135 - The Kidnapping Incident, the Aftermath for Each
When I woke up, it was already close to noon. Leonardo, who should have slept beside me, was naturally nowhere to be seen. Maybe I was still carrying yesterday's mood with me, because the first thing I did after getting out of bed was look for Leonardo.
I left the bedroom in my sleepwear and peeked into the living room, and for some reason Leonardo was preparing a meal. Kalisa was sticking close to his side, taking notes and nodding at various things.
"Good mor-ning."
"Good morning, Tina. It is already midday, you know."
"Well, I was mentally exhausted from yesterday. I slept plenty and recovered."
When I gave Leonardo a big squeeze-hug for a good morning hug, he patted my head and said it seemed I still had not fully recovered. He was right, I still did not feel like I had enough coddling. My body had unconsciously gone for the hug.
"Go get changed. Let us eat."
"It is like you have only made things I like."
When I stretched up to look at the table, there was the Nassaworuku sandwich I had requested from Kalisa last night, along with vegetable soup. The vegetables in the soup in particular were cut into big, chunky pieces, and I could tell at a glance that Leonardo had made it. When I asked why Leonardo had made it, he tilted his head as if confused and said, "That is the request you made, is it not?" Apparently, my earlier offhand comment about wanting to eat Leonardo's vegetable soup had gotten through to him. It seemed Kalisa had attached herself to his side so she could replicate the same flavor herself next time, making him measure the size of the vegetables as he cut them, and grabbing his arm to weigh the portions on a scale whenever he tried to casually add salt.
...Kalisa, I appreciate the sentiment, but that is probably not it. It is because Leo makes it that it is "Leonardo's vegetable soup."
Even if she managed to recreate the exact same flavor, I doubt I would get the same satisfaction. Wanting to eat Leonardo's homemade vegetable soup is, when you think about it logically, just me wanting to be spoiled.
As I ate the roast beef Nassaworuku sandwich, I suddenly craved the teriyaki chicken sandwich from the Three Crows Inn. This was definitely pure homesickness. My guardian, Leonardo, was with me, but I was not at the residence in Grenore. That was probably why I was feeling homesick. It had barely been a year since Leonardo took me in, but in my heart, Leonardo was already my guardian, and the Grenore residence had become the home I should return to. It was a surprising change, even to myself.
After the meal, I was going out with Leonardo. We figured Jemian probably would not be at the gallery today of all days, so we visited his main residence in the suburbs, but to my surprise, or perhaps to my dismay, it seemed Jemian was indeed still sleeping over at the gallery in the city. His daughter Basilia must have been through a frightening experience too, but apparently it did not occur to him to stay by her side and look after her.
...Compared to that, Leo, who basically leaves me to my own devices, seems like a really great guardian.
Though maybe that is because I am comparing him to the wrong person.
Since we had come all this way, we decided to pay Basilia a visit, but the room we were led to was in a detached wing. She apparently lived in the detached wing with several servants, a governess, and the nurse maid who had been injured this time. When we visited, Basilia was in the nurse maid's room. I remembered that woman had desperately tried to protect not just Basilia, but me as well. When I gave her the ointment I had bought at the Sedovara Church, she was very happy.
...Is it not a little strange for a noble young lady to be delighted by ointment as a get-well gift for her nurse maid?
I had chosen ointment for its practicality, figuring Jemian would naturally prepare flowers and sweets, but it was unexpectedly well-received, leaving me a bit confused. More than that, while their life did not seem to lack any necessities, something about Basilia's surroundings felt off. The very fact that the daughter was living alone in the detached wing was unnatural in itself.
...It feels like that painter boy, who should be a stranger, is treasured more than his own daughter Basilia-chan, does it not?
After visiting Basilia, we went to the gallery again, and there was a room prepared for the young painter from yesterday. Inside the room was the boy, both his hands wrapped in pitiful bandages. The kidnappers had deeply cut both his arms, and the boy lamented that he would not be able to paint for a while, but Jemian's protection of him was incomparably more generous than what he gave Basilia. His daughter Basilia was left to her own devices, and for the nurse maid who had been injured trying to protect me and Basilia, he had arranged for a pharmacist but that ended with just an examination and compounding of medicines. In contrast, the young painter had four servants assigned to nurse him, and even Sedovara Church doctors and pharmacists were stationed there full-time, with thoroughness down to that level.
...He likes works of art, right?
Leonardo had said Jemian's tastes ran toward artworks like paintings and sculptures. That biased affection apparently manifested even at times like this. Leonardo had been silent for a while now, perhaps also surprised by the difference in treatment between Jemian's daughter and the painter.
"...They drew you quite cutely."
...Never mind. Leo had no interest in other people's family situations. He had been absorbed in my sketches this whole time.
