Lately, Liscia and the others had been acting weird. Liscia, Aisha, Juna, and
Roroa... All of them had been acting a bit off.
If you were to ask me to put into words what exactly was off about it, I'd have had
a hard time answering; but for some reason they turned pink whenever we met,
turning and immediately walking off in the opposite direction as if they were
embarrassed. It wasn't like they were deliberately ignoring me, but it was a bit
depressing to have them avoid me like that.
...Did I do something to offend them? I thought about that, but nothing came to
mind.
Lately, we'd had nothing but peaceful days, and I didn't think I'd done anything
that would make them feel uneasy. I worried I might have done something
unintentionally, so I decided to broach the issue with the four of them directly. When
I did...
"I-It's not your fault, Souma. Don't worry," Liscia assured me.
"Um... You could say I am embarrassed to look you in the eye, sire, or something
like that," Aisha said.
"I'm sorry," Juna told me. "It's absolutely an issue on our side. You don't need to
worry about it at all."
"Well, let's just say it's a secret between us gals, and leave it at that, 'kay?" Roroa
added.
...Those were the responses I got. Honestly, it didn't make any sense.
Oh, right. And speaking of weird, there were other things about what they were
doing and saying that was a little off.
The first happened in the morning, when I was sitting across from Roroa on a
sofa in the governmental affairs office and we were having a budget meeting. When
we finished talking about state industries, the conversation moved on to my
personal businesses that Roroa's company would be sponsoring. It was mainly
about production on the tokusatsu program.
"So, about Overman Silvan, do you think you could raise the budget a little more?"
I asked. "We can't use the same monsters every time, and if we are going to reuse
them, we need a little more variety..."
"...Uh-huh..."
Hm? Was she just nodding along? That was when I noticed that Roroa was
staring at me, her mind clearly somewhere else.
"Roroa?"
"Huh?! Oh, yeah, I'm listenin', I'm listenin'."
...She was apparently not listening. What had her staring off into space like that?
"Is something on your mind?" I asked. "If there's anything I can do to help, I will."
"Nah, that's not it, but... Sure. Let's see if ya can play along." Roroa moved over
next to me, close enough that our shoulders were touching.
Hm... Does she want me to dote on her? I started to think.
Then Roroa looked me straight in the eye and said, "Hey... Big Brother Souma?"
"Whuh?!"
When she called me that with upturned eyes, my head shot back in surprise. WhWhat was this, out of nowhere?!
"Seriously, what's going on, Roroa?!" I cried.
I was worried she'd come down with a fever or something, so I tried putting a
hand on her forehead, but she didn't seem especially feverish or anything.
Roroa started kicking her legs and swinging her arms around in frustration.
"Aww... That's not the reaction I was expectin'. You were sayin' it made you happy
the way I treat Big Sister Cia like a sister. So, I figured, you like li'l sisters, don't ya?"
"Little sisters?" I asked, baffled. "What are you even talking about?"
And what did she mean, I'd said that? I had no recollection of saying that... Huh,
no, wait, maybe I did. What was this weird feeling?
"Hmph! I don't care anymore!" Roroa pouted and looked the other way.
I didn't really get how, but I seemed to have upset her.
Hm, what should I do... I wondered, then plopped a hand down on Roroa's head.
"You're my precious fiancée, so I don't want you turning into a little sister on me."
"...Y'sure?" Roroa still had her head turned away from me, but she peeked back
my way as she asked that.
I gave her a big nod to reassure her, then patted her on the head. "Of course. The
way you were playing 'little sister' was cute, but I'd rather have you as my wife
instead. Just having you by my side always cheers me up, after all."
When I told her straight-up how I felt about her, Roroa's face turned bright red. I
must have embarrassed her. When I saw her reaction, I felt embarrassed, too.
"So, please, stop calling me Big Brother," I said. "If you don't..."
"Wh-What if I don't?"
