The Queen's Cosmetician

Try to crack the thin blue in the early morning, and the birds come and go.

He stared at it as it swirled and blended into the sky, dropping his gaze down. Large, taken windows show a wide view of the garden. One girl was running through the backyard sinking in the morning.

I hear you're going down to the city in the morning. I guess you're going to take the shortcut of crossing the garden and going out the back gate to the street.

Touch the window. A hint of boldness. Reaching out won't reach the shadow that goes the way. Naturally. At this distance, even if the bold doesn't arrive.

It should not arrive.

Even if it was nearby.

Sighed, he left the scene, and, uh, looked back at the window.

She said she was going to pick up the merchandise, but I wonder why it's early morning only today. The store she was supposed to stop by should be the beginning of the evening. Heading now, the shopkeeper would yell at me for waking up to sleep.

Close your eyes and check the shadows that disappear outside the window.

And silently, he turned his heel back early enough.

Although Heath has been given permission, it is up to Mariage to decide whether the die can take the day off. but fortunately, the application for the vacation I wanted went through so well. He said if we were to be back by an evening with costumes for the next night's party, there would be no problem. They're taking a few mornings off not just the die, but the samurai as well. Early in the morning, when the sun was still rising, Die left the Mizweeri family after breakfast with them rubbing their sleepy eyes.

The destination is not Miguel's, no matter what, I told Heath.

Arishuel said there was a flower cemetery in Rowen.

The flower district, which was unexpectedly set to take off for six months, had just finished the day and was quiet back. When it comes to moving things, it's just dogs and cats fishing for leftovers, or cleaners sweeping away the remnants of the night. Remembering a touch of nostalgia, Die goes down a path he would be able to walk even with his eyes closed. Behind the chapel thus reached, in the cemetery, the destination, there were already ancestors.

"Rowen."

In response to Die's call, the doctor man smiles and answers.

"Hey, Die, sorry about the other day."

Die stared at his friend, who greeted him with a light tone. Continue gently between the lined tombstones, slamming the letter removed from his pocket on his chest with a pepper.

"Come on, I'll have you explain everything! Because this is all you got people involved in!

A dove, apparently surprised by the voice of the die, flies in unison with a feather. Letting the white feathers glow like stars, dropping them off as they disappeared into the Ethereal Dome, Rowen raised his hands.

"Birds are surprised, too. Will you stop screaming? Scary, scary."

"You also want to scream. Only this time, we cooperated...... Never again."

"... I'm sorry."

Rowen smiled faintly as he picked up the letter and repeated his apology. Die whispers at the smile. I reconsidered that I was wrong to blame him, even though I was the one who decided to take it on.

Rowen, who was watching the letter in front of the silent die, raised an eyebrow, oops.

"Didn't you look inside?

They said it unexpectedly, and the die just got upset.

"I don't have a hobby to peek into people's love sentences"

Sounds like you.

Rowen, who described it in a tone he didn't look like he made a fool of himself, makes me shake the letter lightly.

"Did you believe this was just a love sentence?

"... are you not?

"No, it's not. You can open it now and show it to me."

"... Rowen!

Now it was time for frustration to reach its peak, and Die screamed unexpectedly. I've had enough to make jokes from earlier. I didn't mean to thank you for your generosity, but I came all the way here. There would be something called an attitude to behave a little bit more.

"Sorry...... Yeah. Really, I'm sorry."

To the staring die, Rowen dropped his gaze.

"I'm glad. That you took between me and Arishuel this way, even though I didn't ask you to do it directly. That you came alone to see me.... you haven't told anyone about it."

"I didn't say it.... stop being sarcastic if you're happy"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. But, Die. At the same time, I wanted to blame you. Take Arishel's word for it and come this far alone across the dangerous bridge. How kind of you are you?

"I wouldn't have done this if they weren't Rowen"

"Right. Yeah. Thanks. But, Die. You should check the contents of this stuff properly from now on. To protect yourself.... If I were your current agent, I would confirm it just in case?

"... are you talking about Heath?

"Yes, I'm talking about Heath Livort."

Of the house you work for, my lord.

To Rowen's words, Die frowns.

"... When and how the hell did Rowen know I was a makeup artist for the Mizweeri family?

Arishuel said it was Rowen who taught him about the die. But I can't think of any way he came to know the current state of the die.

