“We’ve arrived. This is the archive.”
As I hurriedly followed Seria, we had already arrived at our destination before I knew it.
A cool breeze slipped through the cracks of the archive, and I wondered… is this also a kind of life force?
“It might be a little cold. My mother is really serious about cool places. She always adjusts the temperature with magic.”
Ah, so it’s just cold air.
Afterwards, Seria approached the archive’s door to open it but suddenly turned back to look at me as if something had occurred to her.
“Ah, and… my mother doesn’t really like being called ‘mother’ in private. I’m going to call her ‘mom’… please don’t think it’s too weird?”
It seems like she feels embarrassed about calling her mother in front of others.
It’s the age for that, I understand.
I nodded with that thought, and Seria turned back to open the door of the archive.
As soon as the door opened, the cold air inside rushed out, chilling my body.
And then… I saw a woman beyond the open door.
“You’re here?”
She was a very familiar-looking woman.
Of course, it made sense. Except for the hair and eye colors, she looked exactly like Seria.
The empress, with a sharp appearance, was almost a grown-up version of Seria, so alike that you could call her a preview of the adult Seria.
“Mom!”
“Welcome, Seria.”
Seria, who had already run to her mother, was now being held in her arms.
She may try to act grown-up, but in the end, she’s still a child.
As I was watching them hugging, I met the empress’s gaze as she raised her head.
As soon as our eyes met, I showed the same respect I had shown to the emperor.
“I greet the moon of the empire.”
“Hmm, that’s fine. Stand up. For a commoner, your manners aren’t bad.”
“You flatter me.”
“But… are you late because you got lost along the way?”
As Seria had said, the empress seemed sensitive to punctuality.
Well, that was the same in the game too.
All the tasks I received from the empress, whether easy or difficult, large or small, always had a time limit… and if I failed even once, I would never be given another task from her.
So I knew that she was someone who was strict with time, and I didn’t have anything to say.
No matter what excuse I gave, the fact that I was late wouldn’t change, so I couldn’t answer. Then, Seria lightly tapped me on the side, signaling me to be aware.
“Heh heh. I know. It must be because of him.”
Fortunately, it seemed that she would overlook the fact that we were late this time.
“Well, that’s true… but please don’t scold him too much.”
“Of course~ How much does your mother love your father?”
Although I couldn’t know what the emperor would say in return for this… as long as it wasn’t about me, I was fine with it.
But Seria didn’t stop there and added more.
“You did the same thing last time and then said that you’d scold him as much as you loved him, but you didn’t come out of your room for hours.”
“Ugh, uhm~ Did I? I don’t remember very well.”
“It was just recently, there’s no way you can’t remember. You dragged him into your room right after lunch and didn’t come out until dinner…”
“Alright, alright… can we talk about this later?”
Her voice had become quieter, and I couldn’t catch the words, but seeing the rare flustered reaction from the empress, it was clear that Seria had said something shocking.
Seria… I don’t know what you said, but you can’t tease your mother in front of an outsider…
The empress, who had been whispering closely with Seria, suddenly pushed her away and quickly changed the subject.
“Now, let’s talk about Rudion, the one you like.”
“Well… I mean, yes…”
“Huh? This reaction is unexpected.”
The empress seemed quite shocked by Seria’s uncharacteristic response, thinking that she would deny it even if she liked him.
“Hmm… I guess there’s no helping it…”
Please, whatever spell she’s about to cast, just cancel it.
I really don’t want the royal family to fall apart because of me.
Fortunately, the spell the empress was about to cast was stopped by Seria.
…I was starting to get confused about whether I had come to the royal palace or a gathering of people who loved Seria, but upon reflection, it seemed that both concepts could coexist.
As I was starting to let go of my thoughts, the conversation finally returned to the main topic.
“I’m sorry for bringing you here just to talk about other things.”
“It’s fine. It’s okay.”
“Don’t act too stiff. Just… think of me as your academy professor and treat me like one.”
That statement is probably sincere. She really does prefer a lighter atmosphere.
There’s a reason I firmly told Seria not to address her in a formal way in private.
Of course, very few people would feel comfortable with someone who holds the title of empress and is also a great sorceress… but who am I? I’m a man who’s already too far gone to worry about such things.
And if I was going to care about that kind of thing, I wouldn’t have been able to get close to Seria in the first place.
“Then I’ll do that.”
“Oh my.”
When I immediately followed her words, she seemed surprised, as if she hadn’t expected me to accept it so easily.
She didn’t forget to throw a glance at Seria and make a remark.
“You’re definitely my type. Is that the kind of thing you like? Hmm? Is that your type, Seria?”
“Ugh, mom…”
“Alright, alright. I won’t say it.”
The mother-daughter duo are really serious about teasing each other.
I hadn’t had the chance to see the family dynamic within the royal family in the game, but it’s unexpectedly warm and heartening.
“To be honest, I was really worried. I didn’t expect this child to fall for a man.”
After teasing Seria, the empress turned her attention back to me and continued speaking.
“I didn’t send her to the academy for that. I was so anxious about whether she’d get caught up with bad guys… and she would always write letters full of your stories without realizing it…”
“Mom!”
