OHNIR – Chapter 56
Chapter 56: Slingshot
“—Madam Maity, good afternoon.”
Kevit, who had shut himself in his room, keenly heard a familiar, crisp voice. He froze for a moment, and the fingertips he was using to cut trembled. With a crack, the once-flawless, pale golden shell under his hand snapped in two.
Kevit: “…!”
That was the one he had painstakingly selected!
The green-eyed boy sighed heavily, thankful only that the break was clean. He could probably salvage it later.
But for now, seeing his visitor was more important.
He pushed aside the scattered tools on his desk, strode hastily to the door, and pushed it open. As expected, his eyes immediately fell upon the brown-haired girl smiling brightly at Madam Maity.
“Ruth!” Kevit exclaimed, waving to his childhood friend as soon as he stepped out the door. “Did you come to play with me?”
Kelusta turned, blinked, and glanced subconsciously toward the front door before saying, quite heartlessly, “No—I’m here to collect on our last bet.”
Kevit’s smile froze on his face, and his entire demeanor visibly deflated.
“…Alright, Miss Busybody,” he said listlessly. “Let’s go to the garden. Mom saved the biggest and most beautiful one just for you, waiting for you to come pick it.”
Kelusta’s eyes lit up. She turned to Madam Maity, gave her an excited hug, and said sweetly, “Oh my goodness, Madam, thank you so much! I must be the happiest child in all of Seaside Town!”
Madam Maity ruffled Kelusta’s hair and shot a smug glance at her sullen son. Then she bent down, kissed Kelusta’s cheek dotingly, and said with great affection, “Go on, dear… remember to have Kevit pick it for you. Be careful not to prick your fingers.”
With a long face, Kevit walked over to Kelusta and said stiffly, “Alright, let’s go. Hurry up and take your prize so you can stop being an eyesore!”
With that, the boy gave a nasty snort, turned on his heel like a typical brat, and stormed out the door.
Kelusta made a face at his back, politely bid Madam Maity farewell, and then skipped after her childhood friend.
With a tense expression, Kevit walked past the vibrant, competing flowers and across the soft, fine sand, making a beeline for a massive, shimmering golden blossom.
The rose was a pure gold, the same shade as Kelusta’s eyes and even more brilliant than the sand at their feet. Its sturdy, emerald-green stem held the magnificent bloom aloft. Upon closer inspection, one could even see flecks of gold dust on the petals, which swayed gently in the sea breeze, glittering in the sunlight.
I don’t know how Madam Maity has such miraculous hands, Kelusta thought to herself. It’s like something out of the fairy tale book Lux gave me, as magical as the Goddess of Life sowing seeds across a barren land.
While she was lost in thought, Kevit had already rolled up his sleeves, put on a pair of gloves, and was attempting to pull the entire beach rose from the sand, roots and all.
“Are you still mad?” Kelusta crouched down, propped her chin in her hands, and looked at her friend’s tense face. “It’s just because I don’t have time to play,” she said, in a tone that practically begged for a smack. “Do you have to be so childish?”
Perhaps from dealing with the recent influx of customers, Kevit’s hands moved with practiced speed. Almost as soon as Kelusta finished speaking, he held his breath and, with a few deft motions, plucked all the thorns from the stem.
Strangely, no one knew what secret formula Madam Maity used, but unlike ordinary flowers, removing the thorns from a mature beach rose didn’t affect its future growth in the slightest.
Kelusta exclaimed, “Wow! That’s amazing!”
She praised him with genuine admiration. “Looks like I’m about to own the most beautiful Golden Beach Rose in all of Nobili!”
Thanks to Kelusta’s praise—which sounded sincere, at least—Kevit finally seemed less angry.
His leaf-green eyes flicked toward Kelusta. Gripping the rose stem with one hand, he plunged the other deep into the sand. With a slight tug, he pulled the flower free, its entire root system intact.
Kelusta eagerly grabbed the custom-made wrapping paper nearby. Coordinating with Kevit, she waited until he held the rose upright, its roots still clotted with sand, then carefully guided it into the colorful kraft paper sleeve.
Once done, Kevit clapped the excess sand from his hands. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kelusta, who was beaming as she held the flower. His gaze softened slightly, but he stubbornly kept a wooden expression, refusing to look pleased.
After a long moment, Kelusta finally tore her eyes from the flower. She looked delightedly at Kevit’s sour face and chirped, “It’s so beautiful! No wonder everyone in Nobili is scrambling for one. I really lucked out! Oh, by the way, Mr. Maity, if I wanted to give this flower to someone else… you wouldn’t mind, would you?”
Kevit froze. He had been trying to give her the silent treatment, but he couldn’t help but ask, puzzled, “Give it away? To who?”