"Maybe from Asma?

It is not unlikely that his mistress, who can also be described as the parent of Die's upbringing, told him. but it didn't fall to my heart. Even if they were this Rowen, I didn't think that Asma would tip them off cheaply.

I didn't hear anything from Asma.

In fact, Rowen lightly proved the strength of Asma's mouth.

"I just greeted her a long time ago when I visited a geisha. She didn't say anything, though you seemed to have already left the flower district by then. When I asked about you, all I said was that I was away from work, and Asma..."

Perhaps they also give equivalent answers to non-Rowen humans. With that slender face, clawing the flue.

"I didn't even know you left that city until I met you at Miguel's."

"... then what triggered it...?

"It's Heath. I met you at Miguel's store, and you would have had a surrogate, wouldn't you? Just because you're from work."

"It was attached"

Die nodded at Rowen's words. But at that time Heath, of course, Die herself, should have been foolish to divulge about the Mizweeri family and never smelled existential. I wonder what Rowen felt and came to know about the die in those few moments.

"Then he introduced himself to me."

Rowen said.

"Heath. That's a rare name for a man. I was just hearing it from Arishuel a while ago. The Mizwieri family, which was mocked as the lowest among the higher nobles. The young man of the cleaver who made the house hold up and finally pushed his princess Mariage up to the queen's candidacy. Heath Rivot."

As if reciting hero Tan, Rowen laughs at Heath's reputation.

"There are rarely men like Arishuel's father, the head of the Gertrude family in heaven, to be vigilant. Because it's such a man's name, I remembered. I checked with Arishuel when I asked for his name at Miguel's. I was wondering if you'd heard any rumors about a new makeup artist recently hired by the Mizwieri family."

The answer is Rowen's suggestion. Arishuel would have told him crumbly about the change in mariage and the rumors of a cosmetician hired at the same time.

This is how Rowen learned through Arishuel that Die was employed by the Mizwieri family.

"... Dear Alishuel, I knew about my gender"

"I'm sorry about that. I talked to her when I first met her.... before you left Flower Street, after you turned fifteen. I became foolish with Arishuel.... you're disqualified."

That's what he said. He smiled at himself.

I know Rowen was a terrible guide to Die's body. He felt his limitations as a doctor because he couldn't help himself, and he was frustrated by helplessness. In his chest, he must have exposed himself to Arishuel.

"Flower streets are a very, very distant world for Arishuel. You who live there were also supposed to be far away. [M] I can't believe you're becoming a makeup artist for a noble princess."

Rowen ironically coincides when he doesn't know what fate is.

And he himself, again, could not have crossed that path with Arishuel.

"I'm really, really sorry, I think"

With a seeping voice of pain, he repeated his apology to Die.

"You're chopped up.... Even when I met with you and Mr. Rivot, I was already having a hard time seeing Arishuel. And soon after I found out you were working for the Mizwieri family, we couldn't see each other perfectly."

"Because they found you sneaking in?

To Die's inquiry, Rowen nodded slowly.

"The plans for the Queen's candidacy are filled in fine every day. You know that, don't you? Even more so is Arishuel, who is also said to be the most powerful.... I was forced to drill a hole in my schedule."

As a result, they were exposed to daylight.

"I can't see you anymore, and I'm picking you up from my parents' house. Arishuel is also pushing for the Queen. I want to have a discussion but I don't have time. Anyway, I wanted to talk to Arishuel in a hurry.... about when you're going to be able to tell me a long story."

pounding the chest of the jacket where the letter is pinched, Rowen says.

"This is evidence of an encounter. You must have become a tool for losing Arishuel's legs."

So thank you for not saying anything else.

Die looked back at the laughing man with a bitter look.

"... If you just wanted to talk, wouldn't you have had to pinch me? 'Cause you're seeing him once, aren't you?

On a feast day night hosted by the Gertrude family.

Rowen enters his house and meets with Arishuel, having become an aristocratic companion.

"Ah. That's when"

Apparently, Rowen understood what the die was referring to, but, groaned in denial.

"I had just the most time. As I said earlier, I wanted to talk to Arishuel. Slowly… what's to come"

"You mean from now on?

Smiling, he narrows his eyes and looks over Die's shoulder at the castle. Beyond the commercial district, a city of nobility lined with vermilion roofs. Behind it is a beautiful castle nestled behind the mountains.

