Chapter Five: Summer Flower Forecast

 

 

 

Chapter Five: Summer Flower Forecast

 

DURING the period in which Ernest was otherwise occupied, Yuuri received a letter. More accurately, the letter was actually addressed to her deceased grandparents, Leon and Hana.

“Walt Aldridge? …Of the Aldridge family?”

The Aldridges were merchants, just like the Watohs. They went back at least as far as Yuuri’s great-grandfather.

So they should have been aware of her grandparents’ passing. She couldn’t figure out why they would be sending a letter to them now.

At a loss, Yuuri broke the seal and read the letter.

 

My dearest Leon and Hana,

The cotton roses have begun to bloom in our garden once more. We hope you will bring that granddaughter of yours and pay us a visit.

 

Those two sentences brought back a flurry of memories of being at the Aldridges’ home.

The man who had sent the letter, Walt Aldridge, was an elderly gentleman who was a few years older than her grandparents. Yuuri could see him clearly in her mind, inviting her into the garden he mentioned and offering her sweets.

She had called him “Grampa Aldridge”.

“The cotton rose…Grandmother’s favorite… The flower she used to say looked just like me.”

Going by what she remembered, it was not Walt, but his son, the current head of the family, who had attended her grandparents’ funeral. Walt himself was too frail by then to attend. But if old age had robbed him of the ability to remember her grandparents were dead, should she really correct him?

Yuuri grew tired of turning the question over in her mind and decided she would ask Simon what he thought. Perhaps he or their father could reach out to the Aldridge family.

❦❦❦

SEVERAL days later, Yuuri and Simon paid the Aldridges a visit. Walt Aldridge was almost completely bedridden, but he had insisted on seeing the granddaughter of his dear old friends, and so his son Tracey had arranged for them to visit. His son said his mind had deteriorated so much that he had forgotten ever sending the letter.

“Yesterday he was completely aware that Master Leon and Miss Hana had passed. He still insisted on seeing you, Yuuri. …I suppose time comes for all of us. He even treats his own family with suspicion, so I ask you to forgive him for anything he says that is less than kind,” Tracey explained with a smile.

Depending on how Walt was feeling, some days he even forgot his own son’s face.

“This morning, when I told him you were coming by, he insisted on getting out of bed and waiting in the sunroom. I told him you wouldn’t be here for hours, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Tracey finally escorted them to the sunroom. The southern-facing wall was entirely glass, but it was covered with lace curtains. Thus, the light that filled the room was still gentle enough that even Yuuri’s eyes could handle it. A man in a wheelchair sat next to a table, a wide grin stretched across his face. He was thinner and more wrinkled than she remembered.

“Grampa Aldridge, it’s been so long…”

“Miss Hana! What good fortune that today is a cloudy day! I know how you hate bright light.”

“Grampa?”

It took every ounce of strength Walt had to push himself up from his wheelchair. He swayed as he tried to stand. Yuuri and Simon rushed over to him, hastening to support him.

Seeing Hana—or rather, Yuuri—at his side put Walt’s mind at ease and he slowly returned to his seat, gazing up at the young woman.

“Miss Hana, you’re as lovely as ever.”

Yuuri’s grandparents brought her over often as a child, so Walt should have still had memories of an aging Hana together with her granddaughter. However, the image of her grandmother in her younger days likely held a larger place in the man’s heart. Yuuri smiled awkwardly, not wanting to upset him.

“Father, this is not Miss Hana, but her granddaughter, Yuuri,” Tracey corrected his father, unable to let him continue offending the lady.

Walt blinked several times, tilted his head, and then looked at his son, then to Yuuri, and back again.

“…Ah yes, that’s right. Miss Hana and Leon are gone. I’m terribly sorry. I can’t seem to remember anything anymore. You are indeed Yuuri and…Saizoh, was it?”

“I’m Simon, Master Walt. Saizoh was our great-grandfather’s name.”

“Simon, is it? You resemble a young Leon in a way. I can see it in your eyebrows. Can’t you?”

Simon was always told he looked like his mother. Still, he had inherited some traits from his father’s side of the family.

Walt’s eyes were gentle as he talked about how Simon looked like Leon.

“Master Walt, were you close to our grandfather?”

Both Yuuri and Simon were certain that the one Walt was close to was their grandmother. After all, their grandfather had been a gardener, an unlikely friend for the son of a noble family like the Aldridges.

“Yes, of course. When I was nineteen, I worked and lived with the Watohs. However, my brother passed away and I was forced to return home, but still, we spent many afternoons puttering about the garden, just the three of us.”

On Walt’s command, Tracey opened the large glass windows in the sunroom. Just beyond them was a slope that led down into the garden. Yuuri was certain the lace curtains being drawn on a cloudy day was out of consideration for her. She wasn’t sure how much Walt knew of her condition, but it was clear he had some knowledge.

“Shall I assist you out, Master Walt?” Simon asked, already making his way behind the chair and slowly starting to push Walt.

“Do you need a parasol?” Walt asked her.

“No, I’m all right. The sun’s not nearly as bright today.”

Yuuri walked alongside Simon as he pushed the wheelchair. Walt guided them to the same garden where the cotton roses from his letter were in bloom. The flowers were pink or white on the outside, and deep scarlet in the center. Many of the myriad of blooms were larger than Yuuri’s palms.

The wheelchair moved along at an even pace, its wheels clattering against the stone walkway.

“Ahh, this takes me back. The scent of the soil and the grass. Oh, seeing you two makes me feel young again. I remember how Miss Hana and Leon would quarrel over every little thing… Since I was older, they never quarreled with me. I enjoyed watching them carry on.”

“Grandmother and Grandfather did? That’s hard to imagine. They always got on so well.”

This man clearly knew a side of their grandparents that Yuuri and Simon had never seen. In Yuuri’s memories, the married couple never fought. They had always been so close and loving, but it sounded like things were different when they were younger.

“The two of them fought because they were so close. As the adult, I could only watch over them. I cared deeply for both of them, even after they eloped…”

“Eloped? Our grandparents eloped?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing.”

As much of a shock as it was for Simon, it was an even bigger shock for Yuuri, who had lived with them for so long.

“They never told you? Well, perhaps ‘eloped’ was too strong a word. After all, Leon was ultimately granted the Watoh name.” Walt extended a hand and gently stroked a pink cotton rose. “I was an adult at the time, and more like a guardian than a potential rival for Miss Hana’s affections…”

“…A rival?”

