Episode 32: I Sensed the Coming of a Spring Storm
“Selene.”
“……”
“Selene.”
“……”
“Selene.”
“What is it, Marquis-sama?”
“Tsanis.”
“……Tsanis-sama, what is it?”
“Why are you moving so far away?”
“Because Tsanis-sama is getting too close.”
“Your upper body is bent almost 90 degrees, you know.”
“Because Tsanis-sama is getting his face too close.”
“Do you dislike it?”
“Yes, I can’t say I like it.”
“I see…”
With those words, spoken in a rather dejected voice, my husband—Marquis Tsanis—released his grip on my waist. I seized the opportunity to put some distance between us.
This guy has a messed-up sense of distance.
After all the times I’ve rejected him, why the sudden zero-distance approach? Is it because he’s an Otome Game character and operates on a digital system? Is it either zero (rejection) or one (closeness)? Where did the concept of personal space go?
It was just after breakfast, and the Marquis said he was going out today, so Ati and I went to the entrance to see him off. That’s all.
Why do I have to put on a performance that would make a contortionist blush, first thing in the morning?
And to top it off, all the housefolk who came to see him off are lined up around us.
“My Lord, it’s almost time to—”
“Why do you dislike it?”
Marquis Tsanis interrupted the butler’s urging and directed his dissatisfied voice at me.
Eh, don’t you get it? The reason I dislike it.
“The way you close the distance is strange—I mean, I feel a little uncomfortable. I’m not very good at interacting with people.”
I somehow managed to make an excuse with a smile.
I know it’s strained. Just ignore it.
“But you’re always clinging to Ati, aren’t you?”
“That’s parent-child bonding with Ati. I didn’t spend Ati’s infancy with her, so I’m using physical contact to communicate in ways that words can’t.”
Well, in reality, I just want to sniff her and cuddle her, but still.
Besides, are you comparing a cute little angel to a middle-aged geezer?
“I see…”
Why are you so disappointed?
Did you think you wanted me to treat you like Ati? That would be pretty messed up, wouldn’t it?
As I was feeling exasperated in my mind (and maybe it showed on my face a little), Ati tugged at the hem of my dress.
Then, she poked her rosy, squishy cheek.
Eh.
That’s.
That signal is…
‘Kiss my cheek,’ right?
It’s the signal she started using when she wanted a kiss after I kept showering her face with kisses when putting her to bed, right?
Now? You want to do it now?
I don’t mind. In fact, I’d be delighted.
Just as I was about to bend down in response to Ati’s signal, she shook her head vigorously.
Eh. Is that not it?
Not—eh…no way…
Ati, with her violet eyes sparkling with stardust-like light, looked back and forth between me and the Marquis.
Seriously?
Princess, that’s too cruel of a treatment…
Reluctantly, I raised my face and looked at the Marquis, who was looking down at me with eyes as sparkling as Ati’s.
What’s with that face? Don’t make the same face as Ati. And you’re sparkling those same violet eyes. Are you trying to flaunt your genetics here, you bastard?
Haaah.
I didn’t bother to hide my grand sigh, straightened my posture, and turned to face Marquis Tsanis.
I gently placed my hand on the Marquis’s chin and turned his face to the side with a snap. I almost broke it.
“Have a good day, Tsanis-sama.”
I lightly pressed my lips to his cheek.
I slapped away the hand he snuck around my waist.
Spring had arrived.
I came here around the end of winter. It feels like a long time has passed, but it doesn’t seem to be that long.
The Karamanlis Marquis Estate has seasonal flowers planted everywhere, thanks to Ati’s mother’s love of flowers.
In particular, the rose garden with the gazebo was blooming one after another in the spring weather, releasing a rich fragrance.
Ati, who seemed to have inherited her mother’s love of flowers, was bombarding Samuel with questions about what each flower was, with her tutor Samuel following behind.
I was sitting listlessly in the gazebo, watching the heartwarming scene.
Beside me, Maggie was knitting a lace cardigan for Ati.
