Emperor, Empress, and Prime Minister (Chapter 6)
The first thing that entered Wolfgang"s eyes when he opened them, was Nicolette who was reading her book. Nicolette, who realized that Wolfgang just woke up, put the book on the table, then smiled.
"Good morning, His Majesty."
Nicolette peeked at him. For some reason, Wolfgang was sleeping on the top of Nicolette"s lap.
(ED: Lap pillow, in case you don’t know)
Wolfgang looked around to confirm his situation, he was inside his office. It seems that Wolfgang was sleeping on the sofa in his office.
There were a series of snacks on the table. This means he tried to make Nicolette happy which is why she went to his office. For now, as long as you gave her snacks, she wouldn"t cause any trouble, these circ.u.mstances flew into his head.
Once again, Wolfgang put his head on the top of Nicolette"s lap and looked at her from below.
"Why are you here?"
"Eh, from there?"
She tilted her head with a slightly surprised expression. Then, "Uu~~mm," she started to recite the story with a slow tone.
(ED: Ohhhhhhh. A flashback story. Makes so much sense.)
"The story starts when the Prime Minister-sama called me."
"I flew back quite that much, eh. Continue."
"Kaa~~y"
He felt like the story was reverted too much, but for now, he just decided to hear her story.
-Enter Nicolette"s POV-
Two weeks have pa.s.sed ever since Nicolette has entered the Hainzel Empire. Recently, she has been exploring around the palace on a daily basis. It was to pique her interest that a lot of high cla.s.s items that she has never seen before because she was raised in the monastery. That day too, Marcus and Helma (Maria is on her day off) were accompanying her, observing a grandfather clock at the palace entrance. The clock was bigger than Nicolette with a beautiful design, but what interested Nicolette the most was how old it was. In her opinion, it has been one century since it was built, still standing firm though.
"...I wonder if I am permitted to disa.s.semble this thing?"
"Her Majesty. As expected, that is too much."
As she thought that, Marcus stopped her. Then, there was another voice that followed after,
"That clock has a lot of history, after all. If it’s broken, I think we will need to repair it."
As Nicolette turned her back, she smiled to the owner of that voice,
"It"s not like I can"t do it, but it’s kind of hard to a.s.semble it back. Maybe, I"ll end up modifying it."
"Well, I already said that it was a piece of history, so please keep the initial design."
If the design outside was still the same, I wonder if it"s okay if the inside is different? With that thought in her head, Nicolette looked again at that person and gave her greeting,
"Good afternoon, Folger-sama. How have you been?"
"Good. Her Majesty too, it seems that you are in good health."
"Fortunately, the life in the Empire is quite fun."
"That is good news."
Having said that, he smiled gently. His smile though contained sharp feelings, making it seem like he was plotting something sinister.
Hainz Fon Folger was the Prime Minister of Hainzel Empire, he was regarded as the older brother by Emperor Wolfgang, his age was in the mid thirties. He was one of the few people that was able to understand quickly about Nicolette"s experiment.
Though, Nicolette has one sided knowledge, she is rather smart. Folger is also smart, he had different levels of knowledge though. Nicolette was just a weird scientist, but Sir Folger was a reliable Prime Minister.
Well, leaving that aside, Nicolette tilted her neck and looked up at Sir Folger .
"Is there anything Folger-sama needed from me?"
"Yes...if Her Highness is willing, can we have tea time together? Inside His Highness"s office."
" ... ? "
As expected, Nicolette can"t understand what his actions mean. Thus, while still smiling, she tilted her head again to the opposite side.
"His Majesty has an even worse mood, you know. I heard that if he saw Her Highness then his mood will brighten, Will you?"
“...Pardon?"
It was the first time she had heard this. For Nicolette who had only lived in the palace for mere a two weeks, why has such a rumour spread…?
Though, the precise words, "When he saw Nicolette eating, his mood would brighten", but since Sir Folger shortened it, it sounds like Nicolette was some kind of iconic person to him.
