Chapter 5: The Potential for Salt

 

 

 

Chapter 5: The Potential for Salt

 

MANILLA Day arrived in the blink of an eye.

I was plenty busy in my own right, but Lady Kate and her servants were practically on death’s door.

“But all our hard work paid off in time, fortunately.”

I took Lucian’s hand to board my carriage, then headed straight for Lady Kate’s villa. She had invited me over today as the two of us had agreed upon. I wanted to observe her Manilla Day celebrations to see if they were successful, as well as…

“Oh my. If it isn’t Queen Laetitia?”

The voice from behind me sounded a bit displeased.

There stood Lady Sienna, dressed in beautiful attire but still unable to hide her inner feelings.

Lady Kate’s half sister seemed to be another guest for the holiday.

“I didn’t expect to see you here. To think I saw you as a wise person, Your Majesty.”

“I appreciate the praise, thank you.”

“…What exactly are you thinking?”

Lady Sienna came up to me to whisper in my ear.

“I understand that you’ve been speaking with my half sister recently. I imagine you two are up to something, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Manilla Day is part of our culture, and it’s customary to eat salted foods. As a foreigner, suggesting your new recipes won’t be possible for chefs of our region.”

“You don’t think outsiders can bring new insights at times?”

“I’m not sure it’ll result in anything but the shallowest of changes.”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

We reached the dining room. When the doors opened up for us…

“Good day, Your Majesty. It’s an honor to have you in attendance today.”

“Good day. It’s been a while since we met outside of our villas, hasn’t it?”

“Oh my, you’re as pretty as ever, Your Majesty. I see you’re here with the little kitten. Have you two grown close?”

Lady Kate, Lady Natalie, and Lady I-Liena were already in the dining room when we arrived. The three turned to greet me.

“What…? Why are the other candidates here…?”

Lady Sienna froze.

“Oh, welcome, Sienna. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Big Sister!! What’s going on?! I didn’t know you were inviting the others for Manilla Day!!”

“Is there a problem? Today is meant to be spent treating the people you care about. Lady Natalie and Lady I-Liena are both daughters of dukes, like me, and we all carry the burden of the kingdom’s future on our shoulders.”

Lady Kate explained the situation nonchalantly.

Everything was going as planned.

As was traditional for Manilla Day, all of today’s guests were connected in some way to our host’s status. The fact that Lady Kate even invited people like Lady Natalie and me to the celebration should naturally benefit her own reputation.

I simply accepted what had been given to me. I couldn’t imagine that it would look like I was favoring Lady Kate’s candidacy to an outsider.

Lady Natalie also had something to gain by accepting the invitation. It was a big deal for her, considering she had lost almost all chance at becoming the next queen, to improve her relationship with the powerful Lady Kate.

The different races of the two girls left them estranged, but for tonight’s event, they were on the same page and would be meeting each other halfway.

Lady Natalie first agreed to my proposal after a bit of thought.

Lady Sienna and her beastfolk faction acted even more distant toward humans than her half sister did. Therefore, Lady Natalie definitely felt it important to prevent Lady Sienna from becoming the next queen.

Once I had Lady Natalie’s permission, Lady Kate and I next sent an invitation to Lady I-Liena. While I couldn’t read her true intentions, I didn’t imagine she wanted to publicly cause any discord. We told her that Lady Natalie and I would be attending, and perhaps just to keep an eye on what we were up to, Lady I-Liena agreed to attend.

…And although she didn’t stand out, there was one last guest.

Lady Fillia, the black-haired candidate from the southern villa, was seated at the dining table as well. She was apparently open to attending events when directly asked, so she had accepted our invitation to today’s celebration.

Lady Kate had managed to invite all three of the other candidates.

It was a perfectly suitable crowd for Manilla Day.

I was hopeful that our hard work leading up to this day would help keep Lady Sienna’s ulterior motives at bay.

I was exchanging introductions with Lady Fillia, whom I was meeting face-to-face for the first time, when the dining room door opened.

Lady Kate and Lady Sienna instantly turned anxious.

It was none other than Duke Garon—their father and the man who held their fates in the palm of his hand.

He was a middle-aged man who resembled a wildcat…or rather, he was styled like a lynx, specifically. His light-brown hair resembled Lady Sienna’s, while his more pointed eyes reminded me of Lady Kate.

We welcomed Duke Garon, and after a few more guests arrived, it was finally time for lunch.

All the dishes were brought out and placed before us at our seats.

While the kitchen had grown even busier with the addition of the three candidates to the guest list, Lady Kate informed me that they had just enough manpower to handle it, so I didn’t expect any trouble.

