The Villainess Is Being Doted on by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Country 37
The Fairy King"s Troubles"Umm…"
Grail, King of the Sky fairies looked very sad and down once Pearl, Queen of the Sea fairies had vanished. The once pleasant tea party now had an awkward silence hanging over it, making Tiararoes helplessly bewildered.
-Did Grail have a fondness for Pearl then?
He dressed as a woman because she had a hatred of men. …Tiararose did not feel like this was a thing easily done. Though, it sometimes did appear as if he did it out of personal enjoyment.
"Really, you are most troublesome."
"Aquasteed…"
Aquasteed sighed with exasperation before requesting that Aishira leave. She may have been the daughter of a duke, but this was not the kind of matter that should enter her ears.
And in any case, Aishira would not be able to help with this problem. Aquasteed had already come to this conclusion. He had decided that there was no more need to talk.
Aquasteed thanked her and waited for her to leave before sitting back on the sofa. Then he turned his gaze to Grail, who took one sip of tea before starting.
"Well, as you can all see, I am a man."
"You would be a woman if appearance was all that mattered."
"Oh…"
Grail chuckled as he played with his hair. He talked as if he had completely forgotten that he was dressed as a woman.
If anything, perhaps he had become so used to being like this, that he barely even thought of it anymore.
He continued by saying that he hadn"t really been hiding it from Tiararose…as he poured some more coral tea.
"No… Please do not worry on my account. After all, it is such a great pleasure to speak with you, Grail."
"Thank you. You are so kind."
"She is a great woman, is she not?"
"Very."
Keith laughed as he drank his tea. Aquasteed pulled Tiararose a little closer towards him. He gave the fairy king a look that dared him to try and take his wife.
"Prince Aqua…"
"You are much too lavish with your affections, Tiara."
"Haha. You better hold to her tight, or I might steal her away."
"Keith!"
-What was this Fairy King even saying!
Of course, Tiararose cared about Aquasteed alone. It would be best to live in a way that Aquasteed did not have to worry about her worries.
She must ask Keith to not say such unnecessary things.
"Well, enough of that. So, what will you do, Grail? Do you like Pearl that much?"
Tiararose held back her words as Keith spoke. This was not really something that concerned her, and she felt it was wrong to interfere with this matter between Grail and Pearl.
-Were Grail"s affections not returned?
But judging by what I have just seen, they both must feel the same way? She thinks. Though, it was perhaps difficult for them to meet regularly, being the rulers of the sky and the sea.
She hoped that there weren"t too many misunderstandings between them… It almost made her feel bad for being so close to Aquasteed all of the time.
"Don"t look like that, Tiararose. I am fine."
"! Grail…"
He had noticed that there was a cloud over his face, and he frantically forced a smile. Aquasteed also a.s.sured her that "There was nothing to worry about" and stroked her hair.
But still, Tiararose could not help but wonder. But Aquasteed quickly fed her some sweets before she could say anything.
"Mmm!"
"Hehe. Tiararose, just enjoy your sweets and bask in your happiness."
Grail chuckled and then continued.
"Yes. I do like Pearl, but as you witnessed, she does not fancy men. And so, she does not fancy me."
-That is clearly a mistake!
Tiararose shouted in her heart. But her mouth was too stuffed for her to say this out loud.
From the looks of it, Aquasteed and Keith seemed to have the same opinion as her.
She could see that both of them were laughing quietly.
"Well, she is a staunch hater of men. I don"t think dressing as a woman is going to change anything."
"Right? But, I was trying so hard, you know?"
"…mm."
Tiararose quickly swallowed the sweets, and just as she was about to object—Aquasteed"s finger softly touched her lips.
"Quiet, Tiara."
"Prince Aqua? But, I am sure that Grail is…"
She lowered her voice without really thinking. She couldn"t quite understand why she should not tell him.
People like those two sometimes needed a push from the outside. But apparently, Aquasteed thought differently.
"It would not be wise for us humans to lightly involve ourselves in the affairs of the fairy kings."
"Yes…but still…"
But, was that not too sad for poor Grail and Pearl?
Tiararose felt a little gloomy as she looked at Grail and Keith arguing. If only he would quickly realize that he was not actually hated.
-If anything, Keith should just tell him!
Tiararose took out her feelings of frustration onto the Fairy King of the forest and sighed. But at the same time, watching the two friends like this made her think that it probably was best that an outsider like her, not interfere.
"Really. You are so easygoing, Keith."
"Hmph. I have had my fill of trouble."
"I like that, your personality that is."
