"We’ll see who’s right in a month. One month from now, come back here and call my name. Oh, and you’re not going to chicken out and not show up, are you?"
Semirys looked at Shulim with an openly provocative grin.
"I’m definitely coming. You’re the one who better not run away, Semirys."
The moment she heard that adorably fierce little threat, Semirys reacted like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world and started clutching her stomach, rolling around in the air all over again.
Shulim’s face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she spun around and stormed off.
She had not gone far before Semirys’s voice drifted after her from the distance.
"Don’t forget, it has to be magic from all seven elements. Don’t mess it up, little baby."
That was followed by another burst of laughter.
Shulim only walked faster.
...
By the time she returned, the sky had already turned a deep red.
Her small figure appeared at the gates of the Hayeral estate.
"You’re back late today. I was starting to think I’d have to go looking for you."
Razelian let out a breath of relief when he saw her, but then he noticed something was off about her expression.
"What’s wrong, Shulim? Did something happen?"
Shulim almost told him about what had happened that day, but the moment she pictured that infuriating face laughing at her, irritation welled up inside her all over again.
"It’s nothing serious. I just ran into someone annoying. Oh, right, do we have any books about magic at home?"
"Books about magic? Let me think. We do. They’re in my study. The shelf on the left has books on magic..."
"Thanks."
Before Razelian could finish, Shulim was already hurrying into the house.
Watching his youngest daughter march away, Razelian rubbed at his chin.
"Did she get into a fight with one of her friends?"
In his mind, if someone that young was calling another person annoying, then it had to be a child around her own age.
"Ah, right. How many words can Shulim read now, anyway...?"
He looked across the now-empty yard and shook his head.
"I’ll ask at dinner."
At the same time, somewhere in the forest outside Mente...
"Achoo."
A certain fairy with an angelic face rubbed her nose.
"That’s weird. Feels like someone’s being disrespectful toward me. Oh well. I’ll punish them by making them fall the next time they sit down."
...
Inside the Hayeral family study, Shulim dragged over a stool and climbed up beside the shelf on the left.
"Not this one. Not this one either. This one... ah, got it."
Just as she was about to pull out a book on magic, a voice came from outside the study.
"Shulim. Dinner’s ready."
It was Amon.
Her small hand paused in midair. Shulim turned to look out the window and saw that the sky had already dimmed.
She hesitated.
Even if House Hayeral stood at the very bottom of the noble class, they were still a hereditary knightly house, and even in a remote rural town, they still observed the proper rules of noble etiquette. Under those rules, unless it was a special occasion, young noble children were expected to stop all activities after dinner and prepare for bed.
"Shulim?"
This time Lilia’s voice came from outside.
"Mmh."
Shulim let out a little sigh.
"I’ll come back tomorrow."
Her hand slowly withdrew from the book.
"I’m coming."
After calling back from inside the study, Shulim wiped down the stool and returned it to where it belonged.
Then she opened the study door and stepped out.
As she did, something in her chest suddenly loosened. The tight, stubborn sense of urgency that had been driving her began to quietly fade away.
She stopped walking and turned back toward the study, thoughtful.
For a moment, it felt as though she could see a familiar little figure in there, one who had been acting out of pure spite against someone else. And in that moment, she understood that wasn’t the right way to approach magic.
She stood there quietly for a while, then slowly closed the study door.
It was only much later that Shulim came to understand what had happened then. Called back by her mother’s voice, she had stumbled into a small but important step of growth. From that point on, she was rarely ruled by her emotions, and because of that, she would go on to survive crisis after crisis.
...
At dinnertime, the Hayeral family sat around the table saying grace before the meal.
At the head of the long rectangular table sat the current lord of House Hayeral, Sir Razelian Hayeral.
On his left, in order, sat his wife Lilia, then his third daughter Ludy, and then the twin fifth and sixth daughters, Lumia and Lucia.
On his right sat his second son Reid, his fourth son Amon, and his youngest daughter Shulim. Under normal circumstances, the first seat on the right would have belonged to the eldest son, Zieg, but since he had gone off to study at the Imperial Knights Academy, everyone else had simply shifted up one place.
The seat directly across from the head of the table was normally reserved for guests, so family members did not use it.
Besides the Hayeral family itself, the household also included Lorenz, a butler in his forties, the elderly helper Mrs. Jaeger, and a maid named Jessica, whose family ran an inn in Mente. Since the inn did not need that many hands, she had come to work for House Hayeral instead. And because she was a good cook, Razelian paid her a little extra to serve as the household cook as well, which conveniently saved the family the cost of hiring one separately.
As servants, they normally did not eat at the same table as the family. They would take their meal later, after the household had finished.
For an ordinary family in the Empire, a servant arrangement like this would have clearly marked them as upper class.
The reality, however, was that even the lowest noble house was still noble.
By noble standards, House Hayeral’s household was painfully modest. There was no question about it. They were country nobles through and through.
"...May the boons of the Six Gods be with us."
When the prayer ended, Razelian opened his eyes and lowered his hands.
"May the boons of the Six Gods be with us."
Everyone else echoed the words and finished their prayer as well.
But as Shulim lowered her hands, a strange feeling rose in her heart.
Up until now, saying the prayer before meals had always just felt like something everyone did, a common custom more than anything. No one really took it seriously, and it hardly felt like it mattered whether you did it or not.
But now...
...that had been a real boon, hadn’t it?
"Shulim, what’s wrong? Don’t you have an appetite?"
Noticing that his youngest daughter had not moved, Razelian asked with concern.
"It’s nothing."
Shulim shook her head, then picked up her spoon and scooped up a mouthful of porridge.
Mmh.
It tasted lightly sweet and refreshing, made with her favorite bobom powder.
Besides the porridge, her plate also held a serving of stewed gudon chicken, a slice of bread spread with honey, and a quarter of a sliced sunsetfruit.
The others were eating more or less the same meal, only in different portions.
Once he saw Shulim begin eating, Razelian returned to his own spoonfuls, though his thoughts kept turning over in the back of his mind.
He had wanted to ask what exactly had happened to her earlier in the day, but it looked like she was still upset with whichever friend she had argued with. Bringing it up now would probably only sour her mood even more. Still, as her father, what was he supposed to do? Should he go talk to the other child? Hm... but for an adult to interfere in a children’s quarrel felt a little...
"Dear, has Zieg written lately?"
Lilia’s voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.
Razelian answered, "No letter yet. Didn’t he say in his last one, the one from last month, that he was heading off for field training? We probably won’t hear from him for a while."
"It’s still not over? I thought a month would be about enough."
"Heh, not even close. When I did field training back in my day, I spent more than half a year out in the wilds. By the time I got back to the city, I practically looked feral."
Razelian answered with a laugh, and once he got started on stories from his younger days, the matter of his youngest daughter slipped right out of his head as he launched into a grand retelling of his own exploits.