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Azur Lane: Episode of Belfast Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 5

Warspite’s face, now talking happily, was completely different from the lonely expression she had before Elizabeth’s arrival at the meeting.

–––––– I knew it. Lately, Warspite-sama was not feeling all that well.

Seeing the two of them smile just like that made Belfast want to smile brightly as well. Thinking that, Belfast slowly approached the two of them.

The two were currently having a conversation while pointing to the door of one of the rooms. The room must have been the one that belonged to Shropshire, a Heavy Cruiser from the County Class, London Subclass. While Belfast reminded herself about that,

「I realize it’s late for me to say that, but I also wanted something like this.」

「However, she seems to be really busy at the moment. Maybe we should go with that to someone else, instead?」

Hearing Warspite say something like that, Elizabeth let out a deep and long sigh while at the same time making a disappointed face.

「Be that as it may, it’s Christmas soon! So we can’t just have it being all empty and unimpressive like that. At least not this time around……」

Belfast finally understood what the two of them were actually talking about.

What they were actually looking at was a Christmas wreath hanging on the door.

It was customary for the children of the Royal Navy’s Dormitory to spend Christmas every year by hanging their own Christmas wreaths in front of their rooms.

In the exact same fashion, Belfast and Edinburgh also participated in the tradition, by making a splendid wreath and hanging it on the door of their room. As the Head Maid was able to recall, Warspite as well took part in this action, decorating her room with a simple and modest wreath.

Thinking back, the door to Elizabeth’s room had never been decorated with a wreath before.

Until last year, she was away from the dormitory around Christmas time, so it was only natural that her room would not be decorated accordingly. But even though it was inevitable that she didn’t have a wreath of any sort, Belfast would always find that fact a little bit pitiful and lonely.

「They surely look nice…… Wreaths, that is.」

When Elizabeth said that with a lonely and sad expression,

「…… Hm? Belfast? What happened?」

It was also at that moment that Warspite just so happened to have noticed Belfast standing in the hallway, and hearing Warspite say that Elizabeth also turned her head towards the Head Maid.

Belfast quickly came closer to the two and showed Elizabeth a fountain pen in her hand.

「…… I was just wondering if that fountain pen happened to be one of your possessions, Your Majesty?」

「Ah! Yeah, that’s right! This is my pen! I’m always using it to sign various documents since it is so comfortable and reliable!」

The sad look that Elizabeth had just shown was all gone in an instant, and Elizabeth accepted her fountain pen with a smile on her face from Belfast.

「Ah! Yeah, that’s right, Bel. I’m going to go to the office and do some paperwork right away. Would you mind making some tea and bringing it to me?」

「Yes, Your Majesty. Understood.」

「As for Warspite, you are supposed to go out on a mission in just a short while, yes?」

Returning her line of sight towards Warspite, Elizabeth asked her that in a nonchalant tone, to which the Old Lady only nodded her head slightly ––––––

「I know that it’s been a long time since we last met, Your Majesty, so I am really sorry that I am unable to spend some more time with you right away……」

「No, don’t worry about it. Just take care of yourself out there.」

Saying that, Elizabeth waved her hand at Warspite as she walked towards her office.

「Let’s eat together once you get back home! It’s a promise! And you’d better not think about not being able to make it!」

Warspite sadly waved her hand back at Elizabeth who finally disappeared behind the doors to her office without even looking back at the two even once.

Belfast quietly bowed her head down before she said her goodbyes to Warspite, and then she returned to the post in the kitchen.

* * *

When Belfast entered the kitchen, Kent and the others were already moving around energetically, preparing food that was to be served for dinner.

「Oh! The Head Maid! Perfect timing! I was actually hoping that you could give the stew a little bit of a taste test to see if it was good enough to be served……」

Kent, who was stirring the pot quite vigorously, brought the stew that she scooped up with a ladle and then she handed it to Belfast after pouring it into a small plate.

Belfast gently put her mouth to the small plate and tried the taste of the stew that was presented to her.

「Yes…… It tastes good. Very good, even.」

「Oh yeah!! Well then, we are going to proceed with it exactly like that and it will be ready to be served in a short while……」

When Belfast returned the small plate to her, Kent put it away into the sink and began to vigorously stir the pot filled with stew once more.

While smiling at her warmly, Belfast went to the cupboard in the corner of the kitchen to prepare some tea for Her Majesty.

「For Her Majesty who has just returned from her duties, here is the high-class Earl Gray, as nothing short of it would be appropriate ––––––」

After taking out the can of tea leaves, Belfast suddenly looked around the kitchen.

The sight of the maids working frantically from left to right was rather bleak and somewhat demotivating, even though Christmas was fast approaching and was just around the proverbial corner.

While Belfast was staring at the girls working hard on their chores, she heard someone speaking to her directly:

「What’s wrong, Head Maid? You look really worried.」

Turning around somewhat startled, Belfast could see that it was Suffolk who spoke up to her from behind.

「Ah, oh, no, it’s nothing. I was just a little bit dazed, that’s all…..」

「But for you to feel dazed, that’s also a little bit unusual, wouldn’t you agree?」

Looking at Suffolk’s smiling face, Belfast thought to herself:

–––––– Even though everyone seems to be in a somewhat Christmas mood, why does it feel a little bit lonely around here right now?

After finishing tea preparations while glancing at the kitchen from time to time, Belfast carried the tray with the tea and some snacks back to Elizabeth’s office.

She stood at the door and knocked onto it,

「–––––– Please excuse me, Your Majesty.」

「Come right in!」

Right away, Belfast heard Elizabeth’s reply in a loud voice.

The first thing that caught her eye when she opened the door was a large stack of papers piled up on top of the desk, and from the position of standing near the door one was actually unable to see Elizabeth’s appearance from behind that paper mountain-load.

「That’s actually an amazing amount of paperwork, huh?」

Elizabeth said to Belfast as if she saw right through what Belfast was thinking deep inside of her heart.

Pulling the cart inside of the room, the Head Maid immediately tried to place the cup of freshly brewed tea on top of the desk.

However, there was not even a paper-free space where she could just place the cup without risking it falling over and spilling the tea.

「Please excuse me, Your Majesty, but you might want to make a little bit of space on your desk.」

「You don’t have to tell me that. Besides, I need to tidy some of it up, I can’t even work properly like this, anyway.」

As soon as she was told that, Elizabeth started tidying up her desk.

It takes two people to quickly put together the documents. First Elizabeth classified them into those that she would work on immediately and those that would be processed later. She placed only the three documents that had to be completed on the work desk, and piled the rest on the reception desk in front of the sofa.

But Belfast was sure that those documents would need to be classified into even greater detail sometime later.

Belfast put a cup of tea in Elizabeth’s hand, wondering if this pile of papers would be even finished by Christmas at this rate.

「Thank you, Bel」

There, Belfast suddenly found something that caught her attention.

「Is that perhaps…… a soap bubble, Your Majesty?」

A straw with a broken end and a soap solution in a plastic bottle were lying around in the corner of her desk. Elizabeth picked them up and showed them to the Head Maid right away.

「Yeah, if you open up the window and make them fly up from it, it provides a nice distraction from all the work that needs to be done.」

「That actually sounds like a lot of fun.」