Grail let out a deep sigh and drained his cup of tea. Then he took a bite out of Tiararose"s favorite cake and smacked his lips with delight.
"It is fine. I and Pearl will continue to slowly close the gap, just like before."
"Indeed. Well, you do your best then."
Grail shook his head as if to say, "enough talk about us."
Keith ignored him as if this was the kind of exchange that happened often between them.
"Now, I think that"s it for today. Let us go, Keith."
"Me too?"
"Yes. These two are still newlyweds. Don"t you think it would be wrong for us to bother them too much?"
"…And yet you seem to visit an awful lot."
Aquasteed said with a glare. Grail chuckled pleasantly.
“Ahh, that is it. I should make a gift of something to Pearl. Don"t you think, Tiararose? Would you please come shopping with me sometime soon?”
"You"ve got some ne…"
"Gladly, if you will have me."
Tiararose agreed with a nod before Aquasteed could interject. Aquasteed sighed and mumbled, "I shall go as well."
And so this most unusual tea party that had three fairy rulers attend, had now come to an end. Tiararose was now in a hot bath and shedding the fatigue of the day.
"Hahh…"
Half her face was submerged in the hot water as she closed her eyes and sighed.
She was thinking about Grail and Pearl. If only those two could be more honest about their feelings…she thought.
–No, maybe it was that Grail was too honest?
On top of that, he wanted to befriend her so bad that he dressed as a woman.
"Love certainly is a difficult thing…"
She herself had been very troubled over Aquasteed at one point. Grail must be troubled in much the same way over Pearl. And Pearl as well.
"Still, how surprising that he was a man. He looked like the perfect, beautiful woman…"
As a woman, she was slightly shocked over this. How could a man be so beautiful? But this was the world of an otome game, and it could not be helped that both men and women were incredibly appealing.
And then a certain thought entered her head.
"Had Queen Pearl been angry that I and Grail were having such a pleasant tea party together?"
"That is so!!"
"Ahhh!"
Just as Tiararose had asked herself the question, she was answered by a voice that was not her own.
She did not even have to wonder where the voice had come from. Because Pearl"s irritated expression had appeared from inside of the bathtub.
–Oh, the Fairy Queen of the sea herself had appeared!
Her surprise at this unexpected development was soon followed by Aquasteed"s voice calling to her. She could also hear his footsteps approaching, there was no doubt that he would come here and see if she was alright.
So she quickly said, "It"s nothing. I"m alright." and stopped him.
"Hmph! A little screaming and you have a man come for you. How very lucky."
"…"
Pearl clearly meant it as an insult, but there was visible jealousy in her eyes.
Tiararose wondered what to do, then decided to just talk normally.
"Queen Pearl, would you like to have tea with me?"
"Wh-what are you talking about! As if I would want to have tea with the likes of you."
"I will call King Grail over as well. I am sure it will be a joyous occasion. You do know that Grail is always dying to see you?"
"Hmph."
She decided to go for a straightforward approach and invite her to tea. However, she was rejected. Apparently, she would not have tea with a mere human.
This was unfortunate, Tiararose thought. But it was Pearl who had shown up here, so she must have been curious about her.
"I have only come here to tell you that you should not be inviting Fairy Kings to tea so casually. Remember your place!"
"Oh, ah…"
Both Keith and Grail had come down to meet Tiararose by their own choice. Tiararose had not even invited them…
However, Pearl did not care about such details. As long she believed this as the Fairy Queen of the sea, then it was the truth for the whole sea.
"I will leave it at that for today. However, if things escalate any further, I will have a way of dealing with it!"
"Queen Pearl, I…"
"Silence! You will not go against the Fairy Queen of the sea! You will not get any closer to the king, to Grail!"
"…!"
Pearl said very quickly before vanishing once again.
But Tiararose had already promised Grail that she would go shopping with him—this was quite the dilemma for her.
"Still, Queen Pearl was a lot cuter than I had thought."
She had said Fairy Kings, however, she ultimately had only said Grail"s name.
"If only she knew that I had no intention of taking Grail away from her. …But perhaps the day when they would both love each other was not too far off now?"
Thinking this, Tiararose no longer cared about the incident of the sweets theft. She only had a pure desire that these two would one day be united.
Tiararose was thinking about telling Aquasteed about Pearl and having the shopping trip canceled when–perhaps having heard Pearl"s angry voice, Aquasteed"s head popped through the door.
"Tiara, are you–"
"———–!?"
Tiararose screamed noiselessly and threw some hot water at Aquasteed. She was so embarra.s.sed that her face turned red in an instant…