342 - Adorutoru's Eggs
...He didn't come back.
It had been said that he might return depending on the snow situation, so even if he didn't come back, it wasn't as though Leonardo had lied. But what was unsatisfying was unsatisfying. Every day, I quietly waited for Leonardo's return at the detached palace while doing embroidery for the Spring Flower Festival.
Last year, when I asked the tailor for Leonardo's measurements to make a shirt, they delivered fabric that was finished to the point where all I had to do was sew it. So this year, I started from buying the cloth, but if Leonardo didn't return by the time the shirt was completed, then I supposed a bit of mischief would be acceptable. My strong suit is embroidery. I planned to put that embroidery skill to good use and sew up this year's birthday gift.
...I am thinking about it properly this year, you know, the birthday gift.
Last year, I couldn't think of a good prank, but this year, something came to me. In the capital, one often sees White Knights and Silver-White Knights in uniform. Watching their uniforms, I noticed that while the Silver-White Knights weren't so bad, the White Knights added all sorts of decorations. That meant that customizing knight uniforms was permitted.
...I confirmed it with Timon-sama and Sieg-sama, you see. That some decoration additions are allowed for Silver-White Knight uniforms.
It seems that White Knights and Silver-White Knights are distinguished by button color for their affiliation, and as long as one was careful about that, they were free to do as they pleased. The White Knights, who were nobles' sons, seemed to often spend money on flashy decorations, but since the Silver-White Knights included commoners, few of them had such ornate decorations. At most, their families would add a single small embroidery point for the Spring Flower Festival.
...If he doesn't return by spring, I'll add a little point to Leonyaldo-san's uniform too.
I couldn't say it was wrong to say that I'd come up with it only because I'd finished the Spring Flower Festival embroidery and the shirt-making and had time on my hands.
In the end, Leonardo did not return to the capital even by the end of winter, so my mischief was carried out. I had a new Silver-White Knight uniform prepared, and embroidered a single 'point' on its back. Leonardo returned to the capital right at the last minute before the Spring Flower Festival, but since I'd already taken my revenge through embroidery, I greeted him in a good mood, and he looked puzzled. He'd thought I'd greet him in a bad mood for being later than the schedule he'd mentioned. In a sense, that was correct. It was just that all my anger had been poured into and sublimated into the Silver-White Knight uniform, so it simply wasn't showing clearly on my face.
"It's embroidery for the Spring Flower Festival. Here you go, Leonyaldo Big Brother."
"Thank you, Tina."
This year I'd tailored the shirt from cutting the cloth, but since his return was late, fine adjustments weren't possible. I warned him as I handed it over along with the shirt that had embroidery added as usual. I thought it would be fine since I'd made it the same way as last year, but I'd wanted him to try it on at least at the fitting stage.
"Also, it's a bit more than slightly early, but since we have the opportunity, please wear it from the Spring Flower Festival. It's a Silver-White Knight uniform."
"The uniform... you embroidered it for me. Thank you, Tina."
As Leonardo received the uniform with a deeply moved expression, my ladylike smile grew even brighter. Just you be shocked when you see the one-point embroidery I put on the back, I thought.
"...Amazing. Such a large picture... it must have been difficult, right?"
As Leonardo stroked the embroidered area with the pads of his fingers, his face melting into an expression unfit for public display, I belatedly realized my mistake. I'd embroidered 'one point' across the entire back, but there was no way Leonardo, who couldn't possibly understand Japanese, could read what was embroidered there.
A huge failure! I wanted to see Leonyaldo-san recoil when shown this!
As I privately drooped my shoulders over my failed prank, Leonardo finally seemed to notice that it wasn't a picture but some kind of cipher. He held the uniform a little away from his body and began looking at the embroidery on the back as a whole.
"...Is this the English letter 'I'? The horizontal part looks like a heart pattern... but the bottom isn't English. What is it?"
"The bottom is kanji. It's 'woman' and 'not yet.' I thought this was the only thing for Leonyaldo Big Brother, so I sewed it with all my heart."
"I see. Thank you, Tina."
