482 - Nanny Fairy
Leonardo's answer to my proposal was "an engagement for now," which wasn't a definitive yes, but it did take my feelings into account. In response, I let out my usual spiteful remark, telling him he was "clinging to a lost cause," but my heart was pounding in my chest. I had to put on a brave face and snap at him, otherwise, the panic I felt inside would have shown on my face, so I desperately tried to hide my embarrassment.
...For now, it's not a rejection, so I can think of it as him saying he'll consider it positively, right?
I know Leonardo struggled quite a bit with the idea of an engagement to me. It seems he consulted Alf, as well as Siegwald, who happened to be at the mansion. I feel like Rannvald made a bit of a fuss about why Leonardo hadn't consulted him too, but Alf silenced him. I don't know what Alf said, but Rannvald has been strangely quiet ever since.
...I hope my chest and hips grow a bit more in the next three years.
I am well aware that my height and physique are still those of a child, so I can only pray about this. The reason Leonardo struggled with the idea of "taking a little sister as a bride" must be partly because I look too young. Even I think that with my current build, it would be difficult to become Leonardo's bride in a physical sense.
...And the image of Leonardo-san breathing heavily and pressing in on me while I look like nothing more than a minor is a bit questionable.
Thinking about it that way, a three-year grace period felt like just the right amount of time. I will grow both mentally and physically as an adult, and Leonardo will change his consciousness to see me as a woman. For the two of us, three years can be called a sufficient preparation period.
...And it seems Bertrand-sama is satisfied with the direction of a tentative engagement?
Bertrand was satisfied with Leonardo's response of an engagement to my proposal and returned to the royal capital. Apparently, he wanted to clarify my future path. As my only granddaughter in the family, and one who has reached a marriageable age, he must have been worried about my future.
Salisa was also happy about my tentative engagement to Leonardo. She said that with three years until the wedding, there would be plenty of time to prepare the bridal gown. I think thinking about a bridal gown three years in advance is far too early, but unlike my previous life where threads and fabrics were produced in mass quantities with uniform quality in factories, every task here is done by human hands. If one wants to make a sophisticated outfit, a preparation period of years is indeed necessary.
It seems I really do like Leonardo as a member of the opposite sex. After realizing this, a small anomaly occurred in my room.
The Enomena, which had done nothing but grow leaves for over a year since I planted it without any sign of blooming, finally produced a bud, and by the following night, it slowly opened its red petals while bathed in moonlight. Normally, I should have been happy that the flower bloomed, but the thing that emerged from the flower blew any joy of blooming away. And for good reason, for what came out of the bud was something that should have been impossible.
"...Um, a fairy?"
"It looks like one, but...?"
I noticed this anomaly just as I returned to my room from the living room, as it was almost bedtime. Mirshe is always the one who helps me prepare for bed instead of Salisa, who clears away the tea set. I knew that the guardians were considerate enough to let me interact with her as a friend during this time alone. Because of that, Mirshe's tone is a bit more casual, but even if she had used formal phrasing, I would have had no choice but to tilt my head in confusion. In the center of the red Enomena flower that had finally bloomed, a tiny girl was sleeping.
"...Eh? It's a fairy, right? No matter how you look at it. Huh? Even though it's a fairy, Mirshe-chan can see it...?"
"It looks like nothing but a fairy drawn in a storybook illustration... Eh? Why can I see it? I'm not a favorite of the spirits...?"
The two of us let out voices of surprise side by side, and the thought that the fairy seemed to be sleeping reached my head a moment later. I reflexively put my hand to my mouth and lowered my voice so as not to wake the sleeping fairy.
"...For now, please go call Leonardo-sama and someone else. Let's have them confirm if others can see it too."
"Yes."
Wondering if it was okay to take my eyes off it, I gently stepped away from the window and saw Mirshe off as she left the room. Instead, I called out to Aaron, who was guarding in front of the door, and had him enter the room for confirmation.
"I can't see anything. I can tell that a red flower has bloomed, but..."
I tried telling Aaron, whom I had guided to the window, about the change in the Enomena pot, but his reaction was lackluster. He observed the Enomena flower with narrowed eyes, but as expected, nothing other than the flower seemed to be reflected in Aaron's eyes.
"...I can't tell if it's an individual difference or a matter of eyesight."
"Since you can vaguely tell the flower has bloomed, I think it's an individual difference."
It's a bit strange that Mirshe can see the fairy but Aaron cannot. I would understand if only I could see it and Mirshe and Aaron could not, but Mirshe has never been involved in mysterious phenomena caused by spirits or fairies until now. Despite that, it was a strange story that she suddenly became able to see a fairy.
