313 - Spring Flower Festival Where Love Blooms 1
Leonardo departed for the Lugmilama Fortress, and my daily life returned to normal. I thought I was just using my time efficiently, but according to Ulrika, I apparently work a bit too much normally. I don't really feel like I'm working, but reading Japanese, transcribing it, and helping with the secret arts revival work at Siegwald's residence annex seem to have been legitimate work. When Leonardo was around, I had time to be spoiled, so I felt like I was slacking off in various ways, but apparently it was actually a very healthy child's day. A day for a child from a family that doesn't need to work from a young age consists of a little study time and lots of free time. Apparently there's no noble child like me who reads Japanese from morning, takes lessons from a tutor in the afternoon, and then helps adult pharmacists with their work.
...I thought everything except Hermine-sensei's lessons was an extension of play, you know.
Reading Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials is interesting, and mixing with the pharmacists to process raw ingredients into materials is fun. Making the bobbin lace guidebook is also an extension of my hobby, but if I put the finished book up for sale, that might count as work too.
...No wonder Alfred-sama made walking twice a day an obligation.
He probably judged that a child who looks like they're working too much needs time to unwind, even if forced.
"Oscar, let's go."
Since spring was approaching, my coat had been swapped for a thinner fabric. The fur that had been on the cuffs and collar during winter wasn't on the spring coat. If there was anything the same as the winter coat, it was just the cat tail. Winter was over, but the animal costume still wouldn't come off. I wouldn't be allowed to remove the animal costume until the Spring Flower Festival arrived.
I took the guard dogs out for a walk, the cat tail extending from my spring coat swaying. In the morning, it was the Black Dog Oscar who played catch with the wooden disc, and in the afternoon, it was the black shiba Kokumaro. The time the Black Dog spent playing with me was the time Kokumaro did "stay," and the time Kokumaro and I played was Kokumaro's training time, where he had to protect the wooden disc from the Black Dog who came to steal it. It was supposed to be play, but from Kokumaro's perspective, both were training time.
...Well, he is a bit of a lousy guard dog, after all. Having training time is a good thing, probably.
From this human's perspective it was training time, but I think from Kokumaro's perspective, it was still play time. Every time I threw the wooden disc far away, Kokumaro wagged his tail and chased after it.
The luggage Cody had brought at the end of winter contained things I recognized when I checked the contents. In addition to things Aurelia had previously procured, he had brought along materials from Waiyakku Valley. I had thought they would arrive in spring, but since Cody had urgent business and visited the capital, the luggage arrived earlier by chance.
...I hope the medicine makes it in time for Cody-san's nephew too.
Even though it was the season when snow was beginning to melt, the snowy roads were full of danger and difficulty. His family home was apparently near Quebia in the Saenard Kingdom, so it must be quite a distance from the capital Provall.
"Ah, this. Is this that stone from when I first helped Aurelia-san?"
Before I ground stones into powder using a mortar, I had put slightly larger stones into a bag and crushed them. I had touched them when they were almost like sand, but I felt like the pattern on the stone I had vaguely seen when it was being packed into the bag was the same.
"I've seen these leaves too."
These were leaves I had dried and ground into powder at Aurelia's house. Back then I had just helped with the work and hadn't been taught the names of the materials, but now I was in a position to read those material names aloud, which felt strange.
I compared the list of procured materials with the actual materials, and cross-referenced them with the materials recorded in the research documents. The ingredients procured from the Sedovara Church still needed to be reprocessed, and the pharmacists were motivated too, so we had settled on making the materials from raw ingredients again this time. When making Mustine medicine too, we processed the materials from raw ingredients, and since we had come to understand the importance of processing them exactly as Saint Yuuta Hiraga had written, the pharmacists did even the considerably troublesome work without a single complaint.
...Looks like the medicine will be completed smoothly this time too.
This time's medicine was a preventive for Greenwich pox. The medicine remaining at Aurelia's was effective if used in the early stages, so it might have been a lost secret art from before Aurelia's death.
...As I thought, with things processed at the Sedovara Church, stability is prioritized over efficacy.
I continued working while taking records, just like last time, investigating how slight differences affected the results. If they understood why the effects weren't stable and what happened when they deteriorated, there would be no pharmacist who cut corners. Someone who would become a pharmacist entrusted with other people's lives wouldn't cut corners knowing it could become poison.
...But still, Saint Yuuta Hiraga really was a deviant, wasn't he? Or maybe a paranoiac?
Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials thoroughly investigated methods for maximizing effects, but when used in prescriptions, he deliberately used things with suppressed efficacy. There were various methods, like adjusting the amount or roughly preparing the materials, but the fact that Saint Yuuta Hiraga created all these compounding techniques alone was terrifying. How much of his life had he devoted to pharmaceutical arts?
While I was preparing materials thinking about such things, the long-awaited Spring Flower Festival arrived.
"Good morning, it's the Spring Flower Festival! The cat ears are saying goodbye until winter too!"
"Yay!" I threw off my blanket and got up, and Rebecca was trembling. I think she was holding back laughter at my completely unladylike waking attitude. Kalisa brought today's clothes from the dressing room, but there was something she was discreetly hiding behind her back. If I hadn't realized today was the Spring Flower Festival, she was probably planning to put cat ears and a tail on me again today with a straight face.
Kalisa seemed to have switched gears. Since she'd lost the pleasure of putting cat ears on me, she decided to put effort into braiding instead. My hair was done in a complex half-up braid, decorated with flower-shaped hair ornaments and ribbons. The ribbons were bobbin lace that Kalisa had made. The lace, far more delicate and intricate than anything I could make, had a pattern of tiny flowers in a row.
"Christina-sama, gifts for the Spring Flower Festival have arrived."
After breakfast, while I was relaxing with tea in the living room, Solana gave me this report. When she asked if she should bring everything to my room, I moved to the entrance hall with suspicion, and sure enough, there was an amount of gifts that would indeed be impossible to bring to my room.
"...Are you sure these weren't mixed up with gifts meant for Felicia-sama?"
I pointed out that it was strange for so many gifts to arrive for me, no matter how you looked at it. The only people likely to send me Spring Flower Festival gifts were Leonardo and maybe Alfred out of social obligation. As I was thinking that and checking the addresses and senders, Solana told me that gifts for Felicia would be delivered to Felicia's residence, not the detached palace. Or the sender would come to hand them directly to Felicia under the pretext of a gift.
...Come to think of it, Felicia-sama has been swamped with suitors lately.
Apparently no one had met the standards for Felicia's ideal husband, so that commotion would continue for a while. Felicia's preference wasn't for looks or wealth, but for a man with the capacity and reason to support a Royal Peerage like herself. She wasn't someone who would be won over by superficial study.
"Ah, there's a flower from Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama."
Among the gifts from people whose faces I didn't know, I found a small potted Enomena and a jar filled with candies that had flowers trapped inside. Since it came with sweets, I figured Leonardo was the sender. When I checked with Solana, it really was a gift from Leonardo. Leonardo had departed for the Lugmilama Fortress as spring approached, but he had apparently arranged a Spring Flower Festival gift properly.
"Christina-sama, you have a guest."
Just as I picked up the Enomena pot, thinking I would display this one in my room, Ulrika called out to me. Wondering who it could be, I turned around still holding the Enomena pot, and behind Ulrika stood a boy wearing a cat hood I had seen somewhere before.
"Huh? Weren't you at Mikaela-sama's tea party..."
Come to think of it, I realized I had never heard his name. We had talked over board games at the tea party, but I don't think we had introduced ourselves to each other.
The cat-headed boy who had lost to Aristalf at Reversi and Saik -- I wondered if he was my guest, then realized belatedly. This cat-headed boy seemed to be able to come alone to a detached palace within the royal castle grounds, which even Basilia, the Staff Peerage's daughter, couldn't enter so easily. Which meant he might be from a more influential family than Basilia.
"Hello, do you have business with me..."
Before I could finish saying "business with me," the cat-headed boy ran off. Even Ulrika, who had guided him in saying "you have a guest," blinked in surprise. I never expected someone who called themselves a guest to run away just because I spoke to them.
"...What was that about?"
I tilted my head, left behind as the boy rushed out the front door with loud footsteps. The cat-headed boy must have been very flustered, because I heard a loud sound of him falling spectacularly on the other side of the door. I heard a strange cry like "befuh," but I decided not to check on it for the sake of his pride. He probably wouldn't want me to see him rolling around so dramatically.
"Well then, what should I do today?"
After placing the Enomena pot on a sunny windowsill, I reconsidered. I could take Elke and the others to see the Spring Flower Festival in the inner city, or I could stay home. Considering how I got lost during the Divine King Festival, it might be safer to avoid festival sightseeing, but I later heard that incident was a deliberate separation. In that case, I didn't need to be considerate and avoid the festival as if I'd learned my lesson.
...Last year I was depressed by Aurelia-san's death and wasn't in the mood for the Spring Flower Festival.
