29. The Imperial Palace’s Mascot
“Wecome.” (Welcome.)
As I gave a big smile, the wasp landed gently onto my index finger.
If it were me in the past, I wouldn’t have thought of putting it on my finger because I would be afraid of getting stung, but now I was different.
‘I can feel that wasps are friendly towards me.’
Of course, it was only the ability to communicate with natural objects, so if a wasp suddenly became angry, there was no possibility to use it at all.
“Wathp. Dwo you know whewe dey lwive?” (Wasp. Do you know where they live?)
Buzz. The wasp flew in circles for a short time. I was not sure, but I thought it meant it did know.
“Whewe?” (Where?)
Buzzzz. The flying wasp headed towards the window.
‘I think that means to follow it…’
“Ugh.”
When I didn’t follow, the wasp buzzed and sat on my head. I felt a little angry.
“Ah’m twapped.” (I’m trapped.)
Sigh. I wrapped my cheeks with my small hands and sighed deeply.
It would be nice to have a conversation like I did with animals, but unfortunately, it was impossible to talk with insects. Only simple communication was possible.
‘What’s the point of finding the targets when I can’t move.’
In my sleep, I remembered the conversation Oscar had with the stand-in-Emperor.
“Yes, the masked men destroyed the evidence completely. They gave up and said to look for the person at the barrier who had been bought.”
“I hope the search will be successful.”
Eventually, they failed to track the target. However, I can locate them.
At heart, I want to reveal that I can communicate with all living things and help them, but the decision was not easy.
A man of great ability will eventually be exploited. For me, whose goal was to leave the Imperial Palace one day, it was better to look as useless as possible.
‘That’s why I secretly handled the spirit stone mine situation.’
Hmmm.
“Wat to dwo.” (What to do.)
I couldn’t leave it be when I knew. It’s the decisive evidence of the man who tried to kill me, nothing else.
After a long period of worrying, I jumped up from my seat.
[So. You came to see me?]
I grinned at the kitty, who was snapping its tail.
“You’we de only dibine beath ah can athk.” (You’re the only divine beast I can ask.)
[How dare you use this body!]
‘You said so, kitty. You’re the, um… that, you’re the strongest and coolest divine beast in the world, right?’
[That, that’s true!]
‘You can easily do this humble request!’
[Of course!]
The kitty raised its head proudly. It seemed very proud of itself. The kitty’s sun-drenched white horns glimmered.
‘…how simple.’
[What?]
‘N-nothing. You know I’m serious, right? You’re cool, Mr. Kitty!’
After that, I patted the kitty for more than ten minutes. I was conscious of the eyes of the escorts around me, so I sometimes spoke to it.
“Ah, cwute~!” (Ah, cute~!)
[Hmph.]
“Cwool!” (Cool!)
[Hmph.]
At my compliment, the kitty pretended to be all cool and eventually followed the bug.
I was amazed to see the kitty disappearing at a tremendous speed.
“Sigh.”
I did one thing. All that was left was to wait.
A month later, I attended the regular meeting again.
Whether they were glad to see me after a long time, the subjects greeted me with big smiles.
They didn’t seem to care much about the stand-in-Emperor behind me.
“I’m glad you look healthy, Your Majesty!”
“Do you know how worried we were? This gentleman cried so much that he fainted and had to be carried away on a stretcher!”
“Ah, no… Why would you say that? So embarrassing.”
To think that you cried because of me. I’m touched, but it’s burdensome…
His face blushed red and he smiled, giving a ‘hehe’ and started to shed tears again.
“Oh dear, I have nothing to wish for as long as Your Majesty is healthy!”
“Ah’m stwong.” (I’m strong.)
“Ah. Of course, of course. You have to be strong.”
One of the subjects cried, and then the other men began to cry together. I blinked my eyes from being flustered.
At this rate, the conference room will be flooded with tears. I jumped up to prove I was healthy.
“Ah’m nwot huwt! Weally!” (I’m not hurt! Really!)
“Sob. With that small body…sob sob…”
“Whoever it must be, there’s definitely someone behind the scenes heuk… we must find them!”
“It must’ve been so hard. Heuk…”
However, rather than being relieved, the subjects began to sob.
“…”
Among them, the biggest cry was from Marquis Gardenia.
I looked around the table for help but turned my head with an expression of extreme disgust.
‘I can’t get help.’
There’s nothing I can do but to solve it. I scoured the conference room, which was almost in a rut. Everyone, except for a few, were crying.
I put my hands on my waist and shouted sternly.
“Stwop!”
“…!”
“Stwop! Ah’m fwine!” (Stop! I’m fine!)
Miraculously, the subjects stopped crying.
I took advantage of the silence.
“Cwy more, den ith de deth benaly.” (Cry more, then it’s the death penalty.)
There was no more crying after my threats.
…I heard whimpers from time to time.
I sat on the throne, praising myself for overcoming the crisis and adversity that came today.
‘Sigh. It’s hard taking care of my subjects.’
At last, the atmosphere of the meeting’s beginning was aroused.
Then, one of the subjects, who did not cry, spoke.
“Hoho. Her Majesty is in trouble. Don’t be silly and don’t cry.”
‘…Duke Javier.’
My eyes towards him sank coldly.
He was a scumbag who smiled in a friendly way, but inside, he tried to harm others.
In the past, he believed that although he was blinded by greed and committed corruption, he was a person who could be spared.
However, it was a month ago when I realized he wasn’t.
‘You came back.’
[Um… yeah.]
‘What’s with your response? What did the bug tell you?’
[It’s a person Mabel knows.]
