Author Note: Though I already wrote this in my last post, but the bookmarks have already reached 1000!
Everyone, thank you very much! (Bows)
This part has some parts of the short version that I re-wrote.
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Azalea (Chapter 10)
Wolfgang was worried about Nicolette because she didn’t seem to be in high spirits since yesterday, so he walked toward her room with a box of chocolate in his hand.
"Ah, Wolf-sama, you"re quite faster than usual, eh."
Looking at Nicolette who was talking and smiling like usual, Wolfgang felt a bit relieved.
"Aah, I just got a Chocolate bar some time ago, you know."
"Chocolate bar?"
Holding a thick book with both of her hands, Nicolette tilted her head. Looking from the outside, she indeed looked cute doing that, but the book that she held was a mysterious book with the t.i.tle, ‘Chemistry as an art…. a beautiful chemical reaction…."
"You"ve already eaten chocolate before, right? It was also made into a pastry."
As Wolfgang said that while sitting beside Nicolette, she said, ‘I know the thing called chocolate’, which is how Nicolette answered as she sat on the sofa.
"But, the chocolate that I know is a liquid. Rather, I only know that there was such a thing called sweet chocolate since I arrived at this palace…."
In the first place, chocolate was born as a healthy drink. She also heard that it was only recently that chocolate had a sweet flavour. Since it has been spread as a luxury item among the n.o.bles inside Roware Kingdom, it wasn"t weird for Nicolette to not know about that.
"Well, it was only until just recently that they created the bar shaped chocolate after all."
"So, that"s why. Anyways, how can it become solid like that?"
Here it comes, her curiosity.
"There"s no way I would know. If you try to research into that, tell me first."
"Kaa~y!"
To Nicolette who answered energetically, Wolfgang told her,’Open your mouth’.
To that mouth that opened obediently, Wolfgang threw a piece of chocolate inside.
Thus, Nicolette"s eyes sparkled.
"What is this!? It"s delish!"
"Like I said, it"s a chocolate bar. There"s also the one with almonds inside it."
Saying that, Wolfgang fed Nicolette with the next piece of chocolate. Nicolette"s face started to loosen from happiness.
"Delicious...!"
Chocolate is really a food that is to be made into something like this, isn"t it~~, looking at Nicolette who was blooming into a smile, Wolfgang squinted his eyes.
As he thought, her body was plumper compared to the first time he met her. It"s not like she became fat or something like that, perhaps it"s better to say that the womanly part of her started to shown with her plumpness. It seems that it will feel really good to hug her.
She had blonde, it would be better to be called honey coloured hair that was wavy. Her violet eyes accompanied with her porcelain white skin of her gave a really good impression. As he looked over her again, Nicolette really was a beauty. He already thought of her as a beauty ever since they first met, but right now she was more plumper than before and had a s.e.x appeal suited for her age, or so he thought.
"Can I have one more?"
Looking at Nicolette who asked him with upturned eyes, he burned out the last bit of his reasoning power inside him. He hugged her, and then stacked their lips together. It felt better than he thought to hug her, and her lips tasted sweet, perhaps because she just ate chocolate.
As they kissed looking like they were trying to eat each other"s lips, Nicolette let out a sweet, ‘Hnnn……..’ voice. As they parted their lips, Wolfgang looked at Nicolette"s face while she opened her eyes wide and stared back at Wolfgang"s face. Slowly, her face became crimson red.
"Wha, what are you doing!?"
"What do you mean? I just kissed you. Your lips were sweet…."
Wolfgang licked his lips again, as if a trace of sweetness of Nicolette"s lips were still there. Looking at that, Nicolette"s face became even redder.
" ~~~~! AAh! Don"t do such weird things so suddenly!"
"It wasn"t that weird, you know? We"re husband and wife right?"
"That’s true, but still…."
Nicolette, who was raised in the monastery, who received another meaning in life after living inside her box, she wouldn"t possibly have any experiences in such things, even if she knew information about it, she didn"t have any experience.
