Chapter 41

Ether peeked over at Lyssel, his cheeks flushed pink.

"He didn't do it?"

"…He did. Every day."

"Really?"

"Yes. He was very good about it…"

Ether broke into a shy, delighted smile.

Surprisingly enough, it seemed Lyssel had actually kept his promise.

Well — that had to be why the two of them felt so much closer now.

"You liked that he was good about it?"

"Yes. I liked it."

"Even without Mommy?"

"No-o! That's not it! But now that Mommy's here, it'll be even better!"

She'd been hoping the two of them would grow closer, but the fact that she hadn't actually witnessed the process did sting a little.

How funny Lyssel must've looked, fumbling his way through a kiss he didn't know how to give — and how adorable a flustered Ether must've been.

Iberin gave Lyssel a quick poke in the side.

"How was it, doing the kisses?"

It was, admittedly, a slightly mischievous question.

Iberin let out a slightly unbecoming little laugh and kept poking Lyssel in the side.

"…How was it?"

"No reaction? Ether said he loved it."

"…I liked it too."

Lyssel answered reluctantly.

At that, Iberin clapped her hands together and crowed,

"Then you can just keep doing it from now on!"

"…Iberin."

"What? Is that not okay?"

"…It's okay."

Lyssel couldn't win against Iberin anymore.

Then again, it was an open question whether he was even trying to.

"Thank you for saying that!"

"More importantly — you're not pushing yourself?"

It was true she'd recovered enough to come home, but it was also true her color was worse than before.

That seemed to be weighing on Lyssel — he kept checking on her condition.

"I really am fine."

The color in her face, once gone, hadn't come back.

A face that had been pale to begin with was now well past pale and into something blue-tinged, so his worry made sense.

Iberin would startle herself sometimes when she caught her own reflection.

{The dark circles looked ready to high-five her jaw, and the bloodless, purplish color of her lips was, by anyone's read, the mouth of a sick woman.}(#9314vz4nwkm5)

Still, the way Iberin smiled brightly through it all balanced the picture out.

"Even so, the stress might catch up to you, so let's head in and rest. The trip back must've worn you out."

"…All right."

The trip home had been paced around her.

She had pushed her body coming back in a rush — she'd done the two-week ride in a single week.

"Iberin?"

When had Lyssel learned to wear a look this soft?

Iberin blinked slowly, lost in a haze of thought.

---

Despite saying she wasn't tired, once Iberin made it back to her bedroom she slept for a day and a half straight.

The estate was thrown into another uproar.

"…By the way, Your Highness."

"Yes?"

"Did you move bedrooms?"

"No."

It was strange to open her eyes and see Lyssel.

Granted, she'd woken up at an unusually late hour, but — yesterday when she'd come home and now this morning, opening her eyes to him felt good.

"No plans to move?"

"I'll move."

"Just like that?"

The answer came back without any back-and-forth.

He'd refused to leave the East Wing for so long, she'd started to wonder if there was honey stashed in there.

"You really have changed, Your Highness."

"…I'm surprised at myself too."

He meant it.

Lyssel himself was still adjusting to this version of himself.

But the thought of going back to how things had been before — walling himself off from Iberin, treating her like a stranger — he didn't want that. He didn't think he even could.

"That said, you can refuse anything you don't want to. You don't have to force yourself."

"I don't dislike it."

"That's a relief. The shi— I mean, the East Wing was so far it was a pain to get to anyway."

"…Shi…?"

Lyssel blinked, baffled. Iberin's mouth twitched and she couldn't help laughing sheepishly.

{"…The condition of the place was so awful, I was calling it the shit-wing in my head…"}(#ny07rv37fawy)

"…Ah."

"We've got the budget for it now, so… should we redo the place?"

"No need. If I'm moving bedrooms, I won't really be going there anyway. It's just… I wasn't expecting you to say that."

Lyssel let out a low laugh.

The staff behind him started murmuring.

Among them, Tami's eyes were sparkling especially bright. What she was thinking was so easy to read it pulled another laugh out of Iberin.

Iberin shook her head, sat up in bed, and looked over at Lyssel and Ether.

"Have you both eaten?"

"Not lunch yet."

"Want to eat together and then go for a walk? Ether, that okay with you?"

"That sounds good."

"Yes! I want to too!"

It was a peaceful, sun-warmed kind of day.

It felt like everything might just be perfect.

---

Lyssel didn't seem to want to say much about what had happened while she was away.

It seemed to be his way of being embarrassed.

Ether only giggled, so she turned to the staff. They poured out the stories of the past weeks like a dam had broken.

"You have no idea how shocked we were!"

"Were you?"

"Yes. But it's so much better now. So, so much better."

"It's so, so much better for me right now too."

Iberin was Iberin, but the change in Lyssel was something close to a miracle.

When the two Lecashes had come home from the capital without their ailing Iberin, the staff had been gloomy at first.

They'd expected the father and son to remain awkward.

Without Iberin, the staff figured they'd just have to do their best.

But somehow, the moment Lyssel had woken up, he'd gone looking for Ether, asked how he'd slept, and given him a morning kiss.

The shock of that moment.

She doubted any of them would forget it for the rest of their lives.

