TPOK 03

Chapter 03

It had been about six minutes since I started running while clinging to the Clown King’s shoulder. We were already far enough away that I could no longer hear the Thunder King’s voice.

“Ah, that was fun. Wasn’t it?”

“Yeah……”

“Then do you want to become my daughter?”

“No……”

The man laughed a little exaggeratedly and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Why had we started running again? I felt like there had been some reason, but somewhere along the way, I started thinking, “Thunder Palace sounds similar to butt palace,” and completely forgot.

“Haa… whew… It’s impossible to look around the whole place today, so let’s stop here for now and have lunch.”

The Clown King caught his breath and pointed upward. Following his finger, I turned my head and saw a huge building.

“That’s my room.”

“Wow.”

The Clown King’s residence was like an oasis inside a fortress wall. The angular structure and plain exterior walls were no different from the other buildings.

But there was one thing that made it completely different from the others.

The colorful windows.

Colorful windows!

At first, I thought the blue, purple, and red glowing windows were just frames hanging outside the building.

The sunlight is embedded in the windows! Does glass become like that if it gets too much sun?

I made my own deduction while staring at the colorful windows, but I didn’t say it out loud.

It was far too sharp a conclusion for a ten-year-old’s immature mind to make.

I still had to hide the fact that I was an incredibly mature and grown-up child.

“It’s hot!”

The inside of the Clown King’s room was quite plain compared to the outside.

It was very neatly organized, at least.

I had expected jewels and gold to be hanging everywhere, matching his own flashy appearance, but aside from the colorful windows, there wasn’t a single thing that sparkled.

Not even a mirror.

If there was one fatal flaw, it was that it was unbearably hot.

I had wondered why the other rooms didn’t have such beautiful rainbow-colored glass windows.

Now I understood.

Making huge, glittering windows in the middle of a desert was probably not a very good idea.

“If I open the upper windows, it’ll get a little better. Wait, sit over there for a moment.”

“Okay……”

While the Clown King reached toward the tall window, I threw myself onto the bed in the center of the room like I was diving into the ocean.

“Ah, not there!”

“Gah!”

The impact that hit my body was completely unexpected.

Hard!

What kind of bed was this hard?

I quickly pulled the blanket away and threw it onto the floor.

It was impossible for me to move such a large blanket with one hand, but it was enough to uncover what had been hidden underneath.

“Ugh……”

“…I’ll explain.”

The bed was filled with all kinds of junk.

A comb with strands of brown hair stuck in it, a pocket watch, something I couldn’t identify, a glass cup with dried liquid inside—somehow still unbroken—cookie crumbs, more things I couldn’t identify, empty bottles, even more things I couldn’t identify, piles of clothes and socks he had taken off, and so on.

There was an entire ecosystem under this blanket.

“…Actually, fairies live in my room. If I don’t leave snacks behind when I go out, they play tricks like this!”

“Right……”

“…I’ll clean it up.”

I wanted to tell him to stop talking nonsense and just clean his house, but I had to keep pretending to be a ten-year-old kid, so I just nodded along.

The Clown King swept the clutter aside with his arm.

He didn’t even care as things crashed down under the bed, and gestured for me to sit in the empty space.

“…Isn’t this just moving the dirty things from the bed to the floor?”

“No, that’s not it. The floor was already dirty, so technically the result is… Ah, right! I cleaned the floor because I wanted to invite you here! You’re right. You’re smart.”

No, that wasn’t the point.

And didn’t he just say fairies made the mess?

“I thought royalty had other people clean their rooms.”

“Usually, they do. Mine is just like this.”

He laughed heartily and pulled tea leaves out from behind the curtain.

“Can you drink tea yet?”

“I can’t.”

He swallowed the first part of his sentence—the tea I pulled out of my bedroom—and answered instead.

At least there wouldn’t be milk hidden in the bedroom.

…Right?

“It feels like today has been a bit of a failure, so I’ll just get straight to the point.”

He brought two cups that he had apparently rinsed somewhere and plopped down beside me.

“Won’t you become my daughter?”

“No.”

Ah.

