Moiya decided to calmly watch the situation a bit more.
“Meow. (I’ll say it again, you and I can’t be together.)”
The only good thing was that Aoshi was pushing Nana away.
However, Moiya didn’t like Aoshi’s behavior.
“Wolwol? (I like you, don’t you?)”
“Meowmeow. (If some more time passes and we meet while taking a walk, then we can dig the ground together and have a comfortable chat.)”
Aoshi was pushing Nana away while wagging his tail.
“Wolwolwol! (Is it because I’m the pet of the new Empress? That’s why you’re pushing me away!)”
Nana started to get excited and dug the ground with her front paws.
Aoshi quietly watched Nana’s desperate struggles and then coldly replied.
“Meow. (That’s true, but you’re not my style. Sorry.)”
Squeak, squeak-.
Nana sobbed and eventually lay down on the floor, rolling around.
“My heart, my heart is torn apart, Moiya...”
Moiya put one wing near his chest and felt sorry for Nana.
“Meow meow. (I’m going to go now. Until we meet again, sleep well, eat well, and poop well.)”
Aoshi said, patting Nana’s sturdy front legs with her cotton paws.
“Wolwol... (Don’t do this to me, please...)”
“Meow meow. (You’re so kind. There must be many dogs who will love your inner self.)”
Aoshi’s words were serious.
No matter how beautiful your inner self is, I can’t overcome your outer self; it was a farewell that contained such words.
“As expected, a lowly cat doesn’t even have a good eye for detail, Moiya~.”
Moiya felt relieved seeing Aoshi, who didn’t know about Nana’s charm.
At that moment, the back door leading to the laundry room in the Empress Palace opened.
“Huh? It’s Sharon?”
Moiya, who was about to go to Rosie’s quarters and come back, changed direction again when he saw Sharon.
Sharon came out holding a small plate.
“Aoshi, you shouldn’t keep coming here without telling Her Highness. Anyway, since you’re here, eat this and go.”
The plate contained fish meat brought from the kitchen.
“Meow. (I didn’t come to see her today, no, to get rid of her. I came to bring her here.)”
Aoshi wagged his tail at Sharon and approached her, rubbing his body against her.
Sharon, who was petting Aoshi, who was acting cute, noticed Nana cowering in the corner and frowned.
“...You’re the dog that Princess Roxana raises, right? Your name is Nana, right?”
“Wol. (Yeah.)”
Nana timidly wagged her tail at Sharon, who was looking at her with a cold gaze.
However, Nana, who happened to be hungry, immediately turned her eyes to the plate of fish meat, drooling.
Sharon let out a deep sigh and moved the plate that Aoshi was eating with his nose buried in it to the side, saying,
“Would you like some too? Oh, well... what crime could an animal have committed?”
Nana slowly approached her, wagging her tail, but soon began to hurriedly eat the fish flesh.
Nana got so excited when she saw something to eat that she pushed Aoshi aside.
“Meow...! (No wonder I...!)”
How could she like it?
Aoshi shook his head as he watched Nana drool while eating.
He felt ashamed of himself for having wavered for a moment when Nana had been rolling around on the floor and whining in sorrow a little while ago.
At that moment, a pigeon flew in from a tree branch on the other side and pecked Aoshi on the head.
Startled, Aoshi raised his claws, flapped his forelegs in the air, and glared at the pigeon.
“Meow? (What are you doing here at this hour?)”
Aoshi asked, immediately realizing that the pigeon was Moiya.
“I just came back today... to see what the palace atmosphere is like.”
Moiya replied indifferently.
He then blinked at Nana, who was ignoring his presence and was absorbed in eating.
Sharon was also startled by Moiya’s sudden appearance.
“Have you come here because something has happened to Her Majesty the Empress?”
Sharon tilted her head, looked around, and lowered her voice to ask Moiya.
Her tone was worried that Zelda, who had visited Rosie’s residence last night, might have been in trouble.
“The master is well.”
