Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 191

The conversation between Medb and Ozymandias would probably last quite long – maybe an hour or an hour and a half? Even then, it was just long enough for Nitocris to say absolutely everything she thought necessary before Sita's first meeting with the Pharaoh of Pharaohs.

Sita even felt a little sense of sympathy for Nitocris, after all, she had been speaking non-stop for the whole time. Her speech overflowed with compliments toward Ozymandias mixed with advice of little practical use, mostly platitudes or her personal observations. Things not related to diplomatic protocol at all – she was really fired up about Sita's idea to appear before Ozymandias at her best that she simply blurted out everything she could. She was really fired up...

The only problem was that Sita, along with Medb, noticing the girl's irrepressible fanaticism and inexperience, wanted to delay the Servant, if even just for a few minutes. All so that Medb could enter the throne room first and start the conversation on her own footing. Their position was already weak enough without giving Ozymandias a fanatic zealot that would speak his praise non-stop on his side.

Now that Medb and Ozymandias were already in a meeting, Nitocris had to remain outside the throne room, so as not to break protocol and cast a shadow over Ozymandias... On the other hand, if Nitocris broke protocol and cast a shadow over Ozymandias, it would play into Medb's hands, and, by extension, into Sita's.

Originally, Sita wanted to delay Nitocris maybe a few minutes at best to allow Medb to play her game. But in the end, it was as if Nitocris wasn't a Pharaoh at all, but just a young girl meeting her favorite movie star, gushing about everything she can about the 'great' Ozymandias.

Sita was sure that in her heated speech, Nitocris had slipped some secret information in error. Or maybe she did not realize that such information must be secret?

But much more than that, a majority in fact, her speech was simply useless information.

"...and he likes the color blue combined with gold, and azure especially!" What was Sita supposed to understand about courtly manners from these words of Nitocris, except that she thought it's important to report on Ozymandias favorite color combination? How did it affect diplomatic protocol, the meeting? Nitocris might have lost the thread of thought entirely and the original question Sita had posed to her by simply jumping into long, lengthy explanations about whatever she knows about Ozymandias himself.

"I saw that he even kept a necklace of azure with gold inlays – not the kind he normally wears, gold with azure, but the opposite!"

Fortunately for Sita, who had slowly begun feeling her mind overflow with knowledge of Ozymandias, the moment Nitocris took a breath to continue speaking, she was distracted by the doors opening. Out of the door came Medb, who had taken a step outside the throne room before Nitocris froze with her mouth still open – horror replacing her previous excited expression.

Of course, Nitocris was supposed to lead Medb and Sita to the meeting – something that she had failed exceptionally. The fact that Medb, whom she was supposed to lead, was now exiting the throne room, clearly did not fit Nitocris's understanding.

Nitocris's back was turned to Sita at that moment, but she could vividly imagine dozens of conflicting emotions flashing across the girl's face at once before she abruptly closed her mouth with a click. Then she sighed, as heavily as if the very weight of heaven had fallen upon her shoulders.

Sita could only sympathize with Nitocris in response. At least, judging by the fact that Nitocris wasn't screaming, she might not have realized that she had been taken advantage of to get one over Ozymandias. Upset that she couldn't do her best work for Ozymandias, who served as something in between a god and a role model for Nitocris.