“Oh, that… Well, my spirit wanted to talk to you.”
She blinked.
“Your spirit? You mean the undine?”
Yuri shook his head.
“The other one,” he said, sounding peculiarly reluctant.
Twenty or thirty minutes later, Brigitte and Yuri were sitting side by side on a white bench by the lake’s edge. Sunlight poured down on the tall tree shading them. The water sparkled brilliantly, almost glowing with reflected sunlight, and Brigitte squinted against it.
She felt like she was escaping the summer heat in some cool mountain resort. When she looked closely, she noticed water droplets jumping from the lake’s surface now and then. Maybe small fish were swimming, or maybe small spirits were frolicking. Spirits loved places rich in natural beauty.
The afternoon flowed peacefully on. Next to Brigitte, sitting in the dappled sunlight, was Yuri—although he was far enough away for another person to fit between them. The handsome duke’s son was gazing into the distance until he noticed Brigitte staring at him. He turned to her.
“!”
She reflexively looked the other way.
He did that on purpose! I just know he did!
Although her neck was now in a very awkward position, she couldn’t bring herself to turn again.
Before coming to the lake, Brigitte had agreed to let him introduce her to his spirit. After that, she had followed him on a tour of the Aurealis residence. But for some reason, they couldn’t find the spirit anywhere. Also, while they had passed several servants, she saw no sign of anyone else in his family.
Just as she was starting to get a little tired from wandering around an unfamiliar place, Yuri’s attendant, Clifford, seemed to notice and suggested the two of them go cool off by taking in the lake views.
Brigitte had liked the idea and agreed, while Sienna suddenly jumped in with excitement.
“Yes, why don’t you two young people go enjoy yourselves!”
Clifford had smiled at her choice of words—“you young people”—amusing, given she was practically the same age herself. With that, the two attendants retreated, leaving Brigitte alone with Yuri.
“Sorry to ask you here for a reason like this,” he said. He seemed to think she had turned away out of anger, but she shook her head.
“No, a loss is a loss. I don’t mind.”
In truth, however, his words stung.
So his spirit invited me here…not Yuri himself…
She wasn’t too disappointed, though. She’d known that Yuri couldn’t possibly have any reason to invite her over himself.
“But why does your spirit want to meet me?” she asked.
“…I don’t know,” he said a bit evasively, frowning.
Yuri was contracted with two first-class spirits, which was an unheard-of distinction. Since one of his spirits, the undine, had acted friendly toward her, she hazily assumed the other one would, too.
After all, it’s taken the trouble of inviting me here.
On the other hand, she did wonder why it had never shown itself at school, like the undine had. Was there some reason it didn’t want to manifest itself anywhere other than the Aurealis residence?
As she was wondering about this, Yuri sighed.
“Ever since we found out the results of the magic-stone hunt, that damn spirit has been making a commotion in my mind…”
Huh?
Before she could stop herself, she was asking him, “Wh-what’s it like? I’m so curious!”
“?”
“What does it feel like, a spirit ‘making a commotion’ in your mind?”
Books and stories treated it as a normal phenomenon: Spirits, who usually spent their time in the spirit world, sometimes talked to the humans they were contracted with. But what was it like to have a spirit talking inside your head? Brigitte was so curious to know, and she had often asked the Meidell servants. But she didn’t know many people contracted with spirits who spoke human languages—which was why she was so eager to hear about it from Yuri.
She leaned forward, her emerald eyes sparkling with interest and excitement. When her gaze met Yuri’s, he startled slightly and scooted a tiny bit away…but Brigitte just leaned farther forward. He tilted his head, perhaps having trouble understanding how to respond.
“What’s it like? …Don’t you know already?”
He didn’t let it show on his face, but he was secretly panicking.
“No,” she said glumly. “I haven’t communicated with my tiny spirit even once…”
“No…?! I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize. But I still want to know! What does it feel like?” she asked again, undeterred.
His resistance evidently worn down, he rested his hand on his well-formed chin and said, “Well…I suppose it’s rather like…having an outsider sneak into my mind. I’m accustomed to being alone in there, after all.”
“That…sounds like a very delicate situation.”
“It certainly is, although I’m used to it now. It is annoying when I’m lost in thought and my spirits talk to me. Sometimes I chase them away.”
“Ah…”
Brigitte covered her mouth with her hand to hide a smile. Who other than Yuri would be able to treat a powerful spirit as cavalierly as he’d treat a cat or dog? But thanks to him, the unfamiliar concept of having a spirit inside one’s head now felt a little less alien.
“Now that you put it that way, even I can imagine what it feels like,” she said.
“Can you?”
“Yes. Sometimes an image of you pops into my mind and starts talking to me!” she said, giggling.
Yuri was silent. A cool breeze blew between them, rustling the leaves.
—Wait, what did I just say?!
It took fifteen or twenty seconds for her to realize her tongue had slipped. Sure, she was relaxed, but why did she have to go and say something so incredibly revealing? Would he get the impression she thought about him every second of the day? She wanted to faint from embarrassment, but she couldn’t with him sitting next to her.
Why isn’t he saying anything?!
Was he not making one of his usual sarcastic remarks because he hadn’t heard her? Or was he practicing tact and pretending not to have heard? She glanced at him. His expression was as opaque as ever.
If he didn’t hear me, I suppose denying I said it would be strange.
But if she didn’t deny it, he would assume it was true…and that would be awkward, if he really had heard her… Her mind was spinning so rapidly that she was starting to feel dizzy.
“…Brigitte! Are you all right?”
“Oh, um, yes! Nothing…yes! I’m normal, completely normal. Ah-ha-ha!”
She laughed loudly. Now her strange behavior was patently obvious.
“I didn’t hear anything…,” he mumbled evasively.
For a second, her brain stopped working completely.
He…he…he heard me!!
She had never been so panicked in her entire life.
And she took off running as fast as she could.
I wonder where I am…
By the time her cheeks finally stopped resembling ripe apples, Brigitte was looking up at a tall ceiling she had never seen before. She let out a long sigh.
Everything had been fine as she ran for dear life away from the lakeside—and Yuri—into the mansion, but she was so upset, she completely lost her way. It seemed that all her diligent efforts toward mental focus were for nothing, because once again she’d made a blunder in front of Yuri. But something else was weighing even more heavily on her.
I never managed to tell Yuri…about Prince Joseph.
Before, she had felt able to talk to Yuri about anything, even though she’d only just met him. She’d told him her whole life story—things she had held inside for years, even kept from Sienna and Carson and the other servants who normally set her at ease.