Chapter 4: Aenya Tobalts
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 4: Aenya Tobalts
The game's story was simple. The goal was to become a hero and stop the seven witches trying to destroy the continent. After clearing the game, you could start a second playthrough as one of the witches, each with their own story. Aenya Tobalts was one of them.
Aenya Tobalts, the witch of fatal beauty.
My sister had no special powers like the other witches. She only possessed a beauty that could topple the world.
The problem was, that alone was more than enough.
Wielding her beauty as a weapon, Aenya Tobalts could manipulate the continent's most powerful figures at will, making her the most difficult witch to deal with.
The other witches were clear enemies. You just had to overcome their unique abilities and shove a sword down their throats. Aenya was different. The powerful men she controlled were on the side of humanity, and in fighting them, the hero would, at some point, find himself turned into the villain.
In the game, I was the device that turned Aenya into a villainess.
Unaware of my stepmother's schemes, I acted like a complete wastrel until, after my father's death, I lost the domain. Having fallen to a state worse than a commoner in an instant, I obviously wouldn't just stand by.
To get this tiny little manor back, I ended up selling the beauty who could topple the world to Baron Rasino.
What an idiotic thing to do.
Experience broadens one's horizons. The moment I regained my memories as a modern man, my perspective expanded beyond this small manor to encompass the entire world.
I couldn't bear the thought of spending the rest of my life with the country girls of this small manor instead of the countless beauties I'd seen in the game. The environment, so inconvenient from a modern perspective, was also a problem. I was amazed I'd endured it for the past twenty-odd years.
It was unacceptable. Had I remained ignorant, it would have been one thing, but now that I knew, I could not be content to rot away in this small manor.
Because I'm a selfish, greedy man who only looks out for himself.
I sorted out my thoughts. I didn't know if this was reincarnation or transmigration, but I didn't dwell on it. My identity was, first and foremost, Allen, and the memories of a modern man felt as distant as a dream.
I think, therefore I am.
As long as I doubt myself, my own existence cannot be doubted. I am not a scrap of data, nor am I someone's toy.
In fact, there was a more important matter at hand.
“Fatal beauty? You?”
Her bright blonde hair and distinct features were certainly pretty. However, I had to tilt my head at the idea of her beauty toppling nations. With a body as thin as a twig and a height that didn't even reach my chest, she was unmistakably a child.
Still, if Aenya truly grew up to be the witch of fatal beauty from the game, she was a prize too precious to let go.
I'll say it again. I'm a greedy man.
The problem was…
“What nonsense is that? Move!”
…that my relationship with Aenya was far from good.
When our mother died giving birth to Aenya, I came to believe that Aenya had killed her. My father was the complete opposite. He doted on Aenya, making up for the love our mother couldn't give, never realizing that this only worsened the relationship between us.
Perhaps because another twenty years of life had been added to my own, looking back now, I couldn't help but think how foolish I'd been.
“Where are you off to so early in the morning?”
“What's it to you? Hmph.”
Aenya scoffed and turned away from me, heading down toward the village. Her cheerful steps betrayed her mood. My curiosity was piqued. I turned and went back the way I came.
On the border between our manor and the neighboring city of Quaran was a wide river. It was the Rhine River, which began deep in the continent, flowed through the port city of Quaran, and emptied into the sea.
Aenya stopped by the riverside. Long stalks that looked like reed husks were laid out on a wooden rack.
“Is that flax?”
The stalks of the flax plant are used to make a fiber called linen, and its seeds are roasted to press oil. It has a short growing period of three months, allowing for double cropping, and its adaptability to different climates means it grows well anywhere.
As such, it was cheap, and the process of making linen was so labor-intensive that it wasn't a task fit for a knight's daughter.
Only then did I take a closer look at Aenya's clothes. They were made of a coarse material and patched here and there—the kind of clothes a serf would wear. I used to think they suited her, but now the sight bothered me.
“Are you planning on making clothes?”
“I'm going to make a dress to wear to the party.”
