Ever since the conversation, Ryoichi would often go visit Fiona, who became dedicated to the experiment of the herb they brought back, not meeting anyone irrelevant expect for Katharina and Ryoichi. The queen often reminded Fiona of taking care of her own body and child. The prince wanted to see her as well but didn't dare to visit in public due to the regret to his words and attitude, so he often sneaked to take a glance from the outside of the lab.
Therefore, Fiona was busy, Katharina and Jonathan were also busying with queendom affairs, so no one in the palace or elites have time or rights to order Ryoichi to do something. He didn't have to take the guard job either, so he started to enjoying his life of being elites.
After waking up, there would be quiet servants who helped him with everything. Of course, he could do it by himself, but he would love to have a small talk with them. The only inconvenience was that they didn't have a name so it was kinda impolite to call them only by "hi" or "hey". The food was also prepared and different from what S took him to eat. The food they had before was like paste in jelly fish, while that for the elites, although was also in jelly fish, was made as pretty shape, such as fish, actinian, etc. The jellyfish which were used as bowl were also different. Instead of the normal color, those used by the elites were colorful, such as spotted jellyfish.
Not allowed by Jonathan to attend the imperial meeting and without a real job, Ryoichi was taking a tour to different places, such as the court, the lab to see Fiona, the troop, etc. Of course, he would hang out with S when he was not on duty. He tried once to take S to the palace since he had never been there, but unfortunately, they were busted by Jonathan. If it wasn't him that they met, they probably could sneak in and complete S's little wish. Pity!
One day, Ryoichi bummed around like usual and just about to leave the palace. He, then, saw several elites walking out of the meeting room angrily. Through the semi-transparent wall, the queen was seemingly arguing with the prince and the general.
He overheard. It was about something like raising the offerings from the public and relations with the kingdom. Finally, Jonathan left followed by the general.
So curious was he that Ryoichi entered into the meeting room. The queen looked like furious, throwing her trident, which almost hit him.
"Oh!" Ryoi dodged it and said, "So close!"
Katharina said, "sorry, but why you suddenly come in?!"
Ryoi pulled the trident up and held it to the queen, "please forgive me, your majesty. You seemed like unhappy so I just wanna come and check if there's anything I can help to release your anger."
Katharina took the trident from his hands, "that's not your business. After all, you can't do any help. Wait… Maybe you can help. You, come with me."
Without any time for him to refuse or question, Katharina took his hands and rushed out of the palace, leaving the trident besides.
She was indeed very strong, Ryoichi thought, and she had an extraordinary speed under water, which was faster than himself. Following the pillar under the palace, they reached to the deeper sea where there was a large cage. Ryoi could not very clearly what was in it until Katharina whistled and a giant shadow appeared.
It was a huge shark with white canine teeth in its open mouth. As it growled and came closer, Katharina reached her hand into the cage and touched it.
'Amazing!' Ryoichi thought, 'so this is the unique skill of controlling marine organism.'
"Her name is Amy," Katharina said, "I started to domesticate her since we were both little."
While at this time, Ryoichi was thinking, 'wow, so a shark can be named, but some people can't.'
"For now, I can be able to ride her maybe twice out of ten, and it's too strong, so we have to lock her up."
"It's amazing, your majesty. So I'm wondering if anyone in our queendom can control such giant creature?"
"Not really. It's a unique skill of our queendom to control the marine creature, but only a few can control fierce creatures. Most of people might just able to control some small-sized fish. The initial group of people who could control creatures like shark constituted the leaders, which became the elite group now, and their offspring inherited the heritage. However, it seemed like not all the offspring can inherit such powerful skill. So for now, only us three brother and sister can control the shark, while some competent elites, such as General Fergus, might control things like octopus."
"So that is why the Pulchritudinem wants to have princess Fiona."
"Right." Katharina signed, "but she didn't want to. After all the troubles, I'm finally able to turn down the marriage. Well, that also thanks to you, to be honest. However, my brother still highly recommended us to trade with Pulchritudinem. And the term looks fine but it will be very harsh to our people, so I'm hesitating. General Fergus also said it would be beneficial for our realm with their weapons. "
"That sounds like a dilemma. But I believe your majesty will make the right decision. I have faith on you. And no matter what anybody says anything, I believe you'll do the best decision for your people. After all, you're the real queen, not them, right?"
Katharina stopped for a moment. She looked at his black eyes. They were pure, which made her believe that he was not just flattering. Ever since she reigned, the elite class never stopped questioning her as a young woman. They would be happy to crown Jonathan if her father didn't officially pass the throne to her. They obviously respected Jonathan's decision over hers, and even Jonathan himself sometimes showed arrogance. She felt like finally there was someone besides her dead father supporting her without any tricks.
She said: "I guess you've never ridden a shark before." By saying that, she loosened the chain and got into the cage. The shark then opened its mouth and rushed to her.
"Watch out!" Ryoichi yelled. "You said twice out of ten. Are you insane?"
Katharina ignored him and started to explain: "the key to control them is the speed, and then the skill to chain the mouth." She seemed to turn on her full speed, moving every muscle on her body. It seemed like she put ejectors on her legs and she just swam like a flying fish with the speed that the shark was too heavy and giant to bite her. As barreling around the shark, Katharina was able to tie a knot from the giant creature's mouth to its head. Then, she held the chain and stood on its head. The creature also realized its failure and became calm, submitting itself to the queen quietly.
She was born like a queen, Ryoichi thought.
Then, she gave Ryoi her hand, "come, it's okay right now."
Ryoichi was little bit intimidated at first, but the strong and gentle smile of her also gave him strength. He held on her hand and also stood on the back of the shark.
"Grab my waist." Katharina told him and he did so. The shark shook a little bit. It was the first time for Ryoichi to ride a shark, and also the first time for shark Amy to take two people, so both of them felt strange.
"Ready?"
"I think so?"
With little time for him to respond, Katharina opened the cage and they rode the shark out.
"Woooooow!"
It felt like taking a roller coaster, up and down. And the drag force of water provided a feeling of going for a drive by Ferrari. The shark could be faster, but Katharina controlled it not to be so that the powerful drag force under water wouldn't hurt them. As they were riding, the shoal of different fishes described a circle besides, through which, light was torn up into pieces and leaked.