“What are you so embarrassed about? If you didn’t want that, you shouldn’t have written it in the first place.”
“Well… you’re right, but…”
I see now. Seria. She had only written about me in the letters that her family saw.
If that’s the case, I guess I was destined to be called to the royal palace eventually, whether or not I got involved in that dormitory incident.
When I think about it, it might actually be a good thing that I was called here so quickly.
As the letters piled up, who knows what could’ve happened?
And it wasn’t that hard to understand why Seria only wrote about me. After all, she had been with me almost all the time since the moment we entered the academy. If she didn’t write about me, she probably didn’t have much else to write.
It’s a bit embarrassing though… that she wrote only about me.
What exactly did she write?
“From what I saw in the letters, it didn’t seem like she liked you, so I left her be… but here we are. Was the content of the letters just a smokescreen?”
…What exactly did she write?
“Excuse me, but… could I ask what you wrote about me?”
“Sometimes ignorance is bliss.”
I asked out of curiosity, but I didn’t get an answer.
Since she said it like that, I guess I shouldn’t worry about it.
The empress continued speaking for a while after that.
There wasn’t much content. It was mostly about how much she worried for Seria.
The frequency of the letters had been increasing, and she was worried that Seria might have gotten into trouble when she blew up the ceiling of the student cafeteria…
The empress spent quite a bit of time relieving those worries, but eventually ran out of things to say and fell silent for a moment before changing the subject.
“We were so worried, and yet she always wrote about you… We should at least know how Seria is doing, shouldn’t we?”
She said that and subtly gave me a hint. It seemed like she wanted me to ask about Seria’s life at the academy.
Haha, you’ve come to the right person. I’m quite the expert when it comes to Seria’s academy life.
Did she read my thoughts? Seria seemed extremely uneasy and tried to quickly wrap things up.
“U-um, mom? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other… should we go for a walk or something? Aaaah!”
However, in an instant, the wind lifted her off the ground, rendering her helpless.
Seria struggled desperately, trying to break free, but it was all in vain.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t get out if I let her down; I just didn’t want to risk messing up the library.
Finally giving up, Seria stopped struggling and turned her gaze toward me while still floating in the air.
Her eyes were intense, and I knew that if I said anything unnecessary, I’d definitely hear about it later.
So, I decided to pretend I didn’t see anything.
“…!……!”
As I avoided her gaze, she yelled something, but her words were blocked by the magic holding her up, so I couldn’t hear a thing.
Maybe it was because of how amusing it was to watch, but the empress let out a laugh.
“You two. Your relationship is much better than I expected.”
“It seems so.”
“Heh. Maybe I didn’t need to worry from the start.”
Oh… I didn’t expect someone who had threatened to kill me if I hurt Seria to say something like that.
Does this mean I’m somewhat accepted?
The empress glanced at me quietly before speaking again.
“I have a good eye for people. Of course, I’ve only exchanged a few words with you, but I can tell what kind of mind you have to be here. So… would you like to tell me what it is you want?”
“…Not really.”
“I thought you might say that.”
Isn’t it common for people in these situations to say they want nothing?
Whether I thought that or not, the empress continued.
“You don’t seem to want anything from being here. It’s not even about whether I’m the empress or not, you don’t seem to care that this place is the royal palace. Am I right?”
“Well… yeah.”
After all, the reason I came here was almost out of my control.
“The thing I was most worried about was that Seria would be used for some kind of purpose. Specifically, I was worried that if she was used, she would end up getting hurt.”
But… the empress slightly raised the corners of her mouth as she continued.
“But I don’t think that’s the case with you.”
“Well… Seria doesn’t really let just anyone get close. If I had approached her with bad intentions, she would’ve cut me off.”
To be honest, even if I approached her with good intentions, Seria, being a true introvert, would still have kept her distance… but I didn’t need to bring that up.
I spoke diplomatically, and the empress nodded as if agreeing, before once again turning her gaze toward my face.
But this time, her stare seemed a little more intense.
“Still, there’s one thing that’s clear.”
After staring at me for a while, she suddenly said that and then grinned at Seria, still floating in the air.
“Just like her mother, she likes handsome men.”
Seria’s face turned bright red. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I could tell by her expression.
But why is she suddenly so embarrassed? She’s the one who was the first to praise me for being handsome.
The empress chuckled at Seria’s reaction and wrapped up the conversation.
“Our Seria. Please take good care of her. Of course, the warning about not hurting her still stands, so be careful.”
“…Yes.”
It seemed like it was going to end on a warm note, but of course, it ended like this.
Well, considering we’ve been talking about Seria from start to finish, it would have been weirder if it didn’t end like this.
“Alright. Then, shall we get back to what we were talking about? What’s Seria been up to lately?”
Ah, come to think of it, we haven’t finished that conversation.
“It might take a while, but that’s okay, right?”
“We’re talking about our daughter, the longer the better.”
“…?!!!!”
Thinking the conversation was winding down, Seria started struggling again, but unfortunately, she couldn’t set foot on the ground until the end of the conversation.