Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Karen's Morning Panic
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"Uh, th-that... Father suddenly said he wanted to go read some books..."
"........."
Hmm.
Right now, I was flustered in all sorts of ways.
That made sense, because yesterday I'd spent the whole day happily wandering around Melnik with Rozalin. And today, I'd planned to finally relax in the villa after so long, so I'd been lounging in bed...
When suddenly Karen showed up.
First thing in the morning, too.
"Um... Sister?"
"Yes?"
"So you came all the way to our villa?"
"Yes!"
"........"
I had no idea what the Count might be doing right now.
Just the day before yesterday, before we parted, he'd been full of anticipation and delight. But with how Karen reacted... I was worried.
What if he got mad at me for telling her something weird?
"S-Suddenly... he told me to go to the bookstore first thing in the morning..."
"Couldn't you have just gone...?"
"B-But! It was so out of the blue...!"
"Oh."
"He's not the type to suggest going out first usually... Even when I was resting in my room, he'd just mention it casually... but suddenly, 'let's go'..."
"........"
This was the Count's fault. Yeah, I thought so.
Honestly, if the Count had spent time playing with Karen regularly, she wouldn't have been so surprised, right?
I'd given perfectly normal advice, but the problem was how differently he'd acted from usual.
If the Count asked me why I told her that... well...
Yeah, I could probably figure something out then.
"...Camellia?"
As we were talking, Rozalin opened the door to my room and came in.
"Ah, Mother."
"Uh... who's that next to you...?"
For reference, we were having this conversation with Karen in my room.
The villa didn't really have a proper parlor for receiving guests.
There were a few large, luxurious rooms aside from that, but most of the rest were used by the knights and servants.
So... I'd had no choice but to bring her straight to my room.
"...Sister. Say hello. This is my mother. Mother? This is Older Sister Karen from the Rosaki Family, the one I mentioned before."
We started with introductions like that.
Rozalin's sudden entrance into the room made things a bit awkward all around, but it wasn't anything weird.
Plus, Ella had come to the villa before to chat with me, so it wasn't strange at all.
"Ah... the one Camellia told me about..."
"Yes, exactly. She came early this morning because she had something to talk about with me."
"I see... Nice to meet you, Lady Rosaki. It's my first time meeting someone from the Rosaki Family."
"...Huh?"
"...?"
Rozalin greeted Karen with a bright smile like that.
But Karen... she didn't take it as a greeting and reacted strangely instead. With an extremely flustered expression, too.
...Huh?
"What's wrong, Sister? Is something...?"
"...Mother?"
"Yes?"
"...You're really her mother...? Not her sister... m-mother...?"
"Yes, of course...?"
"........Huh?!"
...I'd answered her, but Karen was shocked all over again.
Why was she so surprised?
It didn't seem like anything that bizarre.
Karen kept mumbling to herself.
And then...
"You're too... young to be her mother..."
"Oh."
"Ah."
Only after realizing Rozalin was younger than most mothers did it make sense.
We'd been puzzling over why Karen was so shocked without even considering that. It was a perfectly obvious reason.
She was my stepmother, after all, and Rozalin was still just a woman on the cusp of adulthood, so naturally she was young.
I'd gotten so used to Rozalin that I'd forgotten that fact myself.
"She's my stepmother."
"Ah, uh... yeah..."
"She's incredibly beautiful, right?"
"Y-Yes!"
I figured things could get awkward in all sorts of ways if I wasn't careful.
So I just praised Rozalin and moved past it.
Well... it wasn't a society without stepmothers or wicked stepmothers—plenty of people even had multiple mothers.
I thought letting it slide normally like this wouldn't be a problem at all.
"Um... hello! I'm Karen, the second daughter of the Rosaki Family...!"
"......."
She bit her tongue.
Anyway, Rozalin ended up coming into my room too.
It would've been rude to leave her standing at the door.
We waited for Karen to recover from biting her tongue, had Lize prepare some refreshments and tea... and sat around the table in the room.
"Hehe, I'd heard Camellia made a friend and was curious what you'd be like. I was surprised—you're even cuter than I imagined."
"R-Really...?"
"Yes. Truth be told, I haven't talked much with people from the Rosaki Family."
"The Rose Family doesn't interact much with us, after all..."
Rozalin was a good person and outgoing, so it wasn't hard to talk to her... but her conversation partner happened to be Karen.
