In an instant, only I, my brother, and Ray were left at the mansion entrance.
“Ahem. Please forgive us for not being able to properly welcome you as you came without prior notice.”
My brother’s tone was slightly reproachful, perhaps because he was also surprised. Then he glanced at me, his eyes asking if I had called him.
Feeling wronged in this matter, I shook my head slightly and asked Ray.
“Indeed… I was surprised. Could the communication have been missed somewhere along the way?”
Otherwise, it made no sense. I firmly believed in my mind that Ray would never make such a rude visit, unlike Pedro.
What went wrong and where? As I was pondering, Ray answered with a troubled look.
“Because I wrote in the letter that I would come next time. Seiana said it was fine, so I came…”
“….”
Did "next time" mean the next day, not the next opportunity? Ray didn’t seem to know what he had done wrong, but he seemed to have subtly realized that something was amiss.
Seeing Ray looking hesitant, my brother slightly averted his eyes and spoke cautiously.
“…It is not against etiquette to visit only after consulting and agreeing on the exact date and time.”
“…Do I have to do that even when visiting a close friend’s house?”
“Even if His Highness does not follow etiquette, no one will dare say anything. However, it is possible for our household to be blamed for failing to properly assist our lord by not pointing out his faults.”
That meant if Ray acted arbitrarily, I, who was associating with him, would be criticized. At his words, Ray’s eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at me.
“I… I didn’t know…”
His rambling excuses showed that he truly hadn’t known. My brother’s expression was not good, seemingly doubting his words, but I felt it was plausible.
It was a presumptuous thought, but would an emperor who couldn’t even manage his own household properly and put a young child in danger have taught Ray such basic things?
Also, it wasn’t common for someone to lecture a member of the imperial family to their face about rude behavior, as my brother just did.
“That can happen… You just need to not make the mistake next time.”
I stepped forward and took Ray’s side. Seeing his genuinely remorseful face, I couldn’t help but defend him.
When I shielded him, my brother looked at me with a slightly displeased expression, then seemed to give up and said.
“We are not prepared at all to receive you, so it will take some time to get ready. If you would rest in Lovely’s private room, I will send tea and refreshments there.”
Saying that, my brother took the bouquet from my arms. It seemed heavy because of its size.
With both hands free, I took hold of Ray’s hand, which was still drooping. I intended to show him the way, but his eyes widened in surprise at the sudden skinship, as if he was startled.
Then, he smiled softly and naturally intertwined his fingers with mine. My ears felt hot at the sensation of our palms pressing closer together.
‘It’s nothing much, so why am I so embarrassed?’
That was my inner thought, but I pretended not to be bothered and led the way.
Ray followed without a word. Only the soft sound of his footsteps behind me continued without interruption.
“Here.”
Once it was just the two of us, I finally spoke informally. My private room was attached to my bedroom.
When I got older, it would become a study, but at my current young age, it was a multi-purpose room for playing and studying.
Opening the door and entering, I saw dolls and a dollhouse placed on one side of the wall.
In the center, there was a comfy sofa for sitting, playing, or resting, and near the window opposite the door, there was a small desk and chair sized for me, and a bookshelf with a few books.
“It’s a boring room for a boy, isn’t it?”
There were only dolls, and the bookshelf only had fairy tale books suitable for my age.
Pedro really disliked spending time in this room. He would say it was childish and boring. By the way, both he and I were 10 years old, so we were indeed children.
‘It wasn’t like I asked him to play house with me.’
As Pedro naturally came to mind, my heart ached. I thought I had overcome everything after breaking off the engagement, but I was annoyed that most of my thoughts were still tainted by him.
Although I thought Ray wouldn’t act like Pedro, I lacked confidence and felt apologetic for showing him something unnecessary. However, he didn’t act rudely like Pedro.
“What do you like best here, Seiana?”
“…Huh?”
Ray asked, looking at the dolls displayed in the cabinet. For some reason, at that moment, the image of Pedro, who used to tap on the cabinet with a bored face and insult the dolls as creepy, boring, and ugly, seemed to disappear from my mind.
“I’m just curious. What does Seiana like…?”
Ray turned slightly and smiled. I walked over silently and stood next to Ray, quietly looking at the cabinet.
What did I like the most? With past lives, my childhood was well over 20 years ago, so my memory was hazy, but I was able to find it right away.