“As I’ve gotten on in years, I wonder what life would have been like if I’d gone down a different path. Would I have a happy family with her? Those feelings have never waned. But I suppose it’s all right to dream, don’t you think? There’s so much I wish I could ask Miss Hana.”

“That you wanted to ask my grandmother?”

Walt nodded sadly. No matter how badly he wanted an answer nor how Yuuri might try to give it to him, only her grandmother could truly give him what he sought.

Still the elderly gentleman gazed wistfully at the pink cotton roses in wont of an answer.

❦❦❦

HANA arrived in Hylant from Hinomoto when she was seven. Her father was a trader and her mother a doctor specializing in herbal medicine.

Hana’s father bought Xingkaese medicine to sell in Hinomoto, and her parents were brought together through their work.

When her father finally decided to expand his trading operation westward, beyond Hinomoto and Xingka, to a land called Hylant, Hana had no idea what lay ahead.

Their first year in Hylant, the family rented a home down by the pier. By their third year, they had amassed enough wealth to establish a manor in the city’s wealthiest residential district. Ever since she could remember, Hana’s parents were always busy, but she believed they did it all out of love for her. Once they moved into that enormous mansion, her parents became even more distant.

The mansion was so big, she could rarely tell when one of her parents came home from work. The lessons once given to her by her mother were now handled by a private tutor.

Though their life had become more luxurious, it also felt lonelier somehow. The house might have changed, but those feelings of loneliness remained. Hana wondered when, if ever, she would grow accustomed to their new home.

Hana found herself pondering that very question one early morning when she was ten, as she strolled through their beautiful garden. Both she and her father were the descendants of pureblood vampires. While bright sunlight didn’t bring them to their knees in pain, it was uncomfortable for them.

Adults could push through such things if they had to, but as a child, Hana was less inclined to do so. When she did go for walks, it was on cloudy days or in the evenings.

After about three days in the mansion, she remembered where just about everything was. But she couldn’t seem to remember the faces or names of the people who worked there.

That day, she came across a boy around the same age as her. His hair and eyes reminded her of cinnamon, and the sharp angle of his eyebrows left the deepest impression on her. He wore an old shirt made out of hemp. It was a bit big on him, so the sleeves were rolled up multiple times. The vest and pants had been patched numerous times and were no better a fit than the shirt.

From the looks of his clothes and the fact that he was picking up leaves, Hana guessed he must be some sort of servant.

“Who are you?” Hana asked, happy to finally meet someone her age around the manor.

“Whoa!”

The boy had been so invested in his work, that he hadn’t even noticed Hana until she called out to him. The shock caused him to fall back on his bottom.

But it wasn’t the shock of her calling out to him. It was her appearance.

Her hair and eyes were an ebony that was exceedingly rare in this country. Her skin and the height of her nose made her look completely different from any Hylantian girl he had ever seen.

“Ah, I’m so sorry. I was just working here in the garden. Are ya the mistress of this manor?”

The boy was still clumsy with formal speech. Even Hana had a better handle on it than he did. Hana spoke less like someone born abroad and more like someone from a local region with a thick accent.

“I’m Hana Watoh. Nice to meet you. How old are you? What’s your name?”

“I’m Leon. I’m, uh…twelve.” The boy stood up, dusted the dirt and leaves off his pants, and introduced himself.

“Twelve? You’re only twelve and you have a job?”

It was Hana’s turn to be surprised. She couldn’t fathom why someone so close in age to her would have to work. Even when they lived near the docks, her family had been wealthy enough to own a house nicer than most.

“Ah, yah, I got a job—I mean, yes miss, I am working. I apprentice under the master gardener here, so I can learn the trade.”

“Okay, well, since I startled you, I’ll give you a hand!”

“Huh? N-No, that’s okay! It’s my job, after all!”

“Why not? You’ll get it done faster. Come on, I want to help!”

To the young Hana, someone offering to lend a hand was always a generous thing. She still had no sense of differences in social status or class.

“It’s fine. I’m all right…but thank you.”

“Aw, but I wanna help. Why can’t I?”

“Because it’s me job! If I let ya help, yer hands and clothes’ll get all dirty and they’ll yell at me!”

The more insistent Hana was, the more annoyed Leon became. He was so upset, his speech was lapsing back into an unrefined drawl.

“Hey! Leon! Why’re you bothering the young lady of the manor? You can forget about lunch!”

A deep voice boomed through the garden. It was the master gardener, Leon’s boss.

Hana looked around and saw the large man charging toward them. He was even larger than the seafaring men Hana had come to Hylant with, his grey hair accenting his sunburnt skin. He was tall, even for the comparably tall Hylantian people, and his size frightened her.

He was a boisterous, imposing man. Terrified, Hana hid behind Leon.

“I’m the one he’s mad at though,” Leon muttered in a voice soft enough so his boss wouldn’t hear. Still, Hana was afraid, and clung to his back, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Boss, the young lady is afraid. Can’t you see? Please stop.”

“Hahaha, I’m so sorry about that, young miss.” He roared with laughter and any hint of being angry with either of them seemed to disappear.

His body and voice might be loud, but it seemed that he was a good person on the inside. Hana finally peeked out from behind Leon’s back.

“Uhm, I’m so sorry. Leon didn’t do anything wrong, so please don’t yell at him.”

“He didn’t, eh? Leon, you’re lucky the young lady of the house is so generous!”

He was a good man. But he was so imposing, Hana found him too intimidating to talk to for long.

Hana still didn’t understand the position she held, that she was actually the one with the most authority among them.

The master gardener tousled Leon’s hair. It appeared to Hana to be a gesture of affection or even platonic love. Leon looked sullen, though he might have just been embarrassed.

“Miss Hana, there you are! Your breakfast is ready!” A familiar voice called from the manor. It was Walt, her father’s personal assistant.

His suit was neatly pressed and his tie perfectly secured in place. Hana had never seen even a strand of his honey-colored hair out of place. Though he was a cool-headed, logical man, he bad always been kind to Hana, like an older brother.

He was only twenty. Hana had heard from her father that he was the second son of a company the Watohs did business with and so was training under him. Even though he had plenty of his own work to do, he often doted on Hana.

“Good morning, Walt. Is it breakfast time already?”

“Yes, your parents are waiting for you.”

Hana silently accepted Walt’s outstretched hand. Despite the fact that Hana was only a child, he always treated her like a lady.

“That’s right!” Hana exclaimed, realizing as they turned to head back to the mansion that she hadn’t said goodbye to the master gardener and his apprentice. “…Leon, Sir, I’m sorry about earlier. See you both later!”

Hana gave a vigorous wave as she made her way to the mansion, and the pair bowed as she passed.

