Chapter 25 – The Second Tanaka Family Meeting When Arban went out to see an old friend, the whole family gathered in Emma’s shed. It is the second Tanaka family meeting. The meeting agenda is the matter about the prince and princess that Arban dropped. “When I check the letters carefully once again, isn’t this letter…” My mother, Melsa, keeps sending out letters. If it were a letter involving the prince and the princess, the wax seal should’ve been stamped with the royal mark, but it was stamped with the crest of a marquis family not far from Palace instead. It was Valerie Marquis House that governs the near Kiary territory, the place where Arban met the messenger. If I remember correctly, the daughter entered the royal family as a concubine. She is the mother of the second prince and the only princess. “As much as I read the letter, it doesn’t give the impression of the prince and the princess.” After reading the letter twice carefully, Leonard lets out a sigh.
George, Emma, and William look over the letter in turn, but they all have the same opinion. “The reason why okaa-sama turned down this person’s participation is?” (T/N: okaa-sama is a very formal and respectful way of calling one’s mother.) George asks. At the last tea party, there are also participants from baron and viscount families. If she narrowed down the participants based on family status, a marquis family couldn’t be turned down. “First, it’s those families that don’t have any ties with us. Second, because the land of territories around here are vast, unlike the area around the royal capital, I prioritized families who can reach here within three hours of a horse carriage ride. Third, I turned down those that sounded self-important and annoying.” Except for number three, it is a decent reason. Besides that, if the sender was the royal family, they weren’t being self-important. It was us who is supposed to be humbling ourselves. “Isn’t it bad to disregard them like this?” William says with some expectation.
There are a lot of nobles who want to get closer to the royal family, but the unfortunate Stuart family is different. They think that getting closer to the royal family itself means troublesome things will increase. They have the motto of ‘Quietly, peacefully, and let sleeping dogs lie.’ After they realized they reincarnated, they hold on to this motto more strongly.
The father, Leonard, shakes his head. “It’s better if Arban hadn’t said anything, and we would’ve not noticed and just leave it like that…” The・prince・and・the princess’・messenger went to the trouble to relay ‘Please・invite・us・to・the・next・tea・party・by・all・means.’ The royal family’s request is absolute. It’s almost the same as being told to immediately plan and hold the next tea party. “…how about pretending we don’t notice at all?” (T/N: the author used 小細工 which means ‘to do a petty trick’) Emma made a complaint a little sadly. The only good point of a tea party is that I could eat cakes. Other than that, there is nothing good at all.
Talking to strangers and feigning friendliness are both troublesome. “Emma. I know what you want to say, but leave it at that. You can be caught for lese majeste.” We don’t know if someone is listening from somewhere. If there is someone very devoted to the royal family among our servants, we could be reported secretly. “This situation’s… solution is?” Seems fed up, George asks the conclusion. “We have to quickly plan the next tea party and invite them. …I guess?” Leonard answers. There is no other way besides that. The whole family sighs at the same time. (Troublesomeee) The same was true for the mother, Melsa, who was enthusiastic about the tea party at first because she wants to see her grandchildren’s face but didn’t want this to be an errand.
“If that’s so, maybe we can pick up those families who want to get closer to the royal family as other invitees. We can make them owe us a favor this way and make them spend less time with our children, right? ‘We should at least give some revenge,’ Melsa makes an evil face.