Resistance to a love affair, or rather, there was a lot of her knowledge that was dubious whether it was correct or not.
Wolfgang smiled at Nicolette who writhed around inside Wolfgang"s arms.
"Then, there aren’t any problems right?"
Saying that, he once again kissed her.
(SANKAKU! ! )
△
Since something like that happened, Nicolette had been giving Wolfgang a lot of cute reactions. Her eyes swum around looking nervous when he talked to her, or when he touched her hand, or cheeks, and then, her face became red. The act of giving her food that he had done until now, had changed from "feeding her without any problem", into, "when she offered food, she will eat it, but while trembling and looking fl.u.s.tered". She looked like a cute small animal.
Though it was unfortunate that he cannot see her smile again from upfront, but it was still better since he avoided the worst possible outcome which is where she was starting to avoiding him.
More than anything, Nicolette was cute, as Wolfgang"s face became lose too much after thinking so, Alberto gave Wolfgang a retort, ‘That expression"s disgusting’.
Perhaps, among the women that he has married, Nicolette was the one who was together with him the longest. Not the time where they"ve been married, it"s the time that they"ve spent together.
They were already in a relationship where it was a matter of course to sit by each other in their little tea party. While Nicolette made some suspicious movements, she still sat right beside Wolfgang, so it doesn"t mean that he was hated.
Several days continued since Nicolette moved awkwardly whenever she was near Wolfgang, but today was different, Nicolette was the first to start a conversation with Wolfgang.
"Ummm, you know, I researched the way to solidify chocolate."
"So, you really researched into it."
"Yep."
Saying that, Nicolette made a small grin on her face. Since quite some time pa.s.sed since the last time he was able to see Nicolette upfront like this, Wolfgang also made a smile on his face without him realizing it.
And so, Nicolette"s face became a bit redder. Before Wolfgang was able to speak any words, Nicolette started to speak in a hurry.
"That"s right! It seems it has become hard because it was mixed with a thing called cocoa b.u.t.ter. With the current technology, it seems that a chocolate bar still wouldn"t be able to rotate onto the market, you know."
"Is that so…. so, you really researched that far."
Even though he said those things with just the intention to make a light joke, he never expected that she would really researched about it. Even more, in just several days. In several meanings, her curiosity is rather fearsome….
At that point, he suddenly remembered that he actually also had business her.
"Nicola, are you able to fix a clock?"
"Eh….mhmmm. Depends on what type though."
"It was a pocket watch."
Wolfgang untied the chain that was tied onto her belt and undid the pocket watch, giving it to Nicolette. Looking at that pocket watch, Nicolette"s face brightened.
"Waaah. This watch was created by the greatest clock maker, Kisstra the 3rd!
Though that person has already died by now, I never thought that I would be able to see his genuine product."
"I"m more surprised at you for being able to realize that it was Kisstra the 3rd"s work in just a glance, you know…."
"Kisstra"s work always had a special trait after all. But, this watch seems to have stopped, eh."
"I dropped it this morning."
"You dropped it!? This amazing thing!?"
Unbelievable! Which is what Nicolette shouted. Though you can still hear the ticking sound of the watch, the needle didn"t move at all.
"I think that there is just some gears moved from their original place. I think I can finish it quickly; my tools, my tools."
In what world would there be an Empress that muttered, ‘my tools’ existed? Well, she was right there though. Wolfgang snickered looking at Nicolette who received her tool that had been prepared by Helma.
Receiving the tools, Nicolette opened up the watch, looked inside, she raised an Oooh voice.
"Amazing. Complicated……..how did His Majesty drop such a delicate thing?"
"Pocket watches are something that you normally bring everywhere, you know."
"Well, that"s true though."
Wolfgang glanced at Nicolette"s work while accepting his reason easily. However, he quickly made a grimaced face.
"I don"t know what you are even doing."
