"Have you finished reading, Stale?
A girl with her neck tilted in one hand with black tea raised her face to a seven-year-old boy sitting in front of her with her purple eyes round.
The two sisters and brothers, facing each other across the table, enjoyed an elegant break after finishing their study hours. A round table set in the garden has a cup of tea with a maid in it, and cookies are spread out on a plate in the middle. After being baked for a little while, it cooled down, but the crisp texture and sweetness were perfect for tea requests.
It was a pride that I had just finished half the book, but in front of me, Stale closed the pattern and the back cover of the book. Pride is impressed by his brother who puts his finger on the tea so that he can breathe. The boy, who could not even read until recently, finished reading the book before he did.
Awesome, to be honest with pride, Stale scratches her cheeks with her fingertips without expression.
"... it was an unexpectedly simple book. The number of characters per page was not a big deal."
With joy and embarrassment, you lose sight of being praised with sparkling eyes.
I really wanted her to see it back with a full smile, but the emotions underneath her face were busier and didn't go that far. A boy who can hardly unconsciously express himself confesses the difference in number of characters from the book she reads, rather than being modest.
Stale, who was adopted and vowed to work as the next Regent for pride, now has a lot of reading. Unlike Pride, who still brings only one thick book, there is a pile of books next to him. Reading books of various kinds, he often chooses books with different titles.
I borrow a book on a subject of interest from one end to the end. Some books use all the confusing words you can't understand right now, while others are good books that are easy for children to understand. And the book I finished reading this time was the latter. Moreover, the number of characters on a page is often blank, and there are many paragraphs and illustrations. It was good in terms of readability, but sometimes it wasn't enough for Stale to even start reading books that adults could read.
... even though Pride is reading a much harder book.
As she thought about it, she turned her glanced eyes towards the book she had.
There is no big difference between the thickness and the book I was reading, but each of them is filled with a lot of fine letters. Unlike Stale, who works on various systems, she is reading history books.
Books that detail events that occurred in the year from the chronological sequence contain a huge amount of records. It was only natural that Stale, who was reading a book that was not too difficult to understand with a small number of characters, should finish reading first.
"Pride is better. He's only eight years old, and he's loading such a difficult history book."
"Ah... thank you. But Stale is amazing enough."
I honestly rejoiced that Stale had complimented me, thinking that it would be kind of a compliment match.
But to tell you the truth, I think it's far more amazing that Stale's mind came to the castle and learned how to read even books for adults, even though it's been less than a month. In addition, there are many types of systems he reads, such as "imperial studies" and "human heart mastery".
Even now, the title of the book released by a seven-year-old boy as "simple" was not the title of the "aesthetic of falling", which was certainly not something that children read. Because it was an editorial book that said that becoming such a thought was a necessary thought for a person who stood at the top rather than a means to trap the opponent if you opened it, there was nothing that Stale wanted. Because I want those abilities and knowledge from the beginning. And for the pride of being the country's highest queen in the future. There is no point in not being able to talk about that necessity in hard words.
However, from a pride point of view, if Stale was reading such a subject silently with no expression, his spine became cold and wondered if he was still plotting to put himself in trouble. When I look at Stale, who calls it "easy," I still think that the black planner is approaching.
I'm glad Pride praised me for not knowing her fears, but still slightly disappointed that I still don't care about her at all, Stale lied to the cup to deceive her.... at that time.
Pitch.
"!... Stale, look over there"
Pride looks up and looks back at the small beam coming down from above his head.
A bird looked down at them from the tree branch behind them. Pride rises gently from his seat so as not to make a sound to the twitching bird, even though he is under the gaze of two.
Although she is not familiar with the species of birds even though she has read history books, I think it is unusual for birds to come so close. Looking at Stale, he looked up at the bird with his cup in one hand and no expression. When he murmured, "It's already such a season," he wondered if it was a bird he often saw this season.
Until recently, he lived as a commoner and saw the bird in the city every year. It was a familiar bird to ordinary people, but I would be impressed if I thought I could get into a castle like this.
Pride is more attentive to birds than Stale seems to be interested in. But if we get any closer, we might get away with it. The pride of thought picked up a piece of cookie in the middle of the table.
Too much in half, she squashed the other half in her hand. Care was taken not to allow fragments to fly into the wind that would stain the palm of the hand, but turned it back to the bird that stopped at the branch again in its hand.
The first princess, Stale, who blinked once at her actions, understood what she was going to do immediately.
Chichichichi, come on, come on.
As she whispered, the little bird stretched her neck from above the branch to the palm of her hand, which she offered in front of her toes.
After a chirp, the big winged bird jumped and landed on her offered arm. Her voice leaked unexpectedly as the bird approached her suddenly, but she firmed her fingertips from her arm. Then the bird whispered his thin arm as if it were a branch, and rushed to her palm. Peck out the chips of cookies spreading out into your palm.
Pride glared at the success of the operation. When I saw them landing with branches close to me, I thought there was a slight chance of winning.
"Stale! Come on, come on!
Call your brother with your opposite hand while keeping your voice down so the birds don't run away.
He also put a cup on it and rushed from the table to her side with his quick feet. Only the eyes become round with a faceless face. If the birds were not surprised and approached the footsteps carefully, the birds would not try to escape at all even if Stale came near them.
She held her hand with her little mouth many times as she picked up the treat in her palm. It was a little ticklish, but Pride was more pleased to see the neighboring stalls staring at her.
"You're used to people, right? Is there anyone else who feeds us?
"I see. And maybe it came from somewhere under the castle.
Somewhere.
Without daring to say anything, I naturally thought of the meaning that included Stale in the pride of gently laughing.
I wonder if it's the same bird from my city. If you think so like a child, you even feel strange and missed. Pride, who cared about himself and called the birds so close, made him smile consciously this time.
Pride also responded to Stale with a flowery smile when he turned to his soft smile, which was shy.
"Feel it."
"Eh, aren't you running away...?
If we get out of Stale, we're not going anywhere.
The words of pride push the back, and the boy's thin fingertips gently stroke the bird's back to the tip of the feather.
I wonder in the corner of my head if I ever touched the soft feeling and the slippery feeling when I was younger. I can't remember whether it was my mother or anyone else who was beside me at that time. It's just that I was living as a commoner in a quiet city, and I'm definitely here next to someone I care about, even though I'm away from my real parents.
"See?
Happiness.
Stale thought quietly beside her smiling happily.