Chapter 7: Katarina & Co.

Working as the Claes Family’s Gardener

Many a winter had passed since I had started working as a gardener for Duke Claes. I was born in a poor village to the name of Tom Wisley, and for as long as I can remember, I was sent from one house to the next to work as a servant. What with my rugged face and my dislike of talking, I never made any friends and I always worked alone.

I was good with my hands and good around plants, so when I was still young, I started fixing gardens for nobles, merchants, and other rich people. After a while I turned into a fine gardener, but I still was bad at dealing with people. Some folks would trick me out of my pay, and sometimes even raise their hands against me.

And then, one day, I met that boy. He looked about the same age as me, but much more handsome.

“Are you the one tending to this garden?” he asked me all of a sudden, after I had just finished working on the plants around a noble’s house.

I could tell from his clothes that he was higher class than me, so I started to pay all the normal homages...

“There is no need for that. So, this garden. Are you the one tending to it?”

I had done my best that day, as I always did, but now I was scared that there was something wrong with my work. “...Yes,” I told him with a nod, and his eyes started sparkling.

“This house’s garden has always been appallingly tasteless, but it is unrecognizable now! You really are gifted!”

“...Th-Thank you very much...” His stare was so intense that I didn’t know what to do.

“Do you work exclusively for this house?”

“...No, they just hired me for a one-time job.”

“So do you normally work for another family?”

“...None in particular.”

I couldn’t get people to like me enough that they’d take me in to work for them exclusively, so I hopped from one garden to the next.

Then the boy got all worked up and said, “Then come to my home! You shall be my gardener!” He brought me to Claes Manor, and years later, that very boy became the head of that manor.

He’d hired me kind of willy-nilly... but I really liked working here. The other servants were nice people, I had regular pay and vacations, and the duke was kind and forgiving. Everyone loved him! I was still bad with people, and I couldn’t open myself up with the others working in the mansion... But the duke would come to me casually and ask me to go with him to hang around town in disguise.

We went to do it once, and he liked spending time with me so much that we did it again and again after that. Before I realized it, he’d started calling me “friend.” Me! A lowly servant! At first I thought that it wouldn’t be proper to do the same, but after a while I ended up calling him “friend” too.

I wasn’t good with people, and I was bad at talking... So he was the first to call me that from the bottom of his heart. I wanted to always stay by his side, and I worked as hard as I could. Eventually, I was even appointed head gardener.

...And then, my friend became ill and died.

After that, my days felt empty. Nobody would come and praise my garden enthusiastically like he always had. I didn’t go to town anymore... The downtown we used to go to together.

I want to go where you are... I want to see you again, my friend...

I even thought things like that, until she came.

“I want to build a field in this garden,” she said, with her fierce blue eyes, looking just like him.

And that girl started coming to see me day after day.

“Mr. Tom! I’m here!”

She talked with me, kindly and casually, like my old friend did. I had avoided going to town because the memories of him were too much to bear... but she asked me to accompany her “to buy materials for my projectiles!” and I found myself enjoying going there once again.

After meeting that girl, I didn’t feel the rush to follow my friend anymore.

“My dear friend, I have to ask you to wait for me a bit longer after all. But when I do come to see you, I’ll have a lot of stories about your granddaughter to share.”

Working as the Claes Family’s Head Maid

I was born as the first daughter of a relatively well-off merchant family, and I started working as a maid for the Claes family when I was sixteen.

My sisters were both talented and charming, and received plenty of marriage proposals. As soon as they were old enough, they both married; the older one took her husband into our family and the younger went to her husband’s family.

But I had none of the talent nor the social ability of my two sisters. My face made me look stern, and my voice made me sound angry — I had trouble finding friends, let alone lovers. Even after I finished my lonely years at school, I still didn’t receive any marriage proposals like my sisters had.

I thought that I’d probably be alone all my life if I stayed home, and I’d just be a nuisance for my parents. I decided to go to work for the Claes family, which had always been close to mine.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a marriage and family like other girls, so I focused my energy on work. Unlike the others around me, my work was all I had. After about ten years, my work was rewarded when I was unexpectedly given the position of head maid when the previous one retired.

I was scared that people would treat me lightly because of my young age, so I put even more energy into my duties. With this face, this voice, and this relentless attitude, I had caused the maids and other servants to avoid me altogether. But I didn’t stop giving my best, working to make the most out of my lonely life.

Despite my appearance, I liked frilly dresses, cute dolls, fairy tales with beautiful princesses, and adorable little sweets. People laughed at me because of this ever since I was a child, and so I eventually started enjoying them only in secret.

My aura of austerity was so strong that my colleagues just assumed that I didn’t like sweet things and wouldn’t offer them to me. So when I had some free time, I would bake sweets myself, careful not to be seen, and eat them all alone...

A few years ago, before I was head maid, I had brought my secretly baked treats into the garden where I could sit and eat them by myself.

One of the other maids had recently married and left the mansion. While staring at the grass in front of me, I thought about how now I was just going to see one colleague after another leave me behind.

