Chapter 258 – Bear-san Gets Surrounded By Bear-sans (1/2)

As we continued to chat,Eleanora-san and I made our way to the center of the garden. We sat down by the table there and admired the flowers, with a nice cover above us blocking out the sun. It was a really pleasant place to take a break.

At the corner of the garden, we could see the girls playing together. It wasn’t just them, though. Princess Flora, Her Highness, and Anju-san had all joined the girls there as well. I could also see the Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear plushies sitting by a table next to them. It looked like Princess Flora had brought her Swaying Bear plushie, and Shuri had placed her Hugging Bear plushie next to it. I wondered what the reason for doing so was…

「Oh, Yuna-chan.」

Eleanora-san and I decided to head over, and Her Highness was the first to notice us. When she called out as such, Princess Flora turned around immediately.

「Bear-san!」

「Good afternoon.」

I greeted the princess first, then Her Highness, and finally Anju-san. Just as I was finished, Shuri came up to Princess Flora with her Hugging Bear plushie in hand.

Why were they playing with the plushies when they should be enjoying the flowers?

Looking over, I noticed Fina was also holding onto the Swaying Bear plushie while looking at me nervously. I lightly petted her head, trying to reassure her.

Noa also looked lost on what to do and looked over at her Mother for help.

How exactly did such a situation develop?

「Kitia-sama, Princess Flora, what brings you two here?」

「I was taking a walk with Flora, and then, these girls came by, so I invited them over for some tea.」

Laid out on the table were a few cups of tea, which Anju-san must have prepared for them. Eleanora-san took a seat next to Noa and asked for a cup of her own.

「Yuna-chan, why don’t you sit down as well?」

I sat down beside Fina and took a sip of tea Anju-san served me.

「Fina, what’s going on?」

I whispered to her.

「We were walking around, gazing at the flowers, when we suddenly ran into Her Highness and Princess Flora. Shuri noticed that Princess Flora was holding onto a Swaying Bear plushie and rushed up to her…」

「Shuri-chan called out「It’s Swaying Bear-chan!」and ran right up to us. I was so surprised…」

Apparently our whispers weren’t that quiet, so Her Majesty joined in onto the explanation, smiling as she recalled what had happened. Good thing Princess Flora and Her Highness were nice and kind… If Shuri had ran up to nobles with a bad attitude, she would have most likely gotten in trouble. I wished she was more careful…

Well, if there were many nobles like that here at the castle, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable visiting so often, much less bringing the girls with me.

「The girls introduced themselves and told us that Eleanora and you brought them here, so I invited them to join us for some tea. Also, Noire-chan and I have met a few times before, so we already know each other, don’t we?」

「Yes, we’ve met before…」

Noa replied rather timidly.

So even a noble like Noa would become nervous in the presence of the queen, it seemed. Then again, royalty weren’t people anyone could normally meet without being granted an audience, so that made sense. Noa also lived in Crimonia, so it must be rare for her to meet them. Wait, didn’t that mean I was the weird one since I met the king every time I came to the castle?

「Still, I was very surprised to see that the two girls have the same plushies as Flora.」

From further conversation, it seemed that Princess Flora had been uneasy with Shuri’s sudden appearance but had relaxed when Shuri had called out Swaying Bear’s name. Shuri had told her 「I have one, too!」 and had Fina pull out the plushie to show to the princess. Princess Flora’s wariness had completely disappeared once they had started talking about me.

Was it normal for royalty to get along with commoners over Bear plushies in this world?

In the fantasy stories I had read, that would definitely be impossible. Commoners wouldn’t be permitted to even get this close to royalty. Normally, this would be the scene where the commoners were grovelling on the ground and apologizing repeatedly.

Thanks to the Bear plushies, though, the three of them were now sitting and chatting together.

「Bear-sans… There are lots of Bear-sans.」

Princess Flora smiled happily at the set of plushies. On the other hand, Noa looked a bit depressed as she was the only one without a plushie. Feeling bad for her, I summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear in their cub form and passed Swaying Bear to her.

「Swaying Bear-chan, Hugging Bear-chan!」

「Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear!」

The younger two strongly reacted to the Bears.

「Yuna-san?」

「I’ll lend you Swaying Bear, Noa, so please don’t look so sad.」

「Thank you very much.」

Noa happily placed Swaying Bear on her lap and hugged it tightly.

「Noa-neechan, you’re so unfair.」

「Swaying Bear…」

「Ufufu.」

Now the two younger girls were enviously looking at Noa. I could never win…

Their fixation soon moved from Swaying Bear to Hugging Bear, which I was holding.

「You two have your plushies, don’t you.」

「You’re mean, Yuna-neechan.」

「Hugging Bear…」

Their envious looks were now completely directed at me.

「I will take care of it, so you can’t argue over it any more.」

But before I knew it, Her Highness had walked over to my side and lifted up Hugging Bear from my arms.

「Mother!!」

「Hugging Bear!」

Her Highness held Hugging Bear cheerfully and returned to her seat.

Um, that was my Hugging Bear, so I hoped she would return it properly.

Looking around the table again, I suddenly realized how strange this situation had become. There were five Bears here now.

Aside from Eleanora-san, Anju-san, and me, everybody was holding onto a Bear of their own.

「Yuna-chan, I’m sad, too. I’m the only one who doesn’t have a bear.」

What did she mean by only her?

「I’m not holding one, either.」

Hugging Bear had just been kidnapped by Her Highness, after all.

「But Yuna-chan, you’re a bear, too, aren’t you?」

It seemed that I was already considered a Bear by other people at this point…

Well, right now, I somehow needed Eleanora-san to give up so that the amount of Bears didn’t increase even further.

「Fufu. This is indeed a unique gather-up. Far wouldn’t be able to join even if he wanted to.」

By Far, Her Majesty must have meant His Majesty, Farrat. Well, he would most likely feel awkward sitting among a group of girls, so he might not even want to join in. There were a lot of children here as well.

I was also worried that Shuri would do something rude to His Majesty, so it would really help if he didn’t show up.

「Wait, if Yuna-chan is here, maybe Far is waiting for her in Flora’s room?」

「Shall I call for him?」

Anju-san asked us.

「No, it’s fine. When we came, I asked the gate guard not to inform him, so His Majesty doesn’t even know that Yuna-chan is here. We’ve only planned on bringing the girls for some sightseeing around the castle and not stop by Princess Flora’s room.」

「Really? In that case, we’re not having any delicious foods today?」

Her Highness sounded very disappointed.

Could it be that this couple thought I only came here to bring food for them?

Granted, I did feed them every time I visited, but I was bringing food to Princess Flora, not them.

「Yuna-chan, why don’t you take out some cotton candy?」

Eleanora-san, noticing Her Highness’s crestfallen expression, suggested to me.

「Cotton candy?」

「My, what is that?」

「It’s a candy that feels like you are eating a cloud.」