160 - The Tenth Birthday
"Now that I am ten, carrying me is banned starting today," I declared again while enjoying my after-meal tea, and Leonardo made a rather complicated face. No doubt about it, he was dissatisfied with this declaration.
...But I will not give in. With Leonardo's arm strength, he could carry me even when I am grown up.
I think it is better to correct this early. Right now, we apparently still look like a father and daughter sometimes, so it comes off as an adorable scene of a man carrying a little girl, but in another five or six years, I will be a girl of marriageable age. If a thirty-something Leonardo was carrying around a fifteen or sixteen-year-old me, it would only look like a suspicious relationship. I felt that if it came to that, it could endanger Leonardo's career as a knight.
"...You are slow at running, are you not, Tina?"
"Of course, emergencies are different. Like if a dog is chasing me, or if a suspicious person is trying to kidnap me."
I do not think I am particularly slow at running compared to other children my age, but my legs are shorter, so compared to adults, I am indeed slower. If he carried me in those kinds of emergencies, I would not have any complaints. In fact, I would be the one asking him to.
"But there is not a single child among my friends who gets carried by their guardian at age ten."
My current friends are Mirshe and Nils and that group, and I have never seen them being carried by their parents or guardians. Mirshe was once carried by Leonardo, but that was because I provoked it. Even Leonardo does not usually go around picking up other people's children.
"...Also, sitting on your lap is banned too."
I climbed onto his lap plenty of times yesterday, but that was because I thought it would be the last time. Sitting on your guardian's lap is something only very small children do, I think. At the very least, it felt wrong to be sitting on my guardian's lap even after turning ten.
"When you give me sweets, please put them on a plate."
This was also something I did plenty of yesterday, but normally it is Leonardo who does it to me. He makes me open my mouth and pops in candies or baked sweets.
When I pointed out that receiving sweets directly from hand to mouth was unladylike, Leonardo raised his hand as if requesting to speak.
"It is your birthday, Tina, but it feels like there are more restrictions on me."
"After considering what behavior is appropriate for a ten-year-old, I have determined that the way you spoil me is the problem."
I added that this was mainly from Hermine, too. This was what she pointed out to me yesterday when I went to consult her about age-appropriate behavior for turning ten, complete with explanations of why it was wrong. I had already been thinking I should fix these things, so I was going to make full use of Hermine's observations and explanations. If it was just my own arguments, Leonardo might talk me out of it sometimes.
"Also, I am going to change how I address you from Leo to Leonardo."
"That is strange, is it not? Going from a nickname to worse treatment."
Leonardo resisted, saying it was odd that now that I had finally started calling him by the friendly nickname 'Leo,' I would go back to a more formal address just because I turned ten. But as far as I was concerned, I did not intend to switch to a distant way of addressing him.
"It is not like I am going to be a child forever, you know. I can properly call my family member by name."
In spirit, it was like when a baby who called their parents 'Mama, Papa' grows up and changes to 'Father, Mother.' I also considered 'Leonardo-niisama' for a bit, but the sound of 'niisama' felt a bit childish to me, so I held back. When I conveyed this thought process directly to Leonardo, he said that if it included 'niisama,' he would not mind if it was 'Leonardo.' In fact, he even said he preferred niisama.
...But 'nii-sama' has that drawn-out 'nii' sound that feels childish, does it not?
I was trying to adopt an address appropriate for a ten-year-old, so I wanted to avoid making it even more childish. In the end, I decided to consult Hermine again about the address.
"Would 'Big Brother Leonardo' not be suitable?"
After Hermine's lesson finished in the afternoon, when I finally had a chance for casual conversation and consulted her about how to address him, she added one character. Certainly, calling him 'Onii-sama' felt less childish than just 'Nii-sama.'
"Since Tina-san has no other older brothers, I think omitting the name and simply calling him 'Onii-sama' would be fine as well."
She added another option, saying that if I was worried about it sounding childish, there was also 'Ani-ue.' After thinking it over a bit, I decided to call him 'Big Brother Leonardo.' This sheds a little of the childishness, and since it includes the 'big brother' that Leonardo wanted, he should not have any complaints.
"...Then, for Tina-san, who has climbed one step toward becoming a lady, I have a birthday present from me as well."
Saying this, Hermine placed before me a sewing box that was almost too large for me to wrap my arms around. It had two lids separated by a handle, and flowers were carved into the top. I recognized these flowers because I had been looking at the designs closely when I was embroidering the gift for Aurelia.
...It matches Aurelia-san's.
To be precise, it probably also matches whoever at Sedovara Church bought the handkerchief from her, but I do not know their face, so I will exclude them. This sewing box had the same pattern as Aurelia's.
When I opened the carved flower lid, inside there were lots of little partitioned compartments. There was a pincushion, needles, and several colors of thread. The lower part had two tiers of drawers, split in the middle, making four drawers in total.
"I have only prepared needles and thread for the inside, but you can fill the rest according to your own tastes, Tina."
"It is lovely. Thank you, Hermine-sensei."
I wanted to express my joy with a hug, but I had just declared I would strive for behavior appropriate for a ten-year-old. Even I understood that hugging at full force just because I was happy was wrong.
