27.
“I’m feeling a little tired. Would it be all right if I rested here before I went?”
She stepped close before I could even answer.
Even I could tell she didn’t mean that literally.
Her gaze was hot and damp.
When I leaned back against the sofa, Chloe moved that much closer.
My heart pounded.
Thud—
There was nowhere to escape.
“M-Miss Chloe? Perhaps you should calm down for a moment…”
Thud, thud—
A dull sound.
It wasn’t the sound of my heart beating.
The window was shaking.
Chloe and I both turned our heads.
Beyond the window was a bright red face.
Eyes glaring at us through gritted teeth.
It was my sister, Veronica Sinclair.
The sound from beyond the glass wasn’t perfectly clear, but I could more or less make it out.
“O-pen-this-door-right-now—!”
Thud, thud, thud—!
It sounded as though the glass might crack.
“…What a nuisance.”
Chloe’s expression sank coldly.
The languid atmosphere from just moments ago vanished without a trace.
She slowly rose and opened the door.
At some point, she had even changed her expression back into her usual perfect smile.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Lady Sinclair? What is all this commotion about…?”
“L-Lady Levantia! What were you just trying to do? Huh!”
“I wonder. What exactly did I do to make you say that?”
Chloe tilted her head as though nothing had happened.
She was incredibly brazen.
Weren’t your hands about to head toward my waist just now?
“How shameless! How utterly indecent!”
Veronica came inside, breathing hard.
Then she noticed that my shirt was slightly disheveled and froze.
“…What would have happened if I hadn’t come?”
She spoke as though she were worried about me.
Watching her, Chloe tossed out a curt remark.
“Nothing happened, so you needn’t have come at all.”
“Hah? How frightening must you have been for Isaac to send me a letter?”
In that instant, Chloe’s smile stiffened.
Veronica added, sounding proud.
“Isaac even sent me a letter asking for help, you know?”
As his older sister, I couldn’t very well not come.
Those words of hers made Chloe’s gaze turn cold.
***
The moment I received the letter, my heart began to pound.
Isaac.
A letter sent by my younger brother.
Before even opening it, I lifted it slightly and held it to the tip of my nose.
Isaac’s scent… was not there.
Of course it wasn’t. A letter could only smell of ink and paper.
But that didn’t matter.
The fact that these words had been written by his hand was enough.
I unfolded the letter.
To Veronica.
If you have time, come by the counseling office.
Isaac.
“Hehe. So he wants to see me.”
How long had it even been since we last saw each other?
How many worries must have been contained in this short sentence?
Imagining him like that made my heart grow warm.
Just as I was about to read it again to soothe myself, I found the last line.
P.S. I invited Chloe too.
“…Hah?”
My heart instantly went cold.
Why did my little brother keep writing about that woman?
Was it to torment his older sister?
“Impossible.”
There was no way my considerate, kind younger brother would do something so wicked.
This had to be…
“A request for rescue.”
Surely, with his brilliant mind, my brother had read something from the situation.
He must have realized that sinister wench was up to something strange and was asking me for help.
The moment I finished that thought, I called for a servant.
“Prepare the carriage.”
“Right away, my lady?”
“Yes, right away. We mustn’t be late.”
Wait for me, Isaac.
Your sister will save you no matter what.
***
No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like she had completely misunderstood something.
Unaware of what I was thinking, Veronica spoke with a triumphant air.
“The moment I read the letter, I could tell at once. It was a signal asking for help.”
Flash—
At those words, Chloe’s gaze immediately turned toward me.
Even without her saying anything, I could read that look.
Didn’t you send a letter only to me?
I didn’t know you’d both come on the same day…
“Um, Veronica? I didn’t write anything like that…”
“It’s fine. I know even if you don’t say it.”
Then she took the letter out from her bosom and sniffed it.
You know even if I don’t say it?
You don’t know at all.
While I felt like I was about to die of frustration, Chloe opened her mouth.
“Lady Sinclair? By any chance, what was written in that letter…”
“I’m not showing you.”
Veronica hid the letter behind her back as though it were some precious treasure.
“Could you let me see it for just a moment?”
I stepped closer to her and whispered quietly.
