My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 149

It was the last day of the trip.

Honestly, I preferred this over my time at the Academy, but I guess I had no choice but to return.

Well, I was a student at the Academy after all, right?

“How is it that the last place we’re visiting is the same as where we went on the first day?”

“…True that.”

Grace and I looked at the building with exasperated expressions.

When we first arrived in the center, I had nothing to do, so I just went out of curiosity… after all, we had time to kill.

Who would have thought we’d end up here on the last day?

The place we, along with the other Academy students, had arrived at was the Solkemia Cathedral.

It was literally the first place we visited, and now, it was the last stop for the Academy students on this trip.

“…If I had known this would happen, I would have just eaten something delicious on the first day.”

“…For real.”

I couldn’t help but agree.

Even Grace, who usually rolled her eyes at my musings, was feeling disappointed too.

If I’d known this was how it would turn out, we could’ve just roamed around the other sights in the center.

Though, to be fair, we only had a few hours, so it wouldn’t have mattered much.

Anyway, it felt a bit wasteful to visit our destination first.

“Hey, Camelia…”

“Yes, sister? What’s up?”

“Can we sit over there…?”

“Oh, that’s fine. I wouldn’t want to sit in front or the center anyway since we’ve already been here once.”

“Phew…”

I was curious about what she wanted to say, but it turned out to be something trivial.

After all, the Academy students were all competing for seats in the front or center right now.

“Still, sitting at the very back feels a bit disappointing. Let’s sit somewhere in the middle?”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Me too.”

Well, we’d all seen it once already.

Even though the cathedral was incredibly beautiful, we weren’t really that religious, so it didn’t strike us the same way.

Of course, objectively speaking, it was pretty.

Personally, I preferred the grand and ornate feel of the Imperial Palace over this stunning and sacred cathedral.

Not that both weren’t beautiful, but I just liked the palace a bit more.

Just saying, you could tell it was a symbol of wealth.

“Yawn…”

“Are you sleepy?”

“Yeah, the building’s warm, and the sunlight’s coming in nicely… it kind of makes you feel drowsy…”

We settled in a suitable spot, but since we’d seen it once and didn’t have much interest, it was unsurprising that I felt sleepy.

Plus, like I said to Ella, the atmosphere was such that a yawn just slipped out.

“…I don’t think there’ll be much interesting discussion. Should we just take a nap?”

“Even if it is the last schedule, sleeping through it feels a bit much, don’t you think?”

“…That’s true, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be exciting… Going out with Ella would be more fun…”

“Ugh…”

Seriously, what to do about the boredom?

Especially since the indoors felt cozy enough that I really wanted to nap…

“Visiting that café Ella mentioned yesterday seems nice, and ordering delicious desserts with her sounds good…”

“Just sleep.”

“Ugh.”

“Stop making strange sounds, just… sleep. I’ll wake you up later.”

“Strange sounds?! I’m being serious…”

I couldn’t help but feel a bit wronged.

I mean, sure, saying I wanted to mess around with Ella sounded a bit frivolous, but it was true I enjoyed it!

That I was treated like I’d said something weird was disheartening.

“Just sleep already.”

“Ugh.”

“What’s with the ‘ugh’…”

“Because Ella got too cold…”

I gently rested my head on the back of the chair in front of me, glancing over at Ella.

Hmm.

It was a bit rigid, but shouldn’t be too uncomfortable for sleeping.

“The old Ella wasn’t like this.”

“The old me is the same as now?!”

“Ugh…”

I pretended to sulk at Ella, but in truth, she hadn’t changed much from before.

Always energetic and kind?

Still loved to brag about herself too.

“Seriously, just sleep quickly… you’re driving me crazy.”

“You know you won’t listen to Ella anyway.”

“Do you think I’m like you? I attend all my Academy classes diligently!”

“Hmm… But your grades are lower than mine.”

“Well…!”

I continued teasing Ella while resting my head, clearly enjoying it.

Ella’s cheerful and cute reactions always amused me.

“Honestly, tell me straight. Did you not doze off at all during class? Not once?”

“I didn’t doze off…?!”

“Hah…”

“I mean, you did an excessive amount of studying beforehand! It’s not that I can’t study!”

“Hehe.”

“Don’t get too cocky…!”

“I’m just that smart, right? I get excellent grades even without attending Academy classes.”

“Pffft…”

Ella wasn’t obsessed with grades, but she still cared about them a bit.

