Doted Villainess

Chapter 197 – The librarian forest fairy

Fourteenth Arc – Second chapter

Tiararose was taken aback by Keith’s words at first, but then she thought, ‘That’s right, the Fairy Kings all made their own rings.’

The rings were then placed on locations where only the Fairy King or those blessed by them could enter.

Tiararose did get the fairy kings’ rings before due to her blessings, but a lot of trouble ended up happening during that time.

“So, I have to make a ring as the Fairy Queen of Sweets, then prepare a place to store it within the Sweets Castle… Is that it?” Tiararose asked Keith.

“That’s basically it.” Keith nodded.

“A Tiara ring for the Fairy Queen of Sweets, huh? I bet that would be adorable.” Aquasteed commented.

He started imagining a ring with candy on it, and started chuckling.

On the other hand, Tiararose started imagining a ring with a cake in it, and thought it would be just like those small toy rings that came together with sweets in her previous life.

“I think it could look great on Lucia.” Tiararose commented.

“I mean, sure… But that tomboy might also break it when she is playing.” Aquasteed replied.

“… That’s possible.” Tiararose said.

But even without taking the breaking possibility into account, a decorated ring might also get in the way when playing outside or when practicing swordsmanship, which Lucia started doing recently.

So, Tiararose turned to Keith and decided to continue the conversation, “Keith, can you teach me how to make a ring?”

“Normally the Fairy King should naturally know how to make it…” Keith replied.

“Eh?” Tiararose blinked at Keith’s words. She never thought she’d be able to naturally know how to do it.

She then thought it would be nice if she could learn how to make it by herself. She did make a villainess ring before, but the situation was quite different this time.

“Mmm…” Tiararose muttered.

She wondered if she’d be able to understand it if she concentrated and thought about the ring?

Deciding to try that out, Tiararose closed her eyes and focused.

By doing this, she was able to feel out her magic, but… Unfortunately, nothing about the ring came to mind.

Tiararose slumped her shoulders after a while, “Seems hopeless.”

Aquasteed gave her a caring smile, “It’s alright. You just became the Fairy Queen of Sweets, and the process was quite unusual, so it can’t be helped.

“We’ll just need to get Keith to teach you.”

“You’re right.” Tiararose nodded, then turned towards Keith.

However, he averted his eyes from her.

“… Keith?” Tiararose muttered.

“Keith, could you perchance…” Aquasteed started asking.

Both of them had a bad feeling about it… It couldn’t be…

“… It’s been so long ago, that I ended up forgetting how to make a ring.” Keith replied honestly.

The room went silent.

Tiararose dropped her shoulders dejectedly. She didn’t seriously expect him to forget how to make a ring, “So… You can’t make rings anymore, Keith?”

“No, that’s not it. If I need to make a new ring, then the method will surely come to my mind. I just don’t need one right now, so I can’t think of it.” Keith replied.

“Then it seems like it’s impossible for you to teach me how to make a ring…” Tiararose muttered.

That was troublesome. She wondered if she should ask Grail or Pearl about it, or perhaps just try searching Keith’s archives about it.

But as Tiararose thought about that, they suddenly heard a loud thud.

Before she could even raise her voice in surprise, Aquasteed had already hugged her, while Keith stood in front of her in a protective stance.

… But nothing in particular happened.

“It sounds like it came from below.” Keith commented.

“From the archives?” Tiararose asked.

“Did a bookshelf fall?” Aquasteed asked.

For the time being, there didn’t seem to be any danger, so the three of them decided to go to the archives.

The forest archives in Keith’s castle have a lot of things about Marineforest recorded on their books. Tiararose and Aquasteed often came here to investigate things.

The archives were filled with flower lamps, wooden desks and leaf chairs. The books too were made of leaves, and they were stored on trees that looked like bookshelves.

Up until a small while ago, the archives had been somewhat neglected, but since Tiararose and Aquasteed started visiting the archives, Keith ended up renovating it to look better.

