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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: A Family Portrait and Just Desserts
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Kivrin made a promise.
“I won’t get hurt. Y-You went to all the trouble of healing me, Cheria. There’s no way… I’ll get hurt.”
“……”
“It’s… it’s hard to get hurt doing this kind of thing… It’s just… annoying, that’s all.”
For a moment, a look of weariness flashed in his golden eyes.
Just as the path was more or less cleared, the coachman called out to us.
“Young Lord, Young Mistress, I believe we can depart now.”
“Yes.”
I obediently returned to the carriage.
Since I no longer needed to gaze out the window lost in thought, I could freely fiddle with the cat doll.
Kivrin, sitting across from me, made a strange face.
He even opened and closed his mouth as if trying to swallow his words, which confirmed my suspicion.
“Do you like dolls too, Young Lord? Do you want to touch it?”
I quickly moved to the seat next to Kivrin.
I then placed the doll in his hand.
Staring down at the doll, Kivrin asked a question.
“Cheria, c-can I give you a doll as a gift, too?”
“Oh, of course! I’ll treasure it!”
How cute.
I’ll have to cherish that doll even more than this cat doll.
Kivrin smiled faintly.
“Is it okay if it’s… a little grotesque and looks like it would eat all animals?”
“…No. I don’t think that would be okay.”
I won’t cherish it after all…
I quickly took back my words before my mind could conjure up an image of a doll that looked like it would eat all animals.
It seemed that at some point, Kivrin had lost all his childlike innocence.
I silently took back the cat doll.
* * *
My parents-in-law returned after dinner.
Winter, showing no signs of fatigue, spoke with grim determination.
“We need a family portrait.”
Huh? So suddenly?
I paused from eating my dessert, my eyes wide.
I thought she would first tell me how she dealt with Marquis Ingram, but a family portrait out of the blue?
Winter gazed at me intently.
“Cheria? That’s all right with you, isn’t it? I want to commission one several times larger than the portrait in the Marquis’s castle and display it. You’ll permit it, won’t you?”
Her blue eyes shimmered with a wave of competitiveness and anticipation.
It was a rare sight.
I found myself nodding before I knew it.
“Yes, yes, of course!”
A smile blossomed on Winter’s lips.
“Thank you. Then I must summon a painter. We’ll hang a perfectly flawless family portrait, and then for Kivrin’s birthday, we’ll all go on a trip.”
Having revised her plan, Winter immediately dashed off to her office.
My mouth hung open as I asked Menelik, “…Are we really allowed to go on a trip?”
“Is there any reason we can’t?”
Menelik answered nonchalantly.
He then proceeded to clear up my lingering questions.
“I hear the Imperial family is dispatching an investigation team. The Marquis requested it himself.”
“……”
So he thinks Menelik will kill him, but the Imperial family will go easy on him?
He’s certainly confident.
As I wrinkled my nose, Menelik let out a small laugh.
“He must have decided it’s far better than dying at my hands. The current Emperor has a weak side to him, so there’s a high chance it will end with the title simply passing to a branch family. But people like him will never learn their lesson unless they’re reborn. If we leave the territory during this brief grace period, he might just stir up some interesting trouble.”
Menelik was certain that Marquis Ingram would try to get revenge.
I stood on my tiptoes and whispered to Menelik.
“Did Emil torture the Marquis, by any chance?”
“That…”
Suddenly, Menelik stopped talking.
It was because Kivrin was giving him a look of utter disgust.
Menelik hastily made an excuse.
“I didn’t show Cheria that part. I’m a man of common sense, you know.”
“Y-You don’t look like it.”
“……”
While Menelik was nursing his wounded pride, Emil came staggering over.
Unlike his energetic parents-in-law, he looked haggard.
“I… I also… need something to eat…”
As soon as the food was served, Emil began to devour it ravenously, barely stopping to breathe.
Only after he had cleaned every plate did he look around with an expression that said he might just live.
“Oh, the Young Lord and Young Mistress were here too.”
It seemed he hadn’t even noticed us.
I studied Emil’s face.
He looked as gaunt and hollow-eyed as if he were the one who had been tortured.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeees, I don’t think I’m going to die today, unlike the Marquis’s daughter.”
