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“Shione’s toy that she played with while I was away.”

The arrow, imbued with a flickering, pure white light, burst forth the moment it escaped from the blanket, its seal.

As if to purify the filth and dirt seeping into the world. It erupted with a brilliance more dazzling than sunlight.

“What is this—”

Thanks to me having my eyes wide open, unlike Shione who had immediately closed hers the moment I drew the arrow, I got a taste of the terrifying flash that seemed to want to dig into my eyes. Even with my eyes shut, the entire world felt white, and I couldn’t understand why such a dazzling arrow was being created in our room.

“You can open your eyes now. The magic is all gone.”

Perhaps because the flash that had been touching my eyelids vanished, I finally saw the dark walls of my eyelids. However, I did not dare to open my eyes immediately.

You see, our mischievous little Shione has quite the playfulness. If I let my guard down, she might unleash another flash that only I would suffer from.

So, I resolutely kept my eyes closed and waited. Eventually, after Shione tucked the arrow safely inside the blanket, she informed me that the situation had come to an end.

“Hehe, surprised, weren’t you?”

As I opened my eyes, what I saw was Shione, wearing a satisfied smirk, clearly enjoying my reaction.

I was so taken by the glowing blanket that I hadn’t noticed the state of the bedding—it was a complete mess compared to usual.

It seemed that when she had first conjured up the light, she got temporarily blinded by its strength and rolled around on the bed.

Thus, I had no choice but to ask our little prankster Shione.

“…Why, exactly, were you setting off such flashes in the room?”

“I thought it would be more useful to get used to a simpler yet more effective kind of magic rather than combining difficult spells. I figured that using a flash like this to block vision and shoot arrows could be a neat idea.”

“Quite effective, indeed.”

“Right? By layering amplification and sustaining effects over light, it became an arrow like the one just now. I think it turned out pretty well.”

“Not just pretty well. I was just a breath away from rolling around on the bed like you, you know. At that brightness, it would surely work outdoors even in broad daylight.”

“Hehe, if Ray says it’s that good, then it’s a huge success, right?”

As Shione said that, she slyly leaned closer to me, resting her tiny head gently on my shoulder. A soft fragrance wafted from her, tickling my nose.

But then, as she looked up at me with a frozen expression, that calmness was far from her demeanor.

“…Wait, how did you know I rolled around on the bed?”

“The bed is a wreck. If it wasn’t you rolling around, then there’s just no way it could get like this.”

Shione’s face turned bright red, as if the embarrassment of her own magic being exposed was too much to bear. To hide her face in shame, she buried it into my chest and cuddled up for a while.

Though it appeared more like a clever way for her to handle her embarrassment. With the growing comfort of our embrace, it took a little longer for her to finally pull away from me.

After we had finished goofing around, and the light from the arrow faded, Shione finally asked about the time spent with Bronte.

“It seemed to take quite a while. You shared more than just makeup tips, didn’t you?”

“Of course.”

While conversing with a member of the maids, I had gained insights into names and information about my successor that weren’t available in the evaluations.

This provided me a chance to consider new clues and the maids’ persuasive methods. Bronte had done a decent job in this regard.

I relayed everything I had learned without holding back to Shione.

“I heard the name of a retainer who may have been colluding with the head maid.”

“…Who?”

“Piana Trilla. I saw her having a somewhat awkward conversation with the head maid when she visited the shooting range the other day.”

One of the retainers most fervently engaged in breaking Shione’s will, her name caused a chilly breeze in Shione’s sapphire eyes.

“If Piana was behind such underhanded schemes with the head maid and then came to see me…”

Her words drifted like a cold winter sea breeze, hinting at the controlled fury within her.

“It would be much better for the Count’s House if such shamelessness just disappeared altogether.”

Shione’s animosity towards Piana was quite palpable.

I nodded in agreement with her words.

Among the retainers working under Sion, there was certainly no one else held in such poor regard.

Robert, another of Sion’s retainers who had openly disregarded both propriety and finesse, had visibly aged as he dealt with Piana. His gaze towards her carried the weight of one enduring a headache.

Although I’d heard that her influence stemmed more from her wealth than her reputation, it seemed she wasn’t really favored within her own faction for various reasons.

