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Annoyingly Cute
A well-furnished inn stood on the main street of Sol Saliente. Its first floor was set up as a restaurant, so it could serve people who didn’t plan to spend the night there.
“This is one of my favorite places.” Rafina said with a big smile, “The food here is just amazing. A trip to Sol Saliente wouldn’t be complete without eating here.”
Mia knew this place meant business when the middle-aged man helping them smiled back at her.
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“Now, really
 That sounds good,” she said to herself as she looked over the menu. “By the way, do you serve anything with mushrooms?”
The man’s eyes flashed with a sharp light.
“Oh, sure. In fact, we knew Lady Rafina would be here today, so we cooked some Belluga mushrooms.”
“Oh? I’m so lucky. I didn’t think I’d be able to eat some Belluga mushrooms here in Sunkland.”
“We also have matsutake mushrooms that have been cooked in a pot. This is a traditional dish from the East. The stock really brings out the flavor of the matsutake, making the taste richer and more concentrated.”
“My! Are you telling me that you made a soup taste even more like mushrooms? I have never heard of anything like that!”
“And that’s still not all
”
Mia let the man go after they talked for a long time about how wonderful mushroom dishes are.
She turned back to Rafina and Abel and said, “Now then
”
“What a strange chance it is that we should meet you two here. I hope you both have been doing well.”
Rafina giggled and said, “We sure have, and I’m glad to see you’re in a good mood. Did you also get an invite to the royal ball?”
Mia shook her head. “No, I’m here with Esmeralda to talk about the possibility of her getting married. Sunkland made a proposal to her
”
She stopped talking because she felt like something wasn’t right.
Rafina-sama was asked to a royal ball, so it must be the same one Esmeralda is going to, right? When that happens

She moved the different pieces of information around in her head to try to get them to fit together. “Abel, is that why you’re also here?”
Abel gave a shrug. “It seems that way, but I’m really just filling in for my brother. On the way to the city, I ran into Miss Rafina’s group, so we made the last part of the trip together.”
“Ah, so that’s why you and Rafina-sama were taking a nice walk through the streets of Sol Saliente. Hmmm. I see.”
She gave him a sharp look.
“What? W-Wait, just a second. I don’t think you have the right idea. That’s not the case.”
He shook his head quickly. His hands, too. She burst out laughing when she saw the frightened move. “Ah, calm down, Abel. It was meant to be a joke. I could not be happier to see you here.”
Mia, who is an adult, just made fun of a boy for her amusement. Abel wasn’t laughing. He turned his head quickly away. As he did it, Mia saw a hint of a pout on his face.
“I see,” he said with a sour face. “It was a joke. That’s kind of disappointing.”
“Hm? What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, I felt good about myself because I thought you were jealous. I believed you cared. Then someone tells me it’s all a joke. Which hurts a lot, just so you know. So, could you leave me alone for a little while? Thank you”
He let out a sad sigh that cooled the air in the room. This time, Mia was the one who lost it.
“Uh, Abel? Come on. That’s not what I meant. It was a joke, but not like a joke, do you get what I mean? And why did you think I would care? Yes, I do care. What does that have to do with being jealous?”
She stopped when Abel turned back to her with the biggest smile she’d ever seen on his face. “And now we’re both even. A joke for a joke. I’m so glad to see you, too.”
“
Huh?!”
Mia made that gasp that people often make when they are very angry or hurt.
“You know me,” he said with a joke. “I’ve always been sure that things should be fair.”
Mia is an adult woman, but a boy just picked on her to his amusement.
“You are
 You
are so bad! Oh, Abel, I can’t believe you!”
She protested by shaking her fists up and down. For a child, that would have been a sweet thing to do. It was somewhere between annoying and cute for someone Mia’s age. It was annoyingly cute. Luckily, most of the people around her seemed to think the latter, and they watched her with loving looks on their faces. Rafina and Anne smiled at her as if she were a little sister who was acting out in a cute and harmless way. Abel almost spoiled her. Even Tiona and Liora were taken aback by Mia’s unusually childish behavior. They all let out a deep sigh that warmed the air in the room.
Don’t forget that Mia was at least twenty-something years old. Even though no one in the room knew that, it’s still important fact to be remembered.
After she was done flirting in public, Mia’s mind finally put all the pieces together, possibly by accident, and she figured out what that nagging feeling was about.
So, both Rafina-sama and Abel will be at the ball
 Wait. Hm? Then why didn’t they invite me?
That was the question worth a million coins. Why on earth had everyone but her been invited?
How odd
 I wonder why
 Well, I don’t have an idea.
In her mind, she flashed back to a time when she was not asked to a dance party and was dancing alone. She pushed it back out quickly. She didn’t need to go through that pain again.