Episode 47
Without a word, Isaac took the tea he had brewed properly and headed toward her.
Caroline looked at the tea, steeped to a deep crimson, and only then gave a light hum of satisfaction before bringing it to her lips and drinking.
A brief silence fell. It was the sort of peace that came only when Caroline kept her mouth shut and, on rare occasions, sank into thought.
Caroline’s nagging was wearisome, but Isaac rather liked this moment.
He liked Caroline, who, whenever Edmund returned from the academy for summer or winter break, would single Isaac out and tell him to come visit.
The only one.
“……You needn’t worry about a dowry or trousseau. Nor about any other trifling matters.”
After quite some time, Caroline opened her mouth and spoke. Isaac looked at the teacup in her hand, already half empty.
“I must hear what that woman has to say as well.”
“Isaac, there is no need to put on that act even in front of me. Do you behave so stiffly and rudely even to Miss Grayson’s face?”
“……No.”
In truth, it was far more disastrous than that.
His first impression had been an utter mess, he had been cold to her the entire time, and in the midst of it all he had displayed a colorful variety of shameful moments.
Instead of answering honestly, Isaac amended it ambiguously with, “Perhaps.”
“At any rate, I am saying there is nothing to worry about on this side. Is that not what concerns you most? Having to speak with your father because of the marriage—is that not what you found most dreadful?”
Caroline struck precisely at his sore spot.
Isaac did not answer.
“I am telling you there is no need to worry about that. I am the eldest, so I will take care of everything. Your father will leave it all to me as well.”
As Isaac listened to her calm words, something seemed to occur to him, and he asked her,
“That absurd condition of marriage—was it perhaps something he permitted?”
Caroline narrowed her cloudy brown eyes. Then, before long, she answered readily.
“Of course. However things may be, your father is the head of the family. Did you think I could do whatever I liked simply because I wished to? It was all possible because your father gave his tacit permission, Isaac.”
“…….”
“That is why Rachel and Philip held even greater expectations, just in case.”
“…….”
“We keep coming back to the same refrain. In any case, that is enough about your cousins. If they bother you so much, then blame only me. Do you understand?”
After that, the conversation returned to the main subject.
Caroline even told him that the family gathering could simply be held at the wedding anyway, and that all matters should be handled through her.
It was consideration for Isaac, who was extremely reluctant to visit the count’s estate at all. Not for Miss Grayson, not that woman.
Isaac felt relieved by that fact, yet also a little ashamed. And a little uneasy.
He wondered what she would think if she were ever to learn of his pathetic circumstances.
Even though, since it was a contract marriage anyway, there was no need to look good in front of the other party.
“By the way, on my way here, I saw the village was bustling in all sorts of ways.”
“It is because the summer solstice festival is soon. The soldiers will be mobilized as well.”
“Hm. I see. A local festival, is it. Not bad. It will be far less complicated than the capital, and pleasant to enjoy quietly.”
“It will not be that quiet.”
At Isaac’s prompt, corrective reply, Caroline stuck out her lips in a pout.
“Do you think I came all the way here at my age to enjoy a festival? I mean you, Isaac.”
“What about me this time?”
“You should invite Miss Grayson. Do you think chances to grow closer are as common as a festival like that? It is far better than paying money to rent places here and there. Natural, too.”
Caroline, of course, could not have known from the start and therefore surely had no such intention, but as the incident at the restaurant not long ago came to mind, Isaac’s face flushed hot.
“I will handle it myself.”
“Yes. You handle it yourself. I have no intention of teaching you even how to conduct your romance.”
“You have already lectured me quite enough.”
Instead of answering Isaac’s perfectly reasonable retort, Caroline gathered her bag and rose from her seat.
“I should be going now.”
“Will you not stay longer?”
“I have an appointment with a friend in the capital. It is truly exhausting, going about to meet friends at this age.”
“Could you not tell your friend to come to you, Grandmother?”
“As if taking turns could always be done so neatly. In the end, the one who wants to see the other first must go.”
Caroline stood before the door and looked up at him, as if to say, Open it.
