The Season of Growing Pains
The graduation ceremony had ended. To avoid the tedious pleasantries that always followed among the nobles, our family exchanged brief greetings with Baron Shelton and Duke Wintersong before quickly slipping out of the academy and heading back to our maternal family’s estate.
Grandmother and Uncle welcomed us warmly. They congratulated Arlan and Aran on their graduation from the academy that day, and the two boys, looking both embarrassed and proud, offered their thanks in return.
“Arlan, Aran. These are the graduation gifts I prepared for you.”
Father called the two brothers over and personally handed them elegant pocket watches engraved with the family crest—nothing overly extravagant, but beautifully made. Arlan and Aran smiled, promising to treasure them dearly, before their eyes sparkled with interest at the gifts Mother had prepared.
“Thank you, Mother!”
“Whoa… thank you so much!”
“Hehe, seeing you both so happy makes me happy too.”
Father let out a lonely sigh when he saw them far more excited about the fishing rods than the pocket watches. Before that sigh filled with regret could fully dissipate into the air, my sister and I approached him and offered words of comfort, saying that both the fishing rods and the pocket watches were wonderful gifts.
“Thank you for caring, René. Rene.”
Father smiled and patted our heads. René and I exchanged a quick glance, then casually mentioned that we wanted the mansion’s servants to also enjoy the delicious snacks we’d eaten during our stay. Father immediately caught on to our true intentions but pretended not to notice, playing along and generously packing us a large assortment of sweets.
“Darling, no matter how you look at it, giving them this many snacks is…”
Mother, who realized what was happening a bit late, scolded Father and gave us a stern talking-to. But the sight of those sweets was enough to make anyone smile, so we endured the scolding without complaint.
“René, Rene. You didn’t forget anything, did you?”
“Yeah. We packed everything.”
“Don’t worry.”
The next day, in the early hours between dawn and morning, our family prepared to leave quickly to avoid the crowds of others returning to their territories. After double-checking that nothing had been left behind, we were about to climb into the waiting carriage when we said our farewells to Grandmother and Uncle who had come to see us off.
“Be careful on your way back. Don’t rush and cause an accident—take your time.”
Mother let out a lukewarm breath at Grandmother’s worried words and promised they would visit often in the future. Grandmother smiled at her and replied that a married woman who frequently visited her parents’ home rarely heard good things. She said exchanging letters and sharing news like this was more than enough.
Grandmother waved goodbye to Mother, who smiled bitterly, and Father, who bowed his head. Then she hugged my sister and me tightly and whispered that she hoped we would continue to grow up kind and beautiful.
“Yes. Please stay healthy too, Grandmother, without any aches or pains.”
The words that came to mind felt unfamiliar, but not unpleasant. René followed my lead and said something similar. Grandmother patted our heads, saying we were adorable when we smiled like that, and secretly slipped each of us a gold coin, telling us to use it when we needed it.
“A gold coin… it’s too much.”
“The fact that you know that means I don’t have to worry.”
Grandmother chuckled at my startled reaction to the gold coin and continued to see us off until our carriage had completely left the estate.
I gazed at her through the carriage window, my heart full of warm emotion, and calmed myself by watching people already beginning their day. The carriage’s steady rocking eventually lulled me into a deep sleep.
“Rene. Wake up.”
“Mmm… what? Why?”
“You need to eat lunch.”
I barely opened my eyes at René’s shaking and ate the lunch that had been prepared. While we were eating, the adults talked about how spring was approaching and the weather was warming, so they needed to hurry even more. I tilted my head in confusion.
“Why hurry when the weather is getting nicer?”
When I said we could take our time and enjoy the scenery since there was no urgent business, the knight smiled bitterly and kindly explained the reason.
“While there are advantages to the warmer spring weather, there are also disadvantages.”
He told me that monsters who had hidden in nests or dens all winter would come out, and beasts that had slept through the cold would wake up ravenous and charge at anything in sight. When I admitted I hadn’t considered those risks and looked embarrassed, the knight laughed and said he only learned that after becoming a knight himself.
After that, our family avoided forests where monsters and beasts lived or passed through them quickly, just in case. As a result, we arrived back at our territory a little later than when we had left for the academy, but safely.
[Rene. Come here quickly.]
When we arrived at the mansion, after greeting those who welcomed us and returning to my room, Alraune rolled over to me in greeting.
