Love 5
“Why is that? What kind of insect could it possibly be to make you act like this? Is it something serious?”
My mind was already tangled into knots trying to figure out how best to explain any of this, yet the Princess kept firing questions at me without pause.
Her eyes locked onto mine, demanding that I name the insect at once.
I wanted to tell her—but this was hardly a situation in which I could simply blurt it out.
As I glanced at her with an awkward, helpless look, my father-in-law quickly stepped forward.
“Princess, allow me a moment to speak with my son-in-law. Standing before someone of such high station, he may simply be nervous.”
“Ah, I see. Very well. Go ahead.”
“Son-in-law, what on earth is the matter with you?”
“Father-in-law—your ear, please.”
“My ear? Is this something that needs to stay secret? But we’re in the Princess’s presence, my boy…”
“It’s fine—talk among yourselves. The young hero may simply be feeling shy because of his age. We hadn’t even considered that he might still be so young.”
Young in body, maybe—but when it came to this particular subject, I knew far more than most people would expect.
At any rate, with the Princess’s permission I pulled my father-in-law’s head down and whispered into his ear.
“The insect’s name is a bit… difficult to say to a lady like the Princess.”
“Is the name that strange? What is it, then?”
“I-It’s a Love Bug.”
“A Love Bug?!”
The moment I gave him the name, my father-in-law’s eyes flew wide open as he stared at me.
He whispered back in a voice that refused to believe what it had just heard.
“W-What sort of lewd insect is that supposed to be?! Last time it was the Kissing Bug, and now it’s a Love Bug? How is it that every single insect the two of us discover has such an indecent name? Good heavens…”
His question was pure bewilderment.
But how was I supposed to know either?
Whether my father-in-law and I were simply cursed or something, every insect we ran into whenever we were together somehow ended up with a name like this.
“I don’t really know either. Why it keeps happening, I mean. But I didn’t invent the name. The way these things stay joined together is them mating—that’s why they’re called that.”
“I understand. Still, that is certainly not a name one can easily report to the Princess.”
It had already been awkward enough when only I knew; now that the two of us had put our heads together, we should have found a solution—yet we were both just as stuck as before.
My father-in-law and I looked at each other, then turned our gazes toward the Princess. That was when my eyes landed on the man standing beside her—the Governor of Akyang.
Ah! Right. If I tell her husband, the two of them can talk it over themselves, can’t they?
The thought struck me out of nowhere: even if the insect’s name was “Love Bug,” a married couple could surely discuss something like that without issue.
Married people talked about this sort of thing all the time, after all.
I asked my father-in-law in a careful whisper.
“What if I give the answer to the Governor of Akyang instead of the Princess? Then he can pass it along to her. They’re a married couple—surely they can handle a conversation of that level?”
“Oho, so that method exists. Yes—if it’s the Governor of Akyang, it should be fine. But we can’t do it right here. We can’t very well announce that we’ll speak to the Governor while leaving the Princess out of it. That could look like we’re slighting her. I’ll suggest we move somewhere quieter first.”
Once our private exchange ended, my father-in-law stepped forward and made the proposal to the Princess.
“Might we dismiss the others and speak somewhere more private?”
“Ah—so it was an important matter that couldn’t be discussed in front of people? Come to think of it, I’ve been keeping guests standing at the entrance this whole time. How rude of me. I was in too much of a hurry. Please, come inside.”
Following the Princess’s lead, we entered what appeared to be a reception hall.
Tea was brought in, and once everyone else had withdrawn, the Princess could no longer hold back.
“Well then—now that everyone has left, speak at once.”
At her words my father-in-law looked back at me, so I answered in a cautious voice.
Apparently he wanted me to do the talking myself.
“Princess, I apologize, but might I speak only to the Governor? It isn’t anything else—it’s simply that this is rather difficult to say to a woman…”
“What? Difficult to say to a woman? What do you mean by that? Are you saying you can’t tell me because I’m a woman?”
At the question of whether it was forbidden simply because she was female, I hurriedly waved my hands and explained.
It wasn’t because she was a woman—I could at least get that far.
“N-No, it isn’t that. It’s just that the name itself is a little hard to say in front of ladies…”
“?”
The Princess blinked at me.
I explained a little more carefully why we had to go about it this way.
“I’m not refusing to tell you. I simply thought it would be better if I told the Governor, and then he told Your Highness.”
“I don’t entirely understand why it has to be so complicated, but very well. My lord—I’ll leave it to you.”
“Y-Yes… I understand.”
The Governor, who until now had stood there like a borrowed sack of barley, finally answered.
I quickly stepped close and spoke quietly into his ear.
“Love Bug.”
“!”
The Governor shot up from his seat with eyes wide in shock.
He looked at the Princess in alarm, then back at me, and asked again.
“I-Is that really true?!”
“Yes, of course.”
—Gulp.
The sound of the Governor swallowing hard echoed through the quiet reception hall.
I had expected him to be a little startled, but since they were husband and wife I had assumed the information would pass along without trouble. Instead the Governor flicked a sidelong glance at the Princess, then stared at me with a dazed expression and said:
“I-I can’t say it…”
“What?”
He was outright declaring that he himself could not speak the words.
At that, the Princess could no longer contain herself. She sprang to her feet and barked at him.
“What is wrong with all of you? Bin-ak—speak at once. If you refuse, I will punish you for disloyalty!”
“P-Princess, if I speak it, I fear I would soil Your Highness’s ears…”
“I’m losing my mind—just say it!”
“I-I am a scholar—how could I utter such an indecent word before Your Highness? I-I’d rather die!”
“What did you just say?”
Even though they were husband and wife, words like “disloyalty” and even threats of suicide were flying about. No matter that they were Princess and Prince Consort, the scene looked bizarre.