The first dish set on the table was a salad made from leafy greens and sprinkled with large salt crystals. It was a simple dish, but perfect as a palate cleanser during the course of the meal.

Next to the salad was a plump mound of bread covered with salt.

Salt had been kneaded into the dough too. The sweetness of the butter would draw out even more of a salty taste, but just like the salad, this was a food commonly eaten in Lady Kate’s native region.

Today’s main dish was the last suggestion I gave her for a brand-new kind of Manilla Day food.

Everyone murmured to themselves when they saw it brought out of the kitchen.

“A big…lump of salt…?”

Whispers ran through the confused guests as the dish was set in front of them.

“Is this a salt cluster?”

“That’s exactly what it looks like to me…”

When Lady Sienna watched the whispered exchanges occurring between guests, she spoke up.

“Big Sister!! Enough with this nonsense!”

Once she made sure she had everyone’s eyes on her, she glared at Lady Kate.

“I’ve heard of your recent troubles with the chefs at your villa. You lost the majority of them right before Manilla Day, isn’t that right?”

Her eyes turned from pity to judgment as she looked at her older sister.

“However, that doesn’t make it acceptable to serve something as ridiculous as a lump of salt and call it ‘food’! Are you mocking Father, today’s guest of honor?!”

Lady Sienna was shouting as if she’d already won.

I was sure she thought she was about to topple her sister, but that was way too hasty, even for her.

Maybe it was just proof of how much she underestimated Lady Kate.

“Be quiet, Sienna. If you have complaints, can you not wait until after you’ve sampled the dish?”

“You expect Father and me to eat this lump of salt?!”

“If you don’t want to eat it, then close your mouth and watch.”

Lady Kate didn’t let the indignant Lady Sienna throw her off her pace.

In fact, when I looked closely, Lady Kate’s ears seemed to be twitching. If she was angry on the inside, she wasn’t showing it on her face.

Lady Sienna was taken aback to see her emotional sister staying so calm. With the wind taken out of her sails, she fell quiet.

…I’d told Lady Kate in advance that her sister might act up as soon as the dish was served. That was clearly the right approach.

Plate after plate had been carried out to the table while the two sisters argued.

Once each of the fifteen guests had their lump of salt placed in front of them, Lady Kate spoke up.

“Thank you for your patience. Today’s main course was very specially prepared by the chefs at my villa, but you’ll find the method of eating it a bit unusual. I’ll give you a demonstration first.”

A maid handed Lady Kate a wooden mallet.

“Oh my! Don’t tell me! Could it be?” whispered Lady I-Liena.

It was the first time I ever saw the fox woman express shock. Just then…

Smack!!

Lady Kate dropped the mallet onto the salt lump with a nice crunch.

After a few more hits, the shell cracked and fell open.

“What a nice aroma…”

The smell of herbs and roasted meat filled the air.

I could see both the hunger and excitement on everyone’s faces when they caught the scent.

With a bit of a triumphant look, Lady Kate moved the salt fragments to the side of her plate. The smell grew stronger until the roasted pork inside became visible.

“As you can see, once you crack open the lump of salt, you can remove the ingredients to eat. The salt is mixed with egg whites, kneaded into an outer shell, then baked with pork on the inside. It’s called salt-crusted pork.”

“Salt-crusted pork…”

The guests stirred in surprise over the foreign name.

---

---

I was the one who taught her this recipe, of course.

Salt-crusted dishes were well-known in my past life in Japan for their impressive appearance and memorable method of eating, but here in this world, fortunately, it was a very unusual form of food.

Some recipes might resemble it if one searched the entire continent…but at the very least, it wasn’t known at all in this kingdom.

I had previously received a piece of rock salt as an apology for the lunch incident that happened when I last visited the villa. It was a most abundant amount of salt. I was planning on using it to make salt-crusted pork for His Majesty, but I ended up scrapping the idea and decided to present him something else instead.

When I had the dish taste tested recently, the results shocked me.

…Leaving aside why I decided to scrap the dish, as luck would have it, the recipe turned out to be a great help to Lady Kate.

“Salt-crusted pork, huh? What an extravagant use of our region’s pride and joy.”

The sisters’ father, Duke Garon, looked at the dish with great interest.

“So we’re not supposed to eat this salt shell on the outside, is that right?”

“Indeed. Please feel free to leave it on the side of your plate. I’ll be saving it to use for other noncooking applications in the future.”

I knew that in Lady Kate’s homeland, some salt was processed in a way that wasn’t edible. The people shared their various ways of reusing this salt for things like abrasive products.

