Chapter 5: A Sense of Distance As he welcome us, my uncle say, "They will complete the maintenance in two weeks. You can stay but don"t mess around!"
After dinner I went to the room a.s.signed to me. From the terrace, I could view the moon. When I opened the gla.s.s door and went out to the terrace, I heard a voice calling, and I look around.
"Oh, Miss Elana?"
"…………"
She was wearing night-clothes with a shawl over her shoulder, and the night wind is swaying her hair.
Her skin looks paler under the moonlight.
It"s like she"s just out of the bath with her slightly rosy cheeks and lips.
No no, I shouldn"t witness this.
It"s a real temptation.
But it"s a sight to behold.
"La… Lana is good."
"Eh?"
What?
"You can call me Lana! …W-we are a couple, right? We need getting closer… or else the Drutonil family might suspect us… you don"t want to get exposed, right?"
"…………"
I barely think about the situation a while ago.
But this is not what I had in mind… eh, what??
Will I die tomorrow?
Did I already use up my lifetime worth of luck? Is that okay?
"It"s… an honor. Then, please call me Fran."
"D-don"t be silly! I"m serious… O-oh… Thank you…"
"?"
Thank you?
Did she say thanks for being called "Lana"?
"…………"
Are you even care about me once?
If you are not honest, you and I are in this together.
This is clearer for you to understand, right?
Even so, it won"t help if my mood goes up without bounds.
If I don"t pay attention, I will be left stunned with mouth wide open.
"Let"s talk a little seriously. Right now, no one will overhear anything."
"Eh? Eh? What?"
"Lana, what do you want to do in the future? I don"t think it"s impossible if you want to go back to 「a.r.s.egios」."
"!"
"About the rumors that you are bullying Miss Rifana. If they ask Miss Rifana for confirmation and find out you didn"t do it, you can go back. You should be able to live like a Duke"s daughter again. There is no need to rush to settle in this country."
"………………"
I stared fixedly at her.
I"ve always wanted to stare at her, but she"s lightly dressed.
If I don"t speak and finish the conversation quickly and let her get back inside, she might catch a cold.
"If you want…"
"I won"t go home."
"………….What?"
"Um… After receiving such a humiliation, to go back to that life and living with what kind of face. …more than that, I have something to ask you!"
"Me?"
For some reason it doesn"t seem to come out nicely, Lana points me at me.
What?
Did you get mad because I suddenly called you 「Lana」?
Aren"t you the one who brings it up?
Eh, I"m sorry?
"Ano, that pen, soap, dry- dragon gem tool that dries your hair, are you truly making it all yourself?! Alfred-sama… and everyone… boasting that they made it?! And Rifana believes it…"
"They would say that. In front of the girl they like, it"s their nature to want to show their strong point. But pens and soap are consumables. If they were told to make it again, it would be impossible for them without me. Haha, it"s their problem!"
"…Well then… Really…"
"?"
Lana began to think and mutters something.
I can"t hear clearly from here, but I can overhear words like, "Isn"t this guy just a mob character?", "And the full character name hasn"t come out yet?" and "Perhaps this is an opportunity for me? "
I guess it must have been quite shocking for her to be banished.
Or are you tired from your first trip?
She should go to bed early.
"Lana, let"s sleep early. Tomorrow I want you to help to make hair clips."
"En! I understand! Leave it to me!"
I"m anxious.
We greet each other "Goodnight." before we went back to our respective room.
When I shut the gla.s.s door, sitting down on the floor, I can feel the room"s warmth and the heat on my face.
"Lana…"
Covering his mouth.
…What an unexpected woman.
I don"t know how to process this feeling…
"Lana."
My cheeks feel flushed.
I am covering my face with my hands.
This is terrible.
I can"t stop my face from burning.
How cute. This is impossible.
"…Let"s do our best."
I will do my best tomorrow. En.
I think our distance has shrunk a little.
＊＊＊
Just a little old story–
When I was 14, I made my debut in society as the crown prince"s 「friend」 with other sons from Duke and Marquis household.
In my case, the prince didn"t direct any attention to me. I"m just a shadow of their dazzling social standing and personality.
