Those who never dare to try are those who never burnt their hand in the sun. Why laud them as the wise ones, when it’s those with the scars who taught the rest of us to seek the shade?

  —An unattributed adage on the price of progress

  “There is no need to be coy, Dear. We are well aware that you have gone through a—rather lacking—adulthood already. Surely those barbarous Humans experience romance, and have something equatable to the Bats and Bees talk and all that. We assume there is hopefully no need to retread such ground, for a multitude of reasons.”

  “I don’t… Are you really asking me if I have a crush?”

  “Such a thing is perfectly normal for a girl your age. And it’s the first time you’ve been in the company of peers your own age. Is a mother not entitled to a little curiosity?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being curious, obviously. I don’t think I’d need to tell my mom that,” Lycoris intoned flatly, “but there’s nobody like that. At least, not right now. Not that I’m oblivious, even I can tell how much Arnen likes me. Especially since he confessed as much. Sort of…”

  Her arm trembled as she went to reach for her locket, but steadied her hand, resisting the temptation to… to what, exactly?

  …Why would I care about Mizar in a situation like this? I’m a little anxious maybe, but there’s no need to calm or reassure myself… Ugh, I blame Athena for putting those weird thoughts in my head.

  Lilianna quirked an eyebrow, then gave her daughter a pat on the head accompanied by a sigh of, “If you say so, dear. You of course don’t need to let us know, but we would be more than happy to hear of our daughter’s excitement and innocent love.”

  Lycoris resisted the urge to give a rebuttal about her potentially abducting and interrogating any potential love-interests, considering that she’d made a habit of checking basically everyone Lycoris interacted with already. It seemed redundant, and moreover she seemed to trust Raine an awful lot despite her heritage.

  “However,” her mother continued, “we do have another matter to discuss. Namely, your times on your annual evaluation.”

  “Oh… okay.” Lycoris immediately felt herself wilt, her ears drooping and hands falling from locket to lap.

  “No need to be so dour, we aren’t going to punish you, dear. We wish to hear your thoughts on them, and discuss strategies for next year.”

  Lilianna gently lifted Lycoris off of her lap and sat her down on the sofa beside her, and turned to face her as her expression grew more serious. Not stern, but… perhaps genuine was a better way to describe it. Her ears were stiff, the innocent—or teasing?—wiggling from before had ceased in their entirety.

  “Well…”

  There was no reason for dishonesty. Lycoris simply laid out what had happened—that she was immediately overwhelmed by the silent and oppressive atmosphere; that the massive timer projected onto the classroom display cowed her; that while she had grown better at actually writing, she was still overwhelmed at the stack of papers and listed out questions asking for multiple paragraphs of explanation each.

  And then the next day it was the same thing with the next subject. She’d done better once she knew what to expect, but there were still so many things she didn’t have answers for, and hadn’t even noticed that students were passing around notes or information. Granted that was mostly students of lesser nobility—thinner blood, or whatever—but it made her realize that there was more to the exams than just knowing the answers.

  It was only for the grace of her position that some students willingly offered up assistance when they saw her struggling, no doubt in the hopes of earning favors from the Aphtangloa down the line—which she felt crippling shame for having to accept. But she couldn’t have known everything, there had been material that she had no chance of covering in the timeframe she had. Which was why she had somewhat selfishly commandeered Dahlia and her circle of friends to help her remedy that mistake for next year.

  “We feared that our daughter might struggle due to a lack of familiarity with the medium. ‘Tis a shame you had to rely on such plebeian methods, but at least you made a good display of resourcefulness. We hold no doubts or fears that such favors shall be trivial to return, as children‘s games are of much less import than courtly affairs.”

  “I’m not sure if I should feel upset, proud, annoyed or ashamed at that. They should invent a new emotion for times like this. ‘Upprounamed,’ or something.”

  “Dear, you’re starting to sound like your maid.”

  “Guh… I just feel terrible, is my point. Like I let you down personally, or besmirched our family’s name…”

  “While there are no doubt those who expected that you would immediately arrive and sweep the academy rankings, we know that it would be folly to expect such. Especially considering your time in Human lands. So long as you maintain that effort, we’re certain you will perform at the top of the class next year. That said…”

  Lilianna reached down and lightly pinched her ear. Not painfully, just playfully.

  “We’ve already instructed Saraya to host bi-weekly mock-exams for you during your stay at home. We assume there will be no complaints?”

