Chapter 38

Chapter 38. "The Dark Elf, the Dwarf, and a Single Rose." 18

I think it was this morning.

I got out of bed, gently peeled Rene off where she was clinging to my chest, laid her straight on the bed, pulled the blanket over her, changed into my everyday clothes, and went downstairs alone.

Did I wake up a little too early?

When I turned my head toward the window, the bluish air of the morning greeted me. So it was dawn. Moving almost unconsciously, I walked along the first-floor corridor to the washroom, washed my face, and came back out alone.

I could have slept a little longer, but while guests were staying here, I ought to get up early and prepare things.

With a towel draped around my neck, I stood there blankly for a moment before heading into the kitchen. I should at least have a cup of tea. At this rate, I was not going to wake up. Then, from the hall, I heard a small voice.

"...You're making tea, right? Make mine too."

"And who might you be, saying that?"

I turned my head and looked around the hall as I spoke, and then, from a table by the window in one corner of the room, some dark shape lifted its head and said with gleaming eyes,

"Who do you think I am?"

"...Luna, huh? You are up early too?"

When I said that, the dark figure I assumed was Luna (I narrowed my eyes to try to see her more clearly, but perhaps because her face was dark, it only made her even harder to make out) stayed still for a moment, then lowered her head again and said,

"I did not know getting a cup of tea would be this difficult."

"...All right. Wait a bit."

I tried one last time to get a better look at her, then gave up and went into the kitchen, where I opened the lid of the brazier.

But... had the fire really still been alive? As I stared in puzzlement at the red-hot embers glowing inside the brazier, Luna's small voice came from the hall. I nearly missed it.

"Oh, right. I kept the fire alive. You do not have to thank me."

That girl... Judging by the way she kept her mouth shut after that, she probably did not want to be disturbed.

I let out a quiet laugh and, taking a kettle from the cupboard, dipped it lightly into the water barrel, lifted it back out, set it over the brazier, and said,

"You did well."

"........."

She did not answer, but I was willing to bet she had bared her teeth just a little. Smiling faintly, I opened the cabinet beside the brazier, took out the tin of tea leaves, put an appropriate amount into the kettle, closed the lid, and returned the tin to its place.

If I left things in a mess here and there, Rene would get angry. She was always saying she could not tolerate untidiness.

After a while, I strained the tea leaves as best I could, poured the tea into two large cups, took one in each hand, and went out into the hall.

There, seated at the second table from the right, I found Luna flipping through a book, and beside her, set off to one side on the table, was a single rose. I placed the tea in front of her and sat down across from her.

"Drink. I put in some sugar, so it is a little sweet."

At my words, Luna lifted her head and stared at me for a moment, then picked up the cup in front of her and brought it to her lips. After setting it back down, she said,

"...It is good."

"But what are you doing right now?"

Luna lowered her head again and turned a page.

"Do you really want to know?"

"If I will not be interrupting."

"The moment you came down here, I was already being interrupted."

At Luna's words, I gave an awkward smile. I could have asked why she was out here reading instead, but I did not feel like starting a good morning with one of Luna's barbed remarks, so I let it go.

As she reached for her cup again, she flicked her eyes toward the single rose beside her.

"What do you see?"

"A rose."

"I picked it. I have a use for it. Say something nice to Rene for me."

I stared at Luna in silence, and then she drew the cup away from her lips and said,

"I am going to make a gift for my mother."

"That sounds like you are saying you absolutely will not go home."

I said that and watched her expression, but instead of making the face I had expected, Luna closed the book, set it aside, and said,

"It is not absolute. When I grow a little more, when I am tall enough to look you in the eye, I will go back. And then..."

"You are going to kill that elf you call your father?"

"Yes. I am going to kill him."

"Hearing a little kid say she is going to kill her own father leaves me feeling strange."

I leaned back against the chair as I said that, and Luna shrugged. Then again, she had definitely learned that from Exel.

"Say whatever you like. He is that kind of father. I will kill him by my own judgment and my own will."

"I am glad I do not have a daughter like you."

"I never asked you to accept me as your daughter."

"Well, fine. Do as you please. Dark elves or ordinary elves, if elves think they are right, then no matter what anyone says beside them, they just keep pushing forward."

At that, Luna let out a small laugh, then wrapped both hands around her cup, feeling its warmth as she spoke.

"You must have had a hard time, thanks to your stubborn wife."

"...I will not lie."