Isaac obediently opened the door so she could leave.
＊＊＊
After seeing Caroline off, Isaac returned to his room in the lodgings and agonized for a while.
He sat at his desk, took out a fresh sheet of stationery and a pen without any plan, wrote a greeting, crumpled it up and threw it away, then took out another fresh sheet and wrote, “Have you been well?” only to throw that away too.
Have you been well? That seemed too distant.
No, it was true that theirs was a relationship with an appropriate amount of distance.
Should he simply mention that there would be a festival and suggest she come by?
Lightly.
However, those light words simply would not come.
Fine. Then what pretext was there?
The contract was still being drafted, and she had said she would personally take charge of the wedding preparations.
There was not even a suitable pretext to call her over.
No, in the first place, what was the point of searching for a pretext to call her?
No, really.
What was the point of trying to look good to someone he had already agreed to marry?
Once that thought occurred to him, Isaac simply rolled away the pen he had been holding. He walked to the bed and lay down as if collapsing.
And in that state, he was plagued by idle thoughts for two hours before finally falling asleep.
Unexpected, welcome news was bound to arrive someday.
To be precise, it came to him first.
“……Ah, Captain Fincher.”
Sasha recognized him and smiled. Isaac, who had recognized her and stopped in the middle of the corridor, stared at her for a moment with a foolish look on his face.
“I heard there would be a festival here tomorrow. Mrs. Wells invited me, so I stopped by for a bit.”
Sasha answered clearly.
Isaac stared blankly at her, then barely managed to answer in a slow, crawling voice, “Yes…….”
Mathilda, who had apparently invited her, was talking with Major Wells inside the office.
No, it did not seem like a simple conversation. Their voices were growing louder and louder.
“The atmosphere seemed a little unusual, so I came out.”
Sasha said. Isaac nodded as if he understood.
“……Then would you like to stay on my side, at least? This place is too…… well, it is a corridor.”
What on earth did it mean for a place to be too much of a corridor?
Isaac grumbled inwardly, then flinched.
“No, that will not do. It is still being cleaned.”
“Ah, you clean?”
Sasha asked Isaac, sounding surprised despite herself.
Her face soon flushed as if embarrassed, and she waved her hands.
“No, I mean.”
“It is all right. It is a natural reaction. Considering the state of the office I showed you before……”
“No. I actually liked it. There was a lot to see. I mean, I was able to see layers of history piled up in real time.”
“…….”
As expected of someone who had talked him into things before, she certainly knew how to dress her words up nicely.
An awkward silence flowed, and Sasha seemed to take Isaac’s silence as offense.
Just as she was about to open her mouth, the door over there opened and Mathilda came out, huffing.
“Oh my!”
As soon as Mathilda discovered them, she let out an exaggerated exclamation.
At times, Mathilda acted even more dramatically than his grandmother.
“I should be going now.”
When Isaac saw Mathilda’s face brighten radiantly and tried to leave as if fleeing, Mathilda quickly approached and struck his forearm.
Isaac, slightly flustered, looked down at Mathilda, who was much smaller than he was.
“I was looking for you anyway, Captain.”
Mathilda said.
Isaac cast his gaze inside the doorway. His eyes met those of Major Wells, who was sitting quietly at his desk.
When their eyes met, he gave Isaac a brief look.
“Tomorrow is the festival, you know. You do know, right?”
Mathilda said in an excited tone.
As if pouring cold water on her, Isaac answered with an expressionless face, “Yes.”
“I was just worried because there was no one to show Miss Sasha around during the festival, but this worked out well. I will be walking around with my husband.”
“……Are you saying that after going to the trouble of inviting her, you intended to leave her alone?”
When Isaac failed to play along and instead got angry at her, Mathilda sighed as if dumbfounded.
“Good heavens. Captain, are you really going to be like this?”
Mathilda whispered so that only he could hear.
“Like what?”
Isaac asked back, oblivious.
“…….”
Sasha was gazing into the air with a faint smile, as though she could hear nothing at all.
Sometimes, people had a tendency not to know just how loud their own voices were.