Cruel King and the Princess of Prophecy Chapter 12

Author Note: This is the continuation from the short story version.

The bookmarks have already reached 730, I don't even know anymore what I should do about this....

Anyways, thank you very much everyone!!!

********************************************

Nicolette demanded one week for her to get used to being kissed. Though she was acting suspiciously, every time she was in front of Wolfgang, she still answered any questions that were related to her research.

Wolfgang, at that time, thought of fulfilling the promise that he gave to Nicolette, and so, he come to the Empress's room.

"Ah, Wolf-sama."

Nicolette said that with her usual smile. Though for a moment there, she gave a voice that sounded like she was surprised, but these two-three days has let her return to her normal self.

Wolfgang walked to Nicolette and hugged her hips, then he kissed her cheeks. Nicolette's cheeks became red because of this. While Wolfgang looked at his wife with an affection gaze, he said,

"I am going to watch the army after this, how about we go together?"

"I'll go!"

Though until just a moment ago her cheeks were blus.h.i.+ng red with embarra.s.sment, she has already turned into the embodiment of curiosity. Perhaps, inside her, her curiosity is triumphing over love and other emotions. Wolfgang felt slighty disappointment about this, but that's how she is, Wolfgang can't help being in love with that side of her.

Nicolette changed into a blue one piece dress that was easy to move in, and joyfully followed behind Wolfgang. The skirt that she was wearing is decorated with short frills, she wore boots with short heels, and her honey blond hair was tied in a braid behind her back.

The place where the training field was located on complete other side of where the Emperor's room located. Because of that, they had to walk across the big palace, but Nicolette didn't show any signs of tiredness at all. Though he still matched his pace with her, she was faster than he thought.

"Oohhh. There's so much people~!"

So, that's the first thing that she was surprised about. The first thing that came into their line of sight was a soldier that was training their swordsmans.h.i.+p. Since it was rowdy at this place, he didn't think that the soldier would be able to hear Nicolette's voice, but there still seems to be some soldiers that realized her presence. Looking at them who were quickly bowing and showing respect, Wolfgang only waved his hand telling them not to mind about his and Nicolette's presence.

"His Majesty, we have been waiting for you to show up...."

The person in charge took a quick glance at Nicolette. Even if she did bring her parasol with her, since Nicolette's outfit was not really like an Empress's at all, the person seemed to be bewildered.

"She is Empress Nicolette. You should've meet her before right?"

"I'm Nicolette. Sorry for the disturbance~"

Since one of her hands was holding on to the parasol, she pinched her dress and did a curtsey, then she smiled at that person. When she acted like this, she didn't look like an eccentric that loved to experiment at all.

"The Empress will also be watching training today, so don't make any foolish behaviour."

"Ye, yes!"

The man who was in charge gave his answer while looking nervous. Nicolette looked at that interestingly. As they were the person in charge, they returned to manage the training grounds, and Wolfgang once again watched over the soldiers that were training. Overall, it seems like they're doing better than they usually do. Was it because Nicolette was watching them?

Wolfgang took a quick glance over at Nicolette who was standing right beside him. She was looking at the training place with a really interested look.

"....Is it fun?"

"Yep. Though I don't really understand it, I'm interested."

"....Is that so...."

What part of the army training touched Nicolette's heartstrings he wondered. While he was being astonished about it, he thought that was exactly how Nicolette is. At that time, he heard the voice of a horse coming closer to where they were standing. As Wolfgang looked at the direction where the sound came from, Nicolette tilted her head and asked,

" what happened? "

Nicolette follow after Wolfgang's line of sight, then she catch the sight of the horse riding that come closer . Nicolette trembled in surprise, and then taking 2-3 step backward.

"Wha, what, is that....?"

"Why are you asking, that is a horse. You've ridden on a horse carriage before, right?"

"Ye, yeah...."

That same time when Nicolette nodded with hesitation, the one who rode on the horse stopped it's advance right in front of Wolfgang and Nicolette, it was the Prime Minister, Hains.

....Wolfgang felt like there was too much things that was too hard to understand around him. The girl who was first on that list, was looking up at the horse while looking dumbfounded and holding her parasol.

"....What's your business here, Hains?"

