Even though no magic was used at all, it was a mysterious place no one knew about…
Perhaps it was because of that very mystery that the con artist had tricked people into thinking this was the entrance to a fairyland.
‘I mean, now what do we do here?’
The flower field was beautiful, but that was all.
If it had been a lake, at least we could’ve taken a boat ride.
The two of them, having arrived at what was supposed to be the destination, looked at me with confused, uncertain eyes, as if to ask what we should do now.
“Hmm. For now…
…
“Shall we have a picnic?”
It happened to be lunchtime, after all.
And instead of packing food, we had a chef who could cook right here, so we could enjoy a more luxurious picnic than usual.
We picked a nice shady spot and laid down a mat.
It wasn’t elegant, but it was a picnic, after all.
As I flopped down on the mat, a sweet floral scent wafted up.
When I lay down first, Ari flopped down beside me, and after looking down at us for a moment, Ray quietly followed suit.
“Ahem!”
“Ahem ahem!”
Before Ray’s head could even touch the ground, we heard two loud fake coughs from nearby.
Not just once—but twice.
The culprit was obvious.
“Oppa, go away.”
“Huh, Lovey. I’m working right now, where exactly do you expect me to go?”
“You took time off, didn’t you? What kind of work are you talking about?”
I shot him a glare, silently telling him not to disturb the kids, and pulled Ray down into a lying position—he’d been awkwardly hovering, neither sitting nor lying down.
Ray flopped down with a surprised look but soon gave me a shy smile.
‘Ah, what should I do with this sweetie.’
Even though he was in a position where he could scold my brother more firmly, he just looked around nervously, which made me feel bad for him.
‘This must all be because of his family situation.’
There’s no other reason someone his age would be so cautious when he should be carefree.
So I had to treat him even better.
When I stroked his head out of sympathy, his eyes widened in surprise, and then he leaned in so I could pet him more easily.
It was so cute that I chuckled, and Ari, who had been watching from the side, ground her teeth in jealousy.
“Eek…! Me too!”
She was cute, too.
Having only had older and younger brothers all my life, I wondered if this was what it would feel like to have a younger sister.
I smiled and said, “Alright, alright,” and she smiled in satisfaction—until her expression suddenly turned sour.
“Ah!”
She winced in pain, and I was stunned, thinking I might have accidentally hit her, but then she suddenly shouted in anger.
Of course, it wasn’t directed at me.
“He hit me!”
Ari shot up and pointed her finger at Ray.
Ray, startled by the sudden accusation, looked at me nervously.
“I didn’t…”
“I said he hit me!”
“How could I have hit you…”
Ray looked at me with a face full of injustice, pleading to be believed.
And honestly, he couldn’t have hit her.
I was lying between them—if he had reached out to hit or kick her, I would’ve noticed.
So I defended Ray, and Ari, looking frustrated, bounced in place.
“I’m telling the truth…!”
She looked genuinely upset, but even she had to admit that, given the circumstances, Ray couldn’t have been the culprit.
With a sigh, she sat back down, and I also sat up.
At that moment, my brother, who had been fiddling with something in the corner, turned around with a flourish.
“Flower crown complete!”
He held out the flower crown to me.
It was tightly woven and full, a sturdy and beautiful crown.
Although my second brother’s large build didn’t exactly scream “delicate,” he was actually the most skilled with his hands among us siblings.
‘Even I can’t make flower crowns like this…’
I had a rough idea of how to make one, but I couldn’t do it this well.
After trying it on, my brother turned to Ari and handed her a flower crown.
“Here, wear this.”
“I don’t need… hmm.”
She was about to turn him down coldly, but after glancing between my flower crown and the one he offered, she ended up accepting it.
She then thanked him with forced nonchalance and wore the crown proudly, as if to say, See?
Ray, you don’t have one of these, do you?
Just as Ray was pouting at the sight, my brother’s hands started moving again.
I thought he was making a flower crown for Ray—
—but no.
He made it and then just put it on his own head.
“Tada, a matching flower crown with Lovey.”
“…Oppa. What about Ray’s?”
“You shouldn’t do that kind of thing with an unrelated guy.”
Ray looked disappointed as he sat there with nothing on his head.
I gave my brother a look, but he just spouted nonsense and refused to budge.
“Then why did Ari, who’s also an unrelated girl, get a matching flower crown with you?”
“I didn’t match crowns with the lady—I matched with Lovey. Same goes for her.”
He continued with his nonsense about how there was no line connecting the two of them.
Fed up, I took off my own flower crown and placed it on Ray’s head.
