"No! Absolutely not!" Rellana nearly jumped up, her face flushed bright red as she began incoherently listing Horace's "faults."
"He-he's a barbarian! Crude! Ill-mannered! All he does all day is study those bizarre things! Even his hair is such a strange color! He abducts children, too! Bullies Albinaurics! Dumps all his paperwork on Uriel! He-he also... anyway, no! Sister, you can't choose him! He isn't good enough for you! Caria needs a more elegant, more... anyway, not a prince consort like him!"
She racked her brains for bad things to say about Horace, trying to make her sister abandon this "terrible" idea, without realizing that her vehement objections revealed an unusual degree of concern.
Rennala and Miriel exchanged a glance.
Miriel slowly shook his head again, his eyes seeming to say, See? I said this might happen if you brought it out into the open. This girl hasn't figured it out herself yet.
Rennala, however, found her reaction highly amusing. Little sisters were born for their big sisters to tease.
She deliberately put on a stern face. "Oh? Is he that bad? Yet from what I've seen, he keeps Lakeside Town in excellent order, his laws are effective, and he's quite strong, too. As a candidate for prince consort, he seems suitable in every respect except his background. As for those things you mentioned... mere trifles."
"They aren't trifles!" Rellana grew anxious.
"Anyway... anyway, absolutely not!"
The argument got nowhere. Over the next few days, Rellana simply stayed at the Church of Vows too, ostensibly to "keep her sister company." In reality, she used every means at her disposal, chattering into Rennala's ear from morning to night, finding new ways to speak "ill" of Horace in an attempt to make her sister "change her mind."
Sometimes Rennala found it funny;