“Over here, Misha.”
As usual, the pair met at the entrance to the royal library. Guessing they wouldn’t have the time to meet up during the festival, they had promised to get together the day after the festivities had concluded. Just as Misha arrived, someone called out to her, and she turned to find Caro, who was smiling as always.
“Sorry, did I make you wait?” Misha frowned.
Caro hurriedly shook his head. “Don’t worry—I just got here. I called out because I got excited when I saw you.” A faint blush joined his angelic smile, drawing a matching smile out of Misha.
“Yeah, I’m excited to see you too,” Misha said with a giggle. “What should we do today?”
Normally they stayed at the library and read books together, but since this would be their last day together, Caro had invited her to go out somewhere. Unlike with Kite’s departure, she had known from the start that Caro was only in the city for the festival, so she wasn’t as shaken by his time in the city coming to an end. That said, she was still sad to bid him farewell after having become good friends. So Misha was determined to make the most out of their last day together.
“Why don’t we start by walking around the city for a bit?” Caro suggested, eyes sparkling. Apparently, he felt the same as she did. “The festival is over, but I heard a bunch of the stalls are still open.”
Those sparkling eyes reminded Misha of the way Ren reacted to being told they were going on a walk; she had to struggle not to burst out in laughter.
“Good idea! I checked it out yesterday, so I know all about everything there. I’ll show you some places with great food.”
This time it was Caro’s turn to stifle a laugh. She was so proud of all she’d learned yesterday, but Caro was there every year. If she thought about it for a second, she’d realize he knew much more than she did.
But he decided there was no need to spoil the moment. “Okay then, I’d love to see!”
Though he wanted to formally escort her, that was a bit of a challenge with their height difference, so Caro settled for holding Misha’s hand as they ran through the streets.
“Leave it to me!” Misha replied fervently, shaking Caro’s hand in hers. Having someone rely on her seemed to make her excited in a way that made her look even younger than she really was. “It’s a bit early, so you’re probably not hungry yet, but are you thirsty? Do you want something to drink?”
Misha’s rapid-fire questions as they approached the city square finally broke Caro, and he started to laugh. “What’s wrong, Misha? Why are you so tense?”
Misha’s cheeks turned slightly red. “Because it’s our last day together! I want to make lots of memories before you go.”
It had only been a handful of hours since she had said goodbye to Kite, so that was still a sensitive topic stuck in her head. She had unknowingly worked herself up thinking about how Caro would be leaving soon too. Now that he pointed out her behavior, she realized how odd she was acting, but she didn’t have the words to explain what she was feeling, so she settled for a small pout instead.
“I’ll be here until the afternoon, so we have lots of time. No need to rush,” Caro said with another laugh, consoling her with a gentle swaying of their clasped hands. It was starting to get difficult to tell who was supposed to be the older of the two. However, the gentle reply helped Misha calm down.
“Yeah, you’re right. No point in rushing.”
“So why don’t we start by getting a drink and taking a look around?” Caro suggested. “I hear there’s lots of stuff from outside the country for sale this year.”
“In that case, let’s start over there. They have a juice made from a fruit that only grows in the Rega Mountains and also one from nuts imported from Sullivan.”
“From nuts? Not fruit?”
“Look forward to it.” Misha giggled as they walked.
Seeing the two kids enjoying themselves, one of Misha’s bodyguards gave a sigh of relief from a short distance away.
Ganz had been quite surprised when he’d received a notice late last night that the envoy from Bluheitz would be leaving early the next morning, but Ganz had no other plans, so he’d met up with Misha a bit earlier than originally planned for her to see them off. Misha, still half asleep, had been quite apologetic as they’d made their way to the castle gate. Despite having said goodbye to the envoy with a smile, she had spent the rest of the morning in low spirits, leaving Ganz in a worried state. Being the poor talker that he was, he couldn’t think of anything he could say to comfort her, so all he could do was watch over her as usual.
Despite how mature she acts, she is still a young girl. Seeing people from home may have left her feeling homesick.
She had been down for so long that Ganz had been starting to consider asking Geord for help, but once they made it back to the castle and had breakfast, she’d rebounded to a state of peculiarly high energy. The sudden change had made Ganz rather uneasy.
But it looks like His Highness has managed to lift her spirits.
The revelation of Caro’s true identity had thoroughly stunned Ganz, but it seemed the boy and Misha had developed a good friendship, so neither of their guards had issues with them continuing to interact. In fact, Caro’s escort rejoiced at the friendship, saying that now there were twice as many people to deal with Caro’s ridiculous requests. Ganz wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that.
“Huh? What the heck? That’s so weird!” Caro exclaimed as he saw the rumored juice made from nuts.
The man running the stall brought down a large knife on a nut the size of Caro’s own head. After a few swings, the knife finally managed to break through the solid shell, shaving off the top of the nut. The man then flipped it upside down in a pot. In short order, a purple liquid steadily poured out.
“This is a rare nut that only grows in Sullivan, called a drydas. Its hard shell holds a lot of water, so it survives well in hot, dry climates. If you boil it, the juice gets even sweeter, and the color turns darker. It’s delicious stuff.” Caro’s reaction was apparently not uncommon, as the man running the stall explained with a laugh before handing him a small sample.
“Huh. It smells really good.” After taking a quick sniff, Caro gulped down the sample before his escort could stop him. “Whoa. It’s sweet, but surprisingly refreshing,” he commented nonchalantly before turning back to Misha. “Do you want some of this flavor?”
Misha nodded happily. “I had some yesterday, but it only comes from Sullivan, so I want to drink as much of it as I can—in case I never get another chance!”
With that confirmation, Caro ordered two cups.
“Wow, you’re quite the little gentleman, making sure she was okay with it before ordering,” the man at the stall teased as he poured two cups for them.
Caro looked away with a sniff. “You didn’t have to say ‘little’!”
“Oh, I guess that was rude. Here, as an apology.” The man chuckled, adding a slice of some red fruit to the rims of their cups before handing them over.
“What’s this?”
“It’s shupshup. Similar to an orange. It’s a bit sour, but very good,” Misha explained with a happy laugh. “I tried it yesterday too. It was really good, so I was hoping to get some more today. Thanks, mister!”
As Misha took her cup and thanked the stall owner, Caro picked up the small slice of fruit and took a small bite. It was more sour than the oranges he was used to, but it made a great combination with the sweet drydas juice.
“Mister, do you sell the drydas nuts whole?”
“Oh, you like it that much, do you? Well, I’m closing the stall after today, so I can sell you one or two if you like.”
“Thanks. If you have any left at the end of the day, I’ll buy those too. You can discuss the details with him,” Caro said with a smile, pointing to his escort. The man, watching the two kids together with Ganz, slumped his shoulders. He muttered something under his breath, but Misha couldn’t catch it. But Caro apparently did, as a mischievous grin took to his face. “If you do a sloppy job, it’s coming out of your pay,” he murmured, getting a quiet whimper out of the guard.
“I’ll be busy for a bit, I guess. Please take care of them for a minute,” the guard said to Ganz as he moved to talk with the stall owner while Caro and Misha linked hands and started away.
“Shouldn’t we wait for him?” Misha asked, glancing back at the guard, but Caro shook his head.
“Nah, he’ll follow us soon enough. Besides, we’ve got lots of other guards in hiding around us, so we’ll be fine.” Caro shrugged off her concern with a bright smile, getting a quiet “Oh, okay” out of Misha.
This was a route they had walked many times before on their way to the library, so Misha didn’t feel like they were in any particular danger either.