While training the second group of palace guards this morning, a messenger came to me around noon with a message from the Tomboy Princess' mother, the First Queen. In case you were wondering, this is the exact same queen that is deeply religious that I had worries about before....
As I expected, there wasn't any way that she wouldn't contact us during our stay here.
Honestly though, I'm not too worried about trouble, especially given that she actually went through the trouble of approaching us first. That being said, I came to the conclusion that it's not necessarily possible to decline her invitation without consequence.
It looks like I have been invited to eat lunch with the First Queen. It seemed pretty reasonable for me to be summoned to do so, so in all honesty, it really can't be helped at all. Though all the same, it's something I'd prefer to avoid.
I was informed that I'm allowed to bring one partner along, so I had Kanami-chan accompany me.
After that, the Princess brought the Boy Knight along with her which gave us a total count of four people.
Although there were many palace guards and maids in the area, we were left completely alone. Lunch took place in a very beautiful courtyard located deep within the Platinum Palace in which the Queen took her residence.
The queen that was hosting the lunch resembled the Tomboy Princess quite a bit. She had long silver hair that seemed to shine beautifully with her deep, golden colored eyes. The Queen's skin was fair which combined with her other features, only seemed to make her even more beautiful, yet her skin did give her a touch of frailty and give her a sickly looking nature.
It seemed that the lunch was not going to be full of hearty meat dishes, but instead a light meal centered upon bread and vegetables. For myself, I wanted to consume a vast quantity of delicious meat, so I found the bread and vegetables that were offered to be highly unsatisfactory, however, at least Kanami-chan seemed to enjoy it… Even though the amount and type of food wasn't sufficient for me personally, I quietly stifled my dissatisfaction since it did taste delicious.
As for the queen, when we spoke, she didn't give off a bad impression. This is probably because she spoke to me with actual respect, or to be more precise… she spoke to me with respect and… affection… or perhaps I should rather say that there weren't any negative emotions in her speech. Her attitude was similar to a believer who genuinely viewed the person in front of her with great respect.
There were no signs of impending outbursts of violence, such as attempting to kill me and devouring my body which carries a god's divine protection in a zealous attempt to cleanse one's whole body by bathing in my fresh blood or using my bones as sacred adornments... While feeling relieved at those points, I decided to observe my surroundings.
In the end, it was quite a worthwhile lunch part.
The first impression I had of the queen has changed. It seems that she has an amiable character. It may have been possible for this acquaintanceship to change into a good friendship in time.
...Or… At least that's what I thought for a moment…
After we finished with the lunch and returned to the Amber Palace, my clone which I had left in the Platinum Palace witnessed the final event.
This event in particular, convinced me that I wanted as little to do with the queen as physically, and or in any other shape or form, possible.
To quickly summarize what happened without touching on this subject for too long… it went something like this:
Naturally, after we finished eating and returned, there was the used tableware left behind.
Of course, one would expect the table to be cleared of it's tableware and completely cleaned to be prepared for the next time it would be used.
However, the Queen willingly picked up the knife and fork that I used this time and fell into a trance as she passionately licked them clean with an… overly enthusiastic look on her face…
Then, the beautiful noblewomen with fair skin, shining silver hair and golden colored pupils let out an extremely… alluring sound. In any case… Is licking the silverware that I used that delightful…?
The Platinum Palace's guards in the vicinity of the Queen, which seemed to be almost all women, watched the queen with envious expressions on their faces.
What the hell is going on…?
Also, why was the tableware that was licked clean placed into a luxurious case of it's own and put into a display case in the Queen's bedroom? There were an endless tide of questions that I wanted to ask, however, I honestly have no further wish to become better acquainted with the Queen after this series of events.
My story about the Queen, which has easily exceeded my common sense in various ways, ends here. I determined that it was best to proactively avoid associating with her… sigh… at least for the time being… Shaking off the scene I had just witnessed…
I decided to take all of my confusion and frustration out on the training the group of palace knights for the rest of the afternoon to put this behind me.