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The Tale of the Wizrain Kingdom

A Gentle Rain of Light

Translated by: S3

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

At Halburn's sudden proposal, the word daughter, daughter danced through Elna's mind. Seeing Elna blankly staring kyoton, blinking, and practically launching question marks into the air with a tilted head, Cross called out, 「Now, calm down.」

「This is merely a suggestion from the Duke, who knows your current circumstances. He is saying that if there is a problem with Elna being the adopted daughter of the Calzeed family, why not become the adopted daughter of a different... more influential noble? It wouldn't be an issue even if you become my wife, or after you become an adopted daughter.」

Cross was saying something, but Elna decided to ignore it. Indeed, if she could cut ties with the Calzeeds right now, it was more than she could hope for. But.

Meeting the eyes of Duke Halburn, who looked down at her with his massive frame and intense gaze, she realized that what he was looking at was something far beyond Elna. He was imagining the figure of the dragon with glass scales flapping its wings in a free world, contrasting with Elna, who had now become so tiny.

「I am... sorry, but...」

Unintentionally, she averted her face. An awkward atmosphere drifted in, making it feel almost suffocating. 「In that case, it cannot be helped!」 However, in an instant, that atmosphere was blown away. Halburn's loud voice was like a gust of wind, and Elna, on the verge of toppling over while standing straight, stiffened her body to brace herself. Even a former dragon gets startled when surprised.

「To be able to meet Lady Elnalfia... no, Lady Elna, I got ahead of myself despite my age. ...Unfortunately, I was not blessed with talent for magic, but those who possess fire magic are often passionate and single-minded. Lady Elnalfia. Please, with your passionate soul, support Lord Cross.」

Certainly, those words were spoken directly to Elna.

Elna slowly grasped the palm that Duke Halburn naturally held out. As expected, his palm was huge, making Elna's hand look like an infant's in comparison. Contrary to his lion-like appearance, his gentle body warmth made Elna's chest heat up with a kotori. Realizing she had murmured 「Yes,」 she was surprised at herself and instinctively tightened her lips. Because Duke Halburn looked at Elna's age-appropriate face and chuckled kukku, Elna turned bright red.

「Now then, Your Majesty. Actually, I have ears so good it could be fatal; I am often mistaken for a wild animal or something, much to people's surprise.」

「I can hardly believe that is a line coming from the head of a ducal house, but it's fine, I know.」

「Nho-ho-ho-ho. Lady Elna's troubled voice reached my ears through this thick door, you see...」

Duke Halburn struck a fancy pose, cupping both hands to his ears as if listening intently faaa, though what he was doing was not fancy at all. But that wasn't the problem. (Eh, t-troubled... !?) Elna recalled the earlier conversation.

(Umm, if I recall, Cross once again, well, said something like a p-proposal to me.)

Her vision spun guru guru. It was embarrassing enough just knowing it herself, but it was even more painful if it had been overheard. Moreover, Duke Halburn had a somewhat knowing look on his face.

「Your Majesty, Lady Elna is deeply troubled.」

「U-Um, no, wait...!」

「She is troubled because she has too little to do!!」

「Ah, that part...!?」

—How is life at the castle? Any inconveniences?

—Inconveniences... no, not really. Yeah. It's not that there are any, it's more like there's too little to do...

It really was the very, very first conversation.

She couldn't help but think he had gone back quite a ways.

「Surprisingly, this might be good.」

Duke Halburn's idea seemed to fit Elna quite well.

「Mother's bones are at the royal palace anyway. I'm grateful to be allowed to stay nearby. No, I have to be here.」

The way she fluttered the clothes as she spoke showed she was very used to them. Of course, the clothes handed to her at the royal palace were of sturdier material and the size was perfectly tailored.

To everyone's surprise, what Elna was wearing was a royal palace maid uniform.

「As I thought, wearing something I'm used to is calming. Yeah. It was a complete blind spot. If Duke Halburn hadn't mentioned it, I might not have thought of it.」

「Conversely, it's a look I'm not used to seeing.」

From the perspective of Cross, who had arranged it, it felt strangely itchy, but seeing Elna looking so happy, he couldn't help but smile along with her.

A quiet wind drifted in from the office window, softly billowing Elna's skirt. Just as he thought that, Elna was flattened peshanko with cries of 「Wagya, owa, uwa!」 She was angrily puffing punsuko at something invisible, saying, 「Hey, cut it out, I said stop it!」 Seeing the happy Elna, the spirits must have come over.

Suddenly, Cross narrowed his eyes.

Compared to Elna, who had lived as a dragon, Cross was just a human. He could not see the figures of the spirits, and the past life in his memories felt like he was inside a fairy tale. However, the red-haired girl who had jumped into his life was certainly Cross's reality.

He gazed at Elna, squinting involuntarily. Then, scurrying over with short limbs choko choko as if evacuating from Elna's feet—where she was busy hitting the air above her head waa waa and spinning around—came the hamster.

「...However, for some reason, even I can see you. Just what on earth are you?」

When he poked its mouth chon, its fluffy mouth wiggled mozo mozo and its nose twitched piku piku.

At that moment, Elna's voice rang out even more joyfully. Holding the hem of her skirt pin with her fingertips, she spun around on her tiptoes kuru kuru, and just when it looked like she might fall, she dexterously balanced on the other leg and spun in reverse.

Potsuri.

He blinked in surprise, thinking rain was pouring down, but it was droplets of light spilling through the lattice of the window. Hata hata, poro poro, a rain of light poured down. Kururi, kururi, Elna slowly swayed the soft cloth of her skirt, playing with the spirits.

「Ah ha ha ha!」

It was as if she were gazing at something far away. Hearing a voice that sounded like it had been raised because she was tickled, Cross blinked pachiri. Suddenly, he swallowed a breath and straightened his posture.

「Elna, I can see the contents.」

And though he smiled wryly, he offered a word of caution. Instantly, Elna pressed her skirt down with force, biting her lip with a bright red face. The spirits probably tumbled down poro poro. The Hamster Spirit put its short little hands to its mouth hawawa and twitched its nose worriedly fuku fuku.

It was a calm early afternoon.

「...M-My apologies for showing you something... unsightly...」

「It was a joke. It wasn't visible, barely. Barely. Besides, I'm only interested in the contents.」

「You said that boldly with a straight face!」

「Even if you show me white cloth, well... Give me a little more sex appeal.」

「Forget 'barely,' that was way too direct!」

Elna has not yet decided on a way of life.

She is living vaguely between dragon and human. How will the girl live? What will she choose? Cross doesn't know either, but if possible, he wishes to reach out a hand to her. —Even if the power he possesses is something very tiny.

「Elna, when you are here, it really feels like being in the rain. Is it because you're noisy?」

「I feel like I was told something similar a long time ago, but you were the one being noisy, you know!? The old me was very ladylike!」