Chapter 120: What Is a Good Life?
LEO
"You are from Southern Avelaine, right?"
I asked Maria as we sat on a bench drinking this delicious ice-cold (in autumn!) milk tea with herbal jellies. Even Dorian, who refused to partake in pretty much every activity we tried out, did not refuse the drink, which said a lot about how good it was.
"How did you know?" Maria asked, genuinely surprised, but also somehow a little alarmed.
"Heh, I’ve seen people from there before. Where I’m from is probably closer to Southern Avelaine than it is to the capital!"
"Really?!" Maria exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah!"
"Oh wow, where in the South?" she asked.
"This place called Erdville. It’s a small village, though, a lot smaller than I used to think—so I don’t think you’d know."
"No way," she said, her jaw dropping.
"Eh?"
"Isn’t that where the best potatoes in the CONTINENT come from?!"
"YES!!!"
We gave each other a high-five. I knew our potatoes were good. It was one thing that we were all proud of back in the village. But I was disappointed to find that people in the capital didn’t know about them. To meet someone who recognized them now—and someone from outside of the Empire at that!—was incredible.
"Did you hear that, Mario?!" I looked at him.
"I learned they are great, but I wasn’t aware they were so famous," he admitted.
"We literally have a dish called Erdviller Potato Salad!"
Maria knew what she was talking about! But—
"Oh, wow. I didn’t know we were THAT well known," I said.
"Well, to be honest with you, it’s not like something we eat daily or every child in Avelaine knows about. But it’s one of those ’if you know, you know’ kind of things," she said.
"I see, I see."
All the while, Mario stood—why did he insist on standing? There was enough space right next to Maria—and sipped on his iced tea (in autumn!) through the hollow wooden straw.
Ever since we’d been to the exhibition in the morning, he seemed a little occupied with something in his mind. I was hoping that he’d feel better about it—whatever it was—but so far he didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so I let it be.
"How did you end up in the capital, then? And how did you end up coming to the festival here?" I asked Maria instead.
Her smile changed into a different kind of smile with a long blink of her eyes, and she said,
"I married an Aurelian husband."
"Aw, that’s nice. How did you two meet?"
"Skylark..." Mario tried to intervene.
"Oh, sorry. I didn’t know it was a bad question." I thought maybe in the capital... it was rude to ask people such things.
My bad.
"No, it’s completely fine. We met in Avelaine while he was traveling for his... work."
"Is he a traveling trader, then?"
"Not exactly trading, but he travels. Occasionally."
"Do you get to travel with him too now, then?"
"Not always, but sometimes, yes."
"That sounds great. You must have seen a lot of things. I’ve met some Avelainians, but I’ve never been there myself. Actually, I haven’t been to many places in the Empire either, haha."
"Well, I spend most of my time at home these days, or going to places I don’t really want to go, unfortunately."
Although Maria said this with a smile, I could see that there was something about her life now that she wasn’t too happy with.
Then she continued,
"But it’s not too bad. I mustn’t complain. I’m having a good life by anyone’s standard."
"Hm... what is a ’good life,’ though, if you are not happy?" I asked, or more like, thought out loud.
"That’s enough, Skylark." Mario gently put his hand on my shoulder.
"I’m sorry if I said something wrong," I apologized quickly.
"It’s really okay, Leo. And Marius, don’t worry about it," she said.
"I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was just concerned that we might be rude. I’m sorry, Ma’am."
"Offense not taken. But I am enjoying the conversation, so you do not need to worry," Maria insisted.
"Thank you, Ma’am. You are very kind," Mario said with a bow.
After that, we talked some more. Maria was never fully clear about the details, but it did sound like she had married someone very rich. She lived in a house with lots of maids, had everything provided for her, and didn’t need to work. It sounded like a fantastic life, until she revealed that while her husband was extremely nice to her, not everyone in his family welcomed her—and that she often got lonely, as she didn’t know anyone in the city and the only people she knew and could talk to were people who never called her by her name. (And she cast a funny glance at Mario as she said this, to which he responded, again, with a bow of apology. Mario was being very apologetic today for some reason.)
"But anyway, thank you for accompanying me today. This was the most fun I’ve had in a long time," Maria said, downed her remaining drink, and got up.
"You are welcome," I said.
She then went quiet for a moment, looked around the field as if to breathe in the festival atmosphere with her eyes, then said with a smile,
"It is now time for me to go. But I really want to thank you. I shall never forget it."
She hugged me suddenly.
"Your—" Mario was about to say something but then got shushed pretty quickly. It was so random, and I didn’t want her to leave so abruptly, but I understood that if she had to go, she had to go. So I just hugged her back and said,
"You are welcome to come back anytime! Mario is really easy to find because everyone knows him, so just come to the Academy and look for Mario and we can meet up."
Maria then squeezed me a little tighter and thanked me again.
I stood by the bench for a long time, waving at her as she walked away. She turned back many times to wave as well, and at one point even jokingly blew me a kiss—Avelaine style—which I was a little too shy to do back, but it made me laugh nevertheless.
And I felt a little sad when she completely disappeared and I could no longer see her.
"Tsk. Finally over now," Dorian groaned and promptly walked off.
"Do you think we will see Maria again?" I asked Mario.
"I’m sure we will. One way or another," Mario said.
I had a feeling it might not be so easy, but if Mario was sure, I guessed we would.