"Of course, it's because I came here to ridicule His Majesty and the Empress who were going on a date....these reasons exist of course, but I came here because there's an important letter coming, while I was at it, I also wanted to see how thing's are going."

Hains smoothly descend from the horse, and then gave said letter to Wolfgang. Looking briefly at it's content, Wolfgang said his response to Hains regarding what he should do about it.

"I understand. Then, is there anything wrong, Her Majesty? If you want to touch it, you can just touch it, you know."

Hains said that to Nicolette who was standing at a place a little farther away from them. His smile really gave a wicked person's aura....so it seems that the one he wanted to make fun of it wasn't Wolfgang, but Nicolette instead.

Awkwardly, Nicolette extended her hand toward the horse. No matter how you looked at it, she looked a little bit scared, but that aspect of her bravery and curiosity was really worth respect.

Though he felt some pity while looking at her, the sacred Nicolette was also lovely, so Wolfgang decided to just look at her from afar.

At that moment, when Nicolette's hand was about to touch the horse's mane, the horse suddenly turned toward Nicolette's face, and neighed.

"Hyowaah!"

Nicolette raised an un-womanly scream, and dropped her parasol. While she was at it, she clung to Wolfgang's hand.

"It, it, it moved."

To Nicolette who still wasn't functioning properly, Wolfang gave an inadequate answer, "Well, it's a horse after all". The tip of her mouth couldn't stop trembling. Nicolette rarely got scared because of something that was really lovely, but if he laughed now, it would only worsen her mood.

"Rather than that, Hains, why did you come here riding on a horse?"

He asked that while Nicolette was still clinging onto his hand, and Hains then made a malicious smile.

"I thought it would be faster to arrive. Also, I thought that it would incur Her Highness's curiosity."

"Me, meanie!"

Before Wolfgang had time to say anything, Nicolette was already looking at Hains. Hains only answered with, "It was my first time seeing a way of scolding that cute, you know " then, he laughed.

"Well then, since I already teased you guys to my heart's content, I'll take my leave here. After all, the government will stop if neither me or His Majesty are present."

As Hains jumped up to ride the horse, he went toward the same road from where he came from. What the heck is up with this man, seriously? He came all the way here just to make fun of them. For now, Wolfgang picked up Nicolette's parasol that fell on the ground.

"Here."

"Ah, un.....thanks...."

After receiving the parasol from Wolfgang, Nicolette fixed her attire. "What was that....?" she muttered.

Answering her, Wolfgang said,

"Just like the person himself said, he came here to tease you. Have you ever talked with Hains that you were afraid of horses or something like that before?"

"I, I never said anything about that, you know. I just told him that in the monastery we weren't allowed to get close to huge animals, just that...."

Nicolette answered looking up to Wolfgang with upturned eyes. Perhaps, those nuns thought that if they let Nicolette get closer to the animals, she would have thought about wanting to dissect them.

Perhaps, because of that, she never had a chance to know huge animals, and somehow developed a fear of them.

And then, Hains realized that possibility.

"....Aah. Without a doubt, he will come to make fun of you."

"Eehhh? Why?"

"Hains's raison d'etre is to make fun of people, you know. Perhaps, from now on, you'll get teased by him a lot, so prepare yourself."

"....Yep."

As Nicolette nodded with a serious expression, the next place they went to was the training place that she has been waiting for, the firing arena.

"Ooooh!!"

Nicolette raise her usual excited scream while her eyes were glittering. Just like usual, she was someone who was honest to what she liked.

"Awesome. It's the latest, Leclerc Rifle....!"

The soldier who was doing practice near her froze in surprise because a woman suddenly appeared saying such a thing. However, he realized the presence of wolfgang, and saluted in panic.

"His Majesty!"

"Aah, don't mind her, she's the Empress, Nicolette. She says weird things sometimes, but don't mind it."

Wolfgang decided to say that beforehand. Nicolette answered, "Eehhh, what do you mean~?" but, it seems that she hasn't realized her own eccentricness. Right after the moment he said that,

"That one is Bayer gun! I've never shot one of these before though."

"....From those words, have you ever shot a Leclerc rifle before?"

