The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 44 - Homecoming, Please~ With A Side Of Hesitation!

Chapter 44: Chapter 44 - Homecoming, Please~ With A Side Of Hesitation!

The Yecine carriages weren’t very different from the Goltbred’s, other than the color scheme. The exterior wood was painted with black lacquer and the interior... used black upholstery everywhere. Having dispatched a Voidling less than a half hour before, seeing all of the dark saturation was a little unpleasant.

But what definitely wasn’t was being pulled to sit on the tall girl’s lap for the ride!

"I noticed you have your blonde showing today."

The illusionist spoke in a sluggish tone, eventually, after a minute of just enjoying her love interest ’taking a liberty’. Just like with sending letters, the amount of hugs and other skinships initiated by her was a large multiple of that sent out by her ’fortress’.

"I was in a hurry."

Elua knew the rush was to come meet her, but felt like it could have been said!

"That’s not a lot of explanation."

"I’ve been doing training like this. Your recordings don’t bring it up, so it’s easy to be comfortable and forget."

The heiress ’fidgeted’ on her lap.

"Does... that mean that you’re uncomfortable when I talk about it?"

The arms that were around the smaller girl’s waist slackened then tightened.

"No, actually. It’s probably that it was something that looked like you. I might not have done it if the figure was someone else."

Mint eyes widened in happiness then furrowed. It was nice to hear you were special, but upsetting that your special person was hiding another thing about herself away because of *others*. The reborn cultivator personally didn’t care almost at all about the opinions of people other than Qat, but she understood that not everyone was like that.

Her clothing and presentation as a male didn’t bother Elua because the fiance never showed up in more feminine accoutrement in front of her as though looking for praise or understanding. The Yecine never showed any hesitance or uncomfortability about that choice at all after they first met, but the hair had always felt different.

She showed up after ’sneaking out’ with it on multiple occasions and used it as a comparative secret back when the brunette was first showing off her *real* half. It was hard not to think of it as a big deal! Still, for something like this the illusionist felt it was better if the person herself made the realizations, so she fell back on some old phrasing while snuggling even closer.

"Maybe it’s because I’ve already told you that however you choose to be is fine. Perfect, really~"

A hand shot up and fiercely gripped the mint-eyed girl’s forehead! It shook side to side lightly while the one ’being assaulted’ let out exaggerated groans of ’anguish’.

"Sorry, but if I don’t do this now, then you’re going to keep talking like that and I’ll forget that I ever wanted to take revenge for some of the things you recorded."

Elua knew a lot of the things recorded could have caused this, but she couldn’t know which ones! No matter the case, the fact that the taller girl expressed she would just forgive her for being annoyed in the past with just a few words spoken so far made her heart melt. She was suddenly very glad she decided to be mischievous on a lot of potential follow up questions.

"Did you tell her to ’wait’ for a moment?"

A growling grumble released from the blonde’s throat.

"...Yes. More than once."

The young miss ’giggled’ and then just hugged the swordswoman in silence the rest of the ride.

---

When they reached the Goltbred estate, the Dame of the house was the first to welcome her back - after pushing the also rushing forward husband off to the side. Ondua stood up and brushed himself off, bewildered by his wife’s relatively public actions. She usually didn’t get mad and ’playfully’ harm him except when they were alone.

’Maybe she *actually* missed her more than I did?’

As the father questioned his position and history in their little family, Yatrel was fawning over her daughter.

"I’m so proud you completed your training, dear. Were you able to eat well while you were gone? You never wrote to me much about things like that. I had to hear from your fiance recently about all your day to day affairs."

That was when the more knowledgeable in ’politics’ one of the other people realized:

’Ah. She’s mad. She struck me with praise and then immediately tried to touch my guilt.’

Before she had ever left for the other city, her mother had been the one most expressive and vocal about bringing along the girl’s personal servant. For obvious privacy reasons, Elua did not want that! So she had spoken often about wanting the opportunity to try and take care of herself... but the woman was correct that the once a month letter mostly just explained that she "was fine".

"Yes, mother. I ate well and often, whenever I felt the need. Speaking of that... I am pretty starving. I was too excited to see you all to eat on the train."

The last part had been quite untrue. She was ’excited’, but she did eat quite well. There was just not a good way she could think of that *wasn’t* a lie to cover up her appetite stemming from use of a Primalist Physique.

"Yes, excited to see ’us’. I’m quite sure."

The mother slapped on her daughter’s cheek lightly while giving a long glance at the ’boy’ standing a little off to the side. During the pretty frequent visits in the past weeks, she had grown the dark-haired son-in-law into not being too put off by her teasing words, so Qatrand only scratched at her chin and looked to the side. Her talks and growing closeness with both parents had led her to a certain realization.

’I feel like El would have turned out almost exactly the same as she is now in her personality, even without having past memories.’.

"I’ll tell the cook to make something quick."

"Something meat, please."

