"Sorry to keep you waiting," Princess Lieschen said as she stepped into the room. She had evidently changed clothes while they were waiting.
"Wow, you look so pretty, Princess!" Hanna exclaimed, her eyes wide with admiration.
Gone were the traveling clothes from earlier. In their place, the Princess wore a flowing pink dress accented with delicate white lace.
"Personally, I find this sort of attire quite bothersome," the Princess admitted with a wry smile. Despite her words, her movements were graceful and refined, a clear sign that her noble bearing was second nature.
"Dinner will be ready momentarily. Please, do not trouble yourselves with stiff formalities; I want you to enjoy the meal."
"Thank you, we appreciate the hospitality," Jin replied. There wasn't much else he could say. Shortly after, two maids and two automata arrived with the food.
The automata carried the heavy trays, while the two maids were responsible for arranging the dishes on the table. In the corner of the room, an elderly man who looked every bit the Chamberlain stood watch, supervising the service.
(Man, even these automata look pretty worn out...) Jin thought as he observed their movements. His eyes were trained to notice the slightest hitch in their mechanics. (I can’t exactly go fixing them without being asked, though.)
Still, it gnawed at him. It was simply the nature of a craftsman.
The spread laid out before them was elegantly grand, yet the menu suggested a degree of restraint, avoiding needless extravagance. There was a small pot of assorted stewed vegetables, reminiscent of a pot-au-feu. Next to it were bite-sized steaks topped with a colorful medley of diced red and yellow vegetables and a rich sauce. There was also a marinade made from a fish with a salmon-like hue, along with small pieces of bread that had been sugared and toasted until they were crisp. A simple, golden-yellow plain omelet and a fresh salad overflowing with greens completed the meal. For drinks, they were served Persica juice.
"This is the same fare I usually eat," the Princess noted. "I hope it is to your liking."
"Yes! Itadakimasu!" Hanna chirped, diving right in. Like Jin, Hanna wasn't a picky eater. While Elsa was known to have a distaste for kokarisk meat, none was served tonight.
As the three of them settled into the meal, the Princess watched them with a look of mild bewilderment.
"That 'Itadakimasu' you just said... Is that a custom from the Kingdom of Egerea?"
Jin took it upon himself to explain. "No, it isn't. It’s more like a traditional greeting we say before meals in my family."
The Princess looked intrigued. "My, it seems you come from a most unusual background, Jin. I would love to hear more about it, provided you are willing to share." She chuckled, adding that she had a great interest in the various customs and folklore of different lands.
Jin carefully avoided the specifics of his origins and instead steered the conversation toward a topic he knew would captivate her: automata.
"Your Highness seems to rely on automata quite often. Do you happen to know who their creator is?"
"No, I’m afraid I do not. They are simply provided to me by my father."
"I see. Based on what I’ve seen, most appear to be of Egerean manufacture, followed by those from the Celuroa Kingdom."
Lieschen looked impressed. "My, you can tell all that just by looking? How remarkable." She paused, then asked, "To be honest, I’ve felt that their movements have grown a bit sluggish lately. What is your professional opinion?"
Jin realized the Princess was more observant than she let on. "You are correct," he said honestly. "They appear to have been neglected. They lack proper maintenance."
He went on to suggest that she would need to procure the right materials and find someone capable of performing the work. However, his advice proved to be a bit of a double-edged sword.
"Oh, is that so? Then I shall have the materials gathered by tonight! Jin, please rest well. Tomorrow, I would like you to perform maintenance on all of them!"
Elsa, listening nearby, looked slightly exasperated. She had given Jin a look earlier that suggested he was the reason they were stuck here because he talked too much, yet here he was, inadvertently digging himself a deeper hole.
But Elsa didn't truly mind that side of Jin. She was just a little worried about him. She knew better than anyone that Jin’s affection for dolls and golems was far from ordinary.
"Hanna, you seem to like those. Here, you can have mine as well."
"Wow, thank you, Princess!" Hanna beamed as she accepted the Persica from the Princess’s salad.
Jin, meanwhile, was stuck on a technicality. Since Persica were essentially peaches, he wondered why they were available this late in the season. On Hourai Island, the free ether in the ground was suspected of influencing the growth cycles, but what about here in the Klein Kingdom?
He couldn't find an immediate answer. He decided he would have the Quinta look into it later.
Unaware of Jin's unromantic technical musings, Elsa watched the group with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Though the three of them weren't related by blood, she truly felt as though they were her family.
