Zoemi lightly knocked on the door of his master's room and waited.
"I appreciate your concern, but I have told you I do not need your help! You need to learn when to back off!"
"...huh...?"
Miriette's angry voice came from inside and confused Zoemi.
"My lady...? Did someone come here and harass you before I arrived? Why do you sound so..."
He asked concerned, but before he could finish another sentence the door opened slightly.
"Oh, thank goodness, It's you, Zoemi, come inside, quick!"
"...did something happen...?"
Miriette was talking to Zoemi without showing herself and that already made the black-haired boy infinitely more anxious.
"...!"
The glasses jingled against each other when he clenched his hands on the tray. He braced himself and went inside through the provided space, the door slammed shut behind him.
"My lady, wh-OW...!"
He began the sentence with worry but ended in surprise, he even took a step back.
"Zoemi, help...!"
Miriette cried out, she was sitting on the edge of her bed in her uniform shirt and skirt and was hiding her face with her both of her hands.
"I cannot go out when my hair is like this...!"
Describing the catastrophe on her head as mere 'like this' was an understatement of the year – if not a decade.
...it was a relatively calm decade after all...
Miriette's short hair looked like she dipped it in water and then took part in a head-banging competition in the middle of the winter and it froze halfway through the motion of swinging back and forth – the only difference was that it wasn't iced, just... just...
Stood up on its own – any other normal hair would require a copious amount of various cosmetics to achieve such effect, but not Miriette's - for her it was simply a natural occurrence that happened surprisingly often.
"How did it turn up like that this time?"
Zoemi breathed out to calm himself down, put the tray away from the desk next to the bed, and kneeled in front of his crestfallen master – whose hair had wavered all on its own without her moving her head at all.
"I... I forgot to properly dry my hair before going to bed..."
Miriette was devastated and she sounded utterly ashamed because of her own negligence – and it was rather easy to see why...
...it would be far harder to just ignore it...
"My lady... are you worried about something...?"
Zoemi asked cautiously, leaning down to have a look at the girl's face - it wasn't like the current state of Miriette's hair was completely her own fault – at least not completely...
As unbelievable as it may have sound, the way her hair behaved had a lot to do with the mana that also turned them so green that they looked green.
That story requires a bit of an explanation.
Everyone in the Espine household knew about Miriette's 'condition'.
The dark-haired girl didn't keep her hair short because she liked the style - she actually yearned for long smooth hair just like her mother's, but such luxury wasn't accessible to her.
Many of the servants held the opinion that a little lady's unprecedently strong magic affected her hair in more way it did a normal person's.
Usually magic would just mess with the pigmentation in the human's body, that's why magicians' hair and eyes color would be the same as the hue of their attribute - and if in Miriette's case both the amount of mana and the magic power that she had at her disposal was at least a couple hundred times more prominent, some people thought that her hair became augmented with the wind enchants all on its own as a result and start acting rather wild... almost as if it was alive.
If her hair would exceed a certain length it would start moving on its own, and extremely wildly while at it, acting out on every thought and emotion – conscious or not – that the girl would have or feel at the exact moment.
Such hair would be a nightmare for anyone – hence it was kept at the optimal length at all times.
But still, not even keeping it short would resolve the problem completely – after all Miriette's magic was that strong.
Each day the proper care was essential, but when Miriette was bothered by some especially strong feelings even her short hair would come alive, resulting in a situation just like the current one.
...and the show that Miriette took part in the day before was rather.. well... troublesome to say the least as they achieved the initial goal of taking the attention away from the dangerous situation caused by the second prince, but also set up an unbelievably high bar of expectations towards themselves – even higher one they already had as the future royal couple.
"N-no...! I am a woman of the esteemed Espine family – having the attention of everyone around focused on me is nothing new...!"
Miriette exclaimed, proudly raising her head – but her fists that she clenched on her lap and the hair moving like a field of tall grass smacked by the gusts of violent wind were telling a completely different story.
"My lady, please... You do not need to put all the burden onto yourself. Sometimes people tend to overthink many problems that are rather simple to resolve. As you said, my lady, you are a woman of the Espine family – the only thing you need to do is just act like yourself, nothing more – please, believe me when I say that the way you are right now is already far above any and all expectations that a bunch of kids from lesser noble houses could possibly have."
The black-haired boy assured her with a soft smile that did not stretch his scars before reaching out to her and his eyes were filled with warmth.
"If I may..."
"Zoemi...!"
Miriette gasped as Zoemi gently grabbed her hand and helped her stand up.
Then he led her towards the desk where the tray with food awaited.
"Have a breakfast, my lady. It just so happens that I made something that can be eaten with ease so there should be no problem with you enjoying it while I will brush your hair in the meantime."
The black-haired attendant said while rolling up his sleeves.
"Yes... You are right, Zoemi. Thank you for bearing with me."
Miriette sniffled and meekly picked up one of the tartines while Zoemi dual-wielded a comb and a hairbrush.
"My lady, there is nothing else in this world that I would like more than staying by your side."
"...!"
Zoemi spoke with a soft smile, without giving much thought about how he sounded like – and while concentrating on the task in front of him, the black haired-boy did not notice the bright blush that covered Miriette's cheeks.
|...Ah, perfect! Her hair already looks meeker – the food must have worked like a charm! Still... there is still a lot to do... I only hope we won't be late for our first lesson...!|
The scarred attendant thought to himself and the battle against the wind-powered hair has begun!