“Did something happen?”

“Uhm, well, I was so excited to find someone else my age here, I asked if I could help, but he got upset with me.”

The master gardener had yelled at Leon, who in turn had gotten angry at Hana, but she still didn’t understand why he was so reluctant to have her help. She told Walt all about what had happened, hoping he could help her understand.

“Haha, so that’s what happened? Miss Hana, do you know why he got upset with you?”

Hana shook her head several times.

“Leon said tending the yard was his job. But I don’t understand why he wouldn’t want me to help him. I thought if I did, it would make him happy because he could finish faster.”

“But it is his job. It’s how he earns his keep. And you, Miss Hana, are actually on the same level as his employers.”

“So I shouldn’t take away someone else’s job?”

“Well, that’s not always the case. For someone in a similar position as he, such as a servant, I think it would be all right for them to help.”

“…But, how is that any different?”

Hana still didn’t understand what Walt was trying to tell her.

“When that boy gets overly busy, other servants may choose to help him. And then, when someone else needs help with their work, he might return the favor. As long as both helper and helpee are on the same level, then it’s beneficial.”

“But I don’t…really have anyone on my level I can help.”

When her family had lived by the pier, Hana often played with the other children in her neighborhood. And though some children teased and bullied her for her appearance, those days still left her with many happy memories.

But ever since moving into this large mansion, her opportunities to leave the property had greatly diminished. Occasionally, she would play with the children of her father’s clients, but as each of them was of a higher social standing, she was forced to show restraint.

“Are you lonely?”

“…Yes. Just a little.”

During her conversation with Walt, Hana figured out what was causing her confusion.

Hana wanted a friend close to her age. She wanted to befriend Leon, but they weren’t of the same social standing, and so she felt lonely once more.

“But I haven’t done anything…so how come I’m better than Leon?”

That was the most difficult thing for Hana to understand. By interrupting Leon’s work, she had been selfish. He was the respectable one; she was merely a useless child. She had been given everything by her parents, with nothing to offer in return.

“You really are something, Miss Hana.”

Her parents, Walt, Leon—everyone here was working hard. Only Hana, special little princess that she was, lacked something to contribute. And meeting Leon was the first time she had ever realized that.

❦❦❦

“…I’M going to plant a medicinal herb garden. So please help me, Leon! My mother thought gardening would be good for me and said you can be my…uhm…assistant?”

Hana was certainly assertive. They were only seeing each other for the second time and she had gone through the trouble of inventing a way for them to spend time together without anyone getting into trouble.

She was wearing a plain sundress, a work apron, and a straw hat. And she had all the tools they would need with her.

“Yes, mistress,” Leon said, nodding, though he looked dissatisfied. Having to look after the young mistress of the house was one thing, but now he was going to miss out on learning pruning from his boss.

Discovering Leon was already working at age twelve set something off within Hana. She wanted to be known for something other than her parents’ wealth and accomplishments. And now those feelings had only grown stronger. When she sat down and thought about who and what she wanted to be when she grew up, she realized she wanted to be a doctor, like her mother. But now her mother was using her knowledge to support her father’s trading business. So Hana thought if she could succeed her mother, she could pick up the slack and become a doctor in her own right.

A child’s mind made everything so simple, but Hana was especially sheltered. She didn’t exactly have any steadfast convictions spurring her to succeed her mother. This was common in sheltered children, often pressed to choose their future from a narrow set of choices placed before them.

Hana was taking the same path as her mother. Her parents were overjoyed upon hearing this. While her mother taught her all about Eastern medicine, Hana studied Xingkaese under a tutor. Hinomotoese medicine was derived from Xingkaese medicine, so learning the language was a necessity.

Immediately after beginning her medical studies, one of Hana’s first practical tasks was to grow medicinal herbs. While it was important for her studies, the main motive was to give her someone her own age to talk to. Walt had hinted at Hana’s worries and loneliness to her parents. And so it came to pass that Leon became Hana’s assistant.

For that first day, Walt, who had plenty of his own work to do, found himself with his sleeves rolled up and in his high boots, attending to Hana. The sight of the man, who was almost always in crisp suits, holding a spade seemed so uncanny, it made her giggle. Walt was so kind, even though he had his own adult matters to attend to; it made Hana wish he really was her brother.

Leon, on the other hand, looked like he had been sucking on a lemon. He found the prospect of babysitting some princess two years his junior annoying. But he of all people should have been grateful to have a girl his age to talk to. For that precious time each day when he helped her tend the herb garden, he didn’t have to worry about his social standing.

Which, ironically, was why he could get away with having a sour look on his face.

“Don’t worry! I can’t handle the midday sun and my tutor comes every afternoon, so I’m not going to keep you here all day. Right, Walt?” Hana said, trying to illicit Walt’s agreement to ease the pout on Leon’s face.

“Indeed. We’re counting on you to watch over the garden when we’re attending to other matters, Leon.”

“Fine, fine. I just think the lady of the house here is going to get bored and give up tending the garden eventually.”

“It’s not about whether it’s boring or not. This is for my future dream. I want to help out around the manor so I can be a doctor like Mother!”

“Mm-hmm…”

Their first step was to till the flower bed and ready it for planting. For Hana, her time with a peer like Leon was precious. Between growing closer to Leon and getting adjusted to her new life, her loneliness began to fade.

She loved the time she spent with her new friend and the young man who was like a brother more than anything else.

❦❦❦

BUT after several months, the herb garden hadn’t grown anywhere near what they had hoped.

The books that held all the information on different seedlings and their characteristics were in Xingkaese. But even after Hana deciphered the books and readied the soil, Xingka and Hylant had different climates, as well as different diseases and insects that gardeners needed to worry about.

The garden was, after all, started by a child, so it should have surprised no one that many of the seeds failed to sprout, young buds withered away, and almost all the plants turned brown and perished.

“The only herb that’s actually growing is the chamomile,” Leon moaned early one morning. As a gardener himself, the fact that a garden he was helping out with was in such dire straits was discouraging.

Seeing him complain one second and work his heart out the next brought smiles to Hana and Walt’s faces.

Little white and yellow flowers had begun sprouting in the flowerbed. Chamomile was a versatile medicinal herb that could be grown in the west or east, so it was the one herb that Leon knew how to grow properly.

Hana leaned close to one of those flowers that she had so painstakingly grown and inhaled its aroma. The books all likened the scent of chamomile to apples. A fresh, sweet aroma tickled her nostrils.

“It’s all right. It’s not a total loss.”

