75. My Teenage Daughter (1)
75. My Teenage Daughter (1)
[Episode 75] - My Daughter in Puberty (1)
Lately, whenever I see Vin Chaud's head, my heart keeps feeling gloomy.
Sometimes, a wave of sadness from pity washes over me, to the point where tears even well up in my eyes. I tried hard to smile to forget the surging sadness, but it was completely useless.
"......"
"...Please stop staring."
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to."
I tried hard to lower my gaze and look at the documents on the desk. But what can I do when my eyes keep drifting there? It's not like I'm staring because I actually want to.
Don't they say that all humans have their gaze stolen by shiny things? I remember reading somewhere that it's because, based on life experience, shiny things are often valuable.
However, what was stealing my gaze was definitely not valuable. It couldn't be sold anywhere, nor could it be bragged about to anyone. Yet, the thing that kept stealing my gaze was...
I smiled awkwardly and looked at Vin Chaud.
"Well, cheer up. It looks much neater compared to the days when the top was messy and bare, with hair only growing on the sides. By the way, do you have any black glasses for blocking sunlight? I think they'd look perfect on you."
"If you keep doing this, I will resign from my ministerial position."
"Keu-heuh-heuh-heup."
Vin Chaud's scalp, which now seemed completely bare and shining.
His hair loss had been progressing rapidly since last year, and Vin Chaud finally made a big decision yesterday. A grand decision to shave off even the last remaining strands of hair and go completely bald.
Just yesterday, there was definitely hair left on both sides of Vin Chaud's head, but when I arrived at the office today, wasn't Vin Chaud completely bald? I smiled bitterly and stared intently at Vin Chaud's face. Ah, this is driving me crazy.
"Isn't it fascinating how humans work? All the hair on your head fell out, yet your beard remains so lush. They're both hairs growing from the same head, you know. How does the beard stay while the hair..."
"I think the time has come to take out the resignation letter I've been keeping safe in my pocket."
"It's a joke. Please, don't quit."
And so, today, Vin Chaud became perfectly bald.
A bald man with nothing but a long beard left. I wanted to ask why he didn't trim his beard, but it felt like Vin Chaud's last shred of pride, so I couldn't ask. Yeah, if you don't have it on top, you have to grow it on the bottom.
If this were the East, passersby would surely mistake Vin Chaud for a hermit and bow their heads. Isn't time so cruel? When I first saw Vin Chaud, half of that shiny scalp was covered in hair...
'Well... I guess that just means that much time has passed.'
Speaking of time, I wasn't doing much better.
When I first possessed this body, its age was only twenty, but before I knew it, I had passed twenty-five and reached the age of twenty-six. Nothing much had changed for me during that time.
The only thing I could say had changed was my eyes? I've occasionally heard people say that my once-sharp eyes seem a bit gentler lately. Is it because I rarely frown like Vivian used to and smile every day?
These days, whenever I go out into high society, the thing I hear every time from people I meet for the first time is, "Your Majesty the Queen, unlike the rumors, your impression is very gentle." Of course! Do you know how hard I've tried!
Lately, the number of invitations I receive for parties and tea parties has increased, and there have been many instances where I've gone out into high society with Lady Serina to solidify my standing. Isn't this enough to have sufficiently changed the bad perception of the 'old Vivian'?
"Mother... please stop teasing Vin Chaud..."
"Yes, as you say, I should stop now."
As I struggled to hold back the laughter leaking out, Titania, who was sitting next to my desk, sighed deeply and looked at me. Titania, who had been coming to the office lately to learn practical work from me.
I wondered if Titania really needed to learn this stuff already, but Titania's teacher said that 'experience' is important, and told her to watch me and Vin Chaud work once or twice a week. Is it like a job shadowing thing?
I rested my chin on my hand and watched Titania, who was struggling to understand the documents Vin Chaud had handed to me. Perhaps it was still too difficult to understand, as Titania tilted her head and read them over and over again.
'Still... the one who has changed the most is definitely not me, nor Vin Chaud, but Titania.'
The little girl who used to smile brightly and call me Mom~ Mom~ had grown up so much and become a thirteen-year-old 'young lady' who calls me Mother. She had grown so much in height, too; Titania, who used to come up to my waist, had already grown to my shoulder height. Is the growth of a child always this steep and fast?
Feeling my intense gaze, Titania lifted her head and looked at me.
