My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 97

“…Rize.”

“Yes, Young Lady. What is it?”

“Am I the only one feeling strange?”

“I don’t think so.”

…Is that so?

I really don’t know.

How should I express this feeling… It’s just so ambiguous.

I loved our home so much, but during the 12, 13 years I spent there, I didn’t have any huge memories.

To be honest, the Leonhardt Mansion was just… nothing special, right?

The only memories I had were spending time with Rosalyn and Rize.

It was hard to confidently say it was a mansion filled with memories and emotions, yet still, something felt off.

“Well… I’ll be coming back in six months anyway.”

Still, it’s strange that I won’t be returning to the mansion until then.

“Did we pack everything up?”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

“Good.”

The carriage was moving farther away from our family’s mansion, and I kept looking back.

Rize was sitting in the carriage with me, and the person driving was from the Academy.

That was just how it was.

Now, I really wouldn’t have any time to meet Rosalyn, and I had to go up to the central part and live at the Academy.

It was a pity, but that was how it was decided.

“…I heard it takes about three days to arrive.”

“They’re taking a few other new students along with you, Young Lady.”

“Hmm… That sounds boring.”

At first, I thought I was just going to be taken alone to the Academy, but it seemed like they planned to pick up several young ladies from the south all at once.

Honestly, I didn’t really like that, but there wasn’t much I could say.

After all, I was already on the carriage, right?

“They said after about half a day of traveling, we would spend two days at the inn prepared by the Academy.”

“Couldn’t they just drop me off on the last day…?”

“Young Lady.”

“I know, roughly.”

The only relief was that Rize and I wouldn’t have any other new students sharing the carriage.

As Rize said… we would wait a bit at the inn and then move on using several carriages.

For some reason, it felt like we were the least prestigious among the families in the south?

It was just that kind of place.

“During the ride… Rize, could you please close the curtain?”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

I drew the curtains in the carriage so that no one outside could see in.

It was the kind of thing I couldn’t let the driver see anyway, and besides, it was private, right?

All I had to do was ride in the carriage until we got to the inn.

What I did inside didn’t matter.

“Hmm…”

“Young Lady, the curtains are all closed.”

“Thank you.”

While Rize was closing all the curtains in the carriage, I pulled out some documents from my bag.

They had sketches of various characters and information written on them.

Of course, these documents didn’t encapsulate everything about a person, but memorizing the basics was definitely in my favor.

“Hmm…”

I had already read a considerable amount, but I hadn’t memorized much perfectly.

Well, memorizing all of this was certainly going to be difficult.

“Rize.”

“Yes, Young Lady. Are you thirsty?”

“Not really, but I saw a few families from the south listed here. Do you think any of the young ladies from these families will be at the inn?”

“Um… I believe there’s a strong possibility.”

Is that so?

Since various noble children from the south were enrolling, I might just bump into them during the process.

Ella would probably be brought along by the Academy just like I was, and there might be several young ladies from the Baron and Marquis families as well.

“Hmm…”

I was a bit excited about meeting Ella.

We had already met a few months ago, and we had been exchanging letters recently, but meeting friends was always nice.

Especially since aside from Rize, I wouldn’t know anyone else on the road to the Academy.

“You shouldn’t hold those documents so close, Young Lady.”

“The writing is just too small.”

“…Young Lady.”

“I get it, I won’t do it.”

I always thought that sometimes, the people from the Information Guild had a weird way of handing out these materials.

Well, not exactly the guild, but the woman from the guild was really the problem.

“…Tch.”

But really, the important parts were written in such small letters that it was hard to see…

I had a feeling I’d need to check this part out later when Rize was asleep or when she wasn’t around.

It wasn’t like looking closely would ruin my eyesight or anything.

Rize was really one to worry too much, just like Rosalyn.

*

After spending some time alone in the carriage with Rize, we finally arrived at the inn.

To be honest, the quality of the inn was slightly, just a little~ bit disappointing compared to the quality of the carriage.

“…It can’t be helped.”

After all, we were just going to rest here for two days.

I decided not to hold any major complaints about the quality of the inn.

“Shall we go in?”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Anyway, I decided to go inside the inn together with Rize.