I’m not particularly talented nor likeable, so it’s just obvious that I can’t get married, but... Their happy smiles... I’m so envious of them... If only a fairy would come out of nowhere, turn me into a princess, and bring me before a handsome prince like in the fairy tales I read as a child...

I was busy daydreaming when I saw someone come out of the tall grass. It was not a fairy, but a little girl covered in leaves. This girl — a duke’s daughter — stared at the sweets I was holding, silent except for the growling of her stomach.

“...Would you like some?” She was staring at me so hard that I couldn’t help but offer her something.

“I can have some?! Really?!” she said, looking so excited that she could have been jumping up and down.

She ate some of my sweets, and despite the fact that they were the work of an amateaur, she took a liking to them — so much so that she would seek me out sometimes to ask for them.

Unlike my colleagues, she never seemed scared or cold around me, and I, too, felt at ease around her.

Once she turned fifteen, she had to go to the Academy of Magic, and her personal maid, Anne, would follow her there.

I also wanted to go to the academy with her... but as head maid, I could not leave the mansion. This made me feel incredibly lonely.

A few days had passed since the young miss left the house.

“Excuse me,” said a voice behind me as I sat in the garden, eating sweets by myself.

Nobody but Katarina usually came here, and she was at the academy right now... so who could it be? I turned around and saw one of the boys that had been working as gardener for the Claes family for the last few years.

He was tall for his age and had an earnest, loyal personality, making him popular amongst the maids. I’d often seen them chat him up, but I’d never talked with him myself.

“...Yes?” I asked, confused.

“Well... I... I really like sweets, and actually, I’ve eaten some of the ones you made. The young miss shared them with me. I really loved them, and... Could I maybe... have some?”

“...Oh, of course,” I said to the blushing boy in front of me, also blushing myself.

I offered him a few of the confections, and he took them with the brightest of smiles.

Eventually, the dream of marrying and having my own family, the one that I’d given up on, came true. But that was a few years later.

The tales I had read as a child were true. That day, the girl who came out of the grass to meet me in the garden really was a fairy, using her magic to bring me happiness.

At the Ladies’ Club

My name is Millidiana Claes. Last spring, my daughter Katarina — the main source of my headaches — left for the Academy of Magic.

My house regained its peace, and the wrinkles that had accumulated on my forehead in the last years slowly began to disappear. I did not receive any troubling communications from the academy, and therefore I believed that even a child as problematic as mine had managed to grow up now that she was attending school.

When she came back for summer vacation, she began tending to the fields and practicing throwing her strange toys, as usual. But as long as she behaved at the academy, I thought that I could forgive her abnormality at home.

But... I had been naive... Terribly so.

Today was the monthly tea party of the Noble Ladies’ Club. This club was composed of several women from the highest ranks of nobility, some of whom were the mothers of boys and girls who were attending the academy and currently home for the summer. Considering this, it was only natural that our conversations that day would revolve around the school.

I listened to the stories that the ladies had heard from their children, while offering some of the stories that I had heard from mine. It was then that I heard about that rumor.

“I heard from my daughter that someone has made a field inside the academy’s grounds!”

“A field? As would be in a farm?”

“Yes, indeed. And what’s more, it would seem that it is a student who is responsible for this.”

“Oh my!”

I tried to match the surprised expressions of the other ladies, carefully hiding the fear that had started creeping up inside of me.

“...But most of the students are from high-ranking families. It would be hard to believe that one of them would do something like that.”

“Indeed! One of the children must have invented this rumor as a joke.”

“That is most likely so.”

“It still is a very ridiculous idea, is it not?”

The others were laughing, and I joined them. “Ridiculous indeed,” I said with a smile. All the while, cold sweat was chilling my back...

Among that collection of noble children, who would ever think of playing farmer? The very thought was no doubt worthy of laughter. But my mind went to the field slowly taking over the Claes Manor garden... and to Katarina, happily tilling the soil...

I had believed that, at least at the academy, she was behaving properly. I had been wrong.

Just wait until I get home...

I clenched my fists below the table.

At the Academy of Magic

Wielders of magic from all over the country must enroll at the Academy of Magic once they turn fifteen. I was no exception — I was the daughter of a baron living far from the capital, and at the age of six, I used magic for the first time.

I entered the academy last spring. But as I came from a countryside family, I didn’t feel at ease amongst the other, higher-ranking nobles. Had my magic been particularly powerful, my academic performance stellar, or my appearance beautiful — or, maybe, had I been a Light Magic user, like Maria Campbell — then I could have kept my head high from the start.

Alas, my magic was weak, and I lagged behind in my studies. I was sometimes told that I had a very friendly face, but I’d never been called beautiful. I felt out of place.

When they found out that their daughter could use magic — a first in the family — my parents were overcome with joy. But once in the academy, the others looked down upon me for coming from a relatively poor family from the countryside, and even bossed me around like a servant.

After a few months, I already wanted to go back home.

...But then, something happened.

I was discreetly reading a book in a corner of the classroom, one of the romance novels that aristocratic society scorned. But I had loved them since before moving to the capital, and I had secretly brought them with me from home.

“Is that... a romance novel?”