Hearing his third word of thanks, even though it was my own prank, I started feeling that maybe I'd gone too far and the guilt was intense. But since simply embroidering letters would have been boring, I'd put care into the design, like intertwining plants with the 'I' and subtly embedding a Cerberus watermark in the heart using slightly different colors. So please forgive me. Leonardo ended up carrying 'I love little sister' on his back, but I felt that even if I told him the meaning encoded in the cipher, his reaction probably wouldn't change, so this was fine. (T/N: The prank uses the characters 女 (woman) and 未 (not yet) placed together to resemble the single kanji 妹 (little sister), creating the message 'I love little sister'.) It felt like the same phenomenon as a kanji T-shirt with outrageous content to a Japanese person looking cool to a foreigner.
"By the way, what does this say?"
Since there was the English 'I', this must be a phrase, Leonardo said. That was entirely correct, but explaining the content of the prank was already a failure of the prank at this point. It was like falling into a hole I'd dug myself, but I wanted to be forgiven already.
"'I' means 'me,' right. Heart is 'heart'... no, was it also used with a favorable meaning? In that case, is it 'I am a womanizer'?"
Leonardo made a pitiful face, saying that was surely too harsh, so I started to open my mouth to give him the correct answer, but his voluntary confession made me lose the inclination. I could clear up the misunderstanding later, so for now, I decided to listen to my brother's voluntary confession as he started chattering on his own.
"It's true that part of being late coming back was because I went to the brothel, but I also properly went to check on Mirshe in Grenore, you know. I wasn't just playing around with the prostitute big sisters. Sure, since it's hard to go out and play after returning to the capital, I did make a little detour in Mandez, but..."
"Please, do continue, Leonyaldo Big Brother."
Leonardo's voice stopped as he seemed to realize his slip of the tongue. I smiled a lady's smile and urged him to continue.
...I would have forgiven it if it was just that he was late because he went to check on Mirshe-chan.
As I smiled sweetly, Leonardo seemed to realize that he had confessed things he shouldn't have. He reverently hugged the white uniform to his chest, straightened his back, and said, "I will gratefully wear this uniform that says 'I am a womanizer,'" so I stomped on his foot with my heel. I didn't need to tell him the real meaning for a while yet.
After the Spring Flower Festival, Basilia came to the capital from Lagarette for the first time in a year. I was surprised to find Basilia had grown quite tall, as her letters had started arriving directly at the detached palace instead of through Shestin. Before, the difference was only that she was a little taller than me, but now there was a gap that made me think she must be one or two years older. Basilia seemed to have already entered her growth spurt.
...This isn't that my growth spurt is late, I'm starting to feel like I'm ultimately just a small person.
Having noticed that possibility, I was a little scared to meet Mirshe, who had already been about the same height as me last year. Mirshe should have been two years younger than me, but I had a feeling she would have overtaken me in height by the time she returned to Grenore.
...Ah, once I realized I might be on the smaller side of average, I realized it. Basilia-chan, is your chest starting to swell a little?
There seemed to be a faint swell that hadn't existed a year ago. And Dietfried, whom I saw frequently in form but had yet to properly converse with, seemed to have the head position under his cat hood growing taller and taller.
...Rather, am I the only one not growing?
Speaking of growth, Elke had her first period the other day. Along with that, Hermine thought it was about time and gave me an explanation about the female body. Whether it was because of my age or because that was just how sex education was in this world, the explanation felt a little vague and obfuscated. I wasn't taught that menstruation was preparation for having a baby or body maintenance, only that it was proof that the body had become an adult and something that every adult woman inevitably had. The rest was about how to handle menstruation. Apparently, the mainstream sanitary product in this world was something like a tampon.
...I feel like I've only ever heard the name 'tampon' in my previous life too.
If I searched my memory, I could recall the general shape, but the new tampons prepared for our explanation and the tampons from my previous life were slightly different in form. Hermine carefully explained how to use them, but even understanding what they were, thinking about actually using them myself made me anxious. Taking the opportunity, I asked the maids and Kalisa whether tampons really were the mainstream, and they nodded. Apparently, there were cloth pads too, but they seemed to be used in combination with tampons. As was only natural, there were no disposable pads like in my previous life.
...I, I don't want to become an adult...!
Feeling a little resistance to growing up, spring passed by in a flash. As Leonardo's birthday at the end of spring approached, Alf brought me the long-awaited news at the detached palace.
"...Successful acquisition of an unfertilized Adorutoru egg, it says. Huh? Is that true? You really managed to obtain it?"