The shell on their plates was made from a simple mix of egg whites and salt, and while it would take some time, it could be processed for reuse.

“I see. Then I’ll gladly accept what my daughter presented us here.”

The guest of honor, Duke Garon, was next to take a wooden mallet from the maid. After a few swings, he could begin to see the contents within the crust.

“Oh, is that simmered beef I see inside mine?”

“Yes, that’s right. I wanted to add your favorite food as well, Father. All other guests, please crack open the shell and see what’s inside.”

The maid passed a mallet to each guest.

The dining room was filled with the sounds of soft crunching.

It was exciting, like something of a treasure hunt. Everyone was eager to see what they had received.

I looked down at my plate.

There were three varieties of salt crust that would be served today. Each dish was seasoned with rosemary and other herbs, and contained either pork, beef, or lemon-stuffed fish. Lady Kate served each guest whatever their preferred ingredient would be, if she knew that much. I left my personal selection up to her, knowing I’d enjoy whatever I got.

The presentation of the salt crust was certainly eye-catching, but the shell was quite simple to make.

Thick slices of meat already make for a tasty meal as it is. The rest of the preparation was to simply cover them in salt and roast them in the oven. Thanks to this dish, even Lady Kate’s understaffed kitchen managed to pull it off.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I quickly took to the task of cracking the shell so I could taste the main dish.

“I got pork and it’s delicious…”

Juices dripped from the meat as I bit into the slice.

The perfect amount of salt brought out the natural flavor of the pork. Combined with the rosemary seasoning, the meat was a succulent and refreshing treat.

I snuck a glance at the other guests. I could hear all their satisfied remarks.

Duke Garon seemed to be enjoying his beef as well.

“…Very nice. Cooking the meat with salt made it very juicy. It’s roasted well too, and I like the way the salt on the outside tickles the tongue with each bite.”

Not only did the dish have a memorable presentation, but the taste was favorable too.

The guests let out sighs of satisfaction. I wondered if that was thanks to the changes in meat to specially suit each person at the table. They seemed to have taken to the shocking presentation and delicious taste of the meal.

While the guests quietly dug into their meals, there was one single person at the table who wasn’t enjoying herself.

Lady Sienna couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“…May I ask you something, Big Sister?”

“What is it? Did you see how yours is fish, just how you like it? Wasn’t it scrumptious?”

“I-It was, but…”

Oh, that’s surprising.

I was certain she would say something like “Sure, it was prepared in a new way, but the taste is completely average.”

Lady Sienna was more honest than I expected…or perhaps she wasn’t the quickest of thinkers. She was skilled when it came to schemes but lacking in the ad-lib department. Lady Kate’s explosive emotions were a stark contrast to her sister.

“…However, that’s irrelevant. The problem lies in who created this dish. It’s not customary in our region to bake foods inside a salt crust like this. I can’t imagine this was your idea, Big Sister.”

“That’s right. Her Majesty helped me to come up with this dish.”

A murmur traveled across the table when she mentioned me.

Lady Sienna began to speak triumphantly. “Aren’t you embarrassed to need rescuing just to create your glorious Manilla Day meal?”

“She didn’t rescue me. We worked together. This dish is made with our region’s bountiful salt. There’s only so much one can do on their own. You understand, right? You’re the one who said neither of us could ever come up with such a thing on our own.”

Lady Kate’s father nodded when she said this.

She’d once told me that Duke Garon was a strict man, but forgiving whenever sound logic was involved. It appeared she was correct.

Lady Sienna only grew more irritated to see her father’s approval of her half sister.

“‘Working together’ is certainly a nice way of putting it. You’re the host for Manilla Day, but you make Queen Laetitia do everything for you?”

“What proof do you have of an accusation like that?”

“The chandelier.”

Lady Sienna smirked triumphantly.

Quietly, I confirmed that the girl had fallen into our trap.

The guests at the table raised their heads to look at the ceiling.

The entire fixture was a light-white color but nearly transparent. Its candles cast a brilliant glow throughout the room, perfect for an elegant space with its complex and aesthetically pleasing metal curves.

“What’s your problem with my chandelier?”

“Don’t you think it’s best for the host of an event to be the one to decorate their dining room?”

“I think my beautiful chandelier is doing that job just fine.”

“Absolutely. It’s the centerpiece of this room…and it was Her Majesty who prepared it, not you, Big Sister, right?”

Lady Sienna turned to look at me.

“Five days ago, I heard there was a commotion going on here at the villa. The next day, Her Majesty showed up with a glazier. I thought that was strange, but I get it now. You had Her Majesty gift you a chandelier, didn’t you?”

