The next morning.
I made a sneek attack on Shade.
“Good morning”
“Huh…? Huh…?”
“Good morning”
“……good morning”
Even though it was morning, I tried to wait until a time that wouldn’t be rude.
Shade seems to be week to mornings. His sleepy eyes look confused at the uninvited guest.
“Sorry for this sudden visit. But I’ve had a lot of things getting all tangled up inside me, and I no longer know what to do – or rather, whose feelings I should prioritize. So, for now, I’d like to hear how you feel. In this house, my aunt has locked you in your room and deprived you of meals, hasn’t she?”
Shade was taken aback for a moment by my machine gun-like talk, then he looked at me with a clearly confused look, as if trying to find out what I meant.
“Who did you hear that from?”
“Krinum. Actually, I was a little suspicious of that possibility.”
“…………”
“I’m not asking you to trust me, and even if you suspect that my father or I are conspiring with my aunt to frame you, there is no way to clear up that suspicion. But I really want you to answer one thing. Why don’t you tell my uncle about the bad treatment you received from my aunt? For example, if my father or I were to take you out of this house and find someone else we could trust to take you in. Would that be a bother to you?”
“I-Eh……”
He was so surprised by his initial response that Shade quickly apologized.
“Sorry. I had a bad upbringing, so this is what happens when I let my guard down for even a moment.”
“No. I don’t really care what language you use as long as you can speak. But if you want to get used to polite language, I’ll help you.”
“Well, please forgive me if I say something unpleasant to your ears. I believe you are someone I can trust.”
“…But you only met yesterday? I’m also a relative of my aunt, who dislikes you.”
“But you’re also my relative. A cousin, right?”
“That’s true though.”
“At the very least, there’s no one in this house who would say normal greetings like ‘good night’ or ‘good morning’ to me. There’s also no one like you who would think about having a heart-to-heart talk with me.”
“So, will you tell me? Why didn’t you tell my uncle?”
“There’s no real reason for that. It’s just that there’s no point in saying it.”
Shade spoke calmly, with a somewhat cold voice.
“The only thing he’s interested in, besides flowers, is the color of my eyes. That’s it.”
“Eye color? Your eyes are definitely an unusual color, but is that something you inherited from your mother?”
“When someone says ‘mother,’ I wonder who they are referring to… My mother had normal brown eyes. According to my father, they were inherited from my father’s grandmother. In other words, it was from my great-grandmother.”
“Great-grandmother…? Ah,that…”
“Do you know?”
“Your paternal great-grandmother was the same for me too. She passed away before I was old enough to remember, so I don’t know her personally. But there are a lot of anecdotes about her. Apparently she was proposed to by the King at the time, but she turned him down. Come to think of it, I seem to remember hearing that she had an unusual eye color.”
“It seems that in the past, there were many people in the Duke of Lilia family who had red hair or eyes.”
I see. The mystery of the crimson that fills my closet has been solved. It must literally be the family’s image color.
The deep red color of Shade’s eyes in the morning sunlight is indeed close to crimson.
“Uncle seems to be particular about that. It seems that there are some nobles who are obsessed with ‘ancestral lineage’ to the point of death, I wonder if Uncle is one of them.”
“It’s almost a disease.”
“Even if it is a pathological condition, I don’t think that’s a reason to ignore problems occurring within your own family. Why don’t you try talking to him about it? It may just provoke my aunt though…”
“I spoke to him, and he said, ‘Just hang in there for a little while.'”
“……eh?”
“‘My wife is not aware of what’s going on around her right now, but she’ll soon realize your worth. Just bear with me for a little while until then.'”
“He told you so? Endure it? Is that what a father says to his child who is being abused by his wife?”
“At least, in the case of Narcissus Rankrats.”
I held my head in my hands.
My liking for my uncle, whom I met for the first time in a long time yesterday, has been plummeting steadily with no sign of stopping.
“That’s enough. Let’s stop relying on my uncle. You won’t mind if I tell my father about this, right? Then I’ll tell him right away.”
My actions were probably a betrayal to Krinum. It pains me to know that she confided in me out of friendship. However, as long as there are victims of abuse, I cannot remain silent.
As if to shake off the memory of last night’s Krinum that was floating in my mind, I headed towards my father in high spirits.
However, perhaps as a twist of fate, things did not go so smoothly.
“What? Did he leave here this morning?”
“Yes. It was before the sun rose. A messenger had arrived from the royal capital, saying that he had received some urgent business. He was worried about the young lady, but felt it would be a shame to wake her up, so he set off alone.”
The butler looked apologetic as he explained the situation to me, and I put my hand to my forehead in frustration.
It wasn’t at all uncommon for my father to have to go to the royal capital on urgent business, but it was pretty unlucky that it had to be this morning of all days.
I ended up returning to Shade’s room in shame.
“I’m sorry… I heard he said he’d come back here as soon as he finished work… Anyway, if Auntie tries to do anything to you, I’ll do everything in my power to stop her. So can you wait a little longer?”
I hated to repeat the words my uncle had said, “Just wait a little longer,” but Shade nodded reassuringly, which saved me.
After I told Shade that much, I fled the room. Of course, I would be in big trouble if Krinum were to see me carelessly going in and out of Shade’s room.
Fortunately, the maid said she was still in her room.
It would be awkward to meet Krinum at the breakfast table, so I complained that I was hungry and decided to eat my breakfast alone early.
I feel a little selfish being in someone else’s house, but I have no choice.
But fate was not kind to me again.
I ended up sharing breakfast with my Uncle Narcissus, whose daily routine is to take care of flowers in the morning.
The table laid out with freshly baked bread was appealing, and the soup, seasoned differently from the one at home, didn’t taste bad.
It would be great if the people sitting in front of me were my father or Wolf and Duke Ranankura, but I feel guilty for thinking that.
My uncle seemed in a good mood and kept talking to me, but my responses always ended up being perfunctory.
I could have tried to get my uncle to look into it, but I had completely lost interest in relying on him. It would definitely be better to ask my father. That’s what I felt.
“Is Lycoris always up this early in the morning?”
“No, I went to bed a little early last night. …But it’s you who’s up early, Uncle.”
“It’s best to water the flowers early in the morning. I’ll have a light breakfast and then take a nap.”
It really seems like my uncle’s life revolves around flowers.
I listened to my uncle’s gardening talk for a while.
After a relatively peaceful but not thrilling time, I reached for the dessert when my uncle hurled a giant bomb at me.
“By the way, Lycoris. Do you have any plans to marry my child – Shade?”
At this point, it seemed like my uncle had started speaking an alien language.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
