When I opened my eyes, Sara’s tail was right in front of me.
It seemed that while I was sleeping, I must have rolled over and ended up with my head and feet switched around.
“Hmm?”
I patted Sara’s tail and examined it.
“So fluffy.”
Sara’s tail was thick, stubby, and fluffy. It was mostly brown, with just the tip being black.
After enjoying the fluffiness of Sara’s tail to my heart’s content, I sat up.
As always, I grabbed Carro, who was standing upright against the headboard, and hugged her.
“Good morning, Carro. Did you sleep?”
“Kyuu~.”
Carro said, “I slept well,” but I was sure she hadn’t.
“Carro, you should sleep more.”
I placed Carro on Sara’s belly. Even while asleep, Sara hugged Carro tightly.
“There we go. And Da-u…”
Da-u was sleeping on his back, as usual, near my feet.
“Carro should sleep as much as Da-u.”
“Kyuru.”
“And Koruko, did you sleep properly too?”
“Kokoo.”
The early riser Koruko seemed to have been standing by the window ledge, gazing outside.
I got out of bed and headed over to Koruko.
“Do you want to go outside?”
When I opened the window, a breeze flowed into the room.
The spring morning wind felt cool, almost chilly.
“It feels nice, doesn’t it?”
“Ko~.”
The lake sparkled, reflecting the sunlight.
In front of the guards’ quarters, the attendants were doing light exercises.
I was just thinking of doing some stretches myself when—
“Hm?”
I sensed something unusual in the forest.
“Koruko, are there more creatures in the forest than yesterday?”
“Kokoo~.”
Koruko tilted his head.
“Maybe it’s just my imagination?”
Yesterday, the forest around the villa felt less lively than the forest near the main residence. But today, it felt just as full of life.
“Well, it’s fine.”
“Kokoo!”
More animals in the forest could only be a good thing. It wasn’t something to worry about.
“Let’s do some exercises.”
“Kokko!”
As I started stretching, Sara, Da-u, and Carro woke up and joined me.
After that, a maid came to call us for breakfast, so I changed into my usual clothes and headed to the dining hall.
Sara put on her sister’s clothes, and I wore my brother’s.
Even during breakfast, Sara was still holding tightly to her wooden stick doll.
After we filled our stomachs with breakfast and cleaned up, we went with Mother to the study, which also served as a sitting room.
In the study, there were several beautiful boxes and envelopes that hadn’t been there yesterday.
“Graf, Gilberto, and Lydia sent gifts,” Mother said.
“From Father, Brother, and Sister?”
“There are letters too.”
“Wow, I’ll start with the letters!”
I picked up one of the envelopes.
“It says, ‘To Luria and Sara’!”
“Fwaa~.”
“I’ll read it to you, okay?”
I opened the envelope and began reading its contents aloud.
Not just Sara, but Da-u also peeked over at the letter.
“To Luria and Sara: It must be a challenging time for you, but don’t worry.”
Father had chosen simple words so even I could read them.
Throughout the letter, he kept reassuring us that there was no need to worry.
“It also says, ‘Sara is now our daughter, so it’s okay to rely on us.’”
“Yeah. Ehehehe.”
Sara’s tail swished back and forth.
“Next, I’ll read Brother Gilberto’s letter!”
When I opened Brother’s letter,
“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”
“Da-u, you’re too close.”
Da-u leaned in so close that it made it hard to read.
“Da-u, sit behind Sara.”
“Woof.”
Da-u obediently sat behind Sara and me.
“Alright, I’ll read now.”
“Okay.”
“To Luria: Your brother is lonely. Without you, this estate feels like the light has gone out…”
It seemed Brother was feeling quite lonely.
He also wrote that he was sending us a picture book that he had planned to read to us.
“To Sara: I’m Gilberto, your new brother. I hope we can get along.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe Sara feels uneasy about suddenly having a bigger family.”
Like Father, Brother also wrote repeatedly that there was no need to worry.
