Carol was someone who put effort into gifts for people he’d never met. Perhaps worried that his intentions might be misunderstood, traces of consideration could be seen in each word, and he was careful even when making trivial jokes.

Even without glasses, she couldn’t help but notice that worried gaze.

Carol was that kind of child.

After pondering over her words alone several times, Asha opened her mouth wide then closed it again. She could testify to all the ‘consideration’ Carol had shown, but she didn’t want to.

The stories in the letters were secrets between just the two of them.

Asha fiddled with the teacup handle without elaborating further.

She hated that the friend she cherished was being evaluated lowly by others—especially by family—but she also didn’t want to make their private matters into conversation topics.

Asha simply tilted her head slightly down and quietly sipped her tea. Just like she had done when her grandfather’s guests came.

The teacup was filled once more. Asha didn’t refuse the butter cookies offered to her and crunched them.

Her cheeks, still with baby fat, moved up and down. Carol’s mother quietly watched the small girl who had come as her youngest’s friend, then resumed the conversation.

“So, you met through letters?”

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

“Since I was sixteen.”

“What did you mainly talk about?”

“Just, various things. ……Most of what I could say, what I wanted to say.”

The answer was utterly vague. Masa gently probed for details, but Asha didn’t give in easily.

The more she tried to pry, the shorter the answers became, and the mansion’s owner gave up on hearing specific responses and brought up different topics.

The conversation ended with hospitable tolerance saying she could stay as long as she wanted and an ambiguous request to take good care of the youngest.

“It’s almost dinner time already. You’ll eat together today, right?”

“Ah, yes. I heard from Carol.”

Though it was a plan that hadn’t existed before Caprun had gotten on both their nerves.

Asha answered smoothly and pulled at the corners of her mouth. Though she couldn’t be certain due to her unclear vision, the atmosphere in the reception room was quite good.

When Carol’s friend and mother came out together, the gaze that had been lingering in the corridor shot away.

“Is it over?”

Eyes like cut-out winter sky shook as if a blizzard was raging through them.

His previously calm hair was sticking up like a torn feather pillow from how much he’d been pulling at it, and Asha found that appearance quite cute.

The hand warmed from holding the teacup tidied the disheveled silver hair. It wasn’t intentional, simply an unconscious action.

The touch that caressed the crown of his head while slightly lifting her heels was gentle. Asha was completely unaware of his rigidly frozen face.

“Your father was looking for you. What was it about?”

“Ah, yeah. It wasn’t much. He just asked whether cherry pie or apple pie would be better.”

“So?”

“Since you’ve probably had a lot of cherry, I said apple pie would be better. Right?”

“……Me?”

“Yeah, you. How’s apple pie?”

“It’s fine for me. Oh, um. I should say thank you.”

The guest who had come to the mansion without notice scratched her cheek, bewildered by the unexpected hospitality. Carol pretended not to see that reaction and replied cheekily.

“Good choice. Actually, even if it’s called cherry, it’s just sugar-preserved stuff that’s only sweet and can’t compare to fresh cherries, right?”

“Really? I’m curious though.”

“Then you can try it tomorrow. There’s plenty of sugar preserves in the kitchen. Anyway, let’s go quickly.”

A large hand unhesitatingly grabbed her thin wrist.

Masa, who had only seen the wild child running through the wide corridors and leaping between trees, clicked her tongue and objected.

“Don’t you even see your mother?”

※※※

The dinner that couldn’t help but be tense was unexpectedly harmonious.

For whatever reason, Caprun said he would eat separately with his children and didn’t come to the dining room. Thanks to this, not only Carol but even Asha could swallow their food relatively easily.

To emphasize again, Asha, who couldn’t see clearly, didn’t know that Carol’s mother, father, brother, and even grandmother and grandfather were all watching her.

She simply chewed and ate the northern-style dishes as her eyes fell upon them.

Though she was quite picky, after eating only soup and tea for several days, the grilled and cooked dishes went down her throat well.

Carol was startled several times when she nearly cut her fingers on the blade, but it wasn’t that serious.

“You’ll get hurt, Sha.”

“I can’t see well.”

“Give it here.”

Carol, who cut every dish Asha served herself into bite-sized pieces, bore all that trouble without showing off once.

The family’s eyes moved busily seeing the youngest, who they thought lived carelessly, display consideration like a perfect gentleman.

Carol keenly sensed the unsettled atmosphere but didn’t bother reacting. It was better to attend to his friend’s meal than worry about his family’s attention.

Even though it required moving his hands several times, it wasn’t bothersome but even enjoyable.

Asha accepted that kindness a bit awkwardly but willingly, showing a slight smile. When her naturally gentle face crumbled with pure affection, it sparkled like first snow in sunlight.

At least in Carol’s eyes.

A pure white carpet that glittered grain by grain on a clear day.

That child resembled the surface of the sea she claimed to be sick of seeing……

“Does it suit your taste?”

“Yeah. Mushrooms are rare in Iota, so we eat them maybe two or three times a year at most. I didn’t know they could be eaten this way. It’s delicious.”

“Really?”

“Would I fake finding it delicious? Don’t you like it?”

“No, I like it too. Um, actually I eat it often so I don’t think much about it.”

“It’s like cherries to me then.”

Though it was trivial conversation, it had a strange quality that made you want to listen. Perhaps it was because she was a rare foreigner in Kasoche.

They thought he was still a child inside even though he’d grown taller than the second son, but his way of taking care of the person next to him looked quite dignified. Maybe it was because the child he’d brought as a friend was too small……

Masa swallowed the carefully grilled mushrooms from the kitchen in one bite while watching the two children approaching adulthood.

The other family members were the same, so that persistence wasn’t particularly noticeable. Only Carol was inwardly displeased, thinking ‘Why are they acting like that?’

Whether unaware of that annoyance or not, the eldest son who had been quietly moving his knife spoke up.

“So, Miss Asha?”

“Yes, Mr. Bati.”

“Miss Asha is, well…… cute, right?”

“Pardon?”

“Brother, have you lost it?”

It was something embarrassing to hear as an evaluation from someone he met for the first time. While Asha, who had put down the fork she was about to put in her mouth, just blinked, Carol wholeheartedly scrunched his face and objected.

“You don’t even go out these days, why are you acting like this…… No, is it because you don’t go out?”

“Carol, what kind of way is that to talk to your brother?”

“No, Mom. Then is what he said……”

Normal?

Asha felt like she heard the end of the sentence Carol couldn’t complete.

Even for Asha, who had spent nineteen years as grandfather’s beloved youngest granddaughter, Bati’s expression was bewildering.

Not ‘how cute’ or ‘don’t you think she’s cute?’ but ‘she’s cute, right?’ If she had brazenly responded ‘Yes, I suppose I am,’ that would have been good, but Asha wasn’t thick-skinned enough for that.

While Asha pondered her answer, the eldest who looked nothing like his youngest brother casually added.

“Carol and others couldn’t take their eyes off you. I wondered why, and it’s because our village doesn’t have such small, um, people like this.”

He wasn’t insensitive enough to say ‘small’ to someone’s face, but it was as good as having said it.

Asha, who was wondering whether to get angry or laugh it off with a grin, asked back with suspicious eyes.

“So, Mr. Bati, you think I’m cute?”

“More than the youngest who’s tall as a beanpole?”

“Bati, what are you saying in front of Sha……”

“Cas is cute too.”

The guest who had been quiet but became serious whenever Carol was mentioned emphasized again.