"Um, princess..." Juna leaned in and whispered in my ear so that Aisha and Roroa
couldn't hear. "So... what did His Majesty say about that time?"
"The thing is, Souma says he doesn't remember it," I whispered back.
"He doesn't remember?"
"Yeah. He remembers taking lectures about, um... h-how babies are made, but
everything after that is a blur."
When I had asked him about that day, Souma had tilted his head to the side and
said:
"I remember everything about the super embarrassing lecture she gave me, but... I
don't remember a thing after that. No, it's not so much that I don't remember, but that
my mind is refusing to let me recall it, maybe? ...Honestly, what did happen then? I
know I was embarrassed by the lessons, and I was feeling really parched... Excel gave
me a drink and... It's no good, I can't remember anything after that.... No, I feel like it's
best that I don't remember."
Souma had tried to squeeze out what he could remember of it, but in the end,
he'd seemed to come up empty. It didn't feel like he was hiding something from me
or trying to dodge the issue, though. He seemed like he had truly lost his memory, or
sealed it away.
Just what in the world happened to Souma after his classroom lesson? I
wondered about that...
"Now, in marriage, as in war, intel is key," Excel lectured. "Once you know what
your partner thinks of you, how they look at you, you can begin to get a feel for how
you should act. If you can catch them off guard, and show them a gap between their
impression of you and how you act in a way that isn't displeasing, that can help keep
things from getting boring. Know your partner, know what they look at, and your
marriage will never be in danger."
Aisha raised her hand. "You are right, I do wonder what His Majesty thinks of me.
But His Majesty is not here, and if we called him, do you think he would be willing to
come?"
Excel gave her a wicked grin. I... had a bad feeling about that.
"Have no worries. I have this right here."
When she said that, Excel unwrapped the white bundle. Inside were a number of
white notebooks. Excel gave one of them to each of us.
The cover of mine said "Top Secret" and "Not to be Taken Outside." This was
beyond suspicious...
"Um, Duchess Walter, just what are these notebooks...?" I asked hesitantly.
Excel flipped through her own notebook and said, "Hee hee. About the white
notebooks I just gave you, you see... Why, they have what His Majesty Souma thinks
about each of you written in them!"
""""Wha?!"""" Everyone looked down at their notebooks in unison.
In this notebook?! No, but... How?
Excel explained it with a strangely glossy and gleaming smile. "These notebooks
contain the things I heard from His Majesty during his 'private lesson.' When we
finished with the classroom lecture, his majesty said he was feeling parched, so I
gave him some juice mixed with tequeur. When I asked him all sorts of questions
after that, he was very eloquent."
So that was it! Juna and I looked at one another, despite ourselves.
Tequeur was a very strong alcohol. It had a light flavor, and would go completely
unnoticed mixed in with a glass of juice. Souma must have drunk a lot without
realizing it, then been thoroughly interrogated by Excel about his feelings for each of
us. The embarrassment of it all must have caused him to suppress the memory of it.
While I was thinking about that, I looked at the notebook in front of me. If Excel
was telling the truth, that meant this note contained the secret feelings Souma
normally kept hidden away deep inside his heart.
Oh... When I think about it, my heart suddenly starts racing...
I wanted to know, but maybe also kind of didn't... but I did want to know, after all.
I mean, I cared enough about Souma that I'd want to know what he thought about
us.
While I was thinking about that, Excel, unconcerned with our hesitation, opened
her book and continued.
"Now, as I said earlier, the secret to a harmonious marital relationship is to know
your partner, and to know how they see you. Let's look at how His Majesty Souma
looks at each of you. First... Roroa."
"Meowhat?!" Roroa reacted like a startled cat.
"First we will begin with his appraisal of Roroa."
"Wh-Why me?! Shouldn't you be doin' the head fiancée, Big Sister Liscia, first?"
"There isn't any particular reason for it," Excel said. "I simply thought we would
start with the person who first met His Majesty the most recently."
"Well, sure, I'm the newcomer here, but... Well, it beats goin' last, I guess." Roroa
seemed to have reluctantly accepted it.
...Huh? I was going last, then? Urgh... That meant the tension would last longer or
me, and I didn't like that...
Excel pushed her spectacles up, then looked down at her notebook. "Now then,
this is His Majesty Souma's appraisal of Roroa."
"Wh-What's this? I'm gettin' weirdly tense."
"Ahem... According to His Majesty, 'I like how Roroa's so bright and friendly. It's
amazing how she manages to get in close with whoever she's talking to. She can be a
bit black-hearted, but that's just one of her charms. It makes me happy seeing her
treat Liscia like her big sister. Besides, Roroa's financial sense is out of this world. To
be completely honest, the kingdom's economy couldn't run like it does now without
Roroa and Colbert. I'm grateful to have her with me, and to have her as my fiancée.'"
"O-Oh..." Roroa put her head down on the desk. She was covering her bright red
cheeks with her hands. "This... This is pretty darned embarrassin'," Roroa said,
writhing a little.