I looked up at the person who had asked me that question, and found that it was someone of such a high rank that it was surprising that they would bother talking with the daughter of a poor country baron.

Katarina Claes was a duke’s daughter, and she was engaged to a prince. She stood near the top of the country’s hierarchy, and therefore, even as her classmate, I could not simply talk to her like I would with another girl my age. In fact, I had never spoken with her even once.

Surprised by being spoken to, I froze on the spot, confused. But she smiled at me.

“I like romance novels too! Would you like to chat sometime?”

I accepted her invitation, and before I knew it, I was regularly meeting with her to have tea and talk about novels. And once I started spending time with her, the others at the academy stopped looking down on me and treating me like a servant.

Katarina was a wonderful, incredible person. She had the confident demeanor of a duchess, but she never put on airs like other high-ranking nobles, and never looked down upon anyone. She was even kind to me, the lowly daughter of a baron from the country.

I eventually realized that Katarina had stolen my heart. When I watched her playing with dogs in the thickets near the academy, or tending to the plants in the garden, I was reminded of the saintly girls of romance novels.

I was so focused on admiring her that I fell down and got dirt on my dress. Seeing this, Katarina offered me her handkerchief.

“It would get dirty,” I said, trying to refuse.

But she smiled at me and said, “No problem! You can keep it!”

I held that handkerchief to my chest, swearing to treasure it forever.

I didn’t want to go back home anymore... I wanted to stay here, near Katarina, for as long as I could.

★★★★★★★

“Big Sister, what happened to that thing you used to wear on your head?”

“Oh, the kerchief? I gave it to a classmate.”

“What?! You didn’t make that classmate wear it like you always do, did you?”

“No, she fell down and her dress had got dirty, so I gave it to her to clean herself up.”

“I see... Phew... Wait, why didn’t you just give her your handkerchief?”

“I used it to clean my hands after working on the field, so it was all dirty.”

“Oh, I see... Hm? Isn’t the hem of your dress a little frayed?”

“Yep, the other day I was in the thicket and I met my worst enemy... a dog. It bit the hem of my dress, but it was only a puppy, so I managed to chase him off!”

“That’s... That’s wonderful... Anyway, I’m glad to see you so full of energy, but try to tone it down while you’re at the academy. A few days ago you were picking fruit from the trees in the garden and eating it, weren’t you? This isn’t home, so you can’t eat anything that you find lying down on the floor...”

“But it wasn’t lying on the floor! I got it from a tree!”

“You’re missing the point... Keeping Mother in the dark is starting to become difficult, so please, try to behave.”

“...Okay,” I said with a half-hearted nod, and my brother sighed.

At the Ladies’ Club, Again

“Your daughter really is wonderful, Lady Claes. A lot of students worship her and say that she is like a saint.”

I was at the monthly meeting of the Ladies’ Club, talking with the mother of a child who, like Katarina, was currently attending the academy.

I thought I had misheard her, but when I asked her to repeat what she had just said, I realized that this was not the case...

This must be a misunderstanding... She must be mistaking my child for someone else’s.

I only had one daughter, and a very problematic one at that. So problematic, in fact, that I often wondered where I went wrong in bringing her up.

Despite being from a noble family — a duke’s family, no less — she climbed up trees in her dress, tilled the soil while wearing a kerchief over her head, and ate things that she found on the ground. Had I heard of a problem student who was known for her monkey-esque behavior, then sure... that would be my daughter.

There was no way that Katarina was thought of as a saint. And yet...

“Are you quite sure that it is my daughter you are referring to?”

“Of course. I am talking about Katarina Claes.”

“My own daughter is actually part of the Katarina Appreciation Society.”

“...A-Appreciation Society?”

“Yes. Of course it is not an official organization, but it has quite a few members.”

I was so shocked that my mouth fell open and I almost froze that way.

This is impossible!

An appreciation society? For that devilish daughter of mine? Who could appreciate that monkey? Are they sure it is not Keith they are talking about?

I am very sorry for Katarina, but looking at them objectively, Keith is much more talented and admirable, despite not being biologically related to me.

Knowing this, I asked again and again... but there was no mistake. Katarina was the one with a fan club. And all the things I heard about her sounded like they were about someone else’s daughter.

She loves plants? She only climbs trees and picks fruit to eat...

Animals love her? I have only seen dogs bark at her and chase her around...

I could hardly believe that this was the Katarina I knew. Perhaps the way I saw her behave at home was only a facade, and her real self was a saintly, admirable lady.

Coincidentally, she was now at home for the summer. I decided that, after the tea party, I would ask her directly.

★★★★★★★★

“Heigh-ho! Heave-ho!”

As soon as I came back home, I found Katarina with a kerchief on her head, loudly bringing down the hoe to the field.

Seeing her like that... I was sure that the ladies at the club must have been mistaking her for someone else. Moments ago, I had thought that perhaps she really had a proper, lady-like side to her... But not anymore.

“Huff! Heave-ho! Heigh-ho!”

Her appalling exclamations echoed through the garden of the venerable Claes Manor. Hearing that was enough to make me feel tired, and I elected to retreat inside.

Katarina... I know you cannot become the wonderful lady the rumors say you are, but at least... try to become presentable... Alone in my room, I let out a deep sigh.