The prince and other 「friend」 already giving orders where is my right place.
From their point of view, it would have been "Just a little bit."
As expected, some of them were annoying when they were asked to leave.
I don"t think I"m suitable to be the prince"s 「friend」.
And you can"t call the remaining guys subtle and appropriate.
Everybody… including the prince didn"t like to study, and I don"t think that"s good.
They despise the law.
Because they believe in the absolute 「law」 of the royal family.
However, the 「law」 governed by the father is 「wisdom」 written by many wise kings who have supported the country.
Why do you think the authority of the present king is right?
Needless to say, I don"t think the current king is an idiot.
But the current prince and his 「friends」 are idiots.
I was kind of disappointed in my life when I saw them like that.
I wonder will they live like that their whole life?
Like my father, it is a suitable piece that can be relied on to preserve the wisdom of the wise old kings.
It can be discarded in times of emergency.
My 14 years old society debut is disappointing.
That day, at the same moment as I land my gaze at Elana Rousfet Forsyth, I feel despair.
She came to the venue escorted by the prince, and she was the most refreshing, beautiful, and adorable girl compared to anyone else.
I was immediately captivated, and at the same time, you won"t be able to reach it forever… When his gaze followed his hand, he hangs his head in shame and sneers.
While looking at her, I would have turned down the engagement talk in various ways until I"m old enough.
But you never know what will happen in life–
"2 copper coins."
"It"s reasonable."
"…………"
Then my uncle gave me 2 copper coins.
When I received it, I gave it to Lana.
She looked at in and tilted her head in confusion.
Oh dear-?
"No way, you know the value of money, right? Miss~?"
"N-no? Please… tell me."
"Seriously?"
"W-well, tell me! Eufranc! I will need it in the future!"
"En."
A week has pa.s.sed since I came to this country.
Lana is making hair clips.
I produced soap and started to trade them.
For the time being, the wholesaler is my uncle.
My uncle and aunt are supposed to go to n.o.ble"s social gathering nearby, and they were planning to leak the soap and hair clip there.
From there, the n.o.ble would be the target market.
If the attention is spreading among the n.o.bles, we can try to lower the quality and sell it to the commoner.
Whether we will be back to 「a.r.s.egios」 or not, we still require money to survive.
I don"t know what"s going to happen, but Lana isn"t going home. It"s necessary to sit down and talk seriously about how we are going to live in the future.
First, now I had to figure out the price of the hair clip that I sold to my uncle.
"Hahh… I"ll explain it. This is the lowest value. Copper coin. 1 copper coin. There is no lower value than this. The size is the smallest, but the circulation is the largest. Okay?"
"O-ok…"
"Next, silver coin. You can exchange 100 copper coins for 1 silver coin. And 100 silver coins can be exchanged for 1 gold coin. In other words…"
"Wow! …Scrunchie is so cheap?!"
"Yup. …Scrunchie?"
"Hn! Well, uhh. Look! It"s the product name, product name! We should have a product name!"
"Hmm, I see? It"s easy to remember, and the name sounds like something that will be popular with the girl."
"Right!"
Product name… I evidently didn"t think about it.
If I"m going to trade it, the name of the product will become necessary.
Hmm, Lana has a surprisingly good business talent, doesn"t she?
"Then, I"ll have you name the soap. You can"t differentiate the soap from others."
"Eek! …okay. But can"t you color the soap? …So you can differentiate it further."
"Color? Product name… I didn"t think about it. Color… I never thought of adding the color. Lana, do you think it"s a good idea? No, I think you have a good business talent."
"Eh? Is that so? …Eto, why don"t you add a scent too? W-what is it?"
"Scented? What does that mean?"
"W-well… it"s settled then! Uhh… something like a perfume?"
…What is it mean?
Perfume should have a particular smell, right?
If anything, I feel like women care about that…
But the commoner woman can"t get their hands on expensive perfume.
At most, they applied cheap hair oil on their hair?
Do you want me to make it and mix them with essential oils?
It"s hard to make the trial product right now.
But it"s worth trying.
Let"s try doing it step by step.
"Right. Let"s try developing the prototype another time. Sounds interesting."
