Volume 5 - CH 2.05

「What’s the matter, Your Eminence?」

「Ahh, no, it’s nothing. I was just in a daze a little…」

Valeria came to her senses from Almudena’s voice and hurriedly glossed over it on the spot.

「Ara ara, Your Eminence is tired. You’ve completed many difficult missions until now, so it can’t be helped」

Almudena said so and advised Valeria to lie down.

「A, absolutely not! How can I do such a discourteous action…」

「Ara, it’s not discourteous. Your Eminence is one of the only three Dominas in our country… if something happens, I’d be scolded by His Majesty」

「Like I said, it’s not the case that my physical condition is bad in particular…」

Like the open atmosphere of the royal villa in Gloom had indicated, Almudena was such an open-hearted and friendly woman that one couldn’t think she was the queen of a large country. Despite that, her words, actions and bearing weren’t vulgar; she had accurately grasped the etiquette that she should grasp.

In short, Almudena was proficient in the skill of slipping through the wall between people gracefully.

Since such Almudena and Valeria left Gloom, it had been just the two of them inside the small carriage the whole time. Although Valeria could leave it to Dimitar to take responsibility for guarding the party, keeping Almudena company like this was actually mentally tiring as well. In any case, Almudena liked to chat.

「Oh, yes, continuing the talk from just now—」

Saying so, Almudena returned to her reminiscent talk about Isaac’s childhood. Incidentally, Valeria was made to listen to the start of her romance with the king before that.

When Valeria was harbouring the suspicion that she might have been dispatched as the queen’s conversation partner, Almudena spoke as if she had suddenly thought of something.

「…Speaking of which, how does Your Eminence feel about that Hiera Glaphicos-dono?」

「Hahi!?」

「Like I said, what sort of relationship do you have with that taciturn Hiera Glaphicos-dono? It’s normally impossible that the exclusive Hiera Glaphicos of a Dominas is a young man, right? Nevertheless, the fact that you have a male Hiera Glahpicos like this means that—for example, you’re actually blood-related older brother and younger sister?」

「T, that’s w—」

「Well then, are you fiance and fiancee who have sworn your futures to each other from when you were very young children?」

「That’s even more wrong!」

Although a young male Hiera Glaphicos being assigned to a Dominas was certainly an irregularity, there was no reason for Almudena to be suspicious of that. Valeria hurriedly began to deny Almudena’s assumption.

「T, there’s no way that it’s like that! You can say that this is a special case—m, my overprotective father requested that my Hiera Glaphicos also have the ability as a guard, and as a result, it was decided to be Richternach-kyou by process of elimination only…」

「Ara ara, it’s such an unromantic reason?」

「It’ll be troubling if it was!」

Thereupon, the window of the carriage was knocked on, and the aforementioned Hiera Glaphicos-dono showed his face on the other side of the glass.

「—It seems to be a little noisy, but did something happen?」

In front of the queen, Dimitar asked with an uncharacteristic politeness. He probably wanted to say that her voice was loud.

「I, it’s nothing!」

Valeria opened the window and ranted in one breath. She then shut the window immediately and even closed the curtain. When she thought of Dimitar watching her fixedly, though it was to be expected as a matter of course since he was the guard, she didn’t feel at ease.

Valeria lowered her voice and spoke to Almudena.

「Queen-sama! I’m earnestly saying this, but please keep our identities secret no matter what! The ones who know are Queen-sama and Duke Bermudez only, that’s His Majesty the King’s—」

「It’s all right, I understand」

Perhaps the way Valeria was flustered was amusing, the queen covered her mouth with a feather folding fan and smiled nonchalantly.