YasashīShinjitsu to Seiryaku Kekkon Vol IIChapter 18

She awoke to the sight of Leandrothwith a face full of smiles.

 T

heir morning kiss was prolonged as hishands roamed her body. After what seemed like a long time, Leandroth pulledback, he looked like he was in a good mood.

‘You can sleep a little more. Wouldyou like to have lunch with me today after the meeting?’

‘Do you have a meeting?’

He hugged her tightly; raising hisface to look at her Leandroth smiled wryly, and gave her a peck on her cheek.

He seemed apologetic.

‘In the daytime, at the office…reasonmay be preserved, wouldn"t it?’

Hmmm, she did not trust that sentence.

‘Well, see you later.’ He said as herose out of bed and went to his room.

He bathed, dressed, prayed, took alight breakfast and went to the morning a.s.sembly.

After the tedious morning a.s.sembly, hewent to train with the Imperial Knights. Leandroth like to take time out toexercise in the morning.

Matilda realised that she had beenremiss in her fencing practice; she should ask Leandroth to train with her, withthis thought, Matilda fell asleep again with a sense of yearning and happiness.

◇

 That morning, she had a writtenrequest for what she wanted for lunch to give to Julia, the chief of staff,with an itemised list of foods.

She was told that the chef was a manof middle years, named Park, who had always been uneasy about the emperor’smeals, but could not disobey the Grand Chamberlain. Nevertheless, she wassurprised to see vegetables at lunch.

Matilda left her rooms with a companyof Imperial Knights and Maids. Back home in Icecoreta, as long as she wasn"tleaving the castle, she had been able to roam about freely without followersfrom her childhood. Although, she felt it was extraordinary to move around withsuch a large company, she knew it would be a problem to go about alone. 

Shemade her way to the Ironmongery workshop where armour and other items weremade.

It was fun to talk with the craftsmenwho were very proud of their work. They showed her how they worked withdifferent metals, and how they repaired the harnesses, she was also told of thevarying styles of working metals in the country.

She had ten imperial knights and fourmaids, this made the small room rather crowded, yet they could overhear theconversation from the next room,

‘You don’t have to worry about theorders of the Grand Chamberlain.’

‘But this might make things hard forme.’

It was rather like an interrogation ofa perpetrator. The person became somewhat displeased and eventually came out.

The chef looked up to see Matilda andher retinue waiting outside the door, he could not hide his astonishment.

She was dressed quite simply. Shewondered if there had never been a princess who dresses as simply as she did.

Julia, who had followed the chef outof the room, gave Matilda a wry smile, but Matilda does not reprimand her.

Matilda smiled at the chef and said, ‘Ourhead chef in the palace of Icecoreta once said to me; cooking is life and Iwould like to think that you have this sentiment as a chef. I hope that youwould do your best to serve foods that are delicious and appropriate.’

When she was younger, Matilda heardabout recipes she thought sounded delicious so she pestered their chef to teachher. Because they were delicious, she wondered if she could serve the food toher father, but the chef would just ruffle her hair like a doll. (Zuben: I havea confession to make: Writing saccharine nonsense like this kills me softly.)

On her way back to her rooms, Matildawas told that it was not protocol for the Chief of Staff to speak directly tothe Empress, but Matilda had not thought of it, she had worked amongst thecourt of her kingdom and worked with members of her father’s palace staff? Matildawas told that it would seem like she was patronising Julia and any action thatJulia took would seem prideful because she supposedly had the backing of thefuture Empress. Julia shrugged.

However, to be a member to staffwhether chef or not, he would be a member to the aristocracy. There is protocolfor the interaction between the royals and other ruling cla.s.ses, and betweenthe ruling cla.s.ses and merchants cla.s.ses, and others. To work in the Palace,one was required to submit a family tree over several generations.

‘You are the Empress, you can dowhatever you want.’

Was that a careless sentence?Although, the tone was too nonchalant.

‘I am not the Empress yet,’ she saidjust as nonchalantly. She wondered if it was challenge to her, but she decidedto hold back for the time being.

‘If there is nothing else, YourMajesty, I will return to my duties.’ Julia said with a smile

‘Oh, yes, I wonder…?’

