Odina Florence’s younger sister, Miyako, left him to get a full night’s sleep (on the floor in the living room) after he’d collapsed. She then prepared a warm meal for him. Along with the warm heated-stone-style bath and a little time spent taking it easy in the countryside—undisturbed by long hours of labor—he was brought to tears.
Viva Florence!
“Miyako, I think I’ll go home for a while. I’ve had enough of being a workaholic!”
“Uh...”
You turn up out of nowhere and immediately spout that stuff like you don’t have a care in the world! Actually, I’m more shocked that he’s the one who stole our wagon on the mountain that night.
“Ah, I thought maybe someone had just abandoned it...” he said to Miyako’s astonishment, scratching his head.
What amazed her most was that his method of travel from the capital to the Atika region had been sprinting. Just how ripped is my brother? Miyako shot a glance at Fuuka to find that she too was wide-eyed in amazement at Odina’s matter-of-fact telling of his story. Odina Florence was the textbook “loveable idiot.”
“Well, I will have to report this to Klaus-sama, that being my job and all, but I’ll skip work for a few days first. Keep your story straight with mine, Miyako!”
“Uh, sure... Watch your back, Odina.”
Miyako heard that Odina was working for the Reinhardt family in the capital, but she worried whether he was managing to cope with the workload. I mean, I am grateful that he’s not gonna get in the way of me living with Fuuka-chan, but...
✦ ✦ ✦
They took the wagon back from Odina since they’d borrowed it from Shan Li. Umi watched the horses with great interest as they happily munched their fodder. Watching her swing her tail from side to side, you can tell she really is a cat.
They saw off Odina as he departed into the dusk, now back in high spirits. Miyako asked him to keep quiet to their family about using the spare home without permission. Seeing as he himself had no qualms about skiving off work, Odina didn’t take much convincing. Nothing beats having a half-assed but hard-working older brother.
“That man makes others work like crazy since he has high specs, doesn’t he?” asked Miyako.
“That man” was Miyako’s former fiancé, the marquis Klaus Reinhardt. Even Count Hamilton’s family obsessed over forging an engagement with Klaus. The Reinhardt family had a high pedigree, and Klaus showed zeal for his role as a knight in the royal court. However, a slight—or not so slight—inclination towards self-obsessed narcissism undermined him.
To be honest, I was only ever after Fuuka-chan, anyway. To be more honest, he was sooo off my radar that now I’m here, living with Fuuka-chan, and I don’t even really remember his face that well. I think it looked all right... maybe.
“Since Klaus-sama sent someone after us, it’s only a matter of time before he finds where we are,” said Fuuka as she mixed medicines for villagers who would likely come the next day. She ground medicines in a mortar, using not only freshly picked herbs, but also those she’d dried out.
Watching from the side, Miyako thought of how much she preferred the Fuuka in front of her to the perfect, flawless villainess who dressed immaculately and acted like a puppet on strings in accordance with high-society etiquette.
So.
“Hmm, I don’t want them to drag you away from here against your will. Actually, I just wanna be with you more!”
“There’s no need to shout, Miyako.”
“Ah, sorry. But I do want to sort something out before my brother comes to his senses.”
“What do you mean?” Fuuka stopped grinding the medicines and stared at Miyako. “You don’t actually believe we can keep running forever, do you?”
“I...”
Fuuka continued, “We can’t. However hard we work, however hard we try, however much we do to live up to our fathers’ expectations... we’ll still just be girls.”
“Fuuka-chan,” said Miyako, “I know that the two of us can do it. We can live happily together, me and you.”
“Nyaa, do you mean like two runaway lovers? I love those sorts of stories.”
“And we’ve got Umi too.”
“Miyako...”
Tears welled up in Fuuka’s eyes.
The truth is, I have noticed. I really have enjoyed living with Miyako. The things I never knew about or did before are so exciting. It’s so refreshing to take the white magic, which I studied for so long as “a lady’s pastime,” use it to save complete strangers, and have them thank me so much. It warms my heart to no end.
But because of that, I have no confidence about whether it’s all right to continue having fun living like this, whether two women really even can enjoy a life together, whether Miyako bringing me here wasn’t just a lapse in judgment for her.
All of that made Fuuka so uneasy that she couldn’t even bring herself to say something so simple: that living with Miyako made her happy.
“Fuuka-chan!”
Seeing a depressed look on Fuuka’s face, Miyako took her hands and spoke. There wasn’t much time left to get her to say she was happy. Miyako didn’t want to leave anything undone. She wanted to take everything that made Fuuka worry, and get rid of it all.
“Let’s go for a picnic!” Miyako was determined to keep to all the plans they made together. “We’ll make a bunch of delicious bento. And we’ll take some nice tea with us and go see the pretty flower fields!”
“...Miyako.”
“We’ll have a picnic, not for anyone else but for us, for you, Fuuka-chan. I know we’ll have a great time!”
Miyako’s hands felt warm to Fuuka as they wrapped around hers. Looking at Miyako’s desperate expression, Fuuka felt her cheeks warm up. I know we’ll have a great time. If Miyako says so, then I’m sure she’s absolutely right.
“...All right. So be it. Let’s do it, the picnic.”
Fuuka found it strange, yet comforting, that she could believe Miyako.