Mediation (2)
“It was a slip of the tongue. I got too worked up.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her that no matter what job she took, how much could she possibly earn?”
“Ah…”
Good lord. That was quite the blunder. For a girl already worried about being a burden to her sister, those words had dismissed the very work she was doing to try to be helpful. Of course, the one who said it probably felt somewhat wronged herself. She hadn’t meant to belittle her—she had simply been angry. And she had wanted her to quit. But the fact that they were still locked in this cold war suggested the younger sister had refused to yield.
“You must have apologized for the slip, yet the atmosphere remains icy. I suspect that means she has no intention of quitting.”
“As expected of a priest. You see right through the situation.”
Princess Reciel clapped her hands in admiration, apparently fascinated by how accurately I had deduced the circumstances. It was rather funny how she followed her own rhythm even though the mood was hardly appropriate for applause. Not that the situation itself was anything to laugh about.
“Have the two of them been fighting like this ever since?”
“One of them has to give in, but neither is willing to back down.”
“I’m sorry for showing you such an unseemly sight, Priest. I apologize.”
Marichel offered me an apology, but her younger sister continued speaking with a stubbornly determined expression.
“All the kids my age work!”
“Those kids have no choice because of their situations. You don’t need to do that.”
Stubbornness was written clearly on both their faces.
“Come now, stop fighting and listen to me for a moment, won’t you?”
Problems like this sometimes unraveled with surprising ease once you traced them back to their roots.
“Both of you, please sit down here.”
“I’m sorry you had to see this. We’ll reconcile soon, so just pretend you didn’t notice for now. It won’t interfere with your work.”
“It looks like this cold war has been going on for days. How do you plan to resolve it? And after fighting with your sister like this, how can you possibly focus on work?”
“My heart is already at ease. This is all because I was lacking. The mistake was mine. If she would just stop being so stubborn, I could let the whole thing go. But she won’t listen to me.”
Marichel gazed at her sister as if she were a troublesome burden. The younger girl was not about to stay quiet under that look. Like true sisters, she didn’t flinch even beneath her older sister’s sharp glare.
The younger sister spoke with a sullen face. “The one not listening is you, sister.”
It seemed neither of them had the slightest intention of stepping back.
“Although I mainly handle healing here, before I came to this city I often counseled the residents as well. Counseling isn’t anything grandiose. It was mostly listening to people pour out their worries—how their pigs or cows at home were sick and it broke their hearts, or hoping a baby would be born healthy after a pregnancy.”
Of course, I had softened the examples. In truth, many cases involved spouses’ affairs or things too unpleasant to mention aloud. People frequently vented negative emotions, such as jealousy toward friends who were doing well.
“What’s the point of just talking about it? It’s not like it actually solves anything.”
“People receive a surprising amount of comfort simply from opening their hearts to someone. Isn’t that precisely what a priest can offer?”
In other words, I was telling them not to keep their mouths clamped shut but to speak if they had something to say.
Disputes born from selfishness or greed were painful both to watch and to hear, but fights like this one—fueled by genuine care for each other—often made me itch to step in and help.
“I’ve also mediated many times between people whose relationships had soured from emotional conflicts. When a third party listens to both sides and speaks for each person’s position, the chances of clearing up misunderstandings rise significantly. Isn’t fighting with each other exhausting?”
“……”
“……”
“You both want to make up, don’t you?”
They wouldn’t be able to resist my persuasion. Sure enough, even without looking at each other, both of them nodded.
“Well… if that’s the case…”
“Since the priest is offering, it would feel wrong to refuse…”
“Then would you listen to what I have to say? Whenever I try to talk to my sister, she just gets angry and I can’t express myself properly.”
“I wasn’t ang—!”
“Shh—”
I stopped Marichel before she could explode again. There was nothing to be gained by letting them talk to each other right now. She listened to me well and clamped her mouth shut.
“All right. Younger sister, why don’t you come with me to another spot for a moment?”
“There’s a carriage outside. I’ll go out. It’s fine as long as I’m not here, right?”
She claimed she had a headache and wanted some cold air to clear her head, then stormed out of the house.
“Personally, I don’t see much difference between here and anywhere else,” Princess Reciel remarked with a perfectly calm expression as she assessed the house.
“Your Highness…”
Could a princess raised in luxury have ever imagined a place like this even existed?
“You must have suffered a great deal.”
“I imagined the worst of the worst, but it surpassed even that.”
