After our unexpected three-way meeting had come to an end, we decided to spend a bit of time getting acquainted by touring the mansion together.
When Lyriette thumped her chest and declared, "I'll be your guide!" with such bold confidence, it was almost unbearably cute.
It seemed she was rather excited to have gained a friend her own age.
"Lady Yuria, this is the balcony with the best view in the whole mansion. I've actually been spending a lot of time here myself lately."
The first place we visited was the balcony that ran through the middle of the second floor of the main building.
From here, you could take in everything from the garden to the front gate at a single glance—the open, sweeping view was truly a masterpiece.
I, too, used to come here whenever I had a lot on my mind, or when my research wasn't going well.
Lyriette proudly listed off the balcony's merits, but—
Yuria simply watched her with that same expressionless face as always, then tossed out a single remark.
"Yuria."
"Yes?"
"Just Yuria is fine."
"Ah, right. Yuria. Hehe, this is the first time I've called someone besides a servant without an honorific. It feels kind of strange."
Ah, I suppose that made sense.
Aside from the servants, everyone in this mansion was older than Lyriette.
She'd hardly ever met anyone from outside the estate.
And even if she had, they would've been guests—like Ern, who'd visited not long ago—so it would've been hard to speak so casually with them.
"Oh, right. Father also told me to show Yuria to the room she'll be using. Would you like to follow me this way?"
"Mm."
Watching the two children—who, in the original story, had been fated for such a tragic end—chatting so amiably now warmed something deep in my chest.
Lyriette went trotting off somewhere again, and the two of us followed behind her.
"Ta-da, here it is!"
The room we soon arrived at was one of the finer ones in the mansion.
Unlike the ordinary guest rooms located in the annex.
This one was reserved for the rare occasions when truly distinguished guests came to visit.
"So, Yuria? Do you like it?"
"It's really big."
"W-well, it is pretty big. But I meant more like, your impression of it, or..."
"Dunno. V."
"You're not supposed to say that so confidently!"
That "V" of hers gets used like some kind of cheat code.
I have a feeling Gritta taught her something she shouldn't have.
Still, I understood Yuria's reaction well enough.
To begin with, Yuria didn't really possess likes or dislikes.
Frankly, even if you'd shown her a half-collapsed storage shed, she probably would've reacted the same way.
That said, her eyes were opened a bit wider than usual as she looked the room over carefully—so it seemed she liked it well enough.
"Baal?"
"Hm? Did you call me?"
"Mm. Does Baal sleep here too?"
"No, I'll be sleeping in my own room."
For reference, my room was quite far from here.
Even though this was technically a room for distinguished guests, it had still been built for visitors, and so it was naturally separated from the areas used by the household.
"Why?"
"Why, you ask...?"
"Baal said he'd stay with me. Was that a lie?"
"No, it wasn't a lie, but..."
Ah, I see how that misunderstanding could arise.
I'd underestimated just how much Yuria took whatever I said at face value, like a sponge soaking up water.
"Yuria, what are you saying! Of course you sleep separately. There's a reason people say men and women shouldn't share a room, you know."
Lyriette explained on my behalf, and inwardly I thought, *Yes, well said, my dear niece!*—but then a rather complicated feeling crept in right after.
Lyriette.
Didn't you yourself sleep in the same bed as me for four whole nights not long ago?
The words rose up to my throat, but I had to swallow them back down. I couldn't say why, but something told me, instinctively, that this was not the moment to interject.
"What does 'men and women shouldn't share a room' mean?"
"It means that men and women shouldn't casually live under the same roof, or sleep in the same bed."
"Why?"
"Why, you ask... well, because that's what the sages of old have said."
"Don't get it. I'm sleeping with Baal. Is that not allowed?"
"There's no way that's allowed!"
Lyriette was being unusually stubborn about this.
If this were the Lyriette I knew, she would understand Yuria's circumstances and propose some kind of compromise. That's what I'd expected, at least.
Was she worried I might try something inappropriate with Yuria?
No, that didn't seem right either—Lyriette wasn't the type to distrust me like that.
Hm. I couldn't quite figure it out.
In any case, it seemed like I needed to step in here.
"Lyriette, calm down a moment. Raising your voice too much isn't good."
"I—I'm sorry, Uncle. I didn't mean to..."
