Chapter 15 - Volume 2 (2/2)

「It was Uncle. Your honourable father」

My voice was heavy with resentment.

「Sorry」

「Why do you need to apologize for?」

「For the time being, it’s because he’s my father. Since we’re on that topic, would you like to accompany me in making idle complaints about him?」

「…thanks」

When I considered that he was another victim that Uncle took advantage of, I relaxed.

Upon deliberation, I told him about the conversation I had with Uncle.

Spilling all my complaints to『Shade』 was something that I would never have imagined I’d do when coming to this mansion.

But now, to Uncle’s ideas– to the ridiculous idea of Shade and I getting married to each other or whatever else, the fact that the other party was here laughing together with me at the『nonsense』 , was a lifesaver.

It was fun having him listen to my stories about Wolf. By now, just mentioning『Wolf』 made my heart feel at ease. I am…  considerably tired.

All the same, I didn’t intend to tell him about the conversation about Mother. In the conversation I had with Uncle some time ago, this was the topic that damaged my feelings the most, but even inside, I wasn’t able to sort it out.

「And after that, Uncle said something about my mother.」

Eh?

「He said Mother was similar to Great-Grandmother, and that both of them had been horrifyingly jealous people. On the contrary, in what aspect was the damage that he would say such a thing? For Father to have had no intention of marrying Mother… then, wouldn’t that be like saying that I… was- I didn’t intend to tell you these sort of things」

Shade smiled sweetly, and my, what a lovely smile it was.

「It doesn’t matter what the story might be. I’ll happily hear it. Surely, it would be better to talk about it and become at ease. Once all the talking is over, it’ll be fine to leave the rest to me. You want to rest, right? Your face looks incredibly tired」

Shade’s thin fingers trailed my cheeks.

「N-no!」

With a do or die spirit, I broke free from his hand.

His voice was sweet. I knew following his voice would’ve been much more pleasant. Just thinking about going against it had been discomforting.

But somewhere in my mind, alarm bells were sounding. These were the kind of alarm bells that must never ever be ignored.

「I’d thought if it was a case of a steel-hearted woman, but was it more of the case of a strong will? No, that isn’t it – Or, maybe it’s a problem of a magical disposition. Whatever the case, this is troublesome」

Holding my jaw with a jerk, I began to look into his eyes.

I ended up once again, peering deeper, and deeper into those rouge-colored eyes. I couldn’t look away.

My whole body was rigid, my heart was thumping as my pulse raised. Not able to control the strength of my clenched fist, my nails were biting into my skin.

「You’re a good girl, after all. Just listen to what I say, and I’ll be sure not to do anything naughty」

When he whispered so closely in my ear like that, I–

Punched the side of Shade’s face with all the strength in my fist.

And from there, I enacted my suicidal escape.

Since Shade was momentarily taken aback from being hit in the face, I ran towards the house. After noticing this, he gave chase.

Having someone seriously chasing me was a truly frightening affair. Moreover, I was wearing a dress. Why were skirts made to be difficult to run with?

But thankfully, Shade was not quick on his feet. By dashing with all I had, the distance between us did not shorten.

（But, who in the world would I get help from?）

There was no way I can keep running all the way to my house. However, if I escaped into a place inside this building, would there be anyone who would lend me a hand?

As my bearish sentiments reared its ugly head, my feet’s movement slowed down.(3)

You could say that, in the nick of time, I was yanked to the side by a pull on my hand.

With a determined look ahead, he stepped forward, passing me from the side, revealing himself, somehow catching my feet from falling over as it got tangled up.

This person… who protected me by yanking me behind his back, without even making a sound, hit Shade who was running from behind!

「Wolf!」

There was no way I could have been mistaken at that moment. This person, was Wolfgang Eisenhut.

After Wolf hit Shade, his arms quickly twisted around Shade, locking him in place.

「My hand acted out instinctively… but is this okay?」

「Right on! Ah… what I mean is – that’s… in this case, at the very least, Wolf isn’t in the wrong!」

I corrected my statement, because right behind Wolf was the Rankgerüste house butler, who was looking at our direction with perfectly round eyes.

「When Duke Lilia told me『I’ll entrust my role as Lycoris’s knight to you』, I thought the duke was joking around, but…. what on earth is going on?」

「I really love Father and Wolf!」

「L-love…? Ah – no – I’m not unsatisfied, though…」

(1) Basically I think when he meant by thicker blood, is that the bloodline is kept within the family, so that the descendents will inherit the powers of Narcissus’s grandmother.(2) This is an unknown word to me, so I’m not sure if I used it right…expedient is an adjective which means useful for effecting a desired result; suited to the circumstances or the occasion; advantageous; convenient(3) bearish: the thought that things will fail. That is, pessimistic.

Does anyone read notes? This is a small one, extra line from light novel it seemed, thanks to kazeyuki for giving me this info.

For those who read till the end…

“Wolf’s face turned visibly red”