“That’s true, I did visit this villa…but may I ask how you reached such a conclusion?”

I imagined she would say something like this. I wanted the meal to end peacefully with everyone enjoying their food, but I knew there was a chance Lady Sienna would get in the way. To avoid a situation where she got the better of us, I laid what could be called a trap for her to fall into.

“Please don’t play dumb,” she said. “I’ve been to this villa more often than you, Your Majesty, so I can tell. This isn’t the same chandelier that’s always been in this room. It looks very similar, but you can’t fool my eyes. All the fuss at the villa five days ago was because someone accidentally broke the chandelier!”

Lady Sienna was brimming with confidence.

“It’s easy enough to figure out. The chandelier that was in this room was a made-to-order glass piece. There can be no identical fixture. If you were going to create a lookalike on short notice, you’d need a large amount of money for such an order. Big Sister, surely you can’t afford a sum like that? Then there can be only one answer. You begged Her Majesty to hire a glazier, making him work day and night, hidden away in a studio, until he created a replica.”

The guests quietly took in Lady Sienna’s conjecture.

Lady I-Liena looked to be having a good time. Lady Natalie was just nervous.

When Lady Sienna saw that the rest of the guests were looking at Lady Kate and me judgingly, she began to smirk.

“I’m impressed Her Majesty was able to produce an identical chandelier in a mere four days. But to force the queen to use her wealth is going much too far, don’t you think? It’s unfortunate the chandelier was broken, but even so…”

She made her words sound sympathetic. I caught sight of Lady Kate beginning to glare back at her.

I understood how she felt, but I signaled her to keep calm with my eyes.

The chandelier breaking five days ago was neither coincidence nor bad luck, of course.

It was a crime committed at the hands of the servants Lady Sienna controlled.

The true culprit continued to speak on with an innocent face.

“If your chandelier was broken, you could have prepared a less extravagant room for our use, or anything else. But you wanted to present a lavish celebration to the point that you relied on the wealth of others. Your selfishness and your shamelessly displayed chandelier just aren’t fit for a holiday like Manilla Day.”

Lady Sienna’s face, expressing pity for her sister, was also failing to hide her delight.

I decided to be the next to respond. I needed to be sure of the plan.

“…Lady Sienna, you can tell this is a different chandelier than the one in the room from five days ago?”

“Yes, of course. One can take a close look and see that the shape is different.”

“…Very well. I’d like to ask one more thing. You said this chandelier isn’t fit for Manilla Day. Are you absolutely sure about that?”

“I’m not taking back anything I said… What exactly are you getting at?”

She seemed nervous from my pressing questions, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

She had firmly fallen into my trap. I could now move in for the kill.

“Lady Sienna, you are lying.”

“…What did you just say?”

“Look closely at the chandelier and I believe you’ll understand.”

Aristocrats have always lived in mansions with tall ceilings, making use of all the extra space in the room. The room we currently sat in was no different. The height between the floor and the ceiling was easily more than that of two adults. Naturally, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling wasn’t reachable from the ground.

At Lady Kate’s signal, one of the servants stuck their hand into a small hole in the wall. We heard the sound of scraping metal as the chandelier slowly lowered down to us. The mechanism existed to light the candles before hauling the fixture back up the ceiling.

The chain holding the chandelier grew longer and longer until it was just above our heads.

“Oh my, what is this…?”

“Seeing it up close, this glass isn’t as transparent as usual.”

I decided to answer the guests’ questions.

“This chandelier was mostly created with salt.”

“The chandelier is salt…?”

Lady Sienna repeated my statement in confusion.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before…”

“Well, here it is, right now. If you don’t believe me, please touch the chandelier, then give your finger a lick.”

“I’m not going to do something so silly and—”

“Whoa!! So salty!!”

It was a child who next cried out.

Duke Garon had brought his son along for dinner as well. He was Lady Kate’s younger brother. The boy was only about ten years old and well-behaved around all the adults, but it appeared he may have been secretly bored until now.

My words had sparked his curiosity enough to take action. He reminded me of the expressive Lady Kate. The boy’s tail slinked down in embarrassment when he realized he’d attracted the attention of the room.

“…He’s correct. This chandelier is made from blocks of salt, which you can tell if you lick it. The center foundation that connects to the chains is made of metal, but aside from that, the outer decorations and dangling crystals are all made out of salt. Lady Kate knew that, of course.”

I exchanged glances with her to have her take over the conversation for me.

“It’s just as Her Majesty says. Our region already makes sculptures out of rock salt, so I took that idea, borrowed the queen’s magic skills, and created this beautiful salt chandelier.”

