Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 190

The Duke’s daughter and son going out was no easy task.

To cheer up her little brother, Priscilla decided, in just ten minutes, to take him out to play within their territory. Arnie was indeed uplifted by this news, but when he learned that two teachers would accompany them, he became a bit downcast again.

However, he knew Priscilla had put in a lot of effort, so he didn’t complain at all. Normally, when their parents were away, the two children shouldn’t go out alone, but the Brandenburg Knights’ reputation for strength and training was well-known throughout the empire. As long as they didn’t leave Lemena, there was no need to worry about safety. Rather than potential dangers, Priscilla and the castle steward were more concerned that young Arnie might catch a cold from being outside too long.

Therefore, the accompanying personnel had to include knights and doctors, as well as cooks, musicians, and servants. To streamline the team, even Priscilla only brought two maids, who usually took care of her daily needs.

With the Duchess absent, Priscilla found arranging the itinerary alone for the first time a bit strenuous. In the end, the castle steward helped her make some decisions, which took quite a bit of time, causing the original schedule to be pushed back by two days.

Perhaps because of this, by the time they actually set off, Arnie was even more excited than at the beginning. While sitting in the carriage, although he didn’t beam with joy, his little legs hanging over the edge of the seat swung back and forth with the carriage’s rhythm, making Priscilla feel that all of it was worthwhile.

Though it might sound arrogant to say, she truly believed Arnie was the cutest five-year-old in the entire Empire. Even if he weren’t her brother, she would say the same—something the Duke and Duchess Dwight also agreed on. None of the princes and princesses in the imperial capital could compare to Arnie. Even the Duchess occasionally felt that giving birth to him was somewhat of a miracle. Arnie’s skin was as delicate as petals buried in the snow, inheriting his father’s superior bone structure and his mother’s moon-like hair and eye color. Combined, these traits made him extraordinarily exquisite, so much so that when he was expressionless or silent, he looked like a human doll.

Exquisite, but lacking much of a “living” feeling.

The Duke and Duchess were worried about this. When their youngest son wasn’t moving or talking, this characteristic became particularly noticeable. Moreover, his inherently introverted nature meant that, despite being only five, the times he cried or laughed heartily could be counted on one hand.

Even though he showed exceptional talent in his studies, the Duke couldn’t help but worry about his son’s distinctiveness. He didn’t mind if his children weren’t so well-behaved. As a father, he could fulfill any willful request his children had. Unfortunately, each child turned out more reserved than the last. His overflowing paternal love had nowhere to go, making him feel quite lonely.

Priscilla was not at all aware that she, too, was a source of her parents’ concern due to her excessive maturity. When her parents were away, she naturally felt it was her duty to take care of her brother, trying everything possible to make him happy.

But rather than a grand picnic on a patch of grass with musicians playing, Arnie preferred to see something novel—something not found in Brandenburg.

What’s the difference between eating on a blanket with silverware and eating in the castle? Ants would crawl onto the plates! The various invisible bugs in the grass also annoyed Arnie. He and Priscilla both had delicate skin, often getting bitten while their attendants remained unscathed, resulting in numerous bites on their exposed skin. In such hot weather, wearing too much was stifling.

Priscilla was still a child herself. When she found that picnicking on the grass and walking barefoot weren’t as delightful as they appeared in paintings, she felt a bit disheartened, wondering if she had been too hasty.

“Arnie’s arms are full of bites.” Priscilla tilted her head to let the maid apply medicine to her neck. “We need to apply it again at midnight.”

“Flora will keep track of the time,” the maid reassured her. “The Young Master was quite happy today, eating more at night than he usually does at the castle.”

“That’s because he couldn’t eat much in the carriage at noon.” Priscilla twirled her hair with her fingers. “Is that the Lake of Sighs up ahead?”

“It’s still half a day’s journey away. Elaby has already gone ahead, hired some locals to set up tents, and will have them fish—”

She stopped mid-sentence because Priscilla suddenly sat up straight.

“What did you just say?”

“Have them fish… Have the adults fish. Miss Priscilla, you and Young Master Arnie must not handle the fishing rods yourselves.”

“Not that.” Priscilla looked at her. “You mentioned locals.”

“Yes.” The maid was confused by Priscilla’s reaction. “We have limited staff for outings, so we always hire local farmers and craftsmen for tasks like clearing grass and setting up pavilions.”

“We could go to the town for fun,” Priscilla thought for a moment. “Without making a big fuss, just ten people, wandering around. We might come across a circus or something interesting.”

“But beyond the Lake of Sighs is outside Lemena, and the Duke would never allow it,” the maid advised. “You both should be in the city attending classes, waiting for your parents to return before going to the forest villa.”

