Chapter 54
While worrying about Father, who had collapsed to his knees, Roa-sama explained the circumstances one by one.
"So... in other words, since our family was about to be framed, this was a countermeasure. And even then, the two of you already had feelings for each other, at least to some extent..."
Father somehow pulled himself together and weakly voiced his thoughts as he tried to understand the situation.
"Yes. Lapiria and I wanted to carry on Reiz-sama's will and prioritize securing peace. So we planned to discuss matters like this after everything was over."
"I see..."
"I would like to ask your permission to marry Lapiria."
Roa-sama bowed to Father.
Father shook his head slightly.
"I have no reason to oppose it at this point. Besides, judging by your mother's and grandfather's reactions, the rest of the family is already on board, aren't they?"
Mother denied Father's assertion.
"Oh, that's not true. Grandfather and I are fully in agreement, but you are the current head of the Zodiac family. We have no intention of disregarding your wishes."
Mother smiled, in contrast to Father's sour expression.
"As I said, I have no reason to oppose it. If the other party is Roa=Stein-dono, it would be the best possible match. As head of the Zodiac family, I approve."
"Thank you."
Roa-sama bowed deeply once more, and with that, the formalities were complete.
"Now, today is a day for celebration. Wickhart-sama, could you bring the other close aides waiting in town? I've prepared plenty of food."
"Understood. I shall."
Wickhart-sama promptly left after receiving Mother's request.
"Now then, I have various preparations to make, so I'll excuse myself. Would you chat among yourselves for a while?"
Hearing Mother, I raised my hand energetically. Now was my chance.
"Um, I'd like to hear about the Battle of Haksha!"
Grandfather tilted his head and asked, "Haksha? Not Femas?" but agreed to my request, while Father replied, "Do as you like."
"You know, this may not be suitable conversation before a meal."
I protested to Older Sister:
"It's fine! I definitely want to hear it!"
Older Sister finally gave in.
Hooray. I did a little dance of joy inside.
In fact, I had secretly begun writing a story starring Roa-sama. It wasn't anything polished enough to show anyone; it was simply a story for my own enjoyment.
I gathered information mainly from the butlers and Grandfather, and learned that Roa-sama's first great achievement had been the Battle of Haksha.
But compared with the siege of Hockeharun Fortress and the Battle of Zetta Plains, few people knew much about the Battle of Haksha. So I had been very curious about what had happened there.
"Haksha, huh... In that case, we'd better wait until Wickhart comes back and ask his permission first."
Roa-sama said this casually. Was Wickhart-sama deeply involved in it somehow?
"That makes sense. Then let's wait until Wickhart and the others return."
Wickhart-sama, Yuisest, Meizest-sama, Sazaby-sama, and Nelfia-sama arrived. When Roa-sama brought up Haksha, Wickhart-sama replied, "Then perhaps I should tell you about it."
The account Wickhart-sama told us was indeed something we should have gotten his permission to hear, and thinking of Wickhart-sama's feelings made my heart ache.
"That is what happened, and I came to pledge my bow to Roa-dono."
By the time Wickhart-sama finished, even Father, who had seemed uninterested at first, was leaning forward. We had all been utterly absorbed in the story.
After finishing his story and taking a sip of tea, Wickhart-sama suddenly shifted his gaze to Roa-sama and Older Sister.
"Come to think of it, I heard from Lufa that the two of you first became aware of each other during Haksha?"
"What!?"
"Why are you bringing that up!?"
The two of them blushed in unison.
"Well, actually, Lufa heard something like that separately from each of you. From that, she inferred that you had become aware of each other during Haksha. I kept it to myself until now, but since your engagement is official, I thought it was all right to reveal it..."
Wickhart-sama said it matter-of-factly, but his eyes had the look of someone whose prank had succeeded.
Putting Wickhart-sama's prank aside,
"Tell me more!"
Older Sister's flustered "Reary!?" was adorable when I eagerly latched onto the subject.
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Early the next morning, I forced myself to get up, and after confirming that the weather was fine, went into the garden carrying my writing supplies.
When the weather is nice, I always write at the garden table.
At an hour when even the gardeners hadn't arrived, I picked up my pen with a determined "All right."
After some time, while I was deeply focused, a voice from behind me said, "That's quite something," startling me so badly I nearly jumped out of my skin.
When I turned around, Wickhart-sama was standing there. Looking slightly apologetic, he offered me a morning greeting.
"Actually, I happened to see Reary-san go into the garden alone. Given the hour, I came to make sure she was safe, but... that's a story about Roa-dono, isn't it?"
I hurriedly hid the pages, but it was too late.
"This is embarrassing..."
As I blushed, Wickhart-sama waved his hand and said, "Not at all."
"I called out to you several times, but you didn't notice, so although I felt a little guilty, I took a peek. I think it's a rather wonderful story."
"This isn't anything fit for other people to read..."
"No, even I can see that you have talent. Have you been writing a story about Roa-dono this whole time?"
"...Lately, yes..."
"...I see. If you don't mind, could you show me what you've written, too? I'm interested."
"What!? That's a little..."
It was far too embarrassing. I couldn't do that.
Hearing my firm refusal, Wickhart-sama thought for a moment before speaking.
"Then how about this? I don't mean to brag, but I'm one of the people who have witnessed Roa-dono's exploits most closely. I'll provide you with information. And if necessary, I can put you in touch with anyone whose story you want to hear, Reary-san. In exchange, you can show me what you've written. What do you say?"
...That was, without a doubt, an offer I could hardly have hoped for. But...
"Why would you go that far?"
"I simply thought I'd like to read a story about Roa-dono."
"You... really do?"
"Yes."
Thus, Wickhart-sama and I promised to work together to write Roa-sama's story.
I never imagined then that, after countless rewrites and additions, it would ultimately take nearly ten years to complete.