“WELCOME, Queen Laetitia. It’s very nice to see you today.” Lady Fillia greeted me with an adorable smile at the entrance to the southern villa.
I returned her greeting politely. The two of us chatted as we headed to her drawing room.
“I want to thank you for accepting my request and inviting me to your home today,” I said.
“I’m happy to see you as well. Thank you for keeping your promise at King Glenreed’s birthday party. I’d been trying to think of how I might express my gratitude to you when your request came.”
“It was nothing worth thanking me for. I’d already planned to gift him with juice for his birthday, and I would never have been able to make better honey sweets than you if I decided I wanted to challenge you.”
“You’re too modest. I’m certain anything you cooked would have captured King Glenreed’s heart.” Lady Fillia gave a weak smile as she spoke. That was when I decided to ask her about what had been on my mind.
“Lady Fillia, may I ask you about something you said to His Majesty at the party?”
“What would that be?”
“You mentioned before how the two of you had once eaten honey sweets together. Do you remember where this was, and what kind of things you talked about together?”
“Of course!” It was like watching a flower bloom. A lovely smile spread across Lady Fillia’s face as she began to speak. “It’s a very precious memory to me that no one could ever replace. I am who I am today because of how I first met King Glenreed.” She spoke lovingly, with the utmost care, as she revealed this moment close to her heart. “Are you aware of my family’s turmoil around the time I was a young girl?”
“Yes, although I’ve only heard the rumors.”
“They’re probably accurate. No, it was likely even worse than what you’ve heard. Both Mother and Father were very strict people, and as a child, I felt like there was nowhere I truly belonged.”
The fate of their family’s title was up in the air. Blood relatives battled against each other to claim the reins to the dukedom. Lady Fillia wasn’t even ten years old at the time. My heart ached when I thought of her being caught up in such a vicious family quarrel.
“The mood in the air at home frightened me, so I ran from our manor and became lost in the streets of the royal capital. It’s a disgrace to do something so foolish as a duke’s daughter, don’t you agree?”
“No, I don’t agree at all.”
I truly meant those words. If that was enough for Lady Fillia to be a disgrace, then I would be much more of a failure than she ever was.
Big Brother Claude had taken me out to town many times as a child, and even now, I often snuck out to walk around the royal capital. Fleeing to town to escape her troubling situation at home wasn’t anything deserving of blame. If anything, I sympathized greatly.
“That’s very kind of you,” she said with a soft laugh. “I only wish I’d had someone like you in my life at that time, but unfortunately, no one gave me any real consideration as a child. I believe Mother and Father were at their wits’ end already from the family strife. The only person to have a genuine conversation with me was King Glenreed, who’d snuck out of the castle.”
I compared her memories to the King Glenreed that I knew.
King Glenreed was a serious man, but he also possessed the power of ancestral reversion to transform into a wolf.
He’d told me that he lost control of his rational thoughts when he was in wolf form, and when he was young, he would sometimes lose control and transform accidentally, fleeing the castle to hide his wolf self.
Perhaps he’d coincidentally bumped into Lady Fillia during one of those outings.
“His Majesty must have seen me as a pathetic, pitiable thing,” she continued. “He took my trembling hands, smiled kindly at me, and offered me words of encouragement. We shared the honey sweets I brought with me from home and laughed about silly little things together.”
“That must have been so reassuring.”
I knew that, despite his icy, beautiful looks, King Glenreed was actually a kind-hearted man on the inside. Even as a child, it was easy to imagine him taking care of the vulnerable Lady Fillia.
However, it was his disinterest in food that made me hesitate. I just couldn’t picture him smiling because of those sweets.
“Yes, it really was. I thought of King Glenreed as the most precious person in my life. To repay him for what he did for me, I decided to grow up and become a fine young lady who could come to this villa and support him.”
“I think that’s a wonderful aspiration.”
I sensed all the hard work Lady Fillia must have put into achieving that goal.
It involved learning manners, the art of conversation, how to conduct herself in high society, and a dedication to getting an education. She’d devoted herself to these ends, chiseling away at herself in the process, and managed to get to where she was today. Her smile, so difficult to read, and her calculated behavior were definitely the fruits of all that labor.
“Thank you for listening to such a dull tale. I’m honored to receive your praise, Queen Laetitia.”
“No, I should be the one thanking you for telling me your story. I’m merely a figurehead queen, but I do hope to understand you all a bit better and be of help to you, if I can.” As I thanked her for sharing her precious memory with me, I shifted the conversation to my main business. “You shared your Flute Bees’ honey with me the other day, which is why I wanted to come here and express my gratitude.”
“But there’s no need. I’m the one who’s grateful you kept your promise concerning His Majesty’s birthday gift.”
We smiled and thanked each other. The conversation wasn’t getting anywhere, so I decided to change my approach before Lady Fillia evaded me entirely.
“This is both a way of showing my thanks and something I wanted to do for my own sake. It’s something I’d like to try out, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me.”
“Help you?”
“Yes. Might I ask to borrow one level of your Flute Bee hive?”
Honeybees and Flute Bees built their hives in porcelain boxes in this country. Inside were rectangular frames separating the box into multiple levels, which the bees built their hives inside. The beekeepers could then harvest honey from these nests.
“I don’t mind lending it to Your Majesty, so long as it’s only one level…” Despite her words, Lady Fillia seemed somewhat unenthusiastic. “My family prides themselves on having the best methods of handling Flute Bees. Would it not be easier for us to harvest the honey here and send it home with you?”
“I appreciate your consideration, but my experiment involves the process of harvesting the honey. I’ve tried it successfully a few times on the hive at my villa, but I’d like to try it on your own Flute Bees and have you observe.”
“…I see.”
She took a moment to consider it, that smile still on her face all the while. It seemed my suggestion wasn’t one she could ignore. She came from a family that prided themselves on their treatment of the bees, and I must have lit a spark of interest in her.
“Very well. I’m eager to see what it is you’ve come up with.”
She smiled like a flower again, but this time, something in it felt like a challenge. She was evaluating me carefully. It was finally starting to feel like she was revealing her emotions to me, even if I only caught a small glimpse at a time.