Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 222

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 222. Let Us Take a Moment to Contemplate Why This Work Exists in the Romance Fantasy Category (2)
“Pisha, do I really have to go?”
No, I can’t keep living with bandages wrapped around my face forever. It’s inconvenient even to speak. They said my jawbone was fractured. Natural healing would take quite some time.
For my own benefit and advancement, I brushed away Croa’s hand with a swift motion. The little one then grabbed my sleeve with his other hand.
“Then, um, I’ll go with you too. That’s fine, right?”
“Hey, you don’t know what a date means?”
Nanakda has a point. A date is usually between two people, isn’t it? When I tilted my head in confusion, Croa brought up some nonsensical argument.
“You don’t even know what a double date is?”
Isn’t that when two couples go out together? I wondered if I was mistaken, but seeing that Nanakda remembered it the same way I did, I wasn’t wrong.
“A double date is when two couples go out together! What kind of person calls it a double date when two guys tag along!”
“In Kisomalos, we use it sometimes!”
Hmm… I’ve lived in Kisomalos for nearly forty years. I’ve never heard such a thing once. Croa seems to have misunderstood something… When I asked where on earth he heard that, the boy started spouting off about what Pisha would know.
“What would Pisha know about Kisomalos!”
“Ah, well, ha-ha-heh. (I’ve lived here my whole life.)”
“Anyway, don’t interfere!”
Since Croa told me to stay put, I huddled in the corner of the bed, and the boy brought out different logic to counter Nanakda.
“I will go together with the Chief Chamberlain. Then it would be a double date, wouldn’t it?”
“Hey! Are you dating that Head Attendant Grandmother?! You’re not!”
A date doesn’t only happen between people who are dating. You can go on a date while getting to know someone, to know them better. I’m going on a date with you, Nanakda, and we’re not dating either. Since Croa’s logic seemed airtight, I added my own comment, and this time Nanakda glared at me fiercely and shouted.
“Horned head! Whose side are you on!”
“Ah, well, uh, I don’t really have a side to take… (I don’t particularly have anyone’s side to take…)”
“If you’re not taking my side, then stay quiet!”
Ugh… Nanakda also told me to stay put, so I crawled back into the corner of the bed.
“How disrespectful! How dare you order the Princess around!”
“You were ordering her around just now!”
“That’s fine for me! We’ve lived together for over ten years!”
“What nonsense! I never approved a double date in the first place!”
“Your Majesty never specifically told me to go out alone with her either. If I were to ask His Majesty right now whether a double date wouldn’t be better, he would immediately approve, wouldn’t he?”
Oh, that’s definitely something Father would say. Nanakda couldn’t refute this, so he just made a frustrated sound and stomped his feet. It’s amusing watching a grown man act like that.
“Fine then. If the Chief Chamberlain agrees to the date, you can come along.”
“Hmph! I knew you’d say that from the start!”
“Just so you know, if the Chief Chamberlain refuses because she’s busy, you can’t go, understood? This is a double date, after all!”
Since things seem to be resolved well, could someone give me a healing spirit stone now? I stayed quiet because I found it strange that you understood my words, but you keep making those sounds, so it’s becoming more uncomfortable for me. And it hurts.
When I insisted on this, Nanakda realized he’d forgotten and threw me a spirit stone. As I channeled divine power into it, the pain in my jaw vanished in an instant. Ah, now I can finally breathe easy.

✦ ✦ ✦
To cut to the chase, the double date happened. I’d assumed the Chief Chamberlain would decline, too busy with Radio Broadcasting Station matters, but she called her secretary to rearrange her schedule and insisted on joining us. She said she couldn’t possibly miss such an entertaining spectacle.
Having known Father for so long, she’d picked up some of his habits—or so it seemed. She’d be absolutely furious if I told her the truth.
“What on earth is all this?”
“Right? What is all this?”
The Chief Chamberlain and I each took a man by the arm and were escorted into the Main Palace Garden. I could see Father from the direction of the Office, peering through opera glasses, but that wasn’t the important part…
The garden had a waist-high iron fence enclosing it, and scattered unnaturally throughout were boxes. They weren’t stacked cargo—what were they? I was puzzled until Nanakda arrived with a basket and began sprinkling dried leaves everywhere.
“Come out, you rascals!”
