With Kite having gone back to Bluheitz and Caro no longer coming to the library, Misha was spending her time lazily around the castle, still feeling fatigued after her sudden involvement in the ball. However, another reason was keeping her there: Lalaya had collapsed again.
Even someone as healthy as Misha was feeling exhausted. Though Lalaya’s condition had improved significantly, she had always had a weak constitution, so it was more or less expected that she would collapse.
When Misha had taken out all the medicines she had prepared in advance for that inevitability, not only Lalaya’s maids but even her doctors had looked at her strangely.
Why? We know it’s going to happen, so we should be prepared, right? Telling her to take it easy will never work, so what’s wrong with being prepared for when she overdoes it?
Misha was similarly taken aback by the strange reactions everyone gave her.
Meanwhile Lalaya herself, after having experienced being bedridden so often, had seen this one coming too. When Misha arrived with a slightly different colored juice to what she was used to, she accepted it without complaint.
“I told you not to push yourself,” Misha said.
“Yes, you did. But thanks to you, I was able to meet with and talk to so many people this time. You’ve really helped me.”
Seeing Lalaya take Misha’s scolding without lashing out, Carrie and the other maids started getting teary-eyed, saying, “The princess is all grown-up.” Even the doctors who happened to be there shared a surprised look. Misha, however, just frowned, putting a hand to the princess’s forehead to check for a fever.
“What’s with that reaction?! How rude!”
As such, her usual temper was back in a flash, but even that was cause for smiles all around.
Three days had passed since the end of the festival, and with Lalaya’s condition improving, Misha decided to pay a visit to the royal library. She hadn’t asked how far Caro had to travel to get home, but she figured if he was going somewhere in Redford, he was probably there by now. Considering how excited he had been about the idea of writing letters, there was a good chance his first one might already be waiting for her at the library. Even if not, she could leave one for him.
Caro’s gift to her had been a beautiful little stationery set, a pen engraved with miniature flowers around its body, together with pale-green paper imprinted with images of the same flowers. The paper was so thin, she felt like she should’ve been able to see through it, but at the same time, it was remarkably sturdy and even water-resistant. It would definitely survive a journey by mail bird. Misha was ecstatic to discover how special the whole set was. Figuring it was good manners to write her first letter to the person who had given her the set, she quickly drew up a thank-you letter for Caro.
Telling Kino she wished to go out, she ended up with a happy surprise as Geord happened to be free, and so volunteered to be her escort for the day. She had no complaints about her usual escort Tenz, but spending time with Geord was always special. He was always willing to go a bit too far to answer her requests, so he was the adult she relied on more than anyone as well as a close friend.
Misha gave a polite bow as she met Geord at the gate. “Thanks for coming with me today.”
“No problem. Thanks to you, I got to skip out on a bunch of paperwork,” he replied with a grin.
“What? You’re running away from work again?” Misha had to hurry to catch up with him as he started off into the city without her.
“Yeah, just taking a breather. I finished all the stuff that really needed me before I came, so don’t worry.”
“Don’t complain to me if you get in trouble again!”
A familiar conversation repeated between them as they made their way out of the castle at a good clip.
“By the way, are you sure you’re okay without your hat today?” Geord asked once they were some distance from the castle.
“Wait, what?” Misha stopped and reached a hand for her head, feeling only her own hair. “Oh no! It’s been so long since I went out, I totally forgot!”
Misha rarely did up her hair, so while in the castle where there was no need to hide it, she always let it hang loose. On top of that, she didn’t feel the urgency of keeping her hair hidden very strongly, so it was an easy habit to slip out of. Tia had even left her hat out for her on her desk, but she had been so absorbed in thoughts of her letter to Caro that she had forgotten it.
“What should we do? We should probably go back and get it, right?” Geord had set a pretty brisk pace for them, so they were already pretty far from the castle. As Misha turned to look at the castle gate in the distance behind them, something flopped down on her head.
“Too much of a pain. Just tie your hair up with this.”
A bit bewildered by her face suddenly being covered, Misha reached up to find Geord had thrown a scarf on her.
“Someone gave it to me this morning, so I still had it in my pocket. Guess we got lucky.”
“Thanks...” she said, looking over the piece of fabric. It was beige, with a green design reminiscent of waves on it. It seemed very much like it would suit a man or a woman just as well. After a bit of hesitation, she accepted the offer and quickly used it to wrap up her hair. “Who gave it to you?” Misha asked as they resumed walking, this time at a gentler pace.
“The lady from the stall where we made our lanterns found me earlier. She gave me this as thanks. Apparently she did better than ever this year, so she wanted to thank you.”
“Oh, you mean where I made those flower decorations? Did I do something worth being thanked for?”
Geord laughed. “Your flowers were cute, so they became very popular. Probably also because they were kind of rare. Most people have never seen three-dimensional decorations made out of paper like that.”
“Really? I’ve seen them made out of cloth all the time. I thought they were cute when I saw them on hair ornaments, so I just tried to make them myself out of paper,” she murmured, thinking back to the pink flower ornament Kite had given her after their day in the city together.
Geord gave her a curious look. There was something different about her smile just then, but he couldn’t quite put it into words. Unable to explain how he felt, Geord pushed the feelings away and continued talking. “Oh, those? Apparently the decorations she used to make are quite different. She liked yours because they were way easier to make. She tried making yours out of cloth too, for hair ornaments and bags and so on, and they were pretty popular. It’s really created a great uptick in her business.”
Misha laughed. “I guess she normally runs a store selling accessories, right? I’m glad I was able to help. I bet you’d get some cute ones if you used wide ribbons or lace. You could sew in some pleats for them too.” Misha started listing off more ideas before Geord hurriedly stopped her.