Ch.4444. Mother and Daughter of the Imperial Family

“We’re here. This is the library.”

Following Celia diligently, I found we had already arrived at our destination.

I could feel cool air flowing through the gaps in the library… is this killing intent again?

“It might be a bit chilly. My mother is serious about keeping things cool. She always adjusts the temperature with magic.”

Oh, it’s just cold air.

As Celia approached to open the library door, she suddenly turned to me as if remembering something.

“Ah, and… my mother doesn’t really like being called ‘mother’ in informal settings. I’ll be calling her ‘mom’… so please don’t think it’s strange?”

It seems she’s embarrassed about calling her mom in front of others.

That’s typical at her age. I understand.

With that thought, I nodded, and Celia turned back to open the library door.

As the door opened, the cold air inside escaped and chilled my body.

And… through the open door, I saw a woman.

“You’re here?”

She looked incredibly familiar.

Of course she would. Except for her hair and eye color, she looked exactly like Celia.

The Empress was the owner of sharp features that could be described as an adult preview version of Celia, they resembled each other so closely.

“Mom!”

“Welcome, Celia.”

Before I knew it, Celia had rushed to her mother and thrown herself into her arms.

No matter how mature she tries to act, she’s still a child at heart.

As I watched them embracing, the Empress looked up and our eyes met.

I immediately showed proper respect, just as I had done with the Emperor.

“I greet the Moon of the Empire.”

“Hmm, that’s enough. Rise. Your etiquette is quite good for a commoner.”

“You flatter me.”

“But… were you late because you got lost on the way?”

As Celia had mentioned, she seemed sensitive about punctuality.

Well, this was true in the game as well.

All missions received from the Empress, regardless of their difficulty or scale, always had time limits attached…

And if you failed even one, you could never receive another mission from the Empress again.

Knowing how strict she was about keeping appointments, I had nothing to say in my defense.

I couldn’t respond since no excuse would change the fact that I was late, but Celia nudged me from the side, giving me a look.

“Hehe. I know. It must have been because of him again.”

Fortunately, she seemed willing to make an exception for our tardiness this time.

“That’s true… but please don’t be too hard on him.”

“Of course not~ You know how much I love your father.”

What the Emperor might hear as a result of this, I couldn’t say… but as long as it wasn’t me, I was fine.

But Celia didn’t stop there and added more.

“Last time you said the same thing, then said you’d scold him as much as you loved him, and didn’t come out of the room for hours.”

“Uh, hmm~ Did I? I don’t quite remember…”

“It wasn’t that long ago. You definitely dragged him into the room right after lunch and didn’t come out until dinner…”

“Let’s talk about that later, shall we?”

They were speaking more quietly now so I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but judging by the Empress’s rare flustered reaction, Celia must have said something quite inappropriate.

Celia… I don’t know what you said, but teasing your mother in front of a stranger isn’t proper…

The Empress pushed away Celia, who had been whispering closely to her, and hurriedly changed the subject.

“Now, let’s talk about Ludion, whom you like.”

“Y-yes… though that’s…”

“Oh? This reaction is unexpected.”

The Empress seemed quite shocked that Celia wasn’t denying it, probably thinking she would vehemently deny it even if she did like him.

“Hmm… this leaves me no choice…”

Please, I beg you, cancel whatever magic you’re about to cast.

I don’t want the Imperial Palace to be destroyed because of me.

Fortunately, whatever magic the Empress was about to cast was stopped by Celia.

…I was starting to wonder if I was in the Imperial Palace or a Celia fan club, but thinking about it, those two concepts actually coexisted.

As I was about to reach enlightenment with that thought, the conversation finally returned to the main topic.

“I’m sorry for talking about other things after calling you here to meet.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“No need to be so formal. Just… think of me as an Academy professor.”

That was probably sincere. She actually prefers a lighter atmosphere.

It’s no wonder she told Celia not to address her formally in private settings.

Of course, few people could feel comfortable around someone with the title of Empress and Grand Magician… but who am I? I’m a man who’s already too late to worry about such things.

Besides, if I were going to worry about that, I wouldn’t have become close with Celia in the first place.

“Then I’ll do that.”

“My goodness.”

When I immediately followed her suggestion, she looked quite surprised, as if she hadn’t expected me to accept so easily.

She didn’t forget to glance at Celia and make a comment.

“He’s definitely a bold one. Is that what you like about him? Hmm? Is that your type, Celia?”

“M-mom…”

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop.”

The mother and daughter are both serious about teasing each other.

I didn’t get to see the family atmosphere of the Imperial family in the game, but it’s heartwarming to see how harmonious they are, more than I expected.

“To be honest, I was very worried. I never expected this child to become fixated on a boy.”

After finishing teasing Celia, the Empress turned her gaze back to me and continued speaking.

“That’s not why I sent her to the Academy, and I was so anxious wondering if she might be manipulated by some bad characters… Not knowing any of this, Celia kept sending letters filled with stories about you…”

“Mom!”

