“Yes.”
Having finished painting, Lionel placed the carving on the log he had been sitting on to let the paint dry completely and organized his tools.
While Lionel organized his tools, Jaelin circled around the log, admiring the carving.
“It’s c-cute. It r-really looks like a real puppy.”
Her reaction was quite extravagant for something so trivial. Feeling inexplicably awkward, Lionel hesitated for a moment before suggesting in a soft voice to Jaelin.
“Do you want to see the others?”
“Th-there are others? I w-want to see them!”
He was curious how the child would react. But now that he was about to show her the carvings he had made so far, he felt anxious.
‘What if she’s disappointed? Was it a mistake to offer to show her?’
Lionel took out from the box the figurines he had made whenever he spent time in the cave.
The ones he had made early on were too crude, and he was embarrassed to put them before Jaelin.
He took out the pieces he had worked on relatively recently and laid them out before the child. They were things he had never shown to anyone until now.
A hare, a house cat, a wild bird, a fish, a pig.
As if to render Lionel’s worries meaningless, Jaelin’s eyes went wide, and she poured out exclamations each time he took out a figurine.
“W-wow. It’s a rabbit. Its ears are long.”
“It’s a cat. It looks so a-aloof, just like a real cat. Young Master!”
Each time Jaelin burst into exclamations, Lionel’s whole body seemed to tingle with elation.
Jaelin, who had been confidently naming each animal in a sure voice, tilted her head and softly furrowed her brow before the bear figurine howling toward the sky.
“Th-this is a b-bear?”
“Yes, that’s right. It’s a bear.”
“I-I’ve seen a b-bear in a picture book. H-have you ever seen a b-bear in real life, Young Master?”
“Yes. I have.”
“They say b-bears are really big and f-frightening. They said they even c-catch and eat people……”
“I’ve seen one too. Only once. In this forest.”
“H-here? I-in this forest?”
Jaelin’s already small body shrank rapidly. Her terrified eyes grew as large as they could and darted about aimlessly.
“Don’t worry. It’s not here now. I heard Father mobilized the knights and had it caught. All I ever saw was a bear that was already dead.”
“I-I see. Th-thank goodness.”
Jaelin let out a deep sigh of relief.
It was a small, fragile sigh, like a dandelion seed. His playmate seemed to be just as timid as she looked.
***
After that day, Jaelin and Lionel spent time going back and forth between the mansion and the cave.
When they were at the mansion, Jaelin read books or scribbled formulas, and in the cave, she watched Lionel carve.
“Wh-what is th-this?”
Jaelin asked, pointing at the wood Lionel was carving.
Her round eyes, drooping slightly at the corners, clung to Lionel’s face.
“It’s the imperial castle.”
“Th-the imperial c-castle?”
“Yes.”
“H-have you been to the imperial c-castle, Young Master?”
“Of course.”
“Th-then does the p-prince live in the imperial castle too?”
Jaelin swallowed and opened her mouth. Her green eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“Yes.”
“W-wow. What would it be like to see the p-prince in person? I-I’m so curious.”
“Nothing special. He’s just a person like us.”
Perhaps Lionel’s answer was unexpected, for Jaelin’s eyes went wide.
“H-have you seen the p-prince in person, Young Master?”
“Yes. I’ve seen him exactly once.”
“W-wow……! You’re amazing, Young Master.”
“It’s nothing.”
What was so special about a prince? His mood sank in an instant.
Lionel rolled the carving in his hand and licked his lips with his tongue. He wanted to turn Jaelin’s attention elsewhere.
“Have you ever seen fireworks, Jaelin?”
“F-fireworks? What’s that?”
“It’s when they shoot very large flowers of fire into the night sky. The sparks burst in the air, and it’s quite beautiful.”
“I-I see. I want to see them too. Those f-fireworks.”
“You can see them if you go to the capital. During festivals, they launch fireworks over the castle.”
Jaelin, who had been watching Lionel, spoke cautiously.
“You r-really like f-fireworks, Young Master.”
“I do?”
Jaelin smiled and nodded.
“I suppose so.”
I don’t know. Lionel had never really thought about whether he liked fireworks.
When had he last seen fireworks?
Before Mother passed away, he used to hold Father’s and Mother’s hands and slip secretly out of the mansion in the capital every year to go see the fireworks.
The area before the imperial castle was so crowded with imperial citizens who had come to see the fireworks that there was no room to step. Perhaps because they disliked the crowds, Father and Mother took him up a nearby hill.