The sketches drawn yesterday were apparently scattered across the floor during the kidnappers' attack, but they had been neatly gathered and placed in this room. Leonardo found them and casually started looking, and here we are. Incidentally, that nude sketch also came under Leonardo's gaze, but he had no particular reaction. If anything, he was impressed, remarking on how much you could tell about muscle structure from the wrinkles in the clothes.
...Does he not mind having his naked body drawn without permission?
When I asked him about it out of curiosity, it turned out having someone draw him naked from imagination did not bother him at all. Apparently, when he was in the capital, he had even been made to pose as a nude model for commissions from connections he could not refuse.
...A fountain of a naked teenage Leo holding a jug. I kind of want to see it, but I also kind of do not.
Apparently, such a delightful fountain exists in the courtyard of the Eighth Princess's detached palace. It seemed the capital was quite the dangerous place.
...Well, I will probably never go anywhere near it in my lifetime anyway.
As I was feeling a vague unease toward the capital I had never seen, Leonardo apparently bought my sketches from the boy. When I asked if it was really okay to sell them so easily, it turned out the boy was already satisfied the moment he drew them. To the boy, who said it was fine as long as he could buy new paper, Leonardo paid an amount far exceeding the cost of paper, rolled up my sketches carefully so they would not wrinkle, and tucked them into his breast pocket.
...Yeah, we really are two of a kind, us siblings.
The actions he took after acquiring the sketches were exactly the same as mine. The boy also noticed right away that Leonardo's actions were the same as mine when I received the sketches, and pointed it out. Leonardo had not heard that I had my own sketches, so after being surprised, he paid the boy even more for paper. When the boy looked sad, saying he would not be able to draw anything for a while even with all this paper money, I suggested he try drawing using his mouth or feet. I felt like there was a painter in my past life who drew using methods like that.
As I was going back and forth with the boy trying to draw right away, Jemian arrived. On the main topic, I was able to hear that the captured kidnappers were still being dealt with and investigations into whether they had other accomplices were still ongoing.
When we left the gallery, since we were in the city anyway, I went shopping with Leonardo. He said I should buy souvenirs for Tabitha and Mirshe, since we would be returning to Grenore soon.
"...Leo, please stop trying to make up for things with gifts."
I put a stop to Leonardo, who was trying to buy this and that, candies and baked sweets. At first he was supposed to be choosing souvenirs for Tabitha and the others, but somewhere along the way his goal had clearly changed. As souvenirs to hand out to my friends and acquaintances, the quantity was far too much.
"It is not that I meant it that way..."
"If you can honestly say it is definitely not that, then fine."
Still in my usual position of being carried, I stared into Leonardo's black eyes and asked, and after a moment's silence, he put down the can of candy he had been holding. As I suspected, when called out on "making up for things," he could not deny it completely.
"I did say it properly, you know. That I was relieved because Leo made the right decision as a knight."
"I heard that. But still, as your brother, I wonder if it was really..."
"You are being persistent."
Since it was right in front of me, I gave Leonardo's nose a squishy pinch. I actually wanted to pinch his cheek, but unlike a child's cheek, Leonardo's cheek did not have enough thickness to grab.
"...Someday, when you are really forced to make a difficult choice, you can choose me over everything else."
"I cannot promise you over everything else."
Leonardo made a troubled face and froze up, and while the content was quite harsh toward me, I found it a little amusing. This inflexibility of Leonardo's was probably what Ethel and the King valued, trusting him enough to let him command a third of the nation's military forces. Because with Leonardo, he would absolutely never do anything to betray the country.
...I value this honesty of Leo's too.
After staying one more night at the hotel, we finally returned to Grenore. I briefly considered whether I had any obligation to tell Diet, and decided I did not, so I did not tell him we were going back to Grenore. I did not tell him, but somehow the information leaked, and our return schedule was discovered by Diet through Kyuubee, resulting in him putting up a huge fuss with "Do not go back!" and "I have not won a single game of Reversi yet!"
...Damn that careless Kyuubee.
He begged me for one last match of Reversi while the carriage was being prepared, and of course it did not end with just one. The number increased to two, then three rounds. I was the one who said I would play up to three times a day, but that number had never actually been honored.
...Is this what they mean by "a second's carelessness leads to a lifetime of injury" or something?
I felt like that might be slightly wrong, but because I had given him the concession of "I will play up to three times per day," Diet had been clinging to me the whole time.
...Well, whatever. Once I am back in Grenore, I will probably never see him again for the rest of my life anyway.
At his pleading, I played Reversi with him saying it was only until the carriage was ready. In the end, Diet, who had lost to me even at the very last moment, left with the parting shot, "I will definitely beat you next time!" I was not cruel enough to rub in the reality, so I did not point out that there would not be a next time.
...Honestly, you cannot even tell which one of us is older.
I am at my time limit, so I will stop here.
I will fix any typos and omissions later. I have fixed the ones I found.