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AFTER lunch, I remember going to the Aquamarine Palace’s small library with Daux to research marine animals. But that’s where my memories end. I must’ve exhausted my body’s endurance by that point.
I wonder who carried me back to my room after I fell asleep? Maybe Shinki?
The late afternoon sun, its burnished red and orange rays shining through the open window, had already begun to sink below the horizon.
“You played too hard and wore yourself out. After lunch, you and Prince Dauxrouge fell asleep,” Karna said as she sat on the edge of my bed and gently stroked the top of my head.
It can’t be helped since I’m in the weak little body of a child, but it feels like such a waste to have lost so much precious time to an afternoon nap!
“Here you go.” Karna passed me the book I’d been perusing in the library before I fell asleep. “Even in your sleep, you refused to let this go, so they had to bring it back with you,” she giggled, seemingly replaying the scene in her head.
“But…!”
I learned a lot of interesting things through my research with Daux.
The statue we’d seen underwater was made a long time ago. As suspected, it had been created as a sort of good luck charm for ocean voyages. The Goddess had been depicted holding up a ship out of the hope that the Goddess would intervene if any ships started to sink and push them back up to the surface.
As for the moss growing on the statue, it turned out “harlin sunoko” was its name, and as I’d suspected, it was a type of algae. The book said it was often used in medicine, with its primary function being purification. It was specifically written that this medicine worked by “expelling impurities from the body,” so harlin sunoko was akin to a laxative! I’d carelessly eaten some of it, but thanks to Koku, I’d avoided several unpleasant hours trapped in the bathroom.
I was awake now, so I returned to reading the book, and before I knew it, dinner time had rolled around. I was practically bouncing up and down with excitement to share everything we’d learned today, so I gave an informal presentation during dinner, with Daux as my co-presenter.
The emperor knew of the statue’s existence but didn’t know that it had become a breeding ground for harlin sunoko and seemed interested in the idea that the statue’s location had become something of an underwater hospital for the animals living in that part of the ocean.
The empress smiled kindly and told us we’d had a rare and precious experience, hearing an astiarna’s song in person. The way Daux smiled shyly and invited his mother to join us next time was absolutely adorable.
After dinner, the retired emperor kept his promise and regaled us with tales of my great-grandfather, but…
I found myself speechless at my ancestor’s unbelievable wildness.
I kind of wish he hadn’t told us!
“I am incredibly grateful not to have been alive during his time,” Paul remarked.
I bet! The people who suffered most from great-grandfather’s antics were undoubtedly the Dasnees, who had to run around trying to minimize the fall-out!
“Lady Neema, please do your best to live in such a way that there are no stories like this to pass down to future generations about you.”
I don’t think I could surpass my great-grandfather even if I tried! But I have a feeling the future young ladies of the Osphe family will probably be reprimanded with warnings such as “Don’t become a hopeless tomboy like your ancestor Nefertima!”
In the end, the beach trip became a precious memory for me… Aside from the stories about my great-grandfather that I wished I could’ve wiped from my memory!