“Her Highness says she’ll buy you a house.”
I was surprised she could speak so bluntly with the homeowner sitting right beside us, but since the princess had offered to buy them a house, I supposed it was permissible.
“Really?”
I knew one of the reasons Marichel was saving money so desperately was to buy a house.
“Living in a house like this is bad for the spirit. At the very least, you should be able to stay warm at home.”
As the princess said, the environment here was truly terrible. Besides, it wasn’t just anyone offering—it was royalty. There was no reason to refuse. When a member of the imperial family offered something, the proper response was to accept it promptly.
“That’s exactly the problem. She knows our situation perfectly well and still offers, so why refuse?”
“She refused that?”
Even I probably couldn’t have turned down an offer of a house. Especially since for royalty, a single house was a trivial expense.
“Exactly! She says she hasn’t done anything to deserve it, so she shouldn’t accept. That’s what the whole fight was about. Well, that part is already resolved, so I wasn’t planning to mention it again. What really upsets me is how my sister acts so superior just because she earns money.”
Acts superior?
“If I said I wanted to work, shouldn’t she respect that? Why does she dismiss my job? She calls it a slip of the tongue, but I think her usual thoughts just slipped out unconsciously.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because she immediately told me to quit.”
“Could you tell me what kind of work it is?”
“…Why?”
“From what I can see, Marichel seems like the type who would have cheered for you if you had found a good position. It doesn’t feel like she said those things without reason.”
I couldn’t shake the impression that she was overreacting out of guilt.
“Rather than what your sister thinks, isn’t it that you lack confidence in the job you chose, which is why you’re getting this angry?”
“Hoo.”
Princess Reciel, who had been listening quietly, watched our exchange with evident interest.
The younger sister, who had fallen silent as if at a loss for words, finally spoke.
“It’s not anything impressive. I’m… working as a server at an inn.”
“Hmm. Of all possible jobs, an inn server…”
It wasn’t just any work—it was serving at an inn. Now I understood why Marichel had reacted so strongly.
“I know all professions deserve respect, but reality doesn’t always allow for that. And inn servers receive particularly poor treatment among them.”
“It’s the first job I managed to get. I haven’t even worked there long, so I don’t want to quit irresponsibly. Besides, meeting all kinds of people at the inn is helping me gain experience. My sister seems to want me to only see good things and only do good work, but how can life possibly be like that?”
I was also opposed to the inn server job, but I understood what the younger sister meant.
“So you want to experience the bad things too.”
“Everyone else lives that way. I just want the same.”
The younger sister wanted to learn about life, while the older sister—who had already been worn down by the world—wanted her to grow up gently.
“Quitting the inn job isn’t a problem. I’m not particularly attached to it. But if I take a step back now, I know my sister will do the exact same thing again.”
Once is difficult, but twice comes easily.
“I don’t want to be under my sister’s interference even in things like this.”
After hearing the younger sister’s full story, I stepped outside and began speaking with Marichel, who had been waiting.
Rather than explaining her sister’s position, I wanted to hear her side first. Of course, having spent time with her and knowing the deeper circumstances, I already felt plenty of sympathy.
“This is really difficult. I thought we’d finally be free of worries and only have good days ahead, but new problems keep popping up.”
“Still, isn’t it a good thing?”
“…This is the first time I realized our child is strong enough to work. How on earth did she manage such harsh labor?”
“I may have healed her well, but it seems she put in a lot of effort herself. She’s already no different from ordinary people. Since she’s young, her stamina recovers quickly.”
When I began praising the younger sister, Marichel’s face grew more animated than I had ever seen it.
“And listen, Priest. Whatever she told you, you don’t need to relay it. It’s obvious what she would have said. Do you really think it’s time for her to be working? There are so many things in this world she needs to learn. How wasteful it is to spend her youth earning money. I was too lenient with her. I shouldn’t have been.”
It was only natural to click one’s tongue at young people wasting their time, but when the person in question was your own little sister, the frustration had to be overwhelming.
When I had listened to the younger sister, I had thought she was right. Yet after talking with Marichel, this side also seemed correct.
Wow… this really is a difficult problem.
Still, to resolve it, I would have to take one person’s side. Only then could a solution be reached. And I—
“The younger sister wants to experience many different things.”
“Why does she have to gain those experiences through work? She can do that while studying. Besides, those kinds of experiences will come whether she wants them or not once this period passes. Why rush to experience the bad ones ahead of time? It’s all because she’s still immature.”