Chapter 5: Aenya Tobalts
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 5: Aenya Tobalts
To Aenya Tobalts, the mansion was a suffocating place. It hadn’t always been that way. After all, it was where she had been born and raised. The problems began after her stepmother arrived.
“Oh my, what a beautiful young lady you are.”
Her first impression of Sophia, a distant relative of Baron Rasino with whom her father, Maxim Tobalts, had a vassal relationship, was a good one. She was a cultured and polite maiden, and she was kind to Aenya, the child of her husband’s first wife.
That was why Aenya hadn’t opposed her father’s remarriage. She even held a sliver of hope for the motherly presence she had never known.
It was a mistake.
Maxim Tobalts, Baron Rasino’s right-hand man, spent half the year in the baron’s capital city and the other half moving from one battlefield to the next.
Whenever her father was away, Sophia’s attitude would turn ice-cold, as if her previous kindness had never existed.
“Honestly, must you make it so obvious you grew up without a mother…”
Whenever Aenya made the smallest mistake, Sophia would bring up the mother she had never even met, who had died in childbirth.
Aenya realized that her earlier kindness had been a mask Sophia wore to marry Maxim Tobalts, but it was too late to undo the marriage.
Though a distant relative, Sophia was of Baron Rasino’s line. If her father were to divorce her, his relationship with the baron who had arranged the marriage would become strained.
Aenya, being a good daughter, gave up.
I just have to endure it. If I can just endure it.
She had thought that would make everyone happy.
In truth, what made the mansion even more dreadful than her stepmother was her own flesh-and-blood brother, Allen Tobalts. Aenya remembered him staring at her with sharp eyes from the moment she could recognize things.
“It’s your fault. Mother died because of you.”
The one family member who should have been her only ally was hostile from the very beginning. He was so openly dismissive and hostile that their father had scolded him harshly, but that only made his animosity grow.
Allen Tobalts had a contrarian streak. To Aenya, her blood brother’s indifference was more painful than her stepmother’s abuse.
Hmph, so in my worst moment, the only one I can trust is family?
For nearly twenty years, she had been treated as if she didn’t exist. A single act of help couldn’t possibly erase the feelings that had built up over that time.
Perhaps they never would.
In any case, Aenya wanted to escape this prison-like mansion. There was only one way.
Marriage.
Considering the era’s custom of marrying around the age of fourteen, Aenya was quite late. This was due to her doting father and her stepmother, who used every excuse to thwart her debut in high society.
You have to meet a man to have a chance with him, don't you?
That was why this opportunity was so important. For some reason, Sophia herself had suggested they attend a party together.
Was it because a daughter of marriageable age was her parents’ responsibility? Or did she think she could no longer put it off?
What mattered was that she had an opportunity.
Aenya made a vow. At this party, she would find a man who could rescue her from this prison.
Every woman dreams of a prince on a white horse.
So, she had worked tirelessly for this day. She had worked in the fields alongside the serfs in exchange for flax, and then spent nearly a month painstakingly soaking and drying it.
The only flaw was that the flax hadn't dried properly, and she'd had to accept Allen's help.
Hmph, as if I don't know what he's up to. He was probably worried about what would happen when Father returns. If I told Father he was bullying me, he'd get a severe beating. It's obvious. So I don't need to be grateful.
Aenya tried her best to ignore it.
The cloth was completed by a stroke of luck, but turning it into a dress was another matter entirely. Aenya worked through the night, pricking all ten of her fingers, and finally managed to complete the dress.
It had no fancy patterns or decorations, but it possessed a simple elegance, perfectly suitable for a party.
And now, that very dress, the fruit of nearly a month of her own labor…
Riiip.
…was being torn in half in her stepmother Sophia’s hands. Aenya stared blankly at the scene, which felt like a dream. She only came to her senses after the dress was thrown to the floor.
“Mother…!”
Aenya hastily picked up the two pieces of the dress and looked up.
“How dare you raise your voice at me? And why are you glaring? Is that what your mother taught you?”
“Mother!” Aenya shouted, but Sophia merely snorted.