"Hanna-chan, you can have mine too."
"Wow, thanks, Elsa-neechan!"
As Elsa shared her own portion of Persica, Princess Lieschen watched them with a hint of envy in her eyes.
"You all truly are close, aren't you? I find myself a bit jealous."
Hanna, with the innocent bluntness of a village girl who didn't know any better, looked at the Princess. "Princess, is there someone you don't get along with?"
Lieschen didn't take offense. Instead, she gave a lonely little smile. "Fufu, it isn't that I have enemies. It's simply that I have no family to be close with."
It was a subtle distinction, but Elsa understood immediately. Princess Lieschen was an outsider within her own royal house.
Jin understood it from a different perspective. He knew that the opposite of love wasn't hate, but indifference. Being ignored or disregarded was a slow, heavy burden to carry. An automata would never betray its master, but was that the automata's will? No, it was simply how they were programmed. Relying solely on the devotion of dolls was like living in a hollow, isolated world.
"Regarding Your Highness’s siblings..." Jin began.
The Princess seemed to anticipate the question. "My eldest brother is Edmond; he is twenty-eight. My second brother is Arthur; he is twenty-six. My eldest sister is thirty and married into a ducal house, and my second sister is twenty-two and was just recently married as well."
"...There is quite an age gap between you and your siblings, Your Highness," Elsa noted. Having a significant age gap with her own brothers, she knew how difficult it could be to truly connect with older siblings.
"And your mother...?"
"Mother... passed away right after I was born. I suspect that is why my brothers and sisters are so cold toward me."
Jin finally understood. The current royal family of the Klein Kingdom lacked a Queen. Starting with the thirty-year-old eldest daughter, the Queen had given birth to five children before passing away following the birth of Lieschen, the youngest. It was likely that her siblings blamed the Princess for their mother's death.
"Only my father is kind to me, but he is always so terribly busy..."
There was nothing Jin could do to fix her family dynamics. He could only hope this bright, spirited girl would grow up strong without becoming bitter. However, he realized he could at least make sure her time at the Detached Palace was peaceful. Even if that peace was provided by automata.
Smiling wryly at the contradiction of his own thoughts, Jin resolved to put his heart into repairing the Princess’s automata. He borrowed some writing tools and drafted a list of the materials he would need.
"I see! If this is all you require, I shall have it ready by morning!" the Princess said, handing the list to a maid with swift instructions. "I am truly looking forward to tomorrow."
After dinner, Jin steered the conversation away from heavy topics and told her stories about the Kingdom of Egerea. He had, after all, traveled the main highway from the Kingdom of Elias to the Celuroa Kingdom by carriage.
"I see, I see. I had heard the rumors, but was the golem incident truly that chaotic?"
The Princess was most fascinated by the account of the disturbance at the Golem Party. Jin and Elsa gave her a general overview, carefully blurring the details of their own involvement.
Eventually, noticing Hanna starting to nod off, the Princess stood up. She expressed her gratitude for the fascinating stories and retired for the night. One of the maids came to lead Jin’s group to their bedroom. This maid was a quiet, elderly woman, unlike the talkative one from earlier.
"Guests, thank you for tonight," she said softly before leaving. "It has been a long time since I have seen Her Highness look so happy."
The three of them shared a single large room, roughly thirty square meters in size. Each bed was equipped with its own curtains to provide a sense of privacy. After tucking Hanna into one of the beds, Jin turned to Elsa and Reiko.
"The Princess is a better girl than I thought. Tomorrow, I’m going to give these automata a thorough overhaul before we head out."
"Mm. I figured you'd say that, Jin-nii," Elsa replied.
"As my father wishes," Reiko added.
Neither of them had any objections. Jin then gave Reiko her orders. "Reiko, contact Laojun. Have him send some repair materials our way."
He listed out the specific items he would need. One of the Secret Mobile Units assigned to shadow Jin would likely be the one to deliver them. He didn't need a massive quantity, but he made sure to instruct them to pack the items so they would look like ordinary luggage.
"Alright, everything starts tomorrow," Jin said, collapsing onto his bed. "We were supposed to be sightseeing, but it turned into quite the ordeal, didn't it?"
"No, it's been fun in its own way," Elsa replied, sitting on the edge of her bed. "I know how kind you are, Jin-nii—not just to people, but to automata and golems as well."
Hearing that, a very faint, soft smile touched Reiko’s lips.