“But why are you here?”
Sharon asked, tilting her head.
“I came because I missed you, Moiya~.”
Lying didn’t suit his constitution.
But he couldn’t say that he came to spy on the shameless Princess who was living in the Empress’s palace, sleeping with her dog trampled on.
However, Sharon wasn’t the type to believe Moiya’s lies outright.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you came here because you wanted to eat sausages. But there aren’t any sausages today, how come?”
You should have eaten a lot of sausages yesterday.
Moiya noticed Nana’s reaction to Sharon’s added remark.
‘Why are you saying that in front of Nana? I'm a great wyvern!’
Moiya glared at Sharon with displeasure and changed the subject.
He hoped that Nana would think differently if he said something more constructive.
“Ahem, actually... I was looking around the palace to see where the Avatar Sword was.”
“What?”
“You said the Avatar Sword was in the palace? You and Orange Head told the master yesterday.”
“Yes... But how did you find the Avatar Sword?”
“Then what, am I just going to sit there and play? I'm just going to wander around like this! Everyone else is hiding, so I need to get moving too!”
Moiya got angry for no reason.
But his gaze remained fixed on Nana.
“Meow? (Hey, the incarnation sword must have been kept inside the palace. I don’t think it’s kept outside, right?)”
Aoshi made a clever rebuttal.
“Huh, what does a lowly cat know? It could have been buried in the ground!”
Moiya snorted and scolded Aoshi.
“Wol? Wol? (No? Aoshi is right?)”
At that, Nana, who had been greedily eating the fish meat, took Aoshi’s side.
“What? How would you know that?”
Moiya continued to speak affectionately, wiping the drool dripping from Nana’s mouth with a pigeon wing.
“By any chance, have you seen where your master, who shamelessly lies down in our master’s bed, has hidden the incarnation sword?”
“...”
Nana flinched and avoided Moiya’s gaze.
“Meow! (Nana, if you know something, tell me, please!)”
Aoshi also questioned Nana.
Unlike Moiya, whom she had been ignoring, Nana hesitated to answer Aoshi’s question, moving her lips here and there.
Sharon, who looked at the baby wyvern, the cat, and the dog in turn, could easily figure out what the animals were talking about while listening to Moiya.
Sharon stared at Nana at Moiya’s words.
Nana paused for a moment, then barked at Aoshi instead of Moiya, who had asked a question.
“Wol, wol wol... (The first day I arrived at the Empress’s Palace, I saw my master bring the Incarnation Sword into the dressing room...)”
“The Incarnation Sword into the dressing room?”
Moiya asked Nana again, and Nana nodded.
Sharon got up.
She muttered as she looked back at the back door of the laundry room.
“If it’s the dressing room...”
Inside the laundry room, there was a staircase that could lead straight up to the Empress’s dressing room.
When Zelda was Empress, she used that staircase to enter and exit the training ground in the cypress forest while avoiding the eyes of other courtiers.
And Sharon, who was currently relegated to being a laundress because she was the former Empress’s attendant, had the key to enter the dressing room.
This was something that Princess Roxana and her attendants did not know yet.
‘I might be able to find the Incarnation Sword for Her Majesty the Empress!’
Sharon looked up at the Empress’s room with a solemn expression and clenched her fists.
Linel, who had arrived at the court quarters, stopped in front of the room on the far right on the fourth floor.
“I told you not to follow me, but you insisted...”
He turned around and looked at Raphael and Stiane, who had followed him.
“Isn’t it my job to assist Her Majesty?”
Raphael flinched at his fierce gaze, but did not back down.
“I’m worried because you went out for a walk alone yesterday and came back with a headache.”
Stiane also added to Raphael with a loyal expression.
“Yes. Then don’t go near the fourth floor. You two stay on a different floor. Don’t even think about leaving your room until I call you.”
“What does Your Majesty plan on doing in that room?”
Raphael asked curiously.
“I told you. I want to spend time reminiscing.”
