TFCF 02

Chapter 02…

The Solarun family held a special position within the Robati Empire.

The empire’s history spanned three hundred years—yet the Solarun family’s history stretched back a thousand.

During the age of the Holy Spirit Empire, the head of the Solarun family was granted a barren land as their domain and appointed governor. With the blessing of the spirits, he transformed the wasteland into fertile green fields.

Even after the Holy Spirit Empire disappeared, the governors of Solarun continued to dwell in the western lands.

Several invaders attempted to drive them out, but each time the spirits thwarted them. Eventually, the invaders gave up and settled for acknowledging Solarun as a vassal lord.

Solarun, for its part, never went against the will of the spirits by expanding its territory or waging war, and thus its lands remained intact.

That is why the long-obsolete title of “Governor” was still used to refer to the Solarun family.

Under the Robati Empire, they also held the rank of Duke, so they were addressed interchangeably as the House of the Solarun Dukes.

Members of the Solarun family were born with golden hair and green eyes—a mark that the spirits’ blessing still flowed in their bloodline.

The former governor’s wife, Lady Rose, had lost her husband the previous year. Even after a year had passed, she had yet to remove her mourning clothes.

Lady Rose herself, slender and graceful, was famed for her own golden hair and green eyes, like all Solaruns.

When she saw Aila’s hair, she nearly fainted.

“My goodness, Aila! Your hair! Are you planning to enter a convent? Heaven above, you were plain enough already, and now your hair too… Who on earth will take you now? Oh dear, oh dear…”

Aila’s hair had been neatly trimmed at the nape of her neck thanks to Lady Poppy.

Even so, Lady Rose’s shoulders trembled with rage.

“You always do such strange things. Perhaps the spirits played a prank when they gave me a child like you. Maybe you aren’t mine at all.”

Hearing those words again, a sharp pain pricked deep in Aila’s chest.

She had tried so hard to become the perfect daughter her mother wanted, a true lady of Solarun, but she knew now it was impossible.

So she revealed her resolve.

“It’s all right, Mother. I’m still a Solarun. Surely I won’t be unable to marry at all? But if I can’t, then I’ll just enter the convent for real. Isn’t it about time our family produced an abbess?”

Lady Rose gaped at her as if she’d just witnessed something monstrous.

“Heaven help me, listen to what she says. Helen! Helen!”

She called for Helen, the next head of the Solarun family, causing a commotion.

Aila, not expecting her mother to summon her elder sister, startled like a rabbit.

After a stir among the maids, Helen entered the room.

“Mother, what’s wrong?”

“Look at her hair!”

“Oh my…”

“It’s dreadful! Call for a wig-maker at once. And do you know what she just said? She wants to enter the convent! A convent, in Solarun of all places!”

Lady Rose stamped her feet, but Helen only smiled.

“I understand. Mother, please go and rest. Aila, let’s talk together.”

Supported by her maid Tilda, Lady Rose stood up.

“Truly shameful. A good slap or two would set her straight.”

Once their mother left the room, Aila sat quietly, head bowed again.

To her, her elder sister had always been a dazzling figure of admiration, so meeting her eyes directly was difficult.

Helen Solarun.

At eighteen this year, Helen was the “acting” head of the Solarun family.

In the Robati Empire, adulthood began around sixteen, but for the Solarun family it was nineteen, as decreed by the spirits.

Thus, Helen could only formally inherit the title after her next birthday.

Even so, Aila knew her sister already bore the full weight of responsibility.

Helen studied her little sister in silence.

“She’s never caused trouble before.”

Aila’s presence was so faint that Helen sometimes forgot she even existed.

“Is this… rebellion?”

Helen folded her arms, wondering whether to summon the wig-maker first or scold her soundly. But then Aila raised her head.

“Um… Sister Helen.”

“Yes.”

Helen nodded, as if to say, Go ahead and explain yourself.

Aila asked, “I wasn’t really… picked up off the street, was I?”

“What?”

Helen stared at her in disbelief.

