483 - Step by Step, Starting with the Small Things
When Leonardo's birthday passed and summer arrived, it was soon my birthday. I turned seventeen this year, but I don't feel particularly different from before. The birthday gift from Leonardo was platinum earrings set with deep red stones. Since I have started learning how to distinguish precious metals and gemstones, I can now tell that these platinum earrings alone cost an exorbitant amount. When I teased him a bit, asking if they were a gift for a seventeen-year-old younger sister or a gift for a fiancée, the honest Leonardo quietly averted his eyes from me. He probably prepared these as a gift for his "younger sister," as usual.
...Well, I can't imagine his feelings would switch that quickly, right?
I tell myself to be prepared for a long game. My appearance is still very childlike. It would be too much to ask him to suddenly see me as a fiancée.
...Step by step, starting with the small things, that's the way.
As one small change, I will try wearing light makeup today. Of course, when I say wearing makeup, in my case, it is predicated on having someone else do it for me. I do learn the method so that I can do it myself, but there will likely be no occasion where I actually apply my own makeup. Since I am officially a young lady, if I were to do my own makeup, it might mean I've stolen someone's job.
"...You've grown used to the earrings, haven't you?"
I peered into the mirror while checking the makeup, but today I couldn't help but be concerned with the earrings I had just received from Leonardo. When I shook my head from side to side, the small flowers made of platinum swayed slightly, looking lovely. Until a little while ago, the act of wearing earrings itself felt embarrassing, but now that I'm used to it, I can't even remember why I felt so embarrassed. I wonder if this is what it means to approach adulthood.
Today, I plan to go and reveal my appearance, wearing the newly gifted earrings, to Leonardo. I wonder if Leonardo will notice that I'm wearing light makeup, and then I immediately deny this.
...He won't notice. If it's Leonardo-san, he definitely won't notice something as simple as me wearing makeup.
Rather, if he had the observational skills to notice a woman's makeup, he wouldn't have ended up in a situation where he has no lover, let alone a wife, even after passing thirty. Since this is a convenient situation for me, I decide in my heart to stop teasing Leonardo about this. I am the one who fell in love with Leonardo, who is ignorant of a woman's heart but the best as a marriage partner, and the worst as a lover because he treats his younger sister as the top priority. Since I fell in love with him including his slightly clumsy side, it is my own responsibility to feel dissatisfied with it.
"...Since we're at it, shall we tie your hair up in a more adult style?"
"The hair is fine as it is. If I go that far to look adult, I feel like I'll just end up looking ridiculous."
Even if I tidy myself up to look like an adult with a hairstyle and makeup, there's nothing I can do about my height. Since returning to the city of Grenore, my body seems to have remembered how to grow, but I still don't have the height expected for my age. For that matter, I was originally small for my age, so even if I grow fully, I'll probably remain small. If a child wears the same makeup and hairstyle as an adult, it should only result in a ridiculous finish.
...Rather than tampering with my appearance, I should be careful about my posture and behavior on a daily basis, right? In my case.
Despite having been taught what it means to be a lady by a tutor named Hermine, I have completely abandoned that recently. Looking back, the things Hermine taught me were likely the very skills I need now. Hermine taught me the process necessary to grow from a girl to a young lady, and then to a lady.
As expected, Leonardo showed no reaction to the light makeup. To be precise, he seemed to feel that something was different, as he tilted his head slightly immediately upon seeing my face. However, he didn't realize the reason for the discrepancy, and furthermore, he seemed to quickly get used to the discrepant me, and Leonardo's reaction vanished completely. If this were the type of woman who would say "Notice that I cut my bangs by one centimeter" or "Praise me," Leonardo's breakup would be a mere countdown.
...As I thought, if it's anyone other than me, wouldn't Leonardo-san be unable to catch someone who would become his wife?
If it's me, I know both Leonardo's good points and his bad points. At the least, I won't be disappointed just because he didn't notice the timing when I wanted to be praised. While priding myself on being that used to Leonardo, I suddenly realize.
...I wonder how that is, in its own way?
As the Remembrance Festival approached, a letter from Cody arrived from the Persewashi Church. Usually, Cody is the one who delivers letters, so receiving a letter from Cody is a quite fresh feeling.
The letter from Cody was addressed to Leonardo, and it apparently described Cody's current situation and Giselle's condition. Cody normally does peddling, circling the continent over the course of a year, and Cody, who showed his face in the city of Grenore around this time last year, is apparently now in the Zoogary Empire. Even saying "now," in reality, it is information from over a month ago. In this life, where it takes time both to send and receive letters, this is unavoidable.
"He says he'll transport Giselle via the Kingdom of Saenard, while keeping an eye on her health."
