Crassius, Part Two
If I wanted Father to make it home safely after being driven out, the proper thing would have been to head for the estate at once. Unfortunately, skipping out on a weekday was out of the question. An inspector who also served as a club advisor vanishing from work for personal reasons would look far too much like drawing a salary for nothing. Of course, freeloading off a paycheck was every working stiff's dream—but the Emperor's side-eye was another matter entirely.
On top of that, now that I was back from the war, Erzebet had to return to her duties at the Audit Department. In other words, there was no one left to cover for me. I felt bad for Father, but we would have to move on the weekend, not a weekday.
So I spent the days until the weekend living my ordinary Academy life—
"I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see you returned safely. The Audit Department Chief has become a pillar the Academy simply cannot do without."
That was the headmaster, welcoming me with almost excessive warmth.
"I can no longer even imagine anyone else filling the inspector's role."
The vice-headmaster, wearing a strangely profound look of relief.
"Thank you for coming back."
Even Villar offered a short, solid word of thanks.
Over the past few days, everyone I met had greeted me with some mix of delight and relief. We had always gotten along well enough, but in the short time I had been gone, it felt as though our bonds had grown unexpectedly close.
Strange. Distance was supposed to make people awkward with each other, wasn't it? Why did it feel more affectionate instead?
"Did something happen while I was gone?"
"No? We just went about things as usual!"
When I reached out to Erzebet, who had already gone back to the Audit Department, she sounded just as clueless. And that answer made everything click. If she had been acting "as usual," that was the cause.
It must have been a whole new world for them.
Even I, tempered by three full years, still got blindsided by Erzebet's casual remarks and gestures. How much worse must it have been for people meeting her for the first time? Erzebet's everyday self was eccentricity by anyone else's measure. She would have done the unthinkable without batting an eye and treated heart-stopping crises as light errands.
A harsh assessment, maybe—but it couldn't be helped. The closer you were to someone, the more you owed them the truth of who they were.
I embraced Erzebet with love. That did not mean I had turned a blind eye to reality.
"Well, as long as nothing went wrong, that's fine."
Even facing the truth, though, I couldn't hurt the woman I loved. So I dropped any further interrogation and wrapped up the conversation on an easy note.
"Heehee. You just called because you missed me, didn't you?"
"Caught me. Was it that obvious?"
"We'll see each other again this weekend. How can you not even last that long?"
I just smiled at Erzebet preening on the other end of the line.
Yes. The truth was, I had called because I already missed Erzebet now that she was back at the Audit Department.
That was the story I was going with.
The moment the weekend morning arrived, a full seven people gathered in front of the inspectors' lodging. Once we reached the Imperial Capital, three more would join us—a grand party of ten in all.
Two of those three were, of course, Erzebet and Penelia. And the last one—
"So you've come."
"Yes. Good morning, Father."
—was Father, who had been wandering the Imperial Capital with nowhere else to go.
He had been staying at the Crassius family residence in the capital, so "wandering" was a stretch. Still, if a lord couldn't set foot in his own domain, saying he had lost his place didn't seem far off. Wilhelm Crassius of Tailglehen had effectively had the "Tailglehen" stripped from his name.
After we exchanged greetings, Father eventually opened his mouth with a sheepish look.
"Sorry to put you to the trouble."
"Not at all. We were headed this way anyway. Erzebet and Penelia were both in the capital."
"That's right! So please don't worry about it!"
Erzebet cut in the instant I finished speaking, and Father allowed himself a faint smile.
It was strange, in its way. I used to struggle to read Father's face at all; now even the smallest shifts in his expression stood out to me.
So there was a reason their marriage lasted.
I had always wondered how Father and Mother managed to get along so well. The answer was that Mother could read his expressions without difficulty. In her eyes, Father had never been some cold machine of a man—just an ordinary person.
The only pity was that she read him well enough to throw him out, too.
...Still better than them not getting along, I suppose.
I forced myself to think that as I watched Father greet my fiancées—and then a familiar figure came trudging out of the residence.
"Leaving already, are you?"
A familiar voice followed. The former Count of Horfelt.
"The latecomer heading home first. Truly, the world is in decline."
"As if the difference between us is large enough for you to put on airs."
The moment I saw the former Count of Horfelt trading that peculiar banter with Father, surprise and a twinge of melancholy hit me at the same time.
He's still here?
I had known the former Count of Horfelt had been cast out, and that with nowhere else to go he had taken shelter with Father. I just hadn't expected him to still be around. Was the current Count Horfelt's anger that deep? Or had he decided that, since he was already banished, he might as well enjoy himself outside?
Either way, it wasn't normal. The Hiden family was every bit as peculiar as the Crassiuses.
"Oh, Erich."
"Uncle?"
