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When she looked over at Bel, she saw that she was sitting on her bed and rubbing her face against the cuffs of her fluffy pyjamas with a big smile on her face. The little girl loved this set of pyjamas more than any other. Every time she put it on, she buried her face in the fabric and inhaled its smell.

As Mia watched, her mind went back to happier times.

That makes me think… I used to get like that as well.

A fluffy blanket and a pair of pyjamas made from the soft, fuzzy wool of fullmoon sheep were enough to keep her grinning for hours as she enjoyed their wonderful feel.

So easily moved… So happy and carefree… Ah, the gift of youth…

Grandma Mia’s face lit up with a warm smile when she saw her granddaughter.

“Wait, don’t go there yet! I’m no grandma! I’m still young myself!”

Mia smacked the back of her inner grandmother’s head and stomped on it, telling herself that she was still young as she did so.

When she said that, Bel gave her a puzzled look.

“Huh? Miss Mia? What did you just say?”

“Nothing. Don’t be worried. Also, I’ve been wondering what you’ve been doing by yourself all the time lately. Wasn’t it that thing you gave Rina?”

“Yes, that’s right. Malong and I became friends, and he showed me how to make it.

Bel said with a big smile, “Rina was the first friend I ever made, so I’m glad I got to give her a gift.”

“Mmm. That’s good to know.”

Mia’s lips turned into a sweet smile when she saw that her granddaughter was making good friends. It had a very old-fashioned feel to it.

Today, her inner grandmother showed how tough she was by clawing her way back up and sticking her head out again.

“I have to say, I had no idea you were—”

Mia took a quick look at Bel’s hands because she remembered how the troya had looked and saw that her index fingers were wrapped in bandages. The girl’s failed sewing projects, presumably.

She decided to act like nothing had happened.

“Oh, your hands are so good. Maybe you’re going to be an artist.”

Unfortunately, her inner grandmother had won.

When Mia saw how happy Bel was that she had made a gift for her friend, she couldn’t bring herself to say that the gift wasn’t very good.

She told a small white lie instead.

“I know, right? I know it doesn’t look like it, but I’m pretty good.”

Bel puffed out her chest with pride.

Then, she got a little sad and her eyes got a little narrower.

“It’s all thanks to Mother Elise. She did a great job teaching. Oh, but it was hard because she didn’t want to teach me how to clean at first. She told me that as a princess, I shouldn’t do things like that. So I told her that all the other girls in town knew those things and that it would look strange if I didn’t. That was enough to convince her.”

“Bel…”

The story was short, but it made me think of how hard Bel’s life used to be. She used to have to think on her feet and come up with convincing arguments to get even the simplest things she wanted.

“Heh, heh, Mr. Ludwig told me to tell Mother Elise that, and it worked.”

“…Bel.”

Mia’s face changed as she listened to Bel’s method of persuasion. She thought about how the young girl’s hard childhood must have forced her to always think on her feet.

Mia’s face changed right away when she saw that Bel was acting in a way that reminded her of herself.

All of a sudden, the story didn’t seem as sad.

“Once I got her to agree,” Bel went on, “she taught me a lot of things. After things got really bad in the empire, she spent a lot of time teaching me cooking and sewing. She told me it was so I could live on my own…”

“I see…”

Grandmother strength brought back. Mia thought about how hard Bel’s life must have been. She was skilled with her hands (…or was she?) because she had to be. If she was good at sewing, which is a big “if,” then that would also be because of her situation.

It was hard to say who had it worse between Mia’s year in a dungeon and Bel’s life in hiding and on the run. She could say for sure, though, that Bel had been through a lot of trouble.

Just as Mia’s eyes were starting to tear up, Bel put her hands on her hips and said, “I can do housework, too. Everything. In fact, I think I’m more likely to get married than you are, Miss Mia. So, you’ve never cooked, right?”

“M-Marri—Wha?”

Mia groaned. Bel’s words felt like a hammer to the gut for some reason.

Deeper, even. It broke her heart.

She didn’t know what “marriageability” meant. Being a princess, she had never thought about the skills that came with the title. She didn’t have to be able to sew or cook. That’s why there were servants. She could not know how to do any kind of housework, and that would be fine.

There was nothing wrong with it. Not at all ashamed, but…

Hnnngh… Getting married…

Her aching heart told her otherwise. Hearing that she wasn’t good enough to get married felt like a rejection of her very identity as a young, healthy woman in the world.

It made her feel old, like her inner grandmother wasn’t as inner as she thought she was.

Th-This is not good! What if Abel stops caring about me? I’ve been too busy trying to figure out how to get through this winter. When was the last time I told him what a pretty girl I am?

Mia was desperate, so she decided to show that she really was a good candidate for marriage. At least more than Bel.

She couldn’t afford to lose this contest.

“W-Well, when I want to, I can be pretty good for marriage. I made sandwiches not too long ago, did you know?”

She said this as a last-ditch effort to make a different point.

“You did? Really?”

Bel asked in genuine surprise.

“I certainly did! It was easy as pie!”

Mia said it with certainty. She didn’t stop there, though. She then added to the story, putting icing on her metaphorical cake.

“It wasn’t just any sandwich, either. It looked like a horse!”

“H-Horse-shaped?!”

She added more after seeing how well the first bit went over.

“Let me tell you, that sandwich was a work of art. The best kind of new ideas. It looked so grand that you might have thought it was about to gallop away at any second.”

Then, because Bel’s eyes were getting wider, Mia thought, “Ah, what the hell,” and dumped the whole bowl of frosting on.

“And the taste. It was just…mwah! On the same level as the best imperial food. The smelly, juicy roasted meat, the crunchy vegetables, and the soft bread that holds it all together… That was food that can change people’s lives.”

“Wow! Wow! Wow, Miss Mia, that’s so amazing!”

Bel jumped up and down with honest, naive wonder.

“I wish I had been able to try one. It’s so nice to hear…”

“They sure were,” I said.

Mia took a moment to enjoy the admiration in Bel’s eyes before she had an idea.

“Huh. If that’s the case, I should tell Abel to… Hmm, I just had a great idea!”

She smiled with great enthusiasm, not realising that her “very good idea” would be a nightmare for a certain workhorse who had kept his yeasty friends from turning a picnic into a massacre.