  Lycoris shook her head. “That’s actually… exactly what I was going to ask about. Although I’m worried what my schedule will look like while at home. If anything it might be busier than when at school,” she added with a wry chuckle.

  “There will of course be plenty of time to rest. We won’t force you to work on your etiquette or magic more than you feel comfortable with. After all, you’ve demonstrated enough aptitude to conduct yourself appropriately at school.”

  “Oh you know that I prefer to keep busy rather than rest, anyways.”

  “Lycoris,” Her mother stood and glared down at her, the sudden shift to serious-Exaltare-mode causing the girl to shift somewhat uncomfortably. “You need to rest. If you never take a break, then you will burn out. The most important part of any activity is the rest after and between sessions. Without that, your mind won’t have time to process the information and practice you’ve done, and any further efforts will go to waste. This holds true even for an Aphtangloa.”

  Lycoris held her hands together in her lap, pouting and looking downward as she was scolded. She knew the sense in what her mother was saying, but part of the problem was she was the sort of person to always throw herself headlong into whatever she was doing—often at the expense of all else.

  Even though she had all the time in the world to do what she wanted, Lycoris still habitually behaved frantically, as though she’d run out of time at any given minute. She couldn’t decry her mother for trying to get her to slow down. The way she was constantly throwing herself at problem after problem and piling up work probably looked ridiculous to the woman who’d accomplished infinitely more over the course of nearly eighty times as many years.

  “Sorry, it’s just… force of habit.”

  “We are aware, dear. That is why we’re reminding you, and assigning actual vacation time as well as study and training. ’Tis a parent’s responsibility to ensure their child lives a healthy and balanced life.”

  “…Is that why you wanted me to come home so badly?”

  Lilianna fell quiet, then scratched at her cheek in an uncharacteristic bout of coyness.

  “Is it strange that we would want to spend more time with our daughter? You may have a long life ahead of you, but we will only get to savor your childhood once.”

  Lycoris chuckled, scratched at her cheek, and sat up straight. “Then, shall we fetch Raine and sort out the schedule for the next couple of weeks now, or handle that after um… spending some time together.”

  “If she’s the sort that we believe her to be, she will want some time to decompress alone. We have plenty of time for that later. Instead, let us talk more about what else you have been up to. Or, you could fetch your little plush and we can pick up from where we left off in that storybook?”

  ＊

  Raine stood in the center of the room, looking half-heartedly at the decor that had been laboriously cleaned and positioned, the finely polished mahogany blending with the dark red carpet and contrasting with the silvery-blue sheets. There was a small mana-powered fireplace, a desk and table with spare chairs leaning against the wall, and a window with a view of the capital’s skyline.

  The wooden wardrobe had already been “filled” with all the clothing the girl owned, and her study materials for Lycoris had been laid out on the desk and slotted onto the overhanging shelf. The maid worked quickly, considering they had only been speaking with The Exaltare for a few minutes at most.

  Raine checked over her belongings slowly and meticulously, making sure that nothing had been tampered with. She didn’t suspect the maid of foul play, and even if she had done something it would have been on Her Majesty’s orders, but a healthy bit of skepticism went further than blind faith in keeping herself safeguarded.

  Especially because the maid was watching her like a hawk as she wandered around the room, and while she could presume that it was because she was a commoner inside the most luxurious place in the entire Empire, there was no guarantee it was only just that. Not unless she asked, and she had been told that foolish questions like that were a last resort.

  Instead, Raine decided to sit down at the desk and pull one of the tomes off of it, glancing down at the book on history. Having someone loom over her shoulder was rather distracting, but she wasn’t particularly interested in the contents of the book itself, she just needed something to occupy her time after the harrowing experience that was encountering the Exaltare.

  For whatever reason, Lycoris had an extreme interest in the history of Vampires and Humans, and had specifically requested that be the primary focus of her studies, outside of the necessary for demonstrating an appropriate understanding of the materials required to be considered a productive member of high-society.

  It would behoove her to refresh her memory on the thing she’d be teaching Lycoris anyways, so she idly flipped through the pages as she tested the patience of the maidservant. She wasn’t sure if there had been any orders to keep watch on her, or if the woman was simply doing so of her own volition, but if there was one thing she could take pride in, it was that nobody was more stubborn of a person than her.

  It only took a dozen or so minutes before the maid cleared her throat.

