The next morning, I woke up to a delicious aroma tickling my nose.
“Ngh...?”
I rolled over, furrowing my brow at an unfamiliar sensation that was different from the bed I was used to. When I opened my eyes, instead of a white ceiling, I was greeted by the poles and cream-colored fabric of a tent.
Oh, right. I slept in Lady Mamaropa’s tent.
Kira and I had both borrowed hammocks hanging inside the tent, and I’d also borrowed a white dress that Lady Mamaropa used as spare sleepwear. I’d slept quite soundly.
I expected to find Lady Mamaropa peacefully asleep, but when I sat up and looked down, I only saw her neatly folded sleeping bag. Was she already awake?
Moving quietly to avoid waking Kira, I slipped out of the tent.
“Lady Mamaropa?” I called out.
“Ah, Evelyn. Good morning. You’re up early.”
I found myself staring intently at Lady Mamaropa. The aroma that had woken me up came from her cooking—she was standing before the stove, ladle in hand. I couldn’t imagine too many noblewomen would look this good with a ladle.
“I used last night’s leftover curry to make curry soup,” she explained. “Breakfast will be that and grilled lamb sandwiches. If you’d like, you can wash your face at the lake.”
Despite the early hour, Lady Mamaropa was perfectly groomed, and her apron-clad figure was flawless.
“Please feel free to use the fresh towels over there. I also washed and hung your clothes last night; they should be dry by now.”
“Thank you so much for all of that!”
I was truly indebted to Lady Mamaropa for all her care. Grateful, if a bit embarrassed, I headed to the lake.
“Oh, Evelyn! Please be careful not to fall into the lake!” she called out from behind me, both hands cupped around her mouth.
What an amusing warning. I chuckled softly and replied, “Okay!”
Honestly, Lady Mamaropa, I thought. I’m not a child! There’s no way I’d fall into the lake. She must have been quite the worrywart. Though...I found I didn’t mind her fussing over me.
I approached the lake. The water level seemed to have risen from the rain. Towel in hand, I splashed water on my face, washing away sweat and dust. I’d only gotten to wipe my body with a wet towel yesterday, so this felt nice and helped clear my head.
After patting my face dry with the fluffy towel, I exhaled.
“Now then...”
Lady Mamaropa is too amazing. There’s no way I can use her as a reference!
She embodied the perfect trifecta of nobility: intelligence, elegance, and grace. But that wasn’t the only reason I couldn’t measure up. Lady Mamaropa was perfect, almost superhuman, in terms of life skills and consideration for others as well.
My plan to learn by imitating her had been naive. With my current abilities, not even a thousand years of training could get me to Lady Mamaropa’s level of wifely magnificence. My slovenliness pricked at me like a thorn in my heart.
And besides, she’s...
“Morning,” someone called out from behind me before I could finish my thought.
I turned around to find Kira standing there, holding a towel.
“Morning, Kira,” I said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. Hammocks are pretty comfortable, huh?”
“They are! At first I thought it might be hard to sleep in, but it felt so nice.”
Kira and I briefly discussed hammocks as he splashed his face with lake water. After that, it was breakfast time. Lady Mamaropa’s cooking skills were outstanding, and I savored every bite of breakfast, just as I had last night’s meal.
Full and satisfied, I decided to broach the subject timidly. “Lady Mamaropa, would it be okay for us to stay a bit longer?”
She blinked in surprise, evidently caught off guard. “But the rain has stopped. Your family must be worried, so wouldn’t it be best for you to go home?”
“Actually, I... I had an argument with someone...”
“Oh dear,” Lady Mamaropa said, bringing a hand to her cheek. “Evelyn, did you run away from home after a fight with your family?”
“N-Not exactly!” I protested, waving both hands frantically. “I did leave a proper letter to let them know I’d be going out!”
My plan had originally been to take a walk near the lake and cool my head, not stay away for so long.
But...
It was dawning on me that, even if I went back to the Manilas estate now, I didn’t think I could bring myself to face Lord Theodore and talk things through. At some point, I’d grown afraid of returning.
“I understand,” she said.
I must’ve looked anxious. When I lifted my head, Lady Mamaropa was gazing intently at me. Her beautiful blue eyes were intelligent, and I felt as though they could see through everything.
“So...can we stay?” I asked.
“Yes, of course. This, too, must be fate. Besides, I’m enjoying the company of you two young ones.”
I was pretty sure I was close in age to Lady Mamaropa...
“Th-Then let us help out!” I said.
“We should at least be able to manage to gather ingredients for you,” Kira added. He’d agreed to this earlier by the lakeside.
We—well, mostly me, since all I’d done was sleep—had been in Lady Mamaropa’s care since yesterday. The least we could do was pay her back somehow. I was willing to do anything I could.
“For example, we could fish at the lake,” Kira suggested.
As if on cue, something splashed in the distant water surface. Fairly large fish lived in the lake, it seemed.
Lady Mamaropa’s eyes lit up. “Ah, but I don’t have any fishing equipment...”
“That’s fine,” Kira said. “We can gather stuff in the forest to make our own.”
“You can do that, Kira?” I asked.
“Jackson taught me the basics.”
The two had been going fishing together sometimes. Apparently Kira had grown good enough at it to make his own fishing equipment.
Lady Mamaropa’s eyes widened at the mention of the name. “Jackson? Jackson from Semme?”
“Yes, that Jackson. He’s your brother, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.” Her expression softened. “He taught me to fish too, a long time ago. So Kira, you’re friends not only with Europa but with my brother as well.”
“Well...”
Kira seemed embarrassed but didn’t deny it. He and Lord Jackson seemed more like friends with an age gap than child and parent. Also, so many times when I invited Kira to hang out, he’d turn me down saying he’d made plans with Lord Jackson! We were friends too! He was neglecting me!
“Then we go fishing today,” Lady Mamaropa said.
“Yes!” I exclaimed.
The three of us immediately went into the woods to gather materials to make fishing rods. We followed Kira’s instructions and split up to search for usable items. I was excited to find flexible branches, and Lady Mamaropa found long, sturdy vines.
“Would this work as a fishing line?” she asked.
Kira checked the vine and gave a small nod. “Yeah, that should work. I dug up some dirt and found bait.”
“Bait? What bait?” I asked.