Chapter 15 - Volume 2 (1/2)

Family Arc – Chapter 6

『Haah?』even as I returned that, I was being mature.

After all, what left my mouth was a very realistic objection.

「But Uncle, I already have a splendid… fiancé…」

My engagement with Wolf had already been made public. There’s no way Uncle didn’t know about this.

By the way, the face I currently had on – was already magnificently cramped from twitching. But, it’s not as if Uncle notices anyway, right? Thus, I had sulked internally.

Whether or not he was aware of the voice of my heart (No, he absolutely isn’t aware, I’m sure of it), he developed his own pet theory with eyes that gazed into the distance.

「However, the rumour of why Kaffir was   trying to marry you off to another family, was that it was because there was no one who could be your partner in this family. If that’s the case, there is a potential with Shade. After all, at that time when Kaffir was worrying about your engagement partner, he had yet to know about Shade」I wonder why I felt obliged to pursue this conversation even though there was such a gap in our communication.

Whatever conjectures he might have, the engagement has already been decided. Even though I already told him about this, was it that difficult to understand?

「… but, Uncle. That wasn’t what I meant at all… it’s not like I fell in love with Shade, and neither did he with me. And, I think the blood relations are too close to marry my cousin」

「No, I don’t agree」

Uncle adamantly insisted.

「Marrying a cousin should be the obvious thing to do. Rather, it’s precisely because the effort of inbreeding is being stopped that we are losing the『 Red of the Duke Family Lilia』」(1)

『Red of the Duke Family Lilia』

Though the words were unfamiliar, I somehow understood the meaning. It was as Shade said, former members of the Duke Family Lilia tended to have hair or eyes of the color red.

「Uncle. Neither my eyes nor my hair are red. They’re pitch black」

That’s why I’ll be troubled if I were expected to revive the『Red of the Duke Family Lilia』or whatever it was, was what I was about to say, but Uncle cut me off.

「But, that black hair and bright red lips are exactly like Grandmother’s. It’s definitely Elder Sister’s blood. You know, even among our clan, it was said that Elder Sister was especially similar to Grandmother. So for certain, Grandmother’s blood flows deep inside of you」

「Well, I’m often told I look like Mother. But I don’t really know about Great-grandmother」

「It appears you don’t understand the value of the『Red of the Duke Lilia Family』.  In the old days, the people in our Duke Family, who were born having that red color, possessed strong magical ability with almost no exception. Even if I were to say that it was due to the power of the color red which led the Duke Family Lilia to prosper in the past, it is by no means an exaggeration!」

Uncle’s fervent speech, I felt, gradually grew eerie.

I had already had enough, I need not use logic when arguing with Uncle. Generally speaking, I really want this conversation to end.

「I’m… getting along well with my fiance. I like him」

I didn’t use the word『Like』because it was convenient. I certainly do like Wolf. Those feelings went back and forth between friendship and love, though its standing position was something which was ambiguous.

Although it wasn’t expedient, if I plainly refused his idea with just this, I certainly thought that Uncle might give up.(2)

「No, if you have a person you love, it’s better if you aren’t bound to them」

Uncle’s words became more and more incomprehensible.

And yet, Uncle rebuked me with a tone as if he was using some universal logic.

「I heard Grandmother was this way, but my older sister had already been a person damaged in some aspect. Rather, by only looking at one person, it was a deep terrifying jealousy. Kaffir, in some way, suffered too. However, my older sister, who looked so much like Grandmother, had to be married off to a man inside the family. This was in the hope of getting a child with thicker blood. Even among those of the same generation, the voice of influential was strong. By an overpowering figure, Kaffir became the scapegoat… and when it was decided, everyone around him pitied him」(1)

What was this? What was it with this man?

It was no good to believe anything this person says.

「You’re very similar to Grandmother, as well as Elder Sister. Don’t you think that your disposition would be similar to theirs as well?」

It was as if those were, words of a curse.

If I continue to listen to Uncle’s words any further, I’ll likely become weird.

I rushed out of the dining room.

Out of the dining room, I had rushed.

I couldn’t bring myself to return to my room alone.

If yesterday didn’t happen, I would have asked Crinum for help. However, even that was impossible right now.

Wanting to be healed by the trees for the time being, I headed to the unvisited garden of the Rankgerüste house.

Today, because of Uncle, no matter how beautiful the flowers were, I didn’t want to see them. I don’t even want to be near the flowers that Uncle took care of.

Whenever I caught a glimpse of the vivid colors of the flowers, I would continue to walk by changing my route. Occasionally, when I saw a bench that had the comfort of shade underneath the trees, I would remain sitting there, viewing the scenery and searching for a good leaf to make as a reed pipe. Then when I grew tired of it, I would get up to walk once again.

Before I knew it, the sun was already high up; but at that time, it wasn’t that I was lost in my contemplation. Instead, I believe that for the entire time, my exhausted mind completely blanked out.

And so, around the time that I kept on walking unsteadily on my feet, I encountered Shade.

Somehow, I didn’t think I would meet him outside.

It was probably because the impression that he had been locked up by Aunt was intense in my mind, that I thought so. In addition to that, was probably because his skin was almost transparent in its whiteness.

But, in any case, his appearance was that of an ordinary boy. There was nothing strange about him coming outside to play.

Instantly after his face came to view, I’d perhaps put on an awfully unpleasant face. It was because I had remembered Uncle’s ridiculous proposal.

However, just by lightly shrugging his shoulders, Shade instead showed his concern for me.

「You’re terribly pale. I’d have thought you’d seen a ghost」

A fair amount of time had already passed, yet any stranger who looked at my face could still tell that I seemed pale.

「… there might be some in this house for all we know」

「Who did you get bullied by?」