"No, no. What you said has merit. I'm not scolding you for it, so don't worry."
I truly hadn't meant to chide Lyriette.
If anything, what she'd said was very nearly the correct, proper stance.
"I only mean to ask that you understand the situation Yuria is in."
"Her situation?"
"Yes. As I mentioned earlier, Yuria currently has nowhere else to rely on. Unlike you, she's lacking in general knowledge, and she's even unskilled at something as simple as using utensils."
"Ah..."
Lyriette seemed to recall what had happened earlier in the parlor.
How Yuria, unable to properly use a fork and knife, had tried to pull apart the apple pie with her bare hands, and how I'd been so startled that I'd cut the pie for her instead.
"You're such a clever child that you manage everything on your own even without me, so it might be hard for you to understand—but such circumstances do exist in this world. Do you understand what I mean?"
"...Yes, Uncle. I'm sorry. I was too hasty."
"I told you not to worry about it. It's not your fault."
To begin with, Lyriette and Yuria's circumstances were different enough to be called near opposites.
They shared the small commonality of both having been rejected by their parents at some point, but beyond that, everything else about them differed as much as their appearances.
Lyriette, born into one of the most distinguished noble houses in the Empire, had grown up learning nearly all the basics of education.
Yuria, born into one of the poorest commoner households, couldn't even write properly, let alone claim any basic education.
In other words, since they knew so little of each other, understanding one another wouldn't come easily.
And what I needed to do, I supposed, was help narrow the gap between these two children.
"So let's do this—Yuria will stay in my room only until she's able to live properly on her own. Does that sound fair?"
"Yeah."
Hm, she still looks a bit uneasy about this.
Is there still something she doesn't like about it?
Just to be sure, I asked again, but Lyriette shook her head, insisting she was really fine with it.
Maybe it had just been my imagination.
"Yuria, while we're at it, there's something I'd like to tell you too."
"What?"
"Even though I've agreed to serve as your guardian and mentor, I don't intend to raise you under my wing forever. In the end, everyone must eventually learn to stand on their own."
"Stand on my own?"
Her reaction wasn't so much a question of *why* she needed to do such a thing, but more like she didn't understand the meaning of the phrase itself.
So, just as I did with Lyriette, I bent my knees slightly to bring myself to eye level with her, turned my body a little to the side to gesture at Lyriette, and continued speaking in a soothing tone.
"Right. For example, look at Lyriette here in front of you. She can cut her own apple pie, and just now, she guided you through the mansion all by herself, didn't she?"
"Yeah."
"She even goes out on her own in the morning with a wooden sword to train. No one tells her to—she's simply capable of acting on her own like that. That's what I mean when I say you'll need to become like that someday, too."
"Understood."
She wasn't the type of child to say things she didn't mean, so this was surely a genuine acknowledgment.
Touched, I reached out and patted Yuria's head.
I thought I heard a faint sigh from behind me, but that was probably just my imagination.
"Then for the time being, you'll stay with me, but once you're able to manage on your own without trouble, you'll come live in this room. Sound good?"
"Yeah. But how long can I keep sleeping with Baal?"
"That depends on you. If you manage to live independently soon, you can move to this room whenever you like. If not, then I'll take care of you until then."
Yuria fell silent for a moment, as if deep in thought.
She hummed a strange, indistinct sound, stalling for time, before finally saying—
"Okay. Once Yuria can live on her own, I'll come to this room."
—with that same trademark expressionless face, uttering such a sensible thing.
Ah, what a good listener.
If every child in the world were this obedient, parents everywhere would have far fewer headaches.
There was no way Yuria would find it too difficult to live on her own for years and years, surely.
At most, it would take a year, I told myself confidently—more likely, around half a year.
Right now, it was probably just like preschoolers or young grade-schoolers—
they simply didn't want to leave their guardian's side to fall asleep, that was all.
Even a girl without emotions like Yuria still felt some instinctive sense of unease, it seemed.
This was quite the discovery.
"Good girl. Then how about we try it as a test tonight—see if you can sleep alone just this once? You might even find it more comfortable than you expect."
"Just today?"
"Yes, just today."
"That much, I can try."
"Good girl."
"Yeah, Yuria is a good girl."
At times like this, she wears this subtly confident expression that's just too cute.