Though it was a low hill, climbing it on young Lionel’s legs was terribly difficult. Lionel whined to Father that he could not walk anymore.
Father lightly lifted Lionel, set him on his shoulders, and laughed heartily.
“You rascal, with so little persistence, you’ll never become a fine man.”
“Father, there’s no law that every boy has to become a great man.”
Lionel pouted and hugged Father’s neck.
“Lionel is right. Our Lionel may not be a great man, but he will become a good person. Won’t you?”
“That’s right, Mother!”
When they reached the top of the hill, the imperial castle shone gold in the distance.
Above the hill, where only the three of them existed, a beautiful night sky unfolded as if the stars were pouring down.
Soon, fireworks shot up with a great sound, glowing in myriad colors and embroidering the night sky dazzlingly.
It was beautiful.
Nothing particularly funny had happened, yet laughter spilled endlessly from the mouths of his parents and Lionel. Mother’s laughter, soft as down, faded faintly into the distance.
It was a past that would never return.
Jaelin’s voice roused Lionel from his thoughts.
“Yes. When you t-talk about f-fireworks, the corners of your mouth g-go like this.”
Jaelin pulled the corners of her mouth up on both sides with two fingers.
The expression she made by forcibly dragging her mouth upward with her fingertips was utterly ridiculous.
Lionel touched the corner of his own mouth.
“I did?”
Jaelin, her cheeks flushed like apples, nodded.
Lionel dropped his head and looked down at the still-unfinished castle. After hesitating for a moment, he finally opened his mouth.
“……Do you want me to teach you how to carve?”
It was an impulsive suggestion he would not normally have made. But he wanted to teach Jaelin. He felt it would be all right.
“R-really?”
“Yes.”
“I-I’d like that. P-please teach me!”
Jaelin’s face brightened in an instant.
Lionel stopped Jaelin as she was about to plop down on the floor before the log.
“Not there. Sit here.”
Lionel rose from the log seat he had been sitting on and seated Jaelin there.
He brought over blankets, draped one over Jaelin, and spread the other on the floor. Lionel plopped down on the blanket.
The green eyes that had always looked up at him from below were now looking down at him.
Lionel smiled brightly and placed a block of wood and a pencil into the small hands that were fidgeting.
The bridge of Jaelin’s nose flushed faintly.
“Before you start carving, you have to draw a rough sketch first. First, use the pencil to……”
Lionel’s voice, explaining quietly and gently, filled the inside of the cave warmly.
***
Jaelin still visited Lionel once a week.
Usually, playmates changed after a few meetings, but strangely, that rule did not apply to Jaelin.
Once he had grown somewhat accustomed to the time he spent with Jaelin, Lionel found that doing something together with someone in the same space did not feel all that bad.
The small sounds of pages turning or her fidgeting beside him gave him a sense of security, a reminder that he was not alone.
Lionel propped his chin on his hand and watched Jaelin reading before him. Sometimes he grew confused about whether she really did like him.
Jaelin was quite different from the other young ladies who liked him. She did not cling to him annoyingly, nor did she drag out tedious conversations.
And above all, she had never confessed that she liked him.
She clearly did like him, so why did she not say so? When he acted meltingly kind, everyone else could not help but say it. Even after holding it back, they eventually confessed the feelings overflowing within them.
But Jaelin did not seem to have any intention of bringing up such a topic. No, he doubted whether she even wanted to talk with him at all.
Lionel recalled the time he had spent with Jaelin. Apart from asking about carving, Jaelin did not seem to have anything in particular she was curious about when it came to him.
‘Is there really not a single thing you’re curious about when it comes to me?’
Where his favorite summer vacation spot was, what color of dress he liked—the kinds of things the other young ladies asked until they wore him out.
Jaelin’s behavior, so different from others, became a question mark floating through Lionel’s head. That fact irritated him endlessly.
Why should he waste time wondering about the heart of that insignificant child?
Lionel, who had been observing Jaelin all the while, opened his mouth.
A soft, sweet smile, as if it could melt, hung at the corners of his lips.
It was not something he needed to think deeply about. If he was curious, he could simply ask.
“Jaelin.”
“Y-yes. Young Master.”
“Do you like me, Jaelin?”
The startled child glanced at his expression, then soon nodded cautiously.
Both of Jaelin’s cheeks burned so red they seemed about to burst.
Just as he thought. Lionel could not understand why Jaelin liked him.
What on earth was this thing called liking someone? Liking someone was an emotion Lionel could not comprehend.