"I also didn"t very good at fixing clocks, you know. As I thought, something like this was really my dear mother"s speciality. But, ever since her death, I was the one who maintained all of the clocks at the monastery."
I wonder what happened to them now that I’m gone~, which is what Nicolette muttered. There was a story that the one who found the clock for the first time was a monk, so Nicolette came to understand, which was weird. But, what Wolfgang was curious about is her mother, Beatrice. What kind of person was she?
Wolfgang raised his face, and looked at her face from the side as she working on the clock. Her serious face seen from the side had a different charm from her usual bright expression.
"....You know, Nicola."
"Whaat~?"
Immersed in working on the clock, Nicolette gave him a half hearted answer.
Wolfgang then whispered toward Nicolette"s ear,
"I love you."
The gear on the clock that Nicolette had in her hand made a ‘snap!’ sound, and fell into place. Rather, why now is it fixed? As the gear already fell into place, it meant that the watch already worked normally. Wolfgang took that watch from Nicolette"s hand.
"As expected of you, I helped."
"Ye, yes…. more than that, what do you mean by you; lo, lo, love me…."
"Yeah."
Fixing the watch onto his belt again, Wolfgang then looked at Nicolette"s face that slowly became redder. He then grabbed her hand that wasn"t holding any tools.
"I love you."
"What in the world are you even saying!?"
"Is it not enough with only word? Maybe I should bring a rose bouquet for you."
"The one who raised those flower is me, you know."
She gave a retort. Now that she mentioned it, that"s right. It seems it was a formality to give a bouquet of roses when someone proposed, but the one who grew those roses was Nicolette herself.
Wolfgang embraced Nicolette"s shoulder with the hand that didn"t grab Nicolette"s. Nicolette’s body trembled in surprise.
"I love you. Nicola, how about you?"
"Ueeh!? I, I am…."
Nicolette said that while casting her eyes down with a red face.
"I, don’t really know the difference between "like" and "love"........"
"....So, it has come to this, eh."
It was an unexpected answer. Previously, Nicolette herself said that he "liked" him, even if he thought about the current situation, Wolfgang thought that Nicolette liked him to a certain extent. But, Nicolette herself didn"t know if her feelings were "like" or "love".
Wolfgang thought for a moment. He thought, and then give her a ‘what if’ story, what if he kissed Nicolette"s lips once again?
"Will you hate it?"
"Eh, ah, uh, I wouldn"t…."
Looking at Nicolette who shook her head, Wolfgang smiled in relief.
"It"s hard to describe feelings of love. It"s just, when you have that kind of feeling it"s called love."
"Love…. ah, but, feeling wise, I felt it was Azalea, I think…."
"Azalea?"
Wolfgang tilted his head. He thought it was perhaps the name of a flower, but he never actually heard of it.
"Ah…. So, you don"t know…."
"I"m sorry, I don"t really know abou it.”
"It"s okay…. umm, you know, the Floriography for Azalea is…."
-I was happy being loved by you.-
As she muttered that with a low voice, Wolfgang got slightly surprised.
After that, he embraced Nicolette strongly. Inside his arms, Nicolette"s body stiffened.
"Wo, Wolf-sama……...!?"
"Aah. I love you, Nicola."
Saying that once again, Wolfgang kissed Nicolette who has already become red in embarra.s.sment.
By the way, Helma kept holding the tool for fixing the watch all this time.
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Author Note: Thanks for reading all of this so far.
Sweet…. I thought I would vomit sugar. And so, I decided to give a little joke at the end.
I think that Azalea at that time still wasn’t quite popular. Though I don"t really know since I didn"t really look out for it….
Well, this is a fake Europe, a fantasy world.
The word Schokolade is chocolate in german. By the way, the dragee that came up in the previous story, it’s something similiar to confeito.
Lastly, the person who seems to be a watchmaker, in the 18 century, a watchmaker job already exists, probably….
Next update, just like always, will be the morning of December 22th.