♚♚♚
AROUND the time father and daughter finally started their happy life together, Rock finished tailoring the court uniform Ebel had ordered.
She promptly sent him a letter, and he arrived at the shop the same day.
“It’s been a while since you last came as a customer,” Rock said, greeting him when he came through the door.
He approached the counter, looking relieved.
“I’m thrilled to see your days have gone back to being peaceful.”
“All thanks to you, Ebel,” she promptly responded. Phoebe started clearing his throat as he swept the floors. She laughed and amended her statement. “Father too… Also, Lord Linus and Michaela helped out as well. I haven’t forgotten what Johanna and the others did either.”
Rock’s current tranquility existed with the help of many people.
They were able to recover what they thought they’d lost forever.
The Linus siblings were also spending their days in harmony together.
Johanna’s cheerfulness was still probably making life at Mateus Manor that much more fun and full of both dry and happy laughter.
Krister was due to return to the slums soon too.
And most of all…
“I hope your days are just as peaceful,” Rock said.
Looking at her with fondness, Ebel reached across the counter and took her hand.
“Your presence is my peace of mind, Roxy.”
Rock fidgeted bashfully from the feeling of his big, warm hand holding hers.
“Ebel…”
“If possible, I hope to have you closer all the time.” Ebel gazed straight into Rock’s eyes, completely undisturbed by Phoebe watching them. “As we discussed before, it is my greatest wish to spend my future with you.”
Rock had long since made up her mind about that. But it was a lot harder for her to ignore Phoebe’s presence.
And there was something else that’d been on her mind all this time: the dream her father and mother had worked toward. And her own slender hand resting in Ebel’s.
So she answered him truthfully.
“That’s my wish too, Ebel,” she said and confided, “I’ve been thinking about the future a lot lately.”
“…Oh? What do you have in mind?”
She hesitated for a moment. But a second’s pause didn’t change her mind. This was her dream, after all.
“I want to open up a shop as Roxy, not Rock,” she said sheepishly.
Ebel quietly nodded, accepting her dreams fully.
Rock nodded back to him and continued, “I want to leave these slums with Father and open up a tailor shop in the imperial capital. That’s what I’ve been thinking about.”
She glanced to her left and saw Phoebe silently smiling at her too.
That’d been her father and mother’s dream. And now it was hers.
“That is a lovely objective,” Ebel said as enthusiastically as if it were his own dream. “I’m sure there are things I can assist you with in accomplishing your dreams. Please tell me when the time comes.”
“Thank you very much, Ebel.”
Truth be told, she might really need his help to make her dreams come true.
Rock was twenty—she knew the cold, hard truth about reality. She’d a general idea about the huge sum of money necessary to buy her way out of the slums and that some things couldn’t just be solved with money alone.
But she would think about how to solve each obstacle as she came to it.
She wanted to obtain citizenship with her own two small, calloused hands.
She wanted to become a version of herself that could be confident standing at Ebel’s side.
“I hope you will continue to be a regular customer of mine,” she told Ebel. “I will reward your trust by putting my whole heart into every piece I tailor for you.”
She squeezed his hand, and he put his other hand on top, encompassing it.
“Your determination has touched my heart. I’ll become the best customer you’ve ever had.”
“Never let go of that hand, you hear?” Phoebe coolly interjected, his eyes on their hands.
Which one was he saying that to? Either way, their aspirations and determination remained unchanged.
They would never let go until the day their dreams came true.
Of course, even after that, Roxy’s small hand wasn’t going to let go of Ebel’s either.