The girl called out as the reddish-blonde retreated back into the main building. Then she turned to the side and stepped back in momentary ’fear’ as if just noticing the man’s presence.

"O-oh. It’s just you. How long were you there for?"

The father who was told he had gone unnoticed pursed his lips... and puffed out his cheek! The Yecine’s eyes widened as she inwardly commended El’s ’facade’. It really, really was so accurately developed from both parents!

"The whole time. You didn’t see her push... no, nevermind. Welcome back."

He quickly swept away his grievance and picked the girl up for a bear hug, spinning her around twice then patting her shoulder after she was placed down. His usual smile turned on with full force.

"Everyone has missed you."

Mint eyes met his brown and her lip ’quivered’. She looked away and shook her head to ’clear’ that emotion before ’smiling’ back.

"It’s good to be back."

The reborn cultivator meant what she said, even if what she said wasn’t the full story.

’Teasing you through letters just isn’t the same~’

A hand touched the back of her hair and the brunette shifted to see that her ’fortress’ had closed the distance that she’d placed while she was greeting her parents. In all the time at the dinners in the past, she had seemed reluctant to get too close to her when one of the adults was also so near. The change was very welcome!

"There’s still someone else to go say hello to."

The no longer youngest Goltbred became tense. Knowing from their letters that Qat had been visiting and ’playing’ with Onya, on the ride here the sister had voiced that she was hoping to see how much she had changed in six months.

"C-can it be after I eat?"

Seeing that she was reluctant, but not understanding it completely, the Yecine nonetheless nodded. The baby wasn’t going anywhere and other than wanting to see the infant herself, there wasn’t really a need to push her.

"At this time of day she is probably asleep anyway."

"She should be for a while. Come on, let’s go inside already."

The man pat Qatrand on ’his’ shoulder with a look, trying to pass over the duty of leading the returned heiress, before he himself approached the entrance. She didn’t understand his meaning at all, but still shifted her hand over the shoulder of her fiancee to follow. They were halfway to the dining hall when, as if summoned by their conversation, a faint cry echoed from inside the house.

Elua’s posture stiffened again and Qat’s hand, feeling it again, gave a reassuring squeeze. Ondua was already moving towards the door as he spoke out that he would check on things, but then he paused.

"Would you like to come with me?"

The brunette visibly hesitated, then nodded, her movements becoming nearly mechanical as she left the grip of her betrothed. She didn’t have to look back to understand that - despite no longer pushing her along - the older teenager was still right behind. As they approached the nursery room a while after the father had, her steps grew slower but the cries grew louder - almost more insistent.

When entering the room, Elua hung back near the doorway. Ondua had lifted little Onya from her crib and spoke and cooed softly to soothe her. The baby’s cries slowly subsided to whimpers as she settled in her father’s arms.

"El."

Qatrand murmured from the other side of the entry to try and gently urge her forward. The heiress moved closer, her ’facade’ slipping away with each step closer. By the time she reached the pair of father and daughter, her eyes had lost their usual luster, her voice dull as she spoke.

"She’s... grown so much."

The brunette man smiled as he turned her way. Whether he hadn’t noticed or chose to ignore the change in his daughter’s demeanor was a mystery.

"Would you like to hold her?"

The girl’s hands trembled a bit as she stepped and reached for the infant. As soon as Onya was in her arms, the baby immediately grabbed at her older sister’s hair, gurgling curiously at the ’new’ face.

"Hello, Onya. You probably don’t remember me but that’s not important."

Elua whispered with her tone devoid of its usual playfulness and Onya babbled in response, her tiny hand patting the mint-eyed girl’s face in classic child over-use of force. Despite the emotional flatness in her voice, the older daughter’s grip on the baby tightened ever so slightly as a ghost of a ’genuine’ smile flickered across her features.

’A newborn’s spirit is really something...’

The Yecine watched them from the doorway, her own spirit reaching tendrils out protectively towards both sisters. Despite becoming a little better in all three cultivations, the swordswoman still couldn’t get a handle on holding that habit back. She caught the Goltbred father’s eye... and the man gave the raven haired ’boy’ an approving nod. He had also noticed all his eldest’s hesitance and knew it was the soft urging of his future ’son-in-law’ that made this moment happen.

"You know... Qatrand has been telling her stories about you during his visits."

He eventually spoke softly to the two girls beside him. Hearing this, Elua’s gaze quickly shifted to her husband-wife, with a spark of her usual self returning to her eyes as she had been doing her best to restore her ’facade’.

"Oh? And what stories might those be?"

Before a slightly flustered Qat could respond, the Dame Goltbred appeared in the doorway.

"The servants said they heard- Oh."

She halted, taking in the scene before her. A warm smile spread across her face as she watched her two daughters together. The stubborn firstborn had finally held the little ’river bend’!

The impending dangers of the Descent and unspoken secrets that each held faded away. In its place was a warm vibrancy that a certain tall girl was growing to cherish. For a short time they were just a family, welcoming home their daughter, sister, and future wife.