After Nicolette finished eating one of the cake, Wolfgang asked her,
"By the way, what are you gonna do with your flower selective breeding?"
Nicolette, who tilted her teacup, tilt her head while moaning, "Hnn~"
"Actually, I still don't understand the rules of plantation heredity, you know."
"....Even if you said that I wouldn’t understand. Please, explain it to me in more detail."
"Okay. Ummmm…. What you call selective breeding is….umm, you know, a kid is born with the characteristics of their parents right?"
"....Aah, that seems so."
Due to the sudden change of topic, while still confused, Wolfgang still nodded his head. By the way, Wolfgang's appearance is similar to both of his parents, but his face is more similar to his mother, or so people said. After asking her, it seems that Nicolette looked like her mother….or rather, her grandfather from her mother’s lineage, or so she was told.
"With these conditions, I want to create a plantation. Normally, the time the flowers bloom, the pollen that was on the pistil is carried by the wind or insects to the stamen, and thus the fruit will be created."
(ED: Does the author like flowers that much? XD)
"..."
"Do you understand?"
Wolfgang answered Nicolette's question while moving his head left and right. Since he didn't even have basic knowledge, he cannot understand a bit what she said. Nicolette just laughed.
"Anyway, for plants to create fruits, or seeds, an act called pollination needs to occur. By the way, pollination is about carrying pollen, which is a thing that I said before. This act that is done naturally, but can be done by human hands, that is selective breeding."
"I understand…. Somehow, I understand. So, what are you intended to do with this selective breeding?"
Nicolette, who chomped onto a macaron, tilted her head upward while looking like she was in thought. After chewing the food in her mouth properly, she slowly opened her mouth.
"I'm trying to create a new kind of rose, you know.. With artificial pollination, I can pollinate red roses into yellow ones. If I mixed a flower that is strong in winter, with a flower that has a nice aroma, I can get a flower that is able to withstand the cold and have a nice aroma. Same with that concept, if I mixed red and yellow, I will be able to get orange coloured roses."
Though, it's not like it will always succeed, which is what Nicolette added. Indeed, just like the fact that not all kids fully inherit their parent's characteristic, even if she pollinated the flowers in that way, it wouldn't make all of the flowers come out the same.
"It will be a long time before the results show though. Well, I will live in this place until I die, after all."
Clasping her hands together, Nicolette laughed.
"If you will stay here forever, why don't you try to create blue roses."
Hearing Nicolette’s remark that, ‘She will stay until her death" Wolfgang had happy feeling deep in his heart, but his word were interjected.
"Blue roses? I think that blue roses don’t exist though…."
"Even if you said that, yellow also doesn’t exist, you know…. Basically, roses are based on being red and white. Well, Orange-ish roses exist, so maybe, yellow roses will come into existence."
He felt that Nicolette's experiment was not that hard to understand. Well, he doesn't really know why blue roses don’t exist….
Wolfgang grabbed a sugared rose petal from the dishes on the table, and gave it to Nicolette.
" It’s your garden, do as you like."
"....Yep. I will."
Saying that, Nicolette chomped down and ate the sugared flower in his hand. He was a bit startled when she licked his finger that was smeared with sugar, but he knew that she didn't have any ulterior motives. Also, it somehow felt like he was feeding a pet.
Nicolette took a sip of tea, then suddenly shouted, "Aah!" Nicolette then gave him her usual bright smile.
" You know. I want to show you something. Go to my room tonight, okay?"
"...."
Calm down, me. your opponent is Nicolette, you know. The possibility that she just simply wants to show her experiments was high. Wasn’t that just a moment ago that you said that she didn't have any ulterior motives? (TL: This is in Wolfgang's mind)
As Wolfgang somehow tried to calm his heart, 'Pfft', he heard someone's voice burst out with laughter. The one who dared to laugh here is only Marcus. As he thought this, he turned his back, and it was really Marcus who burst out with laughter.