“Salt…with magic…?”

Lady Sienna cast me a doubting look. I decided to give an easy demonstration for her. I reached into my dress pocket, removed a fist-sized lump of rock salt wrapped in cloth, and held it up for all to see.

I closed my eyes for a moment and focused.

I let the energy flow as I chanted a spell, and soon, I held a small key made of what resembled cloudy glass.

This was the work of the spell I relied on most ever since I regained my past-life memories—transmutation. It was a skill generally used to change the shape of raw materials such as dirt and minerals.

“Since salt is a mineral, won’t I be able to transmute rock salt too?”

It was the large piece of rock salt sent by Lady Kate that had given me that thought.

But since it was “rock” salt, after all, it also strongly resembled a piece of boulder or crystal. It meant I could probably use transmutation on it.

I gave it a try, figuring it could do no harm, and was shocked at my own success.

There is truly no end to the uses for magic.

Next, I tried to use transmutation on things like chunks of meat or vegetables, but as I imagined, I saw no results. Since meat and plants were both living things, maybe that was why the spell didn’t work? Or maybe it worked on salt because I perceived it as a type of rock? I didn’t understand how the fundamentals worked exactly, but now, at least, I knew that salt could be transmuted.

A transmuted key of rock salt sat atop my palm.

The guests had the same looks of shock on their faces that I did when I first successfully transmuted salt. It was a bit funny to see.

“It’s said that Manilla Mine was first discovered when a young girl dropped a key inside the caverns. Since today is a day to celebrate that discovery, I chose to make a key out of this salt.”

I handed it to a maid, who brought it around to Duke Garon.

He picked up the key, looked it over, and gave a quiet nod of approval.

“It’s just as Her Majesty says. This is a real piece of salt. I’ve heard of the queen’s incredible ‘transmutation’ spells ever since her display at His Majesty’s birthday party, so I’d buy that she made the entire chandelier here.”

The other guests seemed to agree with the duke’s conclusion.

Most beastfolk knew little about magic, but Duke Garon seemed to have a good understanding.

“I’m honored to receive your praise. I made this chandelier out of rock salt given to me by Lady Kate, making it a joint creation between the two of us. Unfortunately, my transmutations are not perfect, so this will only keep its shape for about a month… Until then, I hope it will serve as a treat for your eyes, and once it’s gone, we hope you’ll use the salt for other purposes.”

Lady Kate took over from there.

“The chandelier is made from salt mined in our native region. We only have this one made with Her Majesty’s magic right now, but back at home, there are many ways to process salt.”

“I see. So that means…”

The eyes of our eastern beastfolk guests lit up.

Lady Kate looked at them with a determined smile.

“Someday, we’ll be able to sell salt chandeliers as a local specialty, once we train the workers properly in our region. Manilla Day is a time to give thanks for the blessings of salt, but it also exists to search for even better uses than what we already have. What could be any more fitting for the occasion than this chandelier?”

Lady Kate’s eyes fell upon Lady Sienna.

It was like she was after revenge for her sister’s earlier remarks.

The guests began to praise the creation too once they’d heard Lady Kate’s explanation. Everyone at the table today, besides the candidates and me, were members of her family.

Salt-crusted meat on our table, and a salt chandelier above our heads.

For her new applications of the region’s famous salt, Lady Kate’s reputation among everyone seemed to have been bolstered.

◇　◇　◇

THE evening’s dinner eventually came to a successful end without further incident.

As I was just about to leave with Lady Natalie and the others, a voice from behind stopped me in my tracks.

“Your Majesty, might I have a moment of your time this evening?”

“Why, hello, Duke Garon. What is it you’d like to discuss?”

“…The chandelier, among other things.”

The duke whispered his response to me. I gave a small nod.

Leaving Lady Natalie, I followed Duke Garon back into the villa.

We arrived in the dining room where we’d just finished our meal. As I expected, Lady Kate and Lady Sienna were waiting for us there.

“…Sienna, you know what I want to say, don’t you?”

“Father…”

Her face grew pale. She fell as silent as a frightened cat.

“I knew you and Kate weren’t getting along…but what I saw in here was a disgrace. You disrupted an event full of outsiders and exposed your private disagreements. What were you thinking?”

“…I apologize. But, Father, you didn’t put a stop to it eith—”

“Sienna!!”

The girl flinched when her father barked at her.

“How old are you?”

“…Seventeen.”

“What’s the age of adulthood in this kingdom?”

“…Fifteen.”

“That’s right. You’re an adult. You should know right from wrong.”

