INTERMISSION
May the Morning Dew Bring You Good Fortune
“Ahchoo!”
The Barrier Mage Louis Miller sneezed. He was sitting on a sofa at home now, after attempting to use a flight spell to make his date, only to run out of mana and plummet right into the nearby fountain.
After crawling out, weak from a lack of mana, his fiancée had dragged him home, then stripped him of his soaked robe and made him change before he could say two words.
She handled the situation deftly, like a doctor whose patient refused to listen to reason. And in fact, she was a doctor.
Louis sat on the sofa, sniffling, as the woman with dark-brown hair briskly returned. This was Rosalie, his fiancée and the love of his life. She’d come back carrying a dry cloth, and with a firm hand, she proceeded to roughly dry his hair.
“Excuse me, Rosalie, that hurts. Um—”
“Once your hair dries, you should lie down for a while. Mana deficiency can sometimes lead to severe complications—”
“I’ll be all right. Even with no mana, I can still run around just fine.”
“Would you please just heed your doctor’s warnings?”
Louis’s fiancée was generous but very strict with her patients. That’s how she was looking at him right now—as a patient, not a lover.
Our perfect date, ruined! he thought. And on today, of all days… His eyes flicked toward his fiancée in anticipation.
“You know, it’s my birthday today,” he said.
“Yes, it is. Happy birthday.”
“……”
“My present to you was the handkerchief I just used to wipe you down. Once I wash and dry it, I’ll give it to you.”
Traditions varied from region to region, but birthdays were generally celebrated with friends and loved ones. Particularly close friends might also bring humble gifts, such as flowers or sweets.
Since this date had been planned for Louis’s birthday, he’d been looking forward to an extra-sweet atmosphere, but now his fiancée was treating him like a patient. At this rate, she’d start feeding him like he was some kind of invalid.
As he sat on the sofa with his arms crossed, wondering how to draw the interest of his far-too-serious lover, Rosalie took a seat next to him.
“If you used my lap as a pillow,” she said, “your head would be too high to get any proper rest.”
So she’s telling me to go to bed and sleep, he thought, staying silent.
Then, lowering her voice, Rosalie continued. “But if that’s what it takes to get you to lay down—well, then I wouldn’t necessarily mind it.”
Her ears were very slightly red. Louis had to hold in a sudden impulse to embrace her right then and there. If he did, she’d throw him directly into bed without another word.
“Well, if you insist,” he replied.
Having entrusted his head to her lap, he looked up at her and noticed a small hairpin to one side of her head. It was a modest flower ornament, one he’d given her during their school days.
“That hairpin…,” he said.
Rosalie didn’t respond, instead covering his eyes with a hand. He wanted to believe that, beneath her insistence that he shut up and go to sleep, was an attempt to hide her embarrassment.
He closed his eyes and thought back to when he’d bought the hairpin.
Charms? What an absurd thought, he’d muttered, after picking up a bottle of blue ink at the ink store and shuddering at its price tag. Instead, since he was still just a student, he’d desperately searched for some morning dew—to put it on a floral accessory for a good-luck charm.
“It looks amazing on you,” he finished, grasping the wrist of the hand covering his eyes before sliding it aside and grinning.
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