Priscilla decisively said, “Then we won’t enter the city. Let Elaby and the others go, buy some interesting things, especially new drinks and sweets. If there are snake charmers and magicians, invite them too. We can watch their performances in the tent.”

……

The accompanying poets and singers weren’t very happy about this. In their view, the entertainment along the way should have been their domain. However, to be fair, the two children under ten years old were indeed not very interested in strained singing, especially when the content was often obscure and required effort to decipher the lyrics, which was quite dull.

Elaby was the assistant to the castle steward. Since the steward couldn’t leave Brandenburg easily, he was assigned to accompany them and fulfill all of Priscilla and Arnie’s “reasonable requests”.

Entertaining and amusing the children was considered a reasonable request.

He himself had a child, one year younger than Miss Priscilla, so Elaby had a good idea of what was popular among kids these days. He wandered around nearby towns with four knights in plain clothes, scouting for interesting entertainers. He found a bird keeper with several colorful birds that could perform simple tricks and speak a bit, a magician who specialized in low-difficulty visual tricks but put on an impressive firework show suitable for outdoor performances, and a grass weaver who could craft anything from long grass leaves, charging based on the complexity of the structure.

These people met Miss Priscilla’s requirement for things “not seen in Brandenburg”. The magician might have been a bit of a stretch, considering the Duke’s family had seen the continent’s top pyrotechnician’s work in the imperial capital last New Year’s. However, in such a small place, finding these few entertainers was already quite an achievement.

Elaby didn’t want to delay too long. He politely declined the sheriff’s various attempts to detain him and was about to mount his horse to leave when he suddenly noticed two children, about six or seven years old, laughing and running around a street corner.

He then realized that the number of children he’d seen along the way was unusually low. Although it was currently hot weather, when had active children ever feared the scorching sun or cold wind? He immediately called two knights to escort the bird keeper and the others out of town, while he led his horse in the direction the two children had run.

Not far from the central square, on a street near a juice shop, a large, colorful umbrella had been set up. Under the umbrella, there was a small table with a young man sitting cross-legged behind it, surrounded by children of various ages. The scene was quite spectacular. The children sat on the ground like a cluster of small mushrooms, all facing the man with their faces turned up, hands on their knees, and many with cups between their legs, likely containing products from the juice shop behind them.

Elaby tied up his horse and quietly observed from outside the umbrella. The young man was in his early twenties, with brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a top hat even under the umbrella. He was dressed in a matching shirt, with many freckles on his nose and under his eyes. He wasn’t particularly handsome or unattractive, but his eyes were bright, and his expressions were animated. After listening for just two minutes, Elaby understood that he was telling an adventure story about a little chicken that wandered into a kitchen.

The man’s voice was pleasant, his pronunciation perfect, suitable for reciting poetry in a music hall for the nobility. Yet, he was equally fitting for storytelling under the umbrella. In his story, every animal seemed to have a name, and every object could talk: a wise old teapot, worn and patched several times, reminiscing about its glorious days serving tea to young ladies in a gleaming hall, now relegated to boiling water in the kitchen; a malicious old mouse living in the kitchen beams, always giving the little chicken wrong directions, laughing every time it succeeded.

Elaby found every sentence of the story absurd, yet he couldn’t help but want to know how such a ridiculous tale would be explained. When he snapped out of it, the man had already clapped twice, signaling the end of the story and telling the children to go home.

“Alright, the story can’t go on forever,” he said with a smile. “You all should head back now.”

The children, deeply engrossed in the story, loudly complained, but the man was firm, ignoring their pleas as he put away the large umbrella and picked up the cups they had placed on the ground, stacking them into two tall towers to return to the juice shop.

Elaby’s hair was hot from the sun, but he patiently waited until the man had finished tidying up before approaching him.

A couple of boys, reluctant to leave, clung to the man’s legs. Noticing Elaby waiting, the man easily pried the children off and bent down to say something to them before sending them off.

“Hello,” he greeted Elaby, tipping his hat.

Elaby smiled warmly at him. “Your story was wonderful, sir. Please forgive me for staying to listen.”

“It was just to pass the time,” the man replied.

“My name is Elaby, from Brandenburg in Lemena,” Elaby said. “To be honest, I have a sudden invitation for you.”

He saw the man smile back at him.

“My name is Oscar,” Charlie said. He had dyed his hair.

He lowered the sleeves of his shirt and stood up a bit straighter. “I’ve heard of Brandenburg. It’s the residence of the Duke. You must be of high status. Someone like me isn’t worthy of an invitation. Just tell me what you need.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>