“…! But! It was Big Sister’s fault!! That confusing chandelier was her way of tricking me!!”

“How can you say that?!”

Lady Kate shot her a glare.

Her family and I—apparently now thought of just like a relative—were the only people in the room, meaning she didn’t have to put up an act around us.

“You’re the one who broke my chandelier in the first place, right?!”

“Where’s your proof?! Don’t just make things up!!”

“What?! You shameless little—”

“Lady Kate, please calm down.” I decided to step into the escalating sibling fight. “Lady Sienna, you insist you have nothing to do with breaking the chandelier, yes?”

“Right! Of course I’m insisting, since I didn’t do it!!”

“Then how did you know that the shape of the chandelier had changed?”

“I-I just… I could just tell at first glance!!”

“I see. In that case, would you like to compare them?”

“…What?”

At Lady Kate’s order, her servants brought in a large wooden crate.

“Inside this crate is the chandelier that was damaged five days earlier. The brace is broken and a few decorations are cracked, but the overall shape is still intact.”

Duke Garon peered into the crate.

“…It’s a bit dented, but the curve of the braces looks the same as the salt chandelier to me. Your ‘transmutation’ is truly remarkable, Your Majesty.”

I smiled back at his praise.

I did work hard to transmute that chandelier. Never once in my life had I worked on anything so large or something that required such attention to detail. It wasn’t possible to do the entire thing in one go, so I separated it into parts and built the pieces one at a time, assembling it together with advice from a glazier. I had to start over if any bit came out even slightly warped, or if there was any cracks.

…Yeah. It was a total hassle.

But I never imagined my magical energy could be so drained from the experience.

Ever since I regained my past-life memories, the amount of magical energy at my disposal was plentiful. Usually, that energy would remain no matter how much magic I used consecutively…

But memorizing the detailed chandelier enough to recreate it again was an overwhelming process of trial and error. Without my overpowered magical energy and transmutation spells, it probably would have taken me a few years to complete. I was terrified I might not finish in time, but the end result was that my transmutation accuracy had improved, so I wasn’t unhappy with the process.

“I’m proud of the work I put into the salt chandelier. Up close, you can tell it’s not made of glass because it’s not as transparent… But I’m confident the shape is an exact match. Lady Sienna claimed it was different when she looked up at it on the ceiling. …Don’t you find that strange?”

“…!”

Lady Sienna fell silent.

“Lady Sienna, you knew my identical chandelier was a new one because you had the original broken, didn’t you?”

“Ah… I…”

She opened and closed her mouth uncomfortably. Her eyes scanned the room as if to find a way out, but she’d already fallen perfectly for my trap. There was nowhere left to run.

When the chandelier was broken five days ago, I already predicted it was the work of Lady Sienna.

It all began when Lady Kate’s chefs left the villa at Lady Sienna’s command. It only took a little thought to imagine that some of the remaining chefs were also under Lady Sienna’s thumb just the same.

While Lady Kate managed to receive servants from His Majesty to keep an eye on things, it was difficult for temporary workers to keep a complete hold on all sabotage within the home. If she assigned them to watch the kitchen, other areas of the villa would be lacking in help.

When I tried to come up with a solution, I remembered the words of my brother Claude, who was closest to me in age.

“The absolute best defense is one with a weakness. You feign ignorance, put that weakness on full display, and wait to reel them in.”

I explained his philosophy simply to Lady Kate. I suggested she keep the dining room less guarded than the rest of the rooms in the villa. The most obvious target for sabotage there was the chandelier.

And just as I expected, it ended up broken.

Lady Sienna was apparently satisfied with that single move. There was no tampering with the food whatsoever. Thanks to the help of the kitchen staff and lookouts, no information about the secretive salt-crusted meat escaped their numbers either. It all went exactly as I thought it would, and the only thing left to do was to complete the salt chandelier in time.

After the day finally arrived, I began to doubt if Lady Sienna would really bring up the topic of the chandelier at all…but in the end, she wound up squarely in our trap.

“Sienna, as the daughter of a duke, I won’t order you never to resort to trickery. But your attempted schemes are much too sloppy.”

“Father…!”

“I can only conclude you would be the wrong choice to name as a candidate.”

“That can’t be…!”

Lady Sienna didn’t seem convinced, but from an outside perspective, she was clearly inadequate for the title.

First, she was solely focused on her older sister and seemed disinterested in any other candidate activities. Second, she thoughtlessly disrupted a holiday celebration when she caught a single mistake from her sister. Third, she dove headfirst into a trap.

…No matter how you sliced it, she wasn’t fit to be the future queen.

