Episode 47: The White Lily Princess
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“Elmia-sama, your bath is ready.”
“Understood.”
Elmia replied to Fraetta, her attendant’s words.
She recalled the heartless words she had thrown at her brother earlier.
“Brother…”
Would he understand that she didn’t mean any of it?
She had quarreled with her brother countless times before.
Most of the time, it was due to Elmia’s whims, selfishness, or ploys, but no matter how much Elmia pushed her brother away, he would mend the frayed threads as if repairing them.
To Elmia, her brother was like a great tree.
He affirmed everything about Elmia and embraced her completely.
That’s why she ended up taking advantage of his generosity.
Even on the night her engagement was decided, she leaned on her brother.
When her mother died, she leaned on her brother to fill the void of her grief.
Her brother’s existence was everything to Elmia.
That’s why she couldn’t shake off a sense of unease.
It was—the fear that her brother would disappear someday.
One day, it suddenly became a reality.
In the middle of the night, Elmia realized that her brother’s warmth was gone, and she panicked.
She jumped out of bed and desperately searched for her brother.
And she came across her brother leaving the castle.
“Sorry, Elmia-tan. There’s somewhere I need to go for a little while.”
She remembered her brother’s shy face.
The sensitive Elmia immediately sensed that her brother was heading to a place of death.
She thought that if she let him go, her brother would surely disappear.
Because that was supposed to be the future that would definitely come—.
“A flower?”
As she was about to head to the bath and left her room, she noticed a single flower fallen in front of the door.
Elmia picked it up and smelled its fragrance.
“A Princess White Lily. I wonder who dropped it?”
Looking down the hallway, she noticed another ‘Princess White Lily’ fallen.
And it continued further ahead.
She already knew who was behind it.
“It’s my brother…”
Her mischievous brother.
Elmia had often been teased by her brother since long ago.
He would tap her on the shoulder, and when she turned around, he would poke her cheek with his index finger.
Elmia’s plump cheeks were her brother’s favorite.
Seeing Elmia protesting, “Oh, brother, please stop,” her brother would grin sloppily.
“I wonder what he’s planning this time.”
Elmia picked up each flower one by one and proceeded through the fortress.
She arrived at a stone staircase, and beyond that was a high ground.
Even without Magical Power Detection, she knew that her brother was up there.
As she climbed to the top of the high ground, the summer night breeze caressed Elmia’s long hair, and she heard the quaint chirping of insects like bells.
Starlight illuminated the darkness.
A fantastical sight spread before Elmia’s eyes.
—A field of pure white flowers.
“Amazing. Is this a flower field?”
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that everything here was a plucked Princess White Lily.
Someone had apparently filled the high ground with Princess White Lilies.
Elmia felt a strange mix of exasperation and relief.
Something rustled in the flowers.
A figure popped out in a theatrical manner.
“Welcome, beautiful White Lily Princess.”
It was her brother, Sharka.
Perhaps aware that he had said something embarrassing, his face was bright red.
Elmia felt an overwhelming affection for her brother as she looked at him.
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I did it.
An extremely lame surprise.
The Princess White Lily was once the national flower of the Kingdom of Ortenos.
It seems the name was given in reference to the white-ish beautiful hair that is the symbol of the royal family.
Remembering that I had discovered a colony of them nearby, I thought, “This is it.”
By the way, the scent of the Princess White Lily flower is known for its elegant and refined fragrance, and it is also used as a material for perfumes.
Gathering such flowers, which symbolize Elmia, with Nicoletta at a rapid pace and filling the high ground with them was quite a struggle.
“Did Sharka pick all of these?”
“Well, yes.”
“…Honestly, what is the eldest son of House Ortenos doing?”
“I want to talk to Elmia-sama. Since the weather is nice today, would you like to gaze at the stars together in this flower field?”
I extended my left hand to Elmia.
A flower field, under a sky full of stars, it should be a touching situation.
“Haa…”
Elmia sighed in exasperation.
…Is it no good?
Was it a little too simple?
It might have been creepy, like a proposal.
Elmia didn’t take the hand I offered.
“Eh?”
Instead, she took my right hand.
As Elmia’s hands gently loosened my clenched right hand, a gold coin appeared there.
“I knew it… you still haven’t gotten rid of this habit, have you?”
“…How did you know?”
“Of course, I know Sharka better than anyone else. You’ve always been reckless despite being timid, and you’ve always touched that gold coin whenever you did.”
“Oh dear, was I found out?”
I scratched my cheek in a joking manner to hide my embarrassment.
The “long ago” that Elmia was talking about was probably when we were children.
I was quick to pick up martial arts and magic, so I was subjected to more rigorous training than anyone else, to the point where Healing Magic was constantly needed.
Elmia must have been watching me from the shadows.
Back then, Elmia wasn’t as cheerful as she is now, and I think she was more of a crybaby and a withdrawn person.
At some point, she started to become aware of her position as the Marquis of Ortenos, as if she had become a different person, and began to behave like a superior as she does now.
“You must have had a hard time even in your First Campaign, right?”
“No, that’s not true…”
“I’m sorry… I said so many terrible things without knowing how you felt, Sharka.”
Elmia didn’t have the harsh attitude she had earlier.
I wonder if the surprise worked, or if it calmed down with the passage of time.
Either way, it’s a good thing.
“It’s okay. My First Campaign wasn’t a big deal either.”
“Don’t say such nonsense. You fought against multiple Stella-Class, didn’t you? Are you injured?”
“No, I’m unharmed.”
“I see… I’m really glad.”
Elmia sighed in relief.
Perhaps she had calmed down and was able to think about things in various ways.
“…It’s too late to worry like this now. Do you hate me, Sharka?”
Elmia asked timidly.
A look of anxiety was visible in her expression.
“I could never hate Elmia-sama. Rather, I thought you hated me.”
“…Do you really think that I could hate you, Sharka?”
“Well, but you said you hated me earlier…”
“That was a lie.”
Elmia said it so easily.
Honestly, even if it’s a lie, the person who was told that doesn’t feel good.
“A lie, you say?”
“Yes, I just said it on the spur of the moment.”
“Oh…”
“Why would I hate you, Sharka? You’re such a worrier.”
You suddenly jumped into the bathroom, and you’re calling me a worrier?
“…Haaa…”
Perhaps because I was suddenly relieved, my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the flower-filled floor.
“Fufu, Sharka, are you relieved to know that I don’t hate you?”
Elmia squatted down to my eye level and stroked my cheek with a smile.
If I had my brother’s face crushed to this extent, my tone would become rough.
“Give me a break, you have no idea how much I worried.”
“My, such language! I am the next head of the family, so… kyaa!”
I poked Elmia’s forehead when she started to get carried away.
After being tossed around this much, I wanted to get a little revenge.
Then Elmia lost her balance and fell backward, landing on her butt.
Her mini-skirt flipped up, exposing her underwear.
(Oh, pink cotton, huh?)
It’s probably underwear made from high-quality colored cotton, of which only about one percent can be harvested from Ortenos-branded cotton.
Of course, as the princess of Ortenos, she wouldn’t wear just any underwear.
“Fufu, that’s the punishment for teasing your brother.”
I said with a nihilistic smile.
Without showing even a hint that I had seen her underwear, I smiled refreshingly.
“Geez.”
Elmia puffed out her cheeks in a huff.
Just when I thought there would be another wave of trouble, Elmia leaned her body shyly towards me.