Chapter 35: Meeting Queen Katherine and Princess Violet (4)

“You can tell the gardeners put a lot of work into making this place a beautiful garden.”

Upon being led to the royal garden, Alice said with a smile of appreciation on her face. This garden was a bit different from the garden dedicated to the princess, while hers was in the middle of the castle, this garden was behind it. Covering the span of almost a football field, flowers of all kinds and topiary were everywhere.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise that Alice said the garden was beautiful. Due to not having much to do, there are times where I’d just sit out here and take in the scenery. 

It’s peaceful out here.

“I’ll be sure to tell the gardeners your words of appreciation… Her majesty is just up ahead.”

Looking at the white gazebo ahead of us, the ninja maid said as she quickened her pace. Surrounded by maids and sitting around a table that had a luxurious tea set and a slice of cake on it, was Queen Katherine and Princess Violet. 

“Your majesty.”

The moment we stepped onto the gazebo, all four of us bowed in unison. 

“Please have a seat.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, the queen sipped her tea and said as she motioned us to take a seat. There were four chairs already at the table waiting for us to sit and four sets of teacups waiting to be sipped from. 

“Thank you, your majesty.”

Alice, taking the lead, said as she sat down in the middle chair with a smile on her face as she picked up her cup of tea. Following her lead, Kari and Prince Leonard took a seat. The former taking her right and the latter taking her left, leaving me with no choice but to take the chair closest to the ninja maid.

Not that I mind considering that it was the seat I was going to take anyways. If a hypothetical situation were to happen where Alice was to be attacked, the strongest candidate to be the attacker would be this ninja maid. Call me paranoid due to past situations but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“We were notified that you wanted to see us?”

Placing her cup onto the tea saucer, Alice broke the ice and asked the queen. Smiling back, the queen said gently.

“There’s no need to be so formal with me, I’m not that narrow-minded like some nobles. You are equals in my eyes. And yes, I wanted to see you, Ms. Alice. It’s to give you my thanks.”

“Thanks?”

“Yes. You three will be the future heroes who'll save humanity so it’s only right that I, the Queen of Talius, give my thanks on behalf of my people.” 

After saying this, Queen Katherine and the attending maids lightly bow their heads. Seeing her mother and maids do this, the little rabbit who’s been stuffing her mouth with cake, Princess Violet quickly bowed as well.

“Y-your Leonard's mother and sister so there’s no need to bow your head! Please raise them, otherwise, we'll feel uncomfortable.”

Slightly flustered, Alice said frantically, even looking at me for help. Sighing, I took a sip of the flavored hot water, leaned back in my chair, and said outright.    

“Well, if that’s the case, I like to point out that I’m not a hero. I refused to be one. So this whole time, I’ve been living it up at the expense of you guys. Which I’m thankful for by the way…"

This blatant act of disrespect caused a large amount of bloodlust from all sides to lock onto me. I almost counter-attacked out of reflex but luckily, I managed to stop myself just in time. Leaning back in the chair, I simply stared at her highness and continued.

“So please, raise your heads.”

“Why you…”

“That's enough, Jasmine."

Just when one of the maids was about to lash out at me, the queen commanded.

"But your highness…"

 "Don't make me repeat myself."

Despite Queen Katherine saying this softly, the authority behind it was undeniable. 

"I'm sorry to show such a scene."

Turning to me, the queen said apologetically. 

"... There's no need to apologize. What I said was a bit out of hand as well. I'm sorry."

Feeling guilty for acting like an asshole earlier, I reply awkwardly but sincerely. While I was at it, I also gave Prince Leonard apologetic eyes. If it was when I was first summoned here, I wouldn't have cared but now that Prince Leonard is a close friend, I felt that I was out of line for talking to his mother And sister that way.

Prince Leonard, I'm sorry.

"Hmm, and here I thought you'd be more of a ruffian. it seems the rumors aren't all true."

"Of course not. I'm a man of culture."

The moment I finished saying those words, Kari, who was drinking tea...

"Pfft! Cough! Cough!"

Tried to stifle her laughter before ultimately failing. Seeing her hacking and coughing due to tea going down the wrong pipe, I smiled in amusement. She knew what I was getting at.

"Are you alright?"

The Queen asked. To which Kari replied with a simple but struggling 'yes' and became quiet. She wasn't daring to look the queen in her eyes. 

...Kari, this won't do. This is your future mother-in-law so you need to build an amicable relationship with her before you try dating. That way, things will go a lot more smoothly when dealing with rivals. 

Having a foundation to build on is key!

"On another note, Leonard, how's training? I heard you made some progress in both your administrative work and swordsmanship."