Once Katarina came back from the field, I told her to stop those weird sounds of hers... but the next day, once again, the garden of the venerable Claes Manor echoed with the sound of “Heigh-ho!”

★★★★★★★★

“Your daughter, today...” I was complaining about Katarina to my husband in our bedroom, as I often did.

“She’s always full of energy, isn’t she?” replied Luigi Claes with a smile.

He was handsome, kind, and talented; a truly wonderful husband. But he had one fault: When it came to Katarina, he was extremely soft. He loved her so much that no matter what incident she got herself into, he would laugh and forgive her.

He had better realize what kind of girl his daughter has turned into...

“It is nothing so endearing as her simply having too much energy... She is always so rushed, never stopping to think before she acts. Once she has her mind set on something, she never listens to those around her. Who did she get that personality from?” I said with a sigh, and Luigi looked at me as if wanting to say something.

“What is it?”

“...No, it’s nothing,” he said, so I continued to complain about Katarina for a while.

I still cannot fathom how she could grow up with a personality like that. That is what I thought as I fell asleep, and luckily, the words that my husband muttered by my side never reached my ears.

“Katarina didn’t only get her face from you...”

Having Met You

～Keith Claes～

“I wish you were never born!”

“Why must that brat stay in my house?”

“Go away, you monster!”

Why? Why does everyone hate me?

Why doesn’t anyone stay by my side?

I don’t want to be alone.

I’m so lonely.

Please... Someone... Anyone. Stay with me.

I woke up and looked at the ceiling that, in the past months, I had become used to seeing. That’s right, I thought, this is Claes Manor. This is my family now. I sighed in relief.

Ever since I was born, I had always been hated and treated like a nuisance. However, this was not the case anymore since I had come to Claes Manor. My kind family was happy to share their meals with me, and cared about me and my health. I had all that I had ever wished for.

And yet, I still sometimes had those dreams from the past. Dreams of being insulted and rejected. It should have all been behind me, but... it still made my chest hurt.

Today, I was supposed to attend a tea party along with my sister. With my chest still hurting, I started to prepare.

“Thank you for coming with me, Keith,” said Katarina, smiling at me on the carriage that was to take us to the tea party. Her smile made me feel better.

“I’m bad at remembering faces, so going alone is a bit scary. I’m so happy you’re here with me!” Her blue eyes were looking straight into mine. “Thank you for coming to our family, Keith. I’m so glad that I could become your sister.”

Hearing these words almost made me cry. Happiness warmed my chest, that had been filled with pain from my dream, from the inside.

Katarina Claes is such a mysterious girl. She always says just the right thing at the right time.

“...I’m just as glad to be part of the Claes family and to have you as a sister,” I told her, and she gave me yet another one of those kind smiles of hers.

I’m so grateful to have met Katarina, I thought from the bottom of my heart.

～Mary Hunt～

After first meeting Katarina, I spent the next few months trying to become a lady respectable enough to be worthy of her company.

I had to train in a wide variety of fields: academics, dance, etiquette, and more. With no particular talent, I was actually a slower learner than those around me, which is why none of this training went smoothly. I had to put in more effort than anyone else.

I studied all night, asking question upon question of my instructor whenever he was there. I practiced etiquette day after day until I finally managed to behave correctly in any situation. I worked on dancing for so long that I wore out my shoes and my feet began to bleed.

My half-sisters from another mother laughed at my efforts.

“Look at this talentless fool trying so hard!”

“A noble lady training so obsessively is nothing short of embarrassing.”

“She is just as bad as expected of someone born from a low-ranking mother!”

These words felt like arrows piercing into my chest, poisoning it with pain.

But whenever I was with Katarina, the pain became lighter. And then, one day...

“Ouch...”

“Mary? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

As soon as I stopped walking and crouched down, Katarina worriedly called out to me. I had come to her house for a visit, and we were now going through the garden and to her field. My foot had suddenly started aching, and, taking a good look at it, I saw that it was bleeding slightly.

“Mary! You’re hurt! Did you hit your foot somewhere?!” said Katarina.

Influenced by her panic, I replied with a hint of panic as well. “...It’s fine. Yesterday I practiced dancing for too long, and my feet are a bit worn out... that is all.”

“Dancing?”

“Yes. I’m a bad dancer, so I have to practice harder than most people...”

I immediately regretted saying this. Will she think that I can’t even dance without practicing until my feet bleed? Will she laugh at me?

Worried, I looked at Katarina. But her eyes held none of the contempt that my sisters did. She was looking at me in awe.

“Working so hard to improve at something you’re bad at... Mary, you’re incredible. I should really learn from you!”

I gave my best day after day, only to be made a fool of. “Why are you trying so hard?” they said, laughing at me.

But I didn’t care anymore... because she was here. And she told me I was incredible for working so hard.

“Let’s go back to the manor and tend to your wounds,” said Katarina, dragging me by the hand. But I could only think of one thing:

I’m so grateful to have met Katarina Claes.

About Our Engagement

I called for my fiancée, Mary Hunt, telling her that we had to talk. We planned to meet in a private room in the dorm so that nobody would be around to overhear us.