"Why are you laughing?~ "
Though Nicolette said some complaints to Marcus, the one who Marcus laughed was not her.
"N, no….It's not Her Majesty. His Majesty is, guh."
Look, now. Marcus burst into laughter once again. Though Nicolette seemed have a question mark over her head, Marcus didn't seem willing to explain to her.
"Marcus, don't laugh."
"Impossible!"
Wolfgang complained, but Marcus didn't stop his laughter. Wolfgang didn't quite like it since he didn't know where Marcus's laughter switch was. Furthermore, as soon as Marcus burst into laughter, there was a tendency that everyone will laugh with him . Actually, Alberto's shoulders were already trembling. His face also seems to be twitching.
"....His Majesty. I don't quite understand, but please don't get to angry, okay?"
"You, you don't know how I feel."
Perhaps, she realized Wolfgang's unrested expressions, so Nicolette said that. You didn't know how I feel, what a clever thing to say. However, that little request of Wolfgang to Nicolette was surely heard by her.
"....In one way or another, she was dominating her husband, eh.”
A mutter came out of the mouth of Helma. Maybe I can't deny that, but Wolfgang thought that was a secret.
That night, just like what he promised, Wolfgang visited Nicolette's room. In this room, which he was often visited in the afternoon, it was his first time visiting at night. Since the bathroom is also connected to the Emperor's room, he also goes to that room through that door like their bridal night. He knocked, without waiting the knock to be answered, he opened the door. And so, It seems that Nicolette was having a conversation with his maid, Maria.
"With this, what are the other colours that can be created….?"
“Well, we just recoloured it, after all. If we could really make a flower this color….ah, His Majesty. Good Night!"
Nicolette, who realized Wolfgang was in the middle of her talk, turn toward him and smiled. Maria, who also realized late, quickly lowered her head.
"I am very sorry!"
"No, don't mind it."
"So he said. Sorry to make you accompany me, Maria. That’s enough for today. See you tomorrow~"
Nicolette said that while slapping Maria's back, who was lowering her head. With a voice that was fading, ‘Excuse me~’, she left the room timidly. Wolfgang, who saw her leave, asked,
"....Did Maria always act like that?”
"That's right. But, I think we were closer compared to the time when we first met, you know "
It seems that Nicolette's cheerfulness was able to tame Maria….no, maybe, it was Nicolette who was tamed by Maria.
"Then, this is the thing that you wanted to show me?"
He asked while trying not to look at Nicolette's body, because she was wearing a gown over her underwear.
"That's right~" Nicolette happily answer while nodding.
"Well, as expected, I cannot immediately get blue pigment, so this is purple."
"....Is that so."
On the table, a single purple rose was placed inside a vase.
"....In the palace garden, I think there wasn't supposed to be any purple roses though…."
"Yeah. It exists in Roware, but since it was something that came from selective breeding, it’s rather rare. This flower is just a rose that absorbs colour from coloured water."
Nicolette raised the vase for him to look, but,
"It’s dark, I can't see it, you know."
"....My~”
Nicolette took the vase for herself to see, and peeked inside. Thus, she muttered. ‘That's true~’. Since it was night, the light inside the room was dim. Purple was a kind of dark colour that was hard to be seen. She was said to be quite careless about this kind of thing.
"....Well, anyway, if you give colour to the water, the white rose will be dyed in that colour. I will omit the detailed explanation, but the white rose is sucking in the coloured water, so the flower's colour becomes the same as the water."
"I see."
"Maria said that if we use this technique, we can make any colour of flower. I want to show some unusual colour roses to you, you know.”
Nicolette gave him her thanks for coming to the room. Rather, originally, Wolfgang was supposed to sleep in the same bedroom as Nicolette, but he was never there, it seems like she forgot.
"Now that I remember, can I ask you one thing?"
"What?"
"How did your parents call His Majesty?"
