2 - I Visit the Royal Palace
MY mother had to go to the royal palace for work, but my father was also working that day, and my brother and sister were at school. I tried to plead my case, insisting that I’d be fine at home by myself, but, for some reason, that suggestion was rejected.
Looks like she hasn’t gotten over that teeny tiny incident a few days ago when I snuck off when Dee wasn’t watching to look at the pond and accidentally fell in. Since then, she’s been treating me like there’s no telling what I’ll do if she leaves me alone for even a minute.
So I would visit the royal palace with my mother.
Dee would have to stay home. Apparently, pets weren’t allowed inside the palace.
I suppose I should’ve expected that.
“Neema, will you be a good girl while Mama’s working?”
“Uh-huh!”
I’ll be on my best behavior! I won’t interfere with your work at all, Mama!
We traveled by horse-drawn carriage to an enormous, sparkling palace.
The king and his family live here, and the central government is here as well, so I guess it has to be impressive to serve as a symbol of the country.
While my mother was working, I was left to entertain myself in a room in the royal magic users’ tower in one corner of the palace. My mother had tried to assign a babysitter to watch me, but I refused. I still couldn’t tolerate spending a long time with people other than the members of my family.
I’m not especially shy, but social interaction is exhausting.
I whined so much—which was very out of character for me—that my mother conceded and cast a protection spell on me instead. I wasn’t sure how effective it would be, but it seemed to be a simple spell. I didn’t feel any different after she cast it.
Once she cast the spell, my mother lingered as if reluctant to pry herself away, telling me many times to “Be a good girl, okay?” before finally leaving.
Hmph, I thought I was about to see some awesome magic; what a letdown.
I was bored out of my mind, so I opened the window and called to some birds in the garden.
I can’t get enough of these fluffy feathers!
The birds closed their eyes, apparently enjoying being petted just as much as I enjoyed petting them.
So cute! Come to think of it, this room is on the ground floor, right? I want to go outside and explore the garden…
…Sorry, Mama. I’ll stick to the area just outside this tower; she’ll never know!
Using a chair in the room as a stool, I climbed out of the window.
Crash!
Failed landing. Damn, that hurt! But I have to suck it up. If I cry, I’ll be caught, for sure.
I explored the garden with the birds as my guides.
Many animals were in the garden. I saw a potte, which looked like a squirrel with droopy ears (I learned the name of this animal from an illustrated encyclopedia), and a ria, which resembled a cougar, only much smaller.
As soon as the animals noticed me, they approached without fear and let me pet them. I was petting and cuddling to my heart’s content when they all turned and fled.
Why did they run away? Is someone coming?
I looked around, searching for the cause of the animals’ strange behavior, and spotted an animal that was extremely rare in my original world.
Oh my god, here it comes! A white tiger! A real-live white tiger! He’s much, much bigger than me, but who cares! Here comes a super-rare large feline! My target is within my sights! I want to touch him, cuddle him, love him, and— I can’t just stand here waiting!
The white tiger noticed me—perhaps he had been alerted to my freakishly excited aura. Then he crept toward me!
Is it okay to touch you?! I think you’re telling me to go for it…!
The white tiger was within reach when he stopped to smell me. Then he licked my face with his giant tongue. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him with gleeful abandon.