My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 92

Sure! Here’s the translation:

—

There’s one thing I’m sure of… I’m pretty.

I feel a bit embarrassed saying it and bragging, but I can’t help it.

“Hmm…”

Honestly, whatever I wear looks great on me, doesn’t it?

Up until now, wearing dresses, shirts, sweaters… I haven’t felt like anything looked out of place or awkward.

I suppose I’ve gotten a bit objective about it, but it’s undeniable that I look good like this.

“Hmm…”

“Young Lady?”

“Yeah, what?”

While I was looking in the mirror, Rize suddenly called out to me.

I wondered what was up.

“…Why are you wearing the Academy uniform?”

“Because it looks really good on me?”

“…?”

“I need to get used to it, and it just seemed like something that looked great, so I just wore it.”

“…Excuse me?”

Rize looked at me with a face that said she couldn’t believe it.

Is it really that ridiculous?

I thought trying on pretty clothes and checking how they looked on me was something anyone could do.

“Why?”

“No… I just don’t think I’ve seen you do that before.”

“Is that so?”

After hearing Rize’s words, I thought about it, but… it didn’t seem like it was my first time.

I occasionally tried on clothes and looked in the mirror, after all.

Although it’s about my appearance, I can’t deny that I have a face that’s enjoyable to look at.

Sometimes I just wore ordinary clothes and took some time to check out my looks.

“Doesn’t it look good?”

“That’s…”

“Hmm… I haven’t tied the tie yet, but I think it could be a bigger one?”

Maybe because my body is small, I felt like going for a baggier fit or even an oversized look might work out fine.

Of course, I also thought it might look nice to have the clothes slightly tighter.

“Hmm… If it makes you happy, then I’m glad.”

“I wanted to get you a new maid outfit too. You’ve been saying you’re okay with it.”

“However… all the other maids wear the same maid outfits. If I wear something different…”

“Is that how it is?”

“Yes…”

Well, Rize was a bit traditional about such things.

She would accept the earrings or necklaces I bought her, and occasionally wear the new clothes I gifted her on weekends.

But the fact that she doesn’t change her maid uniform is rather hard for me to understand.

“I think a cuter maid outfit would be better.”

“……..”

“Hmm…”

“…Young Lady.”

“I’m just looking and imagining. Why do you care?”

“…I understand.”

Standing still, I stared at Rize and somewhat imagined her in a different maid outfit.

Imagining her in a completely cute mini skirt outfit.

Or, on the contrary, seeing her wear a more tidy and graceful type of maid uniform.

“Hmm…”

“…”

“Yeah.”

“?”

I decided.

Though it’s not something I’d try right now, I still made my decision.

Rize was deliberately avoiding wearing a different maid outfit for the sake of fairness among the other maids, but it wouldn’t matter at the Academy.

After all, they weren’t our family’s maids.

“Young Lady…?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

Perhaps without realizing it, I was smiling with my lips curled up.

Rize looked at me with a slightly worried expression.

Of course, it was her own concern, not mine.

“What is it, Rize?”

“…Nothing.”

“Really?”

“…Yes.”

Of course, Rize wasn’t bold enough to firmly express such thoughts.

I was looking forward to meeting Rize in three months at the Academy.

Having grown taller and become prettier than when she was younger… She would surely look great in a new maid outfit.

“But you know… Rize, you’re too pretty to be just a maid…”

“…Huh?”

As I kept looking at Rize, that thought suddenly came to mind.

Despite being from a baron family, Rize’s family was practically on the brink of collapse… truly a commoner-level family.

“Rize, can I ask you something?”

“Um… Yes, of course.”

“Are you going to continue working as a maid?”

“…?”

“I used to ask this before. I’m just curious if it’s still the same.”

With Rize’s looks, even if her family is practically non-existent, there could be a chance for elevating her status through marriage.

Among the women I’ve seen, Rize would undoubtedly be in the top five.

“Don’t you think about doing something else besides being a maid?”

“I don’t.”

“That’s very firm of you.”

“I just never felt the need to, nor did I think about doing anything other than serving you.”

“Hmm… Is that so?”

What kind of answer is that, though?

Is she answering just because it’s what her master wants to hear?

Or is it her true feelings coming out naturally?

I wasn’t sure, but since it was a good response for now, I nodded.

“So, are you saying you will pamper me until I grow old and die?”

“…Yes?”

“I have no intention of getting married, nor do I want to. So, I’ll just be living with Rize until I die.”

“…Young Lady?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re saying you won’t get married…”

Oh.

Did I not mention that?

Now that I think about it, I hadn’t shared that with anyone, not even William, Rosalyn, Ella, Karen, Rize, Ashley… literally nobody.

Because, for noblewomen, marriage is an extremely important matter, and saying I wouldn’t get married was a big deal.

I accidentally let it slip, but…

“What can I do if I don’t want to?”

Seriously.

It’s really just that I don’t feel like it.

“I just don’t want to roll around with a man… Ew.”

“……”

No matter how much I live as a woman and dress in a female uniform, I spent about 20 years in my past life as a man.

I can be friendly, but… getting close to a man…?

“Ew…”

I really hate it.

Honestly, I felt a pure disgust for it.

Even though William pays well, earns money, and doesn’t commit domestic violence…

That’s the reason I didn’t particularly like him either.

Just because he’s a man… I found it rather off-putting.

Well, there are other reasons too, like how he spends time outside with all those loose women, but still.

Anyway, I’ve never thought about getting involved with a man.

“Um… Young Lady?”

“What is it?”

“No matter what you say… if the Lord and Lady find out about this…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. As long as Rize stays quiet, no one will know yet.”

