Let's Go Home - 4
When the six sister-in-laws—those six women whose dizzying titles made my head spin every time I had to address them—heard the word vacation, their expressions shifted in subtle ways.
Some of them went wide-eyed, as if they had just heard a revolutionary answer. Others looked openly sorry and wistful. A few sank into thoughtful silence, as though seriously weighing my words. Meanwhile, the one who worked under my brother bit her lip hard and shook her shoulders. She was clearly holding back laughter.
So it's impossible.
When even someone who worked alongside my brother reacted like that, I got the picture. The chances of my brother receiving a vacation as a birthday present were slim to none.
Well, if something is nonexistent or forbidden, there is usually a reason. If it had been easy to get, it never would have made the list of gift candidates in the first place.
"Honestly, just spending his birthday with the people he loves already feels like a gift. And he's already using vacation days to be here right now."
After turning it over in my head for a moment, I carefully added that. I didn't know about the others, but looking at the Demon Duke lost in thought, I felt I absolutely had to say it.
My instincts blared a fierce warning. If I let this slide, the Demon Duke would soon submit a public petition to the Imperial Family. And that petition would be the most outrageous request imaginable: please give my future husband some time off. If a rumor like that spread through high society, I would see my brother face-plant into the dirt and never get up again.
I'd bite my own tongue off.
No—biting my tongue wouldn't be enough. I would hold my breath until I blacked out.
The image of an overwhelmingly older fiancée raising her voice to the Imperial Family, demanding rest for her much younger future husband… just imagining it made me dizzy with dread. The Demon Duke already called my brother "baby." If something like that happened, he wouldn't just be a kept man—he'd become a real baby.
…Would he actually like that?
For a second my conviction wavered. It terrified me, but maybe my brother would desperately want it? Even if it meant bearing shame and humiliation, wouldn't he still want the vacation?
Of course I kept that sad conjecture locked inside my heart. Even if my brother was fine with it, I had no confidence I could watch the spectacle. My brother reduced to the Demon Duke's baby just so he could rest… that was a horror story I never wanted to meet in my dreams.
Besides, once he's married he'll get plenty of time off.
So I forced my thoughts in a more positive direction. Right—the Empire had marriage leave and maternity leave. With six wives, that meant six times the marriage leave and six times the maternity leave. If they had lots of children, it could be even more than sixfold.
"Or what about giving him the first thing each of you bought? The gift you thought of first when you thought of my brother… that seems pretty meaningful, doesn't it?"
Before the conversation could veer into strange territory, I hurriedly steered the gift debate to a close. Giving everything felt excessive, and a vacation was impossible, so this seemed the safest option.
The first thing you pick on instinct is usually the best. If you overthink it, you only end up with weird results.
It must have been a reasonably satisfying answer, because I was finally released from the sister-in-law encirclement. Looking at the Demon Duke, who still seemed lost in thought to the very end, a wave of unease washed over me—but I believed I had done my duty. If something happened, my brother would handle it. A powerless student couldn't do anything more. Not my problem.
Oh no.
The moment I saw Sera wandering the corridor in restless anxiety, every thought of my brother vanished. I had planned to finish as quickly as possible and wait in the room, but I had made Sera come looking for me first.
It was mortifying. I had intended to stay glued to her side just in case. I had even confidently told Sera—who said she would rely only on me—to do exactly that. And then I had abandoned her like this. I was thoroughly ashamed.
"Sera."
"Ah, Erich."
At the sound of my voice, Sera—who had been glancing around constantly—brightened with a smile and welcomed me.
"There you are. You weren't in the room, so I wondered where you'd gone."
"Sorry. Someone was looking for me, so I stepped out for a bit."
"Hehe, it's fine. I just parted with Mother myself, you know?"
Even as she said it, Sera's hands were visibly trembling, and her breathing was oddly shallow. She was smiling on the outside, but inside she was deeply shaken.
Of course she was. No matter how hard she pretended otherwise, this was Sera's first outing, her first real adventure in her entire life. Everything that met her eyes was unfamiliar; every person who passed by was a stranger. For someone whose contact with the world had been so extremely limited, it could only be frightening.
She had come to the castle trusting me, relying on me—and then the very person she depended on had disappeared. The shock Sera received must have been beyond anything I could imagine. If I wasn't in the room, simply waiting would have been enough… yet she had gone searching like this.
"Still, standing a lady up like that… what a terrible knight you are."
Sera's playful words drew a bitter smile from me. She had clearly taken a considerable blow, yet she was acting as if nothing had happened, which only made me feel worse.
"Then will you grant me a chance to make it up to you?"
I offered my hand lightly. The instant Sera placed her right hand atop mine, I pressed a kiss to the back of it.
From long ago, Sera had always loved acting like a knight and his lady. Whether she was angry or depressed, doing this always lifted her spirits.
"Just this once, I'm giving you a special chance."
Fortunately, it seemed to work this time as well. Before I knew it, the trembling in her hands had subsided.