“I’ll need to ask Lady Diolia for help this time as well. Can you look into Piana Trilla?”

Given the relationships involved with the retainers, I turned to Diolia, who had been rooted in the Count’s House much longer than I and held considerable influence.

If she could gather meaningful evidence, tying clues and evidence together to reveal a scandal could lead to Piana’s crushing loss of honor among the nobility.

So, after discussing my new successor and once Shione’s anger towards Piana calmed, I decided to pose a question to her.

“Shione, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Aside from the wrongdoings of the Count’s House in the past, you are aware of where Herrel is presently, right?”

“……”

“After this matter is resolved, could I hear what kind of future you hope to create?”

Shione briefly closed her tiny mouth, lost in thought.

As her softly closed eyes opened again and her blue gaze met mine, she spoke.

“I want to invite Herrel back to the family when it’s all over. Of course, not forcibly; only if the nurse wants it.”

In her eyes were feelings of longing and guilt, mixed with the tiniest tinge of anger.

“After my father passed away when I was young, it was Herrel who showed me affection and guided me. In a way, she could be called my other parent.”

The head of the Count’s House had passed away when Shione was still a child, leaving behind her father.

Ainel had always been consumed by work, only able to show her face during dinner time. Due to her father’s absence, Shione lacked precious moments with her family, making Herrel the mother she could turn to.

Having grown up with the unconditional love comparable to that of one’s parents, Shione remembered how Herrel had cared for her as if she were her own daughter.

“I know it’s far too late, but if I can resolve things from back then and see Herrel again—”

Thus, Shione wished.

“I want to thank her for caring for me more than anyone else, and I want to apologize for not realizing how much she endured.”

To have the time to talk again with Herrel.

She added that it felt as if her remaining burdens from the past would finally be lifted. It would allow her to run forward, without hesitation, into the future, conquering the long marathon with the first step crushed underfoot without regrets.

‘So this is what the quest reward called realization was about.’

Realization often blooms from deep reflections on martial arts.

It can arise from the transformation of one’s mindset into acceptance and readiness. It seeps into a defined and clarified state of mind, built from the changes in the world surrounding them.

It seemed Shione’s realization was set to grow from her personal maturity.

“I mean, I had similar realizations before.”

Even when Sion had come to the shooting range.

She’d resolved to shed her inept older sister persona and pushed herself to showcase her worth, earning applause while becoming a role model for every soldier.

“And… if it’s Herrel, shouldn’t you introduce Ray as my fiancé as well?”

Trying to lighten up the serious mood with a smile and a tease, Shione caught on to her own joke, and I quickly responded.

“To say fiancé, we haven’t even stamped the marriage registration papers yet — we haven’t even seen the forms.”

“…Does a piece of paper really matter? What’s important is that Ray, you’ve already made a significant mark on me.”

“……?”

Where did she learn such devilishly bold words? Shione hit me hard with that cheeky expression.

She was definitely someone I needed to protect. But wasn’t she growing up too fast?

“Don’t look at it that way. Just kiss already.”

“What did you just say—”

“Getting sentimental makes me want to kiss you.”

In the end, it was only after my lips were about to burst that I was freed.

*

The Count’s House was bustling.

Within the estate where those who do not live as people shuffled about like zombies, there were officials dragging themselves in exhaustion, and servants energetically sprinting around, all complaining of sore muscles.

The atmosphere wasn’t loud, but beneath the surface, the Count’s House was even busier than during the inspection, unified under a single goal.

“They’re really dropping like flies.”

The princess, Adelhaite Aisiliah.

About a week before she arrived to the Count’s House, she brought with her not just her attendants, but a significant number of high-ranking members from the royal family as well.

“Ray, as a comrade, would you grant me one request?”

“A request, you say?”

“Please hit me hard on the head with that sheath.”

“…Is that permissible?”

“I’m terribly sorry to Lady Siabel, who is still hard at work, but I’m sick and tired of this pile of documents. No matter how much work there is, if my head gets cracked, Lady Siabel will let me rest, right?”

Bronte’s curly mustache, which had lost its sheen due to overwork, looked quite sad.

On some day in late summer.

 

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