Seeing that the only carriage that arrived from the Academy was the one we took, it seemed there were no other new students inside yet.

“Hmm…”

“Why is that, Young Lady?”

“Just? I was thinking about why they would bother using this method.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Honestly, I really didn’t understand.

Was it really necessary to bring the new students all the way here and then put them back on the carriage to send them to the Academy?

It felt like departing directly from the mansion to the Academy would have been much better.

Furthermore, I believed it wouldn’t even take a week to get from the south to the Academy…

“Hmm…”

For now, I decided not to pursue the thought any further.

After all, it wasn’t like I had to get to the Academy just within a few days, and the entrance ceremony was still more than a month away.

“I am Camelia Leonhardt of the Leonhardt family.”

“Confirmed. Please proceed to Room 13 on the 4th floor.”

“…Okay, got it.”

After entering with Rize and getting our identities roughly confirmed, we were directed to our assigned inn room.

I didn’t understand why we had to be on the 4th floor, but going up and down was going to be really annoying.

There wasn’t even an elevator, so we had to use the stairs… there was nothing we could do about that.

“…Ah.”

Hmm.

“…Rize.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

“…I don’t want to go up to the 4th floor. It’s too annoying.”

“…Young Lady.”

“I mean, isn’t it? The buildings we used to have with the Rose Family were annoying to climb too.”

“…Usually, going up to the 4th floor shouldn’t be that hard.”

“…But it is.”

…I honestly felt it was hard going up to the 4th floor.

It was just so irritating to climb.

While I’m definitely out of shape, I couldn’t help but feel this way.

“Would you carry me?”

“…I’m not really that strong…”

“True, that is a point. I was joking.”

“…If you’re really struggling, I could request to change the room downstairs…”

“No, it’s not that bad. I mean… it’s just for two days anyway.”

It was a bit annoying and tiring, but since it was only a few days, I figured I could just hold on a bit longer.

“Ugh…”

Anyway, we arrived at the end of the 4th floor, Room 13 on the 4th floor.

I dashed straight for the bed.

“Young Lady, you’ll wrinkle your clothes.”

“Rize will take care of it and make it pretty again. And besides, I don’t mind if it gets a little wrinkled, right?”

While swinging my legs on the bed, I said that.

Sure, getting a white dress wrinkled wouldn’t mean it wouldn’t go back to normal.

Anyway, as soon as I entered the room, I lay down.

“Ahhh… this feels nice…”

“But… the room doesn’t seem to be… very spacious.”

“…That’s also true.”

As Rize said, the room didn’t look very spacious at all.

The bed seemed to be just about the size of a double bed.

It seemed to be just enough for Rize and me… in fact, it was smaller than the bed I used in the mansion.

“Hmm… well, it’s just for two days anyway.”

I didn’t really mind too much and just lay there comfortably.

After traveling for half a day on the carriage and getting off just a while ago.

Even though it wasn’t the highest quality bed, it still felt good.

“Yawn…”

Was it because I had just been reading documents on the carriage for half a day? I was really tired.

The truth was, even though I often took naps with Rosalyn… that didn’t change the fact that the rattling of the carriage wasn’t pleasant.

Despite its splendor, it was exceptionally tiresome.

“Rize… if you’ve unpacked your things, do you want to rest here with me?”

“There’s hardly enough room for you to lie down, Young Lady.”

“Come on, when did we ever worry about that?”

“It’s alright.”

“Come on…”

“I can rest a bit later. You should relax first, Young Lady.”

“Aww…”

As expected, Rize was just being Rize.

She really wouldn’t fall for my light-hearted suggestions. This was just typical of her.

She could loosen up a bit and rest comfortably.

After all, there was no one else but the two of us, and nobody was coming in, so it really was okay.

“Sigh…”

If it were a usual day, I would have forcibly made Rize lie down on the bed, but today I decided not to do that and just lay back more comfortably.

I sprawled my arms and legs out entirely.

“……..”

I wonder what Rosalyn is doing right now.

It’s not like I had to worry so much about her, but I kept feeling concerned.

Common sense would dictate that I shouldn’t be the one worried about Rosalyn, but rather the opposite.

“…Rize, can I have a candy?”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

…My mood turned a bit sour.

…Just a little bit.