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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: A Squashed Duck and Blank Letters
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“Huh? A duck?”
Wondering what that was about, I turned my head to see the Black Elder rushing over, holding something monstrous in his hand.
“Wh-what is that?”
I recoiled at the sight of its miserably squashed form, only realizing what it was when I saw the two dark chocolate chips embedded in it.
“What is that?”
“That? Well… you see…”
Enoch, on the other hand, didn't seem to have figured out what the pancake-like thing on the elder's palm was.
Judging by the serious expression on his face as he examined the unidentified object.
Chuckling at the sight, I held out the flattened bread to Enoch.
“This is the snack Your Majesty gave Ariel earlier.”
“?”
At my words, Enoch's gaze grew even more serious.
“I believe what I gave her was a duck, not a pig…”
“A pig… It does look like a pig, but, ahem!”
The corners of my mouth twitched at the sight of the duck, which now resembled a yellow pig because its beak had been pressed flat and round.
“It is a duck. Though it's a bit squashed.”
“A bit…?”
As if he couldn't agree, Enoch picked up the squished bread by a corner.
“Pfft, yes. Ariel was running around earlier because she didn't want to change her clothes. It must have gotten squashed in her pocket then.”
It was funny, but I couldn't laugh freely because Ariel looked so shocked.
So I bit my lip to hold it in, but Ariel, who must have heard Enoch, already had tears welling up in her eyes.
“It diiiied…”
With a runny nose, the child, who had been sucking on her lip, finally burst into tears.
“Liel's ducky became a piggy! Waaah!”
“Haa…”
Deeply saddened by her duck turning into a pig, Ariel fell to the floor and began to cry, pounding her small fists on the ground,
Seeing this, Enoch looked troubled and covered his own mouth, the source of the ‘pig’ comment.
“Ariel, I'm sorry. I misspoke. Still, pigs are kind of cute in their own way—”
“Waaah, no! I don't wike piggies!”
Enoch, who had been trying to comfort her in his own way, covered his ears as Ariel shrieked.
“…She has quite the set of lungs. She'll grow up strong…”
“Did Liel make your ears go owie…?”
As if she hadn't expected to be so loud herself,
the child, having shouted first, glanced nervously at Enoch.
Finding that adorable, Enoch chuckled, removed his hands from his ears, and placed Ariel on a desk at his eye level.
“No, it's good to be spirited. Anyway, there might be something else intact in my pocket—Ugh.”
But he didn't get far before he froze, clunking to a halt like a broken machine. I scurried over to him.
“Huh? What's wrong?”
“No, it's just…”
With trembling eyes, Enoch hesitated before pulling his hand out of his pocket without another word,
Splat.
A melted lump of chocolate fell onto the white marble floor.
***
“Enoch, you smell sweet.”
“Still?”
Groaning, Enoch turned his hand, which had been covered in chocolate, this way and that.
“I washed it… Is it strong?”
“A little? But it's fine. It's sweet and really nice. You're like a giant piece of chocolate.”
I gently bumped my nose against his large hand, smiled brightly, and peeked toward the door from which a delicious aroma was wafting.
We had unintentionally ended up in the kitchen because Ariel insisted on having a picnic with the duck cupcakes while wearing her yellow dress.
To make new ones to replace the squashed cupcake.
“The dress will probably be dry by the time we're done, right?”
I thought of the little dress drying in the sunny backyard, but then I noticed Enoch, who had fallen a step behind, bickering with the elders about something.
“Elder.”
“Yes?”
“Should I have a chocolate-scented perfume made?”
“I would not recommend it.”
“Why not?”
“Your Majesty does not have the kind of face that suits things like ‘sweetness.’ The scent you currently use is a perfect fit.”
“Pavel.”
“…Yes?”
The Black Elder, who had been giving his firm advice with a wag of his index finger, flinched at the sudden call of his name, his shoulders trembling.
Enoch rarely called him by name…
Just as I thought.
One of his long, dark eyebrows was cocked, a clear sign he hadn't liked the answer he'd just received.
“I hear you finished off my rum.”
“What? H-how did you know?”
Visibly flustered by the abrupt change of topic, the Black Elder glared at the White Elder, the main culprit in this situation.
‘You! How could you tell him that!’
‘Ahem. My apologies.’
After a fervent silent conversation, Pavel timidly looked at Enoch.
“Your Majesty, it's just that… I was overcome with excitement… I-I'll replace it right away!”
“The dark rum in that collection was something I waited months for. So, how was it? Did it have a good flavor?”
…I should have just said it suited him well.
No, I should have said His Majesty was the very personification of sweetness!
The Black Elder, now feeling the urge to slap the mouth he'd used just seconds ago, spotted a white piece of paper peeking out of his sleeve.
‘That's it! I can show him this!’