Though it's kind of funny to think that if I told her, "Yuria, you're a bad girl," she'd probably just say, "Yeah, Yuria is a bad girl," with the same proud look.
Anyway, it seemed the matter had more or less been settled for now.
"Lyriette, I'll explain the situation to your father on your behalf. So don't worry too much about it, alright?"
"Thank you, Uncle."
"Now then, shall we head to the next place? Lead the way, please."
"Please do. Lyriette."
"Yes! Just follow me, please."
Yuria had probably just been echoing my words out of habit, without any deeper meaning behind it.
But upon hearing that, Lyriette's expression brightened considerably, and she began walking down the hallway ahead of us with a proud smile.
"......?"
But why did she keep glancing back over her shoulder like that?
It didn't seem like she was looking at me—more like she was looking at Yuria.
I checked to see if there was something on Yuria's face, but it was perfectly clean.
Maybe she was just looking because Yuria seemed cute, like a little sister.
***
Night came unusually early to House Argent today.
A little past ten, the lights across the estate went out one by one, and by the time it was past eleven, only the faint sound of breathing echoed through one particular room.
"Mm..."
Baal, tossing and turning in his sleep, wrapped his arms around whatever was lying beside him.
Creak...
As if in response to that very signal, the bedroom door swung open at the same time with a faint sound.
*He's already asleep, I guess.*
The unexpected visitor at this odd hour was none other than Lyriette.
Clutching a pillow from her own room and dressed in her pajamas, she had infiltrated Baal's bedroom in the dead of night, moving toward the bed while doing her utmost to suppress any sound of her presence.
*It's fine. If he asks, I'll just say I got up to use the bathroom in my sleep and accidentally ended up falling asleep here.*
Lyriette calmly prepared an excuse in advance, in case Baal woke up the next morning and asked her to explain herself.
She had no idea that, little by little, she was becoming the very "bad child" she'd once claimed to despise.
Of course, there was still some chance Baal might wake up in the middle of it.
But if he'd already fallen asleep by the time she arrived, she guessed that—given his personality—he wouldn't deliberately wake her up.
She'd calculated even this far ahead. Truly, it was the perfect scheme.
"Hehe..."
Proving that, despite being a "bad child," her heart hadn't truly turned wicked—
a purely innocent giggle escaped Lyriette's lips as she gazed down at the sleeping Baal.
Now all that was left was to carefully slip into his embrace without waking him, and drift comfortably off to sleep.
Creeping forward on all fours like a cat, she cast her gaze over his broad back—
"...Mm?"
Lyriette's body froze in place.
She rubbed her eyes with both hands, again and again, wondering if they were deceiving her.
And with good reason, for—
"Hi."
She'd locked eyes with Yuria, who was staring right at her with crimson eyes glowing like some kind of night cat.
Why on earth was she here?
She was certain that, around nine o'clock earlier, she'd run into Yuria by chance on the way back from the bathroom, and confirmed she'd been heading toward her own room.
"Y-Yuria...!? Why are you here?"
"To sleep with Baal."
"That's exactly what I'm asking you to explain...!"
Lyriette raised her voice as much as she dared, all while doing her best not to wake Baal.
But Yuria remained as unhurried as ever.
Without so much as a flicker of expression, she simply tilted her head, unbothered.
"Don't know why. I just wanted to sleep with Baal."
"Weren't we supposed to test out sleeping separately tonight?"
"Mm. That's right."
"Then don't tell me you're not keeping your promise to Uncle?"
"What's a promise?"
"......"
Was she really going to have to explain this from the very beginning?
For the first time in her life, Lyriette felt as though she'd hit a wall.
"I—it means that when a person says something, they should follow through on it."
"Really? Then Yuria won't do that promise thing."
Was there really a person in this world who could speak the word "promise" so lightly, and cancel it so freely on a whim?
Even when canceling a restaurant reservation, one usually gave some kind of reason.
Lyriette felt not just baffled, but a strange sense of hollow defeat.
"Then that's no good. Uncle will be disappointed, you know?"
"Disappointed? Baal, throw Yuria away?"
"N-no, I didn't mean he'd throw you away, but..."
No matter how much Lyriette viewed Yuria as a rival, she was, at heart, a kind person.
Knowing Yuria's circumstances, she inwardly scolded herself for speaking so carelessly and hurried to take her words back.
"Then why did Lyriette come here?"
