My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 119

“Rize, the Academy seems a bit more fun lately.”

“Really…?”

“I think the clubs might be enjoyable, and I kind of made a new friend or two recently.”

I was lying on the bed in the dormitory room, casually sharing this with Rize.

“Come on, Rize, let’s spend some time in a club! The club room is going to be super fun to decorate… Hmm… Everyone seems excited.”

“…I’m fine. Being in a place full of nobles like that… I think it would be a hassle for the Young Lady.”

“Eh…?”

“Well, I’m just a maid… and everyone in the club would be someone important…”

“Umm…”

It’s not like they’d mind, though…

Honestly, Rize didn’t need to worry at all. Ella and Karen didn’t have any strong reservations about Rize, and I felt like the other two wouldn’t care much either.

In fact, those other two… might even appreciate having a maid to chauffeur them and help with the bothersome tasks.

Of course, Rize didn’t seem to think so at all, but that was my perspective at least.

“Are you really not going to come?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm… really…?”

“Yes.”

Isn’t she being a bit stubborn…?

There’s no way Rize would be a bother, so why all this worry?

Of course, Rize has always had a tendency to downplay herself regarding me…

Honestly, I never quite understood why Rize felt the need to do that. After all, she’s pretty, cute, and has a really nice personality, right?

And even though she’s a maid, she actually gets paid quite well.

“If Rize says that… then there’s nothing I can do.”

I said that while stretching out more on the bed.

Since she was the one refusing, dragging her along would only make Rize uncomfortable.

I do like to tease or annoy Rize personally, but I wouldn’t push her to do something she truly hated.

“But hey, Rize, why do you keep cleaning when there’s not much to tidy up?”

“It’s already clean enough, but I want to provide you with the best environment, Young Lady.”

“It’s unnecessarily tidy…”

The room was small to begin with, and Rize always cleaned it so thoroughly that it was practically spotless.

I sometimes thought she overdid it. She had been cleaning just now, just like always.

“Work’s fine, so just come and sit here.”

“…I’m okay, but…”

“I’m serious, it’s so clean that there isn’t even a speck of dust; the point is to relax. If someone sees this… they might think we have some obsessive cleanliness disorder…”

“…I understand.”

With that response, Rize sat beside me, wearing her cute maid uniform.

In the past, when I invited her to sit, she always kept her distance, but now she just casually sits next to me.

Personally, I found this change quite delightful.

I wonder what Rize is thinking while sitting there, but anyway…

“sigh…”

It’s been really busy at the Academy lately—there’s just so much going on that I’m honestly exhausted.

With strange people getting involved and listening to the gossip among other Academy students… Ugh…

“Young Lady?”

“What? Is that not allowed?”

Feeling tired, I put my head on Rize’s thigh like a pillow.

I often did the same with Ella’s thighs in the past, so Rize was probably used to it by now.

“I’m just tired.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I’ve been really worn out lately from the Academy.”

“Hmm… I wouldn’t know. After all, I don’t go inside the Academy…”

“That’s true…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s really not your fault, Rize. It’s the Academy people who are being weird.”

Rize was definitely not at fault here.

She was more like a sanctuary where I could comfortably relax.

Yeah, it felt surely comfortable when I was with Rize.

Since we’ve grown up together and spent so much time, it was only natural.

“Were you talking about the things you mentioned before?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“…I feel bad that there’s so little I can do to help.”

“What? No, Rize hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s actually thanks to you that I feel so relaxed.”

“Is that so…”

Upon hearing my words, Rize began to show a slightly brighter expression.

Although she doesn’t show it much, Rize does tend to like compliments.

In fact, there weren’t many compliments I could give her anymore. After all, since we’ve known each other for a long time, I’ve already complimented her a lot.

You’re pretty, you’re cute… stuff like that, which I think Rize has gotten quite used to.

“Hmm… Rize, don’t you want to go home for the first time in a while?”

“I do miss the mansion a bit, but staying here with you in the Academy dormitory… is also nice.”

“Same here.”

The Academy dormitory is great, but I do slightly miss the mansion.

I want to see Rosalyn and Ashley, who sleeps all day… yeah.

Of course, without those two, the house isn’t particularly interesting at all, but it was because of those two that I was really looking forward to the break.

“I wonder how Mother is doing?”

“I think the Lady is doing well. She’s such a great person…”

“True.”

I never really thought Rosalyn would be struggling.

I was actually more worried about Ashley, who would probably have more work than usual now.

Before coming to the Academy, I made a new contract with Ashley, which definitely meant she was going to have more tasks to handle.

“Hmm… well, she should be fine.”

Right now, she’s probably just sleeping as usual, right?

Ashley is still sleeping, and Rosalyn is quietly enjoying her rose tea in the garden or her room, lost in thought.

*

Two months had passed since Camelia left for the Academy, and the Leonhardt Mansion was quieter than before.

William Leonhardt, the head of the Leonhardt family, was still busy wandering outside for business.

The main figures left in the mansion were only two.

“…Ashley.”

“Yes… Young Lady…”

In the garden, one woman with black hair and another with tangled sky-blue hair were sitting together, quietly sipping tea and milk while wasting time chatting.

“It’s still about four months until Camelia comes back, right?”

“That’s likely…”

“sigh…”

“Yawn…”

One of them, looking exhausted, kept yawning, while the other sighed loudly, clearly dissatisfied.

If Camelia had seen them, she would definitely have been a bit surprised.

“Ashley, it’s so boring.”

“I’m sleepy…”

“We only worked for about four hours.”

“…yawn…”

Unlike when Camelia was around, Rosalyn was making much more use of Ashley.

Regardless of Ashley’s personality or characteristics, Rosalyn recognized her magical skills, which is why she utilized Ashley’s abilities for mansion management as much as possible.

While Camelia had given Ashley the freedom to rest as much as she wanted while also getting paid, Rosalyn was relatively less accommodating.

Ashley started taking care of the parts of the mansion’s garden and fountain that were a nuisance for the other servants to manage. Besides that, Rosalyn assigned Ashley a wide variety of tasks.

“I didn’t expect the mansion to get this quiet. It’s so boring.”

“…I’m tired.”

“Should I make you work more?”

“Eh…?”

“As long as you do the tasks I assigned well, you won’t have many other duties that day. Isn’t that enough?”

“Hmm…”

If Camelia had seen this, she might have been a bit surprised.

This was a shift from the warm and kind-hearted Rosalyn Camelia knew.

“That’s true…”

But despite Rosalyn being like that, Ashley simply replied normally as though she had become used to it.

“…She should be doing well.”

“She sends letters at least once a week…”

“In letters, you can’t really know everything.”

“…Yeah.”

Ashley responded in a lackadaisical manner, as if she was just bored hearing Rosalyn’s words.

In truth, for Ashley, who had been observing Rosalyn’s demeanor and speech for quite some time, there was no need to answer seriously.

“I heard she made some friends… sigh…”

“…I think she’ll manage just fine.”

“Of course, Camelia isn’t a bad child at all, but she’s a bit… peculiar. In many ways, she’s more mature for her age… so she’s different from other kids her age.”

“…I think she’s going to make other types of connections rather than friends.”

“What did you say?”

“Um, I didn’t say anything.”

Since Camelia left for Solkemia Academy, Rosalyn had been worrying quite a bit about her daughter.

Of course, Camelia knew that her mother would worry, but Rosalyn’s worries surpassed even that.

“sigh…”

Recently, Rosalyn had been letting out an unusual number of sighs.

Seeing Rosalyn like that, Ashley was just thinking, ‘…I just want to quickly go to my room and sleep…’