Sir Folger thought of something that will make Nicolette want to go with him.
"Hmm, that"s right... Since His Majesty"s room was almost never touched by an outsider since this place was built, the design has almost never changed from the time of Egna-era you know."
"I"ll go."
Nicolette gave a quick reply .
"Her Majesty... "
"She is way too easy to fall into that..."
Though Helma and Marcus gave a retort with a astounded tone, since they have already long gave up on stopping Nicolette when she was interested with something, they didn"t stop her. And so, Nicolette went to visit the Emperor"s room. Of course, she didn"t have any intention to bother his work (Since government affairs were outside of her expertise), she just thinking to take a peek at Egna-era design that has almost never been touched by anyone.
In the end...Wolfgang, who suddenly got visited by his Empress, was in a really bad mood.
"What are you doing here?"
However, Nicolette didn"t falter. Wolfgang thought this is the part of her “carefree” personality, so, the mentally strong Nicolette smiled.
"Um. I want to see His Majesty"s office architectural style."
Three-hundred years have pa.s.sed since the Hainzel palace has been built. This palace with it"s history, stimulated Nicolette"s curiosity . Of course, she already finished inspecting her Empress"s room.
Because of that slightly weird answer from her, Wolfgang, who was already in a bad mood, tilted his head while saying,"Haah?" Or rather, even if he wasn"t in a bad mood, his answer would still be the same.
"Ah! I won"t bother you, please continue with your work like always."
Wolfgang, who got taken aback by Nicolette, who didn"t stop smiling, said to Alberto, who was comparing the old doc.u.ment,"Let"s take a break." And so, Alberto clearly showed an surprised expression.
Helma and Marcus prepared the tea and snacks on the table. For some reason, Nicolette and Wolfgang also saw Sir Folger sitting surrounding a table. Nicolette and Wolfgang sat side by side.
Drinking a sweet tea that was poured with milk, Nicolette"s face slackened. The cookie with dry fruits on the top of it was delicious. But, she also became quite interested with the antique teacup. Feeling the delicate design of the grip, Nicolette squinted her eyes.
"This is, when I look at Her Majesty, it perhaps really makes me feel relaxed."
"! What are you saying, Folger-sama?"
While still holding the teacup, Nicolette asked him this. Sir Folger said "Nothing" while smiling, but his showed he was plotting something…
"Nothing, really. So, what are you seeing?"
"This teacup. It was really good, you know."
"That"s right. This is tableware that was pa.s.sed down for generations after all."
"How this was created I wonder~ From what I"ve seen, it"s seems close to an orient porcelain..." (ED: Looked it up, it is either misspelled and if so, it means French. Or, it is supposed to be Oriental which is Chinese in this context.)
Since Nicolette had someone who can understand her, this discussion was continued.
"....My memories become hazy after that."
"Well, His Majesty was sleeping after all"
"On top of my tiredness, hearing some weird conversation made me sleepy."
"It would be better if you stopped overworking, you know? Though, there was a time when I did an all nighter for three days straight, but then finally, I collapsed because of stress and hunger."
"What in the world are you doing…?
Wolfgang, who received an explanation from Nicolette, still didn"t move his head from her lap. Though, he now knew the reason why Nicolette was here, he still didn"t know how he ended up sleeping in this position. And thus, he asked.
"Folger-sama said "While you are at it, Why don"t you sleep let him sleep on your lap?" I wonder what he meant with, while you are at it?"
"...So it was him."
That d.a.m.n schemer , Wolfgang cursed Folger in his mind. Though, he can"t confront him face to face due to fear. Wolfgang felt that Folger was easily able to tame her. By the way, Folger was married, and Nicolette"s maid, Maria, was his niece.
"I feel like I"ve been played into Hainz"s palm..."
