My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 71

Basically, the Rose Family has often held high positions among central officials since ancient times.

Thanks to that, there was a golden age when they were really close to the Emperor.

They were an impressive family that protected the capital through their territory next to the central capital while serving the Emperor’s vassals within the capital.

“…How did such a family end up like this?”

I was gazing out of the room.

To be precise, I was staring at the building used by the Rose Family.

“At least in the previous generation, the head of the family was a central official… How is the current head of the family…”

He was just lounging around the mansion, doing absolutely nothing.

I wondered if he was choosing to do that or if he simply lacked the ability to do anything.

In many ways, it was not a normal sight.

He wasn’t a soldier, and age shouldn’t be a factor preventing him from being an official.

In fact, most emperors would often bring older men into their service to hear wise counsel, right?

“…Must be a lack of ability.”

I wasn’t entirely sure, but I had my suspicions.

Anyway, yesterday I only had a meal, but today I would do something else with the Rose family members besides just eating.

I didn’t have much expectation for it.

– Knock, knock.

While I was briefly looking outside and waiting, there was a knock at the door.

It must be Rize.

“Rize, come in.”

“Young Lady.”

“Is it okay to go out now?”

“Yes. The Lady asked you to come out.”

“Got it. Well… since I can’t take you along today anyway, Rize, you can just rest. I won’t need anything from you, and the other servants are off too, right?”

Personally, I wanted to take Rize along, but it couldn’t be helped.

Those people treated me roughly as it was.

If I took Rize with me, they would surely do something even weirder to her.

So, I had to leave Rize here and go with Rosalyn.

“Understood. Um… Young Lady?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

Just as I was about to leave the room, Rize suddenly stopped me.

I wondered what it was about.

“…If any of the Rose family members say anything strange to you, please don’t react too harshly right away.”

“Oh, is that what you were worried about? I know about that much myself.”

“…Young Lady, you do have a tendency to cause trouble sometimes.”

“Not when I’m in front of Mother, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

I understood what Rize was thinking, but I wasn’t that foolish.

Of course, I did have moments where I suddenly caused a ruckus, as Rize mentioned…

In fact, this recent furniture incident was one example, but I had been relatively well-behaved in front of Rosalyn.

“Camelia, are you ready?”

“Yes, I’m all set.”

I finally arrived on the first floor where Rosalyn was waiting.

Rosalyn was standing quietly at the entrance, wearing a pretty ordinary black dress.

“Um… should we go then?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

“By the way, I wonder what kind of business it is that we’re going together today? It’s not a meal, and why would they want to go look at the territory together? I don’t really get it.”

“Me neither…”

Rosalyn and I both found it puzzling.

Suddenly, the Rose family suggested going down to the territory with us, and I had no idea why they brought it up.

Not just Rosalyn but me as well?

Honestly, it didn’t make much sense.

“Weren’t the others going down first?”

“Yes, they said they had other business and went down to the territory first.”

“Umm… what could it truly be about?”

“Who knows…”

It was even more puzzling because they were unpredictable people.

What weird thing were they up to this time? I couldn’t tell whether to expect or worry.

*

After riding down in the carriage, we arrived at… a restaurant.

It looked expensive and elegant, a restaurant that seemed lovely on the outside.

Its name was something like Forest Palace, sounding quite fancy.

“…Did they call us just to have a meal?”

“I hope so. I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

Since I hadn’t eaten lunch either, it was better to say we should have a meal than to be called for some bizarre reason.

They were strange people, and since they could suddenly do something weird… I thought this was better.

Anyway, first, I began entering the restaurant with Rosalyn.

There was no line, and as soon as we opened the door, a staff member at the counter greeted us and led us to our table.

And then…

“Ah, Rosalyn. You’ve come?”

“…Christina, sis?”

“It feels nostalgic seeing you after a while. How have you been?”

I saw the members of the Rose family at the table.

There was the head of the family and his wife, who I had seen yesterday, and their second daughter Alexandra was, of course, there, but… there was also someone I hadn’t seen before.

Christina Rose.

She was the eldest daughter of the Rose family.

“Uh… why did you call us here? We could have met and come together from the mansion…”

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other! I just wanted to surprise you.”

It was a bit sudden, but Christina’s first impression was at least… better than Alexandra’s.

