Chapter 1080 — Betty and Enya

"No, I'm fine. I just truly never imagined your line of thinking... Listen, little girl, the reason I can speak is not because I'm about to hatch, and your method won't hatch me either. In fact I don't need any hatching at all—I only need to transform on my own. You... never mind," the golden egg said, the first half still unable to suppress her laughter, but the latter half of her voice turning especially helpless. If she had hands at this moment she might already have pressed them to her forehead—but she had no hands now, not even a forehead, so she could only strive to be helpless. "I don't think I can explain it clearly to you at all. Ah, you actually intended to hatch me—this is truly..."

She seemed about to burst into laughter again, but this time she managed to hold it in. Betty, meanwhile, could not help but pat her chest lightly and said with relief: "You frightened me a little just now, Lady Enya. You were laughing so hard—I even worried you might laugh yourself until your yolk scattered..."

The golden egg: "...??" 187

The next second, irrepressible laughter once again echoed through the room...

Fortunately, this time the laughter did not last so long. In less than a minute Enya stopped. She seemed to have gained unimaginable joy—or rather, after such an endless span of years, for the first time she felt joy through her own free will. Then she turned her attention once more to that somewhat slow-witted maid, only to find the other had grown nervous again—clutching both sides of her maid's skirt, her face flustered: "Lady Enya, did I say something wrong? I always say the wrong thing..."

"No, you said nothing wrong. I should mind my own emotions—after all, they are no longer bound by the current of thought... though that has nothing to do with 'scattering the yolk,'" Enya said, her laughter not yet faded. "You really are interesting, child. No one has ever dared speak to me like this, but it really is interesting... Is this curious way of thinking also influenced by that equally interesting master of yours?"

"I'm not quite sure what you mean," Betty scratched her hair. "But the master really has taught me a lot."

"What has he taught you?" Enya asked with considerable interest.

"Spelling, mathematics, history, some common knowledge about how society works... though I don't quite understand that part. Ah, and also mysticism and 'logical thinking'—everyone needs logical thinking, that's what the master says."

"...It seems this really is very interesting," Enya's tone seemed to change ever so slightly. "Could you tell me about it? About the things your master usually teaches you. Of course, if you still have plenty of free time, I'd also like you to tell me about the current state of this world, and what all things look like as you understand them."

"Of course I can! My work for today is already done, and I was just wondering what to do with my free time this evening!" Betty said happily, then seemed to remember something and hurried toward the door. "Ah, if we're going to chat, then I must prepare tea and snacks—please wait a moment!"

This time Enya had no chance at all to call the girl back—impetuous and a little single-minded as she was, Betty had already trotted out of the "hatching chamber" before her words even landed, leaving only the giant golden egg resting quietly on its pedestal in the center of the room.

"...How very interesting."

A voice murmured to itself within the room.

Fortunately, as a head maid already skilled in her craft, Betty did not take long.

She dashed out of the room, dashed about preparing the tea and refreshments, and soon came dashing back with a large tray in hand. The two soldiers standing guard outside the room watched this baffling sequence of actions from the head maid with utter confusion, wanting to ask but never finding a chance to get a word in—by the time they reacted, Betty had already carried the great tray back into the room behind the heavy doors, and had not forgotten to shut the doors behind her.

Outside the doors, the two soldiers exchanged glances; inside, Betty and Enya stood facing each other.

The hatching chamber had no ordinary household furnishings, so Betty simply set the large tray down on the floor beside her. She lifted the big teapot she was so fond of, blinked at the giant golden egg before her, and suddenly felt rather at a loss.

...She had the vague sense she had been in a similar bind before.

It had no mouth.

Enya sank into much the same bewilderment as Betty, and as the one at the center of it all, her confusion was mixed with no small amount of awkwardness that left her torn between laughing and crying—yet this awkwardness did not displease her. On the contrary, this whole absurd and helpless chain of circumstances brought her immense joy and delight.

"It seems you can't drink tea, miss..." Betty tilted her head, unaware of what Enya was thinking. "Just like Mr. Egg..."

"Oh? There is a 'person' here like me?" Enya said, somewhat surprised, then immediately with a touch of regret, "In any case, it looks as though your kind intentions are to be wasted."

"Mr. Egg is also an 'egg,' but he's made of metal, and he can float around," Betty said, thinking hard as she spoke, then hesitantly made a suggestion. "How about... I pour some on you and we try it?"

Enya found, to her own astonishment, that she often could not keep up with this human girl's train of thought: "Pour some?"

"Just pour it straight onto your shell..." Betty seemed to feel her own idea was not very reliable either, and she stuck out her tongue. "Ah, just pretend I was joking—you're not a potted plant, after all..."

"No, you may try."

"Huh?"

"You may try," Enya said, her tone thick with interest. "It sounds as though it might be quite fun—right now I am only too glad to try anything I have never tried before."

Betty listened in a daze, lifted the heavy teapot, and stepped forward. She looked down at the teapot, then up at the giant egg: "Then... I'm really going to try it?"

"Try it. I am quite curious as well what my way of perceiving the world is like now."

...

Outside the heavy doors inlaid with brass runes, the two elite guards on duty kept watch on the goings-on within the room, yet the layered wards and the soundproofing of the doors themselves blocked every attempt at eavesdropping—they could hear nothing at all.

A long while passed in this manner, until at last one of the royal guards could not help but break the silence: "What do you suppose Miss Betty suddenly carried tea and snacks in there to do?"

The other guard said casually, "Maybe she was just hungry and wanted a midnight snack in there."

"I don't think so—Miss Betty is very disciplined at night. Even when she occasionally wants a bite, she goes to the kitchen."

"Then I couldn't say. She's the head maid, the highest-ranking lady of the inner court—she doesn't need to report such things to us," the guard shrugged. "Surely she's not going in to water that giant egg?"

"...Fair enough."

Silence fell outside the doors.

Half a minute later, the two guards suddenly muttered in one voice: "Why do I get the feeling that's not necessarily so?"