The Leclerc rifle is a gun used for sniping. The prototype was something that was invented by Nicolette's mother. Since it's improvements are still continuing, that was the reason Nicolette squealed, "It's the latest~".

The Bayer gun on the other hand is a gun that is used for short distance shooting. In other words, it's a gun that will be easier to use in war. Again, the Bayer gun was small and light.

"My mother was the one who invented it after all, and I was the one who test shot, you know."

Now that she said it, he felt like they had the same kind of conversation long ago. Looking at Nicolette's glittering eyes, Wolfgang sighed,

"Want to try it?"

"I do!"

Nicolette immediately nodded. Making a small sigh, Wolfgang gave the Leclerc rifle to her.

"Will you really be alright? It's heavy, you know."

"Don't worry~ Don't worry~"

Saying that, Nicolette stood in front of the target, and started to inspect the gun. After this, she took a stance with the gun, and she said,

"Isn't the mark too close?"

"........"

Indeed, the Leclerc rifle's maximum range is about 200 yards. It's effective range is around 100 yards. In fact, no matter who held it, if it's used outside that range, the bullet wouldn't hit the target at all.

Though Wolfgang and the soldiers trembled hearing her statement, they still do as she said, and move the mark 100 yards to the back.

And then,

"All five of the bullets. .h.i.t it's mark, eh...."

Though she was just doing a test fire, all of them hit the target, even the sniper troops were amazed by her. Nicolette then proudly said,

"I was the one who did the test fire for all of the prototype guns that my mother made after all. If it's using my favourite gun, I would be able to aim and hit the target from 400 yards ahead, you know."

Wolfgang was actually quite good with a gun, but he still lost to Nicolette. However, since she is a woman that didn't have much muscular power, she seems to not be able to shoot using the Bayer gun because it's recoil is transmitted directly to it's user. She did have to try to fire it before, but her shoulders gave up. Rather than that,

"I have become more uncertain about what kind person you are...."

"Like I said~, my name is Nicolette Do Roware. Also, Wolf-sama's wife right~"

Nicolette said that with a smile blooming on her face. It was such a beautiful smile that it's a bit disappointing that she held a gun in her hand.

"Now that you say it, what happened to your favourite gun?"

"There's no way, I left it in the monastery when I came here. I was going to bring it with me you know, but everyone said, 'We can't let you bring such a thing to your husband's place!', and confiscated it."

"....Is that so...."

"Even if I left it at the monastery, n.o.body will use it though. Rather, even if I bring it with me, it will still get confiscated at the border, right."

"That's indeed true."

Wolfang was really curious about the favourite gun that Nicolette got confiscated. However, he felt slightly relieved knowing that Nicolette still had a bit of common sense. Wolfgang thought that she was rather lacking in common sense, rather than just being plain naive.

"Nicola, can I ask you something? How are you able to shoot with such accuracy like that?"

Perhaps, it can be used in military training, or so he thought. Nicolette's answer was way too vague.

"Hmmm....that's right~ Now that someone has asked about it, I don't really know. I'm a woman, and don't have that much muscular power even though the gun is heavy, right? To reduce the recoil of the gun, everyone will have to increase the weight of the gun no matter what. I'm sure that everyone held down the gun when they're shooting to reduce the recoil, that might be the reason."

Indeed, when he shot, he ended up trying to hold up to the recoil.

"Hoho. Then, how about you?"

"Eehhh, umm...."

The usual Nicolette would give a quick answer for the question that he threw off, but this time, she looked uncertain about it.

"That's right. I think it's fine to just ward off the shock. At least, when I pull the trigger, I try to spring up my hand after all."

"But then, won't that make the bullet fly off everywhere?"

"....Eehhh. As I thought, I was just warding off the shock, you know. It's just that I never had any intention to fully hold down the gun's recoil."

"....Is that so."

He thought that the bullet would scatter in every direction if one didn't grasp the gun firmly though. Now, he felt like her good accuracy is thanks to this, or so Wolfgang thought.

************************************************

Author Note: For everyone who has read this so far, thank you very much.

Leclerc is the name of a tank though. Though in this story, it's a name that appeared as a name of a gun. By the way, in reality, at the time, something called a sniper rifle still hasn't been invented yet.

The next update with be on December 24th, it's going to be Christmas Eve, eh....