NOVEL WEB Chapter 27
Chapter: 27
“G, I mean… suddenly my father asked me to read a book…”
“………”
Hmm.
Right now, I was feeling quite flustered.
That’s understandable since just yesterday I had a wonderful time wandering around with Rosalyn and Melnick. Today, I was looking forward to a relaxed day in the lodging, lying in bed…
And suddenly, Karen showed up.
Of all times, bright and early in the morning.
“Um… sister?”
“Yes?”
“So you came all the way to our lodging?”
“Yes!”
“……..”
I couldn’t help but wonder how the Count was doing by now.
He had looked genuinely excited, his face beaming with joy just the day before when we parted. Now that Karen showed up like this… I was worried.
What if he got mad because I suddenly revealed something strange to her?
“I-I just… was surprised when he suddenly asked me to go to the bookstore this morning…”
“Well, you can just go, right…?”
“B-but! It was so sudden…!”
“Ah.”
“It’s not like he usually asks me to go out first… Even when I was resting in my room, he just mentioned it casually… and now he wants us to go out…”
“……..”
This was definitely the Count’s fault. Yup, it seems so.
Honestly, if he hung out with Karen more often, she wouldn’t be this surprised, right?
I thought I’d given good advice, but the problem was that he acted completely out of character this time.
What would I say if he asked me why he did that? Hmm…
Well, I could probably handle that somehow, right?
“…Camelia?”
While we were having that conversation, Rosalyn walked into my room.
“Oh. Mother.”
“Um… who is that beside you…?”
Just for your information, we were having a conversation with Karen in my room.
That’s because the lodging didn’t really have a proper parlor for receiving guests.
There were a few luxurious rooms that were quite large, and the rest were mostly used by knights and servants.
So… we had no choice but to bring her to my room directly.
“…Sister. Please say hello. This is our mother. Mother? This is Karen from the Roseaki family that I mentioned last time.”
For starters, that’s how we introduced each other.
It was an awkward situation since Rosalyn had suddenly walked into the room, but it wasn’t strange enough to be alarming.
Besides, Ella had come to the lodging before and chatted with me, so it wasn’t weird at all.
“Ah… that thing Camelie mentioned…”
“Yes, that’s right. She came over because she wanted to talk to me this morning…”
“Aha… nice to meet you, Lady Roseaki. It’s my first time meeting someone from the Roseaki family.”
“…Huh?”
“…?”
Rosalyn greeted Karen with a bright smile.
But Karen, on the other hand… didn’t react to Rosalyn’s greeting as a greeting at all and showed such a bewildered expression.
…Huh.
“Why are you like that, sister? Is there a problem…?”
“…Mother?”
“Yes?”
“…Are you really my mother…? Not just… m-mother…?”
“Yes, that’s correct…?”
“……..Huh?!”
…I answered her, but Karen was shocked once again.
Why was she so surprised?
It didn’t seem that weird to me to the point of this level of shock.
Karen kept mumbling to herself.
And then…
“She seems too… young to be called mother…”
“Ah.”
“Aha.”
Realizing that Rosalyn looked younger compared to most mothers made the situation clear.
We were puzzled about why Karen was surprised while it was actually a pretty obvious reason.
After all, she was a stepmother, and Rosalyn was still a woman on the brink of adulthood, so she understandably looked younger.
Having gotten used to Rosalyn, I had completely forgotten that fact.
“She’s your stepmother.”
“Ah, ah… that…”
“Isn’t she really pretty?”
“Y-yes!”
I thought the mood might turn awkward in various ways, so I decided to just compliment Rosalyn and move on.
Well… it’s not like a society completely devoid of stepmothers or anything; there are plenty of people with many mothers.
So I thought it shouldn’t be problematic to simply smooth it over like this.
“Um… hello! I’m Karen, the second child of the Roseaki family…!”
“…….”
Oh, she bit her tongue.
Anyway, Rosalyn ended up stepping into my room.
After all, it wouldn’t be polite to leave someone standing at the door.
I also waited for Karen, who had bitten her tongue, and asked Rize to prepare some snacks and tea, and we sat around the table in the room.
“Hehe, I was curious to meet the friend Camelie made, but I was surprised she’s even cuter than I expected.”
“R-really…?”
“Yeah. Actually, I haven’t spoken much with anyone from the Roseaki family until now.”
