Chapter 17: Princess Mia Is a Sheep in Wolf’s— Nay, Horse’s Clothing!

“Phew... I think that’s the last of them.”

Mia gave the flocculent pile of hay one final slap with her giant pitchfork. It bounced back a little, but remained a passably presentable pile.

Almost seven whole days had passed since she began getting up early and heading straight over to Kayou in the morning. At first, she’d only planned to show up on the first day, then return to getting plenty of beauty sleep, but a strange phenomenon kept her coming back. For some reason, after taking care of Kayou the first time, Kuolan was a lot easier to ride.

As an experiment, she’d repeated the process on the following day, tending to Kayou before heading over to Kuolan. Again, her steed had—relatively, at least—behaved in an obedient fashion, and she’d again finished the session without a mucous makeover.

“What in the moons is going on?”

So she put on her detective hat. Then, she gobbled up some sweets. She chewed and thought, and thought and chewed, and chewed and chewed... Finally, she arrived at a conclusion!

“Hah, I see what’s going on now. Basically...” She spun toward some invisible audience, eyes opening with dramatic flair. “Kayou is the boss horse!”

This conclusion was further supported by her observation that Kayou displayed a stately elegance that Kuolan did not possess. Nor, in fact, did any of the other horses. Kayou seemed a veritable queen among her kind. Proud and exuding an aura of regality, it was truly a horse among horses!

“Which must mean...Kuolan’s scared! He’s behaving himself because he realized his boss is around! Oho ho, for all his attitude, he’s clearly just a lowly flunky in the moonhare hierarchy.”

The logic lined up with her own experiences as well. Real bosses rarely adopted excessively bossy attitudes; oftentimes, it was actually the small fry who went around acting big and important. In the previous timeline, she’d seen no shortage of ostensibly high and mighty nobles whose swagger immediately evaporated in her presence, only to be replaced by servile pandering. The situation with the horses was the exact same dynamic.

“I bet Kayou’s scent rubbed off on me when I was taking care of her. Then, when I went to Kuolan, he caught a whiff of his boss and got scared.”

It all made so much sense to her. In fact, she even empathized with Kuolan, for she felt the exact same way in front of Rafina or Sion. There existed certain beings in this world that under no circumstances should ever be defied. This was a cosmic truth, and one that seemed to apply to both humans and horses. In which case...

“I’d be a total fool not to take advantage of this!”

Upon that realization, Mia resolved to exploit the authority of a greater being. She was going to be a sheep in wolf’s— Nay, horse’s clothing! From that day forward, she religiously kept to her schedule, going to Kayou first thing in the morning. In order to cloak herself in as much of Kayou’s scent as possible, she worked vigorously, washing the horse’s body, drying it off, and—with Malong’s guidance—even began combing its hair.

“Hmm... Something about this hair...feels kind of familiar. It’s so nice. I wonder...” she’d murmured to herself when examining it closely for the first time.

On the eighth day, Mia arrived at the stable as usual.

“Good afternoon, Kayou, how are you doing?”

Kayou returned her greeting by quietly lifting its head. The motion was slow. Almost too slow. She frowned.

“Oh? You don’t look quite right... Hm, I should probably ask Malong to take a look at you later,” she said as she began her routine cleaning of the stable.

By now, she was showing up in proper work gear. She’d wrapped a cloth around her head and worn clothes that she didn’t mind getting dirty. With her long-sleeved shirt and rugged trousers, she worked with practiced efficiency, both looking and feeling the part of a seasoned stable cleaner. No, more like a seasoned horse specialist. That’s how she felt, anyway.

“Mmm hm hm, I don’t know what it is about this kind of work, but it’s sort of nice. Feels good to do.”

She ate a lot and rode a lot. Then ate a lot and worked a lot. Then ate a lot and slept a lot. One could say she’d reached the zenith of healthy lifestyles. Of course, one could also say she was living on a knife’s edge, for any zenith was also a precipice, upon which the slightest decrease in exercise would send her plunging down the chasm of F.A.T. Regardless, she finished cleaning the stall, took a step back to examine her work, and felt an odd sense of accomplishment. A smile touched the corners of her mouth.

“Well, they do say that in Perujin, the royalty head down into the fields with their people to personally lead the harvest, and the Rudolvons apparently do the same. I think I finally understand why. There’s something satisfying about a good day’s sweat for a good day’s work,” she said before moving onto the next stall, glistening beads of honest effort adorning her brow.

“Hi, Miss Mia.”

“I hope we’re not intruding on anything, Your Highness.”

A pair of young, adorable voices sounded at the door.

“My, Bel. And, uh, Rina. What are you doing here? Oh, are you here for a tour?” asked Mia, remembering the exchange in the communal bath the other day. “I do remember you saying you’re interested in horses.”

“Yes, we were hoping we could be shown around,” Citrina said with a sweet smile.

Both of the girls were in their school uniforms which, in this case, screamed “tourist.” They were definitely not suitable for wearing into the stable. Seeing this, Mia let out a cocky hmph and grinned.

Well, as the resident specialist, I guess I’d better show these newbies what horses are all about.

“Wow, grand— Miss Mia, this horse is so beautiful,” said Bel as she walked toward Kayou.

“Absolutely. The academy keeps quite a few horses, but that one is probably the most beautiful of them all.”

Unlike a certain someone! Mia added inwardly. Stupid Kuolan...

“Once I’m done cleaning, you can come and watch me ride too,” said Mia.

“Really? Thank you! Hee hee. See, Rina? I told you. Miss Mia is an amazing person. She has mastered the art of rid— Huh?” Bel paused before continuing in a concerned tone. “Miss Mia, I think there’s something wrong with this horse. It looks like...it’s hurting somewhere...”

“...Eh?”

And so, Mia was presented with an unprecedented dilemma.