Chapter 2 Part 2: Their Childhood

The children started chattering excitedly.

“Because Rosa looks the most like a princess.”

“Yeah. Rosa is the prettiest of us all.”

Rosa smiled and said, “Sorry, but I don’t do princess roles. Today, Caron and I will be the heroes, so the rest of you be the villains.”

Thinking about it, it had always been this way. Rosa had never once taken on the role of a princess, yet the children always suggested it because of her beautiful appearance.

At Rosa’s confident suggestion, the children eventually nodded.

“Alright.”

“No, why am I the princess?”

In the end, the role of the princess went to John, a boy whose voice hadn’t yet changed.

“Because your voice sounds the most like a girl’s.”

“Eek-!”

Unable to deny it, the other children burst into laughter.

The war game that started like that naturally ended in victory for Rosa and Caron’s side. It was thanks to Rosa, who was more agile than most of the village boys, as well as Caron’s impressive skills.

“Whew- It feels good to sweat after so long.”

Rosa, saying this, was wearing shorts. Some of the boys blushed at the sight of the girl’s exposed white thighs.

“Well then, see you next time.”

At Rosa’s farewell, the children waved their hands.

“Bye, Rosa! And Caron!”

After parting ways with the village children, Caron spoke up in the back lot of the mansion.

“Rosa, I have a question. Why do we have to play these games?”

Honestly, it was boring. Caron, who had been learning swordsmanship from a young age, found the village children to be no more than small fry.

“Why? Isn’t it fun?”

“Not at all.”

“It’s good to get along with the village kids.”

Of course, that was only one of the reasons. This was the only time Rosa could run around. Due to the setting of being frail since childhood, her usual routine at home was to stay still.

Occasionally running around like this made her feel like she was regaining her childlike innocence, which she quite enjoyed.

But Caron remained silent, his small lips moving for a long time before finally saying, “..I’m fine with just playing with you.”

“Really?”

Rosa deliberately put on a happy expression. Lately, she felt the boy was slowly opening up to her.

“Then, next month, let’s just play by ourselves.”

At her cheerful words, the boy nodded in satisfaction.

The next month. The time Caron had been waiting for arrived.

The anticipated day arrived. As usual, Caron headed to the small rural village of Eckshire’s villa. It felt strange to leave his usual place and go somewhere else.

By now, even the servants of this small villa were aware of the monthly visitor, but they seemed to pretend not to know.

Thanks to that, he could meet the girl without any awkwardness, which he didn’t mind.

“You’re here.”

As soon as he entered the back lot of the villa, he heard that clear voice. Rosa was waving at him, at Caron.

“Caron, as promised, let’s just play by ourselves today.”

Saying this, she grinned as if she had come up with something fun. Rosa was wearing a short sleeveless blouse and her usual favorite pants.

“Have you ever played in the water?”

“No.”

Caron shook his head. As if she expected it, Rosa laughed out loud.

“Then shall we go play in the water? There’s a lake nearby.”

The small Eckshire villa was, after all, near a lake.

“It’s not deep, and there aren’t any dangerous creatures, so we can just play in the shallows.”

Rosa hummed and walked ahead. Caron quietly followed. Leaving the villa and following the small path to the right, they soon saw a sign that read ‘Glass Lake’.

“Do you know why it’s called Glass Lake?”

A sudden question. As if not expecting an answer, Rosa immediately continued.

“Remember I said the lake is shallow? If you come here in winter, the whole lake freezes over. They say it looks like well-crafted glass, hence the name.”

“How boring.”

“Yeah. The origins of these names are usually boring.”

A boring origin, a boring conversation.

But for a moment, Caron gaped at the sight of the lake. He had only ever seen artificial fountains before, never a lake.

“Wow..”

Rosa was the same.

The two of them stood with their mouths slightly open, admiring the scenery of the lake.

It felt like nature was unfolding just for them.

The branches of the ash trees stretched over the clear surface of the lake, and around them, flowers they had never seen before shyly revealed themselves.

Nearby, lush trees stood at appropriate intervals, and the sunlight filtering through them felt somehow different from usual.