Forgetting them for a moment in the sudden chaos, the elder pulled a bundle of letters from his sleeve and held them out to Enoch.
Hoping it would divert Enoch's attention.
“What is this?”
A plain white envelope, the kind you could find in every other shop in the city center.
His low voice was laced with curiosity as he looked at the unremarkable bundle of paper.
Having successfully shifted Enoch's attention, the Black Elder secretly breathed a sigh of relief and answered.
“The person I met a short while ago gave me this, saying it was related to the Little Marquess.”
“This? What could this possibly—”
“Me?”
I came over because they were taking so long, whispering amongst themselves.
Startled by my sudden appearance, the bundle of letters held in his large hand fell with a soft thud.
Fortunately, they were tied with a red string, so the disaster of letters scattering everywhere was avoided.
“I'm sorry, did I startle you? I thought I heard my name… Huh?”
Instead of the startled Enoch, I crouched down to pick up the letters and, spotting something, fluttered my eyelashes rapidly.
“Oh?”
“Riana? What is it?”
Finding it strange that I remained on the floor, turning the letters over and over, Enoch bent down.
I held out the envelope in my hand toward him.
“Your Majesty, look at this.”
Enoch's gaze, which had been moving toward the envelope I offered, froze in place.
“This is…”
“This.”
Everyone's eyes focused on one spot.
On the elegant script that adorned the time-worn white envelope.
The handwriting, with its delicate flow of black ink, was one I had become all too familiar with—it was mine. No, Riana's.
And the recipient inscribed where the writing ended was…
“These are letters I wrote to Your Majesty.”
None other than ‘Enoch Philippe de Hihart.’
The very man standing frozen before me.
***
“Hmmmm.”
Among the four of us sitting in a circle, I was the first to speak.
“So these are the letters I wrote to Your Majesty? But why—”
Rustle.
Taking one from its envelope, I spread it open in the center of our circle.
“—why is there nothing written inside?”
That's right.
Not just the one I'd just taken out, but this one, and that one too.
Among all these numerous letters, not a single one had anything written in it.
Despite having the sender, the recipient, and even a seal stamped, ready for dispatch at any moment.
At these bizarre letters, four pairs of eyebrows—white, platinum, and black—all furrowed.
“Riana, do you remember anything about these letters?”
“No. Unfortunately.”
“Little Marquess, what about the tavern near the north gate of the central plaza? Do you remember that place?”
“A tavern?”
“Yes. The person who gave me these letters is the owner of that establishment. He said you asked him to deliver them to the Imperial Palace if you didn't appear by the promised date.”
“I did?”
What is this all about?
Confused, I pointed a finger at my own face and shook my head in a daze.
“Hmm… According to the owner, you always stopped by his tavern on your way back from visiting the duke's residence to entrust him with a letter.”
Riana did?
Why? What on earth are these?
I stared at the clean paper, which wasn't even dusty, for a long time, but it only made my eyes hurt.
As expected, nothing came to mind.
“For now, it would be best to look into these letters a bit more.”
Deciding that no clear answers would surface right away, Enoch gathered the scattered letters.
“Enoch, could you give me one of the letters?”
“A letter?”
“I mean, I'm the one who wrote it. I thought maybe something would come to me if I kept it with me.”
“Of course. You may take them all.”
“No, one is enough.”
Picking one from the pile that was stacked like white snow, I brought up the topic I had postponed.
“Oh, right. I have something to tell you, too.”
“What is it?”
“Have you ever heard any rumors about me having manifested a special ability?”
At my question, Enoch thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“No. This is the first I'm hearing of it.”
“Is that so? I guess…”
Just as I was thinking that what I heard in the garden was just nonsense, the White Elder quietly raised his hand.
“I believe I've heard of it.”
“You've heard of it?”
“Yes, I have. It was a long time ago, so my memory is a bit hazy, but…”
Hmm.
The elder stroked his fluffy beard as if searching through his faded memories, then nodded.
“There was indeed such a rumor.”
“Huh? There was a rumor like that? It's the first I'm hearing of it.”
At the confident reply, the Black Elder's eyes widened as if he truly had never heard of it.
“That's understandable. The rumor died down before it even crossed the palace walls. Very few people would know about it.”
“But why? It's not easy for a rumor to disappear that quickly.”
“If my memory serves me right, it was revealed to be false not long after the rumor started.”
“False?”
The White Elder, adding another deep line to his wrinkled brow between his cloud-like eyebrows, continued slowly.
“Yes, that's right. It's because the one who manifested the power wasn't the Little Marquess, but the Duke's Daughter. The rumor had gotten the two of them mixed up.”
“So, you're saying the rumor that the Duke's Daughter manifested a power was mistakenly spread as the Little Marquess having done so?”
“Correct. That's why it disappeared so quickly. Because it wasn't true, after all.”
