Not the Slightest Intention
A man old enough to know better was asking a rude question outright, in a place this full of people.
He must think he can look down on me because I'm still young. He's picked the wrong beastkin!
"Ahem. I am Calvin Glosa, head of House Glosa, a retainer family of the Caliph."
People had begun to murmur, and only then, as if the stares had finally reached him, did Calvin give his name.
Honestly. A retainer house, of all things.
"Ah. I see."
"......Is that all?"
"Is there something more I'm supposed to say?"
Bariya opened her eyes wide and tilted her head.
She wasn't glad to see him, and she certainly wasn't pleased, so no pleasant greeting was about to come out of her. Baden had already introduced her name to everyone, so there was no need to do it again, and beyond her name there was even less she cared to share.
That I'm a leopard cat beastkin......
The people of the Caliph still believed she was a cat beastkin. Before, she hadn't wanted to tell them too much, so she had hidden it on purpose.
I think it's all right to say so now.
Ever since she had learned that the Caliph, unlike the Mariners, already possessed an Authority, her heart had grown considerably lighter.
And I want the Caliph to be the first to know.
She had no desire to say it in front of that unpleasant man and all these other people, so in the end she had nothing to say at all. She would admit it. The truth was simply that she did not like Calvin Glosa. Who had told him to glare at her with that sour, contemptuous look?
"So, then......"
"Well then, since I've nothing to say, I'll be going noooow."
Calvin had opened his mouth, but Bariya ignored him and spun on her heel. Laughter rose from the people around them. He had tried to embarrass her, so he ought to be prepared to be embarrassed himself.
Perhaps because of the spat with Calvin, no one else came near, and Bariya stood by a pillar, looking out over the banquet hall. Baden was still dancing, clinging to a Sabrina whose face said she might die of it. Shirca wasn't dancing at all; he was simply talking with the young ladies.
It was a little dull, but if she pulled Shirca out of that circle she would earn herself some terrifying glares, wouldn't she? All the more so, now that people had mistaken her for his prospective fiancée.
Being the heir really is exhausting. A child of only ten, and they're fretting from every direction in case she might be his fiancée.
She was glad, after all, to have been born a wildcat and not a hyena. Had she been a hyena, she would have been trapped among the Mariners with no way out, living exactly as they wished and forced into marriage with whatever mate they chose for her. Ugh. The mere thought raised goosebumps and turned her stomach.
Well. Even in a leopard cat's body, I wasn't entirely free.
As the things that had happened among the Mariners flickered before her eyes, a sigh escaped her on its own.
Grr.
Just then White, a blue ribbon at her neck, came up and rubbed her face against Bariya.
"What's wrong?"
When Bariya stroked her head, White rumbled and sat, pressing her haunches against Bariya's side.
"Do I look like I'm in a bad mood?"
Grr.
"Thank you for worrying."
Bariya smiled and leaned comfortably against her. The fur was soft and smelled wonderful, and simply touching it set her heart at ease. Their first meeting had not been so good, and yet here she was, offering comfort. It was exactly like her relationship with the Caliph.
"Excuse me."
No sooner had her mood begun to lift than a beautiful woman approached, lush golden hair spilling over a pure white dress.
"I am Obli, daughter of Calvin Glosa, head of House Glosa. I offer my greetings to the Caliph's honored guest."
The courteous greeting surprised Bariya a little. Had she not seen the quarrel with her father just now?
"......I'm Bariya Bell. We met before, at Madame Renouage's atelier, didn't we?"
"Thank you for remembering me. I wasn't able to greet you properly then."
"It wasn't really the moment for it."
"Even belatedly, I am honored to greet the Caliph's guest. ......And I would also like to apologize, in my father's place, for his rudeness."
Well, look at this.
Calvin Glosa was fuming in the distance, his face bright red. No one comforted him, and no one took his side. Only one person stood with him: his daughter Obli, apologizing in his stead for a father's discourtesy.
"Of course I know an apology offered for someone else means little. But I don't believe staying silent is the proper thing, either."
Unlike her father, Obli seemed to know what shame was. Her hands were clasped tightly together, and now that Bariya looked closer, her face was a little flushed as well.
"I won't presume to ask your forgiveness. I only hope my apology might ease your mood, even a little."
An apology only meant something when it came from the one who felt no shame. Taking one from Obli would do her no good.