I should have avoided giving such a direct answer.

I should have been vague.

But the words came out before I could stop them.

Still, I couldn’t help it.

The Clown King had just taken the milk out from under his pillow.

“I’m hurt. Sob, sob.”

Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t expected to get an immediate yes.

He only pretended to cry, whining dramatically.

“…I’m not asking you to decide right now. But if I were to give you some advice—”

He mixed honey into the milk—the honey jar had come from his closet—and stirred it before handing it to me. Then he sat beside me.

Once again, more junk fell from the bed with a clatter.

“I’m the most handsome, the most fun, and the most… normal. You’ll understand once you meet the other kings. I’m actually the most reasonable one here.”

“By process of elimination…”

“You don’t choose a father like that. You find one, right?”

I answered in the most innocent voice I could manage.

“I’m going to find my real dad and live with him.”

I deliberately used a more childish tone, carrying the meaning:

I don’t want to get involved in your power struggles. I don’t know anything about that. Handle it among yourselves.

It wasn’t entirely a lie.

Of course, to survive this sudden life in the palace, I might need to make some compromises.

But I truly wanted to meet my biological father.

The Clown King smiled bitterly.

“That won’t be easy. The others aren’t as honest as I am.”

“Are you honest, Mr. Clown?”

“Of course! I—”

At that moment, a loud rumbling sound like a pig squealing filled the room.

I looked toward the source of the noise.

The Clown King was coughing awkwardly, his face bright red.

“Did you not eat breakfast?”

“I was a little busy this morning.”

“Were you busy making my breakfast?”

The Clown King hesitated.

Only after biting his lower lip and drinking two sips of his own milk—the one without honey—did he finally answer.

“I was busy because I wanted to make you happy.”

He looked down at the cup and smiled.

It was the same kind of imperfect smile he had shown earlier in front of the Thunder Palace.

“This is the truth.”

The Clown King was not a particularly reliable adult, but he was talented with words.

While chatting with him about meaningless things regarding the castle and its people, we quickly emptied two cups of milk.

The milk was surprisingly good.

I had only taken tiny sips because I was nervous about drinking something that had been left at room temperature in this scorching room, but strangely, it had a very fresh sweetness.

The Clown King only puffed out his chest and said,

“It’s all because of my secret technique.”

He didn’t seem like a bad person.

Whether he was a good person, I wasn’t sure.

Being suddenly brought to such an unfamiliar place was still frightening.

But at least it seemed there was one adult here who wasn’t terrible.

I felt my opinion of the Clown King rise slightly.

Then it dropped again when I saw him leave the empty milk cup on the blanket once more.

“Are there other children besides me?”

“Yeah. But that kid doesn’t have a good relationship with his mother.”

“I’ve never talked with my mother before.”

“It’s okay. I haven’t either. The other kings probably haven’t much, too.”

The Clown King smiled with a white milk mustache around his mouth.

“Then… do they all dislike their mothers?”

It was simply a question born from curiosity.

The concept of marriage I understood seemed very different from theirs.

But the Clown King seemed to interpret my question as the sad complaint of an unfortunate child.

He put down his cup and spoke in an irritatingly comforting tone.

“Th-that’s not it… We do like them. It’s just that… we haven’t talked much.”

“You don’t have to lie. I don’t really like my mother either. Even though I haven’t talked to her much.”

“Ha ha ha.”

Another foolish, booming laugh.

The second time I had heard it today.

“Then I’ll answer honestly too. Yeah, I don’t love her that much. We aren’t particularly close either… But don’t feel too sorry for your mother. There is one king who really loves his wife.”

“Who?”

At that moment, a sudden explosion of sound struck my ears.

“ANKBAYAR!!”

The Clown King’s butt jumped nearly half a foot into the air.

So did mine, since I had been sitting behind him.

The source of the sound was outside the door.

How loud did someone have to be for it to sound like it was right next to my ear?

“The nerve of you to stand outside someone else’s room!”

The Clown King flung the door open.

Standing outside was the owner of the palace I had seen earlier.

The Thunder Palace… Palace… Palace…

The owner of that place.