They had cultivated the garden based on what the books said, but still, most had not bloomed. Essentially, they would need to select seeds that were better suited to Hylant’s climate and soil. Hana reassured herself that this was all part of trial and error.

“Leon, Walt, did you know that in Hinomoto, my name actually means ‘flower’?” Hana said as she gazed at the chamomile.

“What a lovely name.”

“Wow. That’s a pretty weird name. So that’s what it means, eh?”

As an adult, Walt was always gentle with how he spoke to Hana. Then there was Leon, who was always anything but. Her name did sound strange when compared to the names of most girls from Hylant.

But he didn’t have to go and say it out loud.

Hana puffed out her cheeks. “Meanie! Why do you always say things like that?!”

Leon merely laughed at Hana’s anger. Maybe he was mean, but she loved seeing his bright smile. In a way, it was how he related to her.

“What flowers do you like, Miss Hana? I’ll be traveling to Xingka with Lord Saizoh in the near future, so I would be happy to buy you some seeds,” Walt offered.

“Really? Hmm, let’s see, my favorite Eastern flowers…would be cherry blossoms, peonies, and chrysanthemums… They’re all beautiful, and I’d love for you both to see them…”

Sitting in the garden reminded Hana of her life back in Hinomoto. They had lived near a lake and, in the spring, cherry blossom petals would flutter down to dance along the water’s surface. She also loved the large blooms of chrysanthemums and peonies.

And the thing she remembered most of all was—

“Oh, yes! Cotton roses, too!”

“Why cotton roses?”

“Because they bloom in summer. I hate summer. But if I have something to look forward to out in the garden, then maybe it’ll make me want to go outside, right? They have huge blooms, so big I could even see them from my window.”

The next day, Walt and Saizoh set out by boat for Xingka.

And two months later, just as he promised, Walt sent Hana some cotton rose seeds.

❦❦❦

LEON and Hana took good care of the little seedlings Walt had sent over. The two of them often got into arguments. Even so, they would forget whatever it was they had been arguing about by the next morning and go back to tending the garden as usual. The days flowed into one another.

The garden that had been a dry patch of brown was now bursting with green. Two cotton roses stretched across the flower bed, three times the size they had been when they had been planted.

“They’re still small, but I think those are buds, don’t you?”

“Yes, definitely. Glad we didn’t fudge it up again.”

“It’s because of all your hard work, Leon. If you become our gardener, you won’t just be knowledgeable about Hylantian plants, but plants from the East, too!”

Hana had written down all she had learned about growing Eastern plants. If they could begin to grow what previously they could only import, it would greatly reduce the cost. Then, it would be easier to spread Eastern medicine to the common people. And if they increased the size of the garden, then Leon could tend that as well. That was Hana’s dream.

“At first, I hated having to babysit you, but I’m a much better writer now, so th-th-th…nks, yeah?” He tried in vain to express his gratitude. His face turned bright red, but he could only manage to mouth a “thank you” without looking Hana in the eye.

Seeing that was enough to keep Hana’s sunny smile on her face the rest of the day.

“I’m glad I came to the city,” he muttered. His regional accent was becoming less noticeable.

The first day they met, Hana had her own thoughts on why Leon might have come to the city or where he came from, but she had not yet dared to ask.

“Did you come because you wanted to be a gardener?”

Anytime she had asked, he would push her away and tell her not to pry. Hana could tell he hated talking about it, so she had made a point not to bring it up.

Hana had already told him all about her family, her tutor, and what life was like back in Hinomoto. But he said nothing about himself. Finally, Hana’s curiosity won out and she had to ask him. It wasn’t mere curiosity or even gentle teasing; she genuinely wanted to get to know him.

“I came here ’cuz a man’s gotta eat,” Leon muttered so nonchalantly he might as well have been talking about a character in a book.

“Gotta eat? What?”

Hana’s understanding of the Hylantian language was far better than that of her Hinomotoese, but she didn’t understand this expression. She’d never heard it before.

“Guess a rich girl from a well-to-do family like yours wouldn’t understand…”

Hana nodded. He was clearly being serious.

“It means I was extremely poor and cast aside by my parents.”

“What…?”

“In the worst-case scenario, some children are sold into slavery to pay off their parents’ debts, so I’m one of the lucky ones. My master is a good man and he pays me a living wage.”

Hana had assumed he had taken on a job at twelve because he was an ambitious boy. And with his strict, but benevolent master, she took it as a given that he wasn’t in a bad place in life.

But that wasn’t the case. He hadn’t chosen this.

“I didn’t know…uhm…I!”

Hana was mortified over her past behavior. She could never have imagined this was why he didn’t want to talk about his family or his past. But it was too late for regrets.

Her eyes overflowed with tears.

“I knew you would cry! That’s why I didn’t want to tell you! I mean, please, stop crying, m’lady!”

“You can’t ever see your parents? I just…”

“It’s not that I can’t, I just don’t want to! So stop crying! Be glad it’s not your family!” His anger at his parents came through in his voice.

He wasn’t angry at Hana, but to her, it felt like he was.

“I’m so sorry for being so insensitive and ignorant! I’m sorry, Leon!”

She had told him so much about her family. She’d had so few chances to leave her manor, as most daughters of well-to-do families did. But her world was so sheltered, it was suffocating. So she dumped everything on Leon: from her dream to follow in her mother’s footsteps to the expensive things Walt and her father bought her to how strict her tutor was. All of it. With no concept of how much it hurt him.

“It didn’t bother me. But I don’t want someone treating me like some little charity case,” he said, wiping away her tears as he spoke. His hands, rugged for someone so young, smelled slightly of soil.

“I really am selfish! I’m not even crying because I feel sorry for you. …I’m crying because I’m embarrassed about how ignorant I was. I don’t want you to hate me…” Hana sniffled.

She wasn’t weeping for Leon’s misfortune. She was crying because she couldn’t imagine being so poor, he had to travel to find enough work to eat. And then when she imagined what he must have thought of her, listening to all her meaningless problems while he was struggling just to survive, the tears wouldn’t stop. Even her reason for crying was childish.

“You don’t want me to hate you, eh?”

He stopped wiping her tears.

“Leon?”

Their eyes met and she realized he was smiling. It was a smile, pure and simple, bereft of his usual teasing and mischief. And it was clear that he didn’t hate her. But she suddenly started to feel nervous. Her cheek was hot under his touch and that heat spread all the way up to her ears.

That embarrassment seemed to be contagious, as Leon’s face began to turn red as well. They hadn’t fought today, but Hana still felt if she looked away, she’d lose this round, so she kept her eyes on his.

