The Princess in the Chicken Coop - Chapter 2.2
Lenok, quickly realizing this was a battle he couldn’t win, changed the subject.
“So what is Princess Soria doing now?”
“She’s feeling depressed.”
“…What?”
“It seems the shock of returning to a chicken after briefly becoming human was quite significant. I hear she’s shut herself in her hastily prepared room and refuses to come out. Perhaps Your Majesty should go see her.”
Lenok gave Diowell, who was saying that the first step of true love begins with showing interest in each other, a look that questioned his sincerity.
Normally, Diowell would have ended the joke by now. He, more than anyone, knew that the position of Empress couldn’t be decided through jokes.
However, his expression remained serious.
‘Oh dear.’
Lenok frowned as he rose from his seat. This was apparently not a joke. If so, he needed to ask about the sudden change in attitude.
He waved away his advisor and, after confirming the door was closed, spoke.
“What brought about this change of heart, Owell?”
“Princess Soria has proposed a way to resolve the drought in the southern regions.”
“…What?”
“Your Majesty, I sincerely believe she would make a suitable Empress for the Empire. She was renowned as a great mage in an era of magical prosperity and as the sole remaining royal of the Syenn Kingdom…”
“You mean she’s a way to absorb Syenn Kingdom into the Crotia Empire without causing any disturbance?”
Diowell’s silence confirmed it.
Lenok pressed his forehead. Now he understood what was going on.
Before being able to communicate with Soria, she must have appeared as just a chicken. No matter how much he claimed he could talk to her, it would be difficult to see a clucking chicken as a princess.
But the situation had changed. Communication was that powerful.
Diowell had put his exceptional intelligence to full use. Just from a single morning’s conversation with Soria, he had assessed her excellence and value.
If it had stopped there, there wouldn’t have been any issue. But Diowell saw beyond that.
“Think about it objectively, Your Majesty. There couldn’t be anyone more suitable for the position of Empress than her.”
First, she had no maternal relatives. Not only that, but her status as a kingdom’s heir and her dowry of an entire kingdom were incomparable to other noble families.
If he were to marry her, Syenn Kingdom would naturally be absorbed into the Crotia Empire, and the public image would be perfect, like something out of a fairy tale.
The benefits outweighed the drawbacks. Lenok had to agree on that point.
“You’re not wrong. But there’s one thing you’ve overlooked.”
“What would that be?”
“You’ve overlooked me.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Is Crotia so impoverished that we need to back a princess who has lost her home into a corner?”
“If we consider the benefits and losses…”
“Ah, yes. I already know everything you’re about to say. Of course, you’re right that we could force the issue if we wanted to. But Owell, the world doesn’t always work out the way we’d like it to. Especially in matters like these.”
Lenok glanced at Diowell’s crumpling face and patted his shoulder with a pleasant smile.
***
Just as Diowell had said, Soria was depressed. She had shut herself in her room all morning. Because of this, she didn’t even notice when Lenok entered through the door.
Thinking that her now-golden tail feathers seemed rather droopy, Lenok deliberately coughed.
“I heard you shared a spell to resolve the drought. Diowell asked me to relay his thanks. He apologized for not being able to say goodbye personally since he had to leave immediately for the southern regions.”
[Yes.]
Her voice was completely deflated.
A chicken was showing signs of depression. Though he couldn’t understand why, everything she showed him was uniquely different. Too different, to the point of being radical.
‘What should I do?’
Lenok pondered while touching his lips. Unable to guess what words might lift her spirits, he ended up saying nothing at all.
Soria also remained silent as Lenok quietly sat down beside her.
How much time passed in this awkward atmosphere, just listening to each other’s breathing? To escape this uncomfortable air, Lenok pulled out from his chest the documents he had wrung from the nobles.
“It’s hardly enough to call it a thank you, but here’s the pledge we discussed before.”
[The pledge?]
“The one recognizing Syenn Kingdom as an independent nation and respecting its rights.”
As Soria stretched her neck out with interest, Lenok pulled back the documents while continuing to speak.
“Of course, there’s a precondition that it will only take effect once your curse is broken and the Syenn River flows again.”
[Of course, naturally.]
In the end, it meant the curse had to be broken.
Soria let out a small sigh and voiced what she had been pondering all this time.
[Your Majesty, have you ever been in love?]
Caught off guard by this unexpected heavy question, Lenok could only blink blankly.
‘What did I just hear?’
The Emperor of this vast empire, forgetting his dignity, whipped his head around and asked.
“What?”
[I’m asking if you know what true love is.]
“No, why suddenly…”
[Isn’t it too abstract? True love! Does such a thing even exist? How does one determine something like that? Is there some kind of measuring device? Surely it’s not something like ‘achievement unlocked,’ right?! That cursed magician!! If only they were alive, I’d grab them by the collar!!]
“So you’re saying, the reason you’re depressed is…”
Because of the abstractness of true love? Lenok swallowed the rest of his words. However, Soria caught on with uncanny perception and exclaimed.
[Of course! It’s too ambiguous!!]
Lenok remained silent, not knowing how to respond to Soria’s heated words.
What could he say? Sorry, but even before discussing its ambiguity, I have absolutely no intention of throwing myself into this true love business?
That would be too cruel.
How about suggesting she look for someone else, even now?
Whether that was even possible should be a secondary concern.
Lenok recalled that she could only communicate with him and magic users.
Unfortunately, this was an era where magic was disappearing. Though he couldn’t know how it was more than a hundred years ago, magicians were rare these days. There was even a joke that they were harder to find than dragons. Finding someone to fall in love with among them would be nearly impossible.
‘If only Owell weren’t married.’
Lenok suppressed a sigh while thinking thoughts that would make Lady Mabeline faint if she heard them. What could he do? Among the empire’s magicians, Diowell was the only one of marriageable age.
As he considered various things, Lenok’s face took on a grave expression. He reached out and turned Soria’s drooping face toward him.
“Alright.”
[What’s alright?]
“Let me ask you one thing.”
[What?]
“Are you prepared to overcome any hardship to break this curse?”
Soria felt uneasy at Lenok’s suddenly serious demeanor.
‘Why is this man acting like this all of a sudden?’
She alternately looked at the unsigned pledge and at Lenok with somewhat worried eyes.
[…Well, I suppose I have to overcome hardships.]
“Then it might be worth trying.”
She grew increasingly anxious.
Soria unconsciously gulped. Somehow, she felt it would be better to distance herself from Lenok.
She gradually scooted her bottom backward while asking.
[…Try what?]
“Right now, my heart is overflowing with love, that’s what I’m saying.”
Soria stared blankly at Lenok, who had suddenly rushed to his own conclusion, forgetting even to run away.
‘No, what on earth is this emperor talking about?’
By the time she was trying to make sense of the situation, Lenok had already steeled his resolve.
He looked at Soria with a grave expression and said.
“If one kiss takes 5 minutes, wouldn’t a hundred kisses completely break the curse?”
[Pardon?]
“Let’s try it, shall we?”
[PARDON??]
And that day, Lenok had to endure a scolding from the physician about what on earth he had been doing, his arms covered in pecking wounds from a chicken’s beak.
It was around this time that rumors of this peculiar relationship began spreading through social circles.
