Kuro no Hiera Glaphicos - Volume 5

「…You give too much weight to this, you know」

Isaac, who was reclining on a chair, muttered such a thing deliberately with a sigh so that the person in question could hear it. Sure enough, Camuñas-kyou who was standing next to him, while only his expression was a smiling face, rebuked with a low and subdued voice.

「Your Highness… the daughters of influential nobles are also present, so please refrain from that kind of remark」

「That’s because if you want to receive Haha-ue, you can do so in Roma, can’t you? Get the citizens and all to wave small flags, you know?」

「The queen doesn’t wish for such a grandiose parade!」

「If that’s the case, this kind of garden party is unnecessary as well, right?」

「T, that’s…! I wanted to get the queen to take a rest here first, and after doing that, move to the royal palace where His Majesty is—」

「It doesn’t matter even if you don’t make this and that plausible excuses」

He understood Camuñas-kyou’s aim. His intention was probably to gather the daughters of nobles using this garden party for receiving the queen as a pretext and let them get acquainted with Isaac. Perhaps it was also explained clearly to that effect to the girls, they had been awfully over-familiar with him since some time ago. As one would expect, they didn’t forcibly lean coquettishly against him, but them coming to talk to him by turns, saying “Oh dear, how about a refill of black tea?” or “How about having some sweets?” was the most irritating thing.

That was why in the end, he ended up having a conversation with Camuñas like this to avoid that. If he was talking to Camuñas-kyou, the girls would also suspect that it might be some political topic and wouldn’t come and interrupt them readily.

「Come now, Your Highness, the queen’s carriage is coming」

「Good grief…」

Isaac stood up from the chair and moved to the centre of the highway, which was paved with white paving stones. Camuñas-kyou and Lindegaard-kyou were behind him; moreover, the daughters of nobles followed in succession behind them.

If Bettina who was living outside the society of royalty and titled nobility saw this kind of him, what would she think; Isaac unintentionally glanced towards the wood, but due to the guards who were arrayed forming a wall, that pink silhouette couldn’t be seen.

Dimitar Richternach was sitting on the driver’s seat of the white carriage, which had come together with a modest entourage. It was probably because he was cautious of his surroundings that his eyes were looking all around and didn’t settle down. Although it also felt as if he was overdoing it a little, as the guard of the queen of a country, it was better to be this cautious.

When Dimitar had stopped the carriage quietly in front of Isaac and the others, he jumped down from the driver’s seat lightly and then prepared a stool after bowing very deeply.

「…Oh!」

When Dimitar opened the door of the carriage, voices of admiration could be heard coming mainly from the inside of the wood.

The one who had borrowed Dimitar’s hand and come down first was a beautiful girl in a scarlet dress. Needless to point out, she was one of Ahmad’s Dominas—Valeria Costacurta, the talented woman who was called “Pure Jewel”, according to Dimitar.

She most likely didn’t bring the uniform of the Dominas with her because guarding the queen was a top-secret mission. What Valeria was wearing was a dress of Isaac’s mother, which Isaac also remembered seeing before. Setting the area around her chest aside, a thin silk shawl was wrapped around the area around her waist to cleverly gloss over the fact that it was slightly too large for her.

「I must say, seeing her like this… she’s certainly wonderful」

Staring at Valeria whose expression was slightly stiff, Isaac muttered.

「Oh? Just as I thought, does Your Highness like Costacurta-geika?」

「…I say, that sort of suspicion is boorish, you know? I simply wanted to praise a beautiful girl that she’s beautiful」

Flatly rejecting Camuñas’s murmur, Isaac put his hands on his waist.

「Ara ara, even though I said that such a grandiose… reception is unnecessary…」

Queen Almudena, who had come down after Valeria, with a look that wasn’t as dissatisfied as she’d have others believe despite saying so, narrowed her eyes in front of Isaac. If you think about it very carefully, it was the first time in about half a year that Isaac met his mother.

「Welcome back, Haha-ue」

Isaac put his hat against his chest, bowed especially deeply and smiled.

「Your complexion seems to have improved very much. Also, you looked like you’ve become a little plumper」

「Ara ara, did I gain so much weight, I wonder? These few days, I’ve been together with Her Eminence the whole time during meals, so I might have enjoyed chatting to her and unconsciously overeaten」

「No, not at all, I like a healthy Haha-ue more」

Isaac took the place of Dimitar and took Almudena’s hand, and then he spoke to Valeria.

「Though it was suggested by Father, I’m sorry to have caused trouble to Your Eminence. Has Mother been unreasonable in various ways?」

「Ah, no…」

She probably had. He could tell by looking at the expression of the girl who was at a loss for words. Though Almudena was gentle, she was strangely aggressive.

Valeria made “au au” sounds as if she was slightly troubled, but perhaps she had noticed that there were many people’s eyes behind Isaac, she smiled faintly and answered in a low voice.

「Um… honestly speaking, being wilfully twisted around the queen’s little finger, I had quite a pleasant experience because of this」

「Ara ara, are you praising me, Your Eminence?」

「Ah, ahahaha…」

「Well, isn’t it fine, Haha-ue」

When Isaac urged Almudena to start walking, Camuñas and Lindegaard and also the daughters of nobles parted left and right simultaneously and opened up a path.

「—Come, please drink some tea over there first」

「Ara ara」

When Isaac led Almudena by the hand and was about to return to the banquet, Dimitar suddenly let out a sharp voice.

「Your Highness!」

「—Eh?」

Realising that something had moved in the corner of his field of vision, Isaac raised his face.

Someone was on top of the triumphal arch.

「—」

When he realised that it was a large man having an enormous crossbow at the ready, a pink mass had come rushing out in front of him.

「Bettina—!?」

Making the sounds of moving fast against the wind, a number of arrows with the thickness of a small spear came flying from the top of the triumphal arch in succession, and all of them hit Bettina.

—Or rather, Bettina opened her arms and took on all the arrows that should be converging on Isaac and the queen by herself.

Without clearly understanding what had happened, the girls let out shrill screams and started to run away from there. The members of the chivalric order came rushing out from the inside of the wood hurriedly, but it was uncertain how many people had grasped the precise location of the assailant.

「Your Highness! Go inside the carriage together with the queen!」

「B, but—」

「Quickly!」

Pulled by Dimitar by the arms and protected by Valeria, Isaac and Almudena went round to the rear of the carriage.