I wanted to finally talk to her about something that I’d been thinking about for a long time. It’d been almost a month since Katarina was attacked with Dark Magic. We’d all been scared out of our minds, but in the end, she had been fine.

The guy who was behind it all, Sirius — or Raphael, I guess — left the academy, and work at the student council had been hectic for a while. But now things had gone back to normal.

And there was something that I absolutely had to do.

I, Alan Stuart, was eight years old when I got engaged to Mary, the fourth-born daughter of Marquess Hunt. She was cute and she worked really hard, and I liked her, but I started to realize that my feelings for her weren’t romantic.

This happened because of the incident that had almost killed Katarina. When I thought of losing her, it made me realize that I was in love with her. And once those feelings started pouring out of my heart, I couldn’t stop them anymore. All I wanted was to be by her side, and to see her smile.

Of course, I knew that she was already engaged to my brother. So my wish would never come true. But I still wanted to stay with her for as long as I could.

And then, while thinking about my feelings, I thought of Mary. I liked her, yeah, but it was more like brotherly love than anything romantic. Sure, that still is love, but... how would she take it? Would she be happy, married to a man who loves someone else?

After mulling over the problem, I decided to tell Mary the truth: that I loved someone else, someone who I wasn’t allowed to love. I wanted her to decide what to do about our engagement. Whether to keep it or cancel it...

Finally, Mary came.

My lovely fiancée looked curiously at my grim expression. I didn’t mention Katarina’s name, but apart from that, I told her everything.

“Mary, I’m really sorry. If you want, I’ll have the engagement canceled immediately, so that it won’t bother you anymore.”

At first she had been surprised, but then her expression looked irritated.

“...He is more earnest than I predicted. This is going to be such a pain...”

“What?”

Mary said something, but her voice was so low that I couldn’t make out her words.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said with a smile. “I understand how you feel... but if we cancel the engagement, my family will surely pester me to enter a new one as soon as possible. And I would not want that.”

“Why not? You’re so popular that you’d have no problem finding a great husband that loves you.”

There were actually a lot of men who’d jump at the opportunity if Mary canceled her engagement. But she shook her head with a grim look.

“No, that is out of the question... I have kept it a secret until now, but... My feelings, too, are for someone else.”

“What?!” My jaw dropped in surprise.

“I’m sorry to have hidden this from you for so long... But my love is also a forbidden one.”

“I see... We’ve been in the same boat all along...”

Who would have guessed that she loved someone else that she wasn’t allowed to also? And how could I fail to notice that? I’m so dense.

“But I don’t want to give up... The odds are against me, but I will give my best. Rather than having to deal with a new fiancé, it would be much more convenient for me to keep things as they are. Please, don’t cancel our engagement,” she said, on the verge of tears.

How could I tell her no, when she looked at me like that?

“Okay. Let’s stay engaged until your love is fulfilled,” I said, and her face lit up into a happy smile.

It was much later than I found out that this girl, with her lovely smile, was another rival... and a formidable one at that.

He Found Out About the Thing

“Say, Katarina. Why is your pocket always bulging? It has been bothering me for a while.”

After having overcome the Catastrophic Bad Ends, I was leisurely drinking tea with Jeord, who asked me that question.

Uh? Do I have something in my pocket? I thought, sticking my hand inside it and taking out the contents.

It was a toy snake, the best one I’d built in the past eight years. I had put it in my pocket the other night to save myself from catastrophe, and I’d forgotten that it was there.

And I took it out in front of Jeord, of all people...

I threw one at him once eight years ago, and his retribution was so harsh that, ever since, I’d always made sure he wouldn’t see me building them or practicing throwing them.

Why did I forget about it at a time like this?! I avoided a bad end, but it feels like I’m heading for another...

I clenched my fist around the snake, avoiding looking at Jeord’s face. But without even looking, I could feel the tension building.

Oh no... I have to come up with something...

“Ah, wow! What is this, I wonder? Who would ever put something like this inside my pocket?”

Let’s go with the old “someone put it in my pocket and I didn’t notice” trick.

My delivery was so-so, but the idea, if I may say so myself, was brilliant. I would just pretend that this toy snake wasn’t mine, and that someone had put it there as part of some kind of conspiracy.

“When did this get in here?” I said, continuing my spiel.

“What? Someone put it in there, and you didn’t notice?!” asked Jeord, confused. His expression was as tense as his voice.

Yes! I fooled him! Not bad, Katarina, not bad. You could become an actress one day! Now confident in my acting skills, I pressed even further.

“Yes... Who could have done it?” I said with a distressed expression, feeling like a movie star.

“Who indeed, who could do something like this?” said Jeord, who I had tricked one hundred percent.

Phew. Crisis averted, I thought. But...

“...Is that what you really expected me to say?”

“What?!”

I looked at Jeord, whose voice had suddenly changed, and his face had the same evil smile of eight years ago when I had thrown the snake at him.

...Why? Hadn’t I fooled him? I stared at him, confused, and he went on talking.

“How could you possibly not notice if someone put something in your pocket? And why would anyone do that in the first place?”

