| Author: Starving Wind | Original Source: Joara | Word Count: 2938 characters |
| Translator: Anonymouss | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2011 words |
| Editor(s): Silva | ||
[… And that’s how it is. I apologize for needing to put in this kind of request to you, dear Duchess.]
“Not at all, Marquis. I will take care of Katalina to the best of my abilities.”
[Sigh… it’s all because of my silly daughter acting up like this. Though she may be a reckless girl, she’s still my only child so please take good care of her.]… For some reason, it felt like this call that I was having with Katalina’s father was one that I would have before going on a honeymoon trip after marriage1.
“Yes, please believe in me and rest your worries.”
[I’ll believe in you then.]I wondered just what he had in mind to believe in me like this, but that wasn’t the important part.
Click.
And the call was over like that. Katalina, who had been staring at me with a worried expression the whole time finally smiled brightly when she saw that I finished the call.
“You received the permission, right?”
“Yeah.”
Katalina ran at me with wide-open arms for a hug which I received, but afterward barely pulled one hand out and flicked her nose with my middle finger.
“Eeek!”
“You’re a grown-up woman now, it’s not good to make your parents worried like that you know!”
“Awww…”
I was worried that it may happen, but I didn’t think she would actually go through with her threat of actually denouncing her family name because of how her parents rejected her request to stay with me longer. In the frantic situation where she was being chased by people, the bodyguards that were protecting the mansion were put into the highest alert situation and even ended up having a confrontation with the group of guards that were chasing after Katalina.
If the situation didn’t go well even just a little bit or was unlucky, it could have ended with actual gunfire going off on people. Of course, the situation had calmed down thanks to their head of security explaining the situation, and I also received the reports in time but if the timing of the two events weren’t so perfect, a gunfight may have occurred in the middle of the night.
Of course, while that situation was dangerous, I was just too worried whether something bad would fall onto Katalina so I was angry at her, even if it was just slightly.
“And do you know just how much I… never mind.”
I felt embarrassed to say it with my own mouth and also felt sorry for Katalina who was fearfully waiting for my next words so I stopped what I was going to say.
“Hehe, thank you for worrying so much about me. I swear I won’t do this kind of thing again.”
“Please.”
Considering that nothing did go wrong in the end, I decided that I should just leave it here.
“Honestly, thank you so much, Ellie. You had to bow down to my father because of me and so on…”
In truth, just like Katalina had said, for me to lower myself to someone who was of a lower position in the noble hierarchy even if I was younger than him was something that could damage my family’s name2. Of course, since it was a private conversation rather than one in an official setting it wouldn’t have been a problem, but it was still a significant event for me to act in such a way. Doing anything for the first time may be hard but it’s always easier the second time after all.
I felt that Katalina’s father will keep conversing with me in this manner whenever we have a private conversation on the phone in the future.
“In any case, if nothing goes wrong he will be my father-in-law in the future so I can just think of it as practice in how to be courteous to him, so don’t worry so much.”
“…”
Even though I spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, a reddish blush came over Katalina’s cheeks. On top of that, her eyes sparkled with hints of tears and were covering her mouth and nose with both her hands.
Did she feel offended by me saying not to worry? Even though she was feeling fine until just then? Sigh, I just can’t understand.
“Did I make some mistake? I swear I’m not angry at you, so don’t cry.”
“T… that’s not it at all!”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know!”
Honestly, I can’t understand why she was making me feel this frustrated. Should I have just gotten angry at her instead? Though that bus had long since passed by and I was waving goodbye to it at this point.
“Ellie…”
She had already turned her head away from me, and was calling my name in a quiet tone.
“Hm?”
“Thanks.”
At the same time, Katalina moved right up to my face and wrapped both her arms around my neck and kissed my lips right away.
“Mmmph…”
I resisted a bit from her sudden attack, but then soon accepted it as if it was my second nature, and my two floundering hands moved over to wrap around her back and waist.
‘I guess I’ve lost to her 3 times now…’
Honestly, after becoming a girl I feel like my personality has become more skittish. Originally this kind of thing was never my preference since if I were to take the lead in romance I would do it, but it was never my preference to be the partner that is the one who receives it instead.
‘But nevertheless, this still feels good.’
It didn’t matter what I thought since her kiss was still mesmerizingly wonderful. Though it was only the third time I kissed someone, Katalina was showing far better skill in how she controlled her tongue inside my mouth3 as opposed to me who definitely had more experience in romance than her, which made me feel puzzled by how this was possible but nevertheless, her powerful deep kiss overwhelmed my mind for a bit.
