303 - Leonardo's Return
The pharmacists gathered at Siegwald's residence began prioritizing the production of Mustaine medicine. Mustaine medicine is most effective during the snowmelt season, and if they start making it now, they can transport the medicine to distant towns and villages even along snowy roads. Normally, using the medicine immediately after it's made yields better results, but moving people is difficult, and since there are still only five pharmacists who can produce Mustaine medicine, dispatching them is itself a challenge. They cannot save every town and village equally, so this year they decided to produce Mustaine medicine in one location and deliver it to each town and village.
...Since I'm also taking a break from preparing the next batch of medicine ingredients, I've found myself with some free time recently.
Having some time on my hands, I rolled my bobbins for the first time in a while. Since Kalisa had come, I taught her, and Rebecca easily learned bobbin lace, and I taught Petrona, who was interested in it, while also creating a bobbin lace guidebook. Elke wanted to join this circle too, but I asked her to hold off this time. Since I'm making a beginner's guidebook, I plan to have Elke read the manuscript when it's finished to test whether it works as an instruction manual.
Once the bobbin lace guidebook project got moving, I started embroidery in my spare time. I keep starting something new whenever I have free time, so Solana scolded me for overworking. I plan to embroider Leonardo's shirt again this year for the Spring Flower Festival next year. I thought adding embroidery to the cuffs every year lacked creativity, and I was thinking of embroidering a Cerberus on the back, but Hermine stopped me. When she calmly pointed out whether I could embroider multiple shirts for rotation if I did a full back embroidery, I had no choice but to comply. Even pranks take time and effort. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time right now to embroider the entire back of a large man's shirt.
...Since he's been so helpful to me, should I embroider something for Alfred-sama too?
I suddenly realized this when I saw Alfred, who said he was giving embroidery to Alf and for some reason started embroidering right in front of me. I realized it, but I filed it away in the corner of my mind as something that had only briefly crossed my thoughts. Embroidery for the Spring Flower Festival is something you give to family, and giving it to the opposite sex is an advertisement of "this is the kind of embroidery I can do", essentially a declaration of "I want to be your bride." If you don't mean it that way, it's better not to give it with the Japanese mindset of "since you've been so kind to me."
When snow began to fall in flurries and the ground across the capital was completely dyed white, the Divine King Festival drew near. I wonder if Jasper has arrived at the place where snow berries can be harvested by now. Snow berries ripen after being covered by snow, so just because it's started snowing doesn't mean they can be harvested immediately. It takes time before they can be harvested, and they need to be dried in the snow for preservation, so he probably won't be back for a while.
...I think it's about time Leonyaldo-san came back, don't you think?
He said he'd only be at Lugmilama Fortress during autumn, but now it's already close to mid-winter. I've heard that just because winter has come doesn't mean he'd return immediately, but even so, it feels a bit too late.
...If he doesn't come back soon, Timon-sama will end up officiating the Divine King Festival rites.
Whether Leonardo serves as the priest or Timon serves as the priest, the rites for the War God Herkeles are off-limits to the general public, so I can't watch them anyway. Still, I felt a bit regretful, so I started keeping an eye outside the detached palace, wondering why he hadn't returned yet, when he would return. Because of this, I've been spending more time in the living room, where I can immediately notice any carriage coming to the detached palace, rather than in the winter rooms designed to retain warmth.
"Even if you keep staring outside like that, Big Brother-sama won't be back anytime soon."
Ulrika told me that since he surely understands they have their own circumstances, there should be advance notice first. Even with their circumstances, the room Leonardo plans to use is already prepared, and I've increased the food supplies, so even if he suddenly returned, it would hardly be a problem. I'm still an apprentice mistress, but the servants gathered at this detached palace are excellent. Compensating for an immature mistress is nothing to them.
"...Is it possible that he actually went to war and can't come back?"
"We haven't heard any talk of war breaking out, so there's no need to worry about that."
When I ask, Alfred and Felicia both tell me, and Ulrika's information network is as mysterious as ever but better than any other lady's maid, so I can trust it. There were no stories of war starting in the tidbits Solana and Kalisa occasionally brought me either.
...There's also the possibility that they're keeping it from me since I'm just a child, though.
Even though no war has started, Leonardo hasn't come back even in winter. This is the first time I haven't seen his face in four months, so I've reached my limit of loneliness. I put on my warm owl coat indoors and was about to move the kotatsu to the entrance hall, but Hermine caught me and scolded me. A lady does not sit around waiting in the entrance hall, she said.
Reluctantly, I returned to the living room to wait for Leonardo's return. Since my Spring Flower Festival embroidery, done to pass the time, was finished in no time, I decided to sew an extra shirt this year. This means I'm sewing the shirt itself, with just one small point of embroidery.
While all this was happening, a letter finally arrived a week before the Divine King Festival, announcing Leonardo's return. It said he was expected to arrive in the capital within a few days.