It was a tale I hadn’t shared with anyone besides Rize.

No matter how much our family is lacking and filled with odd riches, we’re still a noble family so they’d want me to marry someone from a good house.

But I was still just twelve years old, with six more years until adulthood.

“Rize.”

“…Yes, Young Lady.”

“That conversation we just had is a secret. Got it?”

“…Yes, Young Lady.”

Rize certainly understood me well.

That’s one of the reasons I kept her as my maid.

Of course, Rize’s appearance was the biggest reason, though, right?

“Hmm…”

After concluding the conversation with Rize, I took a moment to think about marriage or such matters.

“Ugh. It’s really not for me.”

Men are truly out of the question.

If I had to choose, I’d rather date a woman than get close to a man; or even freeze them with ice magic would be a better option.

It would be a significant loss for the Empire if I were to turn into ice, so it’d be better to freeze the man instead.

“…Guess I’ll have to live solo my whole life.”

Besides the fact that I don’t want to get involved with men, starting a relationship with a woman seems strange, right?

I also remembered that laws in the Empire didn’t particularly allow marriage between women.

Of course… there’s no law strictly prohibiting it, but it doesn’t mean it’s entirely accepted.

“Even dating a woman… doesn’t sound right.”

That’s quite a weird thought, huh?

*

“Teacher, what are you doing?”

It had been a while since I visited Ashley’s Room.

As the weather grew colder, Ashley just kept sleeping more, and I had been busy, so we hadn’t met in a while.

Because of that, it seemed like Ashley had turned into a sleep-eating creature at our mansion, sleeping all day long…

“Ah… Camelia…”

“Yes, it’s me, Teacher.”

With such a pretty sleep eater, it seemed fine to let her be.

I always think that if Ashley didn’t have such a pretty face, she might have died by now…?

I didn’t know much about Ashley’s past, but since she started living in our mansion, it truly was an everyday thing…

“Did you sleep well?”

“Mhm…”

“Could you wake up for a moment? I have something to discuss.”

“Mhm…”

Anyway, I had some things to tell Ashley.

So, I decided to wake her up.

I handed her lukewarm water instead of caffeinated tea.

“Ugh… Mmm… Ugh…”

Maybe because she wasn’t fully awake yet… I ended up looking like I was feeding her… And slowly, Ashley started to get ready.

Of course, it didn’t seem like she was entirely prepared yet.

“So… what’s up…?”

“I told you I’ll be enrolling in the Academy, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right… You’re entering Solkemia…”

Though she wasn’t perfectly awake, at least she was able to converse normally.

That was enough for the matter at hand.

“And since I’ll be away from home for a while, you won’t be able to work as my magic teacher.”

“That’s true…”

It was only common sense.

With me being absent, I would basically… just be someone who eats and sleeps all day.

Though, a rather pretty version of that.

So now… I was thinking of offering a new contract since she wouldn’t be my magic teacher anymore.

Honestly, it was hard to find someone with magical skills as good as Ashley’s, and other than her tendency to nap a lot, she was surprisingly smart and capable.

Plus, even when waking her up, she would be willing to listen to requests to some degree…

“Would you consider working as a magician for our family?”

“Uhm…?”

“What I mean is, you would just help out with tasks that the servants can’t handle and enjoy some nice tea with my mother… basically easy work.”

In reality, it wouldn’t be any different from what she was doing now.

She’d just be installing air conditioning spells during summer, heating spells on the mirrors, and occasionally helping the servants a bit.

Or she could simply continue sleeping when she wasn’t required.

Honestly, I didn’t need to ask Ashley for this, but I personally liked her a lot.

“What do you think?”

“Uh… Huh?”

I smoothly took out the contract and asked again.

Having a skilled magician in the mansion would definitely be a good thing, and finding someone like Ashley would be difficult.

“Will you sign it?”

“Wait a second… Let me think…”

“Teacher, in the past few years in the family… you haven’t been teaching properly.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve just been napping while casually accepting your payments, right?”

“Well… that’s true…?”

Ashley had to admit she had enjoyed quite the sweet life.

Indeed, her past few years had been a perfect representation of living off the sweets.

Well, while Ashley did help me learn some magic well enough and could be said to have earned her keep, it was still a fact that she enjoyed the easy life.

“But if I suddenly send you away from our mansion and you start working elsewhere… you won’t be able to relax on this comfy bed anymore.”

To be honest, the new contract I proposed had benefits that leaned more towards our side.

Her salary would be lower than before, and I’d added clauses to ensure she couldn’t refuse when Rosalyn asked for help.

But I intended to make sure she wouldn’t even have the chance to notice those details.

After all, it could be detrimental for me as well.

“Working elsewhere… you might have to work 7-8 hours out of those 24 hours a day…”

“That’s true…”

“And on top of that, you wouldn’t be able to sleep as freely as you have, and if you doze off, you might end up getting scolded instead…”

“I don’t want that…”

“Hmm… I genuinely feel it would be much better for you to stay in our family and work for us. We won’t disturb your sleep time, and we won’t give you too much work…”

“Um… Camelia, where should I sign…?”

“Right here. Just sign on the line.”

“…Okay, done.”

Ashley signed her name in the spot marked for her, and my name was noted as well, marked as the other party.

Well, that was easy.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

Was it because I hadn’t read out any of the terms for her?

Even though there weren’t any strange clauses, for Ashley, who had envisioned a life of easy living, it wouldn’t be the best deal.

But ultimately, she was someone who craved the comfort of sleeping more than anything else.

I never told her not to read the contract, so I suppose I can’t really be blamed for it, can I?

“Hehe…