“This.”
It was a rabbit doll placed right in the center of the cabinet. It was an object with a white fur body and sparkling blue glass beads for eyes.
I unconsciously reached out for the doll. Although it was old, it had been cherished and well-maintained, so its fur was still soft and its body was plumply filled with cotton.
“It’s the first gift I ever received.”
Honestly, I didn’t remember receiving it. I was told that on the day I was born, as soon as my father confirmed I was a daughter, he rushed to the toy store in the territory and bought it in a hurry.
Since it wasn’t custom-made, it wasn’t that expensive. There were also dolls with gem eyes and dolls wearing clothes embroidered with gold thread in this cabinet.
In a way, it was the most ordinary and cheapest item here, but because it held special meaning, if I had to choose what I liked best, it could only be this.
“It resemble Seiana.”
“…Do I resemble it?”
Since we were of different species, I had never thought of that before. Is that so? As I was wondering, Ray took his eyes off the rabbit doll and looked back at me.
“You’re white and blue, and…”
Ray raised his other hand, the one not holding mine, and gently pressed my cheek.
“Soft.”
Saying that, he grinned mischievously. Even though I knew it was just a playful gesture made without much thought, I somehow felt embarrassed.
“I-I’m not that soft?”
With a flushed face, I hastily took the rabbit doll out of the cabinet and thrust it into Ray’s arms.
Ray looked flustered by my sudden movement but held the rabbit doll tightly with both hands.
Because of that, our intertwined fingers came apart.
Ray gently stroked the rabbit doll’s head with a subtly unreadable expression.
Even though he was just feeling the softness of the doll’s fur, was it because he had just said I resembled it?
It felt as if he was stroking my head, so I quickly averted my gaze.
“Then what do you like next?”
“Huh?”
“It doesn’t have to be a doll. I’m just curious about what Seiana likes.”
“What I like…?”
I thought hard about his words. It wasn’t a difficult question to answer, but it felt new because I had never been asked such a question before.
My family knew me too well and had never asked me such a question.
Besides my family, the people I was close to were Pedro and his family, but they were more interested in the ‘apple of the Estarotte family’s eye,’ who would be a source of money for their family, rather than the person ‘Seiana Lovely Estarotte,’ so they were never curious about me.
So, this was the first time someone else had asked me such a question, and the first time I was telling someone else about it.
My mind felt blank from the sudden question, and I looked around reflexively.
“I…”
What did I like? As I looked around, my eyes caught sight of a doll wearing pearl earrings.
“I like pearls.”
Pearls had an image of being old-fashioned and dated for young people, so they were accessories that people my age didn’t use much. Moreover, my color was naturally light, so pearls themselves didn’t suit me.
Therefore, even my family, who knew me well, didn’t know this fact. They probably thought I liked tourmaline the most.
‘…Why didn’t I show that I liked them?’
Ah. Come to think of it. This also all came back to Pedro. I remembered hiding my fondness for pearls after I wore a cherished pearl hairpin from my past life and was told that my hair seemed clumped together because the color of my hair and the pearls were indistinguishable.
Suppressing my negative feelings, I forced a smile.
“But it doesn’t suit me, so I don’t wear them often.”
“Why?”
“Just… I thought it would look strange because pearls are white and my hair is also white.”
At my hesitant voice, Ray’s eyes widened, and he took a step closer to me.
“It doesn’t look strange.”
“Huh?”
“Look at this. Seiana’s hair color is silver, with a subtle light sky-blue tint.”
Ray took hold of my hair and detached a pearl brooch from his lapel, holding it against my hair. The brooch had pearls set as accents around a silver circular ring, so it didn’t look excessive even as a hairpin.
“Pearls and Seiana’s hair color are both light, but they aren’t the same color. Moreover, they have a similar feel, so they suit each other even better. They look pretty because they sparkle subtly.”
He was right. I wasn’t sure if it was pretty, but it didn’t look strange like my hair was clumped together, as Pedro had said. I silently looked down at my hair.
‘Was that so? It didn’t look strange?’
Thinking about it, Pedro liked to dampen my spirits in everything I did. It was certain that he didn’t say it because the pearls actually looked strange, but rather because he unconditionally said it looked strange simply because it was something I liked.
He must have said it without thinking and forgotten about it, while I alone was fixated on it and had hidden what I liked all this time.
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