Turning a bitter gaze toward his friend's family, the former Count of Horfelt acknowledged Erich. Erich's eyes went round with surprise at the sudden appearance of the former Count of Horfelt.
"Uncle," though. Erich's ties to the Hiden family seemed tighter than I had realized. Good news for Count Horfelt, at least.
"Why are you even here, though? You retired. It's not like you have anything to do."
"That's true enough, but could you maybe put it a little more gently?"
In essence, Erich had just asked, Why is an unemployed freeloader hanging around somewhere that isn't his own house?—and an even thicker layer of bitterness settled over the former Count of Horfelt's face.
From that man's perspective, it had to be the most cutting thing he could hear. He wanted to go home and couldn't.
"I had personal reasons for staying in the capital a while. Ironically, it only came about because I retired."
Father hurried to add that for the sake of his old friend's dignity.
He wasn't wrong. If the former Count of Horfelt had never retired in the first place, would his daughter have had any reason to scold him?
...Then again, looking at how Father had been driven out by Mother, maybe he would have anyway.
"Ah. Yes. I see. Understood."
Erich nodded as if Father's cover story made sense. More accurately, it was obvious he had no idea what to say to Father and was simply backing off.
I understood. Right now, Erich's head was a battlefield: the stern, solemn image of the family head warring with the sight of a father whose authority had thoroughly collapsed. Still awkward with Father, he had no idea how to treat him.
Hang in there. Once you get over this hurdle, you'll be a true Crassius too.
"And the child beside him—I don't believe I've seen her before."
"That is Sera Trimara. Erich's childhood friend. She's also the head maid's daughter."
"Hmm."
Even so, the former Count of Horfelt's gaze slid toward Sera. Whether it was curiosity about a girl who had never appeared in high society, or wariness of the child clinging to the man his daughter loved, I couldn't say.
What I could see was Sera beginning to tremble under the eyes of a warrior still in his prime, fresh from the front lines. He wouldn't be projecting killing intent at a young lady—but a trained fighter's gaze carried its own pressure simply by existing.
"She's a precious friend, just as Zenobia is. Remember that."
"Very well. I shall."
Fortunately, Father's intervention drew the man's gaze away at once.
A precious friend, just as Zenobia was. Even though Zenobia and Erich weren't lovers yet—and even though Sera herself hadn't reached that stage either—it was a mediation the former Count of Horfelt could accept and move past.
So Father knows too.
...I nearly admired him for all the wrong reasons. Even Father, who barely saw Erich, understood Sera's and Count Horfelt's feelings. So why was the person at the center of it all still so—
I couldn't pin it on bad Crassius blood. Father had married without issue, and I was doing fine myself. So what was your problem?
A pity, truly.
My eyes opened before dawn. It was far too early to be up, and I tried to go back to sleep, but my heart was pounding so hard I couldn't possibly rest.
In the end I called the maids who were already awake and had them prepare my toilette. Ordinarily I felt sorry for them, working even at such hours—but now that I was the one benefiting, I felt a little embarrassed.
"My lady, you seem to be in high spirits."
Laura, who had come with the maids, spoke with a faint smile.
Looking at her, I found myself smiling as well. Laura kept a strict schedule for her sleep; if she was awake at this hour, she must have been just as unable to contain her excitement as I was.
"I am a mother, after all. It can't be helped."
Yes. For a mother, it was only natural. To wait so desperately for this day, to wish morning would come even a little sooner—that couldn't be helped.
At last, Karl was coming home. The child who had gone to the battlefield. The child who had been wounded fighting with his own hands. And the child who had finished everything and was returning.
"We'll prepare you more splendidly than usual."
"There's no need to overdo it. I know you already give your best every day."
At that, the maids' faces brightened. Nothing could be more rewarding for servants than having their master acknowledge their efforts.
"Come to think of it, my lady—since the young master and Master Erich are arriving today, shall we send word to the Count—"
"He'll find his way here on his own. Don't worry about it."
"Yes, my lady."
When Laura mentioned Billy, I nearly scowled, but I held it in. It would have been unkind to make the maids walk on eggshells.
Before long, morning arrived, and the castle staff bustled about in earnest—to celebrate Billy's and Karl's safe return, and to congratulate Karl on his title.
True, Karl had received the countship of Wiridia before the war. But there had been no room then to celebrate. Better to pile the joy onto a day as happy as this one.
And so, with my heart racing, I paced before the main gate—
"Mother."
At last, Karl was here.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to pay my respects. I should have come much sooner."
As he said it, he drew me into his arms—and his embrace was so warm.
So warm I thought I might cry.
...His arm.
Without thinking, I hugged him back and stroked the line of his shoulder.
For an entirely different reason, I thought I might cry.