Emil said, cracking his stiff neck.
Huh? Sabrina?
“What about the Marquis’s daughter?”
“She was acting strangely. She threw a tantrum, claiming she had a severe stomachache and demanding a priest be called. She was especially violent toward the maid attending her, so our knights had to separate them.”
“……”
The mention of a stomachache, of all things, rang a bell.
—*What have you been doing? I’ve been looking all over for you.*
—*Just hanging around. The Marquis’s daughter was planning to put a stomachache-inducing drug in your tea, Cheria, so I interfered a little.*
Cheshire had noticed what Sabrina was plotting from the start.
—*Anyway, I took care of it without getting caught. I did well, right? You’re going to praise me, right?*
When he said he interfered a little and took care of it, it seemed he had put the drug in Sabrina’s tea instead.
She was getting what she deserved.
If Cheshire hadn’t stepped in, I would have been the one suffering from a stomachache, not Sabrina.
And what’s more, I couldn’t even be healed by a priest.
My expression faltered for a moment, and Kivrin watched me closely.
Emil, oblivious, continued.
“The Marquis begged and pleaded, so we let him use a communication stone, but the Temple refused to treat her. The Saintess apparently said she felt the Ingram family would repay kindness with enmity. She said she doesn’t need their treatment fee, even if they have to go into debt for it.”
“……”
“Oh, she also asked if this was payback for trying to pull something on you, Cheria. The Marquis’s daughter flew into a rage and denied it.”
“Haha…”
Her intuition was so sharp it was almost supernatural, as if she knew the plot of .
My sister truly is the heroine for a reason.
As for Sabrina’s shamelessness, it was nothing short of astounding.
Emil shrugged.
“That’s all I saw. In any case, I’ve dealt with the magic circle, so I won’t have to be tortured—I mean, overworked—I mean, I won’t have to worry about it anymore, right?”
He was so desperately searching for the right word, it was almost pitiful.
Emil, who had presumably been tortured and overworked, glanced at Menelik and quickly said his goodbyes.
“You should rest easy too, Young Mistress.”
“You get some good rest too, Emil.”
Emil rose from his seat.
He seemed about to leave the banquet hall, but then he turned back to me.
“But, Young Mistress.”
“Yes?”
“That… the location of the magic circle…”
“……”
I blinked.
I had a feeling I knew what he was about to ask.
I had instantly refuted the location he had guessed after going so far as to create a map with his magic.
The sudden discovery of the other magic circles’ coordinates must have also seemed suspicious.
So, I put on my most innocent expression, and Emil shook his head.
“It’s nothing. I’ll be going now.”
Right, right, goodbye.
I saw him off graciously.
Kivrin was staring at me intently.
“W-Why?”
Are you going to ask why Emil was acting that way?
I could tell Kivrin everything, but Father… huh?
Menelik was already gone.
When did he leave?!
As I craned my neck, looking around, Kivrin gave me a smile.
“No reason. I’m just… glad you don’t seem to be in any pain.”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine!”
“Th-Then, can you tell me what happened yesterday? I wasn’t a-able to go with you, so I’m curious.”
Since my father-in-law, whom I had to be wary of, was gone, I readily nodded.
“Of course. I’ll tell you everything!”
And the next day, based on whatever edited version of the story Kivrin had relayed, Winter summoned the vassals.
Judging by the brightened faces of those who had wanted the duchy to swallow the marquisate, I could guess what had been discussed.
But Kivrin, Rose, and even Emil, who had dropped by unexpectedly, were all perfectly calm.
“They n-never intended to just let it go, anyway. Regardless of what v-verdict the Emperor passes down.”
“The Mistress will handle it.”
Emil even took out a camera.
“Young Mistress, before you have your portrait painted, would you like to try taking a picture with this? It was developed at the Magic Tower, and it’s much better than a regular camera.”
Emil took a picture of the scenery as a test and showed it to me.
It was clearer and more vivid than I had expected, and I couldn’t help but stare.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
I found myself answering, the subject of conversation having shifted as smoothly as a flowing river.
In a small voice, Rose asked Kivrin, “Is that okay? For Cheria to have her picture taken?”