"He's back!"
I pressed myself flat against the window and spotted a carriage advancing along the single road leading to the detached palace. I had been waiting for Leonardo for so long that even those who would scold me about being a proper lady had given up. They'd decided that at least letting me see Leonardo first was better than meaningless scolding until I calmed down.
"Welcome home!"
I dashed out of the entrance in my loungewear to greet Leonardo. I was poised to give him a hug while waiting for the carriage door to open, but the sight of Leonardo descending the carriage steps deflated that mood entirely.
"I'm home, Tina. What's this? No welcome-home hug?"
I approached his outstretched arms saying "come here," but stopped a few steps short. I couldn't bring myself to hug him right away, and as I watched him, Leonardo's hand reached out as if he'd grown impatient, so I dodged to the side.
"...Tina? Is it because I was late coming home? Are you sulking?"
His arm happened to be in just the right position, so I grabbed his sleeve and sniffed it. His clothes smelled of dust from what seemed like a long journey, but they didn't smell much like sweat.
...But I caught on. That he didn't smell at all was also strange.
I didn't miss the fact that when I made a show of sniffing him, Leonardo's cheek twitched for just a moment. Leonardo looks like he just arrived, but he'd washed off his sweat somewhere before coming to the detached palace. Realizing this, I put on a lady's smile.
"Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama, where did you stay last night?"
"...That's right. You said you wanted a cat hot water bottle, didn't you? I bought one properly."
After a brief silence, Leonardo moved to the carriage bed and unloaded a bundle as large as an armful. Perhaps to divert my attention, he opened the package on the spot, revealing a slightly ugly-faced cat hot water bottle.
"So, where did you stay last night?"
"...Why do you ask that? I came back by carriage, so there's only one place to sleep."
"Since you traveled by carriage, of course you must have slept in the carriage during the journey, but where did you stay last night?"
I pointed out that not answering immediately was a loss, and asked again about where he stayed last night. Saying "the bed during the journey was the carriage" isn't a lie as an answer, but if he'd arrived in the capital yesterday, that shouldn't count as being during the journey.
"...I couldn't enter the royal castle, where the king's palace is, looking dirty from travel. I went to a bathhouse."
"That's an insufficient reason for not being able to answer immediately."
Setting aside the question of what he did that required a bath, I watched the servants unload the luggage from the carriage while telling him about my recent situation. Poison was brought into the detached palace, two lady's maids left the service, and one of those maids drank poison and died. In the commotion, the servants' backgrounds were re-investigated and several were dismissed. Also, Bertrand found out I was staying in the capital and has launched several surprise attacks. During those, since I spread the word that I'm his granddaughter, some White Knights started thinking strange things. The Black Dog and Aaron captured the culprit behind the night visit arrangements, and a White Knight wearing a black hood was captured near the detached palace. According to Giselle, requests for a fake kidnapping have also come to her in her guard position, so I've sent her undercover.
"...And, I suppose that's about it for what happened while you were away?"
There are other matters that might need reporting, like meeting my cousin, but this is enough for now. Leonardo, who had been avoiding my eyes just moments ago, was frozen with a serious face. This should be enough threatening for now.
"So, I've been eagerly waiting for my big brother to come home every day, but..."
Where did you stay last night? I asked the question again. At that, he finally seemed to understand my intention. Leonardo obediently surrendered.
"Your fickle big brother spent last night sweating it out at a brothel."
He apologized with a bow, so I reached out and ruffled his hair, messing it up. He shouldn't have tried to deceive me with such clumsy lies from the start.
"I don't think it's my place as a little sister to say anything about where Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama goes and who he does what with. But you've been away from home for a long time, and you have a sister waiting for you at home, so please show your family your safe face before enjoying yourself."
"...You're right. Showing you my healthy face first should have been the priority."
As long as he understands, I forgave my fickle brother, and since we shouldn't be standing and talking at the entrance forever, I took his hand. As I started to lead him into the detached palace, Leonardo stopped and tilted his head.
"Tina, what about the baptism?"
At Leonardo's tilted head asking if there was no baptism for the custom shoes, I wanted to tilt my head myself. This man, could it be that he went to a brothel because he wanted to receive the custom shoe baptism?
"There are times when not doing it hurts more, aren't there?"
I stared back at him with a serious face as if to say "What are you talking about?" I'm not someone who always gets angry in such an obvious way. Whether Leonardo has fun with prostitutes or not, it's not my place to interfere. But it's certainly true that I'm not happy about being put second.
...Let him know a deeper anger than usual!
Thinking such dangerous thoughts internally, I put on a lady's smile and urged Leonardo forward. My brother was finally home. For now, I'd put a lid on anything unpleasant and enjoy having my brother back after four months.
I think I'm a very simple person. Or perhaps, a frighteningly quick to shift gears person.