“Agh, there’s dirt on your cheek! Sorry, my hands are filthy,” Leon exclaimed, yanking his hand away. But even as he did, the scent of the soil lingered. Her face was a canvas of soil and tears.

“…It’ll come off when I wash up. I like the smell of soil.”

Leon always smelled like soil.

Things were awkward between them the whole time they worked in the garden that day. This time, it wasn’t because of some fight they’d had. They both remained redder than the flowers they tended—for quite some time. And even thereafter, the air between them was different.

It wasn’t until Walt came to tell Hana that breakfast was ready that she started to feel normal again.

❦❦❦

HANA was sixteen.

She and Leon were growing further apart with each passing day. He had become very conscious of the difference in their social status, and though Hana insisted it didn’t matter to her, he only spoke to her when necessary, being sure to speak formally when he did.

He had stopped teasing her altogether. And he never tried to make her laugh the way he once had. It was only then Hana realized just how much she loved him.

She had been stuck inside for several days. But even though she awoke struggling to breathe, Hana popped out of bed and threw open her curtains so she could look out at the garden.

The cotton roses were in bloom again this year. And standing right next to them was Leon.

“Leon!”

“Yes? What is it, m’lady?”

“The cotton roses are in bloom! I’d like to put some in my room.”

“Very well. Please give me a moment,” Leon said and looked away immediately after.

Hana’s heart thundered in her chest. She was the one still acting like a child, not Leon. Her chest was in excruciating pain. And she was so thirsty.

No! Not Leon…

Her father had told her how the blood of vampires coursed through the veins of the Watoh family. And of how they were destined to burden the one they loved most with their secret as they partook of their blood.

Hana was forbidden from marrying the one person she truly loved, so at sixteen, she still had no fiancé.

Leon would not be able to marry Hana. As she had no siblings, it was her responsibility to marry someone with strong business acumen who might become the heir to the Watoh Company. Leon was working-class and could only read and write enough to get by. He certainly didn’t speak any foreign languages.

No matter how hard he worked, he would not be able to succeed the Watoh name.

Hana, clever as she was, had long since figured out why her father had brought Walt to train under him. He had hoped that, over time, Hana would fall for Walt on her own. And she wanted nothing more than to please her father.

The truth was, she did love Walt. But it was in the platonic way a sister would love a brother.

Leon was the one she had romantic feelings for.

She loved everything about him, from his rugged hands to his suntanned skin to the earthy scent that followed him everywhere.

But if they were all bonded to their first love or forced to face death, vampires would’ve gone extinct by now. Hearts can change. She didn’t need to drink blood just yet. She still had time.

In which case, it was probably better for her not to see him, but the harder she tried to come up with a reason to avoid him, the more she wanted to see Leon. Love was a wretched disease.

Hana sat down on a bench to watch Leon, who had grown into a young man in his own right. She felt like she only ever saw him from the back nowadays, and the thought made her chest hurt.

“Ouch…”

Leon let out a soft groan. He had either pricked himself on a thorn or cut himself with the clippers.

In an instant, Hana’s vision went red. She could no longer control her body and was quickly losing the ability to form a rational thought.

The sound of her parasol hitting the ground seemed so far away.

“Are you all right, Miss?”

“Miss Hana! Miss Hana!”

Please stay away—! She wanted to scream those words, but found she couldn’t speak. The last thing she remembered was Leon, and then Walt, charging in from afar, calling out to her. Then, the scent of the earth, and the grass. And then the scent of blood, strong enough to overpower both.

❦❦❦

HANA awoke in her bed.

“Did I…pass out?”

It had been because of Leon. She had smelled his blood and collapsed. She remembered it clearly now.

“That was close. I almost…”

If she drank his blood, she could never turn back. If she hadn’t lost consciousness, she would have reached the point of no return.

Oddly enough, she wasn’t thirsty anymore. Her head felt so much clearer now that she thought hours must’ve passed since she collapsed. She patted her chest, proud that she had overcome her urges.

She rang the bell on her bedside table and a servant appeared. The servant called for her parents.

Saizoh asked her if she was still thirsty and she responded, “No, not at all.”

This was the truth. Her thirst was completely gone. However, Hana was avoiding what her father was really asking: “have you fallen so in love with someone, you crave their blood?” In other words, was she maturing into an adult vampire?

Hana understood that it was serious, a matter of life and death even, but she couldn’t tell her father the truth. She knew that, no matter how much she loved Leon, her parents would never approve.

After her parents left the room, Hana allowed her mind to wander. A servant entered with a bouquet of flowers.

“Miss, did you ask the gardener to prepare this bouquet for you?”

The flowers were scarcely worthy of being called a bouquet. They were wrapped in simple white paper and bound with a hemp cord.

Before she had collapsed, Hana had asked Leon to set aside some cotton roses for her. And so he had.

“Where shall I put them?”

“Just get me a vase, please. These flowers are special, so I’d like to arrange them myself.”

“That sounds like a lovely idea, Miss.”

The servant brought Hana the vase, some water, and scissors before leaving her. Hana reached for the hemp cord, intending to set right to work on arranging the flowers.

“Huh…?”

As she removed the paper wrapped around the flowers, another piece of paper slipped out. Hana set the flowers down and picked up the paper.

I’ve ben woryed.

If u’re feeling beter, open the windou and let me see that u’re doing ok.

The writing on the crumpled page was sloppy. The sentences were brief, with multiple misspelled words. It was definitely from Leon.

After Hana diligently arranged each cotton rose Leon gave her, she took out a pen and sheet of paper and replied to his note.

I’m going to come see you before bed tonight. Wait for me by the herb garden.

She opened the window of her second-floor bedroom and looked for Leon. His white shirt swept in and out view beyond the branches of a large maple tree. He had been worried about Hana, and spotted her immediately. She gave a wave and Leon made his way back to the house. He moved his lips without using his voice:

Are you okay?

Hana read his exaggerated lip movements and gave a big nod in return. The midday summer sun was far too bright. As she gazed down on Leon through half-lidded eyes, the world around him appeared to be twinkling. She wanted to be with him, day or night, without being afraid of reproach.

What she was doing was wrong.

Nothing would come of it. But still, she folded her reply and tossed it out the window. The wind carried it along and dropped it near Leon, where he picked it up. Hana strained to see the look on his face. Her heart was a sea of fear and anxiety, dotted with specks of hope.

Idiot.

She could see his lips whispering those words. She expected nothing less.

❦❦❦

AFTER that, Hana and Leon began meeting in secret at night in the herb garden.