Yeah, I was a little embarrassed just hearing it. Souma wasn't the type to come
out and say this stuff to us straight, so when he came out with his unvarnished
feelings and said things like, "I love you," or, "I'm grateful to have you at my side," it
really made an impact. Now that it had come to this, I was suddenly very interested
in what he thought about me.
While we were agonizing over what was to come, Excel continued reading with
an expression like it was no big deal. "Furthermore, when I asked His Majesty, 'Do
you have anything on your mind when it comes to Roroa?' his answer was, 'I know it
was a war, but it still bothers me that I killed her father.'"
"Wha?!" Roroa stopped writing in embarrassment and immediately snapped
back to her senses.
"'It was a kill-or-be-killed situation, but I'm still her father's killer. Roroa says
they weren't close, but what if that isn't how she really feels, and she actually doesn't
want to marry me... There are times I worry about that,' he said."
"I-Is he stupid?!" Roroa shouted.
I felt like I'd had ice cold water dumped over my head, too. Oh, right... I realized. If
these were Souma's true feelings, it would include the insecurities he didn't
normally show us. To think he'd felt that way about Roroa... I'd never have noticed.
Roroa got up and stomped her feet in indignation. "Darlin', you dummy! I've
already considered all of that! I'm with ya because I wanted to be, so why're you
thinkin' about that stuff?!"
"Roroa!" I stood up, and gave Roroa a hug. She ceased stamping her feet with
tears in her eyes.
I could also understand why Souma would feel guilty when it came to Roroa. It
was because Roroa was important to him. Still, even with that said, it was wrong for
him not to take her affection for him at face value.
Roroa sobbed and rubbed her face against my chest. "Ohh... Big Sister Ciaaaa."
"I know. We'll have to tell Souma off later."
Aisha and Juna nodded. It might have been something he'd done unconsciously,
but he was going to have to pay for making our "little sister" cry.
After waiting for Roroa to settle down, Excel spoke to her. "The reason His
Majesty thinks about that is because he loves you and you're important to him. You
understand that, right?"
"...Yeah," Roroa said. "That's why, though it's frustratin' that my feelin's ain't
gettin' through to him, I was a little happy that Darlin' cares so much about li'l old
me."
"If you understand that, then you'll be fine," Excel said to Roroa with a smile.
It had been a bit tumultuous, but now Roroa's turn was done. Next, Excel called
her granddaughter's name.
"Juna. His Majesty's appraisal of you is, 'She's pretty, she's beautiful, and that
about sums it up. I don't mean just her looks, or her voice— I mean her heart, too. I
feel like, of all my companions, she's the one who is always taking a step back to look
at the larger picture. She's truly the ideal woman. I wonder sometimes if it's okay for
me to have her as my fiancée, but I wouldn't want to let anyone else have her. I'm
trying to do my best to be a man who is good enough to be her husband, but it's
frustrating that I can't quite manage it.'"
"So that's how His Majesty feels..." Juna was wearing a slight, but happy, smile.
Well, of course, any girl would after hearing "I wouldn't want to let anyone else have
her"... you know?
Excel kept on reading. "So, when I asked him, 'Do you have anything on your
mind when it comes to Juna?' his response was, 'Juna is too mature and not good at
letting others indulge her, so when she occasionally lets me spoil her, as a younger
guy, I feel really special.'"
"...Excuse me, but I was under the impression that His Majesty and I are the same
age?" Juna broke in.
Now that she mentioned it, I had heard that Juna was supposed to be turning
twenty this year, just like Souma.
"This is something His Majesty realized later, but in his world, a year is
apparently 365 days," said Excel. "The days in our world are 384 days, so with the
gap between the two, you would be a year older in Souma's world."
The gap between the two worlds' years was 19 days. 365 divided by 19... In about
19 years, it would add up to a full year's difference.
This fact sent Juna into a rare panic. "I-I was older than His Majesty Souma?
Excuse me, what did His Majesty have to say about that? He's not against having an
older woman, is he?"
I didn't think Souma would ever reject Juna just because she was older than him,
but she probably couldn't help but be worried. By the way, when she mentioned the
possibility of him not wanting an older woman, Aisha looked like she'd just been hit
by a stray bullet. You could never tell how old someone from the long-lived races
was by their appearance, after all. We hadn't been told how old she was right now,
either.
Excel gave Juna a big grin. "Don't you worry. This is what His Majesty Souma said:
'In my world, there was a proverb: "Find a woman one year your senior, even if you
have to wear metal sandals to do it." Juna is a woman worth wearing metal sandals
that won't wear out, and searching the entire world to find. There's no problem with
it at all.'"
"...I'm glad." Juna looked deeply relieved.
Next, it was Aisha's turn.
"His Majesty's appraisal of Aisha was..."
"Um? Why did you suddenly pause there?" Aisha burst out.
"Well... 'She's like a pet.'"
"Say what?!"
"""Oh..."""
"Whaa?! Why do you all look satisfied with that answer?!" Aisha shouted.
No, I mean... You know? When Aisha was with Souma, she was like a pet dog,
catching prey for her master and then going, "Praise me, praise me" as she wagged
her tail, after all.