Chapter 311: During Intermission
[A/N: Posting 5 extra Chapters today because we reached the tier 2 milestone today :D]
"Is this reply all right, Lord Robbie? I was struck in the chest by Lord Robbie’s words, more than my years. I think Lord Robbie could stand on the stage this instant."
That she said in a flat tone. Taking it,
"Your Majesty, thank you. Then when the play is over I will go sell myself to Linoa."
When I said that, Anouk and the other two let out a long sigh.
"I want to be told once too!" "Me too!"
one of the maids was saying. Anouk was muttering something under her breath as well.
"Now, now. Focus on the stage!"
Her Majesty called, but the three of them are still looking at Your Majesty. The heat from those three is something.
—-
Her Majesty said let us watch the play, and after that there was no concentrating left. The cause was something I had started myself. The me on stage was found by Count Keyhoff while meeting the count’s daughter in secret, and it was going to a duel between me and the Count. Secret meeting or not, they had only been talking clean and proper in the count’s garden in daylight, but this was theater, so it slid straight into a duel. Theater really is a cheat!
Some duke somewhere pushed me hard, laid this and that out, and at last it became a clash at the count’s residence. Real me, thinking back now, had reached the clash in a smooth run too, and the stage moved at about that same good tempo. Well. I had thought theater was that kind of thing.
Now it was intermission. On the stage many people were banging around building sets, trying to recreate the count’s residence. Watching that was very fun for me, but my sleeve was pulled. I turned and it was Anouk.
"What is it?"
Anouk’s face was completely serious.
"A-ah, what you said to Her Majesty just now, w-would you, um, say it to me as well?"
She appealed, chewing her words. Was it that enviable? I thought, but the maid behind her was looking with eyes full of excitement too. Meaning do the same thing for Anouk and the two maids.
So I repeated the same lines to the three of them, and all three seemed satisfied, eyes melted. That this is enough for women was a little past my range of understanding. After saying the same thing three times I was very tired, and then someone tugged the hem of my clothes.
"Say, Lord Robbie, would you say it to me once more as well?"
Even Her Majesty was begging... Calling me Robbie had become natural. No one pointed it out, though.
I sat, against my will, faced Her Majesty’s expression packed with excitement, and gave the speech.
"Queen Scarlett, from the moment I first saw you, my heart was stolen by Queen Scarlett. Asleep and awake I thought of Queen Scarlett, and my heart never cleared. Seeing Queen Scarlett here now, it feels as if the clouds covering my heart have cleared and I have seen the sun! Feeling overflows inside, and I convey my feeling to Your Majesty here. Because of your standing, I think Your Majesty would hesitate to speak your feeling to me. Yes. I need not hear Your Majesty’s feeling. From Your Majesty’s eyes your heart is already reaching me. So please allow only this. That I convey my heart."
I took her hand and appealed with feeling.
Anouk and the two maids were surprised at the different treatment from their own, and still held their breath waiting to hear what Her Majesty would say.
Her Majesty was surprised and still looked glad, and this time she began to speak with room to spare.
"Lord Robbie, thank you for your feeling. Hearing Lord Robbie’s feeling, I learned that my hidden wish had gotten through. But I am the queen of this country. I want to answer Lord Robbie’s wish, and I am truly sorry... Ah, if this body were two, one could walk the road together with Lord Robbie... I am sorry..."
Partway through the reply turned mixed with tears. Anouk and the others were shedding tears too, hiccuping.
What was I supposed to do with this place? Her Majesty had told me to start it, and somehow it had become a place for confirming a tragic love together. The next box was noisy, and somehow in this box Her Majesty was weeping too, sunk in heroine feeling. I was holding her hand, still on one knee. Her Majesty would not let go of my hand...
"Your Majesty, you poor thing..." "Your Majesty..." "Your Majesty, I want to grant your feeling somehow..."
Anouk and the three of them were pouring out feelings as they liked, but how could they enter the situation that far? It was not reading the room, and it was not peer pressure either.
In the middle of that, Her Majesty shed tears, clapped her hands, and said,
"Now then, let us end it here. The second half is starting!"
Anouk and the others snapped straight at once.
"Yes!!"
Suddenly sharp!! What kind of switch do these people have, and how does the changeover happen? What am I supposed to do, holding Her Majesty’s hand?
"Give me something to drink."
At Her Majesty’s request a maid moved and wine was held out. Where did the melting mood from a moment ago go? I wanted to ask. Apart from the maid moving briskly, Her Majesty and I sat planted in our chairs. Still holding hands...
What I had confessed to Her Majesty just now, Anouk and the maids took it as part of the play, right? Worry hit me all at once. Then I should not have done it, I think, but there is momentum, so it cannot be helped. It is not that I want to do something with Her Majesty. I only did not want to break the air of that place, and I wanted to surprise her a little. I have a feeling this will ruin me someday...