Chapter 4
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 4: So, What About the Next Chapter?
“Noah! You troublemaker! Your sister definitely said it was too early for you! But not only did you secretly read it alone, you took it to a reading session?!”
“Uwaaah!”
Slap, slap!
Noel deciding to accept her fate was one thing, but punishing her sister for causing the incident was a separate issue entirely.
The sound of excitingly slapping buttocks and Noah's cries echoed out.
In a way, it was somewhat deserved, but Noah was clearly in the wrong for secretly taking the backup copy Noel had habitually saved due to her occupational disease to the reading session.
She had to scold her properly to correct her sticky fingers, if nothing else.
And it was better to just end it with Noel spanking her.
If the Viscountess got involved, the punishment would be much more severe.
In a way, this was also a pre-emptive strike to prevent her sister from being scolded too harshly.
Mother, I’ve scolded her this much, so let’s let it slide.
It was close to a performance for show.
But whatever the reason, getting spanked on the buttocks hurt all the same.
Shedding tears the size of chicken droppings, Noah was forcibly put into reflection mode.
She wasn't even hitting bare skin but over her skirt, yet thinking her sister was exaggerating the pain, Noel decided it was time to stop the spanking.
“If you touch my things without permission again, I’m telling Mother next time.”
“Uuu… I did, hic… wrong… hic! I won’t do it again… hic….”
Seeing Noah apologize mixed with crying and hiccups, Noel felt pity, as if she hadn't just been angry a moment ago.
When scolding, you have to be stern, but after scolding, you also need to comfort.
“Pain, pain, fly away.”
With the same hand that was slapping her buttocks just moments ago, she carefully patted her sister's bottom this time.
Then, a warm light flowed from Noel’s hand, alleviating Noah’s pain.
That’s right.
Magic.
With the very power responsible for the 'fantasy' in 'swords and magic fantasy', Noel soothed her sister’s swollen bottom.
Noel had been able to use magic since she was young.
Since the ‘Lewd Pink Noel’ in the original work was a mage, she perceived it as natural for her, who became that Pink, to use magic, and she actually came to use it.
Even if she had an aptitude for magic, it would be troublesome if it became known that she awakened magic on her own without a teacher's guidance, so she hadn't told anyone else.
She intended to keep everyone in the dark until she entered the Academy.
Otherwise, it was obvious the Viscount, being a "Daughter Fool," would make a fuss about his daughter being material for an Archmage or whatever.
She only used it secretly like this occasionally, so it wouldn't be noticeable.
If I get caught, it’ll be trouble, so I won’t use it at all?
Her body might be from here, but her soul was from Earth, where magic only existed in fiction, so that option didn't exist.
She could use magic, the romance of a fantasy world—of course, she had to try this and that.
Thanks to that, she was now able to relieve her sister’s butt pain without being noticed, just like now.
Actually, she could have healed the pain completely, but she decided against it.
Not because it would be noticeable if she used magic, but because discipline would be more effective if some pain remained.
Isn't there a saying about engraving a painful lesson?
She healed it just enough so that every time her bottom tingled, she would recall her mistake and repent.
“Okay, stop crying!”
“Stop….”
“Let’s blow your nose too.”
“Hnggg!”
Noel wiped away the welling tears with a handkerchief and cleaned up the runny nose as well.
With this, the sister’s discipline, including aftercare, was neatly finished, and….
‘Is it time for me to go get scolded now?’
As the cause of this situation, it was time for her to take responsibility and go hear a lecture from her parents.
If Noah was the catalyst, the root cause indeed lay with Noel for writing such a text in the first place.
Thinking her mother would scold her heavily for writing vulgar words unfitting for the dignity of a Viscountcy, Noel sighed.
Her father, Julian Grace, was a "Daughter Fool" and unconditionally on Noel's side, so she didn't really have to worry about him.
In fact, he had agreed to publishing the novel his daughter wrote with the feeling of holding hands with the Princess and shouting “Hurray!”
The problem was that Julian Grace was a son-in-law who married into the family.
Externally he was the Viscount, but the problem was that the de facto head of the family was her mother, Natalie Grace.
And her mother, who managed the major and minor affairs of the Grace family and held the real power, was quite strict, unlike her doting father.
While it was Julian who handled public duties as the Viscount, household matters like this were Natalie Grace’s domain.
You wrote a novel that brings shame to the family’s honor?
No, writing it was fine.
But it didn't end with just writing; it spread outside the Viscountcy and reached the point where the Princess herself came to visit?
Even if it was a situation close to force majeure, she couldn't avoid responsibility.
Let alone covering it up as if it never happened, now it looked like it would be published to the whole world.
Even though the Viscount gave the OK and it involved a Royal, meaning it was past the point of return, as the head of the family, she would surely shout at her.
Therefore, Noel went to meet her parents fully prepared, but—
“Noel, why does the story end here?”
The words that came out the moment she saw her mother’s face were completely different from what Noel had worried about.
She had braced herself for a thunderous scolding, but Noel felt the tension instantly drain out of her.
She thought she would be scolded severely, but the reaction was… very different from what she expected?
Feeling a mild confusion, Noel reflexively answered her mother’s question.
“That is… because I was writing a fairy tale to gift to Noah.”