  “Is there anything that the young Lady Lynnvel requires of me?”

  “Nope.”

  All she really needed was some privacy, but she had no idea what sort of countenance this maid had. If she was like the Lynnvel family’s servants, then all stating her request would do is earn her a bruise across the cheek to fix. Considering this was The Exaltare’s abode, it would probably be worse than just a slap across the cheek.

  Though, Her Majesty did embrace Lycoris. I don’t think Lycoris disliked that. They stopped immediately, but that might have been because I was there. That would make sense.

  The maid bowed as Raine absentmindedly turned the page while resting her cheek against a palm. She wasn’t even reading the book, really.

  “Then I shall take my leave. If you require my presence, please press the button on the bedside table. Her Majesty and Her Highness will likely request your presence in a couple of hours. Please ensure that you are prepared to be summoned.”

  “Mm.”

  The pink-haired maid’s thoughts were even more inscrutable than the average person’s. She might as well have been a mobile stone statue, or a doll. Maybe she actually was…

  As soon as the door opened and closed behind her, Raine closed the book and put it back up on the shelf with a small sigh. She wasn’t able to focus on the book at present, didn’t feel comfortable conducting any of her research while staying within The Exaltare’s palace, and didn’t have access to any of her material regardless. Raine had made sure to leave anything sensitive back at campus.

  “What… should I even do?”

  What was even the point of seeking privacy? Sure it was preferable to be alone than to have someone watching her every move, but…

  She had never been in this sort of situation before. First and foremost, she’d never been invited over to a friend’s home. And the identity of said friend meant the scale of this was so dramatic, even Raine realized that it could scarcely be compared to something as mundane as inviting a friend over for the weekend.

  With no other impetus, Raine simply laid down on top of the bed, folded her arms over her waist, and stared up at the ceiling. She made a mental note to ask Lycoris for material to give her something to do when the princess wasn’t present, and while laying passively on the bed, traced her fingers along the concealed scars she had engraved into herself as she thought about the Aphtangloa and their magic.

  Perhaps some time for decompression would do Raine some good. This was supposed to be a vacation of sorts, even if she was only here to act as a tutor.

  ＊　＊　＊

  Lycoris stretched her arms up and leaned back from her desk as she finished the practice exam. Given it was language studies, her wrist was sore from writing. And there was a mark on the back of her hand from brushing over the paper.

  “At least the answers aren’t smeared at all,” she sighed.

  And that it was an easy enough subject, considering how much effort she had put into learning to read already. If anything, essay format questions were advantageous to her, considering she already had a wealth of experience and opinion to draw from. Now if only they could write from right to left instead. Or eschew writing at all, they probably had the technology for it…

  “Why not use your other hand, then?”

  Raine was in her room as well, though she had a pair of buds hanging over her ears as she stared down at her phone. She didn’t have much to do other than help Lycoris with her studies, and was the one checking over her work with the answer sheet each time she took a practice test.

  This would be the third overall, and Lycoris was most confident as she handed the fistful of papers over to the girl sitting at the nearby table.

  “It doesn’t feel natural, or comfortable.”

  “You can spar with both hands, though.”

  “That’s…” Lycoris frowned down at her hands, “only because I learned to use my right hand for that first, probably.”

  “Has Her Majesty put anything else on the agenda for today? This is the first time she’s started the day off with a quiz like this.”

  “Technically yes, but what she put was a big red ‘relax’ over a slot of free time.”

  Raine looked up from the papers toward Lycoris, her brow wrinkling. “Mandated free time?”

  “Something like that… I’m not the best at taking care of myself. But, I have an idea!”

  “And that is…”

  “Just come with me. We can go over my test results later, ‘kay?”

  “You have me feeling concerned, Lycoris.”

  Lycoris shook her head and stood up, stretching her legs. “It’s nothing malicious, I just need to do something active for a bit.”

  “Didn’t your mother instruct you to relax?”

  Instead of humoring her line of questioning further, Lycoris grabbed Raine by the wrist and dragged her out of her room and down the hall. She really shouldn’t have felt as excited about this as she did, but maybe it was just the opportunity to show off to Raine that was filling her with confidence.

  And quite possibly the restlessness from sitting in one place for over an hour was getting to her as well.

  Lycoris’s destination was the training hall, which was still transformed into a padded room. Jumping up onto the mattresses and walking forward, she started doing some stretches to limber up while Raine gazed around the room in what was no doubt expressionless bewilderment.

