Chapter 6: Sara’s Happiness
“YOUR Highness…”
“No.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“I know what you’re going to say, but I’m absolutely not going.”
In the royal villa, an estate near the royal castle of the Kingdom of Ferrier, two people were speaking to each other.
Prince Richard, the king’s older brother, sat at his desk in the study, his pen scrawling rapidly over a document. Sara, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips, was attempting to persuade him into something, although Richard was stubbornly unwilling to get up from his chair.
“The king went through all the trouble of planning a medal ceremony in commemoration of winning the war. What’s he going to do if the medal recipient doesn’t show up?”
Daniel had tried to persuade Richard to go initially, but after getting nowhere, he begged Sara to help. And so, the task had fallen to her.
Oh dear…, Sara had thought before she went to try to persuade the prince. Richard, however, was very stubborn and wouldn’t budge an inch.
“We didn’t need a ceremony like that in the first place. I didn’t do nearly enough to merit receiving a medal.”
“This argument again… The people of Saleilles say you saved them from being afflicted by a corrupt government! I heard they’ve even taken to calling you the ‘Black Warrior’ now…”
“Please stop. That’s so embarrassing…” Richard really did seem to dislike it. He finally raised his head. “Anyway, I’m not leaving this place unless there’s actual business for me to attend to. Call Daniel for me. I’ll write a reply of absence.”
“Your Highness…”
“No.”
“I would very much like to see you being awarded a medal, Your Highness…” she persisted.
“……”
“……”
“Call for Daniel.”
“……”
“Don’t look at me like that… If that’s what you really want, I suppose I have no choice,” Richard caved. “I really don’t want to do this, but I’ll write a reply of attendance.”
“Your Highness!” Sara cried, her expression quickly softening.
Richard rested his chin on his hands and looked away. “But you’ll be going, too, of course. You’ll watch me receive this medal, and you’ll sit closer than everyone else. If you don’t come, I won’t attend.”
“Yes, of course I will! I’d be thrilled to!”
“…As long as you’re happy, that’s enough for me,” muttered Richard idly.
Just then, the door to the study opened and Daniel peered in.
Sara hadn’t called for him yet, but the chamberlain had probably assumed they were nearly finished and had come to see how things were going.
“Oh! Are you done convincing him?” he asked.
“Yes. He says he’ll attend if I do, too.” Sara smiled.
“Oh, thank goodness! Of course I’ll prepare a seat for Sara as well! Oh—I really am grateful, Sara! Now I can wrap this up without the king bullying me!”
“Stop talking about such trivial matters,” said Richard, sounding irritated.
But then, perhaps because he overheard Sara’s stifled giggles, he cleared his throat and snatched the RSVP document out of Daniel’s hand.
I can’t believe the days have returned where I can be by Richard’s side like this…
Sara wasn’t sure if Daniel could always rely on her to persuade Richard—a man who stubbornly wanted to remain a hermit—out of the house, but Richard would always listen to Sara’s arguments fairly. It made her happy that the others relied on her, too.
“Oh, that’s right,” said Daniel. “That document you were expecting arrived from Saleilles, and His Majesty validated it right away.”
Claire entered the study and handed Daniel the letter rolled up like a scroll.
Daniel untied the tasseled cord holding it together, unrolled it, and placed it on Richard’s desk, so Sara came over to look, too. The letter stated, The marriage between Hermine Maria Saleilles and Richard Fénéon Ferrier has been declared invalid, and was affixed with King Alphonse of Saleilles’s signature.
The marriage between Richard and Hermine had been invalid from the beginning because of Saleilles’s deception, so Hermine’s older brother had officially recognized that, instead of divorcing them.
The marriage between Firmin and Sara had similarly been discredited as well, resulting in Sara and Richard becoming two single people with no prior history of marriage.
Richard had been grouchily writing his RSVP to the ceremony, but when he read this new document, his frustration dissipated at once and he let out a sigh of relief.
“I see… That’s great.”
“Yes,” said Sara, “it really is.”
“And you have no history of marrying that man… So now I can marry you without any reserve,” Richard said in a gentle voice.
Sara looked up at him. There was a small smile on his face, his cheeks were slightly red, and he looked at her affectionately.
“Sara, this time I want you as my consort. Not as a substitute for the princess, but as Sara, the daughter of a baron from Saleilles,” he said, his voice overflowing with tenderness.
He beckoned her to him. She approached him without a moment’s hesitation. Richard took her hand and pulled her into his arms, sitting her squarely in his lap.
Sara saw her own reflection in those kind green eyes that resembled the plains of Ferrier.
Richard’s thin lips curved into a gentle, happy smile, and his bony fingers carded through the golden hair falling across Sara’s cheek (she had cut it a little shorter).
“I want you as my consort, Sara. And…if in the future, I leave the royal family, I want you to be with me as my wife then, too. I want to drink tea with you, sleep with you, and greet every morning with you by my side,” he said passionately.
That was certainly a marriage proposal bursting with devotion!
It was totally different from the way Richard had spoken to Sara when he had married her for political reasons, because Edouard told him to, or because she was a hostage of Ferrier. His words rang with the truth that he truly wanted Sara, from the bottom of his heart.
I’m so happy.
Sara had no idea that being wanted—someone desiring you, needing you, and wanting to be with you—could be such a happy thing.
She nodded.
But just once wasn’t enough—she nodded again and again.
“Yes… Thank you. Please make me your wife.”
“I know I’m the one asking you to marry me, but…are you really sure? I’ll probably always prefer staying shut up in my room, and I’m not the kind of person who can say witty and charming things to you…”
“Oh? Well, then I’ll shut myself indoors with you, if the need arises. And all I need to be happy is hearing you speak in a way that is quintessentially you…like the way you proposed to me just now,” Sara said, smiling.
Richard’s eyes widened a fraction, and his fair cheeks turned faintly pink. His eyebrows furrowed together, and he scowled at her with an angry glint in his eyes, but she was fully aware that he was just trying to hide his embarrassment.
“Your idea of happiness is too modest. You can be more selfish, you know.”
“It’s not too modest! But what about you? Isn’t there something you want to do, Your Highness?”
“Something I want to do?”
Richard looked surprised for a moment that she had turned the question back on him, but then he thought it over for a while. That’s a good reaction, she thought excitedly, watching Richard ponder.
He’s rarely ever told me the things he’s wanted to do. From now on, I want to help make lots of Richard’s wishes come true!
Sara wasn’t satisfied with only ever being given things.
She wanted to give back to Richard, just as much if not more than he had given to her.
“Not really,” he finally replied. “Just living our days together as we always have would be enough for me. Talking to you and having tea with you every day, and then—”
He suddenly stopped and looked at Sara, and his cheeks turned a bright shade of red.
“W-Well… Sara…”
“Yes?”
“The sources we have tells us that nearly everyone born in Ferrier who had this ability of transformation died young, never reaching the end of their natural life spans. So there isn’t much of a precedent for someone like me. But at least abilities are not passed down genetically. I just happened to be born with this one by chance—neither my parents nor my relatives have an ability like mine.”
“R-Right…”
Sara tried filling in the silence where she was expected to respond, but she had no idea why he was suddenly talking about his ability.
Richard had said this all in a single breath. He paused, then opened his mouth again, chewing on his words for some reason.
“In—in other words…my ability would not be inherited. So—that’s not the only reason—but… One day, I’d like for us to have a child.”
“What?!” Sara squeaked.
“A-A child!” he repeated.
“I-I know! I can hear you!” Sara shouted back at him, her face suddenly just as red as Richard’s.