“Then you three match. I’m out.”
“Kyaah! Why me?!”
“I don’t want to…”
Ari screamed in protest, and Ray, still sulking, clearly didn’t want it either.
Only then did my brother hurriedly make a crown for Ray, and the four of us sat side by side with flower crowns on our heads.
“The weather’s nice.”
And it really was.
The sky was a deep blue, with fluffy clouds like cotton balls.
It was refreshing just to look at.
As I stared absentmindedly at the sky, I snapped out of it when I heard lunch was ready.
The lunch menu was sandwiches—fitting for a picnic—but they were grilled sandwiches with cheese melted perfectly inside.
Grilled cheese sandwiches made fresh outdoors?
What luxury.
I took a bite, and the hot, melted cheese oozed out between the bread.
“Haah—hot!”
“Be careful, it’s hot. Here, have some apple juice too.”
The drink served alongside was apple juice with a slight slush-like frost on top.
It wasn’t something you’d normally find outdoors, so I happily drank it to cool my mouth.
The warm, savory sandwich paired with the cold, sweet apple juice was absolutely perfect.
As expected from the imperial palace chef—such a thoughtfully chosen picnic menu…
Thanks to him, we didn’t have to worry about food the entire trip, even outdoors.
His consistent excellence made me want to recruit him, but I gave up, knowing I couldn’t offer better conditions than the palace.
After we finished the sandwiches, the chef took out a cake he had kept in a magical fridge.
When he suddenly brought out the cake, I widened my eyes in surprise, and Ray gave me a shy smile.
“Today is a meaningful day because we’re meeting a fairy. So I prepared this to celebrate… but somehow, it turned into something meant to comfort you instead.”
Looking at the disappointed face that showed how sad he was about not being able to meet the fairy, I felt a little guilty, but I still lied without even moistening my lips.
“Yeah… it’s really… disappointing… haha… ha…”
The dumb tone I had forced out came out exactly as I said it, and I wanted to hit myself in the head, but Ray didn’t seem suspicious and just apologized to me.
He seemed to blame himself for not being able to go to the lake, so I had to comfort him instead.
“No, there’s no need to blame yourself. If it were fate, we would have met. If we didn’t meet, then it just wasn’t fate.”
“If it were fate, we would have met?”
“Yeah. Even if the whole world got in the way, if it were fate, then it should have happened anyway, right?”
I was saying that if we didn’t meet, it was fate’s fault, not his—but Ray fell into thought for a moment, then murmured:
“…Yeah. It must be fate.”
Seeing the slightly more relaxed expression on his face, I felt relieved that he was no longer blaming himself.
As I sat there bored, eating cake bit by bit, my brother came over with a box from somewhere.
“You’re bored, right? Since you’re here, watch this and have some fun.”
They were the items we had prepared as tribute for the fairies.
I hadn’t packed them—Ari had insisted on bringing them to make sure I’d meet a fairy.
I’d been curious the whole way here, but she told me to wait and see it on the day with a sly smile, so I hadn’t looked inside… but judging by how she didn’t try to stop me this time, it seemed okay to open it now.
When I opened the box, it was full of colorful items.
There were shiny and pretty pebbles, but one item, in particular, caught my eye.
“This one’s pretty.”
It was a ball made by wrapping threads around and around.
It wasn’t just one color—multiple threads were overlapped and twisted, making it look like a bundle of flower petals.
“Pretty, right? That’s a toy made on another continent. This one too—it’s a toy from that same country.”
As she spoke, Ari pulled out a small pouch, about the size of half a walnut.
There were five pouches in total, each embroidered with fine, delicate stitches using colored thread.
When I picked one up with my fingers, it felt gently heavy, as if it had grains or sand inside.
There was a soft rustling sound coming from within.
“This is how they say you play with it.”
Ari threw the five pouches into the air and caught them all on the back of her hand.
Each pouch had risen and fallen separately, but she didn’t miss a single one.
Then, with a snap of her fingers in that position, the pouches flew up again.
She then swiftly caught all of them in her hands mid-air.
“Oh! I want to try too.”
I received the pouches and threw them into the air boldly.
As I raised the back of my hand to catch them, the pouches fell to the floor with a thud.
“Huh…?”
“T-Try one more time.”
Watching me fail to catch even one, Ari blinked rapidly.
I tried again, as she told me to…
“Well, I guess that was a bit better…”
Only one pouch barely landed on the back of my hand.
But even that one wobbled dangerously and then slid off, dropping to the floor with a plop.
Ari now looked like she had no idea what to do next.