She actually did quite well in the recent midterm exam, easily landing in the top tier of the Academy.

But regardless of that, it was also true that my grades were better than hers.

“Seriously… hurry and sleep.”

“Should I? Sounds good.”

“Yeah, you’re just making me want to hit you.”

Hmm.

I wasn’t really into appreciating violence, so I decided to go with Ella’s suggestion and sleep.

Right when she mentioned it, the kind of old man who seemed likely to drone on with lengthy lectures and scolding appeared on stage, so I figured I’d likely end up sleeping anyway.

*

“Yawn…”

“How is it that you slept so much during the day and are now sleepy again?”

All our scheduled events for the day were done.

Now, all that was left was to rest well and return to the Academy tomorrow.

After spending our last moments at the cathedral and enjoying a cozy time with good food at a café or restaurant while chatting with friends, we were now gathered in our hostel room.

Originally, we’d split into two bedrooms, but it was the last night.

“Young Lady, is it sufficient to lay the blankets on the floor like this…?”

“Yeah, this should be enough. The blankets are so plush anyway. The floor isn’t that uncomfortable.”

Today, we all decided to sleep in the same room.

It just happened serendipitously, but we went with it.

“Hmm… how should we arrange the beds? It’s probably good to have some sort of plan.”

“Can’t we just figure it out? I only need to sleep next to my sister.”

“Then, Grace can lie next to Karen, and I’ll lie next to Rize…”

“I’m fine with whatever. But lying in the middle might be a bit uncomfortable…”

“Right, Ella?”

“Considering there are a lot of us…?”

Well, that was true.

Having six people sleep in one place would definitely be less than ideal.

The room’s floor was spacious, and the two layers of quilts used as mattresses were plush, but still…

“Hmm… then I’ll just sleep in the middle.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“It’s not like I haven’t slept in the middle before, right? It’s not like it makes a huge difference, and with six of us, I won’t be stuck in the middle forever.”

So we settled on that.

There was no real need to lie on the edge, and I didn’t find it uncomfortable at all to sleep between the girls.

I just decided to lie down in the middle while letting everyone else settle in.

“Yawn…”

So we all changed into our pajamas and began to lie down on the floor.

Even though it was still a bit early, it was night after all.

After waking up early for the day’s events and running around, we all felt a bit tired.

“Hmm…”

“Why are you like that again? What’s wrong, Ella?”

“You seem to have grown somehow.”

“…?”

Ella said this while watching me comfortably rolling around on the plush quilts laid out on the floor.

What does “grown” mean?

“What do you mean I’ve grown?”

“Oh… I think you’ve grown in many ways. Taller and… other stuff…”

“Hmm… I did change my underwear size recently, you know?”

“Of course, you did!”

Was I happy to hear Ella noticed I had grown?

Ella was grinning widely as she studied me.

“Hehe… I’ve seen you for so long; it’s only natural I’d notice!”

“Since I’m wearing pajamas that cling a bit more than usual, maybe it’s more noticeable than other outfits? I did switch underwear sizes a while ago.”

The pajamas I was wearing definitely hugged my body more than the usual flowy ones.

Though they weren’t small enough to expose my belly or overly accentuate my figure.

“My chest is definitely…”

I lightly lifted my chest inside my pajamas.

It wasn’t at the level of being a ‘big size’ that could fully fit in my hands yet, but it had definitely grown enough to feel the weight.

“Has it grown?”

Yeah, I could see that it had.

Ever since I started my period… I felt my body had been growing in many ways.

Rize had even commented that I’d grown taller and developed, and previously, Rize and I had purchased larger-sized underwear together.

“Hey… but there’s no need to keep bragging about it.”

“Is that so?”

“…Oh.”

“But you were the one who brought it up first to check. So I can’t really be blamed for that, right?”

While I was casually confirming my growth, Grace, who was passing by, piped up with that comment.

I hadn’t said this to brag.

After all, my size wasn’t anything to boast about, and it wasn’t that big compared to Karen or Ashley.

If I were to compare sizes with others, I’d say I was probably around Rize or Ella.

“But still, you definitely shouldn’t keep touching it like that.”

“Ugh.”

I didn’t expect even Ella, who brought it up first, to say that…

I hadn’t even initiated the conversation; I was just confirming my body size!

I felt a bit wronged, like I’d committed a capital offense.