Chapter 33

33

Her long hair, tied high in a single ponytail like a horse’s mane, was a glittering silver.

The eyes peeking out from beside the tree trunk were blue.

Judging by her height, she looked to be about six or seven…

‘Is she from the Marchioness’s household?’

The dress, smeared with leaves and soil, was a little dirty, but it looked expensive at a glance.

Besides, a child who came and went freely in the annex garden set aside for the guests could only be one thing.

Jenis bent her knees to meet the child’s eye level from where she stood some distance away, lifted both corners of her mouth, and held out the hand with the ball.

“Hello, miss. Were you looking for this ball?”

The little girl, who had all but wrapped her arms around the tree trunk she was hiding behind, rolled her eyes this way and that, then slowly nodded.

“Then may I come over and return the ball to you?”

She shook her head, side to side.

“Hm?”

The girl cautiously stepped out from behind the trunk, scampered over, and held out both hands to Jenis.

She seemed to mean that she would come and get it herself.

Smiling without meaning to, Jenis dusted off the ball a few more times and placed it in the child’s hands.

Thereupon the girl bounced the ball a few times, just as Jenis had, then set it on the ground and slipped a hand into the dainty bag slung diagonally across her shoulder.

What came out of it were two candies, wrapped in fine paper.

“Oh my… Are these for me?”

She nodded.

“Hmm, thank you. There are two, so we can each have one. Right?”

A bright beam of a smile.

‘Ah… oh my god, she’s so cute.’

Swallowing an exclamation so vulgar that the late Countess would have been horrified to hear it, Jenis stared at the candies on the child’s palm.

One was red, and one was yellow.

The fruits drawn on them, clearly so children could tell at a glance, were a strawberry and a lemon.

Jenis, who loved strawberries, reached out toward that one without thinking.

And then the corners of the child’s eyes drooped, ever so slightly.

‘Ah, does she like strawberry?’

Jenis’s hand passed over the strawberry and landed on the lemon candy.

At that, the child’s face lit up brightly.

‘She must like strawberry, after all.’

Doing her best to suppress the urge to grin like a fool, Jenis picked up the lemon candy.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it, miss.”

The girl, smiling brightly at Jenis’s thanks, tore open the wrapper of the strawberry candy and popped it into her mouth.

Then she looked up at Jenis with expectant eyes.

It seemed she wanted Jenis to eat hers right there.

Jenis unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth, as the girl wished.

The distinctive tartness of lemon tingled sharply in her salivary glands.

Then, as a sweet taste spread through her mouth, a smile came to Jenis’s lips.

The child smiled broadly in return.

“It’s so delicious.”

A bright beam of a smile!

‘Ah, she’s really, truly too cute.’

Her hand twitched with the urge to pat the girl’s head.

As if she had sensed that feeling, the child thrust her head out in front of Jenis.

Could this be the reason I’m guessing at? Jenis, feeling bewildered, carefully stroked the round little head.

And the girl gave a delighted giggle, looking utterly satisfied.

“Ah, I’m losing it…”

How wonderful it would have been to have a little sister like this!

‘Mom, why didn’t you give me just one little sister?’

Clearing her throat, Jenis rolled the candy around in her mouth and stood up.

Then, belatedly, she spread out her skirt and bowed her head deeply.

“Come to think of it, I’m late with my greeting. I’m Jenis Elpiers, staying in the annex at the Marchioness Blair’s invitation. Would you tell me your name, miss?”

At that, the girl’s eyes went round, and she rolled them about restlessly.

Jenis wondered why she was reacting that way when all she had done was ask for her name, when…

“Charlot! I told you to wait a moment, and you’ve wandered off again?”

Startled, the girl shivered and hurriedly snatched up the ball she had set on the ground.

She was about to dash off somewhere, but then she pointed a finger in the direction the voice had come from.

“Yes?”

“Charlot! If you can hear me, come right now! Your sister’s in the back garden!”

The moment the name Charlot was called, the girl jabbed a finger into the air.

Ah, could it be.

“Charlot?”

At the name Jenis murmured, the girl smiled brightly and patted her own chest with her palm, as if to say that was her name.

“Charlot! If you don’t come right now, no lemon candy for you this week!”

With a loud gasp, the girl scrambled toward the sound of the voice.

She didn’t forget to look back once and wave her hand wildly.

Jenis waved back at her and, watching the child’s receding back, murmured softly.

“That child, could she…”

Be unable to speak?

* * *

Jenis’s guess turned out to be exactly right.

“These are my younger sisters. In order, Elizabeth Blair and Charlotte Blair.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Elpiers.”

Beside Elizabeth, who dipped her head with an elegant motion, Charlotte bobbed her head too, following her older sister.

Then came a beaming smile, as bright and adorable as before.

So adorable that Jenis wanted to reach across the wide dining table and pat her head.

“By the way, Charlot can’t speak. She isn’t staying silent on purpose, so please bear with her.”

“Not at all, I didn’t take it that way. How could I, when she smiled so brightly at me?”

Seeing Jenis shake her head, Irenea smiled sweetly.

“Thank you for saying so. Also, our Charlot likes to be called Charlot, so please call her that, too. Isn’t that right, Charlot?”

A bright beam of a smile.

‘Ah, damn it.’

This cuteness is bad for my health…

How could there be such an angelic child?

Barely dipping her spoon into the soup, Jenis stole glances at Charlotte, seated across from her.

