“…….”
“……”
Hmm.
I kind of regret this a lot.
I actually thought this was a pretty good idea.
Although time doesn’t flow here like it did back in Azernar, with months passing in this world for every hour we spent there, isn’t the world a bit more peaceful now that even the Emperor has softened a little?
So… um, I thought I might be able to help the Emperor’s other children somehow.
As a result, the person in front of me right now is Bella Fanggriffon.
But no, no matter how I look at it, bringing all of the Emperor’s kids together at once strikes me as a foolish idea.
But then I thought about it again, and bringing just one person along seems like a foolish idea too.
“…So, what do you want from me?”
Bella asked me.
Well, it’s not like I wanted something specific.
Maybe I’m just a little… sentimental.
It seems the Emperor thinks Claire is his daughter. Of course, it’s true that Claire is the Emperor’s daughter… I mean, she’s got his blood. The whole mess started when Lucas took me along instead of Claire.
And the Goddess was aiming for that too.
But it seems Claire doesn’t intend to fully accept that the Emperor is… her father.
She acknowledged the fact that they share blood, but everything else, that is, her true parents who raised her and saw her as their daughter, seems to remain the Grace Baron’s couple in her mind.
I think that’s a fair choice.
Anyway.
Claire has decided to cooperate with my plans. She seemed to understand the situation of the Emperor’s children reasonably well, and most importantly, Claire really likes me, another of the Emperor’s kids.
So right now, the people sitting in front of Bella are just me and Claire.
Alice was busy, and this was my first attempt to figure out the personality dynamics before we had any clashes.
“…I don’t really expect much.”
At my words, Bella’s eyes narrowed.
“More importantly, please eat. The ice cream is melting.”
I said that and picked up my spoon. It wasn’t packaged, but served in a shop, so the spoon was metal instead of plastic.
Where we are right now is a world-renowned ice cream franchise.
When I say world-renowned, it probably sounds like it must be a super amazing place, but if you think about it, this is fast food in the ice cream world. Back in my childhood, the prices felt ridiculously expensive, but nowadays, with inflation, this seems relatively reasonable.
Well, I don’t really have to think about prices in my current situation anyway.
I casually scooped some ice cream and put it in my mouth.
The rich chocolate flavor instantly took over my mouth.
Usually, I prefer a milder taste when eating food, but desserts are the exception. Especially cold desserts should feel sinfully sweet enough to make my blood vessels cry out!
Fortunately, Claire agreed with my taste.
Right now, though, Claire was nibbling on her ice cream, a bit self-conscious about it. Even the most cheerful person wouldn’t feel entirely at ease if the two people they were with seemed awkward and distant.
“……”
Bella was looking at me with a skeptical expression, but eventually, she picked up her spoon.
Then she looked straight at me and took a big scoop of ice cream before putting it in her mouth.
And then—
Her eyes widened.
See?
Of course, there’s ice cream in Azernar too. It’s surprisingly good, and the texture and taste are pretty similar to what you can get here.
But the flavor is nowhere near as ‘varied.’
Refrigeration, transportation, and manufacturing technologies are all inferior in Azernar compared to here, after all.
The food produced here by big companies pouring money into it is hard to replicate in Azernar.
“Is it good?”
“It’s decent.”
“Thank goodness. It’s not that high-class a dish.”
“…Huh?”
“In this world, it’s just about an average price to eat.”
“….”
“At least we don’t have to worry too much about starving while wandering around.”
At my words, Bella was momentarily silent.
“The apartment is in a safe place, so you should be able to relax for a while.”
“…What if I end up running away from here suddenly?”
“Are you thinking of running away? Living here won’t be easy, you know. The economy of this world is much sturdier than that of Azernar, and without money, you can hardly do anything. You’re considered part of my family, so restrictions will be even greater. They’ll treat you like a ‘rich and important figure.’”
Well, to be fair, Azernar is probably even tougher in that regard.
“So, what are you trying to say? Just to relax while I’m here?”
“That’s the intention behind the invitation, but is that a problem?”
“…Why?”
Bella asked again, genuinely confused.
Hmm.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts and answered.
“I want to make peace with you.”
“…Huh?”
“We’ve fought for our lives. I want to make peace. But saying it verbally alone wouldn’t be enough to understand, right?”
“…Did you eat something funny?”
“That could be it.”
I took another big scoop of ice cream and put it in my mouth. This time it was banana-flavored. It didn’t taste like ‘real’ banana fruit, but rather like an artificially strong claim of ‘I AM BANANA!’ that looked completely different.
But I liked it. At least that kind of flavor is hard to find back in Azernar.
“Maybe the food I ate while being with the Emperor has scrambled my brain.”
“You’re… siding with the Emperor?”
“No, not at all.”
I said firmly.
And while quietly looking at the ice cream, I continued.
“I don’t wish for you and the Emperor to reconcile. I’m just… curious to see if I could make peace with you too based on how my feelings have changed while being with the Emperor.”
Bella stared at me with her mouth agape.
“Have I said something weird?”
“Yeah. At least not like you, idiot.”
Bella said as if she couldn’t believe it.
“That’s not something ‘Sylvia Fanggriffon’ would say.”
“Of course it’s not the ‘Sylvia Fanggriffon.’ The powers I had back then are gone, so now I have to live cautiously.”
“……”
Bella once again picked up her spoon and scooped out some ice cream.
“…It’s good.”
“Yes, at least it’s a delicacy we can enjoy in this peaceful world.”
I replied to Bella, who was casually impressed.
*
When I got back to the apartment, I also brought Alice along.
At least since she didn’t seem likely to try to kill me, I figured it’d be fine to bring someone like Alice.
But that doesn’t mean we could all just crash in the same space. Not yet… that’s still too much. When it comes to sleeping, we’ll either have to send them back or just have the two of us return, one or the other.
“Movies…”
Bella muttered as she stared at the scene unfolding before her.
“Yes. It’s a movie.”
I replied.
“It’s really different from our world in many ways.”
“Well, in Azernar, it’s still at the infant stage.”
Various techniques are being explored, but it’s literally in the crawling stage. There’s still a long way to go to develop.
Bella seemed captivated by the movies from this world.
She was sitting very close to the TV, hugging her knees and staring at the screen.
Honestly, the movie wasn’t anything particularly special. It was just… something Bella picked based on the thumbnail that popped up on the screen.
The content was just a simple romance.
“Do you like it?”
“…Yeah.”
Bella nodded and replied.
Did she have any dreams from the past?
In the original story, she wasn’t a particularly significant character. Just a background character who died before the main story began.
Dreams… might not be impossible.
Considering her life’s hardships, it might’ve been hard to have any, but usually, even in tough situations, people engage in some form of imagination.
Even if they’re unachievable dreams, people still tend to fantasize.
Acting is a popular profession even in Azernar.
“Are you interested in acting?”
At my question, Bella looked at me as if asking what I was saying.
I shrugged lightly.
“Perhaps someday I might try my hand at it here.”
“…Don’t say such foolish things.”
I didn’t push the issue further.
After all, it was just something I said on a whim.
Neither Alice nor Claire brought up anything in particular about it either.
We just quietly sat on the couch behind Bella, watching the movie and her reactions to it.
…Will it help?
I thought it might help if she gets far away from the world she was born into—
But who knows, I still can’t tell.
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