21.
First, I took Veronica upstairs to the second floor.
A cramped living space.
One bed.
One desk.
The moment she came up to the second floor, Veronica clenched both fists and exploded with indignation.
“Th-that vulgar woman shouldn’t be allowed to come here at all, right? Huh? Right? A woman who’s a disgrace to nobility—don’t you feel sick just looking at her?”
If Chloe, who was like a paragon of perfection, was a disgrace to nobility, then most nobles probably wouldn’t even qualify as human.
You included.
……Of course, I couldn’t say that, so I played along.
“Veronica, please try to understand. She’s an important guest.”
“How am I supposed to understand someone like that? Didn’t you hear? She just insulted our house….”
“Sister, I’m begging you.”
“…….”
Ever since that day, she had grown unusually weak to the word family.
It was certainly effective.
The hands that had been flailing about just moments ago were now being used to cover the smile at her lips.
“Hehe, you called me sister.”
Between her covered hands, a broad grin peeked through.
At just the single word sister, her complaints had subsided in an instant.
……It was so simple that it was almost bewildering.
Though she seemed to have cheered up, Veronica spoke with a serious expression, as if there was one thing she absolutely had to say.
“But don’t keep her too close. That woman is sinister.”
It seemed somewhat accurate, so I nodded slightly.
Honestly, when her eyes sometimes darken to pitch black, even I get a little scared.
Leaving Veronica on the second floor, I went back down to the first.
This time, I called Chloe over to a corner.
“Miss Chloe. Could you come here for a moment?”
“Teacher, did that arrogant woman grab some kind of weakness of yours? If so, you must tell me at once.”
“I cannot turn away a guest who comes to me.”
“At any rate, the Sinclair family has no dignity. The company they keep is fitting—barbarians from the frontier.”
Does the Sinclair family lack dignity?
Perhaps I have contributed no small amount to that.
“Miss Chloe.”
“Yes.”
“What is truly precious to me is you, Miss Chloe, so please don’t worry.”
“…….”
Her cheeks flushed red.
“Hmph.”
I thought things were settled for the moment, but they weren’t.
With her flushed face, Chloe puffed out her cheeks.
“But you know. Isn’t the second floor your room, Teacher?”
“It is.”
“……You left that shameless woman alone in your room? I-I haven’t even been inside yet?”
What should I say?
This wasn’t a situation where I could explain it was because she’s my sister.
Moreover, why was she speaking as if she needed to go in?
I decided to dodge the question.
“That’s because you are here on the first floor, Miss Chloe.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t leave you alone on the first floor, could I?”
“……If that’s the case, I’m relieved.”
Even as she said that, Chloe glanced toward the stairs as if still unwilling to let it go.
I got the feeling this woman might stage a surprise attack someday.
Perhaps, really, before long.
‘……But why is it so quiet?’
Actually, even when I was coming down to the first floor, I had been subtly uneasy.
Chloe might sulk alone, but she didn’t seem like she’d do anything strange left on the first floor.
Veronica was different.
‘Isaac, how long are you going to leave me up here!’
She was the kind of woman who would shout something like that.
For such a person to be quiet was actually a scarier situation.
“May I go up to the second floor for a moment?”
“……Why? I’m right here.”
“I just think it’s about time to tell her to come down.”
“Shall I go with you?”
Her eyes sparkled in a way that suggested I shouldn’t refuse.
In the end, I went back up to the second floor with Chloe.
Creak—
The old door opened, and what we saw was.
“Hmm….”
The red hair symbolic of the Sinclair family.
A noble jet-black dress.
And Veronica, sprawled out on the bed, writhing about with all of it spread around her.
“…….”
“…….”
Both Chloe and I were at a loss for words.
As if she hadn’t even heard us, Veronica was hugging my pillow tightly and sniffing at it.
As if savoring it.
What is this.
“Hmm…. Isaac—.”
“…….”
“…….”
Veronica, who had been burying her nose in the bed, finally noticed us.
A suffocating silence.
Chloe looked at Veronica with a gaze full of pity, and Veronica buried her head deep, her face bright red.
We turned on our heels without a word.
***
We came down to the first floor and sat.
To be exact, only I sat.
Chloe calmly organized the tea leaf box, and Veronica came down the stairs quite a while later.
Then Veronica wandered around with a face that said nothing had happened.
But the pretense only went so far.
Her earlobes were still bright red.
No different from a criminal caught red-handed.
Somehow…… she was pathetic.
“…….”
“…….”
