Chapter 28 – Tea in the garden – part 1

After lunch, Nozomu and the others followed the Princess to her office, which was right after the Throne Room. In there, a scribe was already waiting, finishing writing a set of papers.

He bowed at the Princess and delivered the papers for Nozomu to read, “I finished the contract related to you teaching the Princess cooks, and the licence to other Cities. Please confirm everything and sign at the bottom, over the line.”

He then pointed to a small sphere over the Princess’ desk and explained, “After you signed, put your hand over that sphere and infuse it with some Magic. The sphere will record your Magic and everything will be according to the laws.”

“That I can’t do, because I am unable to use Magic. We already tried with a bigger sphere in the Guild Master’s office.”

The scribe jolted, “That… it’s certainly unusual! Nevertheless, you still need to place your hand on the sphere, so that at least your lack of Magic is recorded.”

Nozomu read the papers the scribe gave him and confirmed the two copies were equal on each set of documents. He then passed them to Taisetsuna for her and the Guild Master to confirm as well, and after they nodded at him, Nozomu signed the papers.

He then put his hand over the sphere and the scribe frowned at the transparency, with the Princess also looking at it with a smile. “Nothing, not even a blink. As Taisetsuna said, you are useless with Magic. At least you have other qualities that compensate for your lack of Magic, so I guess you will be alright in the Academy. Now, shall we go have some tea? I just need to make a quick stop in my bedroom and change clothes, but it will only take ten minutes tops. Nozomu, follow my faithful scribe and he will take you to the kitchen. Make sure they learn everything because I want to have your new foods at my disposal every day if I want to.”

“Of course, my Princess. But if you intend to eat chocolates every day, you need to be very careful with the cleaning of your teeth.”

The Princess raised one eyebrow. “Are you perhaps saying my breath smell? I always wash my teeth after eating with a brush made of an oak branch and horse's fur, and I use a good amount of soap and I gargle with water at the end.”

“Soap? That is strange… Not disinfectant, only soap? You don’t use chewing gum between meals, to always have your teeth clean and your breath fresh?”

The Princess approached Nozomu and, with her mouth at mere centimetres from his lips, she gave a slow blow to his nostrils, and asked with a frown, “It’s not that fresh because we just had lunch, but it’s not smelly. And what is that chew...ing gum?”

Nozomu spoke while staring at the Princess’ hazelnut eyes, “Your eyes are amazing, Princess… I could stare at them for my entire life…”

The Princess gulped and poked Nozomu’s nose with her face completely red. “Don’t change subjects! You said I am smelly when I am not. I take pride in my good smell and I take care of my body. I don’t use mere soap to clean my teeth, it also has disinfectant and perfumed salts.”

“Ok, but… if you eat chocolates and don’t clean your teeth afterwards, you may end up with pieces of ‘crackers’ between your teeth, and your breath will smell like chocolate. Not that chocolate smells bad, but your natural scent is far better than chocolate, Princess.”

That remark made the Princess blink, and while still looking at Nozomu very closely, she asked, “Is there another way for me to eat chocolate during the day without the need to clean my teeth afterwards?”

“Perhaps you could use chewing gum with disinfectant and some of those perfumed salts, but if you don’t know the term, perhaps nothing like that exists? It’s just a rubbery thing that you can chew and, while chewing, it will clean your teeth. It doesn’t need to have a flavour, because it’s only for cleanliness, but perhaps it could also taste like fruit.”

The Princess backed away a little, and Nozomu took a slow deep breath because her closeness was making it very difficult for him not to kiss her. She tapped her chin while saying, “You mean rubbery, like the leaves of ‘Fool’s Death’? I know those leaves can be melted with heat and mixed with healing plants to help cover wounds on a battlefield. I learned how to make those during my training in the army, and it’s a method still used, but I never thought about chewing it. Especially, not for that purpose!”

Nozomu slowly nodded, still lost in the eyes of the Princess, “I think those leaves could be used then. I can probably try something when I arrive at the Guild. With some fruit juice and disinfectant in the middle of the melted leaves, put them in the moulds I used to make the chocolates, and it should work after cooling down. I may be even able to sell them to Adventurers for them to take in their voyages. I bet most of them don’t take care of their teeth while they are on a Quest.”

The Princess agreed. “Yes, I see the advantages. You may need to test it before selling those, just in case you end up with something that has side effects on Beast-kind. If it works, you can come to me for another licence, because for sure it will be a huge success. It won’t substitute the cleaning after meals, but it is useful to have another way of keeping our breath fresh. Some of those Nobles that are waiting for me are not so careful and when they approach too much, sometimes I feel like vomiting. Oops! No one tells I said this!”

They all muffled their laughter and followed the Princess out of her office, into the corridor. Nozomu followed the scribe to the kitchen, along a sideway corridor, and the old servant escorted the Princess and her guests to her room. The Princess’ personal maid was already inside with a dress for her, and while everyone waited in the corridor, the Princess rushed inside to change.

In less than ten minutes, she returned with a big smile and a light blue dress that reached the floor. She held a bit of fabric on her right side to lift it and followed her personal servant, that took them to another corridor and across the immense ballroom, in the direction of the back garden.