Aenya replied as she began to gather the stalks she had laid out. I sat on a rock with my back angled toward the river. The water, bathed in the midday sun, sparkled so brightly it was dazzling.
“A party? Ah, you mean the one the Baroness is hosting.”
Baron Rasino was at war with a neighboring domain. My father, Maxim Tobalts, had also been called to serve. I knew the war was going badly. That war was the very starting point for my stepmother taking over the domain.
In other words, a major turning point in my life was not far off. It was a shame the game didn't specify the exact timing.
In any case, the Baroness wasn't hosting a party in this unfavorable situation because she was oblivious to the state of the world. To lose as little as possible in the eventual peace negotiations and to avoid having the loans taken out for the war collected, she needed to project an image of strength.
“So Mother gave you permission? That's a surprise.”
Aenya had not yet made her debut in high society, even though she was already an adult. Normally, a mother would host a party around the age of fourteen to announce her daughter's coming of age and introduce her to society.
But my stepmother, Sophia, had used every excuse in the book to avoid hosting a party for Aenya or accompanying her to one.
It was because she was jealous of Aenya.
Stepmother Sophia hadn't always been like that. Father Maxim Tobalts doted on Aenya, and Sophia, wary of my father, had been quite kind to Aenya at first.
But as Aenya grew and her beauty began to shine, she started to grow jealous. Of course, only when Father was away, like now.
And I was a bystander.
“She said she'd take me if I just prepared a dress.”
There was a reason for the lightness in her step. Aenya was smiling, even as she gathered the incredibly coarse flax stalks. It was a clear sign of how much she was looking forward to her societal debut.
I could only feel pity. Sophia's promise was bound to be a lie. As Aenya grew, so did Sophia's jealousy.
The promise was surely a deception.
“You'll regret it if you gather them now.”
“What are you talking about? What would a wastrel who knows nothing but how to sweet-talk women know about fibers?”
“You're not much different, are you?”
“At least I'm better than a wastrel!”
Aenya scoffed, turned, and left with the stalks she had gathered.
“…”
I said no more. The fact that she had even bothered to reply was only because she was in a good mood; the emotional rift between us, built up over the years, was not so simple that it could be mended in a short time.
The Tobalts family mansion stood on a small hill overlooking the village. The main building was a two-story brick structure, and next to it was an annex that only Sophia and those she permitted could enter.
“Lord Allen.”
As I entered the main gate, a grand hall and a set of stairs branching to either side caught my eye. A servant who had been sweeping the hall spotted me and hurried over to bow.
The surprise in her eyes was obvious. The way she glanced back and forth between Aenya and me seemed to ask how the two of us had arrived together.
After all, this body of mine used to find even being in the same space as Aenya unbearable…
“You may go.”
The servant withdrew without greeting Aenya. Neither Aenya nor the servant found this strange.
Stepmother Sophia's jealousy had evolved into mistreatment, and the servants under her influence had gradually changed their attitude. Since it had happened so incrementally, Aenya hadn't noticed anything was amiss.
She was, in a way, being gaslighted.
And I, as always, had been a bystander.
“How far are you going to follow me?”
Aenya glared as she turned to look at me. I had followed her all the way into her room.
“Just thought I'd watch and see how well you make it.”
“Hmph. What kind of trouble are you planning now?”
“Do you have time to worry about me? The party is less than a week away. Can you even make a dress by then?”
“It's all part of my plan.”
Aenya began her work. She trimmed the reeds with a small knife and shredded them with her fingernails. After combing them dozens, hundreds of times with a brush studded with sharp awls, the reeds finally thinned into something like thread.
She then twisted these strands one by one, at last creating a fiber that could be called yarn. She set the yarn on a loom and wove it into cloth.
It was incredibly painstaking work. The task she started early in the morning only finished as evening fell. For all that effort, though, the color was too dark. It was a color unsuited for a dress.
“Why is it…?”
Aenya, who had been so engrossed in her work she'd forgotten to eat, held up the linen and trembled. It seemed the result was not what she had expected.