You are reading story The Return of an Unlikely Hero at novel35.com

Move the conversation towards her son, the queen inquired. She seemed quite interested in her son's studies

"I have. Thanks to having Alice and Kari, who are two heroes, as sparring partners, my swordsmanship is getting better. As for my administrative duties, while it isn't much compared to what I'll have in the future, I realize how important it is too good communication skills."

Prince Leonard then goes into deep detail about how important it is to settle petty squabbles between nobles, preside in court cases, and negotiate business deals.

While he claimed it wasn't much considering that he's still the crown prince and not the king yet, it sure sounded like a lot.

This makes me appreciate the fact that I'm a commoner even more. While the perks are good, being royalty is tough. I'd rather live in a remote village spending my days farming and going on the occasional adventure.

"Oh? That's wonderful! You'll become a great king one day."

After Prince Leonard finished his explanations, the queen exclaimed as she showed a motherly smile at her son. Anyone could tell she was proud of his progress.

After that, we talked a little while more before we saw that it was getting late.

"Since we stayed for quite a while, won't disturb you any longer."

Getting up from her chair, Alice said respectfully. Me, Kari, and Prince Leonard got up and gave our thanks soon after.

"T-thank you for the tea."

"Same here. It was a pleasure meeting you two and I'm sorry for the mean comment earlier. My emotions got the better of me."

"Fufufu, nonsense, Mr. Marcus. It's completely understandable. If I was in your shoes, I'd be angry as well."

"I appreciate the understanding."

I then followed behind Alice and Kari as we walked back towards the castle. As for Prince Leonard, I saw him pat Princess Violet on the head and say gently.

"When we have a chance, how about we play outside sometime? I missed playing tag with you. Does that sound fun?"

"..."

While Princess Violet couldn't say anything, I could hear her furiously scribble something on her notebook. I didn't bother to look back and read it since it was their moment. 

"Haha, it's a promise then."

But hearing how happy Prince Leonard was, I could tell it was a satisfactory response.

***

"They're quite the cute bunch..."

After watching her son and the other three return to the castle, milady, Queen Katherine, said with a smile.

She seemed to have had a good time. That's good. Ever since the misfortune of not being able to obtain the Goddess Tear due to a territorial dispute that happened between two magic beasts, her highness has been a bit down.

Months of hard work for nothing.

"Especially Mr. Marcus. It's been ages since I met a person as bold as him. He reminds me of you when we first met, Ms. Raging Rose."

"Y-you flatter me milady."

I said, a little embarrassed. I'll admit when I first met her highness I was a bit crass. To put it even more bluntly, I looked down on her.

...Despite it being close to twenty years ago, I want to dig a hole and throw myself in it. It's so embarrassing!

"But he was quite rude to your highness. He's a brute!"

Jasmine said in anger upon remembering what he said. 

"Yeah. Doesn't he know you're royalty?"

"No wonder he isn't well-liked!"

This comment sparked the other maids' rage and caused them to bad-mouth Mr. Marcus as well. Her highness has a high prestige amongst the maids in the castle, and that's not because she's royalty, it's because, behind closed doors, she treats every maid as a daughter or sister. Having small talk and joking with them, she's an odd one among royalty.

And due to this novelty treatment, her highness has become an exalted figure amongst the maid staff and since has been a taboo subject to discuss badly about. Thus, Mr. Marcus' comments were bringing on the wrath of the maids.

I'm of the same party as well but my anger eased when I saw him sincerely apologize. This was surprising considering he has the titles 'scumbag', 'leech', 'piece of shit', and 'black belly' attached to him.

"Now, now. Don't be like that ladies. As I told him earlier, I'd be angry too if I was in the same position. He could've been living somewhere nice for all we know. You have cake on your cheek sweetie, I'll wipe it off for you."

Her highness said as she wiped cake icing off Princess Violet's cheek, instantly causing the bad-mouthing to die down. 

"Could somewhere nice warrant that much killing intent?"

...Is what I wanted to remark but held it in. The moment we sent bloodlust in anger towards him, a huge amount of bloodlust suddenly appeared before disappearing. It was so quick and unnoticeable that only those whose senses have been honed in the battlefield could sense it. 

Upon coming into contact with the bloodlust, my body felt heavy and my heart felt like it was about to burst. If I had one word to describe what I felt in that moment that seemed to feel like hours, one word instantly comes to mind, death. 

I saw my head fly off my shoulders as my body became mangled beyond recognition. I saw and experienced myself 'dying.'

I-if he wanted to, he could kill all of us here with no problem. Every death will be brutal and horrendous.

The man everyone calls a leecher and scumbag was stronger than me. 

...Way stronger than me.

You can find story with these keywords: The Return of an Unlikely Hero, Read The Return of an Unlikely Hero, The Return of an Unlikely Hero novel, The Return of an Unlikely Hero book, The Return of an Unlikely Hero story, The Return of an Unlikely Hero full, The Return of an Unlikely Hero Latest Chapter