How Did You Recognize Me?
As soon as Ariel let her guard down, Edgar spotted her from afar, already waiting at the meeting place with her back turned to him. He called out her name cheerfully and hurried over. For a split second he worried that someone nearby might overhear her name and realize who she was, but thankfully no such disaster occurred.
“……”
Ariel, on the other hand, wore a sullen expression. The moment their eyes met, she whipped her head away. Edgar gave a bitter smile, stepped closer, and gave her shoulder a light tap.
“Hey, I’m not even late. The least you could do is greet me.”
He checked the tall clock standing in front of the shop across the street and saw that he had arrived a full five minutes early. He knew very well how much she hated waiting, but surely this was forgivable.
“I know you’re not late. Like Mom said, there’s no reason to get mad about something like this anyway.”
“Then stop puffing your cheeks out like that before you talk. Who’s going to believe you when you look like that?”
He couldn’t tell exactly why she was angry, but it was obvious that she was. After nearly thirteen years together, he could read her like a book. Ariel glanced at him as he scratched his head in mild distress, then pouted again.
Honestly, she wasn’t angry. Or more precisely, she was angry, but that anger was tangled up with fury at her own stupidity. The root of this complicated feeling had begun three days ago, when Edgar stopped visiting her room.
Of course he must have had his reasons, and she couldn’t keep demanding he risk something so dangerous every time, so she understood that much. Still, after three whole days of not seeing her, she had secretly hoped he would arrive a little earlier today simply because he wanted to see her.
Even though his current arrival was undeniably earlier than the appointed time, the fact that she had come first wounded her pride. It made her feel as though he hadn’t been looking forward to their meeting at all, while she alone had been anxiously waiting.
This idiot. This dummy. Ed. You could have come out just a little earlier. If you had, I wouldn’t have had to feel this gloomy.
But the biggest idiot of all was herself. She wasn’t some four-year-old child—how could she entertain such childish thoughts? Get a grip, Ariel Robeheim. You are the successor who will one day lead the Robeheim family. If you keep letting your emotions sway you like this, Father will only scold you again…
“Hyaa!?”
“Oh, nice reaction.”
Just as she was lost in thought, a strange sensation brushed the back of her neck. Ariel let out a sound like a startled cat and spun around. The moment she heard her childhood friend’s playful voice, heat rushed to her head and she was about to snap at him.
“……?”
But what filled her vision when she turned wasn’t the annoying childhood friend’s face—it was a single flower.
It wasn’t the amaryllis she loved, but judging by its appearance, it seemed to be some kind of rose.
“You don’t like it? Why is your face doing that?”
“N-no, it’s not that… Why a flower?”
He had given her a flower once when they were very young, but never since they had grown up. Since he was the type with zero sense of romance, she had never expected anything like this, which only doubled her surprise. Had some strange wind blown into him?
“What? You don’t remember? Last time we met, you threw a fit saying that when coming to see the Grand Duke’s daughter, how could I not bring even a single flower.”
“Ah.”
Now that he mentioned it, she did remember. Honestly, demanding something like that just for meeting a friend was ridiculous, but she had been in a foul mood that day and the words had slipped out. She had regretted it afterward, lying in bed and smacking herself on the head for saying such a thing.
Why did this guy even remember something so trivial?
“Y-you idiot… I was just saying it. You actually paid attention to that?”
“Is that what you say to someone who went out of their way to bring it? Just take it already.”
Tsk. Would it have killed him to hand it over in a slightly cooler way? She knew expecting any sense of mood from this idiot was asking for too much, but still. There was such a thing as atmosphere. And what was with his outfit? He was coming to meet the Grand Duke’s daughter, after all—he could have at least put in a little effort. It was far too plain.
If not for this flower, she would have pointed it out immediately, but she decided to let it slide today. This too was probably part of the dignity expected of a lady from the Grand Duchy.
More importantly, what had she been about to say? Nice to see you? Thank you? What did you do yesterday? Have you eaten? No, that wasn’t it. There was something else she wanted to say.
“Let’s go. If we want to enjoy ourselves, we need to get moving.”
Before she could gather her thoughts, he turned and started walking ahead briskly. She hurriedly reached out and caught his sleeve. He turned to look at her, eyes asking what was wrong. After mumbling for a moment, she finally spoke, as if releasing all the feelings that had built up over the past three days in a single sentence.
“…I was bored, you idiot.”
It wasn’t that she particularly wanted to see him. She had simply been bored because she had no one to talk to. Even though Shuri was there, she couldn’t treat her with the same ease this guy did. Yes, that was all it was.