“To think you would plan to attend a party in a dress fit for a peasant. Have you considered how others would view our family? It would be the greatest of humiliations. I would rather have a knife to my throat than suffer such shame and disgrace.”
“But I have no other dress to wear! You didn’t even give me any fabric to make one!”
“What am I to do if the family’s finances are strained because of the war? A letter arrived from my husband just yesterday. He said the military provisions are running low and to procure and send more immediately. The family storehouses are already empty, even after collecting taxes under all sorts of pretexts!”
Contrary to her words, Sophia was dressed in clothes made of Eastern silk and adorned with all manner of jewelry. Some of the pieces were new, clearly recent purchases.
It was true that the family’s finances were suffering due to the prolonged war, but Sophia’s extravagance showed no signs of abating. The only ones dying were the people of the domain, burdened by taxes of every kind.
“You never intended to take me to the party from the beginning, did you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you can find a dress that won’t bring shame upon this family, even now, we will leave together.”
The corner of Sophia’s mouth twitched.
“The party is tomorrow!”
If she had enough money, she might be able to procure something from the neighboring city of Quaran, but there was no way Sophia would provide the funds.
“You never know. A dress might just fall from the sky.”
Sophia was now openly mocking her.
Tears welled up in Aenya’s eyes. She bit her lip, holding them back. Then, clutching the torn dress, she turned away.
“Leaving without even a proper farewell? Truly, what on earth did you learn from your mother? So rude and vulgar.”
Aenya bit her lower lip. The moment the door closed, the tears she had been holding back streamed down her face. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. She hadn't walked far before she saw Allen.
“Aenya.”
Seeing Allen standing with his arms open as if he had been waiting, Aenya uttered a word she had loathed to even think and threw herself into his embrace.
“Brother…”
Allen had been right. In the worst of times, the only one you could trust was your own blood.
#
“It’s okay. It’s all right.”
I stroked Aenya’s hair, comforting her. As I held her, my hands subtly touched her here and there. Her body, as slender as a dry twig, reminded me of Mari.
It was the body of a young girl, not one befitting a twenty-year-old woman. The abuse from her stepmother, Sophia, had clearly affected her diet.
I found it hard to believe that this little girl would become a beauty capable of toppling a nation. Wasn’t she past the age of growing? But one shouldn’t apply common sense to a species like witches.
“You need to eat more.”
Still, her bottom was a tempting, perfectly shaped apple. Her waist was slender and her hips were wide, making them a satisfying handful. I gently caressed her bottom, then squeezed, my fingers digging into her flesh through the fabric.
“Ow!”
Aenya looked up and glared at me. But with her eyes glistening with tears, it only stirred a desire to tease her more.
What caught my attention was her reaction. Even I thought my touch was suggestive, but Aenya took it as a joke. Was it a preconceived notion that her brother would never do such a thing, or was it due to sexual ignorance?
I believed it was the latter. Normally, for the daughter of a minor family like the Tobalts, sex education was the mother’s duty, but her own mother had died giving birth to her.
The nanny who could have taken her place was driven out when Sophia entered the mansion, long before Aenya was old enough to know about such things. And Sophia, of course, wouldn’t have said a word.
Aenya was a pure white canvas, ready to be painted in any color. I licked my lips.
This, I could use.
“Your dress is torn in half.”
“She said wearing a dress like this to the party would tarnish the family’s honor. She said if I bring a proper dress, even now, she’ll take me, but how am I supposed to get a dress in just one day? Mother never intended to take me from the start.”
“She probably wanted to see you fall from the highest point.”
She was a nasty woman. She was also the woman who would kick me out and seize the domain after Father’s death. Perhaps it had all been planned from the moment Baron Rasino arranged the marriage.
After all, hadn’t Baron Rasino only granted a small manor to his right-hand man, Maxim Tobalts, after he married his relative, Sophia?
Perhaps Sophia was the device he had installed to ensure he could take back the land at any time.
In any case, to avoid losing the manor, I had to drive her out. According to the story, Father’s death wasn’t far off, so time was short. The problem was that Baron Rasino was backing her.