In the beginning, they hadn’t specified a time, but just knew as a matter of course that the other would be waiting there. If it rained, then they would meet the day after. This unspoken rule was how the lovers were able to be together.

They kept up appearances during the day. Leon would only look upon Hana with a sullen expression. But at night, they clung to each other, unleashing every ounce of emotion they had withheld during the day. Leon couldn’t see Hana’s face in the pale moonlight. But thanks to her impeccable night vision, she could see his gentle expression all too well. His words, deeds, expressions; everything about him was kinder at night.

Over the next half a year, Hana had two more episodes, both times leaving her comatose. She was so overcome by thirst that she became unable to move. She was sure that if she were able to drink Leon’s blood, she might come around.

The day after each episode, she would feel fine. Her thirst abated and she found she could move once again.

It was at that point that she learned she just needed to wait for the desire to pass. Or perhaps waiting it out was just her excuse to continue her secret meetings with Leon.

She did nothing more than hold Leon’s hand when they were together. After all, Leon was not Hana’s fiancé. Perhaps that was why the thirst abated. She did not want to betray her parents or Walt.

That was the excuse she repeated over and over again in her mind.

Whenever Hana went out to the sort of social gatherings befitting the daughter of a wealthy merchant with close ties to the nobility, it was always Walt who accompanied her.

Her parents and Walt would never force her into anything. Because they all only had the best of intentions, and because she loved them so, she refused to do anything to disrupt their plans for her.

The nights she went out with Walt, her heart was racked with guilt. Perhaps she should have stopped seeing Leon then and there, but she couldn’t keep away.

Just once more.

Just through the rest of autumn.

Just until I turn seventeen…

Hana was still telling herself these lies as they began to spend their first winter together.

“Aren’t you cold, Leon?”

Hylantian winters were frigid. Even though no snow had fallen, when night fell, it was as if the air itself froze over. Hana could still feel it even though she was bundled up in a wool coat and gloves. In Leon’s threadbare clothing, he must have been freezing.

“Of course I am.”

“I’m sorry. You’re out here because of me.”

Hana came from a wealthy family; she could have whatever she wanted. But she had never even considered buying Leon a decent coat.

“I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t want to be… Here, this should warm me up.”

Leon put his hands on Hana’s cheeks. The stinging chill of his touch didn’t last and soon, they were sharing their warmth. They leaned in closer to the other.

“Yes. Same for me.”

The feeling of his hands on her cheeks gave her strength. His eyes were so intense, Hana could tell exactly what he was planning to do, and closed her eyes.

Leon clumsily pulled Hana close and kissed her gently.

Their lips barely touched. But Hana was so happy, she could feel a heat building in her eyes. As tears began to roll down her cheeks, Leon pulled away from her lips and planted a kiss on her cheek, as if trying to dry her tears.

“…Come with me?” Leon was acting so strange tonight. Hana didn’t know how to respond. “Let’s run away and live together. We’ll be poor. I have money saved up, but it’s not enough to create the sort of life you’re used to. But as long as we can be together, that’s all I need…”

His eyes were intense. She could see he wasn’t joking.

Her family, or him. Hana would have to choose.

Hana might have been brought up in the lap of luxury, but she believed she could give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant she could be with Leon. Naturally, she was naive about just how hard their life might be. But still, being with Leon was all she dreamed of.

But she knew they couldn’t. Leon was a gardener. And if he eloped with Hana, he would lose his job. His potential employers were all wealthy people. If he wanted other work, he would need a recommendation from the Watohs, and there was no chance they would oblige if he had run off with their daughter.

“I’m glad I came to the city.”

Leon took pride in his work as a gardener. He had worked so hard on tending Hana’s herb garden. Surely there was work for someone so knowledgeable about Eastern herbs and produce.

“I can’t. I’m so sorry. I just…can’t…so please, don’t leave me. I’m sorry, Leon. There’s so much that’s precious to me here… And I don’t think…I could live in poverty.”

She didn’t want to say that Leon wasn’t enough for her to give up everything else. So she placed the blame on herself and her family. After all, there were so many other people she cared about. This was true.

She could think of ten or twenty reasons why they shouldn’t be together, but couldn’t think of one justifying her leaving with him right here and now.

“I see. I guess you’re right. That’s probably the only way we can both be happy. I won’t lose my job. Sorry, I forgot that you actually have a family to care about, unlike me.”

For Leon, there was only one person he wanted to be with.

The realization hit Hana hard, making her feel as if her heart were being ripped out.

“This is goodbye, Hana. …This is the last time I’ll meet you like this.”

This was the first time he had called Hana by name.

She only understood once morning came just how much finality he had felt when he kissed her that night and said her name.

He had fled the manor through the night.

He cleaned out his room completely, leaving to his master only a note that said, “I quit” before disappearing into the night.

❦❦❦

LEON should have had an easy career path as a gardener now that his and Hana’s relationship was no longer a concern. But he threw it all away and disappeared.

It was likely that he left in order to make a clean break with her.

Lost without him, Hana told everyone what had happened.

It would be impossible for a sixteen-year-old girl to search the city for him by herself. It made her painfully aware of how naïve and powerless she truly was.

Her parents were more disappointed than angry when she told them. They only agreed to help her find him once she promised to give up on being with him.

As long as she didn’t drink his blood, he would not officially become her partner.

Her parents didn’t take their naïve, ignorant daughter’s feelings seriously. To them, her feelings for Leon were nothing more than a passing fancy.

But this feeling is so powerful… Will it ever go away?

Hana had only ever known one love, so she couldn’t be certain. But even without Leon on the grounds, she couldn’t forget him, and that intense feeling of thirst began to torment her once more.

Not a thing had changed. Not her feelings toward him or her bloodlust.

They still couldn’t find him after two weeks, so they called off the search.

Walt worried over the increasingly listless Hana and invited her out for shopping and to the theater to cheer her up. She never refused him, hoping to satisfy her parents. But every time they went out, she kept her eyes peeled out the window of the carriage in hopes of seeing the young man with cinnamon hair.

She knew what she was doing was cruel to Walt. But she could not stop herself from looking for Leon each time they went out.

And then, finally—

“Stop!”

The carriage was heading down a road she had never been to before. They were neither in the wealthy residential district nor the merchant’s quarter.

Just after that strange feeling swept over her, Hana finally found him. The young man she had been searching for.

Her pulse throbbed.

She couldn’t mistake the way he looked from behind.

“Miss Hana, you mustn’t! Remember your promise to Lord Saizoh? He will be heartbroken.” Walt sighed, seeing just who Hana’s eyes had landed on.

