NOVEL WEB Chapter 62
Chapter: 62
I got a rough idea of the situation, but nothing changed immediately.
After all, I had seen it without Rosalyn knowing.
For now, I kept quiet, not saying anything to Rosalyn.
“Karen said she’d come back this winter, right?”
“Yeah.”
Sister Karen had returned home, and just like that, it was back to just us in the mansion as always.
Honestly, I felt a bit sorry for Karen, but I had gotten busy with a ton of stuff, so I couldn’t really relax.
Of course, next year I’d be entering the Academy, so I would definitely have more time to spend.
If that can be seen as a good thing, then maybe it is.
“It feels like the mansion got noisy for a while, but now it seems quiet again.”
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
“That’s true. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.”
“Well, I mean, only two people actually left, after all.”
“Ha, that’s right. Teacher Ashley is still here, and Rize too.”
Honestly, there wasn’t much to it.
Even though they had gone back home, it wasn’t like anything was different.
“………”
Days passed, but Rosalyn never mentioned anything about the Rose Family.
It was an absolute no-show on that front.
When I first read the letter, she did say something about the family inviting her over, but now she wouldn’t even bring it up.
I was in a bit of a bind about how to approach the situation, so I decided to bring it up first.
“Mother, what about returning to the Rose Family?”
“Uh, huh?”
“There was a mention of that in the letter, right?”
The surprise on Rosalyn’s face as soon as I said that.
It seemed like she didn’t expect me to bring it up at all.
Honestly, since I hadn’t talked to her about it since then, it made sense.
“Are you going to go?”
“Um… well…”
From her hesitant response, it seemed like she didn’t think too highly of the Rose Family?
Well, if she thought that way, she wouldn’t have treated me the way she usually did.
“If it’s the Rose Family’s territory, it’s your hometown, isn’t it?”
“That’s true…?”
“I don’t know much about the Rose Family, and I’m curious.”
Actually, I knew quite a lot.
Rosalyn herself probably thought I was clueless.
She’d assume I didn’t know much about the Rose Family or the matters between them and Leonhardt.
Well, I knew far too much.
“Umm… yeah…?”
“Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve heard anything about your family.”
“Um… it’s not a particularly special family…? Haha…”
“Why’s that?”
“Haha…”
Honestly… it was clear she was trying to dodge answering.
We were just having a chill tea time in the garden, but she was creating this uncomfortable ambiance.
It was obvious.
Rosalyn had never seemed this uncomfortable before, but something was definitely off today.
“I only remember you saying the rose garden was pretty, other than that, I can’t really recall anything. What’s the mansion like?”
“…Curious, huh?”
“Well, I am. It’s related to you, after all.”
“…I see.”
She kept hinting she wanted to go back to the Rose Family.
It would be hard to just say out of the blue, “Let’s go now!”
“I’m also curious about what your room was like, and what other places besides the garden are like.”
“……..”
“What was it like?”
I acted completely oblivious, pretending to be a pure daughter while slowly pressuring Rosalyn.
If I kept talking like this, Rosalyn would surely feel more and more uneasy.
We had only been talking about the Rose Family for a little while, so it was a given.
Besides, the Rose Family had been telling Rosalyn to come visit for a while now, and here I was, sounding super curious.
“Um… it was nice. Yeah…”
“Was it really?”
“Uhm… the mansion was… nice?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. The mansion and the territory… yeah.”
She seemed to want to answer but didn’t really look like she wanted to talk about it.
Well, since the Rose Family had been thinking of things that way, naturally, she wouldn’t want to discuss it with someone like me.
I could understand that to a degree.
“It’s a grand mansion in the center, so it must be magnificent, right?”
“That’s true…”
“When I saw Sister Karen’s mansion, I thought so as well. I’m kinda looking forward to it.”
“…Is that so?”
“Oh, but Mother hasn’t been back to her family since she came to our mansion, right?”
“That’s true…?”
In reality, Rosalyn hadn’t gone back even once.
She really hadn’t returned to her family for the past four years.
“Then can I go with you?”
“Huh?”
“I’m curious about your family, and this is the first time the Rose Family has sent a letter to you, right?”
Pretending I knew nothing about the Rose Family.
“When you go, can I tag along?”