"Thank you, my lady."
Honestly, still doing this after becoming an adult was a little embarrassing, but if Sera liked it, what choice did I have? Matching her like this was the least I could do.
Besides, it was far too late to say I didn't want to. We had been doing this for nearly ten years already.
I repent. I repent the unfilial thought of looking at the family head and daring to call him a treasure goblin. I repent the unfilial thought of looking at Mother and thinking she looked like she was carrying a rainbow.
So Enen, you little bastard, if you're watching, please forgive me. What the hell are you trying to accomplish by turning people into one-of-a-kind unique-grade monsters?
Rainbow treasure goblin.
I never imagined I would become the completed fusion of the two. Children resembling their parents is natural enough, but did I really have to inherit this as well?
"K-Karl. How is it? Do you… like it…?"
Before I knew it, my birthday had arrived. A celebration banquet that began first thing in the morning. The moment the banquet started, gifts poured in—a bombardment under the name of presents. As I stared blankly at the colorful-wrapped aftermath of the bombardment, Margeta carefully asked from beside me.
"A-actually, I was going to pick only the single best one… but everything seemed like it would suit you, Karl…"
The way Margeta added that, almost like an excuse, drew a small hollow laugh from me. Looking at the people nearby awkwardly averting their eyes, it seemed all six of them had gone completely overboard, not just Margeta.
"I distinctly told them to choose only one each."
When Erich muttered bitterly at the mountain of boxes, Margeta—who was explaining on everyone's behalf—hung her head like a criminal.
Impressive. This was the result after they actually sought advice? If they hadn't asked for advice at all, what on earth would they have tried to give me?
Maybe it's a blessing they didn't give me shops.
Right—considering the wealth of a ducal house, it was probably fortunate they hadn't bombarded me with entire stores. I had been this close to getting slapped across the face with land deeds; a few gift boxes were practically cute little charms by comparison.
Thank you, Erich. You saved my mental health.
"I truly like them. They're more than I deserve."
I stroked Margeta's bowed head gently as I spoke in a soft voice.
The sheer quantity had startled me a little—it completely ignored common sense—but these were gifts prepared with me in mind. The proper response was to be happy, not upset. What kind of twisted personality would hate receiving too many presents?
"I think I'll spend the entire day happily checking these gifts."
It wasn't exaggeration; it was sincere. Just unwrapping the paper and opening the boxes felt like it would consume an entire day. Honestly, even a day might not be enough.
Of course, that too was something to be happy about, not something to dislike. With gacha, the thrill of the moment you press the button is always greater than checking the result, and looking at this quantity of gifts, it was like the gacha had been duplicated countless times. I was so happy…
Even the wrapping paper colors are all different.
Looking closer, the wrapping papers were divided into six distinct colors. Thorough of them. This way I could tell who gave which gift.
"Thank you. It feels like I've received every gift I'll ever get in my entire life, all today."
"From now on we'll keep—"
"I'll gratefully accept the sentiment alone."
I accepted the kind words only in my heart. If I received this every year, I would have to build a ten-story warehouse. A spectacular event like this was enough once in a lifetime.
At my firm rejection, Margeta offered an awkward smile and quietly stepped aside. Surprisingly, there were still people left who wanted to give me gifts.
"I suspect whatever we prepared is already among that pile."
Mother approached after Margeta, wearing a deep smile as she handed me a single box.
Even so, she said something so hard to laugh at that I had no idea how to react. Whatever the family head and Mother had prepared, there was probably something identical sitting in that mountain of gifts.
"Even if there's a duplicate, I'll use this one."
"There's no need for that. Something chosen by young people will surely be better than what we old folks picked."
That was a rather careless remark. If it happened to overlap with the Demon Duke's gift, how would anyone endure the awkwardness?
After that came Erich, Sera, the steward, the head maid, the head butler, and countless others. I received endless congratulations and gifts from everyone attending the banquet. It was astonishing that even all those gifts combined were still fewer than what Margeta alone had prepared.
Anyway, after the banquet ended, I locked myself alone in my room and checked the gifts one by one—
"Fuck."
The moment I saw Erich's gift, a curse slipped out of me in a full voice.
"I thought you'd really need this, so I prepared it. I bought the best one I could find, so use it well."
Erich had scratched his head as he handed over the small box. When he said I would "really need it," I had been thinking of something like a fountain pen.
Laku-Laku…
What I saw when I opened the box was the fantasy version of a Laku-Laku. The essence of magic that, with a single button press, expanded from the size of a baseball into something large enough for a person to lie down on. An essential civil-servant item already carefully stored in the corner of the division chief's office and the duty room.
The hand holding the Laku-Laku trembled. This little shit. Of all the things he could have prepared, he prepared this.
…Should I put it in the clubroom?
Still, just as Erich said, it was a necessary and useful item. That was why I had already tossed them all over the place.
Fine… I'll put this one in the clubroom. Sleeping in the corner of the clubroom wouldn't be so bad either.
Damn it.