“Me and Keith will go in first, so wait here until we can confirm that it’s safe inside, Tiara.” Aquasteed told her.

“I think something must have collapsed…” Keith muttered.

“Okay. Be careful, Aqua, Keith.” Tiararose told them.

While the two went inside, Tiararose worriedly waited at the entrance, while hoping nothing troublesome had happened.

Then, a small while after they entered it, Tiararose heard Keith’s voice, “I’ll save you now!”

“Eh? Someone is injured?” Tiararose muttered to herself.

Her heart started beating faster as she worried about the safety of the forest fairies.

Immediately after that though, the door to the archives was opened, “There is no danger, so you can come in.” Aquasteed told her.

“Yes! But Aqua, I heard Keith’s voice talking about help… What happened inside?” Tiararose asked.

She also thought that she might be able to do something about it, so she went inside and…

Found a forest fairy buried under a large number of books.

“… Eh?” Tiararose muttered.

“I don’t know the details either, but it seems like this one really likes books.” Aquasteed told her.

“She lost track of time while reading books, and eventually got buried in them.” Keith told them while moving the books around.

The buried fairy was soon rescued and smiled, “You saved me! Thank you!

“That was really fun… Books are truly the treasures of this world.”

“No wonder I thought I hadn’t seen you in a while. You shut yourself in the books?” Keith asked the fairy.

“No, no… I was just a bit obsessed about them for the last hundred years.” The fairy replied.

Keith then noticed that Tiararose had arrived, so he introduced her to the forest fairy, “This one likes books, so she manages the archives.”

“Nice to meet you!” The fairy jumped out from the pile of books.

She was a bit different from most forest fairies. Having an intelligent appearance of sorts. She wore glasses, had a curly green hair on a bob cut, and wore an apron with large pockets in it, that were filled with tools for repairing books.

Tiararose and Aquasteed blinked their eyes at the forest fairy who greeted them. She was really different from the forest fairies they met before.

The normal ones would usually smile and happily eat anything Tiararose brought them.

But the fairy in front of them was holding a book with a proud expression. She seemed to really love books.

Tiararose thought that this fairy was good at expressing herself probably because of how much she must have read.

“Anyways, I call her the janitor, but you can call her whatever you want.” Keith said while pointing at the fairy.

“I’m a librarian, not a janitor, your majesty! I’m the librarian of those forest archives! Please don’t get it wrong!” The fairy exclaimed.

“Aren’t those the same thing?” Keith replied.

“They’re completely different!” The fairy exclaimed.

Seems like she got angry when referred to as janitor.

Though her puffed up cheeks made Tiararose think she is cute.

In any case, Tiararose and Aquasteed greeted the librarian, “Nice to meet you, librarian, I’m Tiararose Lapis Marineforest.” Tiararose said.

“And I’m her husband, Aquasteed Marineforest.” Aquasteed complemented.

The fairy happily giggled, “I was called a librarian!”

The intellectual feeling that she gave off was completely blown away by those words.

“Keith, she looks so happy. Why don’t you call her like that too?” Tiararose asked.

“I think it’s the same thing, so it doesn’t matter, but… Well, I guess I can call you a librarian since Tiararose asked me to.” Keith told the fairy.

The fairy laughed happily, “Thank you, your majesty!”

The librarian then hid her grinning mouth with the book she was holding, and muttered to herself, “Librarian…”

But soon enough, the librarian returned to her senses and looked at Keith, “Isn’t it unusual for you to come here, your majesty?”

“I came because the book avalanche made a huge noise.” Keith replied plainly.

“Well, you really helped me with that!

“Ah, but you didn’t even read the book I recommended you last time, did you, your majesty!?

“I still remember it!” The librarian giggled.

“Tsk… Well, whatever. Let’s just find the book that Tiara needs.” Keith clicked his tongue.

“Are there books you need!? That’s where the librarian comes in then!” The librarian rushed towards Tiararose with tremendous speed.

