“Hey now, Elysia. It’s rude to ask all that so suddenly,” Zen scolded her.
“No, Sir Zen. I don’t mind.” Mina was grateful if anything. As someone without much education and who’d never been very girlish, she’d actually been anxious about if she would be able to get along with a young lady of the famous family of bureaucrats, the Leadons.
“I’ve been a tomboy for as long as I can remember,” she started, happy to talk. She saw this as a good opportunity to show what kind of person she was to Zen as well as Elysia. “I was always getting bruised up. Instead of obediently staying in the house, I liked being active outside. I preferred riding horses over playing with dolls, and instead of learning how to do makeup, I learned to wield a wooden sword and kept the neighborhood brats in line.”
“When I was still young,” she continued, “my parents would joke that I’d become an amazing female knight someday since I was too much of a tomboy. But I took it seriously back then. After hearing them say it over and over again, I started actually wanting to aim for it.”
“You were so innocent,” Elysia commented.
“Ha ha. I guess that’s putting it nicely. But at any rate, after I decided that I was serious about studying military arts and horsemanship, I pestered my parents for a tutor. It came out of the blue for them, though.”
“Did they oppose it?”
“Yes. They were vehemently opposed at the beginning. They scolded me numerous times for taking those jokes so seriously. But even so, I held true to what I wanted. I was even prepared to leave the house in the worst-case scenario.”
“So that means in the end, you didn’t actually need to leave?” Elysia was only fourteen years old, but she was a good listener and a wise girl. She instantly picked up on the little nuances and understood them.
She really is Sir Zen’s daughter! As Mina thought that to herself, she continued her tale. “My uncle Cummel supported me. At that time, he was still working in the head offices. In our family, he’s regarded as a wise man who is exceptional even among our relatives, so my parents sent him a letter to consult about talking sense into their tomboy daughter. However, the opposite happened. Uncle persuaded them instead. He said there were many women in the imperial capital who work as brilliant military officers, and that what was important was their motivation and aptitude. How such old ways of thinking like how I must work a feminine job and worry about my expected future as a woman didn’t suit the empire.”
Even now, Mina distinctly remembered how deeply her uncle’s perspective had moved her, and how thankful she’d felt. Mina was still diligent about her duties as Cummel’s knight, but she wasn’t as faithful as she was just because he was the most powerful person in the prefecture.
“So your parents started supporting you becoming a knight?” Elysia asked.
“That’s right. They’d really just been worried about me, but they were open-minded enough to accept uncle’s advice. I’m proud of them.”
“You’re wonderful, Mina, and that story is very wonderful as well.” Elysia listened until the end with keen interest, clearly enjoying herself.
In the one-in-a-million chance—no, hundred-million chance—that Sir Zen and I get married, she’ll become my daughter. As a daughter, Elysia was a little too grown for the twenty-five-year-old Mina. But if that happened, Mina wanted to become a mother that Elysia could be proud of. To that end, she wanted to get closer to her on the trip for now. Zen’s daughter was such a mature girl. If Mina put in the work, it should definitely not be hard.
“If you have anything else you’d like to ask, then fire away.” Mina kindly smiled at her, showing that Elysia didn’t have to hold back.
As Elysia looked at Mina’s smile that, even to a fellow woman, was attractive, she smiled equally as wide. I was prepared for her to be a beauty since Sir Zen had said so. But with her good personality, she really is a formidable foe. It puts me in a tough position. She evaluated the woman, extremely calm.
Oftentimes what you hear about someone and what you see when you actually meet them are very different. However, Zen’s compliments on a woman’s appearance were surprisingly credible. It was probably because after growing up close to the finest beauties such as his sister Sharla and his former school friend (and Elysia’s mother) Aness, the two women had become the standards for beauty for him.
From Elysia’s point of view as well, Mina was decently pretty, though her looks still didn’t beat her deceased mother’s or Sharla’s. Elysia was being unbiased here and not showing any favoritism. Realistically, no man should feel unsatisfied with Mina’s appearance.
On the other hand, Elysia had already realized that you had to take Zen’s compliments on other people’s personalities with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, he was extremely good-natured. Additionally, he had a talent for laughing off others’ small faults. He was able to let things move along without getting upset over every little thing. That was why, even after Elysia heard Zen say that Mina was a good person, whether it was actually true had been questionable.
However, it seems I cannot deny it. Elysia took care not to let out a sigh. Mina’s unconcealed tomboyishness was unlikely to hinder her in romance. That also went for how she stayed true to herself. The imperial princess could strongly feel her sincerity and desire to deepen her bond with not only Zen but Elysia as well. She also strongly felt the woman’s naturally honest attitude; it was impossible to mistake her actions for flattery.
She reminded Elysia a little of her mother, Aness, who, although she had been strong-minded, had never lost her femininity. After talking to her even just a little, Elysia could already see how likable Mina was. In other words, the more time they spent together, the higher the probability became that Zen would start to like her.
I’m sorry, but I can’t let that happen. Elysia had tagged along more with the intention of getting in the way of Mina’s plans than to purely enjoy the trip.
But, nevertheless, doing things like bad-mouthing Mina in front of Zen or outright sabotaging her would make Elysia feel ashamed. Naturally, it’d weigh heavily on her conscience. Above all else, she had to consider how things would appear in Zen’s eyes.
There was nothing to gain if she soiled his impression of Mina while also hurting her own, ending the trip in a double knockout for the both of them. That was probably the most deplorable thing she could do.
What’s important here is to have Mina understand that it’s impossible to get between Sir Zen and me.
On the other hand, if Elysia came to realize how overwhelmingly wonderful Mina was and understood that she would make him happier than Elysia could, Elysia was prepared to quietly step back and support them.
This was how Elysia hoped to fight. She felt this was the proper way. For that purpose, she had to gather some information.
It’s like that saying: “Know your enemy and know thyself.” For instance, Mina didn’t seem to have much experience with love—or rather, she seemed like a late bloomer. Elysia could tell the woman’s feelings toward Zen were still barely developed too.
She knew she could find out more just by listening for a while; hence why Elysia had been hurling questions at her. It was admittedly a calculated move, but it couldn’t be avoided.
I thought I wasn’t like my mother at all aside from my face. Though Aness had possessed an open mind and a scheming personality, she’d still supported her husband, Emperor Heinri. After encountering a formidable enemy, Elysia realized for the first time that she indisputably had that same blood flowing through her veins.
However, even the imperial princess of Catalan, who was trained to have plenty of patience and self-restraint, had some things she could never hand over.
And that’s my prime minister, she thought to herself inside her heart, calling Zen by that title with a flood of emotion.
Elysia was currently getting fired up. However, she hadn’t realized that she was getting a little too excited.