A total hikikomori: introverted, shy, passive... someone who really struggled to chat easily with strangers right off the bat.
Thinking about it that way, it was actually amazing that she'd approached me first.
"Oh, by the way, Camellia didn't do anything bad at the Rosaki mansion or anything like that, right?"
"Mother?"
"N-No! She was actually too kind...? Even when she ended up dining with Father the day before yesterday, something that could've been awkward..."
"Our Camellia is such a good girl, hehe."
"Uh..."
That dinner was exactly why Karen had fled here like this.
But I didn't bring it up on purpose.
No need to risk the sparks flying my way...?
"Oh, Miss Karen. Is it all right if I call you that?"
"O-Of course! You're older than me to begin with...!"
"Thank you. This is actually my first time chatting with my daughter's friend like this."
"Fr-friend..."
"And coming here so early. Why don't we have breakfast together? We haven't eaten yet ourselves."
"If you're inviting me, of course..."
And so... we all ended up having breakfast together.
I'd originally planned a small tea time, but it turned into a full meal.
Well, like Rozalin said, we hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
Truth be told, Lize had woken me from sleep suddenly... so I'd barely managed to greet Karen, and of course I was hungry.
"W-Wow..."
"The cooks had to prepare three portions on short notice, so there might be some mistakes. Sorry in advance."
"N-No, it's fine! This is as good as what we have at our mansion—I was just impressed...!"
"Lize, take a break. You've been busy since morning, right?"
"No, ma'am."
"We'll be staying put here for a while anyway. It's fine to rest. Really."
"...All right."
Anyway, we let Lize rest, and we welcomed the morning with breakfast.
Normally Lize would've eaten with us, but she'd already had hers. Servants had to rise early and eat first.
If they didn't handle breakfast right away, they wouldn't have time later—and obviously couldn't do their maid duties.
"By the way, Miss Karen, what brought you here? Not that I'm complaining, but it is a bit sudden, isn't it?"
"Ah... well..."
The two of them were getting along just fine on their own. Better than I'd expected.
Was it because Rozalin was so mature? She breezed past Karen's shy personality and kept the conversation flowing naturally.
"I see... The Count probably just wanted to get closer to you, Miss Karen."
"Really...?"
"Yes. Who wouldn't want to spend time with such a cute daughter? I want to bond more with Camellia myself. I'm sure your father feels the same."
"Ah..."
"You don't need to feel burdened. The Rosaki Count really just wants to spend some long-overdue time with you."
"...I see..."
She really was amazing, I thought.
I'd been agonizing over how to phrase it.
I hadn't expected her to rattle off advice like that so smoothly. Of course, it was because I'd given her a little nudge the day before yesterday... but still.
"So, next time the Count suggests going out together, it might be good to just go along with it."
"Okay... I'll try...!"
"Yes. And... when you head back today, it might be good to apologize for running off..."
"Ah."
She had a point.
The Rosaki Count had probably mustered some serious resolve to suggest going out together.
But she'd bolted the second she heard—washing up, changing, and fleeing to our villa. Of course she needed to apologize when she got back.
I felt kinda bad for the Count in all sorts of ways.
The day before yesterday, he'd been beaming so innocently, looking forward to today.
...I felt a little sorry, but it wasn't my fault. If anyone's bitter, he should've spent more time with his daughter ages ago.
*
After breakfast, we returned to my room and resumed chatting with Karen.
"So you're leaving Melnik soon?"
"Well, we came for the social gathering, after all. We've already stayed longer than planned."
"Ah..."
Seeing her express such open disappointment... it made me feel pretty good, realizing I wasn't the only one who'd grown close to her.
It'd happened by chance, but that's what getting close was all about.
"I see... Well, nothing to be done, then."
"You don't have to look so sad. We'll meet again someday."
"...Okay."
"You could send letters sometimes, or when you have time, come play in Melnik like this?"
The reverse works too.
Anyway, that's what we were talking about. Nothing else—just chatting idly.
There probably wasn't much time left before we returned to Leonhardt Mansion.
We were using this chance to exchange contact info, promise to meet again... and spend the time like that.
Yeah, we were going to.
"KAREEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!"
"...Father?"
"...Huh?"
That is, until Karen's father, the Rosaki Count, showed up at our villa.
...Yeah.
It felt like something annoying like the day before yesterday was about to happen.