"It'd be like I was deliberately having my own fiancée call me 'Big Brother,'" I said
teasingly. "That'd feel kind of depraved."
Roroa burst out laughing. "Ha ha! Maybe you're right. Yeah, no more callin' you
Big Brother. I didn't get the reaction I was hopin' for, but I don't feel bad 'bout how
this went, either."
When she said that, Roroa hugged my arm. It looked like she was in a better
mood now.
Well, I did mean it when I said she was cute as a little sister, though...
When the adorable Roroa had called me Big Brother with upturned eyes, my
heart had skipped a beat, after all. But I don't want to go developing any weird
fetishes, so I was really glad she'd stopped.
The next weird thing that happened was in the afternoon. It was around two
o'clock, after I'd had a slightly late lunch.
I had been working since morning, so I was taking a short break at the kotatsu
table in my room. Aisha, who would normally have stood by the door to guard me,
came in to sit across from me at the kotatsu.
When I looked at Aisha's face... I had no words. Aisha, for some reason, was
wearing a pair of cat ears.
...What the meow was going on here?
Aisha had turned into a cat-eared dark elf, something that made absolutely no
sense to me.
While I was still unable to find the words for this bizarre turn of events, Aisha
made fists with her two hands and held them up like a beckoning cat. "M-Meow..."
She's meowing?!
She had totally just let out a meow. No, seriously, what on Earth was going on
here?
Apparently unable to bear the silence, Aisha covered her face with her hands.
"Oh... This really is embarrassing."
"You say that after doing it on your own?! What were you trying to accomplish?!"
I shouted.
"What, you ask? I wanted you to adore me, Your Majesty," Aisha said. "Like you
would a pet."
"Like a pet?! Not a person?!"
"I wanted to borrow the princess's choker to wear in place of a collar, but she
refused because it was an important gift from you, sire. Removing a slave collar
would have been hard, so..."
"You're trying to turn me into some kind of sexual deviant?!"
I'm not into making women wear collars! I exclaimed silently. ...Yeah, I don't think I
am, at least.
While I was worrying about myself, Aisha tearfully said, "Ohh... I had heard you
thought of me like a pet, so I was hoping to at least have you fawn over me like one."
"I... do think that, yes, but could you at least let me fawn over you as a human?!" I
cried.
"...How might I get you to fawn over me?"
When Aisha looked at me with those pleading eyes, my brain started firing on all
cylinders as I tried to find an answer for her. If I didn't give her a plan here, Aisha
was going to get dispirited again. I looked around and spotted the accessory case
where I kept nail clippers and other daily necessities.
I know!
"How about I clean your ears?" I asked.
"Please do," she responded instantly.
I got an ear cleaner out, and had Aisha sit next to me.
"Y'know, looking at those long ears of yours, I've always wanted to try cleaning
them at least once," I said.
"U-Um, sire? That's nice, but... when you clean someone's ears, is it not normal to
have them rest their head in your lap?" she asked hesitantly.
"The earwax can fall in towards your eardrum if you do it that way, so my
grandma always said not to. The right way to do it is from right beside the person,
like this."
"I-Is that right?" Aisha asked, then whispered, "Oh, I had my hopes up, too."
I brushed Aisha's hair back behind her pointed ears and pushed the ear cleaner
inside.
"Eek!" Aisha's body shuddered.
"It's dangerous to move, you know," I told her. "Stay put."
"Y-Yesh... Ahhh!" While I was digging around inside, Aisha suddenly started
squirming. "Ah...! Oh... Hahh..."
For some reason, she was moaning in an incredibly sweet voice. I started to feel
like I was doing something naughty to her.
"D-Don't let out weird moans," I said.
"B-But... I'm sensitive there... Ahhhhh!"
I cleaned out her opposite ear while listening to her sweet sighs, and then the ear
cleaning was finished. By the end, Aisha's face had completely melted, but she
seemed satisfied, so that was good.
