“Young Mistress, the weather outside is lovely today. Care to try leaving the mansion?”
Lynokis raised the suggestion while I was eating lunch.
Three weeks had passed since I became Nia. My illness was healing smoothly. I was rapidly approaching a time when coughs would no longer wake me and I could have a whole night’s rest. Though said “rest” would actually be my meditation time, so I still wouldn’t exactly be sleeping.
The outside, huh.
I turned to look out the window, but the lace curtains were drawn. Despite this, the light was blinding as it shone through. It certainly was good weather.
Hm... The outside.
It would be a nice change of pace, but I wanted to focus on sitting in meditation for now. My daily efforts were bearing fruit, and I felt good. I could feel pure chi filling every bit of my body. Had I also acquired stamina and strength, I’m sure I would have greatly wanted to move my body.
“No, I’ll continue my rest.”
For now, my schedule must remain the same: a long session of meditation from night until morning. Eat breakfast, see off Nia’s parents, take a small nap. Eat lunch, then return to meditation.
No matter what I wanted to do, until I disposed of this devil, I would be unable to do it. Even simply going outside was something I felt could wait until I was fully recovered. In fact, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the prospect of going out as a goal, to celebrate when I finally did manage to recover.
“But I think it would be good for you to go out for some sun—you haven’t been outside for over three months now. You seem better today, so why not have a little walk around the garden?”
Oh, of course, sunlight.
I couldn’t explain specifically why, but I thought I remembered that bathing in the light of the sun was somehow good for you. It was like the power of the sun was transmitted into your core and your body absorbed that strength. Maybe it was just my imagination, though.
That said, it was true that my skin was pale enough for Lynokis to worry.
“Then maybe for a little while.”
Lynokis was as happy as if this were a walk for her own sake, and she immediately began preparing the outdoor clothes and shoes that I myself had never worn and Nia had likely not worn in ages.
Wait, why do I need shoes if I’ll be in a wheelchair? Just give me slippers.
We were going out to our garden, right? Was there really a need for any of this?
I attempted to indirectly convey my thoughts to Lynokis, but she was already determined that I was going to be getting completely changed. There was no reason for me to argue, though, so I allowed it. She would be the one to dress me so I wouldn’t be using up too much of my energy either.
I wished I had recovered enough that I could dress myself, but what could you do?
“What about this outfit?”
“That would be good.”
“So we’ll go with these?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“Oh, but what about this?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I’m eating my lunch here. Stop showing me clothes. Stop making me choose. I’ll wear anything. For some reason, every time she asked me about my clothes or my shoes or my hair or about any accessories, it felt like she was rushing me to hurry up and finish eating.
Out of a slight sense of obligation, I quickly finished my meal and took my medicine, after which Lynokis spared no time in getting me changed.
She dressed me in a white dress covered in lace and frills with a red ribbon accent. The choice of shoes seemed to have been coordinated with the color of the ribbon. Though I wished she’d chosen a different color for my dress; blood shows up blatantly on white.
“What do you think?” she asked, showing me myself in the mirror. My first thought went straight to how white my overall appearance was. The second was that...I really was a child.