"Mirshe called me, but..."
Is it true that there was a fairy inside the Enomena flower? Leonardo asked as he strode toward the window. Because it was an anomaly in my room, Salisa, who should have been clearing the tea set, also followed behind Leonardo.
"...There's nothing there?"
"Kalisa...?"
The reactions of Leonardo, who said only the Enomena flower had bloomed, and Salisa, who apparently saw a fairy in the center of the flower, were truly contrasting. Leonardo frowned, and Salisa's eyes widened in surprise. In particular, the moment Salisa saw the sleeping fairy, she called out the name 'Kalisa'. At the very least, Salisa seems to see the same thing I do.
"In my eyes as well, it looks as though a tiny Kalisa is here..."
"Yes. I think she looks very much like our faces when we were young."
The facial features were Kalisa's, and the hair color was the same red as Kalisa's, though it was a slightly more vivid color. Since she was sleeping, I couldn't tell the color of her eyes, but if they were black, she would have the same color as Kalisa. I suspected this was the influence of burying Kalisa's remains.
Because it was an anomaly in my room, I also had the Silver Knight from the royal capital check the Enomena flower. Wanting more information, I involved Bart, Tabitha, Rannvald, and his two guards in the investigation, and as a result, the only three who could see the fairy were me, Salisa, and Mirshe. If there was a common point, it was that all three were women, but if that were the condition, Tabitha should have been able to see the fairy too. This means being a woman is not included in the conditions.
"...Is there really a fairy?"
"Ah."
There was no time to stop him. Once the Silver Knight, Bart, and the others who couldn't see the fairy returned to their posts, Leonardo reached out his dominant hand toward the Enomena flower. I thought Leonardo's hand would stroke the air, but he carelessly crushed the head—to be precise, the cheek—of the sleeping fairy. The fairy, whose cheek was crushed with all his might, opened deep purple eyes in shock and immediately began a counterattack. She must have quickly understood that the culprit who disturbed her sleep was the fingertip in front of her.
"What? Something's on my finger... Ow!?"
Leonardo, whose fingertip was bitten by the fairy, reflexively started to pull his hand back, but his movement immediately changed. He shouldn't have been able to see the fairy hanging from his bitten fingertip, but Leonardo skillfully caught the fairy with his middle and thumb fingers.
"Something's here!? It bit my finger. It's biting. It's digging its teeth in!"
"...Even if you can't see it, you can tell that, I see."
Just as Leonardo said, the fairy was biting Leonardo's fingertip with a fierce expression in his hand. Since she was suddenly woken up while sleeping comfortably, it's only natural she'd be angry. The fairy, who looked very much like Kalisa, kept changing positions and biting Leonardo's fingertip, perhaps unsatisfied with where she was biting or thinking of breaking the encirclement and escaping.
"...Quite a ferocious fairy."
"It's because you're handling her roughly, Leonardo-sama."
"Even so, the fairy was the one who bit me first, right?"
"That's not true. The cause was that you suddenly, and roughly, touched a sleeping fairy (girl), Leonardo-sama."
When I held out my hand and said "come here," Leonardo opened his hand. After the fairy gave Leonardo's finger one last bite, she hopped over to my palm.
...S-so cute...!
When our eyes met, the fairy who looked like Kalisa gave a wide grin. Her face was Kalisa's, but because she had an overall youthful appearance, the impression was completely different. Because she was such a lovely fairy, I instinctively tried to stroke her head with my finger, but I stroked the air. I intended to stroke the fairy's head, but there was no sensation whatsoever.
...Huh? It seemed Leonardo-san was able to touch her...?
As I tilted my head in wonder, the fairy also tilted her head. Thinking she was going to be stroked, she must have found it strange that there was no sensation of my finger.
...Ah, it seems there's a sensation when the fairy touches me?
Or perhaps because I can see her, I'm just hallucinating that the fairy touched me now. I felt the sensation of the fairy's tiny hand being placed on the finger I had extended toward the fairy's head.
...What does this mean?
It's a bit surprising that Leonardo can touch her but I cannot. I say this, but I'm the one who gets involved in mysterious phenomena more often. I had assumed that mysterious phenomena like spirits and fairies were my responsibility, but it seems I was wrong.
While I was wondering if there was some condition, Salisa approached. Since Salisa also seemed to see the fairy's form, I brought the fairy in my palm closer, and the fairy hopped off my palm and dove into Salisa's apron pocket.
"Eh? Huh?"
The only ones who can see the fairy's movements are me, Mirshe, and Salisa. Leonardo is following my gaze, but he cannot see the fairy's form. After wriggling around inside Salisa's pocket, the fairy immediately poked her face out of the pocket.