"I'll accept Miss Obli's apology."
She had no wish to belittle the courage it had taken.
"Still, someday I'd like an apology from the head of House Glosa himself. My feelings were quite hurt."
Because of him, the bad things that had happened among the Mariners had come back to her.
"I hope the day comes when my father realizes his own fault as well."
Obli smiled bitterly. She did not turn a blind eye to her father's wrongdoing, but apart from that, she seemed to hold no hope that he would mend his ways.
"Is power really that wonderful?"
"Pardon?"
It was something she had always wondered and had never been able to ask anyone. Among the Mariners, there had naturally been no one she could ask. The Caliph was the head of the clan, so asking them would have been pointless. And so, for the first time, Bariya let out a question she had only ever swallowed.
"What is it about the seat of clan head that everyone wants it so badly?"
Bariya's father, Darius Mariner, was a man rather than a woman, and so he had not even been granted the right to contend for the position. He had tried to seize power indirectly by fathering a daughter who possessed an Authority. But when he saw the daughter born not a hyena but a leopard cat, he flew into a rage and abused the lover he had lain with, and their child.
Why. What on earth was power, that it was worth all that?
"I wonder too. I'm curious myself."
Contrary to what Bariya had thought, Obli didn't seem to know the answer either.
"I don't even understand why it's necessary, and yet the people around me keep forcing it on me."
Obli smiled bitterly.
"What? Miss Obli, you don't want to marry Shirca?"
"I know the young lord is a good person. He's a truly excellent man, well suited to be the next clan head."
Handsome, strong, upright in character, and he even carried the blood of Baden, the clan head famed as a devoted lover. Even if he were not the heir, he had charm to spare. But Obli didn't seem particularly interested in that charm. There was only the sense of duty that she must become engaged to Shirca because of a father greedy for power.
"What? So we were comrades."
Once she knew Obli's true feelings, the wind went out of her. She, too, was only a victim of greed.
"If you really hate it, you could just leave home."
"Pardon?"
At Bariya's words, Obli's eyes went wide. The look on her face said she had never once considered it, and that, in turn, surprised Bariya.
"You're an adult, aren't you? Old enough to live perfectly well on your own."
She wasn't even a herbivore. Obli was a tiger beastkin from a retainer house of the Caliph, no less. She had both the strength and the money to live alone.
"If you truly hate it, you have to find your own way to survive. Even I managed, and I'm only ten."
"T-ten? I'm sorry. I......"
"I know. I look a bit older than I am, don't I?"
How many people in this banquet hall had realized Bariya was ten? Since coming to the Caliph she had been eating well and had grown a little, but she was still a long way from enough.
"Life was pretty rough for me. But that isn't true for you, Miss Obli. You're healthy, you're from a distinguished house so you've surely learned a great deal, and you even have money."
"......"
"Think it over carefully. Whether you're forcing yourself to do something you truly hate, or whether you're looking away because you're afraid of stepping off the path."
Claire had endured the Mariners' abuse for seven years because she was waiting until Bariya was at least old enough to survive a hard life on the run. She could have lived if she had abandoned Bariya and fled alone, and yet she had given her life for her young daughter instead. That didn't mean Obli had to go so far. Claire had been a Divine Beast, and Obli had only just come of age. But if she truly wanted to stand on her own, she would need resolve to match.
"I'm only giving you this advice because we're comrades."
"......"
"For the record, I haven't the teeeeeeensiest intention of getting engaged to Shirca, so don't misunderstand."
Leaving those words behind, Bariya finally ran to Sabrina, who had escaped the hell of dancing with Baden. She had only felt a sense of kinship because they were alike in having greedy fathers. The choice was Obli's to make.
"Did something happen?"
Sabrina asked, gathering the approaching Bariya into her arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her gaze, flicking between the dazed Obli and Calvin, who was still fuming, was sharp.
"There was a little something, but I'm fine. It's the first banquet I've ever attended. A happening or two is only proper."
Besides, a banquet was supposed to be a battlefield fought with words! If nothing had happened, she would have been disappointed.
"And I handled it well on my own, so you don't need to worry."
If Obli refused the engagement to Shirca and left home, Calvin's plan would be smashed to pieces. That would be far more satisfying than punching him in the nose, wouldn't it?
I hope Obli makes a good decision.
Bariya grinned, thoroughly pleased with herself.