I read the letter over and over, and each time confirmed the string of letters spelling 'acquisition successful' without any mistake. Since my return to the city of Grenore had been delayed by a whole year due to last year's failed acquisition, the news of success was too welcome.
"The group that went to get the Adorutoru egg in the capital should be returning soon. You should go greet the meritorious person and convey your thanks."
"That's right. Maybe I'll give the meritorious person a kiss on the cheek as a token of my gratitude."
I was so happy I could almost hum a tune. As I thought about the best way to show my gratitude to the meritorious person, now that I could finally return to Grenore, Alf smiled a very meaningful smile.
...Ah, I think I just said something I shouldn't have.
By the time I realized, it was already too late. Alf, wearing that meaningful smile, spoke the personal information (the name) of the meritorious person to whom I had just said I would give a kiss on the cheek.
"Then I'll tell Bertrand that he can expect a kiss of gratitude from the mistress of the detached palace."
"Huh? Why does Bertrand-sama's name come up here!?"
I managed to realize I'd misspoken, but the name that came up was so unexpected that my true feelings slipped out. However, I understood why Alf had smiled that meaningful smile. If what I'd said in my careless remark were to be carried out, it would mean me giving Bertrand a kiss on the cheek as thanks.
Was I set up!?
I looked up at Alf with eyes that said I was looking at something suspicious, and Alf deliberately shrugged. Someone like Alf probably wouldn't be bothered at all by my glare.
"Bertrand consulted me about what gift would please his granddaughter, so I suggested an Adorutoru egg."
Apparently, things proceeded smoothly from there. The Sedovara Church wanted personnel capable of taking on the fierce Adorutoru, and Bertrand was a valuable person who could even cross the border where tensions still remained after the war just ended, having retired from the knights. For Bertrand, who wanted to earn favor with me, Alf's proposal seemed like a godsend. Having failed once last year, coming back with it himself this year would be a major selling point, apparently.
"...I was thinking it had been peaceful lately, not even catching a glimpse of him..."
I should have suspected it when Bertrand, who had been making such a commotion all around, suddenly went quiet. What with him reducing his outings after being taken away by the Divine King at the Recollection Festival, then Leonardo coming home only to leave again, Rannvald disappearing, and Leonardo returning again... I had completely forgotten about Bertrand.
...I thought a distant relationship where we only met at Bon and New Year's would be fine, but I completely forgot about him in the time his figure wasn't visible!
"You may as well convey your gratitude to your grandfather with a kiss on the cheek."
"Please let me reconsider that a little."
If it were Leonardo's or Alf's cheek, I could kiss them. If it were to show gratitude, even a meritorious person whose face I didn't know felt like a bit of a high hurdle, but I felt I could at least manage a hug. But when it came to Bertrand, that was a different story. My feelings of aversion came before gratitude.
"You said it yourself. You should follow through on what you said."
"There's no way I could have known it would be Bertrand-sama who went to get it."
"You'd be grateful to whoever it was, wouldn't you?"
"Well..."
That was true. Whoever it was that got the Adorutoru egg for me, they were the one who did what I couldn't do on my own. The fact that it was Bertrand was no reason not to be grateful.
"Bertrand is showing a willingness to approach Christina. So Christina should respond with an appropriate gesture."
"Ugh... Alf-red-sama. It's so frustrating because you're too right..."
Out of frustration at not being able to talk back, I called Alf with a slight accent on his name. When I did that, Alf, who was pretending to be Alfred and switched places, made a slightly displeased face.
Despite my inner conflict, I absolutely needed the Adorutoru egg, and I was grateful that someone had obtained it in my stead, so I went to greet the group that had gone to the kingdom of Saenard at Siegwald's annex. Among the tired-looking men getting off the carriage, there was one tall figure that stood out a head above the rest.
...Bertrand-sama really was there.
As I approached the group unloading luggage from the cart, one of the men nudged Bertrand's elbow. Poked, Bertrand finally seemed to notice me. When our eyes met, he puffed out his chest arrogantly.
"This is a delivery from the Sedovara Church."
With a smile so full of confidence that I could practically hear a smug sound effect, Bertrand took a box from another man. I wanted to point out why Bertrand was acting like the representative, but if I opened my mouth, nothing but barbs would come out, so I decided not to mention it. He seemed about to open the lid to show me the contents, so I unhesitatingly peeked inside.