Father.
I had no intention of saving my father. He wasn’t the type to listen to me anyway. There was no trust between us. And what if I messed with the future and lost my greatest weapon?
Yes. I’m a selfish son of a bitch.
In truth, there probably wasn’t a single heir who wasn’t. Every heir waits for the day their father dies.
Still, was the decision so easy because my father’s favoritism toward Aenya had ruined our relationship? Or was it because my memories as a modern man had diluted the identity of Allen?
The only thing certain was that I didn’t want to lose the domain like this, nor did I want to sell my sister to get this tiny fief back.
“Do you really want to go to the party that badly?”
“Is that even a question? If I had more time, I would have stolen a dress to go.”
Aenya hadn’t given up hope yet. One moment she was saying Sophia had no intention of taking her, and the next she was thinking she could go if only she had a dress.
The important thing was Sophia’s will, just as she’d said. Was she pretending not to know? To cling to a sliver of hope?
“Hmm, it’s not like there’s no way.”
“A way? What way?”
Her shimmering eyes shone with a different light. I suppressed the twitching corner of my mouth and said, “If you grant my request, I’ll get you a dress.”
“I’ll do anything! Anything!”
“You’ve made a promise. It’ll be too late for regrets.”
“Wait, what are you going to ask?”
Aenya seemed to realize too late that she had been hasty, but she couldn’t take back the words she had spoken.
“I’ll tell you later. The important thing right now is the dress, isn’t it? Time is short, so we need to move quickly.”
Leaving Aenya with her eyes a mixture of anxiety and anticipation, I headed for the storeroom in the mansion’s basement.
“Lord Allen, what brings you here?”
As I opened the door, the treasurer, Bertio, greeted me. He must have been working; he held a sharp awl in one hand, and a clay tablet lay on his desk.
“I’m having some clothes made for my favorite prostitute.”
I was a regular at the brothels in the neighboring city of Quaran. I had already taken gifts from the storeroom for prostitutes several times before.
“My goodness, a gift for a prostitute when the domain’s finances are so tight?”
“Why? Are you going to try and stop me?”
After regaining my past life’s memories, the countless delinquent acts I had committed felt foolish, but I couldn’t show a changed demeanor. Nothing would be more suspicious than a sudden change in character.
If I needlessly aroused Sophia’s suspicion, I could be confined. Then, when the news of Father’s death arrived, I would be exiled.
I hadn’t realized it when I was just a delinquent, but I was now walking a tightrope.
“How could I do such a thing to the lord’s proxy?”
I hated my father for favoring only Aenya, and he hated me for my constant troublemaking. So why did he entrust the lord’s seal to me instead of Sophia?
In the worst of times, the only one you can trust is your own blood. Perhaps my father knew that as well.
“Shall I open the door?”
There were only two keys to the family storeroom, one held by the treasurer and the other by the lord. For now, as the lord’s proxy, I held my father’s.
“No, I’ll open it.”
“By the way, what kind of clothes are you planning to make…?”
Bertio followed me into the storeroom.
“I need a very beautiful dress. It would be good to make a few sets of everyday clothes as well.”
Aenya usually wore clothes fit for a serf. That, too, was due to Sophia’s abuse. While I was having a dress made, I planned to fill her wardrobe with everyday clothes as well.
“What? That will require a lot of fabric.”
“Use as much fabric as you need.”
“But, some of the fabrics have already been claimed by the lady of the house…”
I paused for a moment. How the family’s assets were used was entirely the lord’s decision. Right now, that was my decision as the lord’s proxy.
“Do I need my mother’s permission?”
“What? No, but…”
Despite my firm tone, Bertio was clearly hesitant.
I already knew that Sophia had taken control of the mansion while I was busy being a delinquent. I just hadn’t realized that Bertio had also been won over.
Wasn’t he a vassal who had sworn loyalty to my father long before Sophia arrived? If he had switched sides, it was safe to assume most of the vassals had as well.
The situation was more serious than I thought.