"What?"
"Lyriette also came to Baal's room. Why? Yuria was told not to come."
"T-that's..."
Unintentionally, the tables had turned, giving Yuria the perfect counterattack.
And Lyriette, flustered, belatedly realized she wasn't so different from Yuria after all.
"I—I actually... wanted to sleep with Uncle too."
If she'd been dealing with someone else, she might have gotten away with a lie.
But against Yuria's pure honesty, something told her that wouldn't be right, so Lyriette bowed her head and confessed the truth.
"Really? Then let's all sleep together."
"...What?"
But Yuria's response was nothing like what she'd expected.
To begin with, Lyriette had been mistaken about something all along.
Yuria was only honest about her own desires—she simply didn't concern herself with others.
In other words, she also found nothing strange about other people being honest about their own desires.
If Lyriette wanted to sleep with Baal,
and Yuria also wanted to sleep with Baal,
then why not just have all three of them sleep together?
That seemed to be the kind of logic her thought process ran on.
"Lyriette should try this too. It's comfy."
"T-that much, I already know."
Yuria demonstrated by resting her head on Baal's arm as if showing her the way, and Lyriette pouted her lips.
For some reason, it wounded her pride a little.
It felt as though Yuria was saying, *You don't know about this, do you?*
"Has Lyriette ever slept with Baal before?"
"Of course. I slept with Uncle far earlier than you did—for four whole nights, no less!"
"I see. Then let's do this."
"Do what?"
Without even realizing that she'd already ruled out the option of simply taking Yuria out of the room, Lyriette watched Yuria's actions closely.
Yuria used her small hands to fiddle with Baal, straightening out his back—which had been curled to the side—flat against the mattress.
His face turned toward the ceiling, and his arms spread wide open, forming two perfectly comfortable pillows.
"Ta-da."
"Wow, amazing, Yuria...!"
As Yuria finished her handiwork, echoing Lyriette's earlier tone, Lyriette clapped softly in admiration.
With this, the three of them could sleep together without any trouble at all.
"Thank you, Yuria. Shall we sleep now, then?"
"Mm."
The trio settled in naturally, side by side.
Lyriette, resting her head on Baal's arm, turned slightly and leaned her face into his chest.
This warmth.
This scent.
It had only been a few days, but without it, she'd felt so terribly lonely and worn down.
As if savoring the sense of security now filling her chest, she took a deep breath.
Then, suddenly, a question crossed her mind.
It was something that had occurred to her while listening to their earlier conversation.
"...Um, but Yuria, there's something I wanted to ask you."
"What?"
"Earlier, Uncle said that once Yuria could live properly on her own, from then on she'd have her own room."
"Mm. He did say that."
"You're not... planning to break that promise too, are you?"
Her heart was pounding.
She was both curious and anxious about what answer Yuria might give.
"I'll keep it."
"R-really?"
"Mm."
But the reply came so plainly, so clearly, that it was almost anticlimactic—and somehow, that only left her more flustered.
She'd keep it?
Truly?
*Then all I need to do is help Yuria become independent as quickly as possible... right?*
Lyriette silently expressed her joy at this unexpected piece of news and began reconsidering her plans for the future—
But then, a sudden wave of unease swept over her, and her body trembled faintly.
"...Yuria, I'm just asking to make sure, but—"
"Mm?"
"You're not planning to say you'll keep the promise, while never actually learning anything, and use that as an excuse to keep living with Uncle forever... are you?"
The reason for her concern lay in the exact wording of the promise Baal and Yuria had made.
The promise had been this:
*Once Yuria can live on her own, they'll use separate rooms.*
But then, conversely, what would happen if that day never came?
If Yuria simply stayed glued to Baal's side forever, keeping that same state indefinitely?
Technically, that would still count as keeping the promise.
And what if, in the worst-case scenario, Yuria herself was fully aware of that fact?
"......"
"......Yuria?"
When there was no answer for quite some time, Lyriette leaned her head out past Baal's shoulder, which separated the two of them.
Yuria's eyes met hers, and she stared back at Lyriette for a long moment before—
"V."
—and with that single word, she closed her eyes.
*Just as I thought!*
Cursing herself for having, even for a moment, mistaken this girl for an ally rather than a rival, Lyriette had no choice but to grind her teeth in frustration.