The world Alishuel lives in.

"You met the kites, didn't you?

"... I met you"

Die nodded, bewildered by the suddenly switched topic. A pair of young and gray-eyed men, Kate and Dadan, very similar to Rowen.

Die remembered what he heard there.

"... Rowen was noble too, wasn't he?"

Rowen slowly shook his head vertically.

"A lower level junior is a good place, too. Besides, my country seemed terrible. Except for quite a few famous houses, such as the aristocracy, it was not and was alike.... Though it seems to be quite rebuilding now"

Die has never been out of this country. Other than this country, I don't know the world.

But Rowen came from a land that Die wouldn't know if he didn't look at the map. Dark hair, dark eyes. Looks younger at first sight. Contrary to its tender appearance, Rowen was a first-class doctor who dealt with any phase without losing his cool. I wonder how much hardship he has endured until he left his country to reach this country.

Do his black eyes, staring far away, watermark his hometown across the castle?

Or are you looking at the daughter of the queen's candidate, who will be imprisoned in the vermilion compartment?

"My country was a really bad country.... but now His Majesty the Emperor is in power and gradually rebuilt, we know better from the outside."

"I left the country to help your family."

"Yeah. I thought it would be better to learn outside and make money.... but I don't need that anymore either. Besides."

Once he cut the word, Rowen put his gaze back on the die.

"Back then, for my country, doctors were meant to give people death."

The colors that dwell in a man's eyes are terribly dark.

"I was there to teach villagers who were desperate to live how to die easily. Instead of parents who can't get their hands on their kids, they strangle their babies and give them mouth drops. You want to help the injured and sick, you don't have any tools, you don't have any drugs. Instead of saving people alive, kill and save people.... I'm going to"

throats at a low laugh, and he smiled.

"I wanted to be a doctor. So I left the country."

He got what he wanted.

At least in this backtown of Del Ligueiria, he is the most trusted, armed doctor. His hands have saved many. Die knows that.

And I'm sure Arishel is one of those saved by him.

Rowen distorts his face to a bitter look.

"... Now my country needs a doctor to help one or more people live and be happy. Well, I am."

"... Rowen is going home, are you going to?

Die groaned, conceited what he was about to say. He's running away from the kites, and there's something about Arishuel. I was just wondering if you would keep sitting here in Del Ligueiria.

But Rowen's tone, it's not.

Five years of living in this country, he still thinks his country is the same.

I opened my mouth so that I could put it on Rowen's verbal butt, perhaps because I didn't want to hear the decisive words directly from him.

"... they've created a new place to raise doctors in recent years. She came to talk about whether to teach there or not. They want something bright for medical conditions in other countries."

"On purpose, to Rowen?

"When I sent the letter, it was like my father had put together something that he had written about medicine in other countries and submitted it to the center. It was admitted and the invitation came."

"... are you taking it on?

Rowen did not answer. I just laughed.

"I don't feel like leaving this country right away, like Kate said. Not now. At least since I saw it through."

"See?"

"Give me Arishuel. Let her be queen, let her not be."

The end of her life.

Oh, and.

Die closed his eyes.

I heard the dialogue earlier, too, from Dadan. He wants to bring his brother back as soon as possible. I guess it's just a buy of time to be running away from Kite. Rowen was meant to leave the country from the beginning.

"... are you leaving the country, Master Alishuel?

When I met him at the Gertrude family, Arishuel looked like he didn't even envisage fine dust being left at Rowen's. Desperately begging Rowen to give her a letter, she was just a daughter dyeing her cheeks to see him as soon as possible.

Put your chest up and leave her thinking of Rowen.

"I was born a nobleman, though my consciousness is dim."

I smiled bitterly at the look of Die's accusations, Rowen said.

"So I know a lot about power. In case Arishuel tells you he'll be with me, I can't do that in this country. Arishuel is not just a princess among the nobles. The eldest son of the Gertrude family, who boasts the best forces in this country. She is said to be the closest to the Queen. Even if she is not chosen queen, she is obliged to choose a husband who will lead the house to further prosperity. Backtown doctors are never what she deserves. I'm not familiar with the number of manipulations, even if I could push the opposite around to become her husband. She's gone, and I can't even protect myself. If this were the opposite of men and women, there would have been another different path."

