Because I’ve Been Reincarnated As A Girl I Just Want To Do Yuri Things, But Things Aren’t Going Well

Chapter 406

It’s hard to say that she’s completely stopped crying yet, but for the time being, I calmly stroke Eleonore’s head and back while she’s being held by me. She cried a lot so she must be tired of crying.

“You know, I’ve been crying for the days when you haven’t come back…” Eleonore said.

“Uu… that’s… I’m sorry…”

I’m just doing everything as planned. I told the King and the others that I would be back before the school exams and gave them a rough schedule. But Eleonore, who I told that I would come back after completing the picture diaries, must have thought I would come back after finishing the first book. It’s been like that until now, so it can’t be helped.

It’s grown-ups saying that because I gave her two picture diaries, she’ll think it’s two volumes, or that she’ll understand because I said it would take more than 2 1/2 months. If Eleonore wasn’t quite satisfied with it, I had to explain until she was satisfied. I can say that I neglected her and caused this situation.

“There, there, let’s have a snack soon. Of course, there is a snack, isn’t there? Princess Flora?” Dietrich asked.

“Yes… Let’s get it ready,” I said.

“Snack! Flora’s snack!” Eleonore cried.

Dietrich told me to hang my head. And Eleonore cheers up as soon as she hears it’s a snack… Could it be that… I was stuck? Isn’t it becoming a fait accompli that it’s only natural for me to bring snacks like this and that I have to bring them?

Eleonore was in a good mood after hearing that there would be snacks and moved rooms with the two old men. I arrived at the usual royal living room. Somehow, even I go in and out of this place as if it were a matter of course. It’s blatantly strange. I’m no longer a royal fiancée candidate, so I guess this kind of familial, intimate relationship isn’t good to keep.

“Welcome, Flora!”

“I’ve been waiting.”

“It’s been a while, Your Majesty the Queen, and Lady Margarete,” I said.

When I entered the room, there was Queen Elisabeth and Margarete. No Ludwig.

“It seems that His Highness Ludwig has some business with Lord Rutger at the Academy,” Margarete said. “They’ll both be graduating this year, so that must be why.”

“Is that so?” I said flatly.

Margarete explains, but honestly, I’m not interested. If it wasn’t that, I’d have gone “Fuhn”. Rather, I feel that it is better not to have any mention of them.

“So then, what are you serving today?” Elisabeth asked.

Your Majesty… you too…. you and your daughter only think of me as someone who gives you delicious snacks, right?

I’m a cynical person, so if you treat me like that and expect me to, I’ll call it a delicacy and bring you something from the ghettos. Well, if you actually give something like that to the royal family and it becomes unpopular, I won’t be able to complain even if I get executed in the worst-case scenario, and I don’t have the guts to actually do it!

“Creating new dishes and sweets every few months is difficult even for professional chefs…” I said.

Let me just get it out of there. I come to the royal castle every few months and serve sweets. If I’m a culinary expert and it’s enough to just cook, I might be able to create a new work in a few months. But I’m neither a chef nor a culinary researcher, nor do I have a lot of spare time.

While governing a vast territory as a feudal lord, I am forced to run around here and there. Moreover, it is relatively convenient for the kingdom or the royal family. Even if it’s my convenience about the Blish Isles, it’s the King and Dietrich who have me run around from the west end of the country to the east end. 1

In such a situation, it is impossible to make a groundbreaking new sweet every time. I can do a little arrangement and version difference, but if I can do something new enough to be legitimately new, I can become a chef.

“You’ve still brought something, right?” Elisabeth asked.

“Well… but this is a little different from what I’ve come up with,” I said. “Just like last time, it’s a modified version of the Demon Country’s sweets.”

When I said that and gave a signal, today’s sweets were brought. Blackish, or rather dark purple and red square masses and hot green tea. This is today’s snack.

“What is this?”

Normally, I would be shunned or complained about because of the color or appearance of what I brought, but the royal family and prime minister seem to trust my work to some extent, and they don’t judge my products based on appearances alone. For me, it’s something I’m used to, and it’s idealistic to say, but I don’t think it looks very good to people who don’t know about it.

“This is yokan,” I said. “Like this… cut it with the provided skewers, stab it to pick it up, and then enjoy.”

I cut a little bit of yokan as a sample and ate it. Yeah, it’s sweet. There are adzuki beans and red bean paste in the Demon Country. There is not yet the type of yokan that modern Japanese people imagine, but House Caan has secured a large amount of sugar and imitation agar and would have no trouble making modern yokan using red bean paste.

It seems that something similar is being made in the Demon Country, but neither Mikoto nor Kanbee has ever seen the yokan I made. I told the royal family that it was sweets from the Demon Country, but in reality, it could be said that it was a new sweet that I developed from the red bean paste of the Demon Country.

“Hou! This is really something…”

“It’s delicious, but maybe a little too sweet for me.”

The reaction seems to be great, but it’s sweet because it uses a lot of sugar. It seems to be a little too sweet for an adult man like Dietrich.

“I think it would be a good idea to drink this astringent green tea to wash away the sweetness,” I said.

Saying that I sipped the green tea that was on the side. Sweet yokan and astringent green tea go very well together. I don’t know what the royal family and prime minister will think, but Japanese people will be very comfortable with this combination.

“I see. If it’s this, it’s refreshing and I can eat it again.”

It seems that Dietrich also enjoyed eating yokan while drinking green tea. Or rather, it’s the first time everyone else eats yokan, so what I teach will become common sense for those who are taught. Green tea with yokan! If you are taught that at first, you will get used to it.

