Later on, while Miyo was diligently cleaning up after dinner in the kitchen, Kiyoka checked in on her. He was dressed in light pajamas and fresh from his bath. Miyo tilted her head questioningly, and he explained he wanted her to make breakfast for him again.
“I’m sorry I didn’t eat what you made for me this morning. You can make breakfast again tomorrow.”
Kiyoka seemed relaxed after his bath, his threatening aura less intense. Although his brow was slightly furrowed, as if what he was saying to Miyo didn’t come easily, his overall appearance was more youthful somehow, different from before.
Miyo was generally quick to agree to anything required of her, but the reason she’d upset him that morning was still fresh in her mind.
“Are you… Are you certain you want me to do that?”
“Yes. But if you do poison it, I will show no mercy.”
“I would never dare do such a thing!”
She shook her head in horror. Of course, she didn’t even have the knowledge to poison anyone, nor would anyone choose her to attempt killing Kiyoka. If her father had wanted him dead, he’d have sent a trained assassin. All her father, stepmother, and half sister expected of her was rejection and ostracization.
“Then we won’t have a problem.”
He turned to walk away with a neutral—or perhaps satisfied—look on his face.
“Y-yes, sir…,” she mumbled, confused.
✦ ✦ ✦
Bathed in sunshine, Kiyoka’s dwelling had a warm atmosphere. Birds were singing outside. But for Miyo, this beautiful home was no sanctuary.
“Splendid. Kaya, you possess Spirit-Sight. Kanoko, you have done well for giving me a Gifted daughter,” said Miyo’s father.
She remembered that day very well. It had happened before the events she’d dreamed of last night. She realized she was dreaming once again, this time about the day when Kaya had been found to possess the Gift.
“You should have expected no less of my daughter.”
Miyo’s stepmother was glowing with pride. Her father nodded with satisfaction. Kaya laughed joyously. They made the perfect picture of a happy family, but there was no place for Miyo among them. She wasn’t considered family. Her exclusion began well before they started treating her like a servant. No matter how hard she tried to please them, she wasn’t allowed into their circle of warmth.
“Did you hear, they found that Kaya has Spirit-Sight?”
“And she’s only three! That’s amazing.”
“Still nothing for Miyo, though.”
“There’s apparently not much of a chance of her turning out to be Gifted.”
“You’d think she would be, considering both her parents were.”
“Poor thing just doesn’t have it.”
The gossip echoed in her head. She was gradually diminishing in value, losing a place where she could belong. She could feel the change in the air as everyone in the house started worshipping Kaya and devoted less and less attention to Miyo. In hindsight, that had also been when Kaya’s attitude toward her half sister had shifted toward contempt.
Miyo loathed this memory. When they’d started using her as a servant, it had been hard on her physically, but before that, she’d already been suffering mental anguish. She’d been only a little girl, but already her fragile psyche was being torn to pieces.
“They don’t want me.”
She vividly remembered the day when she’d whispered that to herself. She hadn’t even been ten years old when she’d understood that the Saimori family hadn’t wanted her, a girl with no supernatural abilities to speak of, not even Spirit-Sight, and no other noteworthy qualities. Her maid, Hana, had burst into tears, had said how awful it was for a girl of her age to be denied parental love.
How was Hana getting on now? She hadn’t seen the maid once since her sudden dismissal while Miyo had been locked up in the storehouse. Hana had still been young then. Miyo hoped she’d married a good man and was living happily somewhere.