“Then we’ll stay in the room next door. I don’t think there’s a reason to be on a different floor?”
“It’s for soundproofing.”
Linel said firmly.
“I won’t talk to Raphael, and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Stiane made a gesture of zipping his mouth and spoke seriously.
Who said that you guys can't be bothered by the noise?
"... Still, you can't. It interferes with my meditation."
He said again, cutting him off.
"You said you came to reminisce, but meditation... why?"
Linel waved his hand as if it was bothersome to Raphael's question and cut him off.
"Anyway, don't go near the fourth floor. Understood?"
"Yes..."
"I'll try..."
Raphael and Stiane answered absentmindedly.
Then Linel gave a cold, solemn order with his face.
"If there's anything you need, I'll have a servant attend to me, so you two go to another floor right away and don't come out of your room until I tell you. If you don't want to, then go back to the main palace now."
"No. We'll go to another room and rest quietly."
"Please enjoy your meditation while reminiscing, Your Majesty."
Raphael and Stiane bowed to him and turned around.
Linel watched the two of them going down the stairs, then quickly opened the door and went into the room.
It was almost time for her to arrive.
As soon as I put my head into the hole, I felt a soft texture on my hand that was touching the floor.
It would have been normal for small sands to be stuck in my palm like yesterday, but it was strange.
There was a red carpet on the floor.
Not only that, but there were rose petals of various colors scattered on both sides of the carpet.
As I passed through the hole, a flower path unfolded.
Nelly is alive!
At the same time, my eyes welled up with tears at his affectionate consideration.
I realized that I had been worrying about him more than I had thought.
Although I was in the position of entering and exiting the hole by lowering my body, I was more moved than when I had crossed the drawbridge of the palace and passed through the main gate. When I pulled myself out of the hole, I saw the following written in flower petals at the end of the red carpet.
'Come on, I'm waiting.'
He was waiting for me.
While I was moved by the cute event, I was also worried that someone might have seen it. I thought Nelly, who was in a high position, would have taken care of it.
Without delay, I jumped up from my seat and rolled up the red carpet.
The neatly rolled red carpet was hidden in the grass.
“I’m going to see you now.”
I walked as fast as I could to the courtiers’ quarters with a happy heart.
Since I was always dressed in my valet uniform, I was able to enter the quarters without much trouble. It was late at night, so the inside of the quarters was as quiet as a mouse.
I went to the restaurant on the first floor, found a tray, and chose things I could put on it and take with me.
A plate, some fruit, a bottle of wine, and a glass.
I took out two glasses at first, but then took one out just in case.
I didn’t mind drinking the whole bottle. I didn’t run into anyone while I left the restaurant and went up to the fourth floor.
It was fortunate, but I felt a little strange.
How could there be this many people in the building?
I took a deep breath after arriving at the room at the end of the right corridor on the fourth floor, where Nelly was staying.
After preparing myself mentally, I knocked cautiously.
Knock knock.
The door opened before I could even put my hand down.
“I brought you the wine and fruit you wanted.”
I said, nodding to the tray as I saw him with his head bandaged.
Usually, that kind of appearance just makes you look pitiful and pitiful, but strangely, his bandaged face was also cool.
“Isn’t this what I wanted?”
Nelly shrugged his shoulders, looking down at the tray.
I found his teasing amusing and asked again,
“Oh, is there anything you missed? If you tell me, I’ll bring it right away.”
“I already brought it.”
“...Huh?”
“You, I mean.”
He grabbed my arm and gently pulled me into the room.
With a bang, the door closed, and he stood me in the doorway.
I pressed my back against the door and looked up at him.
One of his hands rested on my head and slowly closed the distance between us.
I didn’t want to let him know I was nervous, so I lifted the tray up to his chest and smiled brightly.
“But you have to eat all of this?”
“Yes, I should. But... I’m going to change the order a bit.”
“?”
“There’s something I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
“...Hmm?!”
His secretive voice was suddenly entering my mouth.