“Didn't I tell you you'd regret it? Linen has to be dried for nearly a month for the color to lighten.”
Among my modern memories was a video on how to make linen the medieval way. Tears welled up in Aenya's eyes.
“Why are you telling me this now!?”
“I did tell you earlier. You ignored me.”
“What do I do now? The party is only a week away.”
Aenya was frantic. The way she bit her lip, holding back tears, only added to her pitiful charm. She must have been really looking forward to it.
“It's not like there's no way.”
Her face brightened for a moment, but she quickly scowled.
“I don't need your help.”
“Debuting in high society in a dress the color of a rag. That would be quite the flashy debut. If your goal is to draw everyone's attention, you'll succeed. You might even remain in their memories for the rest of their lives.”
I smiled and looked at Aenya.
“Is that really what you want?”
“…What do you want?”
Aenya gnawed on her lip before forcing out the words.
“From now on, call me 'Big Brother'.”
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The first step to untangling our complicated relationship was to fix how we addressed each other. Aenya was horrified, but she had no other choice if she wanted to make a dress in time for the party.
I had a servant prepare some lye. After filtering the lye through a cloth, I mixed it with water. I put it in a pot with the linen and boiled it, then rinsed it in water and spread it out on the roof of the well-lit stable.
After three days, the dark brown linen had turned beige. It was my first time trying it myself, so I was worried, but the color came out quite evenly.
“I knew that lye could lighten the color…!”
“No need to feel wronged. If you had done it, the color wouldn't have faded evenly. It would have looked even more ridiculous.”
Since lye was often used for laundry, Aenya would know well how it could discolor clothes. She couldn't argue and accepted the linen I handed her with both hands.
“If we repeat this a few more times, we could make it white, right?”
“The party is only three days away.”
There wasn't even enough time to make the dress. Aenya looked disappointed.
“This color isn't bad either.”
“You think so…?”
When I nodded, Aenya turned her back to leave. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
“Wait. Aren't you forgetting something?”
“I don't know what you mean. I'm busy, so can you let go?”
Aenya played dumb.
“Oh? Then I'll just hold on to you all day. No, I'll hold on until the day of the party.”
“Ah, honestly…”
Aenya's face crumpled. I didn't care. I kept my mouth shut and just stared at her. Aenya avoided my gaze and mumbled something.
“What was that?”
I pretended I hadn't heard her ant-like voice. Aenya's face crumpled even more as she shouted.
“…Thank you! You stupid big brother!”
It wasn't quite what I'd hoped for, but I decided to be satisfied. I let go of her shoulder. Aenya didn't go straight back to her room. She stayed and looked up at me.
“But… why did you suddenly help me?”
Aenya narrowed her eyes as if trying to see right through me. The brother who had stood by while she was mistreated had suddenly become kind. She had every reason to be suspicious of my motives.
“In this world, the only ones you can trust are family. Only family will be on your side until the very end, no matter what you do. I just happened to realize that.”
“…That's a rather late realization, Big Brother.”
Aenya, lost in thought for a moment, shook her head and turned away. I wasn't disappointed. It would be greedy to expect feelings built up over such a long time to be resolved in an instant.
Aenya finished the dress the day before the party. She was quite skilled with her hands; the dress had a simple elegance. When she shed her shabby clothes and put on the dress, Aenya's beauty shone.
“How is it? Pretty, right?”
After spinning around like a model in front of me to show off her dress, Aenya immediately ran to Sophia's room.
I stood still, watching her retreating figure. Aenya would not get what she wanted. Seeing Aenya looking even more beautiful, Sophia's jealousy would soar to the heavens.
It didn't take long for my prediction to become reality. When Aenya returned, fat tears were streaming down her face. The dress she clutched in her hands was torn in half.
“Aenya.”
“Big Brother…”
I opened my arms slightly, and Aenya buried her face in my chest. I gently stroked her hair, comforting her.
From the beginning, I never had any intention of sending Aenya to a chaotic place like a party. Because Aenya is mine. And mine alone.