154 - Failure from Creating a Prescription Leak Secret Document
When Leonardo said it was about time to go home, I could not understand the meaning of his words at first, and blinked with my mouth hanging open. I had been passing the time by gathering firewood and making pudding at Aurelia's request, but I had barely spoken to Aurelia at all.
...When Leo is here, Aurelia-san only speaks in English, and I finally got to meet her in person, I want to tell her about the research materials Jasper is transcribing, too...!
There are so many things I want to do, so many things I want to tell her. But Leonardo kept monopolizing Aurelia, and on top of that I was shut out of the room, so I had not been able to convey a single thing.
"...I-I would like to request a stayover!"
"A stayover is impossible. There are apprentices now, so the annex is in use."
"Then I will sleep with Aurelia-san."
When I told Leonardo, who said there would be no bed for me, that he could sleep outside, he sulked. We had slept outside on the journey here anyway, so I thought it would not make a difference, but Leonardo said, "My little sister is cold only to me."
"Let us stay for about a week."
Deciding I ought to butter him up a bit, I stood beside Leonardo and tugged at his sleeve. Then I looked up at him with my eyes from below.
"...Waiyakku Valley is not a place you can visit so casually. Give up."
"Understood. Then I will become Aurelia-san's child, so Leo can come visit me in the winter."
"Why does it turn out that way."
Both my cheeks were pinched by Leonardo. I had tried deploying a childishly unreasonable super-logic, but it seemed to be unpopular with Leonardo. My cheeks were squished and pinched, and it hurt just a little.
"I will not allow you to become Aurelia's child, not as Tina's guardian nor as the lord of the fortress."
"You are the only one who gets to talk to Aurelia-san, Leo. That is unfair."
I brushed away Leonardo's hand that was still pinching my cheek, set my hands on my hips, and glared at Leonardo with a look of displeasure. When I puffed out my cheeks for good measure, Leonardo furrowed his brow as if troubled.
"...Tina could not talk to Aurelia in the first place, could she."
Since I cannot speak English, it is impossible for me to talk with Aurelia. From Leonardo's perspective, it was an obvious conclusion.
"I learned a little bit of English!"
"You still cannot pronounce it properly, can you?"
"If I have paper and a pen, I can talk!"
Since I was brought here as a surprise, even if I wanted to convey the contents of Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials, I had nothing prepared. If he had told me in advance, I could have asked Kalisa to keep quiet and helped me write a letter in English, but no.
I looked around, wondering if I could somehow make use of this opportunity. On the table was stationery and writing implements that Aurelia seemed to have been using.
"I will borrow these!"
I snatched up the stationery and writing implements, dodged Leonardo's reaching hand, and left the room. Aurelia's house had a layout not so different from the annex, so I immediately knew where the stairs were. I clambered up the stairs noisily, dashed into the bedroom, and closed the door. There was no lock, so I pressed my body against the door and spread the stationery on the floor.
...No choice then. It is letter strategy time.
I tried writing the medicine prescription on the letter to convey it to Aurelia. If I wrote the letter here, I would not have to worry about Leonardo or Hermine's eyes. I would not need to think about difficult things like codes or hiding it in a cooking recipe. I should be able to write it directly.
...I looked at it carefully, so I remember the contents.
First, I wrote out the prescription I remembered in Japanese onto the stationery. After reading the contents over and over and confirming there were no mistakes, I converted it into this country's script. Since I was in the middle of studying English using this country's script, I could not yet directly convert from Japanese to English all at once.
...Well, converting to English is difficult.
I had only just started learning English using letters as teaching materials, so I could not perfectly convert the words. And on top of that, I was still studying this country's script too. It was rather pathetic that the only part I could confidently say "I wrote it" about was the Japanese part, which most people in this country could not read.
"Tina, stop being selfish. We are going home."
"I am writing a letter. Please do not disturb me."
A knocking sound and Leonardo's voice rang out. He seemed to try opening the door, and it bumped against my bottom.
...Good thing I was blocking the way.
If I had not done anything to the door, Leonardo would have opened it and found this letter too. If it were only in Japanese, Leonardo could not read it, but the parts I had already converted into this country's language would be bad if Leonardo read them.
"Tina, come out now."
"You made me make a mistake by talking to me, Leo."
It was completely taking my frustration out on him, but I complained at Leonardo while writing the letter. For things I could not convert into English, I had no choice but to spell them out in this country's script. Just like how Aurelia pretended she could not speak English, there was a possibility that she could read this country's script too. It was too early to give up.
"Tina."
