“…Ss, wake up.”
A voice that feels like it’s caressing me deep in my ear rouses my consciousness from the half asleep bog. Warmth spreads behind my eyelids, and light slowly permeates to the back of my head.
The dry air and clear smell reach me first, until I vaguely think ‘ah, it’s morning.’
“Hey… Ah geez, you always had trouble waking up…”
It’s the voice of a woman that’s always on time. A voice I remember. Slowly but surely the fog clears in my mind, and my thoughts start to take clear shape.
“…Okay. M-might as well look at that sleeping face for a…”
“Shut up, Sieglinde.”
“Uwah!?”
The moment I open my eyes, I see Sieglinde looking at me and falling back. The white ceiling and that pitiable expression.
Good grief, what’s she doing so early?
“Good morning.”
“A-ah… Wait, how long have you been awake!?”
Sieglinde jumps to her feet with her face red. Her braided hair is put together like always, and so is her outfit. When did she wake up?”
“I just woke up… Fuwah… What time is it?”
“I-I see… Fine then. It’s seven.”
She responds faster than I can look at a clock. Nostalgic memories come flooding in. I’ve never seen her late. It’s like she has the concept of time in the palm of her hand.
So the exact opposite of me.
“You should get ready soon, you don’t want Ririi to be late for school, right?”
“It’s too early… Fifteen more minutes.”
“If you sleep until you have barely enough time you’ll be late. I was always the first to class. It felt good to open the curtains in the classroom.”
“I don’t get it. I don’t feel that at all.”
I say as I get up out of bed. Being shaken out of bed by Sieglinde is a rarity in my life. The drowsiness is naturally flung away, and the option to go back to sleep is erased from my mind.
“I like the moment the dry air that was closed all night is renewed… It feels nostalgic.”
“To me it feels new. Being woken up by you.”
“You’ll get used to it soon… Because we are living together.”
What she mumbles at the end feels heavier than the lighthearted words before that, like she’s reflecting on her thoughts.
I get how she feels.
It doesn’t feel real to me either. The idea of living under the same roof as Sieglinde as family.
“That’s true. How about I prepare breakfast before waking up Ririi?”
I exhale and get up from the bed. We need to send Ririi off safely first. Then talk as adults.
…Hn? Wait, is Sieglinde going to leave too?
That means I’ll be home alone. I feel awkward being the only one doing nothing, but that’s just reality. It’s not like I’m strapped for cash. Sieglinde is the weird one for working seriously when she’s rich.
I move to the kitchen while thinking about that, and Sieglinde follows for some reason.
“What? You can wait in the living room.”
I point to the living room with my jaw while putting on an apron, but she straightens her posture and doesn’t move from the entrance.
“Let me help.”
“No, you say help…”
I’m just frying bacon and eggs, and picking between rice and bread. Someone else here would just get in the way.
“Have you ever cooked before anyway?”
I look at her with suspicion, and she looks away with a short shrug.
“As embarrassing as that is, even at this age, I have never stood in a kitchen. The maids wouldn’t allow me… To be honest, I offered to help, but I would have no idea what to do.”
“Then why…”
“To do something together. We are family after all.”
Tch… I’m weak when she says it straight like that.
I leave a sigh as my only resistance, and take off the apron.
“Here. You can at least put on an apron, right?”
Sieglinde takes it with both hands like it’s a jewel.
“…Are you sure?”
“I was thinking about teaching Ririi soon anyway. Practice too.”
The future of a high elf survivor will be tough for sure. She’ll be targeted by bad adults, and isolated from those around her. She might have to live away from populated areas.
She needs to be able to live on her own… And since I’m going to die first, it’s my job to teach her. Esmeralda can teach her magic, and I’ll teach her how to survive.
“Then I have to be able to teach her too. A normal mother would, right?”
“I guess. In my place, the kitchen was my mother’s sacred land. I don’t remember her teaching me anything.”
What’s normal is different for different people. That means we get to create our own normal. Regardless of what that is, I don’t feel like it will be that bad with Sieglinde by my side. We’ve known each other for a long time.
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