“Meow. (I’ll say it again, you and I can’t be together.)”
The only good thing was that Aoshi was pushing Nana away.
However, Moiya didn’t like Aoshi’s behavior.
“Wolwol? (I like you, don’t you?)”
“Meowmeow. (If some more time passes and we meet while taking a walk, then we can dig the ground together and have a comfortable chat.)”
Aoshi was pushing Nana away while wagging his tail.
“Wolwolwol! (Is it because I’m the pet of the new Empress? That’s why you’re pushing me away!)”
Nana started to get excited and dug the ground with her front paws.
Aoshi quietly watched Nana’s desperate struggles and then coldly replied.
“Meow. (That’s true, but you’re not my style. Sorry.)”
Squeak, squeak-.
Nana sobbed and eventually lay down on the floor, rolling around.
“My heart, my heart is torn apart, Moiya...”
Moiya put one wing near his chest and felt sorry for Nana.
“Meow meow. (I’m going to go now. Until we meet again, sleep well, eat well, and poop well.)”
Aoshi said, patting Nana’s sturdy front legs with her cotton paws.
“Wolwol... (Don’t do this to me, please...)”
“Meow meow. (You’re so kind. There must be many dogs who will love your inner self.)”
Aoshi’s words were serious.
No matter how beautiful your inner self is, I can’t overcome your outer self; it was a farewell that contained such words.
“As expected, a lowly cat doesn’t even have a good eye for detail, Moiya~.”
Moiya felt relieved seeing Aoshi, who didn’t know about Nana’s charm.
At that moment, the back door leading to the laundry room in the Empress Palace opened.
“Huh? It’s Sharon?”
Moiya, who was about to go to Rosie’s quarters and come back, changed direction again when he saw Sharon.
Sharon came out holding a small plate.
“Aoshi, you shouldn’t keep coming here without telling Her Highness. Anyway, since you’re here, eat this and go.”
The plate contained fish meat brought from the kitchen.
“Meow. (I didn’t come to see her today, no, to get rid of her. I came to bring her here.)”
Aoshi wagged his tail at Sharon and approached her, rubbing his body against her.
Sharon, who was petting Aoshi, who was acting cute, noticed Nana cowering in the corner and frowned.
“...You’re the dog that Princess Roxana raises, right? Your name is Nana, right?”
“Wol. (Yeah.)”
Nana timidly wagged her tail at Sharon, who was looking at her with a cold gaze.
However, Nana, who happened to be hungry, immediately turned her eyes to the plate of fish meat, drooling.
Sharon let out a deep sigh and moved the plate that Aoshi was eating with his nose buried in it to the side, saying,
“Would you like some too? Oh, well... what crime could an animal have committed?”
Nana slowly approached her, wagging her tail, but soon began to hurriedly eat the fish flesh.
Nana got so excited when she saw something to eat that she pushed Aoshi aside.
“Meow...! (No wonder I...!)”
How could she like it?
Aoshi shook his head as he watched Nana drool while eating.
He felt ashamed of himself for having wavered for a moment when Nana had been rolling around on the floor and whining in sorrow a little while ago.
At that moment, a pigeon flew in from a tree branch on the other side and pecked Aoshi on the head.
Startled, Aoshi raised his claws, flapped his forelegs in the air, and glared at the pigeon.
“Meow? (What are you doing here at this hour?)”
Aoshi asked, immediately realizing that the pigeon was Moiya.
“I just came back today... to see what the palace atmosphere is like.”
Moiya replied indifferently.
He then blinked at Nana, who was ignoring his presence and was absorbed in eating.
Sharon was also startled by Moiya’s sudden appearance.
“Have you come here because something has happened to Her Majesty the Empress?”
Sharon tilted her head, looked around, and lowered her voice to ask Moiya.
Her tone was worried that Zelda, who had visited Rosie’s residence last night, might have been in trouble.
“The master is well.”
“But why are you here?”
Sharon asked, tilting her head.
