Volume 4 Chapter 9 Part 5 (2/2)

“Is that not fine?” seemingly asking that Juri looked towards me. I wasn’t against it. However, the one who had the final right to decide wasn’t me, but the boy next to me who was sitting immovingly with his hood on. I looked down at the boy. He slowly got up while holding a water bottle in one hand. I thought he was heading towards Juri, but he passed by him without paying him any attention and finally stopped right at the entrance to the passage.

「… There’s no more herbal tea, so I’ll go get water from the spring.」

「Oh my, is that so? Then, please do.」

He nodded at my words and disappeared into the passage. Juri sent him off with my eyes, let out a big sigh and sat down while messing with his hair.

「Hey, big sister. It’s natural but… He’s angry after all, isn’t he?」

「No, I don’t think he is. He’s just not honest.」

「S’ that so?」

「Yes. If it wasn’t like that, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to specifically bring water.」

After all, there was one more bottle of water. There was enough left for two people, but not enough for three. The fact he went to the spring to get water meant that he wanted to eat together with Juri. He had already forgiven Juri a long time ago.

As I told Juri about that, he went「Heee」, nodded while being impressed and muttered.

「He’s troublesome.」

「Fufu, that’s right. I can’t deny it.」

「Big sister, don’t they tell you that you’re weird?」

「Hmm, I wonder.」

I’d already exposed my bad taste at the time I chose that boy, that man, to be my husband, but I didn’t know whether it could be called「weird」. I stopped smiling and asked Juri a question which had been on my mind for a while.

「Hey, Juri. Aren’t you afraid of the pure black hair?」

It was a question I definitely couldn’t ask in front of the boy —— no, even in front of the man. Bewildered, Juri blinked his blue eyes and looked up at me. They were straightforward eyes. He was looking at me with those eyes, which were so straightforward they were a bit scary. Then he narrowed those beautiful blue eyes the colour of the sea in surprise.

「Why should I be afraid?」

Having my question strangely answered with a question, I was at a loss for words. Not minding me, Juri proceeded to rummage through the insides of the bag. He took out beautiful red-yellow fruit from the bag and unreservedly put them down on top of the magic square.

「Rejecting black hair also means rejecting the governess.」

After the fruit, he took out a package with skewers he got at the stalls. He said that with a calm voice while putting the still-warm skewers down next to the fruit. I blinked in bewilderment at the unexpected mention of the woman.

「What do you mean by rejecting lady Leticiela?」

I had no idea. But, I see. Being wary of pure black hair – or just black hair in general – meant also rejecting lady Leticiela, who also had partially black hair.

「I like the governess, so I don’t want to do that. She’s amazing. She became the governess when she was 10, took over supervision over both trade and tourism and step by step implemented new policies. People say that thanks to that the island flourishes more than during the previous governor’s reign. Why would I fear a governess like this?」

Juri finished taking things out from the bag and looked up at my face.

「Big sister too, likes that guy and isn’t afraid of his black hair. Isn’t that right?」

「—— yes, that’s right」

That’s right. That was exactly it. It was a simple thing and in the end that was it. I laughed at the answer which I came to without even needing to think deeply and Juri tilted his head questioningly as he couldn’t understand why I was laughing. Right at that moment the boy came out of the passage.

「….. What are you talking about?」

Juri smiled meaningfully at the boy who was looking at us curiously.

「Hm? We were talking about how much big sister loves you.」

「!」

Even in the dim light I could clearly see the boy’s face turning red. Because of that, I started blushing too. Juri laughed.

「S-so let’s start the lunch.」

「Yay! I’ve been waiting to eat big sister’s homemade food!」

「…. You can just eat what you’ve brought.」

「Eh, don’t monopolize it.」

「Yes, yes. Both of you stop. Let’s share and eat together.」

The lunchtime which started like this, was the most memorable one so far. Let me just say, it was quite fun.