...Maybe I'll do this for her again sometime, I thought.
By the way, Aisha's voice had been heard outside while we were doing that, so
one of the maids who passed by at the time started a rumor that, "His Majesty and
Madam Aisha were [censored] in his room." When he heard, Chamberlain Marx
declared, "At last, we'll have an heir," and danced for joy.
On the other hand, when Liscia, Juna, and Roroa heard the rumor, they told me
off, saying, "Hey, that's not the right order!" (If I was going to start laying my hands
on them, Liscia, as candidate to be my first primary queen, should have been first.)
Thankfully, Aisha had explained the situation, so I was spared their wrath, but it
was an incident that showed me if I neglected any of my future queens, the others
would get angry, too.
Naturally, I had no intention of mistreating any of them, but... it was something to
keep firmly in mind.
Evening.
Having done paperwork in the morning and afternoon, I invited Liscia who had
been helping me to finally come take a break with me, and we were enjoying
afternoon tea.
Every day was a battle with my heavy responsibilities as king, so just being able
to relax with Liscia and have aimless conversations like this was fun.
During our conversation, something weird came up, just like with my earlier
encounters with Roroa and Aisha today. After we finished talking about everything
that came to mind, Liscia nodded as if she was satisfied about something.
"I see... Those two are putting it to use right away, huh."
"Putting what to use?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself." Liscia played it off with a vague smile.
No, really... what was it?
Liscia chuckled. "But I'll bet you didn't mind their attempts to get your attention,
huh?"
"Well... No, I didn't," I said. "I mean, they were both cute."
When I honestly admitted it, Liscia brought a finger to her lips with a look on her
face like she was pondering something. She murmured something under her breath
that I couldn't make out. "(They've got it easy, having actual hints to go on. I got told
he had nothing particular on his mind for me. I was happy about that, but it makes it
hard to decide how to get his attention.)"
"Hm? Did you say something?" I asked.
Liscia shook her head, saying, "It's nothing, really," then clapped her hands as if
she had just thought of something. "I know. Hey, Souma. Is there anything you'd like
me to do for you?"
"What's this, all of a sudden?" I asked.
"Don't worry about it," she said. "Come on, give me a heart-racing scenario like
the one you had with the other two."
Hm, a scenario I want to play through with Liscia... I tried thinking of one... but it
was harder to come up with than you'd think. Liscia was like a super-mainstream
orthodox-style heroine, so adding any unnecessary bells and whistles to give her
extra character felt redundant. That being the case, rather than do something to
change Liscia herself, maybe we could do something with the relationship between
us.
"Hey, Liscia, we got betrothed without knowing much of anything about each
other, right?" I said. "On top of that, it wasn't something we decided on for ourselves,
it was something Sir Albert just decided on his own."
"Well... Yeah, it was."
"I'm not sore about it anymore, and I'm even grateful to him for bringing the two
of us together, but... what do you think it'd have been like if we'd known each other
all along? If we'd been childhood friends, like Hal and Kaede."
Liscia got a look on her face like she was pondering the idea. "Hm... I wouldn't
have gotten confused and thought Souma was your first name, maybe? I might be
calling you Kazuya."
"Yeah, maybe," I nodded. "We'd have a lot of shared memories from when we
were kids, too."
So we decided to try holding a conversation as if we were childhood friends.
"'Come to think of it, Kazuya, you've always been hiding away in your room,
sewing like a girl,'" Liscia roleplayed. "'If you don't get out in the sun more, your
body's going to start growing mold, you know?'"
"'Well, you're as tomboyish as ever, too,'" I told her. "'Elisha's worried she'll never
find a husband willing to take you.'"
"'Well, that's just fine with me. When the time comes, I was planning to have you
take me as your wife anyway.'"
"'Don't make it sound like you're marrying me because you have no other choice.
When you were little, you were always saying, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry
Kazuya," weren't you?'"