“…………”

“Princess Eleonore”

“-Hieu!”

I jumped up after someone called out to Eleonore, I noticed she was reaching out to me. Eleonore was sitting next to me and was reaching for the plate in front of me. My plate is already clean and empty.

“If you want seconds, it’s fine to say so. But don’t just be silent and take someone else’s food,” I said.

For some reason, today’s Eleonore is strangely mischievous, or she’s playing pranks, and she doesn’t look like the usual Eleonore. Eleonore is still a child, but she is a princess who was properly educated and raised as a member of the royal family. She can be a little naughty when she’s playing, but she’s strange today even though she should have had good manners and etiquette.

“Eleonore is so spoiled, she really does like you, doesn’t she, Flora?” Elisabeth said.

“Huh?”

I am puzzled by the words of Queen Elisabeth. I don’t quite understand what she’s saying.

“Children will play pranks on those they trust or love. Even children will not show their defenselessness to those they are wary of, and will not play pranks or be spoiled by them. Eleonore can’t act so spoiled otherwise.”

Is it so? Could this be Eleonore’s kindness and trust in me?

I don’t have any younger siblings, and of course, I’ve never given birth to a child, so I don’t really understand. But I also feel like if the adults who have raised many people are like that.

“Even though we’ve been together for so many years, she’s never acted so spoiled like this. You’re amazing, Flora,” Margarete said, looking down a little sadly.

“Margarete…” I said.

From my point of view, I think Eleonore was well attached to Margarete. It would be a big mistake to say that she doesn’t miss Margarete.

In my case, rather than being spoiled by me, I think I’m only perceived as someone who gives her some delicious sweets. “Children are easy if you reel them in with sweets!”, I don’t mean to say that, but I think I’ll be able to do it soon enough for people to beg me to give them sweets and souvenirs.

While talking about such things, snack time passed, and Eleonore took a nap, probably because she was tired. Finally, the King and Dietrich meet me again in another room.

“Your Majesty Wilhelm, regarding the new territory that will be obtained from Polsky…..” I said. “How about having it under the direct control of the royal family?”

“Muh?”

“…”

Hearing my words, Dietrich and I looked at each other. To be frank, the next place to be obtained is more effort than meaty. Of course, I don’t know how far it will go with the 3rd and 4th times, but it might be easier to stabilize if Polsky’s territory is divided more. But even if I get the range that is decided now, I will only get a long and narrow territory from the northwest to the southeast.

It would be nice if there was more thickness in the width of the territory to be obtained, but for the time being, the piece we will get this time will be very long and narrow. The top priority goal this time is to prevent the borders of the Principality of Aust and the Principality of Moscove from touching due to the Division of Polsky. That’s why it takes the form of a long division that cuts off the gap between them.

It’s hard to defend such a long and narrow territory, but the long distance to travel from one end to the other makes little industrial or commercial sense. If more Polsky divisions were made in the future and the territory would become thicker, it would be delicious, but at the moment it’s too heavy a burden to protect this long and narrow territory.

“Hmm… I understand what you’re trying to say. In that case, the soldiers that have been stationed as current border patrol can be transferred to the new borders that will protect the Second Division’s gains. What do you think? Would that be amenable?” Wilhelm said.

I didn’t say it outright, but I told the King, “I don’t want such long and unstable borders! Protect it yourself!”, and they must have understood that.

If the division of Polsky progresses further in the future and the central part of Polsky is obtained, it will be a great profit. Even if it’s still a long, thin, and unstable borderline, it should be profitable for the royal family to hold it in place for the future. So why are you trying to force it on me?

Rather than lending out the military forces of the old border and having me govern them, it would be better if the royal family seized a new territory with those soldiers and let Caan Knight’s Nation help them in the name of cooperating in governance and maintaining public order. What is the intention of giving me territory and letting me rule directly?

I want to avoid going east any further. I want to go out to the west sea, even if I go out to the eastern steppes… Well, it’s not bad, but it’s impossible to manage everything.

Nonetheless…, at the point when I was told this, which way would I lose? His Majesty the King said he would give me territory. Even if I try to refuse, it’s not something I can resist. I understand if you resist being told that your territory will be taken away, but if you are told that you will be given territory and even if you decline several times, the King will give it to you, you have no choice but to accept it.

“…………There is no need to reassign the border guards,” I said. “I will accept full control.”

If you can’t say no anyway, you don’t need the national army as a hindrance. If you have to do it, it’s still better to move with only your own army, rather than being dragged down by a friendly army that can’t coordinate.

Or it is possible that he is trying to find out something by attaching the national army to our army? I would like to avoid leakage of artillery and gun operation methods and technology. We should act as independently as possible at home.

“I see. Then I’ll leave the eastern border to you, Marquis Caan.”

“Sire!”

I shouldn’t be a marquis yet… but if I become a marquis, I’m on the same level as a margrave. In other words, I will be entrusted with the duties of local defense and border defense. Unexpectedly, the fact that they are trying to make me a marquis may be because they are trying to make House Caan the keystone that protects the eastern border.

It’s unavoidable to have this kind of relationship to some extent because it’s the King and I am of his subordinate nobles… but I can’t help but feel like they’re trying to entrust everything to House Caan, whether it’s domestic or foreign enemies.

In Eleonore’s picture diary that day…

“Yay, Flora came back! Yokan was delicious! Flora was angry when I tried to take her yokan, but she gave it to me!”

How many people are in the picture? It was drawn that it seemed to be eating something black on something that looked like yokan. In the middle of the 4th picture diary, Flora is finally mentioned for the first time.