“Spring isn’t far off now… are you sick somewhere?”
[No. It’s more comfortable to move around like this.]
Her answer made my earlier worry seem pointless. I told her to walk properly inside the mansion, but after standing up and taking a few steps, she complained it was annoying and immediately clung to me.
“Ugh, you’re heavy…”
[Calling a girl heavy? How rude.]
“Clinging to me like this is way ruder.”
I tried talking to her about it, but she wouldn’t budge. In the end, I raised both hands in surrender. I figured she would get better once spring came and the spring rain fell, just like before, so I endured the minor inconvenience.
Around that time, Arlan began receiving lessons from Father on how to become the family heir.
“If it were you, how would you handle this situation? Tell me.”
“Hmm, first I would…”
On top of that, he also started learning from Mother what kind of head of household he should become for a good family. Seeing him so busy every day, we couldn’t bring ourselves to bother him by asking him to play with us, so my sister and I went looking for Aran instead.
But ever since returning to the territory and the mansion, he had been lazing around in his room. When we found him, he immediately told us to leave because he had to go train.
“Big brother, you don’t even train that much.”
“But I do train sometimes.”
Unlike Arlan, Aran lived quite carefree. Alraune, who had been clinging to me for days, seemed to sense something from the sight. She suddenly jumped down and stood on her own two feet.
When I chuckled and said that I had managed to make someone who refused to walk actually walk, he looked puzzled for a moment before losing interest in me and asking for a nap.
It was clear he had zero intention of playing with us. So René and I gave up on playing with Aran and instead went to where the knights were training. We quietly told the old knight—who was practically Aran’s natural enemy—about the current situation.
“Hmm… I was planning to let him rest comfortably since he just returned from the academy, but…”
After listening to us, he narrowed his eyes, went straight to Aran’s room, dragged him out by force, and put him through even harder training than usual.
“René! Rene! I’ll play with you! Tell him to stop right now!”
“Nope. We’re perfectly happy just watching like this.”
“Your voice is really loud. You must still have plenty of stamina.”
“I’m sorry!”
Though winter’s end was not far off, we watched Aran sweat profusely and suffer while wrapped in soft fur blankets together, munching on the snacks Father had bought us. It was quite entertaining.
[Wow, these are delicious!]
“Next time we go to the academy, let’s go together.”
[Yeah! Definitely together!]
We laughed at Alraune’s reaction as she joined in and got to eat snacks too. Soon her ugly screams were drowned out by our laughter, but my sister and I kept giggling as we watched Aran struggle.
Winter passed like that, and the day after the rain that announced spring’s arrival, I frowned at the throbbing pain I felt in my chest.
“…I guess it’s about time for this part to grow too.”
It was similar to the growing pains I felt in my arms and legs. After thinking it over, I decided it would be fine if I was careful and that I could endure it, so I brushed it off as nothing.
“Mom, this spot keeps hurting.”
“…It really is about that time.”
Unfortunately, my intention was completely overshadowed at breakfast when René announced that her chest hurt. While Father, Arlan, and Aran cleared their throats and desperately looked elsewhere, Mother gazed at both René and me with a face full of complicated emotions.
She told us it was an important time and, as soon as breakfast ended, postponed our morning studies to the afternoon. Then she took the two of us out.
“Wait, wait a minute. I’m not at the stage where I need to wear this yet…”
“René. What are you saying? You have to start wearing them now.”
Mother took us to a clothing store and bought us new undergarments. Unlike what we had worn before, these were unmistakably feminine—panties with lace and frills, and bras to match.
When the change came without any mental preparation and I flinched backward in surprise, Mother firmly grabbed my shoulders as if she wouldn’t let me escape this time.
“A-at the very least, something without decorations…”
“Oh dear, I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything like that.”
If I had to wear them anyway, I asked for ones without the decorations that screamed “little girl,” but the shop owner, clearly delighted that she could finally win against me, brought out something far more ornate and decorative than René’s and made me try it on.
“Here, you wear a bra like this.”
“…Yes.”
After having my measurements taken and trying on various undergarments, something inside my heart had already been worn ragged. Learning how to put on a bra and doing it myself completely shattered what remained. At the same time, I couldn’t tell whether the single droplet that fell from the corner of my eye was a tear or simply sweat.