"Is that so? Well, isn"t it alright, sometimes? Humans need proper rest you know~"
Nicolette said that carefreely. When he talked to her, he felt like all of his problems went out of his mind, it was somewhat mysterious. (ED: Love :D)
"...You, doesn"t seems to have any trouble with it, eh?"
"Don"t be rude okay. That was impossible. I want to disa.s.semble that clock! But, I can"t do that! Aah, what should I do! I have these thoughts everyday you know."
"I feel like that is different from troubles though..."
Is that so~, Nicolette answered with a smile. Attracted by that, Wolfgang also laughed. Somehow, Wolfang, who felt an uncomfortable feeling, extended his hand, and touched her cheek. She didn"t look like she hated it.
"...Nicolette, are you becoming fat?" (ED: *Sweat, Sweat, Sweat*)
"....Your Majesty! I will become angry! I am also quite bothered by that, okay!"
She was bothered with it, that means, she probably really did gain weight... The weird feeling that he felt when he saw her smile, was because it became plumper than before.
However, "Become fat" for her seems to be a faulty expression. Since Nicolette was so thin in the first place, right now, it was only slightly thinner than normal. Perhaps, she has started becoming closer to standard, is the right word.
"It"s alright. I will show you that I can lose the weight."
Though Nicolette declared so, Wolfgang thought, That"s gonna be hard you know. The food served in the palace is abundant and makes you easily gain weight compared to what Nicolette ate in the monastery.
Though he thought so, he wouldn"t say it to her since it"ll only make her sulk. Wolfgang raised from his posture, and peaked at Nicolette"s face.
"My words were wrong. You"re so skinny in the first place after all. Right now, you are just slightly thinner than average."
"It is still a fact that I have gained weight."
"No, like I said, My word were wrong... I just thought that you became more beautiful than before. You don"t need to mind it."
"What is that?"
He gently stroked the sulking Nicolette. Somehow, he felt that Nicolette was sulking like a kid.
"Though, I"m not that good at developing things, I will make a device to measure weight."
"What in the world are you saying…?"
He felt amazed at Nicolette who immediately thought about experimenting. However, that side of her who quickly revised no matter how down she fell, was the reason that he can talk easily to her like this.
Wolfgang leaned against the chair and sighed, he said to those guys who kept trying peek at them,
"How long are you guys going to try and hide? You are barely hidden, you know."
Sir Folger, who clearly peeked from the door of the room next door, gallantly entered the office .
"Yahh~, I thought that it was wrong to bother you guys, you know."
"The work has piled up though."
Alberto, who came in after him, said so. Wolfgang, who heard that, looked at the office"s table. The amount of the work really looked like it increased.
"Do I need to help too~?"
"Don"t help."
Nicolette asked with smile on her face, but Wolfgang quickly refused. If he let her do it, he felt like he would need to correct her every time her interest would shift to another thing.
That answer, that can make most people flinch, Nicolette only answered with,"I thought so~" as if she already knew how he would answer.
"The~n, can I borrow this?"
The thing that Nicolette showed to him was the book that she read until a moment ago. Surprisingly, the book that she was reading was,"The Complete Law of the Empire" Just like the t.i.tle said, it was a book where all of the Empire"s laws were listed. She was reading a compilation book consisting of all seven volumes.
"...That, is it fun to read?"
"It"s not like it is fun, but since I live in the Empire, I ought to know about it, right?"
Looking at the smiling Nicolette, Wolfgang was almost moved to tears. She, who was married to this country, wished to know the condition of the it. It made him slightly happy...
"Her Majesty, When you finish memorizing it, please teach me. It might be helpful."
"I don"t think I can remember it all though."
Nicolette answered Hainz"s absurd request with her usual smile. Later, when he asked for it, it seems that he expected that she wouldn’t remember all of the law, but she remembered the law of diplomacy perfectly. And thus, Nicolette’s diplomacy power has surpa.s.sed himself, or so Wolfgang felt.