-We’re almost at Jilbeck’s Crossing.-

I blinked a few times as I realized dad was signing to me.

I smiled; it was all I could muster in my current condition.

It only been a few days since Lionheart and I had reunited and we had been on the road ever since, but things hadn’t gone has smoothly as I had hoped.

Maybe it was because I had spent so much time riding a horse and walking around instead of being inside of a carriage, I had become acquainted with something called ‘motion-sickness’.

Every bump on the road, every steep incline and every rough stop made my stomach turn and my head spin. Dad found it very strange, especially since I had experienced none of these symptoms even during the weeks we had spent on the road.

I had tried several remedies like chewing ginger roots, but it didn’t do much to help. He kept apologising for not bringing the medicine from the city along when he came to get me.

-I’m sure you’ll like it here. Count Armein is very fun and will definitely keep us entertained. I was also told that their young niece is staying over, so maybe you two can be friends?-

I simply shrugged at the notion. Friends were really at the bottom of my list of priorities right now.

I looked out the window. At least, the view was different when I looked out the windows. Much of our journey through Lowland had been through rocky hills, long grasses and spare patches of forests, but here, the trees grew thick and a dark green. They had a smell to them that I couldn’t quite describe.

When the carriage crossed the city gate, I realised just how far we had come.There weren’t any tall stone houses like Evergreen, nor were there short wooden huts present everywhere in the rest of Lowland. Here, the houses were made of long wooden beams, painted in all sorts of colour.

It was strange to say… But it gave me a similar feeling to the library at the Prnm mansion.A warm and relaxing atmosphere.

After a while, the carriage finally came to a stop.

I let out a sigh of relief as the driver opened the door and offered his hand which I accepted.

Finally back on solid ground, I stretched my legs and glanced up at our destination. It looked more like a castle than a home but instead of heavy stones, it was made entirely of wooden beams.

It was a truely impressive to look at and I couldn’t help wondering where they had found such large wood planks. Were there truly trees that tall?

After a moment of waiting a maid dressed in a burgundy and light blue outfit came to greet us. After a short exchange between my father and her, she led us inside to an elaborately decorated hall.

Waiting for us were standing the count and two women who all had pleasant smiles on their face.

I remembered dad telling me the count’s niece would be here too, but… Well neither of the girls looked like children, maybe he got her age wrong?

We walked right up to them and then all eyes fell on me.

It took me a moment to realise that, as the youngest, I was expected to initiate the greetings…

And, if I remembered Stash’s teaching properly, I should be greeting the person holding the highest rank first. So… the Count!

I turned to him and curtsied with my head bowed as graciously as my still shaky legs allowed me.

When I lifted my head once more, I was confused to see that the man was chuckling while saying something to who I assume must have been his wife at his side. I looked back at dad who made a complicated smile.

-Uhm… This is the Count.-

He said as he pointed to the woman in the middle.

I blinked a few times confused. Embarrassed, I turned to the ‘Count’ and performed another curtsy as my cheeks turned red.

I felt a mixture of confusion, humiliation and annoyance.

Why didn’t dad tell me the ‘Count’ was a girl?! Can girls even be Count? Wouldn’t it be Countess??

After pulling back from my bow, I gave a swift kick at my dad’s shin out of anger.

It earned me a glare from him, but I didn’t care, I avoided his eyes which seemed to amuse our hosts. After seeing I wouldn’t even look at his hands, Lionheart gave up and the four adults then began talking to each other.

At first, I simply ignored them, still feeling annoyed, but as the conversation dragged on, I started feeling bored and grew curious.

-Dad, what are you talking about?-

I asked, but he didn’t respond.

-Dad! What are you guys talking about?-

I asked again as I pulled on his sleeve, but he still didn’t look down.

Is he… Ignoring me?

But why? He never ignores me!

I looked at the other adults, but they didn’t look down either.

Why is everyone ignoring me?

Are they angry at me?

Stash said that it’s important to greet the right person first or it might be taken as an insult… Does that mean they are angry at me because I insulated them?

But it’s dad’s fault!

I didn’t know!

I don’t want them to hate me! If they hate me, dad will also start to hate me and then everyone will hate me!

Before I realised what was going on, I felt my eyes itch.

Why is dad ignoring me?

Why did he play such a mean joke?

Why didn’t he tell me?

Now everyone will hate me! I hate this! I hate all of it!