“Could you not look so gloomy? The surrounding flowers will wither from your negativity.”
Maggie, the Head Nanny, didn’t look at me at all, but continued to knit the cardigan while uttering those harsh words.
“…Ati wants me to get along with the Marquis, doesn’t she…”
“Of course. Ati-sama has no memory of her real mother. You are, in effect, her ‘mother.’
It’s only natural that a child would want their mother and father to get along.”
Eh. Is that how it is?
Hmm.
“…I never wanted my parents to be all lovey-dovey when I looked at them, though.”
“That’s because you were in your adolescence. Try to remember when you were four years old.”
“Four years old…?”
I tried to rummage through my memories.
Four years old…four years old? I don’t know which memories are from around that age. Back then, my past life memories and the present were all mixed up and I was super confused. Hmm. I think I was often scolded and taken to the doctor, but I can’t pinpoint the age…
“You can’t remember because your parents didn’t have a bad relationship.
In the first place, if they had a bad relationship, so many sisters wouldn’t have been born.”
Maggie stated bluntly.
However,
“No, that’s not it.”
I immediately denied Maggie’s words.
“My father and mother were desperate. They wanted an heir.”
I sighed and looked up at the sky.
That’s right.
My twin brother was frail.
Worried about that, my parents were trying to have another boy in case my brother was gone.
But, only girls were born.
My parents kept trying until a boy was born.
That’s why my family was a poor family with many children. No, poverty has nothing to do with it.
“…You could have easily kept the family going, though.”
Hearing that mutter, I raised my head.
Maggie was still staring intently at her work, but her knitting hands had stopped.
“Women can’t inherit the family headship, you know… Even if they want to, even if they have the talent and are capable, still.”
I looked up at the sky again to hide the self-deprecating laugh that involuntarily spilled out.
Maggie, who is the Head Nanny of the Marquis household, must also be from a respectable family.
She must have her own thoughts on the matter.
In the Otome Game, she had twisted those feelings.
The slightly gloomy and heavy air that flowed between us was swept away by the refreshing spring breeze.
When I came back from the gazebo and was walking through the mansion, wondering what to do and play with Ati today, I noticed that the mansion was in an uproar and the housefolk were running around in a flurry.
“What happened?”
I stopped one of the housefolk and asked what was going on.
“Well…suddenly, we received word that the Great Madam is coming…”
The housefolk’s face was pale and flustered.
Great Madam? Great Madam—ah, the Marquis’s mother! The wife of the previous Marquis Karamanlis!
Come to think of it, I’ve never met her.
Actually, the wedding ceremony was held quietly with only the people in the mansion, without inviting any guests. I’ve never met my mother-in-law.
Hmm. I have a hard time with women of that age.
Yes. My mother, and women of the same generation, you see.
My real mother. My nemesis.
My mother, who wanted to raise me to be a noble daughter who wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen anywhere, and
I, who wanted to run around in the mountains and fields and become a knight like in the stories,
Well, we couldn’t get along.
I’ve never met the Marquis’s mother, but women of that age in the nobility tend to have similar values, so I have a hard time with them…
“Ah, so you were here, Selene-sama.”
It was Samuel, the tutor, who ran up to me breathlessly.
“Selene-sama. Please prepare yourself.”
He bowed deeply to me as he said that.
“Eh? For what?”
“For what, you say…”
When I tilted my head in confusion, Samuel made a dumbfounded face and sighed grandly.
“The Marquis is not here now. In other words, in the current situation, you are the master of this mansion. You are the one who will greet the Great Madam. Maggie is preparing Ati-sama now.”
Wow. I see. I forgot because I’ve been treated as ‘non-existent’ until now.
Aren’t I the Marquis’s representative?!
“Eh… is this going to be alright…”
I unintentionally made a face, showing my aversion to the whole thing. It was involuntary, I swear.
“Alright…? No, it probably won’t be. Prepare yourself.”
Eh? What does that mean?
While feeling immense anxiety from Samuel’s words, I was pushed into the room by the housefolk and reluctantly prepared to greet the Great Madam.