“To the guest who just arrived at my house,” Kelusta said with a grin. “It’s their first time visiting Seaside Town. I can’t let them leave empty-handed, can I?”
“…That’s fine, I guess. You won the flower fair and square, so you can do whatever you want with it,” Kevit said nonchalantly. Then, as if remembering something, he quickly added, “But if it was a gift from me… ahem, you couldn’t just give it away to someone else!”
“Don’t worry, I’m not like that. If a friend gives me a gift—even if it’s just a weed—I’ll be sure to plant it properly in my garden!” Kelusta said with a grin. “Hmm, but, Young Master Maity… are you finally not mad at me anymore?”
Kevit froze, his face flushing as he awkwardly looked away. Still, he forced himself to say, “…No, it’s not that easy. I have to stay symbolically angry for a little while longer.”
Kelusta stifled a laugh. She bent down, set the rose on an empty patch of ground, and said languidly, “Alright, stop sulking. How about this? As soon as my guest leaves, you’ll be the first person I come to play with.”
Kevit glanced at her. Remembering his earlier resolve, he refused to give in so easily.
Kelusta pouted. She rolled her eyes internally but kept a cheerful, unruffled expression. She held her left hand out in front of her as if gripping something, while pinching two fingers of her right hand together—a gesture Kevit knew all too well.
It was just like aiming a slingshot—and the imaginary projectile was pointed straight at the boy’s heart.
“Same old rules.”
The brown-haired girl watched him with a smile, her golden eyes catching the sunlight off the sea, sparkling just like the petals of the rose.
“If you disagree, you make the same gesture to signal a duel…”
As she spoke, the tension left Kevit’s face. He let out a soft sigh and a helpless smile, slowly raising his hands toward his chest.
Kelusta’s eyes lit up, and her smile bloomed. “And if you agree—”
The boy’s emerald eyes were filled with a gentle calm. He crossed his hands and, with an almost ceremonial gravity, placed them flat over his heart.
He blinked under Kelusta’s glittering gaze and smiled back, finishing her sentence with perfect understanding.
“If I agree, then of course I have to play along… and let myself get hit.”
The Breviou Residence.
Sumolor’s hands were folded neatly in her lap. Her long, straight black hair cascaded like a bolt of smooth silk, clearly the result of years of meticulous care.
She sat on the sofa, her gaze fixed on an oil painting on the wall. Though she had come to speak with Sogeta, she said nothing for a long time, her eyes silently tracing the painted beach, the waves, and a lifelike, fan-shaped golden shell half-submerged in the tide.
“…That was painted by Ricana,” Sogeta finally said, breaking the heavy silence. “After she came to Seaside Town, she would always take her easel down to the shore. She’d stay for most of the afternoon, not coming home until she’d painted a scene she was happy with.”
The pale gold shell in the painting reflected a rainbow-like iridescence. The waves broke into white foam, the sand was fine and bright, and the low-hanging clouds met the sea at the horizon, lending the entire scene a dreamlike tranquility. It was a natural, untouched vista—the kind one could never find in the royal capital.
“She always loved to paint,” Sumolor said softly, her eyes still on the canvas. “Even in the unremarkable courtyard of the ducal manor, she could render every leaf with its own unique character. My own mother used to say that the skill and mood in Ricana’s oil paintings surpassed those of many court painters who considered themselves without rival.”
Sumolor lowered her eyes. “If Duke Amirium hadn’t insisted she give up her passion to focus on the family’s advancement… perhaps she wouldn’t have developed such a willful streak. To think she would follow you all the way to Seaside Town, alone and without a word to anyone.”
Ricana had never been a proper noble. She was lively, boisterous, and independent; she cared little for convention but was terrifyingly stubborn. Once she made up her mind, no one could change it, no matter what they tried.
When she decided she would be a free canary, not even the gleaming, sturdy cage Duke Amirium painstakingly built could hold her. When she decided to follow Sogeta to the distant shores of the sea, not even the vehement objections of her best friend, Sumolor, could stay her feet.
In the gilded cage of the royal capital, she was an anomaly—the girl who lived with the most freedom, the one everyone envied.
Her end was tragic… but at least, in her short life, she had known a time of perfect happiness.
Even now, married into the Silentdis family with a life of comfort and ease, Sumolor had to admit that in her youth, she too had dreamed of being like Ricana: meeting a man of her own choosing, following him to a quiet town filled with a gentle air, and living a simple life, free from the intrigue and bloodshed of the court.
She stared at the ornate wedding ring on her finger. Though she and her friend had been parted for years, and their lives had taken different paths, she felt they had, in a way, reached the same destination.
Both of them had been happy, or were happy now.
…Viewed from that angle, perhaps Ricana’s audacious choice hadn’t been entirely wrong after all.
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