“Why are you embarrassed? If you were going to be embarrassed, you shouldn’t have written about him in your letters in the first place.”

“Well… that’s true, but…”

I see. So, Celia, you wrote only about me in letters that your whole family reads.

Then even if I hadn’t been involved in this unauthorized female dormitory intrusion incident, I would have eventually been summoned to the Imperial Palace anyway?

Thinking about it that way, perhaps it’s fortunate that I was dragged here so quickly.

Who knows what might have happened as the content of those letters accumulated.

And I could understand why Celia only wrote about me.

She had been with me constantly since enrollment, so perhaps she had nothing else to write about.

It’s a bit embarrassing though. Writing only about me.

I wonder what she wrote.

“Looking at what she wrote about you, it didn’t seem like she particularly liked you, so I left it alone… but it ended up like this. Was everything in the letters just a smokescreen?”

…What did she really write?

“Excuse me, I’m very sorry, but could I possibly hear what was written about me?”

“Some things are better left unknown.”

I asked out of curiosity, but received no answer.

With her saying that, I should probably let it go.

The Empress continued talking for quite some time after that.

Nothing special, just stories about how worried she was about Celia.

How the frequency of letters gradually increased, how when Celia blew up the ceiling of the student cafeteria, she wondered if her daughter had fallen in with bad company…

After expressing her concerns for quite some time, the Empress seemed to run out of things to say and remained silent for a moment before changing the subject.

“Not knowing how worried we were, you only wrote about him… I need to know how Celia is doing.”

She said this while giving me a meaningful look.

It seemed she wanted me to tell her about Celia’s academy life.

Haha, you’ve come to the right person. I’m an expert on Celia’s academy life.

Could she have read my inner thoughts? Celia looked extremely anxious and tried to quickly wrap up the situation.

“Um, Mom? Since we haven’t seen each other in a while, why don’t we go for a walk… Kyaah!”

However, a sudden gust of wind lifted her into the air, neutralizing her.

Celia struggled fiercely to escape, but it was a futile resistance.

Since she was merely suspended in the air, she could probably escape if she decided to use magic… but that would wreck the library.

Finally giving up, Celia stopped struggling and, while still floating in the air, turned her gaze toward me.

That look in her eyes was ominous—it was obvious I’d hear about it later if I said anything unnecessary.

So I decided to pretend I didn’t see it.

“…! ……!”

When I averted my gaze, she started shouting something, but the magic keeping her suspended in the air blocked her voice, and I couldn’t hear a word.

Perhaps because the sight was quite amusing, the Empress who had been watching burst into laughter.

“You two. You get along much better than I thought?”

“I suppose we do.”

“Hehe. Yes, maybe I didn’t need to worry from the beginning.”

Oh… I didn’t expect to hear that from someone who had threatened to kill me if I hurt Celia.

Have I gained some approval?

The Empress looked at me gently and opened her mouth.

“I tend to be accurate in judging people. Of course, I’ve only exchanged a few words with you, but I can tell what’s in your heart being here. Well… would you like to tell me what you want?”

“…Nothing in particular.”

“Yes. I thought you’d say that.”

Isn’t that what everyone says in situations like this?

Regardless of what I was thinking, the Empress continued.

“You don’t want anything from this meeting. You don’t seem to care whether I’m the Empress or not, let alone that this is the Imperial Palace. Am I right?”

“I suppose so?”

After all, my coming here was almost beyond my control.

“What I was most worried about was Celia being used for some purpose. More precisely, I was worried that Celia would get hurt after being used.”

But… the Empress continued, slightly raising the corner of her mouth.

“You don’t seem like that kind of person.”

“Well… Celia knows how to judge people too. If I had approached her with bad intentions, she would have rejected me.”

In truth, Celia, being a true introvert, would reject people even if they approached with good intentions… but there was no need to mention that.

As I spoke in a conciliatory manner, the Empress nodded saying, “I suppose so,” and then began to look at my face again.

But… her gaze felt a bit stickier than before.

“One thing is certain, though.”

After staring at my face for a while, she suddenly said that, then looked at Celia floating in the air and grinned.

“She takes after her mother in liking handsome men.”

“…!”

Celia’s face turned bright red. I can’t hear what she’s saying inside, but can she hear this?

But why is she suddenly embarrassed? She’s the one who praised me for being handsome.

The Empress looked at Celia and chuckled, wrapping up the conversation.

“Our Celia. I’m entrusting her to you. Of course, my warning that I won’t let you live if you hurt her still stands. Be careful.”

“…Yes.”

I thought things might end on a warm note, but it concluded with another threat.

Well, from beginning to end, the conversation was only about Celia, so it would be strange if it didn’t end this way.

“Well then, shall we continue our previous conversation? What does Celia usually do?”

Ah, I see that conversation wasn’t finished yet.

“It might be a bit long, is that okay?”

“The longer the better when it’s about my daughter.”

“……?! ……!!!”

Celia, who had been relieved thinking the conversation was coming to an end, started struggling again, but unfortunately, she couldn’t touch the ground until all the stories were finished.