Prejudice (1)
"Ugh. Am I being too obvious?"
Leopard brought his hands forward from behind his back.
A bouquet brimming with fresh flowers came into view.
Blue roses, the very color of Yulia's eyes — though he'd been half afraid they were far too overwhelming in size.
After a long moment of debating whether to simply throw the whole bouquet away, Leopard drew in a deep breath of their fragrance.
"No. I'm going through with it."
And with that, his resolve hardened.
He refused to crush the courage he'd worked up.
Shoulders squared, Leopard tucked the bouquet back behind him.
Only after fishing out a hand mirror for one last check — any smudges on his face, hair properly in place — did he walk a few steps and stand before the barred window.
"Hm?"
The door began to swing open on its own.
Evidently the Marquis had been watching him the entire time.
Creeper.
Leopard burst into a hearty laugh as he stepped into the villa.
"Huh? Bad man!"
The first to greet him was, of all people, a black-haired little girl.
For a moment Leopard narrowed his eyes, wondering who on earth this could be.
A beastfolk hat covering her hair completely, and brilliant blue eyes beneath it.
He recognized the Saintess's daughter in an instant — and yet his brain refused to accept it.
"Wait, what the—"
"What? Why are you staring at Tia like that?"
"Where did that little runt go, and who's this fine young lady in her place—"
"Mwehehe! Right? Tia's a totally proper lady now!"
He was so flustered that the words wouldn't come out right.
It felt like only yesterday she'd been a squalling infant gnawing on her own fingers, yet Tia had already grown into a body that looked well past nine years old.
Leopard glanced around, noticed Yulia was nowhere in sight, and dropped to one knee to bring himself to Tia's eye level.
When the bouquet the Hero had hidden behind his back swung forward and was presented to her, Tia's eyes went wide as saucers.
"Mwaaah…! What's this?"
"I heard Tia's starting school, so I got it as a present."
"Really? Reeeally?"
It was a lie.
The flowers had originally been meant for Yulia, after all.
But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, he simply couldn't manage the embarrassment of handing them over himself — so he'd decided to pretend he'd bought them for Tia.
And more than anything, watching the girl's face light up brighter than the flowers themselves made it impossible to say they were never meant to be hers.
"Same color as Mommy's eyes! So pretty!"
"Same color as your eyes, too."
"Mweh! Thank you so mu—! Ah. Wait, Mommy said not to take anything from bad men…"
"Why am I a bad man?"
"'Cause, 'cause…! You dragged Mommy upstairs against her will last time!"
"Did I drag her? Your mommy clearly said she was fine with it. Didn't she?"
"Mwuu…"
"And when I came back down, what did your mommy say?"
"She said you only talked for a little while…"
"See? Nobody dragged anybody anywhere, and nothing happened. So am I still a bad man?"
"Now that I think about it, you're not!"
Tia clapped her hands together with a look of sudden enlightenment.
Seizing his chance, Leopard tucked the bouquet into Tia's arms and gently patted her head.
With those hard little horns in the way, it was an awkward head to pat, to say the least.
Whenever he saw this sunny temperament and those blue eyes, it was as if the young Ariel had been reborn before him — but the moment his gaze caught one of the marks of another species embedded here and there across her body, the strength would drain right out of him.
She was a child he adored, and a child he despised, all at once.
"Tia. Come here."
"Mommy! The bad man— no, the maybe-bad-maybe-not man gave me this!"
"…"
The moment that quiet voice drifted down, Tia whirled around and ran off.
She made her way to a woman whose maid's uniform, despite covering her from head to toe, did nothing to hide her voluptuous figure.
It was the Hero's old love, gazing this way with eyes as cold as ice.
"A bouquet…?"
Yulia examined the flowers Tia held out with painstaking care before letting out a sigh.
Her heart wanted nothing more than to throw the thing straight in the trash — there was no way anything that Hero handed over could be innocent.
But in this place, the law was far away and his fist was close at hand.
Yulia's courage did not run so deep as to attempt such a foolish stunt right in front of the Hero.
"It's a present for Tia's enrollment."
"Haah. Tia, did you say thank you?"
"Umm. Did I?"
"If you don't remember, let's do it again. Head down, this time."
"Thank you, mithter!!!"
At that thunderous expression of gratitude, Leopard managed only a bittersweet smile.
There was unmistakable hostility in the way Yulia treated him.
No matter what he said, she answered in clipped, curt phrases — only what was strictly necessary — and her will to never let him come any closer was plain as day.
Damn it all…
So there was no helping being despised, then.
A woman loving a woman.
Leopard, keeping his distance from Yulia, couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. He stared a hole into the empty ground, his lips twitching.
Ugh. That old hag is as insufferable as ever. If age has rotted her brain, she ought to check herself into a sanatorium.
Of course, Yulia's disgust was a slightly different kind of disgust.
Having been a man in her previous life, she held no particular aversion to homosexuality — but there was no way Leopard could have known that.