One day, then two, then enough days in a row that the staff just accepted it.

"Young master Lecashe."

"Yes?"

"Eat your meal."

"…I don't wanna."

"Why not?"

"…I miss Mommy."

"And you intend to hold out without eating until your mother comes back?"

"…When'll she come?"

"I don't know. But what if Iberin arrives and finds out the young master skipped his meals and was listless every day — would that be all right?"

"…You're gonna tell her?"

"Yes. And it would upset Iberin. She might even cry, asking the young master why."

"Hnngh, I'll eat!"

"There. Please."

The way Lyssel handled him was different from Iberin's.

The painfully proper way of speaking didn't sound like a man talking to his own son, and the gap was striking — but invoking Iberin worked wonders.

Lyssel spent most of his time at Ether's side, except for when he had to go into the Forest of the World Tree.

Before, he'd stay in the forest for over a week at a stretch, but now those trips never ran past two hours.

After more than a month of this, Ether stopped being uncomfortable around Lyssel the way he had been.

He even started speaking to him first.

"Your Highness."

"Yes."

"Do you still not hate Ether anymore?"

"I never hated you."

"Then do you like me?"

"I don't like you either."

"…That's kinda sad…. Can't you like me…?"

"…"

"Ether'll like you more. You only have to like me a little bit!"

After a month of having his whole heart flung open, Ether had said it to Lyssel through a wide, giggling grin.

Lyssel had looked dazed at the boldness of it, but he hadn't said anything in return.

Iberin laughed in delight as she listened.

"His Highness really said that?"

"Yes. There's more — want to hear?"

"Yes. Tell me everything. This is so good."

That was when Lyssel, who'd been sitting quietly beside her, spoke.

"…Maybe stop there and head inside to rest. Staying outside too long isn't good for you."

His face was a little flushed and he looked embarrassed, but it was also true that quite a lot of time had passed.

"I agree with His Highness. It's been an hour."

There was nothing for Iberin to do but nod, looking disappointed.

"Has it been that long already?"

"Yes. So let's head inside and keep talking."

"Oh, should we?"

"…No. Just rest, really."

"Let's go!"

The staff were simply happy.

This was a Lecashe known throughout the empire as monstrous, as cursed, a house even its own staff had once thought of with fear — but not anymore.

---

She must've drifted off while listening to stories from her bed.

When she opened her eyes, there was no one beside her except a sleeping Ether. It was apparently quite late — the outside was pitch dark.

"Mmh…"

Still, she'd fallen asleep early in the afternoon, so it didn't feel like more sleep was coming. She pushed herself up.

She had no idea when Ether had crept in beside her — she kissed his cheek and carefully tucked the blanket around him.

Click.

Stepping out of the room, she found that, unlike the capital where countless lights stayed on through the night, the Lecashe territory sat under a deep, dense darkness. It hit Iberin properly then.

"I really am back."

That she'd come home.

She stood vacantly looking outside, then thought she might step out for a bit and started down the hallway when she heard a steady tap-tap-tap.

"What's that?"

She thought she'd misheard, but when she moved toward the room at the end of the corner, the sound grew louder.

She'd been told no one used this room.

She stretched out a careful hand to open the door, but it was locked and wouldn't budge.

At that, the knocking inside grew louder.

There was someone in there.

"Hello…?"

Just as she was about to ask who was inside, Rotte appeared from down the corridor with a lamp in hand.

"My lady!"

"Oh, Rotte."

"What are you doing out here?"

"It seemed like someone was in here…"

"No one uses this room. It's a storage room."

"…But there was a sound."

Rotte's face froze for an instant.

What's this?

A nameless wrongness settled over Iberin.

"Is there something in here?"

"…"

Rotte said nothing.

The look on her face said there was something, but she seemed to be hesitating to say what.

"What is it?"

"…Hh, well…"

In the end, after a long stretch of hesitation, Rotte couldn't bring herself to speak.

"Let's head inside first, my lady."

"…All right."

It didn't seem to be a small matter.

What on earth was in there?

---

The next day,

Iberin was standing in front of that same room — the one that had made the noise.

Today, there wasn't a sound to be heard.

A ghost, maybe?

She wasn't the type to believe in that sort of thing, but this was a fantasy world, so something like that felt weirdly possible, and a chill prickled down her arms.

"Mommy?"

"Ether."

"What're you doing here? The butler's looking for you."

"The butler?"

"Yes, it's time to eat."

"Ah. All right."

She took Ether's hand firmly in hers and headed down to the dining room, where Lyssel was already waiting. She had no idea when he'd come down.

Beside him was Rotte, with a dark look on her face.

Iberin held Rotte's gaze for a moment, then sat Ether down and asked,

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. And you, Iberin?"

"I did. Your Highness, can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"That room at the end of the hallway."

Lyssel's hand, in the middle of picking up a knife, went still.

"…So there really is something there. You know about it too, Your Highness."

"What's there?"

Ether alone seemed clueless, blinking around at them.

"I'm sorry."

Lyssel led with an apology.

"What? Sorry for what, all of a sudden?"

Iberin was thrown.

She'd only asked what was in that room — was that something to apologize for?

"…I wanted to make you better, Iberin."

"?"

"So I had someone kidnapped."