‘Someone I know?’
[Duke Javier.]
‘Duke…Javier?’
The man who had a face of worry for me was actually the one who tried to kill me.
I was still surprised sometimes when I remembered the situation when the blade was flying toward me.
I couldn’t even imagine how abominable it would be when I recalled the face that I thought was scary right next to me.
‘Why did you try to kill me?’
For a month, when I wasn’t at the meeting, I wondered about why, but I couldn’t think of anything.
Even if I died, my vacancy could be filled by the stand-in-Emperor or Oscar. My influence was useless to that extent.
The me right now was that.
‘The Imperial Palace’s mascot.’
It was only that much. There’s no point in killing me.
“For the past month, this subject has missed Your Majesty. It’s good to see you, haha.”
I smiled as the Duke wished with his words.
If you like it so much, look a lot.
‘One day, I’ll leave you silent, so you won’t be able to see with your two eyes.’
I hadn’t done anything for a month. At first, I tried to somehow inform the stand-in-Emperor that it was Duke Javier who tried to kill me.
But I had to give up.
‘Then I have to confess about my ability to do that.’
I didn’t want to be a hand that the Empire didn’t want to lose.
That’s how there was nothing I could do to avenge myself.
I was less than two-years-old.
At least, even if I expressed my intentions, I would be able to perform my revenge when I’m about three-years-old.
In any case, I had to stay in the Imperial Palace until I was old enough to be independent, but now even the issue of survival had threatened me.
So I made a plan.
I will be surrounded by guards as much as possible, and I will surely get my revenge on Duke Javier.
‘You’ll see.’
My eyes were blazing. Duke Javier laughed, interpreting my eyes in a different way.
���Let’s start the meeting.”
The meeting finally began when the disgusted stand-in-Emperor spoke.
It’s already been 22 months since I was born.
I was a little taller and had longer hair, so I wondered how I should have my hair tied every day.
“Here, this is a grape.”
“Gwape.”
“Huhu, that’s right. How brilliant you are.”
I opened my mouth while looking at the nanny, who combined vocabulary education and snack education.
‘Nanny, you always have a hard time.’
The perfectly sweet and sour grape filled my mouth.
“Nyam nyam.”
Delicious. Maybe because I had such a delicious meal and snack every time every day, my hands and cheeks were still chubby because I didn’t lose any baby fat.
Sometimes I thought I ate too much.
‘Children needs to eat a lot.’
It wasn’t in my previous life, so my goal in this life was to enjoy luxury.
I jumped out of bed and walked out the door.
“Are you going to the garden again?”
“Ung.”
“I’ll escort you.”
Now, with Lissandro, who appeared openly at my side, I went out to the garden with more than 20 knights behind.
Actually, I thought the amount of knights was excessive, but I thought it would be better to be excessive because I didn’t know when Duke Javier would play tricks.
“I dwon’t wan to die…” (I don’t want to die…)
“Did you say something?”
“Nwo.”
I answered the questioning Lissandro roughly and sped up my walking pace. I didn’t do anything until now, but it was easier to run now.
Thud-!
“…eung.”
But I couldn’t help but fall sometimes…
Lissandro smiled and raised me up.
“You’re really good at falling. I think you fall down once a day!”
“Dwon’t waugh.” (Don’t laugh.)
“Haha, alright.”
After glaring at Lissandro, who began to laugh, I started walking again. Today, my destination was the same.
“Kitty!”
When I arrived at the entrance of the forest and called out the kitty, a golden lump fell from the tree.
It got larger within the couple months.
[Why are you so late today? I waited!]
‘It’s winter so it’s cold.’
[You think I’m not cold? I’m cold too!]
I smiled vaguely and stroked the wry kitty’s head.
I also wanted to take the kitty to the Palace and stay with it, but it said it couldn’t enter the Imperial Palace because there’s a barrier.
I needed to be stronger, so the kitty can break through the barrier.
As I was spending my free time stroking the kitty’s belly, other animal friends appeared from all over the forest.
‘Toto!’ (T/N: I think it’s a rabbit?)
[Grass. Nyam nyam.]
‘Here, grass.’
I secretly made the grass grow in front of Toto. Toto then wrinkled its nose and grazed the grass.
It seemed hungry because the grass did not grow in the winter.
‘Kitty. I got a lot better, didn’t I?’
The number of animals I can communicate with at once definitely increased.
Now, I often communicated with plants, saved withered flowers or recovered rotten trees.
But the kitty shook its head firmly.
[You still have a long way to go. Besides, you’re still a baby, aren’t you? You need to grow more.]
‘Sigh…’
I sighed deeply and hugged the neck of the winter deer, rubbing its head. Then the deer began to seduce me.
[Mabel. Get on. Let’s run.]
‘Huh? I can’t. Those bad humans over there will say no.’
[Humans are scary.]
Pointing to Lissandro and the knights, the deer began tremble in fear.
I began to think.
‘I took over the North Forest now.’
There was no animal I didn’t know because I encountered or greeted them all at least once.
In order to develop my abilities, I had to communicate with more animals, but the forest within the Palace grounds was too small.
‘Do I need to expand our territory…’
But how?
To do that, I had to go out of the Imperial Palace gates, but the stand-in-Emperor won’t let me.
It was at that time when I was crouching down, wrapping my plump cheeks with my plump hands and sighing continuously.
“It’s an attack!”
Someone’s cry came from afar. When I looked up from shock, Lissandro hugged me urgently.
In the meantime, the noise grew louder and louder.
“Devlin’s Devil appeared!”
I opened my mouth wide at the name I hadn’t heard in a long time.