Chapter 35: Princess Mia...Enjoys a Bath of Supreme Bliss(?)

“Phew...”

After returning to Saint-Noel, the first thing Mia did was, of course, take a nice long bath. For her sake, it should be noted that she hadn’t forgotten about Citrina. The boys took it upon themselves to organize a search party and, seeing her grimy state, the three gentlemen kindly advised her to enjoy a good soak and get some rest. Military deployment and command were far outside of Mia’s limited field of expertise, so even if she stayed around, she’d just get in the way. It was better for her to let them handle all the work. Which she was more than glad to do.

Before making a beeline for the bath, she’d actually asked Bel to join her, but the younger girl had been so worried about Citrina that she’d decided to tag along with the boys. By now, they were probably together in a room with Rafina, discussing all sorts of serious things. Which made Mia all the more glad that she was elsewhere. As she walked into the bath chamber, a cloud of vapor enveloped her.

“Aaah... Nothing relaxes a girl like the warmth of a bath— Hm?”

She frowned as a scent entered her nose. It was coming from the bath, and it smelled nice.

“This...smells like princess roses? Mmm, it’s very pleasant. But where is it coming from? Did someone put in some bath salt?”

At this point, Mia’s brain had already clocked out for the day. After surviving a long night of death-defying encounters, she’d fully entered epilogue mode, leaving her danger sensors entirely unmanned. Which was too bad for her, because had she left even a skeleton crew on the bridge, they would have reminded her where exactly princess roses were grown in Saint-Noel, and what it would mean for her to meet the caretaker of that secret garden alone right now. She should have realized these things, but alas...her dulled senses pushed her thoughts in a different direction.

“Bath salt... That reminds me, Rina gave me some once, didn’t she...”

Memories resurfaced of how the kindhearted girl had, seeing Mia weary after riding practice, offered her a special blend of fatigue-relieving salts. Not long ago, that girl had used the same smoke-producing herbs to get her out of a desperate situation. Citrina had undoubtedly saved her life. She owed her a great deal.

“Which means...Barbara is probably the main villain in this whole thing, and Rina was acting under compulsion. Then, at the last second, she betrayed Barbara to save me. That must be what happened.”

Attempting to infer the circumstances that led to this incident, Mia concluded that Citrina, having realized what Barbara was trying to do, must have asked Chloe in advance to give her some smoke-producing bath salt, which she had held on to in case of emergencies.

“This is no small debt. I have to repay her. And to do that, I have to save her first. If not for myself, then for Bel.”

Citrina was her dear granddaughter’s friend. That was reason enough for Mia to yearn for her rescue.

“This...will not be easy,” she murmured as she began her pre-bath cleansing ritual.

Normally, Anne would be standing by, ready to help at a moment’s notice. Right now though, she was off procuring a change of clothes from their room, leaving Mia alone in the bath chamber. As she worked up a good lather with the soap and started rubbing it over herself, she suddenly noticed something.

“...My, how strange. My arms seem a little jigglier than they should be.”

A quick review of recent events produced snapshots of the enemy rider effortlessly catching up to her and Kuolan, followed by a montage of her living in the moment phase and the diet it had entailed.

“...I’m probably just imagining things. Me? Jiggly? Nonsense. I’m not jiggly. I can’t be jiggly. I’m physically incapable of becoming jiggly!”

Her excessive fixation on the word distracted her from a more important observation. The way her mind quickly replayed recent memories, starting with those of Citrina, followed by riding Kuolan, then shifting to the decadent glory of her moment-living days... It was ominously similar to how impending death would cause one’s life to flash before their eyes. Devoid of this insight, she remained ignorant of the fact that her subconscious was warning her of severe and imminent danger.

Just as she finished rinsing the shampoo out of her hair and was taking a moment to bask in the sensation of cleanliness, the door to the chamber abruptly slid open. Hearing the noise, she glanced over, figuring Anne had come back. In her unguarded state, she was not ready for the sight that greeted her. Walking in was not Anne, but...

“Gosh, Mia. Good to see you.”

A polite smile rested upon the face of none other than Rafina Orca Belluga!

“Ah, good to see you too, Miss Rafina.”

In fact, Mia was so unready that she entirely failed to mount any sort of response, fight-or-flight or otherwise. Even her primal survival instincts had taken leave of her.

She must have been terribly busy with the ceremony and everything. Then, she probably had to deal with Abel and the others asking for a search party to be put together... Phew, it’s not easy to be the daughter of Duke Belluga, is it?