He ruffled her hair again, treating her like a child, but today she decided to let it pass. Even though it wasn’t the amaryllis she loved, the vivid red flower that matched the color of her eyes was incredibly beautiful.
Ariel was experiencing a truly strange feeling. In terms of years spent living in Hespania, Edgar couldn’t even reach the tip of her toes. Yet for some reason, the way he freely wandered the city streets made him seem more like a longtime resident than she was.
“Ah, the food over there is really good. You’ve never been, right?”
“Of course I haven’t. I don’t even eat out much in the first place……”
Ariel replied curtly to Edgar’s question and glanced sideways at the restaurant he pointed out. It wasn’t often that she came outside, but even setting that aside, wandering the town so freely was practically a wish come true. Normally, whenever she went out, guards would follow her or she would have to ride in a carriage—it was practically an obligation.
To those around her, it would look like “the Grand Duke’s daughter is on an inspection,” making it difficult to roam around carelessly. The only reason she could walk around alone without any such hindrances today was because the timing was just right. Her father happened to be away for a while, and Helene, who knew that she and Edgar rarely got to meet, had shown some mercy. The fact that she hadn’t told her mother about his secret nighttime visits had proven surprisingly useful in moments like this.
“Then shall we go there? You’re disguised anyway.”
Ariel had used a magic accessory similar to the one Edgar wore to dye her hair a vivid red. It was a safety measure in case her identity was discovered, which could cause chaos or even drag her into some incident. In contrast, Edgar had dyed his hair pitch black, resulting in the rather comical situation of the two of them essentially swapping hair colors.
“If you want. But if it tastes bad, you’d better be ready.”
“My shoulders feel so heavy all of a sudden.”
Despite shrugging at Ariel’s threat, Edgar headed toward the restaurant without much concern. It probably meant he could guarantee the taste. Ariel had never once found the restaurants or food stalls he took her to disappointing, so even though she complained, she always trusted him and followed along. Perhaps it was proof that his standards for food were quite high.
“Should we sit outside? Or would inside be better?”
“I don’t really care. No one will recognize us anyway.”
At Edgar’s suggestion that they sit outside to enjoy the fresh air for once, Ariel took a seat as well. Before long, a waiter came over carrying a menu. The limited number of dishes suggested this was the type of place that focused on a few signature items.
“Your black hair still looks strange no matter how many times I see it.”
After they successfully placed their order, the two sat quietly gazing at each other until Ariel spoke first. Even when he visited her at night, his hair was always black, but after nearly half a year she still couldn’t get used to it.
“You’re in no position to talk. From my perspective, you look even stranger.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
She nodded in understanding and idly ran her fingers along the rim of her water cup for no particular reason. Come to think of it, this was only the third time she had ever shown her childhood friend this red hair. It was only natural that he wouldn’t be used to it yet.
Hm? Now that I think about it, how did he recognize me?
As she followed that train of thought, Ariel suddenly felt a sense of incongruity and tilted her head. Earlier, he had seen her from behind and called her name. But with her hair color changed and wearing different clothes than usual, how had he been able to tell it was her?
“Ed.”
“Yeah? What?”
Edgar, who had been chewing on the appetizer the waiter brought, answered her sudden call. He could have at least swallowed first. Ariel’s face scrunched up, but since this wasn’t anything new, she simply sighed and continued.
“How did you know it was me earlier? You only saw my back……”
The question she had thrown out to set the mood turned out to be so absurd that Edgar’s brow naturally furrowed. She should just eat the food that came out instead of saying weird things.
“Gulp. Hey, how could I not recognize you? How many years have we spent together?”
“E-even so, isn’t it possible not to recognize someone…? Honestly, if our positions were reversed, I don’t think I would have known it was you.”
One could make some guesses based on physique and silhouette, but recognizing someone whose clothes and hair color had both changed wasn’t easy. Frankly, Ariel believed that even if she had been in the same situation with her own mother, she wouldn’t have noticed.
“I don’t know. It was easy for me. I guess it just means we’re that close.”
The way he pointed his fork like a finger and grinned mischievously made Ariel’s face flush red. That they were close—of course he meant they were childhood friends, but did he have to say it like that? She felt like a fool for getting embarrassed over something so trivial.
Regardless, Edgar had already cleanly emptied the plate that had held his salad. Watching him eat so heartily always filled her with a sense of warmth, but for some reason today his particularly nonchalant chewing looked irritating to Ariel.