Hana threw open the carriage door, keeping an eye on Leon the whole time. “I’m so sorry, Walt. But if you won’t stop the carriage, then I’m going to jump! I am serious!”

Hana was leveraging her position for everything it was worth. If she missed her chance now, it may never come again. She didn’t care whether or not Leon actually wanted to see her. She had to see him, no matter what.

“You’ve always been obstinate about the strangest of things,” Walt said, a sad smile coiling on his lips.

Who was it that had sent the coachman on this path that they normally never would have taken? And in a city as large as this, how could it be by chance that they had finally found the one person she had sought for so long?

“Walt…I’m so sorry, but thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”

“You’d better go now or you’ll lose sight of him.”

Hana gave the man, who had been like a brother to her, a deep bow and leapt from the carriage. She ran with every ounce of strength she had, desperate to catch Leon, who was slipping into the crowd.

“Leon! Leon!”

He stopped for a second, then started to dart away. Hana, who had never run a mile in her life, knew she had little chance of catching him. She was the one who had refused him. She couldn’t blame him for never wanting to see her again. And yet, she ran.

“Kya!”

Her high heels weren’t made to run in. She toppled over and skinned her knees. She could stand the pain, but the thought of losing Leon brought tears to her eyes.

“Dummy…”

You’re the dummy, Hana thought with a smile. He had tried to run away, yet all it took was her tripping to get him to rush back to her. He was such a kindhearted fool.

“But I didn’t want to lose you. You should have known I wasn’t just going to forget about you after you left.”

“So, what do you want?” he asked, an icy gleam in his eye.

But Hana hadn’t jumped from a carriage and run all this way just to end things here. She hadn’t chased him through the streets just to say goodbye.

She took several deep breaths and finally told him how she felt. “I want to be with you, Leon. That’s all. I just wanted you to know that no matter what happens, I want to be by your side.”

She had chosen her former life over him once before, so she wasn’t sure he would forgive her. But she didn’t care how selfish it seemed; she just wanted to be with him.

“You really are a dummy.”

He reached out to Hana, who was still on her knees, and pulled her up into his arms. This was his answer.

❦❦❦

THE space Leon was renting was located above a bar. It could only be reached by climbing a rickety set of stairs.

It was a dank room with little sunlight. The door was shorter than him, and Leon’s bed was only half the size of Hana’s. A stove and counter rested against the wall with a plain wood table nearby.

Hana had never seen a kitchen and a bedroom combined into one room before now. Leon smiled bitterly as she spun around, taking everything in with a sense of wonder.

“Are you surprised it’s so small?”

“Yes, but you know I like places with little sunlight.”

“I’m glad, though that’s not exactly a compliment.”

If she ever returned to the manor, they would never let her out again. This was Hana’s new home if she truly wanted to be with Leon.

“Leon, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“…What?”

“I’m not a normal human being. I’m the descendent of vampires. …See? My teeth are sharp. That’s why I can’t handle sunlight…” She had no idea how to break the news to him without him thinking she was crazy. It didn’t feel like she had done a good job explaining it, but she wasn’t sure what else to say.

“I’ve known for a while.”

“You have?”

“Either you’ve forgotten or you blocked out the memory, but back when the cotton roses were in bloom, you drank my blood. Both times you collapsed, I snuck into your room.”

Hana gulped. He was right. The taste of his blood was coming back to her. The unpleasantness of the headaches and the cold sweats returned. At the same time, a haze broke in Hana’s mind.

“Hana…? I’m sorry. You probably forgot about it because I freaked out. But I didn’t hate you for it. Everyone’s scared of what they don’t understand at first, right? …But I’m not afraid anymore. I understand now, so it’s all right.”

It’s gonna be all right.

Those words brought all of Hana’s memories rushing back.

The memory of that hot summer morning, while the cotton roses were in bloom, when she finally chose the single most important person to her.

❦❦❦

SOMEONE was calling Hana’s name.

The air around her was tepid and she had broken into a cold sweat.

“Are you all right, Miss?”

“Miss Hana! Miss Hana!”

Leon’s voice was so close, while Walt’s was so far away.

The intense smell of blood broke through her mental haze and she struggled desperately to get free from Leon’s grasp as he tried to scoop her up.

She wasn’t sure if she could resist any longer. If she stayed with him just seconds more, she might suck his blood.

“…Miss Hana, do you want some blood?”

How could Walt have known that?

Confused, Hana continued trying to get away,

“No…you have to get…awa…noo.”

Her breathing had become ragged and the world around her was enveloped in an orange haze, making it difficult to find something to focus on.

It made her crave Leon’s warmth even more. And his blood. But she was terrified that she would lose all sense of rational thought and turn into a monster if she gave in.

“Miss Hana, it’s all right. I know all about it. Here…”

Something was being pushed into her lips. It felt like a man’s finger. A metallic scent filled her nose.

No! No! I want Leon’s blood!

Something similar but all too different from what she wanted filled her mouth. Her body convulsed, trying to reject the foreign substance.

Hana could no longer suppress her urges. She pulled herself up and grabbed on to Leon’s shirt with all her might. She bit down on his neck, hard.

“Wha—Miss! Stop! What are you doing?!”

She had craved Leon’s blood for so long, but it tasted like a mix of sand and tears. She had wanted his blood for so long, finally having it failed to meet her expectations. The tears belonged to her, flowing down her cheeks and blending with his blood.

Leon tried to pull away, but Hana threw her hands around his back and bit down harder.

“Let me go…! Let me go! Stop. This isn’t right.” Leon yanked himself away, tossing Hana to the ground.

“Leon! Calm down, please! Miss Hana…wasn’t supposed to…”

Hana had no sense of the pain flowing through her body. The only thing she knew was that Leon had rejected her.

Tomorrow he wouldn’t even want to be her friend.

The first time a vampire drank the blood of the one they loved was supposed to be a happy occasion. But she had ignored his objections and now she was sure he would never forgive her.

Hana’s thirst had been satisfied and yet, despair encircled her heart.

She was exhausted and released her grip on consciousness. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and forget all of this.

❦❦❦

LEON told Hana all about that first time she drank his blood.

She could see it in her mind and still hear the two young men’s voices clearly. But the sense of something akin to despair that accompanied those memories clenched her heart.

“So that’s what happened… I repressed the memory somehow…”

Leon nodded. “That was when Walt told me about your family. After that, I started sneaking you my blood. I thought it would just be better for you if you didn’t remember. But in reality, I guess I also wanted you to forget how upset I was and how I pushed you away.”