As Rafina began washing her hair, Mia stepped into the pool. As she lowered herself into the water the lovely fragrance filled her nose, making the sensation doubly pleasurable.

“Ooof...”

With her trademark old man noise, she sighed as she stretched out her limbs.

Aaaah... It feels so good. So indescribably good. I can feel all the stiffness in my joints melting away... Truly, nothing beats a good bath!

As she savored the moment, Rafina spoke.

“So? How do you like my special bath salt blend?”

“Oh, it’s marvelous. Did you make this yourself?”

“I did,” Rafina said with a giggle. “It works wonders on fatigue. Just pulls the exhaustion right out of you...”

For some reason, her voice caused a chill to shoot up Mia’s spine. It was an eerie experience. She was steeped in bath water. She could feel the heat enveloping her body. Still, she couldn’t help but shiver.

What in the moons was that?

Before she could think any further, Rafina continued.

“After all, you seem so exhausted today. So I made this blend specially for you. I thought you’d appreciate it.” She turned as she finished washing her hair and looked straight at Mia. “I heard that you...had a very exciting day off the island. Something about a death-defying adventure, I believe?”

A slow, humorless smile crept across her lips, causing Mia to shudder again.

W-Wait... I-Is she...angry?

At long last, the implications of her current situation dawned on her. She was alone in the bathhouse with an inexplicably angry Rafina. In other words, she was in deep doo-doo!

Rafina finished washing her body and rose. With measured steps, she walked toward the pool with the aura of a lion baring its teeth.

Eeeek! She is! She’s definitely angry! Very very angry!

That thought was enough to kick her brain out of its stupor. It worked with frenzied urgency, trying to figure out why Rafina sounded downright livid. Soon, it produced an answer.

Th-That’s right! The party! Miss Rafina was looking forward to the stew party we’d planned for today!

She remembered how excited Rafina had been when talking about the student council’s stew party, which had been planned for tonight. That clearly wasn’t happening anymore. The loss of the stew party then, Mia deduced, must be the source of Rafina’s fury. Part of her felt like pointing out how it wasn’t her fault the party got canceled, but Mia was well aware that speaking reason to anger was futile.

Granted, I don’t blame her for getting so angry. Losing your cool because a stew party fell through is totally understandable. They’re delicious, after all, thought Mia. Hm, this also suggests that Miss Rafina is probably a closet gastronome like me!

She snuck a glance at Rafina’s middle...and gasped! For Rafina’s stomach was perfectly flat!

That makes no sense... If she’s as into food as I am, then there’s no way she’d be...

Mia gave her own sides a pinch. She shook her head, then heaved a sigh laden with all the injustices of the world.

Never mind that though. She pulled her mind back from its digression. I’ve made a terrible mistake. This was no time to be soaking in the bath. I should have gone with everyone to apologize to Miss Rafina before doing anything else!

It was too late to remedy that lapse in judgment though. Worse yet, she was unlucky enough to have run into Rafina in a place where they’d be alone.

No... Not unlucky. This was planned. She said so herself. The bath salt is hers. In other words, this was her trap, and I walked right into— Yeep!

The sound of a small splash made her jump. Nervously, she looked in its direction to find Rafina lowering herself into the water.

“Phew... You’re right. It’s a pleasant smell. Very...calming. For the mind.”

Rafina sighed quietly and stretched.

D-Doesn’t that mean she’s so furious that she needs aromatherapy to keep herself in check?

Mia began producing splashing sounds of her own, though hers were from her uncontrollable shudders of fear.

“W-Well then, I think it’s time for me to go...”

She promptly attempted to escape. Whatever the consequences, it couldn’t be worse than being stuck here alone with an angry Rafina.

“Mia? A little early to be leaving, isn’t it? Won’t you stay a little longer?”

A slender hand rose from the water and wrapped itself around Mia’s wrist. A quiet giggle followed.

“Isn’t it fun bathing with a friend? What’s the rush? Or am I...”

Rafina abruptly swiveled to face Mia. With widened eyes, she looked up at her and asked, “Or am I not your friend, Mia?”

Her smile had vanished. Her gaze was fixed in what could only be described as an intense glare.

“O-O-Of course you are, Miss Rafina. You’re my dear friend.”

Mia hastily sat back down in the pool. Sweat entirely unrelated to the heat in the room began rolling down her back.

“Am I? Well, you could have fooled me... I thought for sure you’d rescinded your friendship...” Rafina said with a curious hand-cheek head-tilt gesture.

“A-Absolutely not!” Mia asserted vehemently. “You’re my friend, Miss Rafina! A very important friend!”

