"Jessica, come and sit down over here. Let me introduce you to Master Noah.

"Yes, ha ha your majesty!

　The little girl who suddenly appeared - Jessica walked quickly and sat next to Feliana.
　No, wait a minute. I'm confused by the fact that a little girl suddenly appeared and claimed to be an ambassador. What is this?
　The next to me, Alisa, is also quizzical, arching her eyebrows. I'm sure Alisa doesn't understand the meaning of the word "ambassador".

I would like to introduce you again. This time, I would like to appoint this girl as the ambassador that was mentioned in the article.

...and the ambassador is that girl?

'Yes. As you might have gathered from her name, she is a daughter of the rightful blood of the Royal House of Orleans. She's a little young, but she's an intelligent girl. I'm sure she will be the bridge between the Kingdom of Orvance and Grandizia in the future.

....

　I look at Jessica again.
　She seems to be somewhat nervous and her expression is hard. She has her fists clenched on her seated knees, but I can see that her hands are trembling slightly. After all, it's nerve-racking to have the queen of your country next to you and the king of the neighboring country (me) in front of you, isn't it?
　Not.

''........''

　I look at Jessica intently.
　A little girl. A little girl without a doubt.
　Well, each person's criteria for the term "little girl" is different, I suppose. But this girl is a little girl no matter how you look at it. She is a little girl, to the extent that if there are ten people, ten of them would say she is a little girl.
　Her golden hair is tied up on both sides of her head and hangs down. Her face is well-groomed, much like Feliana's, but it's her age that gives her an overall impression of innocence. I'm not sure if it's because of her age that she's a complete child, even though she's sitting on the sofa and her feet aren't on the floor.
　As soon as her eyes met mine, Jessica turned away from me with a start.
　

Excuse me, Lady Feliana.

Jessica is my daughter.

Yeah.

　What, my daughter?
　Feliana, I thought you were about the same age as me. You already have a girl this big?
　I wonder if that was it. It is said that the royal family has a fiancée from the time of birth, so she may have given birth to the child at a young age.

I'm sure it was a pain in the gut for me to give birth to the daughter of Queen Olvance. I thought it was necessary to have a family name as a token of friendship with Grandizia.

No, but...

She's only eight years old, but she's a bright girl. Of course, I have Jessica's full backing and commitment to be the ambassador. If you have any suggestions for government affairs, please feel free to speak with Jessica and she will be able to connect you to me.

Yo, it's nice to meet you, Master Noah!

....

　Look.
　The ambassadors I know are diplomats or something like that. But what does it mean to have such a young - an eight-year-old little girl, according to Feliana, coming to the country?
　And since she's an ambassador and can't understand difficult things, it basically means that it's going to be Feliana who's going to be the one who makes the decisions about all the country's affairs. What's the point of being an ambassador?
　Eh, what. Is the ambassador I know and the ambassador of the Kingdom of Orvance different?

Oh, uh, Miss Feliana.

Yes, Master Noah.

What do you mean, what do you mean...?

"I am sending Jessica to your country. It is my sincere hope that Jessica will be a link in the friendship between Orvance and Grandizia.

　In Feliana's mind, it seems that Jessica's decision to come to my country is a given.
　How in the world did that happen? Normally, you are signing a treaty between countries, and sending a little girl there as an ambassador is like making fun of me, isn't it?
　Are you saying that such a little girl is enough to send to your country -?

"Help me, Drake.

"What is the matter, Master Noah?

"He introduced me to a little girl he called an ambassador.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all that information.

　No, of course you don't. I don't get it either.
　What does it mean? The Queen's daughter is going to be an ambassador. More like, someone who can negotiate with my country abroad, usually.

No, so that's the... um... ambassador in the article. What, like, Feliana's daughter is coming.

"...daughter of Queen Feliana, is it?

Yeah. Her name is Jessica. She's 8 years old. Do you think I'm ridiculous?

....

　On the other end of the call, I could see a hint of Drake thinking.
　All the while, Feliana was talking about various things about the ambassador, but no one was listening. I'm on the phone with Drake and I ask Jessica, who looks nervous, "Are you okay? And Alisa is talking to her.
　She says to Alisa, "Duh, I'm fine! The trembling of Jessica's clenched fists on her knees didn't stop forever as she replied, "I don't know.
　I'm not sure I'm that nervous of a partner. You can be more frank with me.
　I feel like my face is red somehow.

''........I see.''

What's going on?

　After a long silence, there was finally a response from Drake.

''No, I've had my doubts about the ambassador from the beginning. What kind of person would be sent.
The 'Dewdrop'

"Yes. I'd expected someone in a position to negotiate between countries.

"That's what I thought, too. But it seems the queen has a different opinion.

What do you mean?

"Ambassador" is a nice way of putting it... but the point is, he's a hostage.

　Eh.
　You know, the whole hostage thing. If I want my money back, I'll have to come up with the money, or something like that.
　What do you mean by that, he said he would help us financially even if there's no hostage, but what does that mean?

"...hostage?

'Yes. Yes. It means that Olvance is sending the queen's daughter to our country. If the kingdom of Orvans betrays our country, they are willing to kill her as an example.

"Huh?

　I'm not in the mood for killing girls.
　I'm not looking to betray them in the first place. From the article, I just thought we were on equal footing.

''No I didn't think you'd try such a trick. And we can't intervene in the selection of the ambassador. And we cannot interfere in the selection of the ambassador, especially when he is a member of the royal family and is related to the queen. We cannot refuse to do so.''

"What's the matter with you? What's...

"My Lord Noah. If your daughter, Princess Jessica, were to come to our country, how would you treat her?

...Well, it's a gesture of friendship, and you want him to have a decent place to live?

"Princess Jessica is royalty. "Princess Jessica is royalty and will be coming to you with no small number of helpers. I wouldn't ask her to come alone, given her situation.

That's...

　You're royalty, so there are people who take care of you in their own way. Such as female servants.
　I guess that means we have to make a place for those people to live properly, too. But I have no idea why that would lead to Drake's dismay.

''Even if there's an agent lurking among those caretakers, we can't refuse them, you know.

"--!

'All the inner workings of our country will be lost in the tube. I don't think there's any way for Olvance to renege on the treaty, but he's not just friendly, he's driven a wedge into our country like that. But that doesn't mean that we can't play any kind of hand.

....

　Feliana smiles at me in response to my gaze.
　I'm sure Feliana is showing such a friendly smile.

I think I understand why she is called the "Vixen of Orvance".