While casually listening to additional information from Leonardo that Jean-Jacques is also returning together, I do a rough calculation in my head. It's a continent that Cody circles over a year. Since it took a considerable amount of time for the letter to reach the city of Grenore, he should naturally have departed the Augun territory by now. If so, if Cody moves while doing business, would his return be in about half a year? However, it is summer now, and half a year from now would be winter. Since Cody would also want to avoid traveling in winter, he will either spend the winter somewhere and return in spring, or return around the end of autumn by hurrying a bit.
"...Even so, is Giselle's health that bad? Leonardo-sama said that because she was seriously injured and not in a state to be moved immediately, he left her in the care of Carlotta-sama, right?"
I have been to Augun Castle due to the mischief of a nursery spirit. I saw Giselle's figure then, and while she seemed to be building up her strength, she didn't look so weak that her health needed to be considered. Even if she was injured, more than a year has passed, so she should be energetic by now.
"To Tina..."
"It's Christina."
To Leonardo, who still tries to call me by the nickname "Tina," I immediately insert a correction and break the flow of the conversation. Previously, I was the one who felt resistance to being called "Christina," but now it's the opposite. Perhaps because I forbade the use of nicknames, telling him to be conscious of me as a woman, Leonardo tenses up for just a moment every time he calls me "Christina." Since I think that face is also good, I am considerably mean and perverse. I feel bad for Leonardo, who has come to like me, but he'll just have to give up and think of this as fate.
"...I only told Christina simply, but Giselle's injuries were truly terrible. Because the tendons in her legs were cut, it will likely be impossible for her to return as a knight. The ring finger of her right hand was also cut off... her life was saved, but she has become a girl who is scarred in a true sense."
Leonardo says that the reason Giselle didn't return for a while is partly because she didn't want to return. She was already in a difficult position for finding a husband as the third generation of a Flower Peer, and now she is a girl with a scar like a cut-off finger, even if it's only one. Only someone who has affection for Giselle herself could become her husband.
"...If a commoner Black Knight is fine, I think I could introduce any number of them at the fort."
"Perhaps because the children of Black Knight families started acting as love intermediaries at the Spring Flower Festival, the number of Black Knights at the fort without lovers has decreased."
If one looks for people whose age matches Giselle among them, the number apparently decreases further. It is gratifying that the lamentations of the singles at Grenore Fort have decreased without me noticing, but it seems there's nothing I can be of help with for Giselle's future. There is a Black Knight with achievements right in front of me, but this one is already mine, so I can't give him up even for Giselle.
...I wish Carlotta-sama's intuition was correct and Jean-Jacques would woo Giselle.
Considering Jean-Jacques's conduct, I'm anxious about pushing him onto Giselle, but if we're talking about single Black Knights, Jean-Jacques should also fit. Since he's apparently the third most powerful person at Grenore Fort, it might not be impossible for him to gain achievements.
"...Come to think of it, why didn't Jean-Jacques return?"
I don't feel like I heard that Jean-Jacques was left in the Zoogary Empire to stay with Giselle, who ended up remaining alone. That would mean Jean-Jacques went to the Zoogary Empire to search for me, and despite me returning to the city of Grenore, he has remained in the Zoogary Empire for over a year. If he didn't know I returned to the city of Grenore, that might happen, but that's not the case. Leonardo stopped by Augun Castle where Carlotta is, taking me along, so as long as Jean-Jacques showed his face at Augun Castle, he should know that I returned to the city of Grenore with Leonardo.
"Jean-Jacques... because I saved Tina and returned, he said he wanted a bit more credit or something... it seems he's investigating the Zoogary Empire."
"Ah, I understand."
It seems I had neither the need nor the time to worry about Giselle. Jean-Jacques is already moving to obtain Giselle. If so, all that's left is to pray that Giselle returns safely to the Kingdom of Ivizia.
I'm looking forward to this year's Remembrance Festival a little bit. When I was a child, I had the role of watching over the rituals performed at the Remembrance Festival as a favorite of the spirits, but now that I've officially become a seventeen-year-old adult, I have no work as a favorite of the spirits. That said, I was someone who was only interested in the food stalls, but I'm looking forward to this year's Remembrance Festival specifically.
After all, last year Salisa won the Wemishuvara Contest. The winner of the Wemishuvara Contest was to appear in the play performed in the plaza during the summer Remembrance Festival as the role of the goddess Itsurateru. In other words, Salisa will appear in the play performed in the plaza. I cannot miss this.
"...I am terribly sorry. To think that because of my rash actions, I will be leaving Christina-sama's side."
"Please don't worry about it. I am happy to have something to look forward to by going to the plaza."
I send off Salisa, who apologizes every time she heads to play practice, telling her that I'll go see the play with Leonardo on the day. Salisa, who knows that in the royal capital I was kidnapped by spirits every Remembrance Festival, seems anxious about leaving me. I take a candy from my pocket and give it to the nursery spirit, who has completely made my shoulder its fixed position. To the request from Salisa to protect me firmly while she's away, the nursery spirit received the candy and patted its thin chest as if to say "Leave it to me."