“Then why... Why did you walk into danger all by yourself...without saying a word to me?”

That was when Mia noticed the unmistakable shimmer of tears in Rafina’s eyes.

“Eh? U-Uh... Miss Rafina?”

“You said I shouldn’t hold onto everything. You were the one who told me to share my burdens. But when it’s your turn, you just... How could you... Do you know how worried I was?”

Rafina’s voice trembled with emotion.

Mia’s brain trembled with confusion.

When had she ever told Rafina to share her burdens? If Rafina was handling everything and doing a good job of it, then by the moons, Mia would much rather have her keep it up so she could slack off. This, however, was a question she kept to herself. With her danger sensors in working order again, she recognized that voicing it would inevitably lead to a “me and my stupid mouth” situation.

O-Okay, I have no idea what’s going on, but I should just go with what she’s saying for now. That should be safe. It does seem like she was genuinely worried about me, after all.

She nodded along, adding, “I do feel very sorry about this turn of events. Though I had very little choice in the matter, it’s true that I made you worry...”

Silence ensued. She held her breath under Rafina’s withering gaze. Eventually, Rafina shook her head.

“I know... Of course I do. It’s not your fault. You had no choice but to go alone...to save Miss Bel. Still, I wish you’d said something. Anything. I knew you were deeply troubled lately, but there was nothing I could do to help. I felt so powerless. It was terrible, and I never want to feel like that again,” she said as she breathed out what seemed like a lifetime’s worth of frustration.

“Miss Rafina...”

Mia couldn’t help but be touched by this candid outpouring of emotion. It gladdened her to know how deeply Rafina cared about her.

“I heard a bit of the story from Bel. I can only imagine how you felt when you learned that people were plotting an attempt on your life. You must have been beside yourself with anxiety.”

“Oh, I was. It was terrible. I’m not sure how I coped, honestly...”

Finally, someone understood how she’d felt these past few days! So glad was she to have found a sympathetic ear that she started tearing up. However...

“And you couldn’t tell anyone about it either, could you? For Miss Citrina’s sake. For the chance to bring her back from the brink.”

“...Hm?”

...The conversation suddenly took an odd turn.

Bring her back from the brink? What in the moons is she talking about?

Undeterred by Mia’s look of confusion, Rafina kept going.

“Using those bath salts that produce smoke in this pool was your way of showing Miss Citrina another path she could take. You left a door of opportunity open for her. There was no guarantee whether she could pull it off successfully, but that wasn’t the point. What you wanted to do was give her a chance to repent. And that’s why you let the assassination plot play out, going so far as to brave the risk of death yourself.”

“...Huh?”

Mia’s confusion deepened. Rafina’s expression, meanwhile, grew wistful.

“You’re a good person, Mia. The way you approach others with such kindness, and your willingness to risk your life to help them... They’re virtues of the highest order. And it makes me all the more proud to be your friend... But it still hurts. It hurts to know that you left without saying a word to me. That I let you do so. I know I probably couldn’t have done much even if you came to me for help, but I still wish you would have...” said Rafina, her voice growing steadily softer. “And that’s why...you can forget I ever said any of this. I’m sorry. It’s nothing more than the silly grumblings of a silly girl. I’m glad you’re back safe, Mia. That’s enough for me.”

“Miss Rafina...”

Mia regarded this outpouring of candidness from her friend, and let out a long breath. Of relief, that is!

Oh, thank the moons! It looks like she’s not actually angry!

“But I won’t give up, Mia. I’ll keep improving. Until I become the kind of person you’d want to seek advice from. And the kind of person...who’s worthy of giving you that advice.”

Rafina smiled. It was a tender smile, but for some reason, it filled Mia with a vague sense of dread. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it felt like a grave misunderstanding had gone unexamined. The kind of misunderstanding that heaved oodles of raised expectations upon her. Her look of concern prompted Rafina to give her a reassuring nod.

“Just leave the rest to us. All you need to think about today, Mia, is getting plenty of rest. Monica is handling matters right now, so there’s no need to worry.”

“I-I see. Well, I suppose I’ll just go do that then...”

Given the chance to shut her brain off, Mia promptly did so. Whatever the case, she’d survived, and she was now safe and sound.

It’s not like losing sleep over it will change much anyway.

And lose sleep she did not, for after climbing out of the pool, she retreated to her quarters and crawled into bed where, aided by the lingering heat of the bath radiating from her body, she slept like a rock for an entire day.

...Which was way too much sleep, but anyway.