Even after Nanakda’s call, nothing happened for a while, leaving me wondering what this was about. After roughly a minute, a fluffy-furred creature poked its head out.
“Huh?”
That’s a fluffy Astiages cat! I wanted to run over and scoop it up immediately, but I’d heard cats dislike aggressive approaches, so I clenched my fists and restrained myself.
“Pisha, there’s another one!”
“They’re gathering where the leaves were scattered!”
It wasn’t just one or two fluffy cats. About ten of them came rushing over, rolling and purring on the dried leaves scattered across the ground.
“Wow, cats usually don’t follow people, do they? What did you sprinkle?”
“Hehe, the magic of catnip. You don’t have that culture on the Central Continent?”
Yeah, we don’t seem to. We’re different from the Northern Kingdom, which uses every method imaginable to make cats follow people. Though they’re not even a kingdom anymore now. Hahaha!
“Isn’t that perilla leaf? The kind you use for wraps? You’re drying food meant for people and giving it to cats?”
“Your Highness, it’s not perilla leaf—it’s catnip.”
“They’re different?”
“Very different.”
I see. Anyway, thanks to Nanakda, I get to experience all sorts of wonders. Cats can actually come this close to people. In our country, the cat population is sparse, and even when we spot them, they’re too wild to approach human settlements. And as for popular pets… well, dogs and ferrets, mostly? Honestly, saying you keep a cat is about as unusual as saying you raise sheep at home.
“Won’t they bite if I touch them?”
“They like being touched on the head, back, and rear end.”
“Oh.”
This is my first time touching a cat. Even when I visited Astiages, I only ever watched from a distance—never actually petted one.
“Wow, so soft.”
Our country mostly has short-haired cats, so I wondered if they’d be a bit coarse. This one’s a long-haired breed, incredibly soft. I started gently stroking it, grew more confident, and began petting it more vigorously. Eventually, after touching its rear end, I couldn’t resist the urge and lifted the cat up.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
I buried my face in the cat’s elongated belly and breathed deeply. Inhale, exhale, warm and soft and smelling of cat. Pure bliss.
“Hiii! Whooo! Hiii! Whoooo!”
“This herb—it doesn’t affect people too, does it?”
“I’ve never received any reports of that.”
“But Croa’s acting the same way. Surely something strange is going on?”
“Well… probably not.”
Nanakda looked back and forth between Croa and me, then suspiciously picked up some catnip crumbs he’d brought and sniffed them.
“Maybe those two are just perverts?”
“I’m not a pervert!”
“I may not speak for Pisha, but I am not a deviant!”
So Croa thought I was a deviant all along?! I was about to confront him about it when I thrust the cat into the arms of the worried-looking Chief Chamberlain.
“Try blowing on the cat’s belly. You’ll understand once you do it.”
There are people who’ve never tried it, but no one who’s done it just once. When I confidently declared that the addiction was absolutely unbeatable, the Chief Chamberlain regarded me with suspicion before picking up a cat. They say cats prefer people who show them no interest, and apparently the Chief Chamberlain had won this one over—the fluffy white cat rubbed its face against the Chief Chamberlain’s chest.
The sight was so endearing that I let out a shriek, and before the Chief Chamberlain could stop me, I buried my face in the cat’s belly.
“Mmph! Hoo!”
After taking several deep breaths with a satisfied hum, the Chief Chamberlain suddenly pulled back and made a wary sound.
“I see now! They say cats are supernatural creatures in the Southern Region!”
Yet despite these words, the Chief Chamberlain continued nuzzling the cat’s face with evident delight. This cat must be exercising considerable restraint right now. I suspect the claws might come out soon.
“But where did this one come from?”
A symbol of the peace accord with Astiages, something like that—it would make for a good photograph if we took one together and published it in the newspapers. But it doesn’t seem like this would turn a profit or demonstrate the Imperial Family’s might, so why bring a cat of all things?
As I pondered this, Nanakda scratched his cheek and spoke with apparent embarrassment.
“You liked it from the moment you first came to Astiages. You said you’d never seen a long-haired cat before.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“So, well, the export ban might as well be meaningless anyway, and I thought you’d like having one.”
He sent an airship just to see me happy and transported cats here? During that war, he had his people search through hiding places to find them? Judging by how healthy the cats look, they must have been treated with extraordinary care during transport.
“Hoo, hmm… heh.”
This fellow… his methods are quite cunning and adorable.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————