"...Oh? Did one break on the way?"
Inside the box Bertrand had opened were six large eggs, each about the size of Leonardo's fist. Dried grass was packed in as cushioning to prevent breakage during transport, but one of them was cracked, and there was nothing inside the shell. A rotten egg smell would have been unpleasant, but bringing back just the shell didn't make much sense either. Had they dumped the contents and brought only the shell back?
"That one hatched on the way."
"Huh? It was a fertilized egg? Well... did you return it to its parent bird properly?"
"I intended to return it, but..."
The men behind Bertrand snickered. They probably knew what happened to the hatchling. Bertrand seemed reluctant to speak, and the men behind him kept gesturing for me to look at Bertrand's chest.
...His chest?
I stared grimly at Bertrand's chest area, and Bertrand seemed to have made up his mind. After looking away with a slightly abashed expression, he opened the front of his cloak and showed me what was in the inner pocket.
"...You brought it back with you!?"
"It couldn't be helped. It had already imprinted on me as its parent."
Apparently, the first moving thing it saw upon hatching had been imprinted on as its parent bird. In this case, the creature imprinted on was a human (Bertrand). We'd wanted an unfertilized egg, but had carelessly ended up kidnapping a chick.
"Even if we tried to return it now, the parent bird wouldn't recognize it as its own child, would it?"
"It has human scent on it. Even if we returned it to the nest now, the parent would just abandon it and it would die."
Incidentally, the chick itself thought Bertrand was its parent. We'd carelessly twisted the course of nature, but now that it had come to this, there was probably no choice but to take responsibility and raise it by human hands.
"Well, if we raise it, it might serve as a hunting companion."
Having apparently already raised it that way on the return journey, Bertrand closed the front of his cloak. Doing so might keep it warm, as if protected under its parent bird's wing.
...Can a father who couldn't even raise his own son become a parent to a wild bird?
I thought that, but I couldn't take it away from him either. It was difficult to take responsibility for raising a living creature, and besides, the parent bird to the chick was Bertrand. The chick itself probably wouldn't want to be taken away.
"...By the way, Christina. Wasn't there something about giving a reward to the meritorious person who obtained the Adorutoru egg?"
"That is not at all how the conversation was going just now, was it, Alf-red-sama?"
I pouted and looked up at Alf with a displeased expression, as if to ask what he was starting. He seemed intent on watching over me until I carried out the 'kiss on the cheek as thanks' from the other day. Alf smiled with a grin so indistinguishable from Alfred's that it made me stick out my tongue in irritation. Then I demanded that Bertrand squat down once.
"What is it?"
"Nothing at all. It's just that Alfred-sama and I had this little talk."
I stared into Bertrand's violet eyes that had come down to my level, and pushed my urge to hurl abuse into a corner of my mind. All that was left was to smile the ladylike smile Hermine had taught me and politely express my thanks.
"Thank you truly for risking danger and helping to obtain the precious eggs."
I gave Bertrand's cheek a quick, brief kiss, and Bertrand blinked in surprise for just a moment. But he soon seemed to recover his senses and showed me a smug expression that made me want to punch him.
"Shouldn't you be smiling sweetly there, Christina? Not looking at me with eyes that could shoot a bear."
"This is strictly a thank-you, you know. It doesn't mean I've forgiven you, Bertrand-sama."
Saying that this wasn't my will, I stuck out my tongue, moved away from Bertrand, and returned to behind Leonardo. I'd fulfilled my promise to Alf, so he shouldn't have any more complaints.
As for a reward for himself too, one brave man stepped forward. It would have been strange to only give it to Bertrand, and I didn't want to encourage Bertrand's arrogance by making him special, so I turned my face toward the man who had spoken up, saying that was fine. But the moment I looked his way, the man turned pale and let out a declination scream. Probably, my guardian above my head was making a terrible face.
Leonardo ended up saddled with that trick where you use two kanji characters to make them look like one, the 'woman-not yet' thing you often see online. (T/N: 女+未 arranged to resemble 妹 (little sister).) Since this is a story where the protagonist started as a little girl and is growing up, I slipped in the unavoidable first period topic. Tina has started worrying about breast growth, but according to my dice roll, the result was 'they grow enough that she won't fret about it.' I think since her body is small, her growth might just start later too.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.