“You want to follow…?”
“Well, it is your hometown.”
I kept expressing my desire to accompany her, asking about what kind of family the Rose Family was.
What I was curious about wasn’t just the mansion or the atmosphere, but other things too.
“Is that not allowed?”
“…Well, it wouldn’t be impossible.”
“Then it’s alright for me to go with you?”
I put on a bright smile, acting like a completely clueless child as I pleaded with Rosalyn.
Rosalyn was basically kind.
In most situations, she never really stopped me from doing what I wanted…
“…Okay, let’s go.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. In any case, I should’ve gone to visit once. So, why not go together…?”
Once again, she granted my request just as I expected.
To be honest, I hadn’t intended to go along at all at first, but after reading that letter, I felt compelled to.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Really…? Did you want to go that much?”
“Yes, I really wanted to.”
While I smiled on the outside, I was also laughing inside.
Thinking about what kind of reactions would happen when I went to the Rose Family with Rosalyn, it just made me chuckle.
“Ha…”
Rosalyn, meanwhile, seemed worried about what to do with me.
It was clear she was concerned that the Rose Family might dislike us.
That worry was understandable.
Honestly, I had no plan to just sit quietly if we went, but Rosalyn wouldn’t see it that way.
“Heh heh.”
I felt like I needed to show who the real upper hand was during this opportunity.
Honestly, the lack of manners from those folks really struck me.
“Um… when should we go?”
“I can go whenever, as long as I’m going with you when you do. So, anytime is fine.”
“Is that so…?”
Well, I wouldn’t mind leaving as early as tomorrow.
Right now, I was focusing more on the gossip about the Rose Family than the business at hand.
After all, I had sent that kind of letter to Rosalyn in our family, but I was curious what they might be thinking among themselves.
I was really looking forward to it.
So, after spending time having tea with Rosalyn, she mentioned she had something to do.
It was probably about the letter, but anyway, we returned to our rooms.
“Heh heh… heh… heh…”
I felt a bit guilty for tricking Rosalyn so much, but honestly, I was excited.
I was curious to see how those noble folks would react when they met the daughter of the family they had been criticizing and looking down upon.
“Ah… this will be fun.”
It genuinely seemed like it would be amusing.
I never expected that we’d be viewed that way, considering we almost went bankrupt.
At any rate, I hadn’t thought about when to visit the Rose Family, but that decision had already been made.
In truth, I already knew a fair amount about the Rose Family.
I had had information about them for years, especially since they were Rosalyn’s family, so it was only natural to know.
-Scratch scratch…
Slowly writing down information about the Rose Family in my notebook.
The territory was very close to the center, and they had been doing well in the central political arena for quite some time. Recently, well…
While the Rose Family’s condition had improved over the last four years, it was still a far cry from the glamorous past they once had.
If not for our family’s support, they probably wouldn’t be where they were now.
“Hmm… but would they treat me the way I wrote in the letter when I actually went to the Rose Family?”
I mean, I had decided to go, but it would be weird based on common sense, right?
No matter what, they were nobles; I was a guest, no less, and especially the adopted daughter of their youngest.
They’d likely treat me decently enough?
“…After all, they’re nobles, and if they think normally, they’d treat me okay.”
I must have been influenced by the shocking letter because I found myself thinking negatively about the Rose Family.
Even if they were talking trash behind our backs, I couldn’t see them acting that way in front of me.
“…Yeah, surely they wouldn’t do that?”
It wasn’t like they were a family like us, with no roots, and were rather a family with a history over three centuries.
They would definitely treat me well.
If anything, they wouldn’t do anything less.
“Hmm… I was planning to show the Rose Family what was what.”
That was originally the plan.
To clearly show who held the upper hand and pressure them with money.
But upon reflection, it did seem a little troublesome to suddenly pull that off without solid evidence.
It would completely freak Rosalyn out, for sure.
“…Hmm.”
There seemed to be a lot more to think about.
Of course, I still intended to find out who had the real power when I visited the Rose Family.
“It seems like I need to go to the mansion to figure it out.”
While I might have said that in the letter, there was no way that would happen when we actually met.
I couldn’t help thinking about Baron Nieshista from back in the day, but the circumstances were different this time.
Yeah, it should be fine.
Probably…?