"! …are you going to make it?"
"En, it"s a clever idea… I want something like this. I don"t have any ideas, so it"s helpful for me."
"…So you are like a 「creator」."
"Perhaps. So tell me if you have anything else you want. Maybe I can make it for you."
"…Un. I"ll count on you."
A genius that stimulates you?
And another week has pa.s.sed.
I produced essential oil for the trial product that Lana was saying and trying to develop a new soap using nuts and gra.s.s sap to color it.
The hairclip called scrunchie already popular among the n.o.bles in neighboring vicinity. The personal request also started coming in.
"If it"s like this… it would be easier if there"s a sewing machine~."
"Sewing machine?"
"Ah, eto… you see… it"s a machine that helps you sew automatically? Well, I guess you can just push the fabrics to sew… or something like that?"
What, "something like that? "
A tool that sews automatically… I wonder if I"m able to make that kind of dragon gem tool?
"Hmm… can I make it palm-sized?"
"Eh?"
For now, it took me 3 days to make it.
"Yup."
"Did you make it?!"
"Eh? Didn"t you need it?"
"No… but thank you… I don"t think you would really make it."
"… Normally, the Duke"s daughter wouldn"t sew, would she? I thought you were complaining…"
"Eh…"
Also, her facial expression doesn"t look stunned at all?
Don"t tell me she"s done needlework before?
No way?
Isn"t she a Duke"s daughter? Surely?
"It"s still a prototype. Give it a try. If you don"t feel comfortable, I"ll improve it."
"E-en. Thank you."
"It"s okay. Because you are doing your best and the scrunchie order is not interrupted so we can deliver it."
"R-right! I"m doing this much… While you take care of our life necessities…"
"I see…"
Not this again.
This uncomfortable fluff.
A strong-willed and prideful young lady who was arrogant didn"t listen to others, high-handed and selfish… being docile and modest.
Willing to work and doing needlework happily… this feels out of place.
Does breaking off an engagement is something that changes people so much?
"Oi! Eufranc! Miss Elana! I bear good news!"
"! Welcome home, Carleigh nii-san. What is the good news?"
"The ranch maintenance is over! Ah, former ranch… And I"ve repaired the stables because you have Lucy!"
"…………"
"…………"
I take a look at Lana"s face.
Well, there"s Lucy… you can"t ignore repairing her stable.
However, if it looks like this…
"What will you do? Do you want to see it right away?"
“It takes almost a whole day in the carriage from here, isn"t it? Let"s do it tomorrow."
"Y-yes, I agree. Eh, eh… tomorrow? It"s been so long."
"Yeah. However, the old furniture like a table, chair, and bed already prepared. It"s kinda hard, and we don"t have any more money or time… Also, Eufranc is making various things, I think for only two people you could get settled quickly."
"It"s okay, that"s enough. By the way, the bed…"
"Obviously it"s one!"
"…………! "
I know it would be like this!
"Hahaha. From tomorrow you married couple will live in a new house… well, even if it looks like going to crumble I know you can make it better! But I"m feeling sorry for the newlywed"s house… I"ll give you a housewarming gift… I"ll send an a.s.sortment of meal ingredients for a while."
"Arigatou~ I"m pleased and it"s helpful."
"Hn, leave it to me!"
"…………"
"…………"
Silence.
Um, I"d like to talk about something.
First, marriage… there"s emergency measure for a couple that has to be taken.
She won"t have the faintest interest in me.
I don"t want to be hated for being thoughtless…
"Don"t worry. I won"t do anything…"
"! …eh, um, en?!"
"Yes?"
"E-en!"
…What is that?
I"m unsure, but did you feel relieved?
"Well, if this is about the bed, I can make a new one?"
"…R-right? You"re good at that!"
"Hm. The new bed can be prepared in a day or two, maybe."
First of all, tomorrow.
I"ll make it as soon as we arrive at the new home.
However, the journey takes about a day, and we likely will arrive in the evening or night.
In that case, I can sleep on the floor for one night?
"…………"
Will the day where we can sleep together, come?
t/n: i supposed to finish this on sat.u.r.day but i"m planning to binge-watching the king"s avatar so…