Charlotte, who had been nibbling at the end of a piece of bread clutched in both hands, met Jenis’s eyes and smiled brightly.

Then she turned to Elizabeth, seated beside her, and gestured by poking at the table.

“Hm? …Ahh, I see.”

Elizabeth was, indeed, an older sister, and seemed to understand at once what Charlotte’s gesture meant, pointing once at the bread plate on the table and twice at Jenis.

“Miss Jenis, ah, is it all right if I call you that?”

“Of course. Please call me whatever is comfortable.”

“Good. You can call me Elly.”

Then Elizabeth looked at Jenis with eyes that seemed to expect something.

But Jenis couldn’t tell what Elizabeth was expecting.

So when she only blinked, Elizabeth, looking a little disappointed, pointed her knife at the bread on the table.

“Miss Jenis, try this bread.”

“Pardon?”

At Elizabeth’s glance, the attendant waiting behind her moved the bread she had pointed to onto Jenis’s plate.

The snow-white bread tore softly along its grain, and the walnuts studded here and there inside were wonderfully rich.

“Wow, it’s delicious.”

“I’m glad it suits you too, Miss Jenis. That’s Charlot’s favorite bread.”

At those words, Jenis looked over at Charlotte, and the child, who had been watching her with shining eyes, smiled brightly and even clapped her small hands.

Irenea, gazing at the sight with nothing but adoration, had her soup bowl taken away and spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.

“That child loves watching other people enjoy the foods she likes. So even if she suddenly appears and hands you something, please don’t be too startled.”

“Ah…”

Those words reminded her of something.

Jenis hesitated over whether to ask, then carefully opened her mouth.

“Does Charlot happen to like lemon candy?”

“It’s her very favorite candy. It seems she’s already given you one?”

So it wasn’t strawberry candy she liked, but lemon candy.

No wonder the voice from beyond the wall had singled out the lemon candy when it said she wouldn’t get any.

How could there be such a lovable child?

If she had been sitting right beside her, Jenis would have hugged her tight.

Gazing at Charlotte with flushed cheeks, Jenis thinly sliced some baguette, spread apple jam and whipped cream over it, and handed it to the child.

“This is a combination my late mother taught me, and eating bread this way is what I like best.”

At that, Charlotte’s eyes went round, and she quickly took the plate, cut the bread into bite-sized pieces, and put them in her mouth.

Not noticing the fluffy whipped cream smudged on her cheek, the child clapped to say it was delicious.

Jenis smiled softly, finding the sight adorable.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Just then, beside Charlotte, Elizabeth cleared her throat, quite audibly.

When Jenis looked at her in puzzlement, Elizabeth gazed back at her with the same look as before.

‘…What is it?’

What does she want from me?

Honestly, Jenis found Elizabeth, who was about her own age, a little intimidating.

‘Jenis, face reality.’

‘Friends? You can’t still think we’re on the same level.’

The Viscount Schulz’s daughter she had run into at the jewelry shop, for one, had worn an openly sneering smile the moment she heard her name.

And that same girl had slunk away as if fleeing once she learned that Hawk was a knight of House Blair, proof of just how high Blair’s standing was.

‘That young lady might be laughing at me inside, too.’

Might she even be expecting me to look shabby, as befits a girl from a poor house?

So that she could find fault with it?

-Tap, tap.

Gulping cold water in her nervousness, Jenis belatedly noticed the sound of a hand tapping on the table.

When she raised her head and looked at Charlotte, the child blinked her round eyes and pointed with her gaze at the baguette.

The very baguette Jenis had spread with apple jam and whipped cream earlier.

“It’s good, isn’t it? Shall I give you one more?”

When Jenis picked up the knife to slice the baguette for her, Charlotte shook her head to say that wasn’t it.

‘Then what does she want?’

As Jenis knitted her brow slightly, Charlotte cast a glance at Elizabeth, seated beside her.

‘Ugh, I don’t get it.’

She couldn’t very well ask a child who couldn’t speak what she was trying to say.

As if to rescue Jenis, who was at a loss, Irenea’s voice came.

“Elly, why the sulky face? Don’t you like today’s menu?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

“Hmm… Daymond, bring a bottle of Rylt apple wine.”

“Rylt apple wine?”

As if she had never looked sulky at all, Elizabeth’s face brightened.

Seeing her, Irenea smiled until her eyes crinkled.

“It’s a good day, so I’ll let you have a glass as a special treat. Miss Jenis, is a glass of wine all right with you?”

“Ah… yes. One glass is fine.”

“Then let’s all raise a toast to mark the occasion. Though our Charlot will have to make do with apple juice.”

A glass of apple wine each for the two girls who would come of age next year, and a glass of sweet apple juice for Charlotte, who was still a long way from adulthood.

“Welcome to House Blair, Miss Jenis.”

As she sipped the pleasantly chilled wine, once, twice, her nervousness eased a little.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth had finished her glass of apple wine and was pleading with Irenea to let her have just one more.

“Just one glass. Please?”

“Hmm… All right. Since you like apples best of all fruits, Elly, I’ll let you have one more as a special treat.”

“Yay! This time I’ll really make it last.”

But despite her resolve, Elizabeth finished another glass of apple wine in no time.

Regretting how quickly her glass had emptied, Elizabeth softened her gaze and kept staring at the empty glass.

‘She must really love apples.’

The thought suddenly occurred to Jenis.

‘Could it be that she wanted me to spread jam for her, too, earlier?’