Seems like she becomes a lot more active when one needs books, “What kind of book are you looking for, lady Tiararose? Since you have the Lapis name, then you married from the kingdom of Lapis Lazuli? We have books about that.

“If you’re from a noble family and not from the royalty, then we have books on that too.

“Ah, and you must be blessed by his majesty to come here, so you might want to read books on how to grow special plants and-”

Keith picked up the librarian by the scruff of her neck, “Listen!”

“Hyai!” The librarian exclaimed.

If the librarian was left alone, then she might never stop talking, so Tiararose couldn’t complain about Keith’s actions.

So, with a wry smile, Tiararose explained, “I want to read a book about the fairy kings.”

“There is no book about that in the lands of humans.” Aquasteed added.

“A book about the Fairy Kings? There are some, but… Those are not things that humans are supposed to read… I’m sorry.” The librarian bowed her head.

Seems like not even someone blessed by Keith could read some of the books here. Tiararose understood that, as books about the Fairy Kings could provide too much knowledge, but…

“Tiara, show her.” Keith told Tiararose.

“Eh? Ah, right, that’s what you mean.” Tiararose nodded.

She looked at Aquasteed for confirmation, and after he nodded, she decided to go ahead with it.

The librarian was a bit confused as she didn’t know what was going on.

But well, Tiararose had two forms for herself. The current one was that of a human, but she could also become the Fairy Queen of Sweets.

So, she gathered her power and transformed into a cute white, fluffy, Persian cat with golden eyes, the proof that she was a Fairy Queen.

“Eeeeeeh!? Hold on, golden eyes that are the proof of a king!? H-h-h-hold on! And coming to think of it, lord Aquasteed also has golden eyes! What happened during the last hundred years that I have been immersed in reading!?” The librarian exclaimed.

“Calm down.” Keith once again picked her up by the scruff of her neck.

“Hyai…!” The librarian exclaimed.

“Tiara is the newly-born Fairy Queen of Sweets. Aqua is the current king of Marineforest and is also the King of the Starry Sky.” Keith explained.

“Wow! Such an amazing thing happened! I didn’t expect lord Pheles to give up the position of King of the Starry Sky! The history books must be revised, or rather, they might need to be rewritten from scratch! Then I should get a leaf for-” The librarian started saying.

“Listen.” Keith once more picked her up by the scruff of her neck.

“Hyai!” She exclaimed.

The librarian got tearful after being grabbed for the third time. She was being overwhelmed by the information that she received all at once.

“Uhn, uhn… Right, a book about the Fairy Kings. You are a Fairy Queen, so there is, of course, no problem with you reading them. Is there any order of priority on the information you desire?” The librarian put her glasses back on and asked Tiararose.

‘Seems like there are quite a few books about the Fairy Kings.’ Tiararose thought.

She was currently feeling a bit embarrassed because Aquasteed was hugging her in her cat form, but she explained what she needed anyways “Actually, I just became a Fairy Queen, so I don’t really know anything. I want you to tell me about what are the duties of a Fairy King mainly.” Tiararose explained.

“We’d also like to learn about the rings of the Fairy Kings.” Aquasteed added.

“Then it’s the Fairy King’s handbook! Please wait!” The librarian went off to go after the book.

Tiararose sighed in relief once she learned that the book she wanted did exist.

And while Tiararose and the others were waiting, the other fairies arrived and started cleaning up the fallen books.

Then, as the fairies saw the librarian, they happily said, “It’s been a while!”

And after a small wait, the librarian returned, “I’m ready, so I’ll show you around! Lord Aquasteed is also the King of the Starry Sky, so there should be no problem with you coming too!”

“Oh, thank you.” Aquasteed said.

Then, Tiararose, Aquasteed and Keith were guided to a room further down the archives.

Inside it, there was a book on a wooden table.

Surrounding the book, there was an ivy chain, and right next to it, a flower key.