“I think Chloe is misunderstanding something.”
When she heard that, Veronica’s pride swelled endlessly.
“Ah, I see. It wouldn’t be bad to show this woman clearly.”
Just how close we are.
Veronica proudly unfolded the letter.
If you have time, come by the counseling office.
P.S. I invited Chloe too.
Seeing this, Chloe’s expression turned thoughtful.
A moment later, she also took a letter out from her bosom.
Heh—
With a derisive little snort, she looked at Veronica.
As though she found her truly pathetic.
“What is it…?”
Chloe merely covered her mouth with her hand and said,
“How adorable.”
“What is it, I asked!”
It was true that I had written a few more lines in Chloe’s letter.
That I missed her tea, that I thought it would be nice if she came.
But did that really have that much significance?
…Apparently, it did. Judging by Chloe’s expression.
For now, it seemed like this would never end if I left the two of them alone, so I spoke.
“Please, both of you, have a seat.”
I barely managed to send them to the sofa.
Chloe sat on the left, Veronica on the right.
They sat diagonally across from each other with me between them.
Their gazes collided in midair.
A thorny silence.
‘…How am I supposed to get both of them to come regularly in this atmosphere?’
After thinking for a moment, I opened my mouth.
“There is actually a reason I invited the two of you.”
Their gazes turned toward me at the same time.
“As the Order of Knights has been forming lines here, my other clients have stopped coming. Today, Miss Chloe spoke to the knights on my behalf, but…”
At my words, Chloe let out a faint hmm.
As expected, she was the type to react quickly to praise.
“That alone may not be enough. If the two of you visit, the atmosphere will change, and I believe the other clients may return as well. That is why I sent those letters…”
I looked at Chloe.
Her expression seemed somewhat complicated.
For now, I continued.
“If Miss Chloe visits as you usually do, the other clients will be able to come in peace as well. Miss Chloe, you are like the peaceful everyday life of this counseling office.”
At those words, Chloe smiled gently with her eyes.
A role no one else but her could fill.
I had pinpointed something she would like.
“…Of course.”
Next was Veronica.
“I also need the name of the Sinclair Duchy.”
“Hmph. Naturally.”
Veronica lifted her chin.
But now that I had called her here, didn’t it feel like I didn’t really need that?
If the Sinclair ducal carriage stood in the alley, the maids would hold their breath every bit as much as they did before the knights.
…Still, after calling her here, I couldn’t exactly send her away by saying she wasn’t particularly necessary.
“If the eldest daughter of the empire’s most prestigious house comes here, even the Order of Knights will find it difficult to behave as they did before.”
“Well, of course.”
Her reaction was good.
The problem was what to add from here.
For Chloe, I had explained her role with the word everyday life.
To keep things balanced, I had to give Veronica something too, but honestly, nothing came to mind.
‘…That should do it.’
With this person, there was no need to make it complicated.
There was one magic word that solved everything.
“And more than anything, if you come, Noona, I’ll feel reassured.”
“……”
Soon, her mouth spread into a wide grin. Her voice melted completely.
“O-of course you would.”
Veronica turned her head away.
But she couldn’t hide the fact that her face had flushed.
Chloe, watching from beside us, narrowed her eyes.
Did you not just gloss over something?
That was what her gaze seemed to ask.
…I pretended not to see it.
“So if each of you were to come separately…”
“Wait.”
Chloe cut in.
She maintained her smile, but only her eyes had turned sharp.
“Separately?”
“Yes.”
“…Are you saying I should avoid the days Lady Sinclair comes?”
She asked directly.
Veronica was the same.
“Wait. Are you saying I can’t come when this woman comes? Why?”
The essence of both questions was the same.
Why should I have to yield because of that woman?
I hadn’t used the word “avoid,” but in the end, that was the structure it created.
“Er… wouldn’t it be fine if you didn’t necessarily come on the same day?”
I spoke as naturally as possible.
In order not to provoke the two of them.
“You’re both busy, after all. I’d be grateful if you each came on whatever day is convenient for you.”
Chloe was the first to speak.
“Teacher.”
Her smile remained the same.
But her voice had grown slightly cold.
“I’ll ask again. By any chance, are you saying I should come while avoiding Lady Sinclair?”