She might not be as pretty as Rosalyn, but she was alright and didn’t boast about nonsense like Alexandra did.

“And I’m here to have a meal together. Please take a seat. You too, young Camelias.”

Plus, she seemed to know who I was.

Well… she certainly wasn’t as weird as Alexandra.

Regardless, I sat down.

“Originally, Christina was supposed to arrive this morning, but she insisted she wanted to do this… hoho…”

“Hehe, well, it’s been four years since I’ve seen my little sister. I just wanted to surprise her a bit.”

“Haha…”

“Have you been well?”

“Of course, I’ve been well. You too, right?”

“I? Hmm… I’ve been doing okay. Probably better than you!”

“…So that’s a relief?”

…?

Something felt… strange about the atmosphere.

At least compared to Alexandra, I thought she was pretty ordinary, but as we talked, it felt increasingly odd.

It was an uncomfortable sensation.

Even though Rosalyn and Christina were just having a normal conversation, that feeling was strong.

“Let’s order the menu first. What would you like, Father, Mother?”

…There was definitely some awkwardness, but we started to move on to the next topic.

We ordered our respective menus, the sisters chatted about recent events, and the head of the family and his wife spoke… just casually…?

“Rosalyn, must have been quite hot for you staying in the south continuously, right? I heard this summer was particularly scorching from the magic tower.”

“Not really. It was a bit hot, but if you wear cool clothes, it wasn’t that hard at all?”

“Hmmm… if you say that, I suppose it’s true. I’ve never lived in the south myself.”

…Um.

“Ah, right.”

While I was speaking, Christina suddenly raised her voice a bit.

It seemed like she had something to say as she looked at me and Rosalyn.

“How is Baron Leonhardt doing?”

“…The Baron?”

“Yes. Baron Leonhardt.”

…It was sudden for her to bring up William.

What can I say… it was really unexpected.

Sure, it was correct that William was the head of the Leonhardt family, and he was both my father and Rosalyn’s husband, but…

I never anticipated she’d bring him up like this.

In fact, we hadn’t discussed him among ourselves, and during our time living in the Rose family, it had never come up as a topic.

Yet, here she was, bringing it up so suddenly.

“He’s doing fine. Still.”

“Hmm… is that so?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Just curious! I exchanged letters with him once before, but I haven’t done that recently, and well, he’s your husband after all.”

“…….”

“Hehe… why?”

“Nothing, sister.”

….So Christina had exchanged letters with William.

What could that mean?

I had some assumptions, but it wasn’t easy to believe that Christina, the eldest daughter and Rosalyn’s sister, would do that.

Even if their family was declining…

It was strange for her to go this far, to willingly sell her youngest sister to a nouveau riche family.

Not just any nouveau riche family, but to a baron like William, who was ugly and plump… to contact him…

“…….”

However, aside from that, wouldn’t Christina not have a reason to reach out to him either?

I couldn’t think of a legitimate reason for Christina to contact William out of her own will.

And when I thought about it, the reason Rosalyn ended up in Leonhardt…

“…Ah.”

“Why do you say that, Camelias?”

“Ah… it’s just that the food is so delicious.”

…A sudden realization hit me.

It was something I had completely forgotten about since it happened four years ago, and there was no need to really care about it.

“…Mother, may I go to the restroom for a moment?”

“Huh? Of course! Do you know where the restroom is?”

“Yes, I saw it on the way in.”

With that, I sought permission and stepped away from the table.

Arriving at the restroom, I splashed some cold water on my face.

Even though it was still just a hypothesis, it felt shocking.

“Still, this is just… strange.”

The original contract conditions clearly stated that one of the Rose daughters would marry William in return for a significant amount of money.

William surely wanted the eldest daughter of the Rose family, but somehow the potential bride shifted from the eldest to the youngest, Rosalyn.

And until now, I had never heard Christina say anything about corresponding with William.

But just now, Christina mentioned she had exchanged letters with him previously… leading to this odd conclusion.

“What if she didn’t want to be sold off? So she contacted him herself to change the conditions to Rosalyn…?”

…It was just a mere conjecture, but still, it sent a chill down my spine.

To casually ask Rosalyn and keep bringing up Leonhardt and William after doing something like that.

How could one do that among family?

“……..”

Though I had the impression that Christina was somewhat normal at first, now I was convinced she was crazier than Alexandra.