“Well, the Rose family doesn’t interact much with us…”
Rosalyn being a good person and bright made it fairly easy to continue the conversation, but it just so happened that the other person was Karen.
She was a shut-in type, introverted and passive… it was rather unusual for her to initiate a conversation with me so easily.
Upon thinking this, I found it quite astonishing that she spoke to me first.
“Ah, I hope Camelie didn’t do anything bad at the Roseaki Mansion or anything?”
“Mother?”
“N-no! She was actually really nice…! Even when she was having dinner with Father the other day, it could have made her uncomfortable…”
“Our Camelie is such a good kid, hehe.”
“Uh…”
The fact that Karen ran off because of that dinner was precisely why I intentionally avoided bringing it up.
After all, saying it might make it backfire on me…?
“Ah, Karen, is it alright if I call you that?”
“Y-sure! You’re older than me anyway…!”
“Thanks. Honestly, this is the first time I’m talking with a friend of my daughter.”
“F-friend…”
“Since you came here, how about having breakfast together? We actually haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“Of course, if you’re inviting me…”
So… we ended up having breakfast together.
Originally, we planned to just have a light tea time, but it turned into a meal.
Well, as Rosalyn said, we hadn’t eaten breakfast.
In fact, I woke up suddenly when Rize called me… so I was in no position to refuse Karen’s invitation.
“Wow…”
“Suddenly, the chefs were asked to prepare three portions, so there might be a little mistake. My apologies in advance.”
“Oh, it’s fine! In fact, it’s better than what we were having at our mansion…!”
“Rize, take a break. You’ve been busy since morning, right?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You can rest since we’re going to be here for a while. Really.”
“…Then.”
Anyway, I let Rize take a break, and we had breakfast as a cheerful start to the day.
Ideally, I wished Rize could have eaten with us, but she had already had her breakfast. Naturally, she had to eat first because she woke up early.
If she didn’t go to have breakfast before, there wouldn’t be time to eat and, of course, she couldn’t perform her servant duties.
“By the way, what made you come, Karen? Not that I’m complaining, but it feels a bit sudden, doesn’t it?”
“Ah… well…”
They were having their own conversation quite well. Much better than I thought.
Is it because Rosalyn is mature, or did she simply smoothly navigate Karen’s reserved personality to continue the conversation?
“Aha… I think the Count just wants to get closer to you, Karen.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yeah. Of course he’d want to spend time with a cute daughter, right? I also want to get closer to Camelie. I’m sure your father feels the same.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t feel too pressured. The Count just wants to spend time with you since it’s been a while.”
“…I see…”
Truly… I thought he was a remarkable person.
I kept pondering how I would convey that.
I never expected I would spit out those words so quickly. Of course, I had already said a little the day before, so it’s understandable… but still.
“So, when the Count asks you to go out, I just think it’d be a good idea to go with him.”
“Well… I’ll think about it…!”
“Yeah, and… when you get back today, it’d be good to apologize for running away…”
“Ah.”
That was indeed true.
The Roseaki Count must have made a considerable effort to suggest hanging out.
And right after that, I went and washed up, changed clothes, and fled to our lodging. Of course, I should apologize when I return.
I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the Count.
He had been smiling cheerfully while happily looking forward to the next day before we parted just the day before.
…I feel a little bad, but it’s not my fault. If he wanted to spend more time with me, he should have done so from the start.
*
After finishing our meal, I returned to my room and was chatting with Karen.
“So, are you leaving for Melnick soon?”
“Well, since I came for a social gathering, it’s actually surprising I stayed this long, right?”
“Ah…”
Seeing her appearance of longing more obvious than I expected made me feel pleasantly surprised—I didn’t think she thought I’d gotten closer to her.
It was a fortunate turn of events.
“Well, then… it can’t be helped.”
“Don’t be too disappointed! We can meet again next time.”
“…Yes.”
“You can send letters sometimes, and someday when you have time, you could visit Melnick again like this?”
The reverse is also possible, of course.
In any case, we were having such a conversation and just spending time together, not doing anything else.
Time wasn’t left until we returned to the Leonhardt Mansion.
I thought I could also set a way to keep in touch and make promises to meet again, just like that.
Yeah, that’s what I planned to do.
“KAAAAAREEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!”
“…Father?”
“…Huh?”
Suddenly, before Karen’s father, the Roseaki Count, came to our lodging.
…Hmm.
I had a feeling that something bothersome was about to happen, just like the day before.