She put emphasis on the word avoiding.
The young lady of House Levantia going around avoiding someone.
It would cause scandal in high society, of course, and she seemed to dislike it personally as well.
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Wait. A Sinclair avoids a Levantia? Does that make sense?”
While I was trying to smooth things over, Veronica cut in.
“The eldest daughter of the Sinclair Duchy has to check someone else’s schedule just to visit a counseling office in a back alley? Ridiculous.”
The two of them acted as though they absolutely could not accept it.
What should I do?
They couldn’t avoid each other.
But when the two of them came together, it would be like this every time.
I had to say something.
“You are both right.”
I admitted it readily.
The gazes on both sides wavered subtly.
They seemed surprised that I had backed down so easily.
“I did not mean to say you should avoid one another. If it sounded that way, I apologize.”
When I began with an apology, Chloe’s eyes softened slightly.
Veronica also uncrossed her arms.
In the end, it seemed as though what the two of them wanted was for me to be the one to yield.
“However, may I ask just one thing?”
I looked at Chloe.
“Miss Chloe. Earlier, when you brewed tea for me, did you feel at ease?”
“…Pardon?”
“There were no knights, and no other clients. It was just you and me, Miss Chloe.”
The time we spent steeping the tea leaves and sitting side by side as we drank.
“…I did feel at ease.”
When I made her conscious of it, she answered quietly.
“I felt the same.”
Then I looked at Veronica.
“Noona, when you receive counseling, don’t you prefer it when no one else is there?”
“…Well, of course.”
“That is what I mean.”
I looked back and forth between them as I spoke.
“I’m not asking you to avoid each other. I simply want the day you visit to be time entirely for that person alone.”
Silence.
But it felt different from before.
It was a span of time in which they were turning my words over in their minds.
“Then I believe that settles it.”
As I rose and spoke, the two of them also stood.
We did not specifically decide who would come on which day of the week.
If we started dividing up the days, they would obviously argue next over who had gotten the better day.
Chloe locked the clasp on the tea leaf box and said,
“I hope we can drink tea quietly next time. The sound at the window was rather loud today.”
Her gaze swept past Veronica.
Veronica’s eyes sharpened, but unlike before, she didn’t immediately snap back.
Instead, she looked at me and said,
“I’ll go too.”
“Okay. Take care on your way back.”
She paused.
She looked like she wanted to say something more, but upon noticing Chloe standing by the door, she closed her mouth.
As she passed by the doorway, she tossed out a light remark.
“I hope our free days don’t overlap. So we won’t have to run into each other.”
“I feel the same way.”
Chloe replied with a bright smile.
They looked at each other once, then walked off in opposite directions.
***
After they left.
I let out a sigh in the empty counseling office.
If the knights’ visits became less frequent and those two started coming regularly, the other clients would return as well.
It did seem as though my income would recover, but…
‘…Instead, every day will be a war.’
There was nothing I could do.
I couldn’t personally do anything to drive the Order of Knights away.
Unless someday Serena would listen to anything I said…
Cutting off that idle thought, I tidied up the place.
I cleared away the teacups, then placed the leather knot Agnes had left behind on the shelf.
Finally, just as I was about to lock up, I saw a note being slipped in under the door.
I picked it up.
The handwriting was neat and restrained.
It was a script I had never seen before.
To the counselor.
It seems I have caused you trouble over the past several days.
I heard that Lady Levantia spoke separately to Agnes.
I can only apologize deeply for causing trouble again due to my own short-sightedness.
However, there is something I must tell you on my next visit.
I believe it will take some time to discuss, so I would appreciate it if you could keep your schedule open.
—Serena Justina Armenis
Something she had to tell me.
Had there been something like that too?
If it was about Chloe’s future, it didn’t seem like something I needed to hear from her…
‘I’ll think about it when the time comes.’
I stopped thinking.
There was no point worrying about something without an answer.
In the end, if she had something to say, I would only know once I met her.
However, one thing did bother me.
Chloe, Veronica, and Serena.
None of them had decided when they would come.
Which meant they might all come on the same day…
‘Surely not.’
…But it feels like something always happens at times like this.