Chapter 106: A Chat with Prince Alan

And so, I was currently on my way to Prince Alan’s room. Last night, Linda had come for night duty and thoroughly drained me, so my hips felt light. She even took care of me in the morning, so at this point only dust would come out. If I’m releasing this much since I was a child, won’t my "end" come pretty early? I’ve heard that men have a fixed number of shots in their lifetime, and when the final white ball with "The End" written on it comes out, that’s it. But with ED drugs available in Japan, the total number of times should have increased. I wonder if I’ll ever see that white ball?

While thinking about such pointless things, I arrived at Prince Alan’s room.

Cantoner opened the door for me.

"Please come in."

Inside were a man I assumed was Prince Alan and, beside him, a beautiful woman who was slightly older. Could this be the Queen? When I looked, the words "Queen Elizabeth, 44 years old" appeared, confirming it.

"Thank you for inviting me today. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Alan."

I greeted them politely. Both of them looked slightly surprised. Hmm... This must be the reaction to how different I am from the image of the 11th Prince — the idiot who knows nothing about common sense.

Since no one said anything, I remained standing at the entrance. Finally noticing, the Queen said,

"Welcome, Lord Robin. Please, have a seat over here."

Queen Elizabeth was 44, yet she wore a dress with a deeply plunging neckline. Her ample, soft-looking breasts seemed ready to spill out. Even if they did, I wouldn’t particularly want to see that. Her face was perfectly covered in makeup, but her skin... couldn’t hide her age. There were spots, loss of firmness, and wrinkles. Unlike Lily, she looked her age. Well, she’s someone else’s wife, so it doesn’t matter to me. However, the Queen’s aura was overwhelming — dazzling and radiant. It wasn’t just the white makeup; there was something else.

I was guided to sit on the sofa opposite the two of them. I was inwardly amazed by the size of the room and the splendor of the furniture and decorations. Even someone like me with no eye for such things could tell these were extremely expensive, high-class items. Quite different from a certain 11th Prince.

Since I had nothing in particular to say just because I’d met them, I decided to wait for them to start the conversation.

But Prince Alan was surprisingly shy and didn’t say anything himself. Is this a strategy where he stays silent and waits for me to talk until I self-destruct? The Queen was just smiling, so I eventually gave in to the pressure of the silence and spoke first.

"May I ask what brings me here today?"

I looked back and forth between Prince Alan and the Queen.

"There wasn’t any particular business. I simply wanted to get to know you a little better, Lord Robin, so I invited you."

The Queen answered with a gentle smile. Prince Alan just kept smiling. Well, his face was smiling, but his eyes weren’t. They weren’t sharp eyes trying to evaluate me either — they just looked bored. It was the look of someone with no interest in me as a person, someone who was only sitting here to humor his mother. He probably didn’t lack interest in everything, but he clearly felt dragged out against his will.

In that case, I could just ignore Prince Alan and have a pleasant chat with the Queen.

When I thought about it, the only topic I had that might appeal to women was the fruit parlor in the commoner district. From what Cass had told me, the Queen was from a ducal family, so she had probably never once set foot in the commoner district in her life. In that case, the story about taking Relf and Lake there should be well-received.

I told the story with a bit of embellishment, and it actually caught her interest. Of course, pudding could be eaten in the rear palace too. But it wasn’t something you could have whenever you wanted — it was usually served as dessert. You couldn’t just decide on your own to eat it. The idea of going out specifically to eat that pudding seemed to amuse her.

She also didn’t seem to understand the concept of lining up. For someone of high noble birth like the Queen, restaurants were places you reserved and were guided to immediately without waiting. The idea of standing in line outside a shop was apparently foreign to her. Neither my mother nor Cass had shown much interest in lining up either, probably because as lower nobles they had been to the commoner district and experienced waiting in line.

However, the Queen had been a princess from birth and was now the King’s wife. She may have seen the commoner district from a carriage, but she had never walked there, eaten there, or shopped there. Prince Alan continued looking bored, but the Queen seemed genuinely entertained. She listened with great interest to the part about Lake and Relf happily eating parfaits and then going back again.

She didn’t even know what a parfait was and asked what was in it and what it tasted like.

The Queen then asked whether that extra-large parfait could be eaten in the palace. I replied that if they called the shop staff, they could probably come and make it, but that the real charm was eating it while surrounded by a crowd of girls at the shop. Naturally, she said, "I want to go and try it too!" Prince Alan remained indifferent, but all the attendants around them immediately cried out, "You must not go to such a place!" and glared at me as if saying Don’t say unnecessary things!

But surprisingly, the Queen latched onto the topic.

"How can I go to that shop? Think of a way for me to go."

She said this to me. Shouldn’t you ask the people around you? Everyone was glaring at me, so I gave a vague answer:

"I’m not sure, but perhaps if you receive permission from His Majesty or someone else?"

However, sometimes it’s better not to say anything at all — silence is golden. Because— ℯℯ𝑙.

"Oh? Then perhaps I should ask the King?"

Everyone around her turned pale. It looked like the Queen’s wishes would probably be granted. Which meant I would probably end up guiding her to that shop. Oh nooo!!

However, Prince Alan showed absolutely no interest in any of this. What on earth is this person interested in? Or maybe he’s someone without a heart? Will someone like this really be okay as the future leader of the country?