“...That’s... true...”

Now that I heard him say that, I realized that my idea wasn’t so brilliant after all. Jeord really is a genius...

“You are about the only one who could ever be fooled by a lie as silly as that!”

“...”

“And I had kept quiet about it until now, but I knew that you were making those things and practicing throwing them!”

“Wha?!” I’d done everything I could so that he wouldn’t notice... but it was all in vain!

“So, would you care to explain why you were doing those things?” he said with the most charming of smiles.

“Well... that’s...” I froze. I couldn’t tell him “To throw them at you when push comes to shove.”

“Well, I do have a general idea... What should I do now? Should I tell your mother about this?”

“No, please, anything but that...” I started panicking as Jeord’s smile grew even more evil. If Mother found out, I’d never hear the end of it...

“I see... I will not do it, then... But you must do something for me in return.”

“Of course! I’ll do anything! Thank you!”

I survived! Whatever he asked of me, it could never be as bad as the scolding that Mother would give me.

Jeord brought his handsome face closer to me. “Tonight, by yourself, come to my room. And make sure that no one sees you.”

“Hm? Why?”

I was expecting him to ask me to do his homework, or go buy his lunch, or something... Why did I have to go there without being noticed? Did he have some secret to share?

“You will find out why once you come. You said you would do anything, did you not?”

“Y-Yes...”

It really did sound like he wanted to share a secret with me. I’ll be happy to listen to him and help him out.

“I am looking forward to seeing you tonight,” he whispered into my ear with a questionable smile, and I felt a chill run down my spine. I wonder why that is. Weird.

While I was wondering about that chill, I felt someone dragging me to the side. I was surprised to see Keith there.

“Jeord... you are getting uncomfortably close to her.”

“She is my fiancée; it is only normal that I would get close to her. You, on the other hand, should refrain from touching her so carelessly. Are you not a bit too old to be so attached to your sister?”

Jeord had replied to Keith’s rough remark with a smile, but the next reply didn’t come from Keith, but from someone else.

“Katarina is not yours yet, Prince Jeord... You still are not married,” said Sophia, who had appeared out of nowhere with an angry look on her face.

“Indeed. You are simply engaged, and that may change at any moment!”

“What do you mean by that, Lady Mary?”

“I meant what I just said, Prince Jeord,” said a smiling Mary to a smiling Jeord.

They all look so cheerful, smiling at each other... but for some reason, I felt like there was some tension in the air.

All the members of the student council had somehow come together around me, and they all looked mad. And I could still feel that tension in the air. I thought I’d overcome the bad ends...

“Katarina, are you done talking with Prince Jeord?” asked Mary menacingly.

“Uh? Oh, yes,” I said, and she forcefully grabbed my hand.

“Let’s go drink some tea somewhere else, then.”

“Uh... sure.”

I then had tea while chatting with Mary, Sophia, and Maria, and that weird chill in my back finally calmed down.

I wonder what that was... Did I catch a cold?

I didn’t manage to get to Jeord’s room that night, as Keith and the others found me out. They scolded me, and told me never to do something like that again.

They had a point... A lady shouldn’t go to a man’s room alone at night. Next time I’ll tell Jeord that I’ll listen to whatever is troubling him during the day. But still, what is this weird tension between all of my friends? The Catastrophic Bad Ends were supposed to be a thing of the past...

What Happened to the Thing

One day, when I was in town with my son, we passed in front of a store that was owned by an acquaintance who mainly traded in wooden containers and boxes.

“Oh! Dad, look at that! Wow! Can I have it?” said my son, pulling me inside by my hand.

The store was renowned for its product assortment and quality, and even served some noble families... Did it really sell anything that could catch an eight-year-old’s eye?

Curious, I looked at what my son was pointing to, and saw... a snake.

At first I was startled to see it sitting there on the table, but when I took a better look, I realized that it was just a toy.

“Wow! Wow!” my son kept yelling, completely charmed by the thing.

That toy was really well-made — anyone would have been fooled by it. We both peered at it, with my son crouching to bring his head level to the table and me standing behind him.

“Welcome,” the shop owner greeted us.

“Hello,” I replied, then asked about the snake that my son was so enamoured with.

“I was visiting a noble family to sell them some goods and found it lying on a shelf. I praised its craftsmanship and one of the servants just gave it to me, saying that they have so many lying around that they don’t know what to do with them,” he explained.

“A noble family?”

Did some rich aristocrat carve this during a bout of bored lunacy? It looked too well-made for that explanation.

“Dad! Can I have it? I can, can’t I?” asked my son, his eyes twinkling at the lifelike toy snake.

After asking for the shop owner’s permission, I picked it up. It was much lighter than I had expected, and for some reason, it was very comfortable to hold. It was almost as if it had been built to fit in one’s hand.

After thinking for a while, I said, “Say, could I have this?”

“Sure. I got it for free to begin with,” he replied instantly.

“By the way, where did you get it?” I inquired further.

“Duke Claes’ mansion. Despite their rank, it’s a really nice family, and all the servants are so friendly.”