Hana understood why he wouldn’t want her around after all that had happened. So the fact that Leon had asked her to live with him even though he knew she was a vampire brought her untold joy.

“I just reckoned if I left, if I wasn’t there for you to think about…that you would just find someone else’s blood to drink. But I was wrong. I’m sorry. You must have been in so much pain.”

Without realizing it, Hana had chosen Leon as her partner. There was no going back now.

Leon had left under the assumption that Hana could just pick a new partner. But he told Walt where he would be going, just in case Hana had another fit.

“…I was also wrong about so many things…so, shall we call it a draw?”

Leon had rejected Hana out of fear once, as she had him.

Hana laughed as she pointed out the tie between them. Leon smiled bashfully.

Walt had likely heard about the family’s vampiric ancestry from Saizoh, and so he understood Hana’s condition on some level. It was he who explained her condition to Leon and he who facilitated their reunion. He knew all about their secret meetings. He had always been watching over them. Hana had no idea how she could ever repay him.

That night, Hana climbed into bed, comforted by the warmth of the man she loved. But it was hard to get used to sharing a bed with another, let alone for that person to be someone she felt so strongly for. Her heart raced and she found she could not sleep.

Choosing Leon should have made her happy, and yet she couldn’t just forget her parents or Walt. She didn’t feel at peace with her decision at all.

“Give it a little time, then we’ll go apologize. Together. Just because you chose me doesn’t mean you gotta cut your parents off forever.”

“Will they ever forgive me for being so selfish?”

“You’re their little princess, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“…I hope so.”

Shortly thereafter, Leon found another gardening job and Hana slowly adjusted to her new life. Her parents were more upset over the fact that she left without telling them than the fact that she chose Leon. They wouldn’t forgive her so easily.

Walt served as the arbiter between parent and child. Eventually, it was decided that Leon would take on the Watoh name. Any children born to the couple would become Watoh heirs and were required to be educated as such. This was at Leon’s insistence. He wanted his children to have the benefit of a good education. He felt he lacked refinement and didn’t want his children to suffer the same fate.

The pair then found a new home. Hana opened an Eastern medicine clinic on the first floor of that shop. While trying to think up a name for her shop, Hana thought about how the neighborhood children called her the “Raven-haired Witch”, so she took on the name “The Witch of the East”. It was meant to be a light-hearted name that she used sparingly in the beginning, but over time, she came to love it.

 

The name “Misfortune Devouring Witch” would come several years later…

❦❦❦

THE cotton roses on the Aldridge estate were those that had been grown in the Watohs’ garden. With Leon and Hana gone, the task of tending the herb garden fell to Walt.

And with the passing of his older brother, Walt was forced to return to his own home and take over his family’s estate. Over time, Hana, along with the days he spent at her family’s estate, became a part of his past.

“You always said that…you were grateful to me?”

All that time spent reminiscing was causing Walt to mistake Yuuri for Hana again. Simon and Yuuri could tell that this elderly man still had unresolved feelings for the younger Hana and so stopped correcting him.

“I forced my blood on you so I could marry into the Watoh family. Even after my attempt failed, I still deceived you. You had finally chosen a partner and yet, I kept it from you and everyone in the manor!”

His quivering, wrinkled hand reached for Yuuri. She gently took his hand in her own.

“I was the one who made Leon think he wasn’t bright enough to handle all the complexities of the trade. I persuaded him to leave. …If you hadn’t eloped or just told Lord Saizoh the truth from the start, things might have turned out different.”

Hana’s leaving without telling her parents was what caused the chasm between her and her father, one that took years to heal.

She hadn’t realized at that point that she had already chosen her partner, so she forced herself to obey her father’s wishes for her, all the while contradicting her nature. If she had known all along that she already tasted Leon’s blood, she could have convinced her parents without needing to run away.

Walt had always regretted not telling her. But Yuuri’s grandparents had seen it differently, and were grateful to Walt. Hana must have shouldered her own guilt for repressing such an important memory.

So Yuuri tried to give this man the words she was sure her grandmother wanted him to hear.

“But you were the reason I was able to be with Leon, right?”

“…You were growing weaker by the day. I could bear to watch you suffer no longer. That was all.”

“What is it you want from me? To be forgiven or to be punished?”

The man shook his head. “…I am not sure myself.”

“Neither is possible. I am stubborn and will never change. Even after everything you’ve told me, my gratitude toward you will never fade.”

Hana and Leon had left this world feeling grateful to Walt. And Yuuri believed that was how things should stay. Yuuri knew her grandmother to be stubborn; her grandfather even more so. But both of them were compassionate people.

“Miss Hana…”

The man had a peaceful expression. And so, Yuuri and Simon decided to join him in gazing at the cotton roses in silence.

❦❦❦

DURING the carriage ride back from the Aldridge estate, Yuuri confided in Simon.

“While things…aren’t that serious, I do believe he loves me for who I am…”

“He? Do you mean our esteemed Count?”

Yuuri nodded. She took a big breath, trying to pull herself together and finally tell him something she should have long ago.

“You’ve probably already figured it out, but I drank Ernest’s blood. He knows…that I need blood from time to time. But I haven’t…told him everything about what it means to do such a thing for a vampire.”

“Father and I already knew. He told us himself.”

“I see…” Yuuri wasn’t surprised. It seemed like the sort of thing Ernest would do.

“Listen, Yuuri…I know you know him better than I. He seems flippant, but he really is a considerate man. He cares about you.”

“He does.”

She had never doubted that. He was always showing up just in the nick of time. Lately, he would even offer his blood before Yuuri had to ask.

Ernest truly was kind. But it was his kindness that frightened Yuuri. She was afraid that if she let herself lean on him too much, she would become weak and unable to take care of herself. That was why she had always been so reluctant to accept his attempts to reach out to her.

But she desperately wanted to lean on him, and that made her doubt if she ever was strong to begin with.

“Father and I want to do whatever we can for you. So please, talk to us. About anything. Well, almost anything… Just open up to us about what you want to say.”

“Thank you, Simon… Hehe, don’t cry.”

At twenty-four, Simon still cried openly. Yuuri handed him a handkerchief.

Vampires and their descendants could be awkward, foolish, and fragile. It was why they were on the verge of extinction. They may have even already died out in Himomoto. Yuuri might even be the last vampire left on the planet.

As foolish as it was though, even vampires deserved happiness.

That was why Simon wept openly before her.

Yuuri vowed that, as soon as Ernest finished his current job and started coming back to her shop, she was going to change things, once and for all.