At my answer, Luna lowered her head and began chuckling. Then I remembered what Rene had once told me, that the smile of a dark elf could imitate the smile of a god, so I looked at Luna's face more closely. But because it was still early morning and dim, and because she had lowered her head on top of that, it seemed I would have to leave the chance to see Luna smiling for another time. After a while, Luna stopped laughing, and I asked another question.

"One last thing. Is the gift that rose?"

I lifted a hand and pointed at the rose, whose flower bud was just barely beginning to show, and Luna turned her head to look at it before speaking.

"That is right. This rose is what I am now. From here on, I will cast magic on it so that, as I grow, the bud will slowly open. When I am fully grown, the rose will bloom in full and make my mother happy. This is all I can do for now."

I gazed silently at the rose lying on the table, then rose from my seat.

"So it will go in your place."

"You could say that."

I turned with a small smile and headed into the kitchen.

"You will be casting magic, so I will get out of your way and go back upstairs."

Luna said nothing. I let out a faint laugh, went into the kitchen, and took the tea I meant to bring to Rene.

When I came back out with the cup in my hand, the hall was a little brighter, and Luna came into view, resting her chin on one hand and staring blankly at the rose. Smiling to myself, I quietly went up to the second floor so as not to disturb her.

When I returned to the room, I set the teacup on the table and turned my head. Rene was still sleeping peacefully in exactly the same position as before, so I pulled over a chair, placed it by the bed, sat down there, and watched her sleeping face.

She was sleeping quietly, still tucked under the blanket the way I had arranged it earlier. Then she shifted a little and rolled onto the side facing where I was sitting, and I smiled as I kept watching her.

After turning onto her side, she seemed to search for something to hold. Stretching out one hand, she waved it around up and down, patting the bed here and there.

Then, perhaps because something felt missing, she suddenly sat straight up. Pulling the blanket up to her chest, she began looking around.

She was probably searching for me. Dear? Would it not be faster and easier if you opened your eyes while looking? Thinking that, I chuckled under my breath.

At that, Rene's drooping ears, which had been hanging low while she faced the table, suddenly sprang upright, and her head whipped around toward me. With her eyes still closed, she faced me, lifted one hand to rub at the corner of her eye, and slowly spoke in a sleepy voice.

"...Han? Are you there?"

"Yes."

"You woke up early."

"Yes."

"...Are you angry?"

"No."

Rene lowered the hand that had been rubbing her eye and looked at me with her golden eyes, and I smiled as I walked to the table, picked up the teacup, and held it out to her.

"It is warm."

"Hee. Did you brew this for me?"

"Yes."

Rene took the teacup from my hand and brought it to her lips, while I sat on the edge of the bed and watched her.

She was beautiful.

Rene, that is.

After a while, Rene lowered the cup and looked at my absentminded face before smiling brightly.

"What are you thinking about?"

"You."

At my answer, Rene smiled with her eyes and moved closer to me.

"What do I look like in your eyes?"

Before I knew it, Rene had slipped into my arms. Grinning, she said,

"What do you think?"

I stared at her in silence, and then Rene looked at me with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted.

Good grief... Was that it? If I wanted to hear a good answer, I had to pay the price first? With no real choice, I kissed her. After a while, Rene broke into a wide grin and said,

"You are lovely."

I let out a small laugh at her words.

"That sounds like something you would say to a child."

"Do not apply human ways of thinking to an elf. I am merely saying what I think right now. In my eyes, you are lovely. Do you not like my answer?"

At that, she squeezed her eyes shut and wagged a finger from side to side.

Right, I nearly forgot. Rene was an elf. Elves did not think the same way humans did. I shook my head at her words.

"No, I like it. And I am sorry. The fact that I am spouting nonsense probably means I still have not fully woken up."

"Shall I wake you up?"

Rene asked as she came close enough to press right against me, and I smiled uneasily, inching away and waving both hands.

"No, that is fine. Doing that first thing in the morning is a little..."

"Shall I wake you up?"

"Ah, do we not need to prepare breakfast?"

"Shall I wake you up?"

The more I retreated, the more she advanced, and in the end I was driven into a corner. I had reached the very edge of the bed.

Wh-What was I supposed to do now? Run away? Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Rene merely pushed her face right up before mine and grinned.

Then she said,

"I will wake you up."

"Did something happen to you?"

"No."

"Really? Your face looks terrible."

All I could do was cover my haggard face and let out a weak laugh.