“I see... Duke Claes... And the servant that gave this to you said that they have a lot of these lying around, right?”

“That’s right, but... why? Do you want more of them?” said the shop owner in surprise as I grinned.

“Exactly. Can’t you see my son’s face? Kids love a toy that looks just like a real animal. And it’s light and easy to hold. They would make a killing if I started selling them!”

“Would they? Well, I guess if the town’s top merchant says so, it must be true.”

Indeed, I had quite the influence amongst merchants in the town, and — not to brag — I was also the one with the largest profits. Almost all of the new products that I started selling were hits. And my instinct told me that this toy snake would be, too.

“There’s no time to lose! I have to go to Claes Manor!”

I left the shop, with the snake I had gotten for free in one hand and my son’s hand in the other.

The more I looked at that toy, the more I realized how well it was built. The person who carved it obviously wanted to make it look as much as possible like a real snake.

But if they didn’t want to sell them and just left them collecting dust... then why did they even build them?

★★★★★★★

“...ATCHOO!”

I suddenly felt an itch in my nose and let out a loud sneeze, and Keith, who was next to me, gave me a bothered look.

“Big Sister, that sneeze wasn’t very ladylike...”

“What am I supposed to do? A sneeze is a sneeze,” I said, sniffing.

Keith looked even more bothered than before and sighed, picking up the fruit of Grandpa Tom’s and my labor from the shelf. “And by the way, Big Sister... what’s with all these snakes? I’m seeing them all over the house lately. Why don’t you throw them out already?”

“What?! Throw them out?! Grandpa Tom and I put our heart and souls into making them! I could never do that!”

“At least don’t leave them around like this... Guests are weirded out by them.”

“Well, I’ve made so many of them, but now I don’t need them anymore... I just wanted to use them somehow!”

I thought that putting them away where no one could see them would be a waste, and so I placed them in the open, but... unfortunately, people didn’t seem to like them.

At first I was praised for how well they were made, but now it was all “Get rid of them” and “They’re a nuisance”... What a bummer.

Keith looked, perplexed, at my disappointed face and asked, “Why have you been building these in the first place?”

“...Well, that’s...” I could never tell him that I was planning to throw them at Jeord, so I remained silent, prompting another sigh from my brother.

“Whatever the case, you should get rid of them. If Mother comes back home and finds toy snakes all over the place, you’ll be in for one stern talking-to.”

He was right... Mother had been out on vacation with Father for a few days, and she wouldn’t be happy to find my masterpieces decorating the house. On top of that, I ended up breaking one of her favorite vases while I was laying the snakes around, so I couldn’t just leave things as they were. I knew that, but...

“Aww... But throwing them out after all the months and years I’ve spent making them would be such a waste... I’d like to at least give them to someone...”

My poor toy snakes, stuffed away where nobody can look at them? That’s too sad!

“...Yes, if there were anyone who would accept them,” said Keith, giving me a blank stare.

At that time, I still didn’t know that the same toy snakes that everyone in the house treated as a nuisance would become a hit in town.

The Start of Father and Mother’s Romance

“Now that their third daughter has married into a good household, Duke Adeth must be elated.”

“Indeed... However, not only has the second daughter yet to marry, but she is not even engaged yet.”

“Is she not? Do you mean that her younger sister married before her?”

“Precisely. Rumor has it that she is not as sociable as her siblings, and has a rather stern face that drives suitors away.”

“But she is not so young anymore... At this rate, she may become too old for marriage before she finds a fiancé.”

“That is true, and it is the very reason why Duke Adeth is searching far and wide for someone to marry his daughter.”

“To think that a duke’s daughter would have trouble finding a man! Poor Duke Adeth, he must be so embarrassed.”

“I am sure he is!”

The two ladies’ tone had more than a hint of mockery to it. I left the room, taking care not to be noticed by them.

I am Millidiana Adeth, Duke Adeth’s second daughter. Today was the day of the party celebrating my younger sister’s marriage.

Among the many words of congratulations, one could hear remarks like the ones the two ladies had just made, making the party a very uncomfortable place for me to be.

I was much more shy than my siblings, and my face looked, as people remarked behind my back, as if I were always scoffing at everyone. For these reasons, I still was not engaged, let alone married.

My father, as Duke, insisted that I marry someone worthy of my rank. But all the candidates he found for me routinely fell for my sisters, who were much more talented and sociable than me.

Despite all this, my family, far from treating me as a bother, was very kind to me. My mother and siblings would always stand up against anyone who insulted me, and my father was still looking for someone who would marry me. But being treated so kindly made me feel even worse about myself.

If only I had the kind smile of my sisters, I thought in disappointment as I found myself grimacing at today’s party. Just being there filled me with sorrow. Had the one being celebrated not been my beloved sister, who would always side with me, I would have already said that I did not feel well and left.

I sighed and moved towards a corner of the room, planning to hide until the party was over, but the hall was suddenly filled with excited voices. I looked at where the excitement was coming from and saw a man, who had likely just arrived — late.

The voices belonged to the ladies swarming around him. Curious, I walked closer to discover the reason for so much fuss.

