their hives. They were hard at work making their honey.
“There’s so many, but they all live in one house together?”
The answer to my clueless question would come from our family’s beekeeper, who was working on a nearby box. “Each nest contains a very important honeybee called the ‘queen bee.’ Most of the others are worker bees, so they work and live together every single day, never getting in fights, all so they can serve their queen.”
“Wooow. That’s amazing!” I exclaimed.
“It is, isn’t it? Bees are hard workers, after all.” The servant smiled proudly at the honeybees. “Bees are revered in many countries as an embodiment of how the king and his vassals should live, since the honeybees work selflessly in service of their single queen. I hope you grow up to be a wonderful noblewoman who serves her country and her king as well, Lady Laetitia.”
“Yes! I’ll do my best!” I nodded firmly back at the servant. His big words made it a little hard for me to understand, but I enthusiastically shared my feelings anyway. “I’ll work hard! I want to be a great noble just like Father!”
“That’s splendid. I’d expect nothing less from His Grace’s daughter.”
“Yay! Thank you!” I threw my hands up, rejoicing over the praise. In the midst of my happy hops into the air, I suddenly realized Big Brother Claude’s smile had lost some of its vigor. “What’s wrong, Big Brother Claude? You don’t want me to be a great noblewoman?”
“No, it’s not that. I was just thinking about something else. I think it’s good that you’re motivated to be like our father.” His smile softened and he stroked my head gently.
It was a ticklish, pleasant sensation. I squinted my eyes and giggled. “Hehe! Thanks, Big Brother. But what were you just thinking about?”
“It’s nothing. I was just…thinking about those hives built all for a single queen bee. Personally, I don’t know if that’s something people should be imitating.”