Well, let's start with our side of the story first.
Just as I finished watering the okra and went to head back to my office, the security shutters slammed shut, locking me out.
The instant I realized things were going south, protocol kicked in, and off to a panic room I went.
An Imperial Guard Knight authenticated at the wall panel, and a panic room door disguised as an ordinary wall slid open.
I was promptly shoved inside and placed under the vigilant watch of the entire Imperial Guard detail—likely to keep me from making a break for it.
Resigned to my fate, I pulled out some mineral water.
I know where the pantry stash is, after all~.
"Anyone want some? I've got instant ramen too, if somebody's hungry. Pretty sure there's an electric kettle around here somewhere..."
With that, I retrieved the electric kettle stored in the room.
The ramen was a private-brand product from the supermarket chain run by Claire's family home.
Apparently, they co-developed it with a local planet.
All you have to do is pour hot water, and it's surprisingly delicious.
"I'll handle that, so please just sit down, Your Majesty!"
And just like that, my confinement began.
"Oh, I want extra dried wakame, so I'm gonna go grab some."
"Just sit still and behave!"
They won't let me do a single thing... How sad...
Meanwhile, around the same time, over with Melissa.
This is from Melissa's account of events.
Melissa ran smack into her biological mother.
"Melissa!"
"Who're you, lady?"
There was no way she could have known.
Melissa had been abandoned by her mother before she was even old enough to remember, and she was raised by Melissa's papa, Big Sister-in-Law Uta, and the older guys at the dojo.
She had zero clue what her mother looked like.
She knew what she looked like when she fled back in the day, but she had no idea what her face looked like now.
I found out later when I met her, but... how should I put it... she looked considerably older than your average person.
Her attempts to look youthful were almost painful to see...
Her makeup was caked on so thickly it looked ready to peel right off.
She had also apparently undergone unnecessary, repeated cosmetic surgeries, and well... her face was practically caving in.
Add to that repeated crash dieting, which brought on muscle deterioration from protein deficiency and accelerated her aging even further.
Her skin sagged, and the parts where bone had been shaved down looked unnatural enough to make you wince...
In short... she had become an elderly woman who was simply hard to look at.
My father, despite his recurring diabetes, looked healthier by comparison.
Showing up in front of Melissa after all these years probably meant she was facing serious financial hardship.
Was this really the life she threw away her own daughter to get?
I'll never understand it.
"It's me! Mama!"
Melissa's mother pleaded.
The very next second, Melissa's hand went straight for her katana.
Melissa's Imperial Guard Captain immediately locked Melissa in a full nelson and hauled her back toward the palace.
She ended up shoved into a different panic room.
Overwhelmed by the terrifying density of Melissa's bloodlust, the captain had acted a bit too desperately.
When shoving her into the panic room, Melissa tumbled—and sprained her ankle.
Rather than being shoved in, it was more like she got bodily hurled straight out of the hold.
Later, the female captain testified that pulling her punches had simply been out of the question.
Disciplinary action? Nah, not happening.
Melissa was thoroughly deflated, too.
Well... it seemed her pride as a martial artist had taken a brutal beating.
Blood had rushed so hard to her head that all she could do was flail around helplessly.
Being tossed unceremoniously into a panic room without being able to put up even a shred of resistance had wounded her to her core.
Meanwhile, the other guards leveled their rifles at Melissa's mother and ordered her onto the floor.
"Drop any weapons and get on your stomach! Resist and you will be shot!"
And, by a stroke of terrible luck... well, it was only natural, really, but upon hearing about the emergency, Lu's mom came rushing over with a filming crew to run a live broadcast.
Without knowing a single thing about what was actually going on...
Why does everyone have the absolute worst timing?! Including me!
Well now, the whole incident got sensationalized and blown completely out of proportion, snowballing into a massive controversy.
Lu's mom was completely down in the dumps, murmuring, "I really didn't mean for this to happen..."
Wifey also took endless flak from all directions over the whole ordeal.
People were complaining that she wasn't keeping the nobles in her circle under proper control and what have you.
Wifey was utterly furious.
I mean, my own biological mother was one of those who ran off, too.
The rampant divorce rate among nobles suddenly exploded into a major social talking point.
People tried to point fingers at me as well, but since my own background was practically identical to Melissa's, the scrutiny on me eventually fizzled out.
Though I still got chewed out for ending up in a panic room over watering okra.
Melissa was genuinely depressed.
After all, things had spiraled into a giant mess on her account.
Not that anyone blamed her for things beyond her control.
Like some strange mother showing up out of nowhere.
She simply apologized for having been unreachable when it happened.
It was really just terrible timing, honestly~.
Melissa's Imperial Guard Captain offered to take responsibility and submitted her resignation.
I rejected it on the spot.
I have no intention of punishing anyone over this fiasco.
No way in hell! If heads start rolling, they'll come after me next!
By the way, the person with the absolute worst luck in all of this was Eddy.
While he was stuck teaching the "Children's Swordsmanship Class" that Katori-sensei had dumped on him at the dojo alongside the other swordsmanship club members, the facility's security system locked down, trapping them all inside.
Apparently, he had a hell of a time trying to soothe a whole room of bawling kids.
In truth, Eddy doesn't belong to the Katori Style, but to the Galactic Empire Sports Agency Standard Swordsmanship branch.
The Katori Style is also a dojo affiliated with the Sports Agency, but it operates under its own distinct Katori Style banner.
Ugh, what a headache!
Anyway, the true victims here were Eddy and the swordsmanship club.
Well then, public opinion erupted into a fierce debate.
Far from remaining a private family squabble, it escalated into an issue that shook society to its foundation.
After all, countless Chronos citizens had lost parents, or parents had lost children, in the locust terrorist attack...
The prevailing sentiment throughout the nation was that abandoning a child was utterly unforgivable.
While there weren't any street children around, there were still plenty of kids living in welfare facilities.
Right then and there, Melissa's popularity skyrocketed through the roof.
The public mood shifted overwhelmingly to "never forgive the mother."
Yikes, that's terrifying!
"Ah, this might get ugly."
I had originally figured we could just have a Chronos courthouse hand down a swift ruling and slap a travel ban on her, but that wasn't going to cut it anymore.
I had Lu's mom broadcast that I would meet with her directly.
Still, I'm someone who was abandoned, too.
I hate the idea of doing this, but... I guess I need to have a word with my old lady and my old man.
"Leo. Or should I say, Your Majesty. What is the matter?"
I went to my old lady's office to talk.
"I want to hear about my real mother. I'm going to meet Melissa's mother, so I need to sort things out in my own head first."
"...Understood. I will call your father."
She opened a correspondence line.
We connected with my old man, who was currently undergoing educational hospitalization at a medical center in the Imperial Capital for his recurring diabetes.
"What is it, Leo?"
A heavily overweight father appeared on the screen.
Yeah, no wonder they checked him in for educational hospitalization.
"I want to ask about my mother."
"It's not a very pleasant story... But... you've become a parent yourself now... Perhaps it's finally time I told you. I did a terrible disservice to your mother..."
...Huuuh?
Wait just a second~.
The mood over here is taking a weird turn, too~.
Hey, I really don't need any "Child of Destiny" style secret backstory lore, okay?!