“I came because I missed you, Moiya~.”
Lying didn’t suit his constitution.
But he couldn’t say that he came to spy on the shameless Princess who was living in the Empress’s palace, sleeping with her dog trampled on.
However, Sharon wasn’t the type to believe Moiya’s lies outright.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you came here because you wanted to eat sausages. But there aren’t any sausages today, how come?”
You should have eaten a lot of sausages yesterday.
Moiya noticed Nana’s reaction to Sharon’s added remark.
‘Why are you saying that in front of Nana? I'm a great wyvern!’
Moiya glared at Sharon with displeasure and changed the subject.
He hoped that Nana would think differently if he said something more constructive.
“Ahem, actually... I was looking around the palace to see where the Avatar Sword was.”
“What?”
“You said the Avatar Sword was in the palace? You and Orange Head told the master yesterday.”
“Yes... But how did you find the Avatar Sword?”
“Then what, am I just going to sit there and play? I'm just going to wander around like this! Everyone else is hiding, so I need to get moving too!”
Moiya got angry for no reason.
But his gaze remained fixed on Nana.
“Meow? (Hey, the incarnation sword must have been kept inside the palace. I don’t think it’s kept outside, right?)”
Aoshi made a clever rebuttal.
“Huh, what does a lowly cat know? It could have been buried in the ground!”
Moiya snorted and scolded Aoshi.
“Wol? Wol? (No? Aoshi is right?)”
At that, Nana, who had been greedily eating the fish meat, took Aoshi’s side.
“What? How would you know that?”
Moiya continued to speak affectionately, wiping the drool dripping from Nana’s mouth with a pigeon wing.
“By any chance, have you seen where your master, who shamelessly lies down in our master’s bed, has hidden the incarnation sword?”
“...”
Nana flinched and avoided Moiya’s gaze.
“Meow! (Nana, if you know something, tell me, please!)”
Aoshi also questioned Nana.
Unlike Moiya, whom she had been ignoring, Nana hesitated to answer Aoshi’s question, moving her lips here and there.
Sharon, who looked at the baby wyvern, the cat, and the dog in turn, could easily figure out what the animals were talking about while listening to Moiya.
Sharon stared at Nana at Moiya’s words.
Nana paused for a moment, then barked at Aoshi instead of Moiya, who had asked a question.
“Wol, wol wol... (The first day I arrived at the Empress’s Palace, I saw my master bring the Incarnation Sword into the dressing room...)”
“The Incarnation Sword into the dressing room?”
Moiya asked Nana again, and Nana nodded.
Sharon got up.
She muttered as she looked back at the back door of the laundry room.
“If it’s the dressing room...”
Inside the laundry room, there was a staircase that could lead straight up to the Empress’s dressing room.
When Zelda was Empress, she used that staircase to enter and exit the training ground in the cypress forest while avoiding the eyes of other courtiers.
And Sharon, who was currently relegated to being a laundress because she was the former Empress’s attendant, had the key to enter the dressing room.
This was something that Princess Roxana and her attendants did not know yet.
‘I might be able to find the Incarnation Sword for Her Majesty the Empress!’
Sharon looked up at the Empress’s room with a solemn expression and clenched her fists.
***
Linel, who had arrived at the court quarters, stopped in front of the room on the far right on the fourth floor.
“I told you not to follow me, but you insisted...”
He turned around and looked at Raphael and Stiane, who had followed him.
“Isn’t it my job to assist Her Majesty?”
Raphael flinched at his fierce gaze, but did not back down.
“I’m worried because you went out for a walk alone yesterday and came back with a headache.”
Stiane also added to Raphael with a loyal expression.
“Yes. Then don’t go near the fourth floor. You two stay on a different floor. Don’t even think about leaving your room until I call you.”
“What does Your Majesty plan on doing in that room?”
Raphael asked curiously.
“I told you. I want to spend time reminiscing.”
“Then we’ll stay in the room next door. I don’t think there’s a reason to be on a different floor?”