In the case of couples that are in Korea, they often find it hard to do deep kisses or just simply end it with a simple peck on the lips, but for the reason why she’s being so direct it could be the difference in England’s culture which is much more open than Korean culture, and it also could be the fact that Katalina had a very special personality, but in any case, her tongue was exploring deep inside my mouth and filled up my mind.
“Ahh…”
Though it was a rapturous moment of ecstasy, whenever there’s a beginning there’s always an end, as Katalina parted her lips from mine and felt the lingering attachment for a second.
Vrrrm…
Before that lingering emotion could even disappear, the phone started vibrating as if it had a grudge against couples and wanted to make sure the two of us wouldn’t do that again.
“Your phone really is ringing like crazy these days, Ellie.”
“Pfft…”
My phone never really rang at any time until recently when it started ringing quite often throughout the day, so Katalina spoke in an annoyed tone as it had quickly cooled down the mood that we were having.
Seeing Katalina looking jealous even on phones now, I couldn’t help but find it cute and had to hold back myself from laughing.
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
It was a number that I was seeing for the first time. But since there was that time where I received a call from Cartel who was an unknown number previously, I picked up the phone thinking that there could be a possibility that it could be an important call.
“This is Elizabeth.”
[Sis! It’s me, Esther.]Hm? Esther should be doing night guard duty right now so I was slightly surprised. Actually, when did I even give my number to Esther in the first place? Well, I guess that isn’t all that important.
“What is it? Have you given over your night guard duty to someone else?”
[Ah! Yes. I’ve asked Lucas to do the night guard watch instead for me.]Just as I thought, Esther couldn’t have possibly left the game without setting up a backup first, and then I realized only then that something must have happened to Esther.
“Then something must have happened to you, right?”
There was no way that she would call me this late at night without a serious reason.
[Yes. sis, can I sleep over in your place for a while?]“What!?”
[Ah… I can’t?]Though it was for a split second, the lewd thought I had in my mind was quickly pushed out since I knew that wouldn’t be the case. I think it was because I was feeling frustrated these days or because I’m going crazy or something, but I often found myself having thoughts that went in a lewd direction.
Well, for a young healthy man it’s an obvious thing to happen and they also have a method to relieve that frustration, but the situation is different now. Ah, I’m getting off track here but in any case, I’m saying for a second I made a mistake in what I was interpreting from her words.
“Of course you c…”
Let’s stop right there. I saw that Katalina was staring at me with extreme suspicion in her eyes.
“Could you tell me what the problem is first of all?”
Yes, I needed a good enough reason to persuade Katalina to help Esther out. Since if Esther were to move into our mansion without any sort of resistance from me, I was sure to be in the line of fire for Katalina’s fierce attacks right away so I needed a way to ensure my safety somewhat.
[It’s because I had a huge fight with Sister Stella today. She kept threatening me to tell her information about the Camelot guild, or ask me to be acting as a double agent for her. I felt that if I were to just stay here I would end up fighting with her so I left my home.]Wow, so you’re leaving home as well?
[I couldn’t tell the truth to my parents, so I left home saying that I’m going over to your place to have some fun for a few days and received their permission that way. So then I called Sister Katalina’s home and they said that Katalina had moved over to your home. So I was hoping that I could also live in your home as well.]“I guess a hotel would be out of the question, right?”
For an unmarried esteemed daughter of a noble family to be staying alone at a random hotel would easily spread rumors around about her immediately. On top of that, it wasn’t just a problem of one or two days and could be a long-term problem so there was no way that her parents wouldn’t notice it happening.
[Yes…]Esther replied in a sad tone of voice thinking that I was going to reject her request to stay over at my house.
“Well, though it’s a shabby place, come over to my mansion then.”
[R…really?]“Yeah, you don’t have any other good places to go anyways.”
[Thank you, sis!]Yeah, she should be thankful. But on the other hand, I should be thankful to her as well. Esther already had a bad relationship with her sister Stella, but they were still blood-related families and yet Esther kept her loyalty towards me and Katalina even though she knew it would mean that she would have an antagonistic relationship with her sister…
“It’s fine, there’s no need to be…”
[Then I’ll be over there soon.]“Okay.”
I hung up the call. I guess Esther will be over to my house real soon.
“Who were you talking to?”
Katalina’s voice sounded extremely friendly as it echoed around the room, so friendly that it actually made me feel worried4.