Is it because they had a conversation at how Nicolette was called, ‘Nicola’ by her late mother? As he got asked that question, Wolfgang tried to remembered his past.
"You're right….Wolfie, I think I was called that a lot.”
(ED: That is a rather cute nickname)
"Wolfie?"
"Yeah…."
Honestly, Wolfgang didn't really like being called that. Somehow, it felt childish.
"Then~, I will call you, “Wolf-sama!"
*Pon!*, Nicolette clapped her hands together as she said that. What’s with her? It was rather sudden.
"....Why Wolf?"
"After all, Wolfie is hard to say, alright."
Nicolette said that while pouting. He sometimes forgot that Nicolette was able to speak the Empires language without any problems, but for her, this country's language is still foreign. It can't be helped that she had some words that were hard for her to pronounce. The pronunciation of ‘Wolfie’ itself was already weird. You say that, but the ‘Wolf’ pronunciation sounds a bit strange."
"Well, do as you like. I like it better when you called me by my name.”
As Wolfgang said that, Nicolette said ‘That's true~’ with a smile. Wolfgang then looked at the purple flower that was placed again on the table by Nicolette.
"Nicola, you said that purple roses existed in Roware, have you ever seen it before?"
"Yep. I also thought that I want to raise those flowers too, so I got a stump from the monastery that raises them too."
Though it didn't go as well as he imagined, she turned over to look at Wolfgang while on her back, then smiled. Wolfgang extended his hand toward her cheeks, and patted her white soft skin. That made Nicolette's body tremble in surprise.
"Didn't Nicola ever think of wanting to return to Roware?"
"....Why has Wolf-sama asked such a thing?"
"...."
Wolfgang couldn’t answer her question. He already married with three empresses before her, and now, all of them are already gone from this world. Those three people were killed by Wolfgang.
Didn't she think that he was scary?
Did she ever think about wanting to go back?
The first time he met her, Nicolette herself said that, ‘She wasn’t scared’, but is that really what she felt at the time?
He already knew that she wasn't a spy from another country. At the same time he felt relieved that she wasn't a spy, Wolfgang wanted to know what she felt about staying here.
Wolfgang's hand slid over Nicolette's cheeks. *Grasp* Nicolette held that big hand of his with her smaller hand. With both of her hands, she grabbed Wolfgang's.
"You know. The time I became aware of my surroundings, I was already at the monastery."
I know. Nicolette looked up at Wolfgang and smiled.
"That's why, I've never know anything about the outside world. I also never thought of going out from the Monastery, even so, It’s fine. For me, the Monastery is my world."
A bird inside a cage wouldn't know about the sky. As she didn't know about the sky, she woudn't think there.
(ED: The more common version is a Frog inside a Well)
However,
The bird inside the cage ended knowing about the sky. She would never go back to her cage ever again because she never thought she wanted to go back.
"I sometimes miss that place. Since I already know about the outside world, I have never thought about returning to the Monastery again."
For her, the question was, ‘Do you want to return to Roware’, for her, that means to return to the monastery, and not the Royal Palace.
"You know, it's not that complicated, it's just that I love this place, so I never thought of returning. My mother said that if there was a meeting in this life, then departure also exists. This is what it is right? I'm sure of it.”
He was given an answer that slightly deviated from what he asked, Wolfgang felt kinda exhausted. Toward Nicolette who smiled thinly, he gave an astounded smile.
"You like this place, is it because of the food?"
"I won't deny that, but I also like everyone here. Helma, Maria, Marcus, Alberto, and Folger-sama too. Of course, I love Wolf-sama a lot."
Being told, ‘I love Wolf-sama’ with that innocent smile of her, Wolfgang desperately tried to hold it down. What did he hold down? Please guess for yourself.
He already said this several times, but Nicolette didn't have any ulterior motives. That's why,
"Half dead….”
Eh, what? It seems like Nicolette asked as such, but he ignored it on purpose.
************************************************
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