I thought about it for a bit but could not come up with a good solution, so I ended up consulting Hermine about it directly. About a proper way to express joy befitting a lady.
"Simply expressing your thanks in words is sufficient. Besides, as your deportment teacher, I am simply happy to see you making an effort to behave in a ladylike manner."
"...I understand. I wanted to express my joy with my full being, but I will do as you have taught me, Sensei."
Since I had asked the person herself for the correct answer, I felt a bit pathetic, but I straightened my posture and gave an elegant bow. I tried to put on a refined smile and say 'thank you very much for this wonderful gift,' but the primness felt a little embarrassing and I could not keep it up. My face naturally softened into a goofy smile, and I hurriedly pressed my cheeks to stop it. Just because I had gone from nine to ten did not mean I could suddenly pull off prim behavior. I planned to consciously work on it, but I hoped I would be forgiven for the first day.
"Come to think of it, I have never asked when your birthday is, Hermine-sensei."
"At my age, it is not something to be celebrated."
Hermine, who remarked that in another forty years it might be worth celebrating as a milestone of longevity, was truly at an awkward age.
"But then, I... that is... then I cannot repay you."
I consciously corrected my words. If ladylike behavior itself was repayment, then I wanted to actively improve.
When I pressed her, saying I could not give something in return if I did not know her birthday, Hermine showed a slight thoughtful gesture.
"...Then, perhaps when you have some free time someday, would you do some embroidery for me?"
She would accept my gratitude, but it seemed she would not tell me her birthday after all. I was dodged until the end, but since Hermine had given me the request that embroidery would be a nice thank-you gift, I wanted to respond with all my effort.
At dinner, Alf came, as did Bertrand as usual. Bertrand did not come to the residence at dinner just for the meal. His main purpose was to pick up his black dog, Oscar.
...For some reason, Oscar comes to our place every day, you know.
Since the gatekeeper Black Knights had learned that Oscar was Bertrand's dog, they seemed to confirm his passage as a formality, but he was pretty much allowed into the Fortress Lord's Residence grounds without any real check. I did not know if that was the reason, but Oscar came to the residence every morning, followed behind me on days I went to the Menhishumi Church, lay down outside the building waiting during class, and then followed me back when it was time to go home. He repeated this strange behavior. Teo still seemed to get along badly with Oscar, but the church people had started to think of him as some kind of watch dog for me.
"Happy birthday, Tina."
"Thank you, Alf-san."
Alf gave me a small bouquet as a birthday present. The fact that it was not sweets was lovely. If it had been my guardian (big brother), he would have undoubtedly prepared an armful of sweets.
"I heard you declared to Leonardo that since you are ten now, spoiling you is banned."
"I am going to aim to be a lady little by little, so please guide me well too, Alf-san."
Alf shrugged, saying that was hardly the words of a child, so I complained that Leonardo spoiled me too much.
"Big Brother Leonardo spoils me too much, so I do not know what age-appropriate behavior looks like."
When I told Alf about my resolve to consciously correct myself, Alf gave a wry laugh and said, "Looks like she will be getting married before too long." As for Leonardo, who from today would be called 'Big Brother Leonardo,' he grinned foolishly at the words 'Big Brother Leonardo' and made a face like the end of the world at Alf's comment about her 'getting married before too long.' As for me, I was hoping for a commoner husband stronger than Leonardo, so I thought finding a partner would be extremely difficult.
"Alf. If it is the young lady's birthday, you should have told me beforehand. I have come empty-handed."
"You treated me to sweets and juice in town the other day, Bertrand-sama."
"That was incidental to Teo. It was not to celebrate the young lady's birthday."
"...Then, may I make one request?"
If Bertrand was regretting not having prepared a birthday present, then I was sorry, but I would take advantage of that. There was one thing I absolutely wanted Bertrand to do.
"What is it?"
Bertrand laughed as if to say he would buy me anything, and I felt a little bad but brought up the matter of the black dog. About that black dog that came to the residence every day for some reason.
"I would like you to stop letting Oscar roam free."
This was something I had said almost every day lately, but I repeated it once more. He came to the residence in the morning and stayed on the grounds all day. He always followed me when I went out, and at the Menhishumi Church, people had started to think he was my dog.
"...I have been letting Oscar loose because I gave him something to search for."
Bertrand tilted his head, saying that with his good nose, he should not make a mistake. He said he let him loose in the field to search for something, and when he got word that Oscar had been taken in at Grenore City, he came to pick him up.
"What is he looking for..."
"Tina."
The words 'what is he looking for' almost slipped out, but Alf cut me off. The gesture of gently pressing a finger to his lips made me realize I was about to barge into someone else's family affairs. Searching for something using a dog was hardly the kind of thing an outsider should be asking about out of curiosity.
...Besides, Bertrand-sama is a noble, after all.
There were probably matters one should not pry into too deeply. Following Alf's restraint, I closed my mouth like a lady and did not ask any probing questions.
And so, this is Tina's Great Growth Strategy. Since she has past-life memories, she cannot expect to grow naturally like a normal child, so her strategy is to consciously adjust her behavior at each age.
I will fix typos later. I have corrected the typos I found.