Taisetsuna and Takanari were looking around, marvelled with the spacious room. The floor and the walls were so smooth that acted as mirrors, reflecting their shadows along their walk as if there were more people with them. On one wall, there were huge stained windows, depicting farmers working the land, or farm animals.

At the far side of that room, there were two enormous and thick wooden doors, with two Dog-kind Royal Guards on each side. They opened the doors and bowed at the Princess as she crossed the frame, receiving a smile from her that made them smile back.

Taisetsuna didn’t fail to notice that every time they crossed path with a servant, a maid or a Guard, they all smiled at the Princess, and she would either greet them with a wink, a smile or ask them how they were, in a clear indication that she was loved by all of them and cared for them, no matter what their role was in the Castle.

The bright sunlight made Taisetsuna blink, and she gasped at the crowd of Nobles waiting for them. Some were seated at the tables under a group of trees, others were standing up, talking in groups with proud poses, with their noses high and waving handkerchiefs as they spoke, as if they were accentuating what they were saying.

When the Princess’ approach was noted, the ones that were seated immediately stood up, and the entire group made a deep bow. Taisetsuna saw the Princess making a slight smile and nodding at them, and sensed the piercing gaze of the women staring at the approaching group and whispering. Taisetsuna felt a knot in her stomach, when she saw a group of girls not much older than her, standing after the women, and disguising smiles and muffling laughter as they glanced at her.

The Princess looked at little Takanari that was holding hands with Taisetsuna, and while fixing a curl on her hair, whispered, “Take a deep breath, Taisetsuna. Don’t let them annoy you. I may not be able to be near, so you are on your own. Take care of the little Countess, will you?”

Taisetsuna slowly nodded, and while the Princess was surrounded by the women, the men approached the Guild Master and greeted them with exaggerated smiles, clearly wanting to fall on his good side, since it was clear for all of them that the Princess had such a good relationship with her former training Captain.

Taisetsuna saw herself alone with Takanari, as the group of giggling girls were approaching. From their left, a group of five young men approached as well, and Taisetsuna saw herself pressured by the gazes of the girls on one side, and the young men on the other. Takanari squeezed her hand, looking to both sides almost in a panic. Taisetsuna looked down at her, and reassure the scared little girl, “Don’t be nervous, Takanari, I am here.”

One of the giggling girls asked, “Shouldn’t you address Countess Takanari by her title? Taisetsuna, was it? Yes, I think that is your name. A rather vulgar name. Does it have any meaning behind it, or it’s just something you picked up?”

“No, it was the name that a gentle Priest gave me when he found me. In a very old language, it means ‘treasured river’. As you can see, my name has a meaning, but I doubt yours has any. Your parents probably called you Bethany, or Brittany, or some empty name like that.”

The girl made a huge effort not to shout, visibly irritated, “I am Countess Diana Olesk, for you, commoner! Or I will be when I inherit that title from my mother! Unlike you, that will forever be a mere commoner!”

Taisetsuna looked at the angry girl and her companions, and then at the men before answering, “If you are not a Countess yet, it means that you are not a commoner because you were born in a Noble’s family, but since you don’t have a title, you shouldn’t think so highly about yourself. I don’t know why you thought that calling me that would be insulting because it is not. While you are a hostage to your family, who dictates how you walk, talk, and dress, I am free to do whatever I want. They probably already set you up with a husband. Have you met him already? Do you like him? How do you know that he will make you happy?”

“I already have a worthy suitor, commoner. Unlike you, that will probably end up marrying another commoner, like that… What was his name… Nozomu, yes, that’s it, another common name.”

“Actually, his name means ‘new hope’, in the same old language. I would be more than happy to find someone like Nozo, but there is no one like him. You probably noticed how the Princess was so impressed by him, and judging by the awkward smiles that I am seeing, he impressed a lot more girls.”

Diana Olesk faced the surrounding girls, and one of them, a girl with long light brown hair and wearing a long, frilled yellow dress, spoke with a trembling voice, “He… is kind of cool… and hot. He is not as pretty as some boys I know, but the way he speaks, and his eyes… Near him, most boys around our age look like brats… If he was of Noble blood, he would be amazing.”

Taisetsuna shrugged. “He does look older than he is, and considering what he has been doing lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gained a Noble title one of these days for services to the country. Perhaps instead of annoying me, considering that I am his dearest friend, you should back away if any of you want to go after him when he gains a title.”

The group of girls went silent, and Diana looked around, trying to gain supporters, and no one faced her. Then, a voice was heard from the group of young men, and Taisetsuna looked to her left in search of who was speaking and frowned. A young man was grinning at her, with a girlish figure, golden-like hair and deep blue eyes. His white skin seemed strange to her, and bright pink lips that were obviously caused by some sort of cream he applied on them, to look more desirable.

He spoke, and the girls looked at him with dreamy eyes as if they were suddenly hypnotized. “The way you speak, you sound to me like a girl in love. He is perhaps your partner? Or are you still available to be taken?”