When Chloe’s gaze fell on her, Veronica hunched her shoulders tightly and averted her eyes.
A brief silence.
It was Chloe who broke it.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
With a kind smile, she held out a teacup to Veronica.
Warm steam rose.
“……I’ll pass.”
Veronica refused the proffered teacup as if it were consolation.
Though her words were curt, her gaze darted about, suggesting she was still terribly embarrassed.
Well, anyone would be embarrassed after being caught doing that.
“What a shame.”
Chloe smiled faintly.
She set down the teacup and added.
“I read it in a book, you see. That seeing a pitiful person warms the heart. It really was true.”
“What?!”
Veronica’s eyebrows shot up.
The speed of her reaction made me wonder if this was the same person who had been sulking just moments ago.
Afraid this would turn into another incident, I quickly intervened.
“Miss Chloe.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Please pretend you didn’t see.”
“Of course.”
Even as she said that, the corners of her eyes curved up blatantly.
But this was my limit.
Asking her not to tease…… was humanly impossible.
Veronica cleared her throat, avoiding even my gaze.
“Ah, anyway. I felt bad coming empty-handed.”
Saying so, she clapped briefly, and the door to the consultation office opened.
Somehow having heard, a servant entered with a polite posture, carrying something.
An object wrapped finely in cloth.
Judging by the size, it seemed to be clothing.
“What did you bring?”
“I was going to give it to you later, but this timing works out.”
The package was placed on the table.
Then Chloe, without missing a single beat, pulled out a small box from her person.
A wax seal engraved with the Levantia family crest.
That box, too, was placed on the table, side by side with Veronica’s package.
“I also had something to give you, Teacher.”
A radiant smile.
Two gifts placed side by side on the table.
A bundle of jet-black fabric.
Beside it, a neatly closed box.
The two people’s gazes collided once over each other’s gifts, then immediately parted.
As if they were competing over something.
I tried to open Veronica’s gift first, but at that moment, Chloe sent a sharp glare.
In the end, I opened Chloe’s box first.
Inside was a bracelet decorated with blue-green gemstones.
With a calm voice, Chloe mentioned something about it having received a saint’s blessing.
“Blue-green gemstones are said to calm the mind and clear the head. I thought it would suit you well, Teacher.”
Then Veronica snorted.
“Making a big deal out of a single bracelet.”
Then she tapped her own gift.
Chloe didn’t back down and sneered.
“Does the Sinclair family not even have the courtesy to give gifts?”
Before the two could clash again, I tore open Veronica’s package.
What came out was a suit made of jet-black fabric.
Embroidered in red was the Sinclair family crest.
Veronica shrugged her shoulders proudly and said.
“I had it tailored to your build. You can wear it right away.”
There was probably another meaning in those words.
That it was all right for you to wear the family’s clothes now.
I didn’t have any particular attachment to the family, but I should start by saying thank you.
“Thank you both.”
“Of course you should.”
“I won’t let it slide if you use it for anything foolish.”
The words came out almost simultaneously.
Even the timing was similar.
The two glared at each other for a moment, then simultaneously turned their heads away.
They had a terrible relationship, yet oddly, they were in sync at strange times.
“But you know.”
Chloe, arms crossed, suddenly tilted her head.
“A suit of the Sinclair family. Is it really all right for you to receive such a thing, Teacher?”
“What’s the problem?”
Veronica immediately retorted.
Chloe answered with a calm face.
“It is, after all, an object bearing the symbol of a family.”
“It doesn’t matter. It suited him from the start.”
“From the start?”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed.
“Now that I think of it, your name is….”
“Isaac.”
Veronica said first.
As if she had no intention of hiding it at all.
“Isaac Sinclair.”
Silence.
Chloe’s smile froze.
Her blue-green eyes turned slowly toward me.
Then toward Veronica.
Then back to me.
‘The Sinclair family only occasionally interacted with the northern barbarians, didn’t they?’
Chloe’s eyelashes trembled faintly.
‘Ah, I suppose the Sinclair family might not have had any other way but such a method.’
Her lips moved slightly too.
‘Does the Sinclair family not even have the courtesy to give gifts?’
……Looking back, I had certainly said a lot.
Come to think of it, wasn’t this basically a diss?
Veronica didn’t miss it and sneered.
With a truly wicked expression, as if the shame from just moments ago had vanished like a lie.
“Why, Lady Levantia.”
“…….”
“Why don’t you keep talking? About our family.”
The teacup Chloe held clattered loudly.