  She made no comment on it, naturally, but Lycoris was about to show off what the room was for soon enough anyways.

  Standing at the far end of the room, she closed her eyes and briefly concentrated, sprouting her wings with almost startling ease before flexing them out and bounding over towards her friend in a single great leap-glide.

  “Tah-dah!”

  Raine stared at her blankly, giving no indication of what she was thinking, or what sort of impact Lycoris’s stunt had.

  Taking it in stride, she asked with a touch of impatience, “What do you think, Raine? Look, wings! …They don’t look weird, do they?”

  “I thought you said you were afraid of heights. I suppose that’s why the room is padded… And, they look like wings.”

  Lycoris put a hand over her face. “Well yes of course they look like wings, they’re wings. I was feeling self-conscious because you didn’t have any sort of reaction. And I’ve been using this training room to practice, though… it hasn’t done much to help with my actual fear of heights. It’s mostly ended up as a place for me to stretch my wings and fly around.”

  “You can fly without trouble?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yes! Come here, come here.”

  Lycoris beckoned her closer, and when Raine complied, she deftly slid around behind her friend, wrapped her arms around her waist,

  “Hmm?!”

  And before Raine could wriggle out of her grasp, she jumped and flapped her wings, taking off with the taller yet lankier girl. It was a little hard to see through her pile of red hair, but that didn’t matter once she was in the air and was holding the other girl under her. The part she was actually somewhat concerned about was the difference in weight, but Raine hardly weighed anything and was easy to carry… aside from the slight bodily trembling.

  “Well, what do you think now?!” Lycoris cheered out as she banked right, gracefully swerving as she did her best to maintain a level speed.

  Of course, Raine’s reply came in a completely level tone, “I still don’t understand why you are afraid of heights, if you can fly this well.”

  “That’s what you’re fixating on?! What about how it feels to, you know, fly?”

  “…It is exciting. I notice you are just going around in circles though. Is that because of me?”

  As Raine pointed out, Lycoris was just doing a loose lap around the room without any sort of particular flair or finesse. She could have said that it was because she was carrying Raine and didn’t want to risk injuring her by doing a twirl or loop or something… but the real reason was because she hadn’t ever tried to do so before. Because while she had become more confident about flying, within this padded room, she was still afraid of hurting herself.

  She gradually slowed down, carefully dropped Raine, and then landed a few paces ahead on her belly while grumbling into the padding.

  “No. It’s like I said. I’m afraid of heights. I’m worried about injuring myself.”

  “But you’re Princess Lycoris Aphtangloa.”

  Lycoris slowly sat up and turned around to stare at Raine in confusion. “…Yes, and?”

  “That implies any sort of injury you’d face would be like water off of a dracybara’s back.”

  “It still hurts though. Honestly I’m not sure why you had so little reaction when I…” Lycoris’s annoyance faded into tepid shyness as she wrapped her wings around herself, “you know… broke your arm on accident…”

  “It did hurt more than what I’m used to, but numbing magic is a solution either way.”

  “I’m surprised you’re not more afraid of getting hurt…”

  “You get used to it with age.”

  Except I’m the one here who’s been an old man! Lycoris groused inside her mind, lips pressed together and eyes wide as though she’d just bitten into a raw lime.

  Standing back up, she shook her head and readjusted her blouse. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure familiarity with pain or numbing it would do much for the… psychological aspect. I’ve been avoidant about dealing with it until Mam…Mother began teaching me to fly.”

  “I don’t mind what you call your mother.”

  “Don’t bring attention to—! Thanks, Raine. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts.”

  “Is there nothing you can do to mitigate your fear? I believe there are means of doing so with magic. Perhaps one of those could be used to help familiarize yourself.”

  “I… could. But I think I upset Mama the last time I did that. And it leaves me feeling strange afterwards too. I didn’t think to try it since… well I assumed that once it wore off, I’d go back to my normal emotional state with regards to high places.”

  “It’s at least worth experimenting with. Any option is better than none.” Though her face was still impassive, there was a sparkle in Raine’s eyes. The girl seemed quite excited, though Lycoris wasn’t sure if it was because of her wanting to help or just because she was happy about the idea of having someone to serve as an experiment.