What the words he relentlessly pokes at indicate is reality.

Love in a different capacity. Much better. But there's a handful of things that make me really happy.

"... I'm not willing to fit in as a mistress, tolerating the way she welcomes someone else into her husband. It's not that broad-minded. I want to keep her a proper monopoly."

Die lost his word when he saw his always calm old song friend speak frantically of his love for a woman in the face of a man like he had never shown before.

I thought I was looking at Arishuel's face. It's not a game. They really think.

But there lies the wall.

Wall that separates them.

It was like a wall and gate separating the city well from the aristocratic compartment.

"... then I'll take you away, or what?

If we think of each other that much, it would also be possible for the two of us to leave the country. Arishuel didn't seem eager to take it up and hold the status of queen. The only thing in her mind seemed to be about Rowen.

"I can't do that. I can't make her throw everything away."

Rowen returned the denial clearly.

Die groans at the rejection of a hypothesis that is too clear.

"... everything?

"Yes, everything."

Nodding, Rowen said.

"My country is east. It's no exaggeration to say it's the furthest thing in the world from this Del Ligueiria. You may not be able to imagine. Even the shortest distance, one way takes February. March if the ship is delayed by tidal currents, that's it."

Unimaginable distance.

Once you sit back in his country, it won't be easy to go back.

"... die. Arishuel, of course, has status, honor, and wealth. There is also the glorious possibility of a queen. But more than that, my parents and sisters are in this country. I don't really ask about my friends... taking them away means having her throw them all away"

Die remembered six months ago when he was worried about whether to serve the Mizweeri family. Until I decided to leave the flower district - even after I did, it was lonely, meticulous, and hard for me to be torn apart.

Even though the section between here and the aristocracy is a distance to go back and forth in less than half a day.

Take Arishuel to the Eastern Continent. It will inflict more suffering on her than the die has experienced.

Rowen loosened his eyes to a smile that dropped.

"The owner of the Gertrude family is strong. There's a part of Arishuel that doesn't like either. But she is a loving child. Whatever she says in her mouth, she loves her bloody family. No matter how far away I was, I never forgot my parents or my sisters."

I know.

He said Rowen was a really, really affectionate man.

If Rowen really had spent his days forgetting the family he had left in his homeland, then Kate would have searched a long way for a brother and never come to this country. A journey alternating between ship and land. He has crossed a distracting journey because Rowen really loves his family and also his family loves him.

Arishuel must have been attracted to such a part of him.

And I guess Arishuel has some similarities with Rowen, too. I think back to Alishuel, who laughs at me for no reason, knowing that I'm a makeup artist out of the flower district. There is a depth of kindness and nostalgia there.

"Don't take her away from me... Are you cowardly?

To Rowen mocking himself, Die laid his eyes down.

"... I don't know"

Rowen's decision is the result of an exploration of how Alishuel is happy.

But how dare you?

"... can you leave Master Alishuel and Rowen be happy?

I came to listen to Arishuel's request and sneak eyes and give Rowen a letter, not because of course I wanted them to break up.

Because I wanted a good friend to be happy.

I wish I could help you with that.

"More, something... another way, isn't it? How We Can Be Together"

"I'm not strong or smart enough to protect everything. This hand is not omnipotent, so it's more when you have to choose what you want to protect. Sometimes, for example, when we have to see two patients at the same time, a patient who we know will no longer be able to help and a patient who is sure to help if treated as soon as possible, we have to truncate what is unlikely to live.... That's what reality is."

Looking at his spread hands, he grinned strongly.

"The most important thing I want to protect is Arishuel. Her happiness. And for that, I'll be in your way."

Indeed.

Glorious crown, honor and fortune. family. Rowen is in the way to keep it in her hands.

Although.

I proudly described Rowen as my lover, can Arishuel fulfill and be happy at the end of it?

"... Is that what you want to talk about as Master Alishuel?

"Yes."

Nodding loudly, Rowen continued.

"It takes time to discuss everything I've just told you."

"... what if Master Arishuel told me he was going to choose Rowen?

Rowen smiled. Smile - …….

The face is stained with surprising colors.

"... Heath?

The name of a man who's not supposed to be here.

"Huh!?

To Rowen's drawn voice, Die looked back as if he had been played.