Chapter 27: Fun.

After returning home, I crossed paths with Mary-June several times, but she never once spoke to me.
Normally she would have bounded over with that innocent smile, completely oblivious to whatever was in my heart, yet it seemed even she wasn’t childish enough to beam carefree smiles on the very same day something like that had happened.

To be honest, after everything I had said, I had been terrified that not a single word would reach her.
The fact that she was at least thinking about it brought a measure of relief.
At the same time, I couldn’t shake the unease that she might have interpreted it in some completely sideways way.

Dinner was over, the bath was finished; all that remained was to sleep.
I returned to my room.
Just the fact that Mary-June wasn’t trying to talk to me already lightened my heart considerably, but of course my own room was still the most relaxing place of all.
True, there was always the chance someone might suddenly visit, but as long as Marin was there to help if needed, my shoulders could finally drop.

I sank into the plush sofa, and the moment I did, a steaming cup was already waiting on the low table; our eyes met as I looked up to say thank you.

“Violet-sama, did something good happen today?”

“Eh…?”

The words slipped from Marin’s lips in an unusually gentle tone—something I myself had been entirely unaware of.
Taken off guard, I could only blink blankly, and Marin smiled as though to say, You really hadn’t noticed?

“You seemed in especially fine spirits today. Even when you came home, your expression looked softer than usual.”

“Was it… really?”

I hadn’t noticed at all, but if Marin said so, then it was probably true.
There are things only an outsider can see, after all.
That didn’t mean the reason came to me immediately, though.

If I looked back on today… frankly, it had been dense enough that I should have been utterly exhausted.
Most days the only noteworthy event was talking with Yulan, yet today I had even made a new acquaintance.
Speaking with Mary-June at the academy—our supposed place of rest beyond home—could hardly be called a mood-lifter.

I let the warmth of the steam brush my lips and flipped through the pages of memory.
Classes ended, I went to Yulan’s classroom.
Being able to speak with Yulan’s friend had made me happy, but it still wasn’t enough to call “good spirits.”

The moment that felt like it fit came afterward.

“…It might really have been something good.”

I could no longer recall the taste of the tea I drank with that beautiful prince.
I remembered it was delicious, but an even stronger memory had seared itself over it.

Still, while it had been a good thing, I wasn’t sure it was the reason for any cheerfulness.
If anything, it felt closer to relief.

Then what on earth was the cause?
The only other memory that stood out was…

“…Because I made plans with Yulan, perhaps.”

“With Master Yulan?”

“Yes. We’re going out together after school tomorrow.
I’ve never really stopped anywhere on the way home before, so I suppose I got a little excited.”

Strictly speaking, I had “stopped somewhere” in the past.
There were the times I drank tea with the young ladies who used to swarm around me in shops far too extravagant for students, the times I summoned personal shoppers to those stores, the times I reserved VIP rooms.
But none of those had been outings with friends as far as I was concerned.
It might have looked like I was the one leading a flock of hangers-on, but in truth it was all for show—hospitality to keep them from drifting away.
I spent money partly as a jab at my family, but none of it ever brought me joy or pleasure.

Those were obligations, not entertainment.
A kind of compulsion.

I could never put something like that on the same level as going out with Yulan.

We hadn’t decided where we were going or what we would do—nothing at all.
But that hardly mattered.
Just the change in companion made every past experience feel like a completely different thing wearing the same name.
The original purpose had been an apology, but once the day slipped by, that became nothing more than a pretext.

“Goodness, I truly didn’t realize how much I was looking forward to it until you pointed it out… fufu.”

Looking forward to it… yes, I was looking forward to it.
I hadn’t noticed until someone said it out loud, probably because the feeling was already so natural to me.

Perhaps because I was raised in an environment that constantly squeezed me tight, the air had always felt thin.
No matter how desperately I breathed, a crushing weight sat on my chest and never lifted; even beside Marin, simply being on Varhan grounds made my whole body tense.

When I was with Yulan, those chains felt like nothing more than a low fence.
What I had believed were restraints were merely an enclosure—still there, never disappearing, but no longer possessing the strength to pin me down.
They could only block my path, nothing more.

Once I came home, the fence turned back into chains, yet even the tiniest visible sliver of freedom was enough to save my heart.

“So I might be a little late coming home tomorrow, but please don’t worry.”

“Understood… Violet-sama.”

“…Hm?”

“…Please enjoy yourself.”

“Yes… thank you.”

Hidden inside her smile was an emotion too complicated for words.
If I had to force a label onto it, relief came closest.

Complicated when felt, yet simple when spoken:
I hope you enjoy yourself.

The earnestness, the quiet desperation folded into those words—
even Violet, I suspect, would never fully grasp their depth.