"Ah, Leopard! You've come. Won't you stay for dinner?"
"That's quite all right, thank you. I only dropped by to see your faces."
Presently the Marquis came strolling out to greet him warmly.
To pretend he'd only just noticed, after watching the whole exchange from beginning to end — Leopard very nearly burst out laughing.
"Then how about a cup of tea at least?"
"I must decline."
"Oh, come now. Don't be like that. Miss Yulia has gotten quite good at brewing tea these days. Isn't that right, Miss Yulia?"
"I'd say I brew it at least like an actual person now…"
Indeed, the tea she'd made back then had been so terrible it was hard to believe a human hand had produced it.
Leopard found himself a little curious just how much her skills had improved since.
Pretending to finally yield to the Marquis's persistent invitations, Leopard walked alongside him toward the garden.
The sky was clear — a perfect day for a lazy cup of tea outdoors.
"You've already been staying in the Imperial Capital for nearly a month. Just how long do you intend to remain?"
"Hard to say. It's a rare vacation — I thought I'd enjoy it a while longer. Thanks to a capable maid, there's hardly any work left for me to do. Haha."
"…"
Did the Marquis see it, I wonder?
The look in the maid's eyes as she brewed tea behind him — glaring at the back of his head like she wanted to split it open.
Of course he saw it.
The Dragon's Eye was far superior to any human's sight; it could see, quite literally, everything.
He'd said it deliberately, just to provoke her.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself."
"I am. Thoroughly."
Leopard had braced for a stilted atmosphere.
The Marquis showed interest in nothing in this world, so he'd assumed the man would maintain nothing but a strictly professional relationship with Yulia.
And yet there he was, teasing her first, playing games with her.
Truly, it was an unfamiliar sight — almost painfully so.
Yulia wore a cynical, frosty front, but there was no guarantee it would last forever.
In the end, she was a woman too, and the odds were good that sooner or later she'd be drawn to a wealthy Marquis of superior standing.
Leopard, who knew nothing of what had passed between the two of them at the Partinahl banquet, had no way to think otherwise.
"Tea will be served now."
"Mm…"
The tea was ready in no time.
The natural fragrance of the black tea came through beautifully, blending nicely with its bitter notes.
He couldn't honestly call it well-brewed, but making allowances for a beginner, it was more than a passing grade.
Unable to bring himself to swallow, the Hero held the tea in his mouth, savoring it slowly while sneaking furtive glances at Yulia and the Marquis.
Is there really no opening left for me…?
The Marquis was unmistakably showing his affection for Yulia.
She was resisting for now, finding it too much to bear, but it looked like only a matter of time before she gave in.
And yet the Hero, Leopard, could do nothing.
He had sworn, when recommending Yulia to Dragonia, that he would demand nothing from her in return.
When he'd introduced her, all he'd thought of was wanting to protect the Saintess.
As long as he could shield her from the Church's threats, from the fate decreed by the Divine Oracle, what more could he possibly need?
But they do say that a man who stands wants to sit, and a man who sits wants to lie down.
With that purpose achieved, a different desire had crept in to fill Leopard's insides.
So near, yet so far.
So far, yet so near.
Watching the Marquis and his maid, maintaining a distance of perhaps a half-step between them, made his chest ache.
Lust stirred in him as well.
He wanted Yulia.
He wanted to stain her anew with his own color — she, who had already been defiled.
Presumptuously, the Hero had come to want more than what she had permitted him.
"Delicious, isn't it? Right?"
"Yes. It's quite drinkable…"
Leopard felt a strange unease watching the Marquis's beaming smile.
That was not a man who smiled so easily.
And he was certainly not one to be generous in his praise of food.
Today, both the Marquis and the Saintess seemed like entirely different people from the ones he knew.
"Hm?"
It was then that Leopard felt someone poking him in the side.
He turned to find Tia standing there, holding out some scrap of paper.
Unfolding the crumpled little note, he found it written in wobbly, crooked handwriting:
— You have won Tia's favor. You may make one wish to Tia. Just one!
— Warning! Not all wishes will be granted!
"Won her favor, huh…"
It felt like only yesterday she'd been clinging to her mother's side, screaming bad man the instant she laid eyes on him.
Whether it was just the notorious forgetfulness of childhood, she seemed to have forgotten all of it, now looking up at him with eyes full of pure curiosity.
Leopard let out a long sigh and rested his hand on Tia's head.
For an instant Yulia flinched, startled, her whole body tensing — but once she realized he was merely patting Tia's head, she closed her parted lips again.
Isn't this enough, though? Ariel is safe. The daughter who looks just like her is growing up healthy and happy. And I get to watch it all. That's more than enough.
Be satisfied with this.
Don't be too greedy.
Whispering this to himself, Leopard ruffled Tia's hair roughly.
Even those hard little horns that his hand kept bumping into no longer bothered him much at all.