The duke and I seemed to be on the same page in that regard.

“…Duke Garon, may I ask you something? You didn’t stop Lady Sienna from making any of her remarks at the dinner table. Were you intentionally using their sibling rivalry as a way of measuring the two?”

“So you saw right through me, huh? …I wish my daughter was half as thoughtful as you are, Your Majesty.”

The duke looked at Lady Sienna.

“I decided not to interfere, figuring that if they can’t resolve an argument between sisters, their failure as the future queen would be inevitable… But you have my sincerest apologies for allowing you to end up in the middle of their dispute.”

“Father…” Lady Kate spoke to Duke Garon, his head now slightly bowed. “You always doted on me when I was a child. …But when I became a candidate, you grew much more distant. Was that because you were testing my aptitude as a future queen?”

“…That’s right. It would be easy to keep you close and control how you operate, but relying on your father forever wouldn’t be acceptable as the queen.”

“…So you were actually trying to help me all this time. I really thought you’d given up on me…”

Lady Kate paused for a moment. She smiled almost as if she was on the verge of tears, like a weight had been lifted from her.

She must have been so worried that her father had abandoned her. Now she seemed deeply relieved to learn that the change in his attitude and their interactions came from love, not apathy.

“Kate. I feel sorry for the way I treated you. I kept my distance to help you grow…but if I didn’t see results, I wasn’t going to hesitate to make you step down as a candidate.”

Duke Garon made no attempt to hide his harsh intentions. Though he cared about his daughter, he had a duty to the kingdom as a nobleman at the same time. It seemed like a sincere, if not awkward, manner of operating.

Though I had some concerns…like whether or not there was any better way for the duke to handle his relationships with his daughters. I knew what it was like to be at odds with my father for a long time, so I wasn’t one to judge.

“Thank you for explaining your thought process, Father. …What about now? Do you see me as a fitting candidate?”

“…I can’t make that judgment, but…” Duke Garon turned his eyes toward me before continuing to speak to his daughter. “Until now, you’ve never been able to swallow your pride and ask anyone else for help. But at that Manilla Day table tonight, I saw much more restraint from you than ever before.”

He let out a quiet sigh as he looked at Lady Kate, his eyes showing a newfound display of kindness in them. “You did well, Kate. I can tell you still have a lot to learn, but for now, you’ve passed my tests.”

“Thank you, Father!!”

The girl’s face lit up. Her bent tail swayed from uncontrollable happiness…then gradually settled back down as her face regained its composure.

“I appreciate your praise, Father, but that’s exactly why…I’d like to withdraw my candidacy.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?” Duke Garon furrowed his brow. Lady Kate seemed to tremble at the sudden change in tone, but she continued to speak.

“Until now, I’ve been completely focused on Sienna whenever she was near. But the more time I spent with Her Majesty, the more I realized my desire to become the queen and improve the kingdom was outweighed by my own shortsightedness.”

Lady Kate was looking at me, but her eyes almost seemed to be focused on something in the distance.

“It’s not just you, Your Majesty. Lady Natalie, that doll-like girl, managed to control herself despite the pressure from her family. Even Lady I-Liena’s mysterious persona is an advantage to her in a way… I’ve finally come to understand now. I see just how foolish and immature I’ve been.”

“I didn’t know you saw things that way…”

When I spoke, Lady Kate’s lips curved upward. She looked to be bearing an intense pain, but now something inside her had burst.

“Of course, I know I still have more maturing left to do!! I have nothing but potential!! Once I’m confident I can be the very best queen for Wolfvarte, then I promise I’ll claim that title for myself. But for right now, since I don’t think I’m the right choice, I want someone to take over temporarily.”

She turned back toward her father.

“So, Father, I know I’ll be letting you down by asking this…but can’t you please acknowledge that right now…the title of queen would be far too heavy a burden for both Sienna and me?”

“…”

Duke Garon was silent.

Lady Kate was nervous, but she waited for his answer without backing down.

“Kate…I can hardly believe how far you’ve come.”

“Father! Does that mean—”

“Yes, you have my approval. Forcing my daughter to be queen isn’t the only way of protecting my family. Our own prosperity depends on the kingdom being healthy, first and foremost. From now on, I want all your focus to be on finding a proper queen for this land.”

“Of course!! I’ll give it everything I have!!” she cried with a smile.

Just as Duke Garon had said, in that moment, Lady Kate was a shining display of personal growth.

◇　◇　◇

THE duke left with Lady Sienna in tow, offering me one last apology for allowing me to be wrapped up in their sibling rivalry.

