Chapter 57:
The Queen Dowager’s Tea Party Part 1
“PARDON THE INTRUSION, Captain Cyril!”
With a knock on the First Knight Brigade captain’s door, I entered, and Cyril greeted me warmly.
“Fia, I’ve been waiting for you.”
I took a step back out of reflex when I caught his perfect smile.
This did not bode well. He only smiled like that when he was up to something. Having been his subordinate for more than half a year now, I knew he wanted me to lower my guard so he could drop a bomb on me. Wary, I refused to smile in return.
“What’s the matter, Fia?” he said. “Do you have a toothache or something?”
Of course not. I was merely bracing for impact, and he had to know that. “Not at all, I feel just fine. What business did you have for me?”
He scowled but answered. “I’m sorry for summoning you so suddenly. I was actually hoping to have you join me in guarding Commander Saviz this afternoon.”
Oh? I thought I was entrusted to Cerulean for a time.
“Is the commander going somewhere?” I asked. It made sense that they would need the support of an excellent knight like myself if he was going somewhere dangerous.
But Cyril quickly shot down that notion. “No, he’s scheduled to spend his day here within the bounds of the royal castle. In the afternoon he’ll have tea with the queen dowager, but that is all.”
It was for the briefest of moments, but Cyril hesitated just before mentioning the queen dowager. I narrowed my eyes. “…With Her Majesty Hyacinthe, you said?”
“Yes. The queen dowager is Commander Saviz’s mother, after all. As she’s Cerulean’s mother as well, he’ll be there too.”
So it would be a tea party for Hyacinthe, Saviz, and Cerulean. In other words… “Oh! So it’s a family tea party.” I locked eyes with Cyril. He, who should have a heart of steel, shifted slightly. I wondered why that could be. Before he could reply, however, the answer came to me. “Wha—you’re in love?!”
Could Cyril have been in love with Hyacinthe? That would explain why he was so nervous about meeting her.
It all made sense. He couldn’t remain calm in her presence, so he needed my ever-so-levelheaded self in attendance to support him!
“And just who do you suppose I’m in love with?” he said sternly. He grimaced, returning to his natural state, and I discarded my conjecture.
“Oh, you’re not nervous anymore? I guess you’re not in love then. But, yeah, that makes sense. You’re blood-related, after all.” Hyacinthe was Cyril’s mother’s older sister, making her his aunt. That made for a difficult romance. They were too close in relation to marry.
“Fia, your guesswork always leads you to strange conclusions. But, yes, as this will be a tea party between family, we can’t bring a large entourage of knights. That’s why I thought having you there would be perfect, seeing as you look nothing like a knight.”
He dissed me right to my face, but I was magnanimous enough to let it go. “I see!”
“Furthermore, it was Commander Saviz and Cerulean who requested to have you on guard detail for the tea party.”
Oh my. The country’s de facto number one and number two had directly requested me? “Whoa! Is my merit as a knight finally being recognized?!”
Cyril narrowed his eyes. “I do not believe so. I’m afraid your…merits are a well-kept secret.”
“Aww. Oh well.” It left me both disappointed and relieved that my awesomeness was still a secret.
Cyril looked rather conflicted himself. Maybe something was weighing on his mind, but I couldn’t be so forward as to ask. Instead, I said, “You’re related to the queen dowager, right? Are the two of you close?”
He closed his eyes. “This is the queen dowager we’re talking about. She’s not a person one can easily meet with.”
“That makes sense. She’s so popular. She must be very busy,” I said, nodding to myself. Hyacinthe was both queen dowager and the head saint. Being the Great Saint three hundred years ago had kept me plenty busy, so I couldn’t begin to imagine how bad she had it.
Cyril smiled faintly as though recalling something. “Indeed. She’s always been busy. But I grew closer to King Laurence and Commander Saviz because of that.”
Cyril and Saviz were the same age, and Cerulean was two years their senior. Being so close in age, they probably played together as children.
“I told you before, but when I was young I wanted a little brother. My mother refused me, however, saying a measly duke family had no need for a spare.”
Right, he’d mentioned that when he told me about his youth back when we were in Sutherland.
“Circumstances were different for House Náv, being royalty, but I found myself envious of King Laurence and Commander Saviz for having a brother. And I saw Her Majesty Hyacinthe as praiseworthy for bearing two children despite being head saint.”
“Oh, yeah. I hear childbirth is difficult!” I said, recalling how Quentin had declared he would become a mother. It was his familiar who laid the egg, but as she had no intent to incubate it, he proudly took it upon himself to keep it warm and become the egg’s mother in her stead. He’d been deathly serious when he spoke of human mothers sometimes dying in childbirth and how motherhood was a grave undertaking. “Captain Quentin really drove that point home with his own efforts at childbirth.”
“I know you’re being fully serious, but I can’t bring myself to take what you say as anything but absurd,” Cyril said.
That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem, I thought, though obviously I didn’t say it. His weary sigh suggested he understood regardless.
“I digress. Fia, I’ll be going to Commander Saviz’s office now. Would you like to join me?”
“Yes, sir!” I replied cheerfully, and we set off together.
✦ ✦ ✦
When we entered Saviz’s office, we found Cerulean awaiting us. But instead of his usual jester costume, he was wearing the plain shirt I’d seen him wear before. He sprawled on one of the sofas.
“Saviz, reverting back to the body of a child seems to have reverted my tastes as well. I don’t enjoy black tea one bit.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll have orange juice prepared for the tea party,” Saviz replied.
“You know what I mean to say…” Cerulean grumbled. He jumped to his feet. “I think I’ll pass on the tea party after all. A child like me has no place drinking tea with the queen dowager. Saviz, take care of things for me.”
He started to speed away but only managed a few steps before Saviz caught him by the collar.
“Wha—Saviz! How dare you grab your older brother like this!” exclaimed Cerulean, frantically swinging his arms.
Saviz paid his protests no mind and held on firmly. “I was thinking you’d prefer your throat constricted so you wouldn’t have to drink any tea.”