For a moment she thought Aila was joking, but then she noticed her sister forcing a smile, her lips trembling as she tried to make it look natural.

Aila clenched her fists tightly, her eyes filled with nervous pleading.

Helen slowly lowered her folded arms and sank into the seat beside her.

“Of course not. You’re a Solarun, my sister.”

Her voice carried no trace of humor—only seriousness. Relief swept through Aila like a breath of fresh air.

“Right? Hehe.”

Watching her sister laugh, Helen felt as if struck from behind—a heavy, bitter ache rising within her.

For the first time, she realized Aila was hurt. That she could be hurt.

“I’m sorry, Aila.”

Startled, Aila looked up at her.

Helen gave a wry smile.

“I didn’t think you would ever be truly wounded. I shouldn’t have let such words be spoken at all.”

Their whole family teased Aila that way. Even their late father used to joke she was a foundling, and the others would just laugh.

“Aila, you’re truly my sister.”

Helen reached out to smooth Aila’s bangs and then asked,

“Why did you cut your hair?”

She isn’t angry… She’s actually listening to me.

Aila stared at her in astonishment.

Helen’s skin was as pale and smooth as milk. Her lashes were long and thick, her lips red as though stained by pomegranate juice, even without paint. Her golden hair shone like a halo.

Her proud, beautiful sister.

And yet, Aila had barely ever spoken with her.

She had only pieced together her image from rumors circulating in society.

Good heavens.

The realization struck her.

It’s the same as with Sada and Luca.

Even though they were family, they had no real connection. Aila didn’t know Helen.

So she spoke plainly.

“No matter how hard I try, I can never have hair like yours.”

Helen’s eyes widened at her words.

But she protested gently.

“Aila, your hair is beautiful too! It shines like walnut wood.”

Aila only gave an awkward smile. She knew Helen meant well, but kindness wasn’t what she wanted just now.

“That’s not it. I… I always wanted to be like you. But I’ve realized I never can. I’m me. So I want to live as myself. And when I decided to throw away the old me, I thought—let’s start by cutting my hair!”

Even as she spoke, she wasn’t sure if her meaning came across.

“I grew it for years. Oiling it daily, brushing it a hundred, two hundred times….”

As if, someday, it might turn golden.

But it never would.

Cutting off hair she had tended for so long was proof of her determination.

“A declaration to myself, you could say.”

Helen listened quietly to her rambling explanation, then sighed.

“I see… I can understand that. Though to cut it so drastically… No, no, I suppose it shows just how firm your resolve is.”

She slipped an arm around Aila’s shoulders.

The unexpected closeness startled Aila, who had never received such warmth from family before. Her sister smelled pleasantly sweet.

“So what do you want to do, Aila?”

“Well… first of all…”

Thinking of Luca and Sada, she recalled her goal.

“I want a true friend.”

“A friend?”

“Yes… Because change happens in relationships too.”

“Ah, that’s true. It’s easy to be influenced that way.”

Murmuring to herself, Helen then smiled brightly.

“All right, leave that to me! As it happens, there’s a perfect opportunity coming. I’ll speak to Mother too.”

She thumped her chest confidently, then suddenly adopted a stern tone.

“You’re braver than you seem, Aila. There’s no wall between your thoughts and your actions. That decisiveness is a great strength—but you should think a little about the consequences.”

“Yes, Sister.”

Aila answered meekly, then made a request.

“And Sister… could I wear some of Brother Parakel’s old clothes?”

“You want to dress as a boy?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’ve given up on romance.”

“…What?”

“And isn’t friendship easier to grow between the same sex?”

“Wearing men’s clothes doesn’t make you a man.”

“Still!”

Helen frowned. Wasn’t this far too simplistic? But then again, failure wasn’t always a bad thing.

And with her cropped hair, Aila would only look odd in a dress anyway.

“Very well. You’re not of age yet, and within the governor’s domain it should be fine.”

“Thank you!”

Aila’s radiant smile startled Helen.

Come to think of it, she had never seen her little sister smile before.

Helen gently reached out and patted Aila’s head.