Natalie Grace already knew the general circumstances from receiving a report.
She didn't know exactly what the twists and turns were, but she knew this commotion happened in the process of the eldest daughter writing something for the second daughter.
Still, she never imagined… she could write not only a passionate romance novel like 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 but also a ‘fairy tale’ for a child.
‘Does our daughter really have the qualities to become a great literary figure, just as he said?’
Regarding other things she wasn't sure, but regarding family, especially their daughters, her husband was a complete fool, so she honestly hadn't listened to him. But seeing this, the Viscountess was slowly changing her mind.
The Grace couple was trying, but strangely, they only had two daughters and no son.
Although having children is something determined by the heavens and couldn't be helped, this was the Viscountcy’s biggest problem.
In this state, they would have to bring in another son-in-law to continue the lineage, and wouldn't it be better to find an excellent son-in-law if possible?
She had worried a lot about how to dress up her eldest daughter, who had an ‘old man-like’ side beyond just being unladylike, into a prime bride candidate for that purpose.
That way, they could find a good match.
In such a situation, building fame as an author?
Not bad.
If she lacked charm as a lady, shouldn't she use that fame at least?
“It is a good tendency. Literature is a basic virtue of nobility. Devote yourself to it.”
“Y-yes….”
Reflexively answering, Noel felt perplexed.
‘No, this isn't right.’
She fell into a brief panic at the situation being so different from what she predicted based on her mother’s usual personality, then came to her senses.
“Uhm, Mother? The content of the novel feels too… raw. Are you not uncomfortable with it?”
She thought for sure she would be scolded for tarnishing the Viscountcy’s honor, so why was she being praised and encouraged instead?
I am so confused right now.
Hearing the daughter’s words containing that feeling, Natalie swallowed a bitter smile inwardly.
If they failed to have a son in this state, she was the eldest daughter with the heavy responsibility of welcoming a son-in-law and continuing the family.
So, unlike the second daughter, she felt she had taught her more strictly. Perhaps because of that, even when praised, she couldn't accept it honestly and suspected it first.
‘Was my educational policy wrong?’
A mother who isn't trusted.
Reflecting on her eldest daughter’s home education, wondering if she needed to rethink this a bit, Natalie spoke.
“Certainly, the sentences are too simple and the content feels a bit embarrassing. However….”
It’s fun.
A novel her daughter wrote—she had to verify just what it was that caused even the Princess to make a surprise visit.
So she started reading with the intention of nagging depending on the content, but Natalie ended up forgetting her original purpose and reading voraciously—no, indulging in it.
The simple and direct sentences made it easy to understand, and the smoothly reading text allowed Natalie to vicariously experience the thrill of an affair for the first time in her life.
Just as men have them, women have romances too.
To be a good head of the family, a good wife, and a good mother, Natalie had grown up like an accessory of the family since she was young.
She simply hadn't expressed it, but she couldn't not have a sense of rebellion against such a situation. Through the novel her daughter wrote, she felt that rebellion being refreshingly relieved.
Various impulses of a childish era that had to end as delusions in front of the wall of cold reality.
The novel, which seemed to melt down those feelings of noble daughters, was truly… thrilling.
Leaving behind the fiancé chosen by her family, the heroine Elise falls in love—a love fitting the description of "playing with fire"—with a promising knight trainee by chance.
But it turns out the partner she fell in love with, although not sharing a drop of blood, was someone who could be called her younger brother in terms of human relations.
In fact, Elise’s biological mother was the knight trainee Philip’s mother.
There were twists and turns as to how this happened, but with that complex and unconventional character relationship, Natalie felt like screaming throughout reading it.
A dizzying love that shouldn't happen.
Shocking birth secrets.
And a man and woman standing at a crossroads of choice.
Imagining what ending they would face, she had no choice but to turn the pages frantically again and again.
It was a novel that felt exactly like a soap opera that one couldn't stop once started, and── the story ended unnaturally at the perfect spot.
This is a world where the concept of the Art of Cutting (Cliffhanger) is faint.
Normally, when a story starts, it should neatly end with an introduction, development, turn, and conclusion.
That was the default, and even if the story got long and was divided into two or three volumes, the beginning, middle, and end would all be released together.
But the novel her daughter Noel wrote ended at a part perfect for driving people crazy, as if mocking such standards.
Injecting dopamine wildly, bringing the reader to the brink of climax, and then throwing the single word “Wait” and leaving them hanging without a promise….
‘To think she read that at a reading session.’
Imagining how many victims must have been generated, Natalie felt fear anew.
Now that she knew her daughter had such talent, it would be good to support it as a parent.
If it were something else, she wouldn't know, but something like writing was a task befitting a noble, so if she just purified the content a bit──.
‘No, if she did that, this flavor might disappear.’
The Viscountess couldn't easily decide whether to tell her to write somewhat dignified text befitting a noble, or to tell her to write her own text as is.
Am I myself as a noble, or myself as a woman?
Natalie couldn't easily decide what the right answer was.
She pondered for a moment, and if only to know that answer,
“By the way, the conversation went sideways for a moment. Let’s go back to the beginning… why is there no next part?”
She demanded the ‘next part’ she thought she had forgotten.