  “Well, it’ll have to wait either way. I left the Lunar Tear at school. And right now we’re supposed to be taking a break! I just wanted to stretch a bit and show off my wings.”

  “Oh,” Raine’s brief sparkle of enthusiasm flickered out just as quickly as it’d ignited.

  “However, I do have another idea.”

  “Oh?”

  “It was a pretty big deal out so far away from home, but I figure that since we’re in the capital, it’ll be much easier for me to wander around the city. And I know you mentioned having little in the way of clothing, so I’m going to take you clothes shopping today!”

  For the first time since she met Raine, Lycoris saw the girl’s lips twist into a look of abject terror.

  ＊　＊　＊

  The act of shopping itself ended up the easiest part of the entire affair. When Lycoris had asked her mother about heading out into town, Lilianna made a great deal out of assigning a full escort and clearing the streets and shops, and had to be talked down to simply having a pair of guards accompany them as security.

  Both of the soldiers were in plainclothes and specifically told to keep their distance, and Lycoris made sure to wear a hood to stand out as little as possible. In some aspects, it was similar to when she had snuck out on her own before, though this was obviously officially sanctioned by her mother, and she knew where they were going to be in case of emergency, and Lycoris had her phone on hand to stay in contact just in case, and it was near the middle of the day… really it was almost nothing like when she had snuck out.

  There was also the fact that Lycoris was officially a public figure now, and there probably wouldn’t be any Vampire in the capital who would even want to risk making an enemy of the Empire by messing with her within spitting distance of the Exaltare high in her palace. This point had been brought up by Raine, who after a couple of days in Lycoris’s home, had mustered up enough confidence to actually speak in front of Lilianna.

  It came as a surprise to Lycoris too, considering how aghast Raine had been when she initially suggested it and dragged her friend off to her mother’s room to ask permission. She’d decided on the hood herself, to alleviate the burden of being in the spotlight on Raine as much as she could. Accompanying the Princess would undoubtedly make anyone stand out drastically, and this was supposed to be a relaxing trip out to the town around them. Though, apparently that was not the prospect that terrified the other girl.

  She didn’t mention it, though her mother likely picked up on it regardless, but having Raine with her was also a means of personal emotional security for Lycoris. The only other time she’d been out in Ljosdeyja had been rather stressful after all.

  Without protestation, Raine accompanied her as they left the Palace the same way they entered, and began trawling the massive den of spires brimming with businesses. Although… because it was Solus, the streets were far less crowded than usual, and several of the places they walked past were closed due to holiday hours. Much like her mother had told her, the month was considered a stay-at-home sort of extended holiday, even though they had the cloud generators to shield them from the sun’s deadly rays.

  It didn’t inconvenience them too much fortunately, there were still plenty of stores open for them to browse, and as though a spell of sleep had been cast on the entire city, they were similarly far less populated than stores in a city of this size had any right to be. It was no wonder they were able to convince Lilianna not to clear out the entire district for their sake.

  Also because she no doubt realized that was probably an overreaction.

  Much to Lycoris’s dismay however, the one parfait place she recalled visiting with Emma and Seraphine had permanently closed its doors, due to the hierarchy shuffling in the wake of the Vanas’s fall.

  Besides that sobering moment, their day out was what at least one of them would consider a great success, as she was able to get Raine to try on several outfits and even walk home with a small bundle of bags filled with dresses and skirts that the redhead had at least found tolerable enough to wear. Even though she groused the entire time that a nice comfortable robe was more than good enough and she had no reason to leave home.

  It was also a rather eye-opening experience for Lycoris. Before, when she had been in Raine’s position and felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of clothing being lobbed at her, it was quite an exhausting affair… but picking out outfits and seeing someone else try them on was an almost mystical experience. Like she had managed to unearth an extra twenty years worth of energy just for the sake of seeing her friend try on clothes.

  It wasn’t anything that would ever make her want to end up on the receiving end again, though. That would probably sap away all the invigoration she’d acquired, so she left it at simply understanding where the sentiment came from. Graciously, Raine had asked that they return after Lycoris was satisfied, and showed no reciprocal desire to see the Princess try on clothes. She had more than enough waiting for her at home, regardless.

  And far more importantly, despite her grumbling and general fatigue as they walked around, Raine occasionally looked like she was enjoying herself too. Between that and the made-to-go sweets they sampled on their way home, Lycoris considered their outing to be a rather successful bout of “relaxation.”