The valiant, elegant spirit that had formerly been reflected in her pupils had been replaced by a murky shadow.
He didn’t know why, but something about their conversation just now had put her in a dreary mood.
…After a brief moment, Lefille finally seemed to notice Suimei’s worried look, dispelling the dark mood in an instant.
“It’s nothing. Please don’t worry about it.”
“Hah…”
She was definitely thinking about something, Suimei thought to himself as he expressed perplexed acknowledgment. Lefille, on the other hand, cut off that thread of conversation, pretending as though nothing had happened.
“Um, about that…”
“…?”
That solemn, valiant feeling vanished alongside her hesitant words. She seemed to be embarrassed about something, her tone finally matching her age.
“Er no, it’s just that… Um, well…”
“…?”
Lefille hesitated. Closer consideration revealed that her cheeks had taken on a reddish tinge. What the heck is going on?
Turning her head slightly, Lefille peeked at Suimei out of the corner of her eye. Finally, having resolved herself, she spoke.
“U-um, sorry about this morning. I showed you a bad side of me…” she said with her head hung, embarrassed.
Shockingly, she brought up the incident from that morning herself.
Even though Lefille had just apologized, Suimei felt that he’d been rather careless himself, and so—
“Oh, no, not at all… I was too careless. Sorry about that, really. I should have been paying more attention as I took that corner.”
“No, the fault was mine. I should have been more aware of my surroundings. Please don’t worry yourself over it. It was truly my mistake.”
Lefille rebuffed his words with a shake of her head and another apology.
Suimei gathered his courage, and asked her a question.
“…Um, might I ask what happened?”
“Er… sorry!”
“…Not at all. Those should be my words. Sorry for asking you something like that. Please just forget I asked.”
Recognizing that Lefille was unable to answer, Suimei immediately apologized, discarding any plans to inquire further.
What had happened that morning was likely both complicated and inconvenient to share. Although he was definitely still concerned, but he knew better than to pry.
“I-I’m going to go present myself to the caravan leader,” Lefille hurriedly pronounced, seemingly unable to endure the current atmosphere before walking off in Galeo’s direction without waiting for a reply from Suimei.