Searching my memory for other Spring Flower Festival memories, I recalled the Cupid showdown with Teo two years ago. Though it was billed as a showdown, in a sense I won overwhelmingly due to home-field advantage. Or rather, it was almost cheating. Since the considerate Black Knights had accepted gifts addressed to Black Knights at the fortress, I ended up just going back and forth between the fortress and the residence all day without even going into the city.
Come to think of it, what happened last year? I suddenly wondered and asked Hermine. I couldn't believe that accepting gifts for the fortress had ended as just a special measure for two years ago. Since they had accepted once, there must have been issues, big or small, about continuing this year too.
"The Black Knights' children delivered the gifts to the fortress."
"I've heard that the Black Knights of Grenore Fortress don't have time to find lovers..."
"Even so, it's not as if there are no married men at all."
If there were married men, that meant the Black Knights had children, and apparently those children worked as Cupids delivering gifts to the fortress. Unlike two years ago when it was just me, Elke, and Petrona delivering them, the number had increased a bit, making it easier. From what I heard about last year, I think the Spring Flower Festival was held smoothly at Grenore Fortress this year too.
...What should I do? Should I spend it as usual, or since it's a special festival, should I go out?
The Spring Flower Festival was also a festival for finding lovers. Since there were many young women among my ladies and maids, I had told them to take turns having time off. Solana and Kalisa said they didn't need time off, so they were as usual. Rebecca and Ulrika apparently had no connection to the Spring Flower Festival either, since they had fiancés arranged by their parents.
...I know I'd get scolded if I brought this up with Hermine-sensei.
Hermine still hated men as always, and she wouldn't go out to the Spring Flower Festival of her own accord. But that didn't mean she was homosexual either, so perhaps it was more accurate to say she was distrustful of men.
...But two years ago, Hermine-sensei was given a flower by one of Menhiriya's daughters, right?
Apparently there was a superstition that unmarried women who received such a flower would soon find a lover, but I'd never heard any romantic rumors about Hermine. It seemed Menhiriya's daughter's blessing had been thoroughly defeated by Hermine's distrust of men.
"Tina-sama, give Petrona the day off, and let us go to the inner city."
"Give only Petrona the day off?"
Elke raised her hand slightly to ask for permission to speak, and what came out of her mouth was this. She wasn't asking for her own time off, but for Petrona's.
"But that would mean leaving Petrona behind..."
If she had said "let's all three go to the Spring Flower Festival together," I would have understood, but leaving only Petrona behind was hard to accept. I checked with Elke to see if she'd misspoken, but her intention to give Petrona time off didn't change.
"If she has the day off, Petrona can deliver a gift to the man she fancies, can't she? Let's go to the Spring Flower Festival so we won't get in the way."
"Huh? Wait. That would mean Petrona has a man she fancies...?"
"So you really hadn't noticed. Petrona has been interested in someone for a while now..."
Just as the name of Petrona's favored man was about to come out of Elke's mouth, Petrona stopped her by covering Elke's mouth with both hands. She was cute, her face bright red as she said she didn't need that kind of concern.
"Besides, if Tina-sama goes out, the person I want to deliver a gift to also goes out, doesn't he!"
"...So the person Petrona has feelings for is someone who comes along when I go out?"
I caught sight of Petrona, frozen with a shocked look on her face, and behind her, Aaron standing guard at the door. Aaron's job was to follow me wherever I went as my escort.
"Heeeeeh? Huh?"
A strange sound came out of my mouth at how shocking it was that they had that kind of relationship. I thought I should celebrate a friend's first love, but the fact that the person was so close made me feel complicated. If I had to compare it, it would be like the feeling when your best friend's lover turns out to be your own brother.
...Well, it's not like Petrona-chan is in love with Leonyaldo-san.
Still, it was unexpected. So unexpected that all I could do was make strange sounds. I didn't mean to tease her, but I couldn't pretend I hadn't heard, and I didn't know how to react.
"Th-that's not it. There's no special meaning. It's because he helped me during the Divine King Festival! As thanks... I just tried some embroidery..."
Her voice grew quieter toward the end, and finally Petrona's cheeks flushed bright red. Even hearing that there was no special meaning, it wasn't convincing, but Aaron himself seemed convinced. He said he had just done his job, so no thanks were necessary.
...Just accept it properly! You idiot, Aaron!
This small flower of love that seemed to have bloomed without my knowledge -- I couldn't help but worry that this love would face a difficult path ahead.
A flower of love it was, but it wasn't Tina's flower.