As Lady Sienna was being dragged away in a daze…

“How could I lose to that kink-tailed, hotheaded woman…”

I heard her muttering those words to herself. Now that her schemes had been exposed in front of her father, she seemed to have lost all will to resist.

Duke Garon told me they would be returning home so the family could plan where to go from here, and also to encourage Lady Sienna’s reeducation.

According to Duke Garon…

“Sienna changed as her bitterness toward her sister grew, but just like Kate, she used to be an honest girl. We’re going to start over with her, until she’s learned to behave with the dignity a duke’s daughter needs to carry.”

…That was news to me.

For now, the war of the sisters had come to a close. Lady Kate was keeping her title as a candidate for the time being. According to her, she would be using her position to judge the other candidates for their qualifications to be the next queen. Once she found the person most fit, she would be giving them her support.

I was thinking about how relieved I was to hear about her plans when Lady Kate called out to me.

“Your Majesty, thank you for all your help in this matter. You’ve put me…and even Sienna back on the right path. I’m going to start keeping my emotions in check. Even if people insult me or try to mock my tail, I want to remain levelheaded.”

That last bit still felt like a shot at Lady Sienna. Their relationship seemed to be made all the more complicated by their shared blood.

Something about that weighed on my mind.

“Lady Kate… Do members of the Wildcat clan dislike having their bent tails commented on?”

I’d always been curious about this subject. Lady Kate hid her tail when we first met, and after that, I only caught glimpses of it depending on the state of her emotions. Whenever she was remaining calm, her tail was always out of sight.

“…That’s right. I mean, it’s so shameful, right?”

She pursed her lips.

“It’s not elegant, like those long and slender tails you see. My tail looks like it suffers from a broken bone or something,” she muttered angrily and sadly.

Both beastfolk and humans generally held the same standards of beauty when it came to one’s face, but beastfolk seemed to interpret aesthetics differently when it came to the unique traits of their tails.

“Sienna wasn’t the only one who made fun of me for it. Many people laughed at me behind my back and said my tail was scrawny for a duke’s daughter. That’s why I want to remain strong and confident, so that people like them don’t get the best of me…”

She kept her lips tight, her words quiet.

Lady Kate would lash out at others as a way of keeping her weaknesses hidden. She seemed to be embarrassed of that side of her personality.

“I wish I was born with the same straight tail that Sienna and Father have…”

“A straight tail?”

“Yes. Don’t you find my tail ugly, Your Majesty?”

“Not at all. I’m a human, after all.”

“Huh?!” Lady Kate’s mouth fell open. “…What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said. I believe you haven’t had many interactions with humans until now, so maybe you haven’t realized…but most humans would see a kinked tail just like any other tail.”

“Like any other…?” she repeated. “Are you telling me this lifelong worry of mine isn’t a big deal to you at all?”

“Right. Most humans wouldn’t find your tail worthy of bad-mouthing whatsoever.”

“……”

Lady Kate’s shoulders dropped as if she’d been freed of a large burden.

I may not be able to fully share in her distress…but at the very least, I could provide a point of view from someone who wasn’t beastfolk.

“…It all depends on who’s doing the looking. Some people see things differently, and that causes disputes, but that’s not all that matters. I can’t speak to the beauty standards of the Wildcat clan, but I think you’ll come to see that the world doesn’t take those same standards as absolute.”

The problem was simple in some ways and complicated in others. It was hard to break from the norms you’d lived with your entire life. Just as Lady Kate said, she in particular had a tendency to ignore the bigger picture.

I couldn’t be sure how much of an effect my words might have on her. I just hoped I could provide a bit of relief for the earnest and awkward young woman.

“I find your tail quite lovely, Lady Kate.”

Tails came in many shapes and sizes, each with their own good and unique qualities.

“…You mean it?”

“I do. It’s not just me either. There once existed a land that believed a kinked tail like yours would bring about good fortune.”

…That was Japan, the place I lived in my past life. Appreciation for kinked tails was said to be the reason many modern house cats in certain regions of Japan had bent tails.

“I know exactly how they feel. The appeal of the kinked tail is what brought about such a belief. The way you wag your tail, Lady Kate, the bent end always changes directions with each swish, and I just love to watch it move. In fact, I wish you wouldn’t hide it. Why not show it off more so that I can see it up close and get my hands on that fl— and perhaps allow me a chance to touch it?”

Whoops.

My passionate tail talk had gotten swiftly out of hand.

I watched her reaction and saw her quickly turn her head away from me.

“…You really want to look at my tail? You’re such a strange person.”

As Lady Kate spoke, I could see her kinked tail swishing happily behind her.