We all watched the two of them with identical looks of utter disbelief. Sensing our stares, the Princess’s expression turned flustered.
“Th-This is… W-Well then. Young hero—you just say it yourself. I’ll forgive any offense, so go on.”
She was clearly trying to change the subject in a hurry—but that was beside the point. The bomb had come full circle and landed back in my lap.
I decided this was simply my fate, squeezed my eyes shut, and answered.
The Governor clearly had no intention of ever telling the Princess, which left only me.
Better that a young man say it than a middle-aged father-in-law, after all.
Ah, to hell with it. She told me to speak, so I’ll speak.
“It’s a Love Bug.”
“What?!”
At my words not only the Princess but Hwa-eun, who had accompanied us, both stared at me with eyes wide as saucers.
And both women’s ears flushed bright red.
Even the mere word “kissing” had already been enough to push the women of this era past their limit of embarrassment; hearing the name “Love Bug” spoken aloud seemed to deliver a shock of an entirely different order.
But since I had already gone this far, I decided to explain in full detail as well.
If the intensity was going to be high, better to finish it in one go—never twice.
One time and done. Absolutely.
“I have two Love Bugs I caught earlier right here. See how the two of them are joined together like this? That appearance is the two of them mating. These creatures are always joined in mating, and that is why they are called Love Bugs.”
Once I had finished the clean, thorough explanation, the Princess fanned her own face with her hand.
A little time passed, and once she had calmed down she finally asked about a solution.
“I-I see. Now I understand why you were all so flustered. So—is there any way to deal with them?”
“How long have they been appearing?”
“Let me think… Looking back, it has been about eleven days.”
Eleven days… Then there aren’t many left, are there?
Love bugs belonged to the genus Plecia in the family Bibionidae, subfamily Pleciinae—a kind of march fly.
When unseasonably high temperatures struck the places where rivers met, or when some other factor caused them to flow in, the creatures would breed like mad exactly like this.
Their sheer numbers and their bodily fluids made them a nuisance for people, but honestly they were not pests.
If anything, they were closer to beneficial insects.
As larvae they ate rotting weeds and helped clean the surroundings; as adults they fed on pollen and nectar, and in the process of visiting flowers they promoted pollination.
The one thing that required caution was their acidic internal fluids.
Because their guts were acidic, crushing them could corrode metal—so care was needed.
In my previous life, in places like Florida where these things swarmed in huge numbers, they had even corroded cars and paint and caused real problems.
And when I said there weren’t many days left, I meant that once they erupted in such numbers, the entire swarm vanished within one to two weeks.
Why did they disappear?
Because of staggered emergence times they looked as though they kept flying about in vast flocks, but the males lived only three to four days at most after becoming adults, while the females lasted about a week.
Earlier, when the soldiers had lit fires to draw them in, most of the insects that swarmed and died had not been paired—which meant the majority had already finished mating.
In short, this whole affair would be over in a few more days.
I organized my thoughts and spoke to the Princess.
“If eleven days have already passed, there is no particular need for Your Highness to do anything.”
“Do nothing? What do you mean by that?”
At the words “do nothing,” the Princess’s eyes went round as she asked again.
I decided to explain the details carefully for her.
There wasn’t much I could actually do, so I probably wouldn’t be able to put her deeply in my debt—but I had come as a consultant, so I needed to give a thorough explanation and follow-up care as well.
“I’ll explain why nothing needs to be done. But first, a few questions. Are there rivers that meet near Akyang?”
“The Miao River that flows down from Guiyang empties into Dongting Lake, and the Yangtze meets it right at Akyang.”
“As I thought… Then, has Akyang been especially hot this year?”
“Yes. It has been so hot that people have even collapsed in the middle of the day.”
Her answers lined up perfectly with the conditions for a mass outbreak of love bugs.
I nodded and continued.
“The reason those creatures have gathered in such numbers is that when hot weather continues in a place where rivers meet, the rotting weeds they favor grow in abundance, creating an excellent breeding environment.
Moreover, rather than pests they are closer to beneficial insects. While young they devour rotting weeds, and once grown they move from flower to flower and help fruit set more heavily—so there is little need for concern.”
“S-Such a detailed explanation… Remarkable. Earlier, when you hesitated over the name, I wondered if you simply didn’t know…”
The Princess’s eyes widened at my explanation.
She seemed a little startled to meet a true specialist for the first time. I smiled and went on.
“However, if you kill them, the bodily fluids that spill out will corrode iron—so that much you should be careful about.”
“So they appeared in such numbers because of the heat? I shall tell the soldiers to take thorough care of their weapons and armor.”
The preliminary explanation was finished; now it was time to say why doing nothing was fine.
“Yes. And the reason nothing needs to be done is that once they appear, they all die off within about ten to fifteen days.”
“They all die?!”
“Yes. Even now you can probably see quite a few of them falling dead along the roads and near houses, can’t you?”
At my question the Princess seemed to think for a moment, then nodded.
Just as I had said, dead ones would be lying about everywhere.
“That’s true… Sweeping up the dead ones every morning has become the servants’ daily chore.”
“They may reappear every year from now on, but since they vanish within ten days, there is no great need for concern.”
The moment I finished speaking, something unexpected happened.
Even though the problem was already solved, the Princess rested her chin in her hand and sank into a grave expression.
After thinking for a long while, she looked at me and asked:
“Doing nothing at all is a bit of a problem. Is there any way you could create something for us to do? You know so much about insects—surely there must be a method of that sort?”
“Pardon?”
I had just said there was nothing that needed doing, yet the Princess was asking me to invent some task for her.
At her request, it was finally my turn to be thrown into confusion.
What on earth is she talking about?