Volume 5 - CH 3.09

After the first stage of the extension work of the greenhouse had been completed, Bettina who was summoned by Isaac again was assigned the work of moving pots of roses to the vicinity of the triumphal arch on the outskirts of Roma.

「Sorry for asking a favour of you suddenly, Bettina-jou」

「Not at all! It’s totally all right!」

Next to the white horse that Isaac was riding, Bettina was pulling a cart fully loaded with pots of roses with creaking sounds. Two wagons, where pages were sitting on the drivers’ seats, were following behind them. Under the sunlight of summer where the greenery by the roadside was becoming more and more pronounced, the party was heading towards the east leisurely.

「Haha-ue is coming back to the capital tomorrow afternoon. —Camuñas-kyou was enthusiastic about it, saying “Let’s hold a garden party to receive her.”」

「I see. In any case, it’s a happy event」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. Okaa-sama… no, the queen is returning from recuperation, so it’s a happy event, isn’t it?」

「…Well, you could say that」

Isaac, on horseback, looked up at the blue sky and nodded slightly.

「Speaking of which, how’s Bettina-jou’s family?」

「Ah, my mother isn’t in good health too, so she’s recuperating in the countryside together with my father」

「You’re living with the chief engineermaestro because of that, huh. –You’re the same as me then」

「Ha?」

「Well, it’s like my place also has substantially no parents. Chichi-ue will regularly disappear, saying “war” or “mistress”, and Haha-ue also won’t be in the royal palace for one third of the year because of her seeking to improve her health with a change of climate. Come to think of it, I hardly have any memory of me and my parents eating a meal all together by the three of us」

「……」

Isaac, who had murmured so, seemed to be gazing at a place even further than the sky absent-mindedly.

Bettina greatly took a deep breath.

「—Then, we have to make it succeed by all possible means」

「Eh?」

「Like I said, this garden party. Isn’t it the place for the long-awaited reunion of parent and child?」

「Parent and child, huh…」

Isaac ruminated with a sigh and looked down at Bettina.

「Since I was born as the prince of Ahmad in this way, I haven’t been able to make a person whom I can call a close friend even when I’ve reached this age. It might be because I was brought up among the adults of the royal court, watching nothing but adults, that my personality has surely become warped」

「If it’s a close friend… isn’t Lucius-sama like that?」

「Lucius-kun is… well, a partner whom I can place my full trust in, but he’s slightly different from what you’d call a close friend. I don’t think he thinks so either. As long as this country doesn’t fall, it’s impossible that the relation between the two of us will break free from that of a master and servant」

「…Is that how it is?」

Bettina felt a tinge of loneliness in Isaac’s words. Although she only knew about the recent matters here, at the very least, from Bettina’s point of view, it felt like Isaac and Lucius were two bosom friends, and they could joke with each other familiarly; it looked as if the relation between the two people was beyond that of a mere master and servant.

Nevertheless, Isaac asserted that Lucius wasn’t a friend. Perhaps that might be called the solitude of a statesman.

「At the very least, I think it’d be slightly different if I had a brother」

「A brother… is it?」

「A sister is fine as well, or rather, a partner with whom I could pass childhood together」

Isaac, who had been playing with his broad-brimmed hat, looked down at Bettina again.

「—Let’s see, if I had a younger sister like you, I think it’d probably be fun」

「P, pardon!?」

「If a child like you was my younger sister, wouldn’t every day be fun? What kind of life would it be to have a younger sister, I wonder? Would we play with dolls together?」

「…Let’s see」

Looking down at her own pink feet that were stepping firmly on the ground, Bettina arranged her breathing and answered.

「I also don’t quite fully know what kind of feeling I’d have if I had a younger sister, but if I had an older brother like Your Highness, I think I’ll surely boast about it over and over again to everyone」 

「Ahahaha, you want to boast? About me?」

「Of course. A kind, amusing and good-looking brother, all one can do is to boast about him, isn’t it?」

「I see—, to you, I’m like an older brother that you’re proud of, huh」

「That’s right」

Normally, she’d probably be rebuked for being disrespectful if she said such a thing. Just the daughter of a commoner with no special rank or title exchanging words with the Crown Prince of Ahmad directly was an unmerited treatment, and yet she additionally said that he was like an older brother in the Crown Prince’s face; if the nagging courtiers found fault with her, depending on the situation, it might even cause trouble for Quique.

However, there were only pages besides Isaac and Bettina now. That exhilarated Bettina all the more.

Being a substitute for a younger sister was fine as well; she’d be happy if she could be of some use to this Crown Prince—Bettina almost skipped, and she hurriedly restrained herself.