As these thoughts whirled through my head, tears came pouring out of my eyes and snot from my nose as I began sobbing.

Dad panicked, and in an instant he picked me up and held me against his chest.

I would still have been angry, but I was so relieved that he wasn’t ignoring me anymore that I just kept crying in his arms.

Was he still angry? I was angry first, but…

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly as the tears continued pouring out.

Dad quickly concluded things with our hosts and a butler lead us through the corridors.

I kept crying until we finally reached our room. He sat me on the bed and waited until the butler left.

He took a knee and lowered himself so our eyes could meet, but I looked away.

I felt as though I would start crying again if I looked at his face right now and I was stil a bitl angry with him.

-Silika…-

I saw him sign from the corner of my eye.

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-Silika, look at me.-

I resisted the urge to follow his instructions, but after a moment of hesitation I complied.

As my eyes met his, I felt my bottom lip trembling again.

-I’m sorry for ignoring you earlier, that was mean of me, but you can’t just kick people. Do you understand?-

Uh?

Kicking?

Oh, I did do that didn’t I…

Seeing my lack of response he continued.

-Even if someone ignores you. Even if you’re really really angry, you can’t hit people. You might think it’s no big deal, but you could injure someone. You’re still small now, but eventually you’re going to get bigger and before you know it, you’ll be strong enough to hurt someone, and by the time you realise it, it will be too late. Do you understand what I’m saying, Silika?-

I understood, what he was trying to get at…

It had always been a rule everywhere I’d been, whether at the orphanage, or back ‘there’. Hitting people was always bad and always will be, and it wasn’t strange to me that I was getting scolded for it…

But on the other hand HE didn’t mention why I did it.

-I won’t hit people… But you shouldn’t play mean pranks!-

His brow furrowed.

-What prank, Silika? I didn’t play any pranks on you.-

He signed innocently to which I grunted in annoyance.

-You said your friend was the Count! But then you said the woman was the Count!-

-Well yes, women can also be a Count, Silika.-

-No, they can’t!-

He shook his head.

-No, Silika, they can be. Anyone can become a Count if they inherit the title.-

-But a girl is called a Countess!-

He looked at me for a moment.

He looked down to his fingers and signed the words Count and Countess in succession.

I could see his eyes grow before he stopped signing to himself and rubbed the corner of his eyes strongly.

He took a deep breath before slowly letting out a long sigh.

-I’m sorry, Silika. I mixed up the words… I’ll be more careful next time and I’ll let the Countess know that it was my fault.-

I nodded satisfied, but he continued signing.

-...But that still doesn’t excuse kicking or punching. Hurting people is not the way to say you’re angry, understand?-

He looked at me expectantly.

It was a bit annoying, but I relented.

-I’m sorry for kicking you.-

He nodded with a satisfied expression.

-Good. So, for your punishment…-

-Punishment?-

I interrupted him, confused.

-Well, yes. You did something bad, so you get a punishment.-

I felt a weight sink in my stomach.

-You did something bad as well, why aren’t you getting a punishment?-

-Well, as opposed to you, I didn’t do it on purpose.-

-What about when you ignored me? That was on purpose!-

I could see his eyes narrow at my retort followed by a moment of hesitation.

-Well, alright, so we’ll both get a punishment. How’s that?-

I could feel the corner of my eyes droop at his suggestion.

-Why can’t we just not get punished at all if we’re both getting punished?-

-Because we won’t learn from our mistakes if there’s no consequences.-

-I think I will.-

-Oh, I’m sure you ‘think’ you will, but I prefer to ‘know’ you will.-

I grit my teeth as I realised I wouldn’t be able to wiggle out of this one.

-Alright, so for your two punishments…-

-I get two punishments?!-

He nodded seriously.

-Kicking people is a serious thing. I want you to learn your lesson… The second one is a smaller punishment anyway.-

I let out a sigh which seemed to make him laugh for a moment, but when I looked up annoyed he pursed up his lips as if to hide his amusement.

-Alright, so first punishment. You will have to read for at least an hour everyday…-

I let out a sigh.

I still don’t get this whole reading thing, it’s such a pain.

Even when I was stuck at the viscount place, I only began reading because it beat doing nothing… And only by a very small margin.

-...And the second punishment is that you will have to play with Countess Aremein’s niece tomorrow.-

I squinted.

I tried to recall the other girl from earlier, but, by all means, she looked like an adult.

