Elf Koushaku wa Noroware Reijo wa Iyaiya Metoru

The next morning─ he went to the dining hall with transfer magic and found Violette.

She comes to Hydrangea and greets him in the morning, as if challenging him.

“Good morning, husband”

She raises one eyebrow and says “husband” with emphasis.
It was as if she was implying that although she disapproved this marriage, she had no choice but to do it because of the contract.

“Good morning, my wife”

Violette’s other eyebrow twitched as he replied so.
He noticed her fingertips trembling and almost laughed.
She must be unwilling to become Hydrangea’s wife.
Hydrangea continues to speak, hoping to pull her further response.

“Today too, you look beautiful in the morning”
“Even though y-you don’t think like that at all!”
“Why do you think so?”
“You enjoy making me angry, right?”
“You think you have a way with anger that amuses me? How conceited”
“W-What did you say!!”

As she pointed out, Hydrangea enjoyed watching the angry Violette.
Don’t make fun of woman.
He grew up being told that by Verbena.
He shouldn’t talk about these things.
He knew that, but he cannot stop.
Thanks to this, Verbena, who was standing behind Violette, was also staring at him.

“Putting me aside, please remember that if you do this kind of thing to another woman, you will certainly be hated”

He felt that Violette hated him enough.
He must reflect on this point.

“I understand.
Forgive me”
“Eh?”
“What? I apologize”
“No, I just didn’t expect you to be so honest”

“I may look like this, but I’m an adult.
I know about such a thing”
“B-By any chance, is your actual age over a hundred years old?”

It is a well-known fact that elves have long life.
But, the life span of Duke Laudense family elves who have mingled with humans is short.

She looked at him with the pure eyes of a child listening to a fairy tale, but he told her that his actual age is twenty-six.

“The first generation lived for several hundred years, but since then their lifespan has been getting shorter and shorter”

Hydrangea’s father, who died of illness, lived only half a century.
He recalled his father’s words on his sickbed, that it might have been a curse for breaking the elf rule of not leaving the forest.
That’s not true.
It must be.
Shaking his head, he decided to forget it.

After finishing breakfast, Hydrangea handed the key to the study in the basement where the magic books were kept to Violette.

“Read as many magic books as you like.
Although most of them are ancient books that have not been translated into modern languages”
“Is it okay?”
“I’m telling you to do as you wish”
“Thank you!”

Violette wrapped her hand around Hydrangea and grasped the key.
At that moment, her body changes from a human to a cat.

She spun around once and landed on the floor, then bit the key that fell with her and jumped around.

“It seems her mood has recovered”
“Master”

Verbena got closer and whispered in a quiet voice.

“You should tease the madam when you get to know her better”
“I know.
I’m reflecting”
“I beg you”

It seems Violette already taken Verbena as her ally.

He went to work with transfer magic while thinking that he would have to be careful.

◇◇◇

 

Today, from this morning, he will accompany a distinguished person of the country with the inspection of the Magic Division.
The minister, who is accompanied by about 20 people, is personally guided inside by Hydrangea.

“I’ve been thinking for a long time that the Magic Division seems to be doing invisible work, and I haven’t been able to hear about their accomplishments.
In spite of using a large amount of budget, I wonder what’s going on inside”

They go around to the various departments, listening to the minister’s comments, which in a roundabout way say that they are budget thieves.
The minister were stroking his well-groomed beard, rubbing his swollen belly, he was moving his mouth more than his feet and seemed to be enjoying the inspection.

“I wonder if the activities of the Magic Division require so little experience that you can serve as its commander at such a young age”

Hydrangea doesn’t say anything back, but keeps a smile on her face.
Quince next to him let out a short scream, “Hiiik!” but he doesn’t care.

In addition to the usual course of the office, the education department, and the magic items room, today he decided to take him to a special room.

“This room is usually off-limits except to the staff, but today I’m going to specially show it to you.
This is the first time it has been shown during an inspection”
“Oh, I see, I see!”

The minister, who assumed that he was being treated specially, followed Hydrangea with light steps.

“Hmm, it’s dark here”
“This is the forbidden books room.
I will turn on the light now”

Saying so, he used magic to create a ball of light above the head of the gargoyle who was guarding the forbidden books.
Seeing this, the minister opened his eyes wide and screamed.

“Gyaaaaaahhh! Monster!”

He turned around and ran.
His followers and Quince followed the minister.

“Hmph.
I was going to surprise him by moving the gargoyles, but I never thought that I just showed it and he ran away.
What a coward”

The gargoyles, hearing his remark, moved their eyes and spoke to him.

“Uwaaa, how nasty”
“Poor uncle”
“It would be a problem if he was surprised with something as trivial as this.
I was thinking of taking him to the sealing department after this and having him go into a state of frozen sleep or something like that”
“Please stop it”
“I’m horrified just hearing about it”

The minister told Quince who came back, that the inspection had been canceled because the minister had suddenly fallen ill.
He said that there will be no re-inspection.

He made a small complaint to Quince, who was in charge of coordinating the visit.

“Your Excellency, I wish you would stop looking down on the minister with eyes that says, ‘damn, foolish people’.
I’m glad he didn’t realized it”
“What do you mean by ‘damn, foolish people’ look?”
“Something like, smiling darkly”
“I don’t understand”

After this, he was summoned by Prince Magnolia.
It was a consultative meeting, called a luncheon.
Leaving Quince in his office, Hydrangea moved to the dining room where he was invited.

“Yaa, hello.
Your Excellency, Duke Laudense”

Prince Magnolia welcomed Hydrangea with a gentle smile.

“Come, sit down and let’s eat”

As they eat, they talk about the contents of the letter he sent last night.

“I have been busy for the past month that I have not been able to visit my father, so I was surprised”
“I knew it”

Prince Magnolia was smart and sensible, and also has the ability of the King.
However, his only fault was his disagreement with his father.
The King was a smiling, tolerant man who listened to the opinions of others.
In reality, however, he is an indecisive man and flunky who gets along with anyone, and makes decisions based on the opinions of others rather than his own.
This is probably the reason why Prince Magnolia’s respect for his father has been declining rapidly.

To put it bluntly, the current King does not have the ability as a king.
However, in his own way, the King has ruled the nation carefully by taking in the opinions of wise men.

“In recent years, however, I have thought that his judgment has become duller”

He says that he only takes in the opinions of those who are powerful and have a big voice.
But he did not expect that even in his private life he was listening to the opinions of his vassals.

“I was able to identify the person who urged my father to change doctor.
Thanks to the list of suspects that Hydrangea gave.
But, where on earth did you get that?”
“The house that the King suggested me to marry”
“Oh, I see”

He said he would continue his investigation carefully.
Prince Magnolia spoke as he cut up the main course of meat dish.

“If anyone tries to blind my father and make him their puppet, I will not forgive them.
If I find anyone who plans to do so─”

Without saying another word, he grabbed a fork and vigorously stabbed the meat that he already cut.
The sauce splattered from the plate and left a stain on the white tablecloth.
The gentle Prince Magnolia was unusually angry.

“Ah, that’s right.
I have a letter from my father for Hydrangea”

It seems he was hesitating about whether to give it to him or not.
When he thought about it, it gave him goosebumps.

He immediately opened the letter, and inside was a note of gratitude for yesterday written in careful letters.
At the end, it was written that he had taken the potion as hard as he could.
It was as if he was asking to be praised.
Hydrangea used fire magic to quickly burn the letter, which was written in the King’s handwriting.

“Was there anything confidential written in it?”
“No, it was so trivial that I burned it without thinking”

At his words, Prince Magnolia agreed and says, “I understand”.