“How is it?”

Asked Rosa.

Caron’s silent body leaned to the side the next moment.

Tilt-

An incident occurred. Caron, off guard, fell into the water in an instant.

“You..!”

He looked quite angry.

Seeing the boy like that, Rosa burst out laughing.

“How is it? Refreshing, isn’t it?”

Instead of answering, Caron stretched out his arm.

“Uh..?”

Rosa was confused. In that instant, Caron grabbed her arm.

Splash-

Her laughter was short-lived as she found herself in the same situation as Caron.

“Seriously..”

Of course, she didn’t mind.

Swish-

She immediately splashed water at him. Caron thought he was being childish, but he did the same in retaliation.

After playing in the water for a while, Rosa said, “It’s a shame. It would have been nice to have a water gun.”

Since Rosa sometimes said incomprehensible things, Caron let it go in one ear and out the other.

So they splashed each other for a long time, sometimes swimming. When one of them went too far into the deep end, they pulled each other back, then resumed splashing and playing.

Before they knew it, it was evening. It felt like nothing much had happened, but time had flown by quickly. There was just one incident at the end, which was a bit of a problem.

“You..”

Caron mumbled.

“What..?”

Rosa tilted her head with an innocent expression. Following Caron’s gaze, she let out a gasp of realization.

“Ah-“

The cause was her upper body.

She could honestly say she was caught off guard. Without thinking, she had taken off her soaking wet blouse. But she didn’t think it was a big deal because she was still wearing her undergarment on top.

“What’s wrong? I thought I was completely naked for a second there.”

Caron’s face was red with embarrassment.

Rosa let out a light chuckle.

She knew because she had been a man herself.

“I understand. I mean, this body is quite pretty.”

Ah, no misunderstandings. She was just stating an objective fact.

“..What?”

Caron frowned, finally coming to his senses.

“If you’re going to say something weird..”

When people are told not to do something, they often want to do it more. Rosa chuckled and recalled a famous line she had once seen.

“Caron. Are you mad? Want to touch my chest?”

She leaned forward slightly and said it playfully.

The effect was tremendous!

“..Are you crazy?!”

Caron turned his head away sharply. He walked out of the lake with a hand on his forehead, but he couldn’t hide his red face.

“..Cute.”

Rosa chuckled. It was the interesting reaction she had expected.

She had said it because she knew he wouldn’t do it, but what if Caron had accepted her offer out of curiosity?

‘Well, I might have let him because he’s cute.’

It’s not like it would wear out, just letting him touch it.

As she was thinking this, she suddenly realized that Caron had gone too far.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry! You should at least eat dinner before you go!”

Rosa hurriedly followed him.

When they turned fifteen, it was an autumn day. It was also around the time when their heights, which had been similar, started to differ significantly as they went through puberty.

Caron’s features became more defined, while Rosa’s became softer.

“What the. We’re two heads apart in height?”

Rosa muttered, sounding quite aggrieved.

“We were similar, but now I have to reach all the way down to touch your neck?”

She suddenly realized the unfairness of being a woman. The boy she thought of as a younger brother was now taller than her.

Well, this was a normal phenomenon even in the world she had come from.

Boys in their growth spurt were scary.

“He was just a kid when I first met him.”

Rosa muttered with a bitter face.

Caron frowned in disbelief.

“Kid? I’m a year older than you.”

“What..?”

Rosa was about to retort with a scoff, but Caron beat her to it.

“Let me tell you in advance, if you’re going to start with that delusion again, stop.”

The story of how she had lived as a man for twenty years in another world. There was no delusion like it. Caron was tired of hearing that delusion.

“Yeah. What would you know.”

Rosa swept the red maple leaves off the chair with her hand and sat down.

Caron plopped down next to her.

“So, what are we going to do today?”

He looked like a child asking his friend to play. Of course, Caron was just looking forward to this time, which only happened once a month.

“..I don’t know.”

Rosa thought for a moment. She soon remembered something.

● Author’s Note

The next chapter will be up on Saturday night.