Fourth Arc: Third Chapter

Having cried my fill and calmed down, I got out of the carriage at Georg's urging. Embarrassed at having spilled tears like a child, I couldn't look at his face. Turning aside to hide it, I found the just-risen morning sun dazzling, painfully bright to my tear-reddened eyes.

"...Looks like it'll be fine weather."

"Yeah! Perfect for a workout!"

At Georg declaring it with a fresh smile that suited the morning sun, I found myself smiling too. How much has Georg's business-as-usual, no matter the moment, saved me. Bathed in the clean sunlight, he shone like the sun himself.

Dragging my past life along, I'd kept looking at him as if he were a child. But it was only that I hadn't noticed. Georg had long since started up the stairs to adulthood. Maybe I, who put on such grown-up airs, was the far more childish one.

As I looked up at the Lumelica royal castle shining in the morning sun, a fresh breeze, like Georg himself, blew through my heart.

Seen up close for the first time, the Lumelica castle felt bigger than it had from the town, perhaps because it stood on a rise overlooking the city below. A wall ringed it all around, and the gate, reached by a bridge over a deeply dug moat, looked sturdy and grand even from a distance.

But next to Altria's, it gave a blunt, practical impression, valuing usefulness over grace or grandeur. Altria's royal castle is a delicate, lovely thing, like the storybook castle in a certain mouse kingdom, while Lumelica's is grey all over and stripped of any needless ornament. In the front court, which seemed to double as a drill ground, soldiers were about to begin training, and there were none of the statues or gazebos you'd find in Altria.

"...Um, how to put it... a castle that looks strong on defense, I suppose."

"A castle that looks easy to train in!"

"Yeah, true... no, that's not it. That's too hard a take to relate to! But still, do they train this hard as a matter of course?"

"Ah... yeah."

"It feels somehow ominous..."

Watching the training from the carriage porch, puzzled, I got a mumbled sort of answer from Georg, as if something were stuck in his back teeth. But caught up in the grim mood, I didn't notice it. The soldiers, gathered since dawn, trained in earnest under the orders of what looked like their commanding officers. Never having seen soldiers training, past life included, I had no way of realizing how thoroughly battle-ready the air of it was.

As I gazed absently, castle maids had lined up before us at some point. Seeing that we'd noticed, one of the older of the four in line stepped forward and bowed.

"Excuse me. Are you Lord Georg and Lady Cosette?"

"Hm? Yeah! Huh? Where's the crown prince?"

"His Highness Leonhardt has already returned to his room."

"I see..."

He went on ahead, then. I made him that angry. Just as I was about to sink into gloom, Georg smacked me hard on the back.

"Ow...?!"

About to yelp at the surprise blow, I saw Georg's face grinning like a mischievous boy, and I laughed in spite of myself.

"Honestly!... Aha!"

"Don't mind it. Sheesh, the prince is no fun either! So what do we do now?"

"His Majesty the King has bid us let you rest at your ease first. Lord Georg, this way, and Lady Cosette, this way."

It seemed we were each to be given a guest room.

"Well then, see you later!"

"Yes!... Georg, thank you."

The lingering warmth on my back suddenly left, and I felt vaguely forlorn. As I turned to look despite myself, Georg laughed brightly to reassure me and went off in the opposite direction.

Once Georg was out of sight, prompted by the waiting maid, I set off too. According to her, the guest room given to me was in a wing apart from Georg and the other men. At royal castles and noble houses, men and women often use separate wings, so I followed her without minding it.

The women's wing must be quite far in. It felt like I'd already walked a fair way from the carriage porch where I'd parted with Georg. Glancing around, at some point the design of the corridor walls and floors had turned lavish. The inner garden facing the corridor was full of early-spring flowers in bloom, with a gazebo set up, giving a very different feel from the blunt front court.

"...This garden has flowers planted, I see."

I really do prefer a garden like this. Looking at flowers eases the heart. The little frayed edge inside me seemed to smooth over. As I enjoyed the flower scent drifting softly by, I noticed a figure in the gazebo beyond the plantings.

"...Are you Cosette?"

"...Huh?"

Just as I noticed her, no, maybe she'd noticed me long before. As if she'd been lying in wait, the person in the gazebo stood up.

Who appeared was a beautiful girl of about ten, with glossy, raven-black straight hair falling down her back. Her small, doll-like face was lovely, and her jet-black eyes, like her hair, were framed by misty lashes.

But those eyebrows, curved beautifully like a fallen moon, were pulled tight, glaring hatefully at something. At something.

Wait, huh? Being glared at... me?

The beautiful girl, still glaring, jabbed a slender finger at me.

"You won't get my brother!"

"Huh... huh?"

I-I don't follow this at all.

Pointed at by a lovely girl for no reason I could grasp, I lowered my brows, at a complete loss.