Come, Spring (4)

Noi quickly lowered her hand, realizing she had been rude, but as for Kardia, far from scolding her, he stroked the head of the clever Noi who had reached the right answer.

“Yes. Well done.”

(That man—he’s the matchmaking old geezer!)

She realized she had been calling the king by a terribly dishonorable nickname, but she had no leeway to correct herself.

(This man was told by the king himself to go on a formal match, and he wriggled out of it by pointing to a child like me…!?)

There were limits to how thick-skinned one could be. Just where had he learned such things?

Noi gave a feckless smile, like a master pretending not to notice the blunders of a disciple.

“…To think you truly brought her.”

Looking pained, the king—Panselinos—covered his face with a hand laden with rings.

“You said you would acknowledge it if I brought her, didn’t you?”

“I said I would not acknowledge it unless you brought her, that is all.”

Perhaps because they were in public, Kardia seemed to be using minimum polite speech. Unsure whether to be relieved or to clutch her stomach over her outrageous disciple, Noi kept grinning when Kardia whispered at her ear.

“Did you hear, bride? This old man just won’t give up, will he?”

“H-hey! Shh! Shh!”

In the great hall of the palace, where high nobility had gathered, Noi jolted, thinking, What are you saying here of all places?

But it seemed Kardia’s aim had been to startle her; satisfied and amused, he laughed at her reaction.

“…So, will you introduce her or not?”

“My, have you decided to recognize her?”

“…Not with that face staring up at me.”

Sighing, the king turned his gaze on Noi.

Though she flinched, Noi looked at the corners of Panselinos’s eyes and drew a small breath.

(…He resembles Fengalow.)

The shape at his eye’s edge resembled Fengalow’s; that alone made her feel oddly close to him.

Noi hopped down from Kardia’s arm. Kardia slowly patted her head twice, then faced Panselinos.

“This is my dear one, Noi.”

“I am called Noi. O great sun, un-dimming horizon—it is an honor to meet you.”

After some wavering, Noi chose to give a lady’s curtsey.

If the king bore Fengalow’s blood, he ought to be a mage. And if he was a mage, he would see at a glance that Noi had zero mana.

A girl with such scant mana giving a mage’s salute could be taken as insolence.

“—I had heard rumor, but to think it true.”

Whether he meant bringing a very young Noi as partner to a ball, or her lack of mana—Noi could not tell.

“Hyuetos, I have prepared a room in the back.”

Many nobles addressed each other by title; Kardia was no exception, and in the palace he was called Hyuetos.

Though the feast had only just begun, and it was unheard of for the guest of honor to leave, after such a grand “reconciliation,” no guest would complain. Boldly, the king invited Kardia to a private talk.

“A lecture, perhaps. Old men do run long. You’ll be bored—go eat whatever you like, as much as you like. It’s all right. The strong ones are keeping sharp watch so scary people won’t come near.”

Unusually, Kardia treated Noi very much like a child.

(…So he means he doesn’t want to take me.)

Reading the room, Noi beamed.

“Understood. If you’re too long, I’ll end up eating everything that’s out.”

“How frightening.”

Panselinos laughed with wrinkled eyes, but Kardia’s smile went stiff.

“No, you mustn’t. That small, cute belly of yours would burst. I adore how much you eat, but finishing literally everything here is out of the question.”

In the ballroom, dishes painstakingly prepared by the palace’s foremost chefs lined the tables in ranks.

Most guests, though they sipped drinks, did not touch the food. It was little more than “decor.”

“…Hyuetos, why humor a child’s joke?”

“Because it wouldn’t be a joke with her, and I’m warning her.”

Kardia said to the king. Though he failed to hide the put-upon look, he did remember his polite speech, and proud master that she was, Noi thought him admirable.

“All right. I’ll limit myself to half, even if I do eat.”

“…—I’ll be back quickly.”

Very pale, Kardia made that resolve, then withdrew with the king to a retiring room.

Seeing the two disappear to the back, Noi spun around.

She knew other guests were watching her, but she had no intention of offering greetings first. Her dealings with them would last only until her (provisional) engagement to Kardia ended, after all.