"Geez! If Leo had told me in advance that we were going to Aurelia-san's place, I could have written a letter at the residence!"
I finished the letter written in a hasty mix of English and this country's script, and fanned it with my hand to dry the ink. After doing that for a bit, I checked if the ink would come off on my hand, and since I had not brought an envelope, I folded it into a barrel shape so Leonardo would not see it. Ideally I would have liked to fold it into a cute shape like a heart, but if I made it too complicated, Aurelia would not be able to open it either, so this was probably just right.
"...I have finished writing."
I made a reluctant face and opened the door. When Leonardo reached out as if to check it, I stuck out my tongue and refused.
"Aurelia-saan, I wrote you a letter. Please read it."
Leaving Leonardo behind on the second floor, I ran down the stairs and handed the letter to Aurelia. Being able to come to Aurelia's house meant I could deliver letters to her without having to go through anyone else, which was lovely. As I hugged Aurelia's waist until Leonardo came back, I heard the sound of paper being opened above my head.
"I'm sorry, I can only read English."
...Huh? What did she just say?
From the words I could pick out, I gathered that "sorry" meant "sumimasen" and "not" was a negation and "English" was "eigo."
...She means only English is okay?
The same way she pretended not to be able to speak, I had written the letter hoping she might be able to read this country's script too, but it seemed Aurelia could not read scripts other than English after all.
"A failure, huh."
I would have to either master English completely or think of another method. My shoulders drooped, but as I enjoyed Aurelia's warmth, I heard Leonardo's footsteps coming down the stairs.
"I read instead."
I could not understand what Leonardo said, but I understood that Aurelia was trying to hand the letter to Leonardo, who had reached out his hand. Hurriedly, I jumped and snatched the letter from Aurelia's hand, hid it behind my back, and glared at Leonardo.
"Leo, you pervert! Reading a girl's letter is the lowest of the low!"
"I see it all the time, though."
Leonardo seemed puzzled as to why I was so angry just for today, and I was sweating cold on the inside. My usual letters were written with the assumption that others might see them, so I only wrote harmless content, but today's letter had nothing but harmful content. I could not let anyone other than Aurelia see it.
My pretense of sulking because only Leonardo got to talk to Aurelia was starting to turn into genuine frustration. As I was complaining and blaming Leonardo with lots of grumbling, the letter I had hidden behind my back was pulled out by Aurelia.
"What is this? I cannot read it, you know?"
"This is the letter I got."
When I tilted my head, unable to understand Aurelia's words, Leonardo told me, "She says it is a letter she received," and that she had accepted it even though she could not read it. Aurelia stuffed the letter into her apron pocket and ruffled my head with somewhat rough movements. The letter had failed, but I started to think that just being able to see her healthy face in person was good enough.
"...Tina, say goodbye to Aurelia."
Leonardo must have sensed that I was a little satisfied. Prompted to say my farewell, I hugged Aurelia's waist one more time instead of words.
"Shi... you... again."
I did not like saying goodbye, so I tried saying "See you again" with the feeling that I wanted to meet again. Unfortunately, my pronunciation was as bad as it could possibly get, so the two of them gave me wry smiles.
"...Oh, right. There are lots of sweets in the luggage!"
I remembered giving Aurelia the candy I had received from the Black Knights last time we parted, and recalled the luggage Leonardo had loaded onto the horse. He said it was sweets and candy for me, but the amount was clearly too much, probably because he intended to bring some to Aurelia's place.
...Leo, premeditated crime?
As I thought, if we were coming to Aurelia's house, I wished he had told me in advance. I could not reach the horse's back, so I pulled Leonardo's hand and walked to where the horses were tied. I was planning to have him take out the sweets and candy from the luggage and give them to Aurelia, but the moment we reached the horses, I was lifted up and placed onto the saddle.
...Could it be that even this was part of the plan!?
I glared at Leonardo with puffed cheeks as he innocently took out sweets and candy from the luggage. Had he deliberately not unloaded the souvenir sweets during the visit, calculating that I would throw a tantrum about not wanting to go home?
...No, I do not think Leo is capable of such intricate tricks.
I thought it was probably a coincidence, but being placed on the horse's back so easily still did not sit well with me. As I glared at Leonardo from atop the horse, Leonardo met my eyes and quickly looked away.
"Tina? Tiiina, please cheer up already."
At Leonardo's syrupy coaxing voice, I puffed out my cheeks again, which had been starting to deflate. When Leonardo's finger reached from behind to try to let the air out of my cheeks, I bit it with all my anger. It tasted like leather gloves and was not good.
