CH 325

Mia’s Melancholy (Front)

As the cold of winter crept up on the crispness of fall, the Holy Eve Festival was finally only a week away. On this day, Mia’s friend Rania Tafrif Perujin stopped by her room.

Every year, Perujin brought treats made from the fruit they grew to the Holy Eve Festival. Saint-Noel brought together a lot of rich young people from many different countries. Like Chloe, there were also a lot of students who came from merchant families. If any of them were interested in Perujin goods, it could open up a lot of business chances.

So, around this time every year, Perujin princesses would work extra hard to get their peers to try their new sweets. Rania came today with a type of pastry she was going to show off at the Holy Eve Festival. The official reason for her visit was to let Mia try them and get some early thoughts on how good they were.

But her real reason was…

“Um… Anne, do you have a moment?”

The tasting went well, and Rania had just left Mia’s room when she stopped to whisper something to Anne, who was helping her leave.

“Sure. What’s that?”

Rania was clearly nervous, so it took her a few seconds to get up the nerve to speak.

“I just thought Princess Mia looked, um, kind of sad. Is there a problem?”

The real reason she came was because she was worried about Mia, who had been looking pretty sad lately. She always had a sad look on her face and would sigh when she was sad. Rania had brought her best food in the hopes of cheering up her friend who was sad, but…

“She didn’t finish them at all. I’ve never seen her do that. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it was so shocking…”

Rania had just seen something that didn’t happen very often. Mia had a tasty pastry, but she didn’t finish it. This was completely out of character for the princess, who always ate every last bit of food on her plate.

It’s important to note, though, that Rania’s treat today was a fruit pie. Mia finished the soft, sweet filling. Instead, she didn’t finish the crust, which had a tougher texture and probably wasn’t as tasty. Even when she was sad, her sweet tooth won out.

No matter what, a lot of people had already noticed that Mia hadn’t been hungry for a while. The last few times she went to the cafeteria, she always left a bite-sized piece of food on each plate. This made the kitchen staff very worried.

“The poisonous mushroom did cause a lot of stomach problems for her. Maybe some of the effects are still around?”

After one of her visits, a cook suggested this, and the kitchen staff quickly changed her meals to include more recipes that were easier to digest. To their disappointment, all of their additions that were easy on the stomach, Mia still left bite-sized leftovers. This was very unusual behaviour for Mia, who had always seemed to follow strict rules about finishing her meals.

Now, people who are good at math may have already noticed that the math in this case is a little strange.

Assuming that a bite-sized portion is 10%, and this is Mia’s left over; this means that Mia actually ate 90% of the food. That is 90% of the regular food, and 90% of the “stomach-friendly food.” This means that she is actually eating way more than she usually eats. Still, seeing her leave food on her plate had such a big effect on everyone that no one paid attention to this mathematical fact.

“Thank you very much for caring, Princess Rania,” Anne said with a deep bow. Then she looked sad.

“But to be honest, I don’t know what’s going on either. I know it’s sad, but I don’t know what to do about it… Milady is clearly upset about something, but she won’t tell me what.”

Rania looked at the maid with sympathy and care.

“She must have her reasons. We are talking about Princess Mia, after all. So don’t judge yourself too harshly. I’ll keep trying to find ways to make her feel better. Just do what you can.”

Anne’s gratitude made her bow again as Rania walked away.

Anne went back to her room and saw Mia staring out the window. The maid’s heart stopped when Mia took a sad breath. Mia’s sad face had already made the maid feel sad.

“Milady…”

Again, that terrible scene came into her mind. Again, she couldn’t help but notice that Mia was falling over after eating the poisonous mushroom.

When we talked that day, she wouldn’t promise me… She didn’t say that she would take me with her the next time she put her life in danger…

Anne had been paying close attention to what they were saying. She had remembered every single thing Mia had said.

Because of this, she knew all too well that there was no promise in Mia’s words; she had been careful to leave it out.

She might be looking forward to something… Something dangerous, like that terrible thing with the mushroom, and she’s probably worried, but she doesn’t want to involve me, so she’s trying to handle it all by herself.

Anne had noticed something else as well. Her skin hasn’t been looking as healthy as it should be lately.

Stress must be the cause. She probably isn’t getting enough rest…

Since she had come to this conclusion, she had checked on Mia several times during the night, but Mia always seemed to be sound asleep.

But this is Princess Mia. The Princess Mia. She might be putting on a brave face so I won’t worry about her. I know that she often does things like that.

Does she? Mia’s behaviour in front of Anne wasn’t always brave or a good show, but that might depend on how you look at it. Anne was worried, so it didn’t matter how hard Mia tried to be a brave hero. Anne was really and truly worried.

As for whether Mia was really so upset that she couldn’t sleep, well, no. Actually, no.