While walking through the corridor, holding Leonardo's hand opposite the one holding the hot water bottle, the fact that he prioritized a prostitute over his sister was pushed to the corner of my mind, and the joy of having my brother finally home grew stronger. Suppressing the grin spreading across my face by putting on a "I'm still angry, you know" expression was, in a low-key way, something I couldn't let my guard down about.
"I can't really take it easy just yet, though..."
When I showed him to Leonardo's room, which was kept ready for him to use at any time, Leonardo opened his mouth, looking a bit apologetic. I already knew that Leonardo couldn't relax yet.
"You're going to perform the rites for the War God Herkeles at the Divine King Festival, right? Did you just come to drop off your luggage today? At least have some tea before you go."
Familiar as I was with the place, I prepared tea in Leonardo's room as if it were my own. There had been several lady's maids for Leonardo at the detached palace, but they were all merrily dismissed during the poison incident. So for a while, he'll have to share maids with me.
...Well, while he's in the capital, I'll be glued to Leonyaldo-san anyway. I feel like it's more accurate to say there's no sharing to speak of.
Since we spend most of our time together, the servants taking care of us are all in one place, so a small number of lady's maids and maids isn't a problem.
"I'll be able to spend time with you properly starting from the second day of the Divine King Festival."
The rites for the War God Herkeles are held on the night of the first day of the Divine King Festival. There will probably be cleanup afterward, but Leonardo will be freed after that.
"Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama, that's exactly the kind of thing you should have postponed as a treat."
If he'd come straight back to the detached palace when he returned right before the Divine King Festival, I would have been satisfied, and he could have faced the rites after a good night's rest. Even if he usually serves as the priest every year, I think facing the real thing without any preparation is questionable.
"Will you be staying in the capital during winter?"
"Yeah. Winter should be fine. In spring, I'd like to return to Lugmilama Fortress after the sowing is done."
"...Is that so."
Even though he just got back, he's already talking about leaving again. To keep from sinking into a mood that would only get worse if I dwelled on it, I decided to distract myself with happy thoughts.
"After the Herkeles rites are over, I'm going to demand lots of indulgence as compensation for last night, so be prepared."
"Being doted on by one's little sister is a big brother's privilege."
Leonardo readily agreed with a "leave it to me," and a mischievous impulse began to well up inside me. I wanted to see my brother's slightly troubled face for the first time in a while. That was the mood I was in.
"...Come to think of it, it's strange that Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama only bought one hot water bottle."
"You wrote in your letter that you wanted a cat hot water bottle, didn't you?"
"I did send a letter, but... I thought Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama would buy up all the cat-shaped hot water bottles he could find."
I thanked him for the slightly ugly cat hot water bottle, noting that he was surprisingly restrained. I was planning to use it as a heat source for the kotatsu, but maybe I'll bring it to bed and have it keep me warm starting tonight. As I was thinking that, I looked up at Leonardo and caught him subtly averting his eyes, which gave me a clue.
"Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama, you only bought one, right?"
"..."
Leonardo answered with silence, and I remembered that most of the luggage had been unloaded by the servants. The carriage was only supposed to carry Leonardo's change of clothes and the hot water bottle I'd requested. The fact that Leonardo, who left on horseback, came back by carriage was odd in itself.
"Elke, Petrona."
I called the names of my two friends who were serving as maids. The two called understood my thoughts without needing to be ordered. They moved to the corner where the unloaded luggage was gathered and began opening packages that were clearly not Leonardo's change of clothes.
"This is a cute black cat hot water bottle."
"This one is a realistic and scary hot water bottle."
"Oh, this one's cute. There's a mother cat and kitten hot water bottle."
"I'm not sure this one can be called a hot water bottle... There's a smaller cat coming out of the inside."
"There are cat-shaped cookies here."
Exasperated by the hot water bottles being discovered one after another, I turned to look at Leonardo. The first few were the hot water bottle I'd requested, but partway through it seemed like anything cat-shaped would do. The paw-print patterned plate was embarrassingly cute, and I couldn't help feeling frustrated about it.
"I also bought hot water bottles for Elke and Petrona. They're for Tina's friends, so it's only natural as her big brother."
"Did you know that the two of them had come to the capital?"
Even if they were for the two of them, the numbers didn't add up, but since I wanted to make him squirm a bit, I blocked his escape route. When I stared at Leonardo's face, he reluctantly confessed that he'd "just bought a bunch to have enough." He said he hadn't known what I'd like, so he just bought various things.
...Is the fact that he didn't buy something alive progress?
Last time he bought a puppy (Kokumaro) without any consultation, so just the fact that he didn't buy a living creature was progress in itself. The quantity seemed a bit excessive, but they were cat hot water bottles just as I'd requested. I wanted to complain about the excessive spending, but it was also the result of his own attempt to please me. The troublesome thing was that it made me a little happy too, which was a real handful.
A fitting brother for a fitting sister.
I struggled with the subtitle "You had fun last night, didn't you."
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.