More importantly—there was the food.

Light on her feet to the buffet, Noi had a serving boy hold a plate and piled it up with “this and that.”

The boy, well versed in the whims of noble daughters, heaped as told.

Needless to say, even if Noi failed to finish what was on the plate, that wasn’t his concern.

But Noi polished it off with ease.

She had him fetch another plate and heap on new dishes. By the time they had repeated this twice, a sense of camaraderie had formed; the boy had become a professional at arranging the foods she pointed to neatly and packing even more onto the plate.

Having finished a third, then a fourth plate, Noi noticed she was drawing a different kind of attention. For some reason the air around her was abuzz. The boy, meanwhile, met her eyes with a face like a dog awaiting orders:

“My lady! What shall we have next!”

“Well, well. Is temperance a family virtue in House Hyuetos?”

“For children, eating a bit too much is just about right.”

“It’s the hinterlands out there. Capital fare must taste heavenly.”

With her “dog” in tow and a fork between her lips, a handful of men approached Noi.

Chewing away—munch, munch, munch—Noi looked up at them. The fact that they dared speak first to the companion of Kardia, center of attention, suggested these men were of some standing even among the nobles—perhaps in their forties to fifties.

“You must feel uneasy. We’ll stay by your side. Your elder brother seems busy attending to the ladies.”

Following their gazes, Noi saw the “elder brother” they meant—Kardia—had returned to the hall. It seemed people were taking Noi and Kardia for siblings.

However, it would take time for Kardia to reach her. A crowd of young women—and ladies keen to promote them—swarmed thick around him.

Shifting her gaze, a pillar in the hall leapt into Noi’s view. The marble was polished to a mirror, reflecting Noi’s figure.

There stood a fifteen-year-old innocent child who had trailed into a social venue where children ought not set foot.

Dressed in a lovely gown with her hair prettily braided, the girl was every bit fit to be called a “little sister.”

“…Please step aside.”

“We cannot. To leave a child alone in such a place would be ungentlemanly.”

“I wish to go to Kardia.”

“For now that will be difficult. Can you wait quietly until your elder brother returns?”

Realizing talk was useless, Noi set down her plate and tried to slip through the gaps between the men, but broad bodies blocked her.

“It’s all right. If anything frightening comes near, we will protect you.”

Noi gave up and looked down at the table; it was far more pleasant than looking at these men’s faces.

Sensing her resignation, the men began to converse over her head with smug looks.

“Really—first he brings a child without regard for the setting, and now he doesn’t even mind her. Country folk don’t know manners.”

“It’s too much to expect of a youth who hasn’t yet contributed to society. We must be the ones to be lenient.”

“At this rate, the elder brother may not return tonight.”

“Well, once his household grows, he won’t have leisure to bring children to balls.”

“Enough—at this age, some do understand our conversation.”

“Oh, pardon us. Here, let me heap your plate as well.”

(The palace hasn’t changed in a hundred years…)

Where people gathered, malice gathered. Among nobles bound tight in a small box, the tendency was all the stronger.

Weary of listening, Noi accepted a plate one man had loaded with food—but she had no will to take a single bite.

“Hmph, what an unsociable child.”

Seeing Noi go silent as a stone, one of the men sighed.

(What noisy old men. If you want “service” in conversation, you should have brought your mistresses.)

It was all too clear they were keeping others at bay so that Noi, companion of the newly returned Hyuetos Magic Count, would not mingle with other nobles. Thanks to them, the rest watched from a distance, and even the loyal “dog” (the boy) from earlier had vanished.

(This is dull.)

It was deadly dull.

A station that could be so easily paralyzed by people blocking her way; mana so faint it could hardly be felt; a face that made others see her as a little sister—everything felt dreary.

“What’s wrong? Hm? Did you finally eat too much?”

One of the men patted Noi’s head as she fell silent, setting her loaded plate on the table.

The sensation of those big, thick fingers on her head felt vile, and Noi reflexively tried to bat the hand away.

“—Pardon me. I must insist you observe proper manners toward my wife.”

At that moment, a voice came from behind.