Cezar had golden eyes, the likes of which were almost never seen in this part of the world. Most of the time he hid them behind lenses of black glass because—as he put it—they were a rare sight and tended to scare people. He had only ever shown me their true color once, during the Assembly, but I found them very pretty.
My comment prompted Cezar to chuckle wryly.
“Surely my eyes aren’t as pretty as this. Everyone always used to fear my eyes.”
“That’s not true. They were so sparkly and pretty!” I said firmly and forcefully.
Cezar reeled in surprise.
“Really?” he said, before raising the corners of his mouth ever so slightly. After gazing at the golden field a while longer, Cezar murmured softly, “Ethenell is still full of territory scorched by our wars, places where crops won’t grow properly. I hope it can become more like this kingdom soon.”
Cezar’s kingdom, Ethenell, was largely devastated before his older brother—the current king—assumed the throne. I was told that civil wars had erupted all over the country. Conflict had a way of ruining the land itself. And once the land was ruined, it would not immediately return to the way it was.
Not knowing what to say in response, I stayed silent, and stood next to Cezar as we gazed at the field together. Eventually Cezar, as if hoping to shake a certain thought from his mind, headed back to the farmers, saying that he wanted to ask them some questions about their fields. The farmers very kindly answered our various questions, and after thanking them profusely, we climbed back into the carriage.
For a moment I was concerned about the fact that I seemed to have put Cezar to work again, despite this being a rare day off for him, but since he seemed to be enjoying himself, I decided it was probably all right. As bountiful fields rolled past the window of my carriage, Cezar requested that we visit one of Sorcié’s orphanages, if possible.
He explained that, because of the internal conflicts that had raged until very recently in Ethenell, many children had been left without parents, and they were still in the process of constructing orphanages, which hadn’t really existed in the country before now. He told me that he wanted to visit one of our orphanages to serve as a point of reference.
Now that Cezar brought it up, I remembered hearing that Arno—one of Sora’s childhood friends—had started working at a newly established orphanage.
Although I worried to myself that this was yet another work-related visit for Cezar, he seemed to feel quite strongly about it, so I decided to show him the orphanage where I had helped Cyrus hand out vegetables.
I had stopped by the orphanage several times since first visiting it with Cyrus, so when we arrived, the teachers and the children all greeted me with smiles on their faces. And since the children were fairly used to having visitors and weren’t shy about greeting them, they were also deeply curious when they saw Cezar was with me. In particular, I noticed some of the more precocious girls looking at my companion—a wild-looking, handsome man—with sparkling eyes as they asked him questions. That was really adorable.
I got a different kind of attention.
“Miss Katarina, let’s play.”
“Let’s play tag.”
“Let’s play hide-and-seek.”
These were the greetings I received as I was surrounded by kindergarteners. Since I couldn’t really help the children with their studies, I tended to almost exclusively take charge of playing with the little ones, so I was really popular with them.
This was delightful in its own way... But whenever my friends—who were all beautiful—came to visit, the most precocious of the boys all paid more attention to their appearance than usual, and were always snatching bashful glances at my friends. However, when they saw me, the first thing out of those same boys’ mouths was something to the effect of, “Hi, Miss Katarina. Did you bring us any presents?” And as soon as I handed over whatever gifts I’d brought, they would always run off, leaving me feeling a little despondent. I was certainly “popular” in a sense, but it saddened me to think how big the disparity was between how the kids treated me and my friends.
That said, there was one exception to that pattern of behavior among the boys.
“Hey, pip-squeaks, can’t you see Miss Katarina has only just got here? If you’re gonna play, at least let her relax for a little while first.”
The one who said this was Liam, a boy who used to be a repeat offender for running away from the orphanage. When I first came here with Cyrus, Liam was a pretty wild kid, and had a terrible attitude to boot. But I’d been told that now, almost as if a curse had been lifted, he had transformed into an earnest big brother figure, dedicating himself both to his studies and volunteer efforts. Liam was the only one who didn’t run off after snatching whatever gifts I’d brought. Instead...
“Why don’t you go and take a break in the cafeteria?” he suggested. “I can at least get you some tea.” He was really turning into such a thoughtful young man. As someone who knew what a terror he’d been before, I was delighted beyond words.
“Are you going to make me some tea, Liam?”
“Even I can handle something like that. Ah, but I won’t be able to brew tea worthy of a lady like yourself.”
Not only Liam, but everyone at the orphanage besides the director thought that I (and my friends) all belonged to normal merchant families, and I never denied this. This was because I worried that, if they knew I was a noblewoman, they’d feel nervous and less able to approach me. So, after getting Cezar’s permission, I introduced him as a merchant I knew from another country.
“There’s no need to worry whether any tea you might make would be ‘worthy’ of me. Though if it’s way too bitter, I might just spit it out all over you,” I said to Liam. I meant the last part as a joke, but, for a moment, Liam looked shocked.
“Maybe I’ll make it way too bitter on purpose, then run away before you can spit it out,” he retorted with a grin. He still hadn’t lost the slightly sardonic edge he had when I first met him. But that was part of who he was, and I found it cute.
So, since I was going to be treated to tea in the cafeteria, I asked Cezar to join me. Having brought him there, I could hardly leave him by himself.
“I’ll make Mr. Cezar’s tea,” said one of the more precocious girls, shrieking with excitement as she followed us.
Looks like it’s tough being a popular guy.
As for me, I announced to the little ones that I was going to have some tea.