"No. That isn't the way."

I sigh, turn back, and walk back along the grounds.

They are full of life. Orchards of histmunch sway in the background.

Funnily enough, even though I've known and been with Kurono for nearly a year, I haven't ever seen her estate. At least until our little affair last night.

We have, for the most part, been off on missions and adventures, I guess. And I was stubborn about using inns, wasn't I?

Come to think of it, though, when I arrived at Hal-Castemour, seeking to escape my chains, I was so naive that the idea of another noble being a mercenary seemed like nonsense.

I used to be dumb damsel, didn't I? Maybe part of me thought I would never manage to do anything after all and I would go crying back to grandfather, just like he predicted.

What a defeatist I was.

I must have been pretty obvious, in retrospect. She must have known and was humouring me. Kali of course didn't even think about it.

It’s funny. Rish is way more mature than me. She always was, protecting Aria, and here I thought she was the one that needed babying. It was me all along.

Bah!

Whatever. No point getting my panties in a twist. She probably forgives me. It’s more about forgiving myself, isn't it?

I've been through a lot, though.

I'm... probably better than I was.

I hung on; and suffered through adventuring and near death. And yet, only near the end, when my barrier cracked and cracked and cracked and I was about to die did I realise what a stupid, entitled brat I'd been all along.

Maybe, after all, I will go back? An eccentric like me will probably never get a husband anyway. Don't know what I'm worried about.

Makes me a hypocrite after all that, I suppose.

But even being in this calm little estate for a short period has made me wistful for the old days, when I lived in relative sloth and luxury.

How finicky a woman can be!

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That’s just me, maybe.

Perhaps Grandfather let me go for this reason. So, I could see myself how other people lived.

Probably. He's a sly old bastard.

But I do love him. Much like Rish loves her own grandad.

I love Kuro now as well.

"Fucking jeez... what a dumbass silly bitch..."

Ha! I used to think I was great, swearing like that among the noble girls, giggling to ourselves about naughty words.

I then thought how terribly crude mercenaries were, spraying those words left and right.

But...

Bah! What a stupid line of thought. I totally am a hypocrite. I get embroiled in my own thoughts like mud; and have the hubris to give advice to the contrary to that man Rish liked.

...

This garden is really beautiful.

You wouldn't have thought that roaming bandits torched it to the ground nary twelve years ago.

Kuro went through a much more shocking change than my one, for sure.

Talk about a baptism in fire spirits.

"She must have worked so hard, unlike me."

"I do appreciate the sentiment, but strangely, I don't think I can take full credit here."

"Kuro!" I spin around to see her advancing whilst twirling her parasol. Her head maid, Clarine, behind her.

"Has the fresh air helped?" She comes up to me with a queer grin; and takes my arm.

"I... yes..." I smile back shyly.

Basically… I was running away again. I nearly left the estate.

"I'm glad you stayed, in the end." She nods.

Jeez... she saw right through me.

I look bashful.

"Um... is Alicia still here?" I query.

"Ah... no... she has gone to spend her share from the job. But unlike some creatures, that one returns all the time. Quite a pain, actually. Ohohoho." She laughs behind a hand.

Why didn't I ever twig for so long that only noble women laugh like that? Probably because me and Rish and Aria wouldn't do it.

And she restrained herself whilst she had her archer persona on.

She is able to have a persona, unlike a certain silly girl who wears her heart on her sleeve.

I suppose I really would be terrible catch as a court wife. No wonder I made it to eighteen without a husband!

"So, what did you mean, you can't take credit? You've worked hard since you were nine. I know that."

"Ah... well... yes. It is true that I worked so hard I was physically sick. But my lands -were- burnt and salted. The grudge against my father that those men had was... extraordinary. So, after all that... Isn't it strange to still behold such fertility?"

I guess? I don't know anything about cultivation, though.

"I like to think... my parents are still helping me from beyond."

"Why is that?" I ask.

She hugs me close and I blush.

"Well..." she rolls her eyes and sighs deeply.

"Hnnn... I didn't tell anyone else this... but when I was rescued... I cried for ages over mom's ragged body. And then... for some reason... there was a strange seed there."

"Come to think of it... why ever did I know it was a seed? Huh... well... in any case. I kept it. I thought it must have been mothers. I thought she must have wanted to plant it. So, I got on my knees in the ashes one day... and I did."

She nods over to the left.

"It grew into that."

I look and blink. A massive roanoak, heaving with nuts.

"In ten years!?" I exclaim.

"Quite. In fact, it was that big after three. And then... wood spirits suddenly appeared in mass around here."

I thought it had just escaped the fire.

"Hehe... that was my stewards’ reaction. But I've learnt it’s best not to question the whimsies of the gods." She snickers.

My brows crease, though... surely...

And then, she kisses me.

Yeah. Don't question the whimsies of the gods. I need to learn from my mistakes.

I kiss her back.