“Ah, they also sent sweets.”
“Sweets. Ehehe.”
“Next, I’ll read Sister’s letter, okay?”
After introducing herself, Sister was considerate and asked about our health and whether we were facing any inconveniences.
“It says, ‘I want to meet Sara and Luria soon.'”
“Wow.”
“Oh, and it says she’s sending toys too.”
“Toys?”
“Maybe this? Sara, you can open it.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Sara happily opened the box sent by Sister. Inside was a wooden figurine, small enough to fit snugly in her hand.
“Wow! Luria, let’s play?”
Sara’s eyes sparkled, and her tail wagged excitedly. She placed the wooden stick figure on the table and arranged the wooden figurines Sister had sent around it.
“Alright, let’s play.”
Though I hadn’t played much with dolls before, seeing Sara so happy made me happy too.
“Oh, but shouldn’t you write a thank-you letter first?”
Mother, who had been working beside us, said with a smile.
“Oh, right. Let’s write the letter before we play?”
“Okay. But Sara can’t write, so…”
“I’ll write it, so Sara, think about what you want to say.”
“Got it.”
I asked Mother for paper and a pen. Sitting next to her, Sara and I began writing letters.
“Before the thank-you letters, let’s write to Marion first.”
“Okay!”
Writing a letter to Marion, who was recovering from an illness, was more important than thank-you notes. Receiving a letter from Sara would surely cheer Marion up.
“Sara, do you have anything you want to say?”
“Umm, umm…”
Sara hugged the wooden stick figure she had placed on the desk earlier and began thinking. While she thought, I wrote the opening lines.
“To Marion, Sara is doing well. Luria and Mother are doing well too.”
“And then… oh, right.”
“I’m asking Sara what she wants to say to you, and I’ll write it down.”
That should let Marion know what’s going on.
After some thought, Sara began stroking the wooden stick figure and started speaking.
“Um, the bread was delicious.”
“Did you eat more than usual?”
“Yeah! I ate a lot. The meat was delicious too, and I ate a lot of that too!”
“Hmm, hmm. ‘The bread was delicious, and I ate a lot. The meat was also…'”
I wrote down what Sara said.
“And Luria wiped my mouth and spread jam on the bread.”
“Alright, ‘Luria wiped my mouth and spread jam on the bread…'”
Sometimes, I adjusted the words to make sense in the letter. If I wrote it as Sara said, it would sound like I spread jam on Sara herself!
“Is that word ‘Sara’?”
“This word is ‘bread.’ Sara is over here. Sa-ra. See?”
“Ah, I see. Sa-ra.”
Occasionally, I explained the letters too.
“And then, and then, yesterday we took a bath—”
Sara had a lot she wanted to tell Marion. She talked about everything she could think of, even if it wasn’t in order.
By the time Sara was satisfied, we had filled ten sheets of paper completely.
“Phew, that turned out to be a big task.”
“Thank you, Luria!”
“Don’t worry about it. Oh, I’ll write my part too.”
Finally, I added a note from myself.
“Marion, please get well soon. Sara is doing great. The bread is delicious, so let’s eat some together next time.”
“Oh, I almost forgot something important.”
“You don’t need to write a reply if it’s tiring. We’ll see you soon, so please don’t worry.”
I didn’t want Marion to feel pressured to reply; I just wanted her to recover quickly.
“Since we finished Marion’s letter, next is the response to Father and the others.”
“Okay.”
“For Father and the others, I’ll probably write a lot, huh?”
Since Sara had never met Father or our siblings, she wouldn’t know what to write.
“Father, Luria is doing well. Sara and Mother are doing well too. Yesterday, we…”
I wrote about how we all bathed together and how I slept with Sara.
“Sara, is there anything you’d like to add?”
“Um… ‘Please take care of me’?”
“Alright, I’ll add that.”
As we finished writing the letters to Father and our siblings, a maid approached Mother with a troubled expression.
“Madam, someone has come requesting to meet you…”