He was incredibly, stunningly handsome. His shiny golden hair and blue eyes made him look like a prince from a fairy tale. I reacted to seeing him in much the same way as the other ladies: by blushing and staring.

“He is so handsome!”

“Who is he?”

“You do not know him? He is Luigi Claes, from the duke’s family!”

“He is that Luigi?”

I overheard the man’s identity... Luigi Claes, heir to Duke Claes. Even someone as unsociable as me, who seldom attended balls and had few friends, knew of his name. He was beautiful, charming, smart, and talented... and, as if that was not enough, he was destined to become duke. No other man was as sought-after as him in aristocratic society.

A single glance was enough for me to fall for him, but now that I knew who he was, I could never approach him. My rank may have been high enough, but someone as beautiful as him seemed to come from another world than I, a girl whose unapproachable personality had kept me unmarried.

I managed to tear my eyes away from him and tried to move back to the corner I had come from.

“Millidiana!” called out a voice from behind me.

It was my father, wearing a wide smile on his face. And beside him was... Luigi Claes?!

I was paralyzed with surprise, but Father gestured for me to come to them. To be honest, I did not want to go so near the center of the hall, nor near someone who gathered as much attention as Luigi... However, I could not pretend that I had not noticed my father, so I begrudgingly obliged.

“Luigi, this is Millidiana, my second daughter.”

“I am Millidiana Adeth. It is a pleasure to meet you,” I said, in the most ladylike fashion I could manage.

“I am Luigi Claes. The pleasure is mine. Your father has always been very kind to me,” he replied with a smile so charming that it made all the ladies around us sigh. Of course, after sighing, they shot me their coldest stares...

He was even more handsome up close... As his blue eyes looked into mine, I felt my face becoming hot.

And the scariest thing was that he was so attractive that when he told me, “You are truly beautiful, Lady Millidiana,” I felt like passing out despite knowing that it could be nothing but empty flattery.

For reasons I did not understand, Luigi ended up spending the rest of the party with me. My father had probably asked him to do so — it would not be good for the host’s daughter to be alone against a wall the whole time — and he had complied, repaying whatever favors he had received previously.

At first, I felt uncomfortable being stared at with hate by the ladies who wanted to enjoy Luigi’s company, but then I realized that I would never have another opportunity like this and forgot about them.

Once this party is over, he will probably never even look at me again... I might as well enjoy my time with this fairytale prince while it lasts.

And enjoy it I did, as happy and smiling as I had ever been.

“Millidiana, I had a lot of fun with you today. Let’s see each other again,” he told me with a smile when we parted.

Enchanted, I replied, “Of course.”

But I knew that we would not meet again.

...Or so I thought.

“Wh-What did you just say, Father?” I asked in a daze.

“As I said, your engagement has been decided, Millidiana. It was Luigi Claes who asked for your hand. Quite the wonderful news, don’t you think?”

“Luigi... Claes...”

I listened to my father, but what he was saying was so difficult to believe that I could not process it. Luigi? Asking for my hand? Why would someone as popular as him do such a thing?

As I was still too shocked to comprehend the situation, time passed and the preparations went so far that the date of the wedding had already been decided.

I was madly in love with Luigi, but I did not know why he would ever stay by my side and give me the kind words that he did... until the other ladies from high society told me.

“Luigi has been treated very well by the Adeth family, so he took the leftover daughter to repay the favor.”

“He has such a strong sense of duty, he must have felt obligated to help them!”

“It is so sad that such a wonderful man would have to marry such an undesirable girl.”

Their words cleared up all of my questions. Luigi married me to repay my father’s favors... After all, the first time we met, he did say, “Your father has always been very kind to me.”

That’s why he married me... out of obligation...

But, even after knowing the truth, my feelings for him would not disappear... Still torn between happiness and sadness, I became Millidiana Claes.

Luigi was always very kind to me, but, maybe because he had only taken me as his wife out of duty, I could feel some distance between us.

I love him... but he does not love me back. The more he was kind to me, the more I fell in love with him... and the more painful it became. Even after our daughter was born, things did not change.

However... when our daughter was eight years old, we adopted a child to be our son. Then, after a series of incidents, I finally realized that we had been misunderstanding each other all along.

He had not married me out of obligation, but had loved me from the start. The pain I had felt in my chest for all these years disappeared at once. We were finally able to feel like a married couple for the first time.

At last, I was happy from the bottom of my heart.

“Heigh-ho!”

We now loved each other more than ever, and our days together were as sweet as those of two newlyweds.

“Heave-ho!”

Our adopted son was also smart and talented, adding to my happiness.

“Heigh-ho!”

...What’s this sound?

I was drinking my afternoon tea, savoring the moment as I remembered the past... but these weird sounds coming from the garden were ruining the atmosphere.

There was only one person who would yell like that in this respectable, venerable family. I put my tea back onto the table and made for the door leading to the garden. Once there, I found that the noise had come from the person that I had expected, who was tilling the soil in the getup that I had also expected.

Because of that person, the beautiful Claes garden was slowly turning into a field.

“Heigh-ho! Heave-ho!”

I approached that person, who was so concentrated on working the hoe that she did not even notice me.

“Katarina!”