It was evening when Ariella returned from the tea party.
The family gathered around the table. Grandis placed meat on Ariella's plate. Helenia poured water into her glass. Liriella sat pressed close beside her.
It was an evening just like any other. But the air was different.
Grandis spoke first.
“How was the tea party?”
Ariella smiled as she chewed her meat.
“It was nice. The tea was delicious.”
Grandis's eyes searched Ariella's face. They were the eyes of a father making sure his daughter hadn't been hurt. Ariella knew that look. It was a look she'd never received in her previous life.
“What about the other young ladies?”
“I greeted them. And I apologized, too.”
Helenia's hand stopped. She set down her fork and looked at Ariella.
“Apologized?”
“Yes. For what I did before. I told them I was sorry.”
Silence fell over the table. Grandis and Helenia looked at each other. Their eyes passed between them without a word—a conversation only a married couple could understand.
Helenia's eyes turned red. But she didn't cry. Instead, she took Ariella's hand.
“You did well.”
Two words. But they sank deep into Ariella's heart. She had never heard them in her previous life. You did well. Someone telling her that she'd done well.
“Thank you, Mother.”
Helenia bit her lip. Grandis cleared his throat. Liriella grabbed Ariella's arm and tilted her head.
“Big sister, you were so cool today.”
“Cool? I just did what anyone should do.”
“Doing what you're supposed to do is cool.”
Ariella lightly tapped Liriella's shoulder. This girl sometimes said things that struck right at the heart of the matter. Maybe it wasn't because she was the saintess. Maybe she was just naturally like this.
Across the table, Leoniel was eating in silence. He hadn't looked at Ariella once. The sound of his fork and knife touching the plate rang out at regular intervals.
Ariella looked at Leoniel.
“You were at the tea party too, weren't you?”
His fork stopped. Leoniel raised his head. His cold eyes turned toward Ariella.
“What?”
“I saw you at the end of the garden. Behind the rose vines.”
The air at the table froze. Grandis looked at his son. So did Helenia. Liriella's eyes widened.
Leoniel's expression didn't change. But Ariella saw the way his hand tightened around his fork.
“You weren't there to keep an eye on me?”
Ariella said it with a smile. Lightly. Not to tease him, but to let him know she was truly okay with it.
Leoniel set down his fork.
“I was not keeping an eye on you.”
“Then what were you doing?”
Silence. Leoniel's eyes pierced through Ariella. Cold and sharp, but there was something beneath them. Ariella thought she knew what it was.
Worry.
He was worried. He simply wouldn't admit it.
“Big brother.”
She called out to him. Leoniel's eyelids trembled faintly.
“Thank you. For coming.”
Leoniel rose from his seat. He folded his napkin and set it on the table, then pushed back his chair.
“Don't call me big brother.”
His voice was cold. But Ariella heard it. His voice had wavered ever so slightly.
Leoniel left the dining room. His red hair vanished beyond the door.
Silence returned to the table. Grandis sighed. Helenia squeezed Ariella's hand.
“Leoniel… needs some time.”
“I know.”
Ariella smiled. It was okay. Leoniel acting cold was exactly what she'd expected. In the original novel, Leoniel was the person most deeply disappointed in Ariella. The person who had been most deeply disappointed in her wouldn't be the easiest to trust her again.
But she'd seen him. Leoniel standing at the end of the garden with a teacup in his hand. Leoniel watching Ariella without taking even a single sip of tea.
That wasn't keeping an eye on her.
Liriella tugged on Ariella's sleeve.
“Big sister, Big Brother is always like that. He's got a nasty mouth, but he doesn't have a nasty heart.”
“I know.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I know.”
Liriella looked up at Ariella. Then she gave a small smile.
“You're the first person who's tried to understand Big Brother.”
Ariella's heart ached. This family loved one another, but everything had been thrown out of alignment because of the original Ariella. Leoniel had grown cold after being disappointed in his little sister, Liriella had become afraid after being hurt by hers, and their parents could do nothing but watch their daughter change.
Ariella's task was simple. Put everything that had gone awry back where it belonged.
It was okay if it took time.
Night fell.
Ariella returned to her room and lay down on her bed. The spirits were circling around her.
Ar stuck to her cheek.
“Ariella, what's wrong with that redhead today? Why is he being cold to you?”
“He's my big brother.”
“Big brother? What's a big brother?”
“Family. He's my older brother.”
“If he's family, why is he cold? Aren't family members supposed to be warm?”
Ariella laughed. Ar's world was simple. If something was good, it was good, and if it was bad, it was bad. But people weren't that simple.
“I used to be really mean to him. So he doesn't trust me.”
“Why? Ariella's nice.”
“I wasn't nice before.”
Ar hesitated. Its red glow blinked slowly. It seemed to be thinking.
“But you're nice now. Isn't now what matters?”
Sol glowed quietly on her shoulder.
“Time.”
“Yeah. He needs time.”
Sol always got to the heart of the matter in a single word. Ariella lightly touched Sol's glow with her finger. It was warm.
Rin spoke from beside her pillow.
“That person's eyes were sad.”
Ariella looked at Rin.
“You saw?”
“I saw. Behind the roses. He pretended to be cold, but his eyes were sad.”
Ariella gazed up at the ceiling. Perhaps because Rin was a spirit of water, it was good at reading emotions—even the ones that didn't show on the surface.
Leoniel's eyes had been sad.
She closed her eyes. It was okay. She could take it slowly. This family already loved one another. All Ariella had to do was open a path for that love to flow again.
Lua brushed past her silver hair. A cool breeze soothed her forehead.
“Sleep well.”
“Yeah. You too.”
The spirits' lights dimmed one by one. Sol continued glowing on her shoulder until the very end, then quietly went out when Ariella fell asleep.
The spirits' lights softly surrounded the room.
The next morning.
Ariella was walking through the garden. Buds had begun to take on color one by one among the rose bushes. They were fuller than they had been a few days ago. Spring was deepening. This was the garden of House Belfior, different from the garden of House Rosher, where the tea party had been held the day before. Ariella liked this garden better.
Marga followed behind her and said, “Miss, the morning air is chilly. Shall I bring you a shawl?”
“It's okay, Marga. I like it like this.”
Marga gave her a worried look but didn't say anything more. Instead, she quietly followed half a step behind.
Ariella stopped in front of a bud. Its red color was beginning to show. It was the color of Leoniel's hair.
“Don't call me big brother.”
Ariella smiled. Even if he told her not to call him that, she would. Every day. Every time. Until Leoniel answered her.
Just then, footsteps sounded from the opposite side of the garden. Ariella turned her head.
Leoniel was walking across the garden. It seemed he was on his way to work at the Mage Tower. The morning sunlight settled over his red hair. He didn't look at Ariella. No—he was trying not to.
Ariella called out,
“Big brother! Have a good day!”
Leoniel's steps faltered. Only for the briefest moment. Less than a single step. Then he continued walking without answering.
Ariella smiled. That hesitation was enough.
Marga was quietly laughing behind her. Wrinkles creased the corners of the nanny's eyes.
“Miss, Young Master has always been like that.”
“I know.”
“But he stopped today.”
Ariella looked at Marga. Marga was smiling. She had noticed a change that only someone who had watched over this family for many years could have seen.
Ariella smiled too.
In the garden, Ar was spinning in circles over the roses. Sol shone golden on Ariella's shoulder.
“Wait.”
“Yeah. It's okay.”
She walked on, breathing in the scent of roses. The morning was warm.