“Wh-Whaaaat?!”
Everyone cried out in shock. Well, I understood how they felt. No one thought I could ever get married once Lance ended things between us.
“Um, it’s nice to meet you all. My name is Zara Ahto.”
Dad gave a stilted bow to Zara. Mom covered her mouth and stared at me in disbelief. My little sisters squealed with joy, while my little brothers’ mouths hung open.
Like a puppet that needed its joints oiled, Dad approached Zara with stiff, awkward steps. “F-Forgive me, b-but are you really…going to marry Mell?”
“Yes. With your permission, I’d like Mell to be my bride.”
Dad broke out into tears and clutched Zara’s hand. Zara looked nervous, so I knew I had to give him an explanation.
“Um, Dad’s crying because he’s happy.”
“He is? That’s a relief.”
“D-Dad, why don’t we talk inside?” I suggested. “It’s chilly out here.”
“Ngh! R-Right…”
Amelia and Rih probably couldn’t come in, so I asked them to wait for us outside. My curious little brothers tried to get close to Amelia, but Rih stopped them.
“What’s with this guy? I wanna play with the cute white bird!”
“Hey, the black one has a scary face.”
Rih spread his wings and stood in front of Amelia protectively. She would probably be safe if I left her in his care.
I showed Zara inside.
“Sorry our house is so old…”
“Thank you for having me.”
Many pairs of hunting boots were set out just past the front door. When I stepped inside, the floorboards let out a terrible squeak. Every smell, sound, and even the air itself was just like I remembered—I was home. Dad led us into the combined living and dining room.
There was nothing more than a long table for all of us to sit at and a small fireplace that only gave off a little light. Despite how cold it was, they were only lighting a fire the size of my hand. The Risurisu household was, as always, nearly as cold inside as it was outside.
“It looks exactly the same,” I observed.
“Of course. We’d never splurge on luxuries with your income.”
It seemed they hadn’t been using the allowances I sent. They told me they were saving it in case I had an emergency in the royal capital.
“We were grateful for how much you cared, Mell. But we want you to spend the money you earn on your own life.”
“Mom…!”
Now was the time to officially introduce Zara to them.
“Um, you’ve heard about him in my letters, but this is Zara. He’s my coworker and my roommate at our new house.”
“My name is Zara Ahto. It’s an honor to meet you.”
My parents were blinking rapidly. I wonder what’s gotten into them?
“O-Oh, so you’re ‘Zara,’ huh?”
“I’m sorry, we just always assumed the ‘Zara’ in your letters was a woman.”
“Huh?!”
I remembered how I described him. He came from a snowy country, was an honest and kind person, and a true beauty who’d mastered needlework and cooking.
“Hm…? I wrote all that, but never said his gender?!” I cried.
“Nope.”
“No. I would have never expected him to be a man.”
“I-I’m sorry…!”
I’d written so many letters about all the ways Zara helped me in the royal capital, but somehow managed to forget to mention that he was a man. What an unbelievable mistake!
“But now someone as brilliant as Mr. Ahto wants to marry our Mell!”
“I’m not brilliant. I still have many areas to improve in…”
“Oh, and he’s humble too! We’re thrilled to see you marrying such a wonderful person, Mell.”
Mom was right. I’d probably used up my whole life’s worth of luck by getting to marry Zara.
“So…how did you two start dating?”
Dad’s question startled me. It was like he still had doubts that I was really going to get married.
“Dad, that’s too—”
“I spent a lot of effort showing off to make Mell fall for me.”
“What?!” I cried.
He was showing off?
“You never noticed, huh?” he said when I looked at him. “You see, cross-dressing used to be a hobby of mine.”
“Goodness! I see.”
“Yep, you’ve got the good looks for it.”
I felt that Zara might have been the most beautiful person in the whole royal capital when he cross-dressed.
“Once I met Mell and fell in love with her, I started thinking it would be best to dress like a man. I cut my hair short and wore men’s clothes, but she still wouldn’t look my way…”
When Zara hung his head sadly, my parents both glared at me. But then he raised his head and quickly put on a smile. It was almost scary how quickly his attitude changed.
“But I ended up falling for Mell even harder when I realized she didn’t care what kind of clothes I wore. I’m so glad that we got to this point where I can come and inform you of our marriage.”
My parents wept while Zara shared this with them. They even praised him for sticking it out all this time.
Just as I’d missed all of Lance’s advances, I never noticed all the things Zara was doing for my sake. Raging waves of guilt washed over me.
“I’m truly grateful that Mell’s agreed to marry me.”
“Thank you for being so patient.”
Mom and Dad were bawling as hard as Mill had been now.
After that, I introduced Zara to the rest of my family. Most of them reacted the same way my parents did.
My giddy siblings swarmed us, but thanks to Mill’s strange suggestion that “the young couple get to spend some time alone,” Zara and I were able to escape and take a stroll through the village.
We stepped on the crunchy leaves as we walked.
“I’m sorry about that, Zara. My family completely mobbed you.”
“No, I had a blast. Where I grew up, you’d get too hungry if you were loud and full of energy, so we were always told to sit still. Especially in winter.”
“It sounds very hard to live in such a snowy place.”
“Definitely. But we were still allowed to chat as much as we wanted, since you could always melt down snow in case of a parched throat. That’s why my family liked to sit down and have conversations with each other.”
“Your family… You have a lot of older sisters, right?”
“Uh-huh. My parents were busy and didn’t have time to make boy’s clothes, so I always wore my sisters’ hand-me-downs. I guess it makes sense that I turned out how I did, what with so many girls around, huh?”
Zara had grown up with an appreciation for beauty thanks to them. I wished I could tell his sisters what a lovely person they’d helped raise him to be.
“I’d love to see your hometown someday.”
“You mean it? I’m sure my sisters would mob you too. You might get crushed, Melly.”
“Crushed…?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to protect you!”
“Thanks, Zara.”
Zara and I strolled through the endless forest. Outsiders probably saw the Fore Elf woods and the Fore Elf village as the same thing, and frankly, they did look the same. But we were able to live safely in the village thanks to the large monster-repelling barrier protecting it.
“I used to climb this tree all the time. That one over there, I broke the branch when I tried to hang a swing on it. And the one over there is…”
Even I was surprised by how many trees there were. All together, they made up the forest.
“Thank you, Melly. Getting this chance to see the forest you grew up in makes me really happy.”
“In that case, I’m glad I showed you around.”
Nuts and mushrooms would have been growing in the summer, but the winters were much sparser.
“We live a quiet life, hunting for meat and living off the preserves we make in the summer season.”
“And all that experience has been a big help on expeditions.”
“Exactly.”
Growing up in the Fore Elf village helped me get by as a member of an expeditionary squadron. I was incredibly grateful to my parents for the way they raised me.