-Isn’t she too old to play?-

I asked confused.

He tilted his head.

-What do you mean?-

-Well she looked like an adult.-

- I’m pretty sure you’ve never even seen her.-

-Wasn’t she standing right next to the Countess?-

He looked at me confused for a moment, before he understood who I was referring too.

-Ah no… That’s not her niece…-

-Uh? really? Who is she then? Her sister? A friend?-

-No no neither. She’s the Countess’ wife.-

The countess wife? Was he confusing words again?

-What do you mean. Like, the Count’s wife…?-

-Well, no. There is no ‘Count’… Well there is but…-

He was silent for a moment, as if contemplating something.

-Well I guess you’re getting to the age where we should talk about these things...-

I looked at him puzzled.

He stood up from the ground and sat beside me.

-Do you know what marriage means, Silika?-

I continued staring at him strangely while he crossed his warm, waiting for an answer.

-Yes, I think so. It’s when two people get the blessing of Saria and are able to have children.-

-...Well… I’m glad you’ve been paying attention in your religious studies… Yes, you’re right, in theory, but do you know why two people decide they want to get married together?-

-...Because they love each other?-

-That’s right! Or in most cases anyway. You see, everyone wants to live with someone they love, but sometime a man might love another man or a woman another woman.-

-Really…? Why?-

He smiled a bit strangely.

-Well, hum… Because… Because they just like people like that? I might not be the best person to explain that part… Anyway, that’s not what’s important. What’s important is taht sometime girls like girls and boys like boys. Like it’s the case for Aremein and her wife.-

-I see…-

I said as I though about it for a moment.

-So the woman you saw beside the Countess is what’s called a ‘Countess consort’. Meaning, the wife of the real Countess.-

It made sense enough.

I had always thought that girls only loved boys and boys only girls, so that was new… I’m not sure if there was a reason why I thought that way but I guess it’s just not something I expected. It was new and I had a lot of questions bubbling in my head that I couldn’t quite put into words yet… But one question stood out to me as it was still quite fresh.

-Then who was the man I greeted first by accident?-

Dad made an uncomfortable smile.

-Well… How do I put this… Like you learned in church, marriage is a blessing between two people so they can bring children into this world, but… hum… Even if they really love each other, two women or two men can’t have children. So when two women or two men get married and want children, they will also have to marry a third person… It’s what’s called a ‘ḃgḿst’ marriage.-

I blinked a few times.

I was learning a lot of things all at once, and I was starting to feel a bit confused. So not only can two women or two men get married, but they can also marry a third person? Why was this all so complicated…?

-Why would they do that? Can’t they just adopt a child like you did?-

Lionheart made another complicated expression.

-Well no, they can’t.-

-Why not? You did it!-

-Well, yes that’s right, but… Well… Hum… Let’s just say that’s not really an option normally.-

-But it was an option for us…?-

He smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was a complicated smile. The smile adults make sometimes when they couldn’t say what was on their mind.

-It was. You’re my daughter after all, right?-

I nodded proudly.

-That’s right!-

He caressed my cheek while smiling for a moment.

-I know this might be a little complicated to understand, but all that’s important to know is that the Countess, the Countess consort, and the Count consort are all friends and love each others very very much, so that’s all that matter, okay?-

I nodded.

Once I really thought about it, it wasn’t that complicated, really.

You can marry anyone you like, but if you want children, you need a boy and a girl.

I don’t know why that is though… Maybe I should ask dad later.

As I was thinking of things, I remembered how our conversation started.

-So the Countess’ niece is really around my age?-

He chuckled.

-That’s right. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have you play with a boring adult.-

I let out a sigh of relief.

I really thought he expected me to play with a grown up for an entire day…

Now that I think about it, it is a bit strange that my punishment is to play with someone.

Is there a trick? Mmmh… I guess I can’t just ask him straight to his face like that…

-So I have to read once a day and play with the Countess niece… What’s your punishment?-

I asked him and for a moment he looked perplexed.

Maybe he forgot we said that we would both get punishment. Or more likely, he had hoped I forgot. That’s what I would have done.

-Ah… Well… Hum… What do you think it should be?-

He asked, obviously a bit reluctant.

I though about it for a moment.

A punishment…

I had always been on the receiving end of those, so I wasn’t too sure what would be a good one, but…

An idea came to me.

I felt a smile draw itself on my lips as I prepared to explain his ‘punishment’.