Chapter 185

The Fifth Tanaka Family Meeting [Part 2]

"Also, it seems that you've spent quite a lot of money too, George?"

"Urk! U-Uh, there were many evening parties... and we ran out of paint, so we had to restock them... Also... the cost for the construction of the slums... like roads, buildings... And since the slum people became citizens of our territory, we prepared their family register and gave them a simple medical examination... They needed education too, so we hired teachers... Plus, we put up work arrangements so they could earn a living at the same time... In addition, the maintenance of the breeding environment for tailless whip scorpions and the cost of running the treatment center for scurvy patients..."

The end of George's sentences all turned into weak mumbles because he was scared of getting scolded.

Whenever Emma muttered her thoughts, Joshua would take notes and put her ideas into action immediately. That was why everything was finished at an impossible speed.

The construction of the treatment center, in particular, was done abnormally fast because the Prince sleeping on Emma's lap left a hole in Joshua's heart.

Joshua... that's not what you should be competing at, no?

"*Sigh*..."

When Melsa sighed, the whole family all looked at her, trembling.

"How can you make so much fuss in just two weeks?"

" " " "W-We have no idea......" " " "

The four people who were left at home all dropped their heads. Even when they thought back on these two weeks themselves, they still couldn't figure out how it had turned out that way.

"B-But M-Mother, it's not like I was making any commotion! Everything was caused by others. We just got dragged into them!"

Emma desperately appealed to Melsa. It was not her fault that the King was being unreasonable enough to force them to receive the reward, that a tailor shop was in trouble, that insects fell on her, and that the Kingdom had people suffering from scurvy.

"...But you poked your nose into all of them, right?"

"!!! ...Yes. I'm sorry."

In the end, Emma still apologized.

"Emma, from now on, don't ever turn your head if anyone calls you Holy Maiden. We will never know if the church is going to accuse you of something troublesome, you know?"

The Tanaka family, who had weak religious faith, didn't want anything to do with any religions as much as they could. Melsa felt this more strongly than the rest since her daughter would never be able to get married if the church recognized Emma as the Holy Maiden by mistake, meaning she could only give up her hope to see her grandchildren!

According to the church, only a pure young lady could become a Holy Maiden.

"Are you kidding me?" was the only thing Melsa could say if this applied to Emma.

"M-Mother? Of course, I'm not so stupid as to reply with a 'yes' when being called a h̳o̳r̳n̳y̳ maiden, right?"

Emma felt indignant. "H̳o̳r̳n̳y̳ maiden" is just slander, and there's no way I will say, "Yes, I'm a pervy pervert, everyone~" by myself.

♠♠♠

"M-Melsa? Should we move on to the agenda of our family meeting now?"

This was a family meeting held after they had deliberately forced the servants to withdraw. Thinking that it would be a waste of time if it only ended with them getting scolded, Leonard raised his right hand firmly and suggested changing the topic.

"...Well, I guess that's fine."

Melsa's expression changed completely from strict to gentle, as if someone had flipped her switch. However, her change to gentle mode was so subtle that only her family could tell the difference.

"Mother, have you obtained them?"

Emma asked excitedly with anticipation.

"Yes. I was able to bring rice, miso, soy sauce, and dried bonito home this time."

" " " "Ohhhh—! As expected of Mother/Melsa!!!" " " "

It seemed that they could eat freshly cooked rice and miso soup tonight.

"It's a feast~ Prepare for a feast~," the three siblings and Leonard beamed with joy.