"...Her cheeks are puffed out?"
"One of Christina-sama's emergency honey candies is missing."
As she spoke, Salisa plucked the fairy, who was munching with puffed cheeks, from her apron. The fairy was returned to my palm, but I noticed something more concerning than that.
"...Salisa can touch her too."
"It seems so."
As a test, after asking the fairy who was in the middle of her meal, I let Mirshe try to touch her, but Mirshe also could not stroke her. Instead, just like me, it was possible for the fairy to touch her.
"What is the condition? Those who can see are myself, Mirshe, and Salisa. Those who can touch are Leonardo-sama and Salisa."
The fact that Salisa is in both groups is likely the answer to the suspicion that Salisa is the contractor who gave the Enomena flower a name. It seems Salisa was indeed the first one to start calling the Enomena pot 'Kalisa'.
...Then, why was Leonardo-san able to touch her?
When I urged Leonardo to try touching her once more, Leonardo, having been bitten once, made a sour face. Even so, Leonardo reluctantly reached out his hand toward the fairy, but perhaps because he couldn't see her, the fairy lightly dodged him.
...Huh?
During the several rounds of offense and defense between Leonardo and the fairy, I noticed one thing. The fairy was paying attention to the movements of Leonardo's dominant hand and was indifferent to the other hand. Rather, she didn't even dodge the other hand, and it passed through the fairy's body just as when I tried to touch her.
...Is Leonardo-san's dominant hand the problem?
The difference between those who can see and those who cannot became clear when Mirshe's birthday arrived. Mirshe, who turned fifteen this spring, became unable to see the fairy's form starting from the morning of her birthday.
"It would be normal to think that she stopped seeing her because she turned fifteen (became an adult)... but I can't accept that."
Since she stopped seeing her exactly from the morning of her fifteenth birthday, there's no doubt about that, but that doesn't mean I can accept it. Even if Salisa is the contractor who named the fairy, I, who will be seventeen in the summer, can still see the fairy. Becoming an adult shouldn't necessarily be the condition.
"Kalisa was Christina-sama's nursemaid. This Kalisa must also be a nanny fairy."
Mirshe fell outside the nanny fairy's protection range at fifteen, but I am a special existence to Kalisa. Even if I've passed fifteen, Salisa's opinion was that it doesn't mean she can take her eyes off me. To Kalisa, I must always be a target for nannying.
"...I feel a complex mix of happiness and sadness."
Right? When I looked over, my eyes met the fairy's just as she looked up. The fairy is cute today as well with her wide grin, but it seems she cannot speak, as I have never heard her voice once. Although she cannot utter words, she has intense body language just as I used to, so I can judge most of her emotions and what she wants to say, making communication possible.
As a test, I tried to lure her with baked sweets and asked her to carry me to the Mondays mansion, but at that time, the fairy showed a gesture of thinking for a moment, then glanced at Salisa's expression. When Salisa, receiving the gaze, slowly shook her head, the fairy used her short arms to make an X-sign above her head. Such clear expressions of intent are rare, but it's generally like this. She's tempted by sweets, but she leaves the decision-making to Salisa. This little Kalisa won't listen to my requests alone. It's frustrating, but being Kalisa, she's reliable. There are times when she puts her hands on her hips and makes an angry face, which Salisa says means "don't trouble those around you by playing pranks."
...Even though the prankster fairy (Kalisa) is the same way.
It's quite unacceptable to be scolded by an equally prankish fairy.
While observing the ecology of fairy Kalisa, the end of spring arrived and Leonardo turned thirty. Hearing 'thirty' again, I feel like he's gotten old. That said, he was already twenty-one when he took me in at a single-digit age, so since I'll soon be seventeen, it's inevitable that Leonardo would reach a corresponding age. Thinking calmly, even for a man, it's an age where he should probably marry soon.
...Well, Leonardo-san is scheduled for me to become his bride in three years, so it's fine.
Speaking of three years later, I, at twenty, will marry Leonardo, at thirty-three. Looking only at the numbers, in the eyes of general society, Leonardo would be a lucky man getting a young bride.
...Though the inside is disappointing.
Alfred has also told me that my inside is disappointing, but since my appearance in this life is exceptionally great, I'll have Leonardo offset it with that. Since I'm not becoming a bride as I am right now, I want him to keep his expectations up for that.
And so, a nanny fairy was sleeping soundly inside the finally bloomed Enomena flower.
Please look forward to the side story 'I am Kalisa. I reincarnated as a fairy, so I'll aim to be the strongest se●m ~My young lady is the cutest in the world~' (don't).