"'Th-That was so long ago, I've forgotten it!'"
"'You were more honest with yourself, and cute back then.'"
"'What do you mean, "back then"?! Ugh, Kazuya, you dummy!'"
"'...'"
"'...'"
Wow, this is super embarrassing! we both thought.
Not even a minute into our little act, Liscia and I were both red in the face.
"Oh geez, my face is burning up," I admitted. "Do you think childhood friends
actually talk like this?"
"I'm so embarrassed I could die," Liscia said. "I think our current relationship
suits us better."
While we were both fanning our burning cheeks...
"No, Master," Carla interrupted. "I think I'm the one who was most embarrassed,
being forced to watch that, you know?"
Carla, who turned out to have been watching this whole exchange, said that with
an awkward look on her face, making us writhe in shame even more badly.
Then came that night.
When the broadcast ended for the nightly song program, Juna and I had our postshow meeting and then headed to the Ishizuka Cafeteria in the castle.
This place was open until late at night, so when we missed meals because of
meetings, the two of us often came here to eat and get drinks together. We had our
own private room here, so we could drink without worrying about the prying eyes of
my retainers.
Of course, when it was earlier in the day, we sometimes came in a group with all
my other fiancées, but on those occasions, there was no drinking. Roroa would want
to drink if the rest of us did, after all. Though technically a 16-year-old with adult
supervision (or an 18-year-old on their own) could drink in this world, no good
came from starting to drink at an early age. That was why we'd decided, at a family
meeting about the future, to not let Roroa drink, and to not drink in front of her.
That being the case, about the only time I drank was on nights when work ran late
like this.
"Well then, cheers," I said.
"Cheers, sire," Juna agreed.
In our private room, Juna and I toasted with wooden mugs filled with wine. When
I poured wine into my body that was exhausted mentally and physically from work, I
was finally able to get the sense that my day's work was over. I know, I was thinking
like a salaryman, but the work I was doing really was intensely difficult, so you could
hardly blame me.
"Your singing voice was as lovely as it always is, Juna," I said.
"Hee hee! I'm honored by the compliment, sire."
While drinking our wine and snacking on a salad of spaghetti, vegetable, and
fried octopus dressed with mayonnaise, we talked about our days. I was having such
a good time.
However, when I mentioned how Roroa, Aisha, and Liscia had acted today, Juna
narrowed her eyes slightly. It didn't break her smile, but I felt like I saw a moment of
panic there. While I looked at her, wondering what was up, Juna suddenly got up.
"Let me come sit beside you," she said, and came over next to me.
This was just like with Roroa. Was Juna going to start calling me "Big Brother"
now, too?
Juna knocked back her wine and chugged it all down, then leaned in and rested
her head on my shoulder.
Huh? What was going on here?
"Um... are you drunk?" I ventured.
"Yes. A little," she said. "I'm sorry, but could you let me stay like this a while?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
For a while, we both stayed silent. With neither of us saying a thing to the other,
we just snuggled and drank. Even though that was all we were doing, it was
strangely dizzying. With her face so close to mine, the smell of Juna's hair tickled my
nostrils, and I felt like I was getting intoxicated by something other than the alcohol.
Then, without looking at me, Juna said, "Am I... doing a good job of letting you
indulge me?"
"Huh?"
"I know I'm bad at letting others indulge me," she said. "I want to respond to the
expectations placed on me the best that I can, and it makes me happy when that
pleases everyone. But I want to have you indulge me, too, sire. Because I admire you,
I want to accept it when you indulge me."
Maybe she really was drunk, because Juna looked a little out of it. Juna was so
capable at everything she did, but when it came to this sort of stuff, maybe she was a
little clumsy.
"Please, let me indulge you," I said. "I'll do my best to make it easy for you to let
me."
Then I patted her head, and Juna gave me a satisfied smile.
And so, the day came to an end. There was a lot that happened, but on the whole
it was a good day.