"...? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Just because my daughter is pretty whenever I look at her."
"...Even if you say things like that, I won't sleep with you anymore. You know it's time for me to have my own room, right? It's way later than other kids my age."
"Yes, yes. I know. That aside, have you gotten used to sleeping alone now?"
"Th-that is... not yet..."
Since last month, Titania had started sleeping in a separate room from me. That was something that happened at a tea party Titania hosted last month.
Upon learning that she was the only one among her peers who still slept with her mom at this age, Titania turned bright red and declared to me that she would sleep in a separate room.
At the sudden declaration of separate rooms, I told her that she was still young and that sleeping with me wasn't something to be ashamed of, and that she shouldn't worry about what others thought, but Titania seemed to think otherwise.
Despite my worried advice, Titania insisted and said she would sleep in a separate room. Although Titania left my room and returned to the room she used when she was younger, she still didn't know how to sleep alone and was suffering from sleep deprivation every day.
"I told you. You still don't know how to sleep alone. A child who can't even fall asleep without hugging me suddenly deciding to sleep in a separate room is just..."
"M-Mother...!"
"Do you think I wouldn't know that you ordered a large pillow from Ellie instead of hugging me? So? Can you fall asleep hugging that big pillow? You can't, which is why there are dark circles under your eyes. Do you think sleeping habits are that easy to fix?"
Titania, whose face had turned bright red, trembled her shoulders. Whether she liked it or not, I stroked the dark circles heavily laid under Titania's eyes and sighed. A princess exhausted from lack of sleep...
"Honestly, is this a face a princess should have?! Look in the mirror! If you have health problems because of this, who are you going to blame?!"
"Ah, M-Mother, let go!"
I stroked under Titania's eyes for a while like that, but then irritation welled up, and I pulled her cheeks. Titania begged me to let go due to the pain as if her cheeks were going to tear, but I pulled her cheeks even more and teased her.
"You have to enter the Academy dormitory the year after next anyway. It wouldn't be too late to get into the habit of sleeping alone from then on. Sleeping habits aren't something that can be fixed so easily, are they?"
"......"
I let go of Titania's stretched cheeks and stroked her flushed skin. As soon as the word 'Academy' came up, Titania sullenly pouted her lips. I tapped Titania's pouting lips and looked back down at the documents.
Lately, whenever I talked about the Academy, Titania always pouted her lips. The reason, naturally, was...
"...Do you still not want to go to the Academy?"
"......"
Because Titania didn't want to go to the Academy. Anyone would hate leaving this royal castle where they had lived their whole life to go live in a foreign place for three whole years.
I also fully understood Titania's feelings, but the Academy wasn't a place you could just not go to.
A place to learn the social life of nobles, build connections with various nobles, and learn all sorts of knowledge. That was the Kingdom's Academy.
Regarding knowledge, we could sufficiently teach Titania in the royal castle, but regarding connections, it was a part that even the royal castle couldn't help with.
Blood ties, regional ties, and school ties were important in this world, too. No, because it was this kind of world, they were especially important.
There was one thing I felt was truly important while going around high society with Lady Serina. That no matter how much of a Queen you are, there is a wall in high society that cannot be easily overcome.
That was precisely the Academy school ties and regional ties.
The thick wall of school ties built by nobles who met from childhood and gathered connections was not something that could be easily overcome, no matter how much I sat in the position of Queen of this country.
"...There is still time, so think about it carefully. If you really hate it when the time comes, let's think about it again then."
"......Yes."
After lightly stroking the head of Titania, who nodded, I continued my work. As the afternoon routine ended and we were taking a short break, Titania hesitantly handed me a letter envelope.
"...? What is this?"
"Th-that... it's a letter sent by Viola. She says she's inviting me to a party held at her family's estate..."
"Is that so?"
I calmly opened the party invitation that Viola had sent to Titania.
It seemed that Viola, Lady Serina's daughter, had been exchanging letters with Titania ever since the hunting competition held when they were ten years old.
Since Viola was Lady Serina's daughter and also Titania's first friend, I hadn't interfered much between the two until now, but...
This, I felt I had to interfere with a little.
As I read the party invitation, one of my eyebrows twitched and went up without me realizing it. I had no intention of saying anything about going to the party itself. However, the theme of the party...
"...A masquerade ball?"
"...Is, is it okay if I go?"