Chapter 58
YUKI had a sense of déjà vu with the day she met Luca for the first time. Annie escorted her to a stately, extravagant room not much different from the one Luca brought her to in the castle more than six months ago.
“It is already quite late, so I will bring you a nightgown,” Annie said with a curtsy before she left to fetch Yuki a change of clothes.
“I can change myself,” Yuki emphasized, too embarrassed to let a group of maids strip her down again.
Annie dismissed the other maids and said, “Please bear with me assisting you at least.”
“I still find such an activity embarrassing,” she mumbled, but undressed in front of Annie because she knew Luca probably ordered her to help and didn’t want to get her in trouble.
She immediately regretted her decision—her body was not something others should lay eyes on. In the place of underwear, she wore a thin slip under her dress that reached past her knees, but it wasn’t thick enough to hide the gruesome flower blooming on her chest.
“Aah!” She swiftly snatched her dress back and held it over her chest. She glanced at Annie to garner her reaction.
“Is something the matter, Lady Yuki?” Annie smiled and held out a silk nightgown.
…Did she see? But…
Yuki intently stared at Annie’s face for signs of disgust. Annie looked back at her perplexed as to why she didn’t take the nightgown.
“No…nothing…is wrong…”
Thank goodness. It doesn’t seem like she saw.
Yuki ingeniously found a way to hide her chest while changing without arousing Annie’s suspicion. Annie quickly moved about the room, cleaning up Yuki’s clothes and saying she would pick out her outfit for the morrow. After asking several questions, she learned Yuki hadn’t eaten yet and had a light meal prepared for her. Yuki sat on the plush sofa in the guest room and watched food being prepared on the table in front of her as she absently thought about the events of the day.
I’m exhausted… The taut string of tension keeping her going had been cleanly sliced and the remaining relief and fatigue left her thoroughly drained. A lot happened today… I saw Vivi for the first time in months…and I finally reunited with Luca.
A whiff of the savory, warm soup stirred her stomach. How strange… I was the one serving soup all this time and now I’m being served.
During their travels through Rvydom and Fol, Yuki had served others at all times. Just like how she was currently stricken with fatigue and unable to serve herself, she brought food to those too sick to move.
Together with Selena and Vigo— Suddenly, she remembered the woman with light-purple hair and amber eyes.
“Selena!” she shouted.
“Are you all right, Lady Yuki?!” Annie asked, looking over at her where she sat quietly in a daze on the sofa. Yuki sat up straight and blinked repeatedly.
“I need to see Selena, Vigo, and Rhad! I need to tell them Luca woke up!”
How could she have forgotten to tell them? She wanted to curse herself for her stupidity.
“Lady Yuki, it is very late right now. Can you save it for tomorrow?”
“That might be the better choice, but I can’t help worrying they are waiting for the news on pins and needles…”
They came to Adolunde to see Luca. Yuki succeeded in accomplishing her goal, so she needed to let them know immediately. She hopped to her feet and strode over to the door with the biggest strides her small legs could make. The door opened automatically when she was only steps away.
“Luca.”
Luca stood in the doorway with a soft fur blanket wrapped around his broad shoulders. Water dripped from the tips of his wet, golden hair. Bathing had washed away the remaining scabs leaving him looking too healthy to be someone who had been dying of the Ten Day Fever that very afternoon. Luca looked into Yuki’s eyes and turned to Annie for an explanation.
“Lady Yuki is saying she is going to inform her friends of the good news you have woken up…”
“Can I go?”
Luca looked at the baffled Annie, unsure of what to do with her charge. “I’ve already contacted Ain. He should be here soon.”
“Ah…Ain…”
I forgot all about Ain. She apologized mentally for forgetting him and shook her head.
“Not Ain. I need to see the people who traveled with me from Rvydom.”
“The people you call Selena and Vigo?”
“Yes! I had them wait for me at Rhad’s manor.”
Luca’s right eyebrow twitched. His trademark expressionless mask was unchanging aside from that one tell. She wasn’t sure what his reaction meant.
“…Luca?”
