Fish Don't Know About Water - Chapter 49

“Can’t hear a thing! Can’t you speak more clearly and loudly?”

As he approached the field hospital, someone’s loud shout pierced his ears. Viett froze in his tracks.

‘You idiot! I told you to speak clearly and distinctly!’

The thunderous anger of his father, which he had heard countless times. Even though he knew his father couldn’t be here, his body stiffened.

He wiped the sweat off his suddenly clammy forehead with the back of his hand and turned towards the sound. A crowd had gathered in front of the stone wall surrounding the field hospital.

“The speech by Prince Minute has begun.”

A soldier in a patient’s gown stood on a drum, loudly reading today’s edition of <Pepe>.

Nurses, soldiers, young cadets, and officers gathered around the drum, savoring the novel being read aloud.

“May you survive this war safely, my dear brother. Don’t become a man known for making his wife a widow in record time… What a lunatic. Is this a curse or a blessing?”

“Just read it! Stop adding unnecessary commentary!”

Someone jeered at the soldier reading the newspaper. Ignoring the jeers, the soldier continued reading.

“I thought as I sipped my cider. What a rotten thing to say on such a wonderful night.”

“Right on!”

A young assistant nurse shouted loudly. Others agreed with her exclamation.

“That prince, sitting there making such unlucky remarks about the newlyweds.”

“He’s not a prince in name only; he really is a prince.”

Viett approached the crowd with a bemused expression. Among the people gathered around the drum, he recognized many familiar faces.

The ones listening to the reading with cigarettes in their mouths were his fellow cadets from the academy, and the young boys with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes were the cadets he had trained.

“Everyone burst out laughing at Prince Minute’s unpleasant joke. Viett did not laugh. I couldn’t laugh either. And then the real party began… That’s the end.”

The soldier standing on the drum folded the newspaper with a dejected face. The gathered crowd let out a collective sigh of disappointment.

“That’s it?”

“At least it’s longer than usual.”

“So did they do it or not? What kind of ending is that?”

Someone grumbled openly, blowing out cigarette smoke. A nurse standing next to him frowned and glared at him.

“What can we do? The novel only records events until midnight. The party continued past midnight.”

“You were at the party yesterday! Don’t you know anything?”

“No.”

The nurse replied coldly and added a few more words.

“The Commander and the Little Lady went upstairs covered in alcohol and whipped cream…”

“And then?”

“We don’t know. Party attendees can’t just loiter on the second floor where the couple’s bedroom is.”

The nurse shrugged nonchalantly despite the jeers around her. The soldier who had read the newspaper climbed down from the drum and confidently declared.

“I bet the Little Lady accepted the prince’s proposal on the condition that they wouldn’t sleep together.”

“Maybe it’s the prince who’s the unfortunate one!”

“Yeah. Maybe he got dragged to the altar after fooling around with a woman for fun.”

“No way! They were so affectionate during the reception!”

A nurse, who Viett had seen a few times, shouted in a distressed tone. She glared fiercely at the officers who had spoken carelessly.

“And what? Fooling around? Why are you treating a decent woman like an object?”

“She’s not exactly decent.”

An officer scoffed, lighting a cigarette.

“Everyone knows the Little Lady’s nickname is ‘Psycho’…”

“You bastards.”

Viett’s patience reached its limit, and he spat out the words. Those who heard him turned their heads in unison. The first to react were Viett’s subordinates. They quickly stood and saluted him.

“Commander!”

“S-seems like you all have too much time on your hands.”

Viett glared at his pale-faced subordinates and then turned his gaze to those who were slowly trying to slip away. Half of the spectators had already disappeared.

“Crazy bastards…”

He let out an irritated sigh and rummaged through his jacket’s inner pocket for a cigar. He only found a cigarette pack.

Muttering curses, he put a cigarette in his mouth. One of the trembling subordinates hurriedly pulled out a lighter. Viett walked past the subordinate who was trying to light his cigarette.

“G-get lost, all of you.”

“Yes, sir!”

At his command, they scattered in all directions. As he glared at them as if he wanted to kill them, Esca appeared, humming a tune.

“Your Highness. Since we celebrated your birthday yesterday, I’ll skip the congratulations today.”

Esca waved cheerfully at him.

“By the way, did you hear that today’s sales of the ‘Evening Whisper’ are booming? The newspapers are sold out everywhere, and it’s hard to distribute even one copy per officer’s quarters today.”

Viett grabbed the bundle of newspapers left behind by the fleeing soldiers and shook it silently. Esca burst out laughing upon seeing the newspapers.

“Wow, seeing this here. Everyone’s scrambling to get a newspaper after hearing about the second prince and Little Lady’s wedding announcement.”

“…”

“Are they curious about the royal wedding or the first night? It’s quite disgusting, don’t you think?”

“A-and you’re included in that group?”

At Viett’s sharp question, Esca awkwardly rolled his eyes.

“Ahem, well. I read something similar to your situation in a philosophy book once.”

“W-what was it?”

“Prasonic? Something like that. It talked about a pure and more spiritual form of love that excludes physical desire between a man and a woman, and so on…”

“P-p… Platonic, you idiot.”

Esca playfully wiggled his eyebrows as if to say, ‘Same difference.’

“Honestly, Vivi. You both fell asleep right after washing up yesterday, didn’t you? Am I right?”

“Crazy bastard.”

“Explicit sexual descriptions are forbidden in novels, but even past Little Lords’ novels included suggestive phrases like ‘We spent a long night together’ or ‘We rolled around in bed all night.’”

“…”

“And I’ve been married for years, so I can tell whether you just held hands with Pepe, cuddled, or did nothing at all.”

…It seems you don’t know at all. Viett looked at his friend, who had his chin arrogantly lifted, with pity.

“No matter what, you’ll live as a couple for the rest of your lives, so isn’t your relationship progressing too slowly?”

“P-please shut up.”

“The Hartmann royal family is known for having few children, so if you and Pepe have a cute royal child, the entire nation will welcome it with open arms.”

“Shut up.”

Viett turned his body, leaving the annoying Esca behind. He had already given up searching the field hospital.

He didn’t think his wife would be there. If she were, they wouldn’t have held a novel reading session near her.

Rolling up the bundle of newspapers, he walked towards the nurses’ quarters. Esca followed him closely, resting his clasped hands on his head.

“You even went into the shower room together. Why is Your Highness’s patience so remarkable?”

“H-how do you know w-we went into the s-shower room together?”

Viett stopped and turned to Esca.

“The description after midnight isn’t in the novel.”

“Uh? Haha… Well…”

Could he have spied on what happened after midnight on the second floor?

The time he and Phenelity went into the shower room was definitely after midnight. How does this guy know about something not recorded in the novel?

“Well… You left a trail of crumbs all the way to the shower room like Hansel and Gretel. Princess Rose and Miss Rosti must have noticed too.”

Viett glared at his friend, who was smiling shamelessly. Since both he and Phenelity had been soaked in cream and alcohol, dirty footprints might have been clearly left in the hallway. But something still felt off to dismiss his suspicion.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Esca grumbled, unable to hide his discomfort. Viett narrowed his eyes at him before turning away.

“B-be careful with your words. People might m-misunderstand and think you eavesdropped on us.”

“Haha… Is that so…”

Esca awkwardly smiled and followed Viett. Viett unfolded the crumpled newspaper and started reading the novel <Pepe>. His eyes stopped at one sentence as he read without much interest.

「As we walked arm in arm through the guest seats, Viett flinched at my muttered words.

— What are you thinking?」