The inn room was large enough to fit two beds and had plenty of sunlight. To the proprietress and her sister, we were a couple who were clearly out of their depth trying to stay at their high-class inn, even though I had told them at the start that we were both men.
Then, right after we’d been shown to our room, we had asked for hot water. Through our door, they’d been able to hear some awfully suspicious squealing and gasping. (That must’ve been when I’d helped Wald bathe. The two women had probably been concerned, given our uncertain origins, but I wished they hadn’t eavesdropped.)
Furthermore, although the sun had still been high in the sky, the “woman” had gone straight to sleep—only the man had stepped out from the room and left the inn. And then, he had come back with a bouquet of flowers in hand! (Okay, they got me there!)
Later on, I had brought dinner up to our room, but neither I nor my “wife” had shown any sign of leaving. And despite that, we had burned the midnight oil until quite late. (Because I had been making the cloaks—I’d been working hard at sewing.)
And then, in the morning, only the “woman” had come down to fetch breakfast—and she had done so with little white flowers adorning her hair. When the proprietress had asked about it, the woman had shyly explained that the man had decorated her bed with them. (Did you really have to tell them that, dear prince?!)
And, of course, when the proprietress and her sister had examined our faces, they could tell that the two of us didn’t have similar features at all. Our skin colors were different as well. They had asked the woman whether we were truly related by blood, and that had been when the woman had explained that we weren’t—but we were still family.
Well, yeah...
Wald and I had agreed beforehand to be forthwith about the fact that we weren’t blood-related if anyone were to comment on the fact that we didn’t look like siblings. Our intention had been to pose as stepbrothers. While we didn’t share blood, we were still family. I’d figured we could push ahead with that story.
However, I never would have guessed that anyone would interpret “family” as us being husband and wife.
Having escaped from the innkeeper and her sister, I relayed the situation to Wald back in the confines of our room. After I finished explaining the current misunderstanding plaguing us, the lovely young man rubbed at his silky smooth cheeks, which had yet to show any hint of hair.
“Hmm... Would it be better if I simply wore women’s clothing while we traveled and we pretended to be married?” Wald asked.
“You’re fifteen, if I recall,” I remarked.
“Ah... Actually, I turned sixteen just a short while ago.”
“Oh, really? Happy belated birthday.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Considering how hectic things were at Tachyrinn in those final days, I hadn’t expected to hear any well-wishes.”
Oh... Yeah. If we’d been in the midst of battle—so much so that we hadn’t been able to spare a moment for celebration—then it must’ve been just around the time we had lost Croway Plains...
“Anyway—and I apologize for shooting down your idea—but I don’t think it’ll be possible for you to continue disguising yourself as a woman,” I said. “You’ll only be growing more masculine as the days go by. Since you have a pretty face, you might be able to fool people you interact with, but that’ll only be for now. Your frame’ll get bigger, more burly, and solid. It won’t be long until you can’t fool people any longer.”
Besides, I was planning on building his physique up more anyway.
“People have always commented on how my sister and I look identical... Do you really think I’ll grow more manly?” he asked me.
“You already have been,” I said. “Whenever you stood alongside Princess Catharine while she’d been dressed up in disguise as you, you had to hide the way you bent your knees beneath your dress to appear to be the same height as her, right? I could tell you were actually pretty tall from the way you ordinarily walked.”
“You’ve...really been observing me quite carefully, haven’t you?”
“Well, I was your bodyguard. As far as other people went, it would’ve been improper for them to stare at the princess, so they would never catch on. But I’m guessing that in just one more year, you won’t be able to swap places like that anymore. At any rate, I’d say that if someone didn’t have any preconceived notions about you and your looks, they’d already consider you to be manly.”
“O-Oh! I see.”
The prince looked incredibly happy at my firm assertion.
Hmm... I wonder if it’d be fair to assume that Prince Wald hadn’t been cross-dressing out of personal interest? He had looked so good in his dresses that I thought maybe he was doing it because he wanted to.
But still, he looked so lovely. And all the more so right now, with the way the white flowers still lay scattered in his long, flowing dark hair.
I beckoned him over to the bed with a few quick waves of my hand, and after seating him on its edge, I manifested a brush to comb his hair.
“I’m glad you’re braiding my hair for me, Kariya, but I’ve gotten quite good at doing it myself, you know?”
I thought for a moment. “Hmm... I guess it’s a hobby of mine? Since we have the opportunity to put our feet up while we’re in town, I was thinking of taking the time to come up with some creative ways to braid our hair. It’s kinda nice to brush hair when it’s long.”
“I think so as well!” Wald exclaimed. “So could I braid yours myself tomorrow morning?”
“Sure, why not?” I acquiesced. “Since you say you’ve gotten good at it, I’d be happy to see how sharp your skills have gotten.”
As I picked out the little white flowers that had gotten entangled in his hair, I tried weaving his hair into a cute style that would let him pass as either a young man or a woman.
Once I was done, I conjured up some highlander-styled attire for him to change into. Then, to top off his disguise, I draped the cloak over his shoulders and tugged the hood over his head.
“There, your camouflage is complete. We’ll head out to the merchant’s guild to send your letter and do some shopping. Since we’re leaving Helenna the day after tomorrow, let’s get our ducks in a row before we continue heading east.”
The prince nodded. We left the room, making sure to lock the door behind us.
Oh, right, I should probably do laundry.
Up till now, I’d been getting by with a combination of my washing and drying abilities, but now that we were staying at an inn, I’d need to make a show of washing our dirty clothes. Otherwise, we might seem suspicious.
I could also leave our laundry with the staff and ask them to do it...but then they’d know that neither our underwear nor our sheets were soiled. That would come off odd for newlyweds.
No two ways about it, I guess. I’ll do the laundry myself tomorrow morning.
But wow, I’m surprised at myself for managing to stay calm after being mistaken for newlyweds with the prince. Well, there was no harm in it, I guess. The prince didn’t seem particularly bothered by it either.
The innkeeper was positively beaming at us on our way out. I flashed her as good a smile as I could muster as I gave her our room key for safekeeping.
“Have a lovely day, dears,” she called to us as we left the inn.