“It’s for soundproofing.”
Linel said firmly.
“I won’t talk to Raphael, and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Stiane made a gesture of zipping his mouth and spoke seriously.
Who said that you guys can't be bothered by the noise?
"... Still, you can't. It interferes with my meditation."
He said again, cutting him off.
"You said you came to reminisce, but meditation... why?"
Linel waved his hand as if it was bothersome to Raphael's question and cut him off.
"Anyway, don't go near the fourth floor. Understood?"
"Yes..."
"I'll try..."
Raphael and Stiane answered absentmindedly.
Then Linel gave a cold, solemn order with his face.
"If there's anything you need, I'll have a servant attend to me, so you two go to another floor right away and don't come out of your room until I tell you. If you don't want to, then go back to the main palace now."
"No. We'll go to another room and rest quietly."
"Please enjoy your meditation while reminiscing, Your Majesty."
Raphael and Stiane bowed to him and turned around.
Linel watched the two of them going down the stairs, then quickly opened the door and went into the room.
It was almost time for her to arrive.
***
As soon as I put my head into the hole, I felt a soft texture on my hand that was touching the floor.
It would have been normal for small sands to be stuck in my palm like yesterday, but it was strange.
There was a red carpet on the floor.
Not only that, but there were rose petals of various colors scattered on both sides of the carpet.
As I passed through the hole, a flower path unfolded.
Nelly is alive!
At the same time, my eyes welled up with tears at his affectionate consideration.
I realized that I had been worrying about him more than I had thought.
Although I was in the position of entering and exiting the hole by lowering my body, I was more moved than when I had crossed the drawbridge of the palace and passed through the main gate. When I pulled myself out of the hole, I saw the following written in flower petals at the end of the red carpet.
'Come on, I'm waiting.'
He was waiting for me.
While I was moved by the cute event, I was also worried that someone might have seen it. I thought Nelly, who was in a high position, would have taken care of it.
Without delay, I jumped up from my seat and rolled up the red carpet.
The neatly rolled red carpet was hidden in the grass.
“I’m going to see you now.”
I walked as fast as I could to the courtiers’ quarters with a happy heart.
Since I was always dressed in my valet uniform, I was able to enter the quarters without much trouble. It was late at night, so the inside of the quarters was as quiet as a mouse.
I went to the restaurant on the first floor, found a tray, and chose things I could put on it and take with me.
A plate, some fruit, a bottle of wine, and a glass.
I took out two glasses at first, but then took one out just in case.
I didn’t mind drinking the whole bottle. I didn’t run into anyone while I left the restaurant and went up to the fourth floor.
It was fortunate, but I felt a little strange.
How could there be this many people in the building?
I took a deep breath after arriving at the room at the end of the right corridor on the fourth floor, where Nelly was staying.
After preparing myself mentally, I knocked cautiously.
Knock knock.
The door opened before I could even put my hand down.
“I brought you the wine and fruit you wanted.”
I said, nodding to the tray as I saw him with his head bandaged.
Usually, that kind of appearance just makes you look pitiful and pitiful, but strangely, his bandaged face was also cool.
“Isn’t this what I wanted?”
Nelly shrugged his shoulders, looking down at the tray.
I found his teasing amusing and asked again,
“Oh, is there anything you missed? If you tell me, I’ll bring it right away.”
“I already brought it.”
“...Huh?”
“You, I mean.”
He grabbed my arm and gently pulled me into the room.
With a bang, the door closed, and he stood me in the doorway.
I pressed my back against the door and looked up at him.
One of his hands rested on my head and slowly closed the distance between us.
I didn’t want to let him know I was nervous, so I lifted the tray up to his chest and smiled brightly.
“But you have to eat all of this?”
“Yes, I should. But... I’m going to change the order a bit.”
“?”
“There’s something I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
“...Hmm?!”
His secretive voice was suddenly entering my mouth.
Comments
Post a Comment