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I wanted to continue exploring the ocean, but regrettably, it was already time to head back. Sache and Euche refused to be moved by my repeated pleas to make a little detour each time I spotted something interesting on the way back.
By the time we made it back to shore, a tantalizing smell greeted us.
“Oh, you’re just in time, Neema!”
Karna teased me, saying that my gluttonous stomach had somehow sensed the food was almost ready, but that wasn’t the case at all! The emperor had used telepathy to tell Euche to come back because it was time for lunch. The fact that I did have a gluttonous stomach was a complete coincidence!
“Lady Nefertima, how was the ocean?” the emperor asked as we gathered around to eat. The food was much too grand a spread to be called a beach barbecue… More like a beach banquet?
“Sache brought us to an underwater forest! It was really beautiful!”
“There were many animals I’d never seen before. I believe I’ll look them up in an illustrated encyclopedia later.”
Daux continued sharing his impressions of our adventure, but I was stuck on the word “illustrated encyclopedia.”
They’ve got to have at least a small library here, right? And there’s probably at least one or two illustrated encyclopedias about marine animals, right?!
“I’ll join you! I want to learn more about the animals we saw today, too!”
“What kind of creatures did you see?” the retired empress asked, and I told her about the massive whale-shark creature we’d seen.
“If it’s as big as you describe, I bet it was a ‘one-gulp.’”
One-gulp? Is that its name?!
I mean, I get why they’d call it that; with how big its mouth is it would only take one gulp to swallow a human whole, but…
They should give it a bit more dignified of a name!
“An orecti, huh? Someone was able to meet a very rare creature. I guess this is also due to your special charm, eh, Neema?”
Hey, hey! What are you saying, Louis?! I know you probably mean it the other way around, but when you put it like that, it sounds like you’re saying the one-gulp came to see me because I’m some kind of rare creature!
Encountering animals in the wild is entirely up to fate! It certainly isn’t proof that I’m a “rare beast,” that’s for sure!
I puffed my cheeks out indignantly, and Louis apologized with a chuckle.
I don’t sense even a drop of sincerity in your apology!
“I’ll go get some of your favorite dessert, pechenne. Will you forgive me then?”
Did you say pechenne?!
“…How many pieces?”
“As many as you can eat.”
Ho-ho! In that case, I suppose I’ll have to forgive you!
“Prince Louivence, please don’t give Lady Neema any sweets.”
“Why not?!”
I responded to Paul’s interference with an entirely unladylike screech of protest. Whether it was because of my poor manners or for some other reason, Paul fixed me with a glare so frigid it hurt.
“Who was it that, just the other day, ate so many sweets that she couldn’t eat her dinner, hm?”
…Yes, that was me.
But they were so delicious, I couldn’t help myself!
“Heh, it looks like even you are no match for Paul, eh, Neema? But it should be fine if she just has a little bit, right?”
“…Very well. But only one or two pieces.”
Paul! That’s so stingy! Pechenne are teeny-tiny little bite-sized teacakes!
“Neema, when Paul gets like this, he’s not going to back down, so you might as well take what you can get.”
If even Karna was taking his side, I supposed I had no choice but to accept the low-ball offer…
But I wasn’t content to settle so easily!
“Paul, you said I could have two pieces, right? Speaking hypothetically, what would happen if I miscounted and accidentally ate a third piece?”
Eek! Paul’s face right now is terrifying! It’s completely expressionless, which is scarier than any emotion he could possibly show!
“If that were to happen, you would be forbidden to play outside for a while so you could review your mathematics studies.”
Noooo! I let out an anguished wail inside my head.
I was essentially being ordered to choose between sweets and playing outside, but that was an impossible choice for a child!
The correct answer was probably not to choose either, but in this case, being unable to play outside also carried the added stipulation of not being able to interact with all the adorable fluffies who lived outdoors.
That would mean being forbidden from playing with the birds and pottes in the palace’s gardens, the wyverns at their barracks, and even from playing with Sache and the others outside where there was room to run around freely.
If you take away my fluffies, what else do I have left to live for?! Nothing, that’s what!
There was only one thing I could do.
That’s right, I had to follow Paul’s orders…
At a time like this, I wished someone would’ve spoken up in my defense, but no one dared involve themselves in another family’s personal business.
“The Osphe family’s servants are impressive. Normally, a servant wouldn’t dare speak up in a setting such as this among persons of higher rank,” the retired emperor remarked, praising Paul.
“My family has served as the Osphe family’s stewards for generations. My father, the current steward, instructed me that when our masters become a bit too uninhibited, it is our job to rein them in.”
“Too uninhibited, huh? …Louis could use a servant like you.”
Huh? They are praising Paul right now, right? The Osphe family isn’t being snubbed right to our face, are we?
“Does Marjace also scold father like this?” I asked.
The way he put it makes it sound like I’m not the only one…
If every generation of the Osphe family constantly had to be scolded by the Dasnees, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh at the amusing relationship between our families or cry at the hereditary hopelessness of my family line…
“It’s not just His Grace. The previous duke was the same, and I’m sure you can only imagine the mess my ancestor had to clean up when the duke two generations ago abdicated from the royal family…” Paul said.
The retired emperor and empress seemed to have known my great-grandfather personally because their eyes shone with what I thought was sympathy for Paul’s ancestor’s plight as they nodded and said, “Oh, yes, that person was quite something…”
What exactly did my great-grandfather do?!
All I knew about my great-grandfather’s scandalous activities was that he’d fallen in love with my great-grandmother, relentlessly pursued her, and eventually won her over. As expected from Papa’s grandfather, it seemed he’d been a very headstrong person.
Karna talked about their timeless love story with hearts in her eyes, but personally, I thought that our great-grandmother must’ve had a hard time dealing with such a strong-willed husband. However, she’d been able to stick it out to the very end, so I was convinced that she, too, had what it took to be a member of the Osphe family.
I’ll just have to hope and pray that Ralf and Karna find love in a less explosive manner!
“Well, if you want to discuss that person, let’s do it later this evening.”
Retired emperor, this is the Osphe family’s sordid past you’re talking about, so please go easy on us! In fact, it’s the sordid past of our entire country!