‘If she’s going to sleep well at night, she should tire herself out during the day.’

As Meiana rummaged through her basket, Ariante swiftly turned her head. Her curly golden hair shimmered in the light from beneath the wide brim of her hat.

“What are we doing now?”

Meiana spoke.

“Princess, have you ever played catch?”

“Catch?”

Ariante’s eyes sparkled. She ran toward Meiana, who was holding a basket, and said as her forehead bumped into the basket.

“I haven’t, but I learned how from Marshal!”

“Is that so? Great…”

Ariante couldn’t take her eyes off Meiana’s hand, which was rummaging through the basket. Meiana fished out a round object from the basket, which had hardly anything in it.

“Let me see! Show me!”

Ariante stretched out both arms and began to hop in place. Ariante had toy balls, but they were more like decorative items.

They were made of delicate, expensive fabric, embroidered with gold thread, and were not suitable for play. At least not for Meiana’s purpose.

“What’s this? Did you make it?”

Meiana confidently nodded.

“Yes, I made it. Remember, I’ve made doll clothes for you before? This is made from scrap fabric. Don’t worry, I can make ten, twenty more of these, so you don’t have to be careful with it. You can play catch!”

“Let’s do it!”

Ariante, standing in place, suddenly burst into a run even before Meiana could say anything. She stretched both arms above her head.

“Throw it!”

Meiana, who had set down the basket, chuckled and then precisely threw the ball toward where Ariante was standing. The small ball nestled perfectly into her hands, and Ariante became even more excited, hopping on the spot.

“Meiana, look! I caught it!”

“You caught it? Wow! Our princess is a catch genius! Now throw it back to m–”

The fist-sized ball struck Meiana squarely. It was quite heavy because it was filled with a mix of cotton and sand. Meiana looked at Ariante with a feigned expression of disbelief. And Ariante was almost out of breath from laughing so hard.
“Did you do that on purpose!”

“No! Dummy! You should’ve caught it!”

Meiyana rolled up her sleeves, staring intently at Ariante, who was stomping her feet. Seeing Meiyana firmly stand on both feet, Ariante clenched her fist with a mixture of tension, excitement, and joy.

“So you’re coming at me like that. Well, now I’ll do it for real.”

“I’ll catch everything!”

Meiyana narrowed her eyes and made a grand swing with her arm. Startled, Ariante backpedaled, then quickly ran towards the ball flying directly towards her, extending her small hands to catch it. The ball snugly fit into her hands.

“See! I caught it!”

“Why are you so good at this game, Princess?”

Ariante threw the ball with all her might. Though it was the strength of a child, the ball flew fairly quickly. However, the direction was completely off.

“Aah!”

Meiyana hastily ran to catch the ball. She reached out her arm, but it was out of her grasp. The ball flew past her entirely and went on.

Then, with a thud, it suddenly dropped down.

Meiyana swallowed, staring at the spot where the ball had hit.

Ariante was still crouching down, laughing uncontrollably. Sedilloy, who had been hit squarely in the forehead by the ball his daughter had thrown, glanced momentarily at the fallen ball and then looked somberly at Meiyana.

“Are you training my daughter to kill me?”

The moment Sedilloy opened his mouth, Ariante abruptly stopped laughing. Meiyana gestured for the confused Ariante to come over, picked up the ball, and looked at Sedilloy.

Then she said, in an overly dramatic voice,

“My goodness, Count! How did you find out we were here? Ah! You must’ve been worried about the Princess going out to play, right? If you wish to join us in ball play, I’ll have to step aside!”

Both Sedilloy and Ariante, who had been hiding behind Meiyana’s skirt, widened their eyes.

Sedilloy said,

“What are you…”

Meiyana clenched her lips tightly, glanced down at Ariante hiding behind her, then looked back at Sedilloy.