“I’m back.”
“…! Welcome back daddy!”
When I come home, I see Ririi with Beary in the living room, eating sweets. It’s almost dinner time, but I can overlook it just for today. I did leave her here alone while she slept.
“What’s that, daddy?”
Ririi comes running with sweets in her mouth, and points at the fur rug. She probably thinks it’s a gift for her, because I always get her something when I go out.
“This? It’s a bed for Beary.”
Beary has been sleeping either in Ririi’s bed, or on the sofa, but now it’s getting its own bed. Whether or not it will actually use it is a different story though…
“A bed for Beary? Give, give!”
Ririi starts hopping, and I give her the rug. She takes it, and holds it while running around the living room. She’s probably thinking about where to put it.
“Here.”
First she considers putting it in a corner, then she runs back here and spreads it next to the sofa. She probably felt sorry for Beary, about putting it in a corner.
“Beary, it’s your bed.”
Ririi picks up Beary, who was laying on the sofa, and moves it to the rug. How’s that going to turn out…
She places it on the rug, and it brings its face close to it with a confused expression. Then it starts sniffing while walking on it.
“Ba-dump ba-dump…”
Ririi is sitting next to the rug, watching Beary closely. She doesn’t know it’s made from Beary’s parent’s fur, so she’s just seeing if it likes its new bed.
“…Oh…”
Is the sound she eventually makes.
Beary starts licking the fur on the rug like it’s grooming it, and then slowly closes its eyes and curls up on top of it. It’s like a child sleeping while being held by its parent’s large body.
Beary always looks like it doesn’t have a care in the world, but it looks even more relaxed than usual. Or maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see.
“It looks like it likes it.”
“Beary looks comfy…!”
Ririi invades the rug, and lies down next to Beary. Her legs don’t quite fit on the rug, but she just barely makes it work by curling up.
Watching those two together like this makes it look like they’re laying on a big angel bear’s back. It’s not a bad sight.
“It’s fluffy…! Ririh’s sleeping here too!”
“You’re going to catch a cold.”
She’s not going to fall asleep again, is she? No, she doesn’t seem sleepy at all, and she starts playing with Beary on the rug.
Ririi falls on the rug, as she is playfully attacked by the angel bear that seems more energetic than usual.
It’s starting to look like I just moved their play area from the sofa to the rug, but I’m glad that Beary seems to like it.
I’m not used to doing something like this, so I was worried it’d backfire.
◆
The Florencia family was a prominent family even in the capital.
Unlike the strong and unaffected Floyd family, they led luxurious and florid lives, with extravagant meals every day.
They had more food than they could eat lined up on a long table that could seat dozens of people, with expensive magic stone furnishings lighting everything brightly.
And in the middle of all that, the current head of the family, Medici Florencia, spoke to her daughter, Lain Florencia. They were too used to seeing all the food on the table to show any reaction to it.
“So, how was school?”
“How was it… It was just the first day, mom.”
Lain didn’t really have anything to say, because all they did on their first day was measure their magic energy and introduce themselves.
But the intelligent Lain knew that her kind of nagging mother had high hopes for her, so she continued, figuring she should say something.
“Oh, I have lightning magic aptitude. Just like the teacher.”
“I see. Only lightning?”
Medici showed no real reaction to her daughter’s news.
“Yes.”
“Are there any kids in your class with two aptitudes? Like… How did Ririi do?”
“Ririi? Who is that?”
“Wasn’t there a blue-haired elf?”
“Ah, that girl. That girl… I think it was light aptitude. What is it about that girl, mom?”
“Nothing… Lain, you can’t lose to that girl. Absolutely not.”
“…? All right mom.”
All Lain thought of Ririi was that she seemed childish for her age, so she couldn’t understand why her mother was so hung up on her. Medici didn’t really feel like telling her either.
…She never expected the one who rejected her during their school days to end up marrying the girl she mockingly called magic bookworm.
“…Weiss, why Sieglinde…”
Medici’s pride was in tatters. It was not like she wanted to marry Weiss at that point, but she still wanted her daughter to come out on top.
She would win through her daughter’s excellence. That was the one method she had to mend her wounded pride.
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