“All right. I will send word to them to come here first thing in the morning,” he said and angled his chin toward where Annie waited at the table with a tray of food. “Annie’s soup is delicious.” He lightly tapped her on the head and walked to the table.
“…Okay.” Yuki turned from the door and sat on the sofa opposite of him.
Smiling, Annie continued preparing the meal. Before all the dishes were ready, Luca reached for the soup and began drinking from the side of the bowl.
“Prince Luca, you have poor manners. Are you incapable of waiting just a little longer? Can’t you at least use a spoon?” Annie berated him and placed a plate of mountain vegetables on his tray.
In Aridol, there was a specific order to which dishes were carried to the table. The order wasn’t strictly adhered to on informal occasions, but Luca was royalty. Annie precisely stuck to the order. Pouring the drinks last was customary. Proper manners dictated no one was to begin eating until all dishes had been organized on the table.
“I haven’t eaten in months. Telling me to wait is the same as torture,” Luca said and signaled Yuki to start eating with him. Annie hadn’t filled Yuki’s glass with water yet.
“…Thank you for the food.” Yuki timidly reached for the spoon and her bowl of soup. Annie stared at her in disbelief and smiled broadly at Luca.
“Good grief. Ever the rebel. Is this why you refused to completely dry your hair?”
“…?”
“Scoop me another bowl of soup, Annie,” Luca requested with a neutral expression, ignoring Annie’s giggles. Yuki wasn’t sure what was so funny.
✦ ✦ ✦
AIN arrived just as Yuki thrust her spoon into the dessert mousse.
“Prince Luca! Is it true Prince Luca woke up?!” Ain’s shout and a loud crash sounded as the door to the guest room was flung open. Everyone inside looked at the door. Breathing heavily and clinging to the doorway with a bright-red bump on his forehead was Ain. “Prince Lucaaaaaaaa!”
Tears filled his black eyes as he stumbled into the room like a zombie. His mouth fell open the moment he noticed Yuki sitting across from Luca. “Yuuuki! W-Wait? What? Why?”
“Um, it’s a long story…”
“No, not that part! Not that!” Ain ran over to her like a crazy person and gawked. “I saw you just the other day… Why did I chase you away so cruelly?”
“What?”
“Yuki, you were brought into the Capital’s orphanage a little while ago, right? I was on rounds with Gys and…. But you were executed before my very eyes. But you are here in front of me now. The woman I met was definitely you as well…. Huuuh?! I don’t understand!” Ain rambled, completely baffled.
“A-Ain…?”
“To begin with, why did you look like a teenager, Yuki? I understand now that was you, but why didn’t I know it at the time?! What in the three countries is going on here?!” Ain was talking in circles and not sticking to one point.
“Wait, are you saying you remember meeting me in my older form?” Yuki asked him.
“Of course I remember! I just did not realize it was you at the time, Yuki. Had I realized it, I would have never treated you like a nuisance. I am sooo sorry. A lot was going on at the time and I didn’t have it in me to be calm…”
“…What’s going on?”
Undeniably, her teenage body had vestiges of her younger self. But it was also unmistakably another person to anyone who knew her. Yet for some reason, Ain now associated the Yuki from the orphanage as Yuki.
“That is what I want to know!”
“There’s a high chance the Witch cast the spell so this would happen,” Luca surmised.
“Vivi did?”
“No other explanation for it. Ain.”
“Y-Yes, sir?!” Ain lifted his head from where he had sunk down on the floor at Yuki’s feet.
“I put you through a lot these last few months.”
“N-Not at all! It is preposterous for you to have put me through anything!” He waved his hands frantically in front of his face to deny it. “I am truly overjoyed to see you awake, Prince Luca. I should be the one apologizing for not being of any assistance in your time of need…” He hung his head like a puppy left in the rain.
A-Ain…
As Yuki sympathized with the restless Ain, she heard a snorted laugh across from her.
“Don’t worry about it. Yuki is alive and well. Things are going to get busy. I’ll work you like a dog once they do.”
Ain’s head shot up and he looked at Luca with watery eyes. “Yes, sir!” he said, nodding repeatedly.
Luca nodded once and grabbed his fourth chocolate mousse of the evening.