Chapter 14: What's wrong with Maru?

For some reason Thadeus couldn't understand, every time he tried to get Maru to interact with the village children on her own and thus expand her circle of friends, she flatly refused. On the contrary, despite rejecting him at first, now she just followed him around like an eager puppy.

He always asked her, "Don't you want more friends? It'll be fun, I promise," and she just shook her head. That worried him a little. Maru was, so to speak, family, so he'd like to see her have fun with others instead of shutting herself away, interacting only with him.

But since she didn't want to, Thadeus simply decided to take things one step at a time. After all, he managed to convince her to open up to him a little, so he thought he could help her overcome her shyness and go out with other people.

However, the other girls eventually started to look at Maru with suspicion, constantly complaining about how she had become their shadow, whatever that meant, and becoming quite unhappy when someone randomly joked about Maru and Thadeus getting married in the future.

Thadeus didn't understand why this bothered them. More than anything, it's worth clarifying that Maru was like a little sister to him, as he felt about many other little children in the village who played and shouted around. Well...even though she was the same age.

Anyway, the relationship they both had seemed to be misinterpreted by others, but Maru really was just like a little sister, so joking about getting married was inappropriate and even caused Maru to feel embarrassed, something that was shown by her blushing cheeks whenever someone said such things, he believed.

“Anyway, it’s not like a girl of noble birth wants to marry just any commoner boy.”

That's what Thadeus believed.

Although Maru had been living in the village for six years, and although they both seemed to share a thin blood connection through their parents (reminder, Thadeus's dad is apparently Canelia-san's cousin), Thadeus didn't think Maru would be interested in marrying a low-class boy compared to those elegant nobles of great bearing and influence.

Even as someone who aspired to be a Sky Knight, who becomes a noble person simply for being one, Thadeus never for a moment harbored such thoughts. And not just because it led him to view her as a little sister; that would be a lie.

If not because... precisely, she was not only a Noble of the Arswerdia Empire, which controls 56% of the continent (Whatever that means), but also, and even more than that, she was a Princess of a Grand Duchy, all descendants of heroes of yesteryear.

How could they be equals? How could anyone be so naive as to want to marry a literal princess, childhood acquaintance or not? Even if her father was something of an illegitimate son of that family or something, would it even matter?

Thadeus was smart enough to know that such a thing was impossible. He'd be lying if he said he'd never thought, "Hey, Maru-chan is so cute...it wouldn't be a bad idea to marry her." However, upon learning that she was not only a noblewoman, but even the daughter of the Grand Duke of Aragon, that slightly careless thought was quickly shattered.

Thadeus still remembered how shocked he was to see the Aragon heraldry in front of him emanating a subtle but clear sense of magical enchantment. Although he was later pleased that Maru trusted him enough to reveal such a thing, he was also somewhat disappointed by the implications.

He didn't want to think too much about why.

Anyway, that was a year ago. Currently, Maru is a cute little sister whom Thadeus wishes happiness, returning to the arms of the Father she missed and regaining the beautiful life of an aristocrat she deserved, alongside a prince or something similar.

He thought that would be a good ending for that pretty girl.

While there was still no news, and Maru's mother herself didn't seem to be in a particular hurry to take her daughters back to where they belonged for some reason, Thadeus believed it would only be a matter of time before that happened. He felt a little sad and lonely thinking about it... but he truly believed it was meant to be.

I wasn't going to want her to stay in an ordinary, dull life she didn't deserve as a Princess. In fact, when I thought about it, maybe that's why Maru didn't want to make friends. Still, it was a little sad to be in a place and walk alone with only your sister and a guy of a similar age for company...

In any case, although the two of them were getting along better now than they had been at the beginning, there were some issues that bothered Thadeus more than Maru's lack of desire to have more friends. And that was that she didn't show much emotion.

Trying to make her laugh or even get angry became an achievement that Thadeus considered worth celebrating, no matter how insignificant the matter really was. Maru rarely expresses herself, and Thadeus wanted her to be more open... that, until now, had been a work in progress, but good results could be seen when she approached other girls for some reason (Even if it was only anger?).

However, this morning was quite different.

Thadeus had gotten up early this morning because he wanted to see the majestic Wyrvens with Maru when they migrated near the village. His dream of becoming a Sky Knight was primarily motivated by the idea of riding the beings closest to True Dragons on this continent, and his heart pounded with excitement at the mere thought of observing them.

I wanted to share that emotion with Maru. However...something was strange.

Since she got up, Maru had seemed noticeably downcast and somewhat withdrawn. She still had that particularly expressionless look, but it was noticeable in her gestures. He felt inwardly worried about it, but thinking it was just a matter of being too early, he didn't mention it, and instead, he asked her out.

“Come on, we have to go see them!” Was what he said in his haste at that moment….he’d admit, he didn’t pay much attention to Maru’s condition at that moment because he wanted to get to the best place to observe the traveling Wyrvens as soon as possible, so he was a bit blunt, but could you blame him?

It didn't help that Maru, as always, simply played along, though she didn't explain what the issue was at the time—she assumed because she'd already spoken to him about it—and accompanied him to his destination without even telling her mother.

…That was worrying, to be honest, but Thadeus didn't give it much thought.

And upon arriving, Thadeus would soon notice other oddities about the current Maru, making him wonder, "What's wrong with Maru?"