Perhaps, she hadn’t meant it in asnide way, Matilda thought as Julia curtsied and walked way.

◇

‘Oh, lunch is a real meal!’ Leandrothsaid as he entered the dining area from his office.

‘It is a strange feeling,’ Laughinggently, she picked a loaf of wisteria bread.

As Leandroth wished, they were alone,without attendants, at lunchtime. The air between them was comfortable. Therewas roast chicken and vegetables and bacon soup, fried fish with olive oil andherbs, sliced ​​pork cut with slices of mustard, and thinly sliced baked bread.And for desert; many fruits and baked confections.

Because the sea was far fromIcecoreta, the seafood was mainly dried or pickled. She wasn"t used to freshfish, so she poked at the fish with her fork in an awkward manner. Leandrothsaw this and laughed,

‘You seem to have bad manners.’

She wondered how long he had beenwatching her. Leandroth laughed and said, ‘You’re so cute and funny,’

‘When the two of them are in line, Iwonder if I am being praised or insulted.’ Matilda said - a bit confused.(Zuben: You and me both, deary.)

‘Cute,’ he said with a smile. Theatmosphere was sweet, and she got strangely embarra.s.sed, but she decided tolaugh, ‘The squid or octopus is really delicious, although, it does feel alittle strange when eating.’

‘There’s something we say in Icecoreta,that may not be appropriate to say here or will mean something else,’

‘What is it?’

‘Is a bee larva or beetle larva?’ shesaid with a small smile.

‘Haha, please don’t describe food asinsect larva, but it is nutritious and delicious, isn"t it?’

‘It is unexpectedly delicious…’ headded

‘Really? But how did you…?’

‘From the rations given during themountain border war in Icecoreta,’ he replied, and continued with his meal. Notadding more to the subject.

‘Huh?’

‘I fought as a mercenary from age fifteentill I was nineteen,’ he said. He held up a sword decoration that was tied tohis waist, ‘Looking at this makes me feel nostalgic, this is an appledecoration you made,’ he dropped the shabby accessory and returned to his food.

Matilda blinked in surprise, ‘Eh…?’

She ruminated on his words, andnostalgic apples.

The number of people who could protectthe Ringoen Gardens and agricultural regions had decreased, even if they triedrecruiting new soldiers, it would have been hard to get the new recruits trainedand ready. Matilda had overheard her father and the ministers in discussionabout the situation so she suggested, ‘Why don’t we hire some mercenaries?’

Matilda’s face bloomed red; she putdown her cutlery and put her hands on her cheeks.

‘Ehhhhh? How come you have that?’

‘Baradda and Carbo are indebted toAcedo, aren"t they?’

She remembered those names…

The men were part of the mercenaryteam that were hired; they got injured and therefore could not continue workingas mercenaries. Acedo had hurt his left hand, and could not use a sword anylonger, so he had been worried about his future prospects. He had been reticentand reluctant when he newly arrived at Icecoreta; but he began to get alongwith a lady manager of one of the farms, and now he was married to her and theywere living well together,

‘…Mr Acedo is now the proud father oftwo children.’

Leandroth laughed, ‘He is truly takingcare of his wife.’

‘But, why was the Crown Prince workingas a mercenary?’ she asked, without being able to hold back. He looked tensefor a moment then relaxed,

‘It was an odd situation and theministers were rather outraged by it… but I did it every time. My father saidto me, “Once you start, you must see it to the end”. The solicitation of the mercenarycorps by the Princess of Icecoreta was famous.’

It was? She did not understand it.

Unless it was about of war, theministers of state sighed in boredom. But that was not really useful to the people;she had been angered to tears. She wanted to slam her hand on the table in angerat the memory.

‘Were you Rain?’ She felt that shewould have remembered such beautiful golden brown hair even if she didn"tremember their face.

‘When I was younger I had red hair, soeven when the colour changed, I dyed it while I was with the mercenarycompany.’ He said nonchalantly.

A person with red hair…

“What are you doing to the battlefieldeven though you are a woman? Are you here because you’re curious or to watchswordplay of that red haired brother, Ross?”…

Zuben: I"ve been working on this for the past few days, "Please be more serious" was done when I got tired of this one. Dear readers, there is no s.m.u.t for three more chapters, at least