"If we were coming to Aurelia-san's place, I wish you had told me in advance."
Then I could have prepared a letter, and I could have brought some recommended sweets too. Everything was too sudden, and even though it was such a precious opportunity, I could not make use of it at all.
Not bothering to hide my displeasure, I puffed out my cheeks, half-aware that I was taking my frustration out on him. I felt like I had thought this before, but it seemed to be quite good for relieving stress.
"If I told you in advance, Tina would definitely show it on your face."
"Is that not allowed?"
I tried imagining a situation where showing on my face that we were going to Aurelia's house would be bad. If I said we were going to Aurelia's house...
"...Is it because Alf-san would want to come?"
Alf, who seemed to feel close to Aurelia, would surely want to come too if he heard we were going to Aurelia's house. If that happened, the defenses at the fortress and the lord's residence might be weakened. Even now, Leonardo was stationed at the residence at all times to guard the research materials. He could not have the vice-commander leave the fortress vacant too.
"That is part of it, but are you forgetting that Waiyakku Valley is not a place you can visit so easily?"
"I cannot hear you. I want to meet Aurelia-san again."
I covered my ears with both hands and deliberately said "Ahh, ahh" to block out Leonardo's words. When I unwittingly let go of the saddle to cover my ears, even Leonardo resorted to physical measures. He grabbed my hand with his right hand and forced me to grip the saddle. He had just told me today that falling off a horse was dangerous, so I really was in the wrong here.
"...Do not let go of the saddle."
"I am sorry."
I was the one at fault, so I apologized honestly. Then I gripped the saddle firmly again.
"...I wanted to talk more slowly, a lot more."
"We came here on an unscheduled visit, so we cannot stay long. Like I said before, this is not a place you can visit easily."
"But Leo came here, did you not."
Even while saying it was not a place you could visit easily, Leonardo had visited Aurelia's house today. Saying "it is not a place you can visit easily" after casually dropping by lacked persuasive power.
"So, keep it a secret from Alf and the others, okay?"
...Huh?
I felt a sense of wrongness in Leonardo's slightly troubled-sounding voice and thought about it. Aurelia's house was not a place ordinary people could visit casually, and apparently I was not even supposed to tell Alf about coming here today.
"...Leo, did I make you do something bad?"
I turned around to look at Leonardo's face, even though I thought Leonardo would never do anything improper since he tried to fulfill his duties as a knight even with his little sister taken hostage. My hands almost lifted off the saddle due to the position, but Leonardo's hand was placed over mine, making me grip it again.
"There is no problem with me coming to check on Aurelia, but I think bringing Tina here is problematic."
"Is it something we would get in trouble for if the king or some important person found out?"
"Those people would not get angry, but..."
Leonardo shrugged, saying that since he was aware it was wrong, the guilt was strong. For the earnest Leonardo, even a minor violation of rules would cause him strong stress.
...I made Leo do something bad.
I did not ask him to, but Leonardo purely thought I would be happy and brought me here. I had caused him a lot of trouble, asking to stay overnight or to become Aurelia's child.
...Well then.
I decided to stop sulking about this matter. Leonardo had simply done his best, as much as he could, to make me happy. I should be grateful, not greedy for more.
"Aurelia-san looked healthy, did she not."
I switched my mood and thought positively. Under normal circumstances, I should not have been able to even see her face in person, but I had seen Aurelia looking well. That was nothing short of fortunate.
When I turned my gaze forward, it seemed Leonardo had sensed my change in mood. He pulled me close, pressing his body firmly against mine as if to embrace me.
"What is it?"
"This detour has been a little too long, so I am going to make the horse run. Tina, hold onto the saddle properly."
"Understood."
I put strength into my hands gripping the saddle as instructed. In Leonardo's mind, this visit to Waiyakku Valley seemed to be processed under the term "detour." I would follow suit.
...If I am good, he might bring me again, right?
Surely if I asked, Leonardo would only say "No," but if an opportunity arose, he might make a "detour" for me. Hoping for such a next chance, I closed my mouth so I would not bite my tongue.
[Author's Note]
The title has no meaning... I just struggled and squeezed it out. It looks like a letter an elementary school girl might pass around during class, but the contents are indeed a prescription leak secret document...!
The usual machine-translated English dialogue.
"I'm sorry, I can only read English"
(Sorry, I can only read English)
"I read instead"
(I'll read it for you)
"This is the letter I got"
(This is a letter I received)
Typos and missing characters, another day. I found typos and missing characters and corrected them.