Side Story 7
Sibling.
When Nova first heard that word, her immediate feeling was rejection. She still wanted to be Mama and Papa’s one and only baby a little longer.
But more than holding onto that wish, she had to first confirm whether she really was in danger of having to rule over that enormous land.
“Ah, Papa. Nova needs to ask Papa!”
Could that really be why Papa always woke up early, even when the snow was falling thick outside?
Why, on cold days, he told her, Nova, stay inside and play, then led the knights to go hunt monsters?
“That’s right.”
“Huuhk…!”
“There’s a lot to be done because there are so many people in the territory.”
And in this area, too, Izar was just like his subordinates, completely incapable of speaking in a roundabout way.
Perhaps, as someone who was a great lord down to his very bones, he would never be able to.
“But Nova, all of that is yours too.”
“Uuugh…”
And in truth, if no other children were born between him and Freesia, the chances of it being so would only grow.
If there was one thing nobles took innate pride in, it was the assets they could pass on to their children.
It was also a form of expressing love, and in that regard, Izar was confident he could show his daughter more than enough.
But Nova stared at Izar with wide, empty eyes and a look of disbelief.
“Papa. How can a person live like that…?”
“……”
Izar was at a loss for words at his daughter’s desperate question, her face full of the weight of the world.
Well, how did one live like that?
He’d lived that way since before he even knew what it meant to grow up, so he knew no other kind of life.
When Papa’s response came a beat too late, Nova gasped more deeply and clutched both cheeks in horror.
“Then when will Nova play with Mama and Papa? When will we eat together?”
“Of course we still can. Just like we do now.”
“No, no… Nova doesn’t think we can…”
Nova looked like she might burst into tears at the slightest poke, trembling.
“Nova can’t do it alone… Papa, Nova—”
Feeling guilty toward Izar, who was always generous with her, Nova blinked with tear-filled eyes.
Everyone around her praised her as being smart, so she had believed it. But she hadn’t imagined the world could be so cruel to someone as young as she was.
Crushed by the first true sense of defeat in her life, Nova confessed her truth to Papa.
“Sorry…! Nova’s not a genius, Papa…!”
“……”
“Uhhuhuuk…! Sniff, huuhhk.”
Izar couldn’t think of a single soothing thing to say in response to his daughter’s hopeless confession.
Instead, he simply let her cry, resting her tear-and-snot-streaked face against his shoulder, gently patting her back.
Once again, he returned to the fundamental question that had circled his mind like a loop so many times.
‘Who on earth does this child take after?’
Maybe in looks, sure.
But even when he was young, Electra had complained endlessly that his way of expressing himself was too blunt. So this tender interior definitely didn’t come from him.
‘Then did she take after Freesia?’
If that little shepherd girl, who used to whack sheep between the eyes with her staff, had grown up not caring for her mad mother alone, but receiving nothing but love from head to toe…
If she had lived a smooth and happy life, would she have been able to express her emotions so vividly?
‘That’s something I’ll never know.’
And yet, after her tearful breakdown, a new determination began to bud in Nova’s heart.
‘No way!’
At this rate, she really would end up ruling that vast land all by herself.
Before the time came when she had less time to play and nap with Mama and Papa, she needed to come up with a solution.
And hadn’t she already heard a hint of that solution while talking to Daphir Berenice?
〈Unless you have a younger sibling, that is.〉
Sibling…
Yes. What Nova needed was a sibling.
A sibling she could one day share her duties with!
* * *
Just as Izar sometimes sighed and said, I have no idea what that daughter of mine is thinking.
Freesia, too, had to agree that Nova’s thoughts were truly impossible to predict.
“Mama! Nova’s gonna sleep alone tonight.”
“Hmm? Why?”
At her daughter’s sudden declaration of independence in the middle of the night, Freesia sat up with a start, like a startled bird.
She had come fully prepared to play the part of a proper lady and model mother, having brought a whole armful of fairy tale books to read to Nova tonight.
“Didn’t you like sleeping with Mama? You said you missed me.”
“Nova did…! Nova does, but!”
When Freesia widened her eyes and gave her a wounded expression, Nova’s face wavered and she glanced away slightly, shrinking back.
To be sure, sleeping with Mama and Papa felt like becoming a hibernating rabbit family, which was nice, but…
〈Uncle, Nova is in big trouble. Really big trouble. Uncle, I need your help.〉
〈Hm? What is it, Nova.〉
〈How does Nova get a younger sibling?〉
〈……〉
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