“Why…? You have finally been reunited with your rightful family after being left to fend for yourself all these years. How could you refuse when we have prepared everything to warmly welcome you into the fold?”
“As His Excellency explained, I am with my rightful family—my father.”
Lauretta finally let her disgust show through when Rock brought Phoebe into the conversation.
“You mustn’t call that man your father. He’s a scum of the earth mercenary who seduced your mother and led her astray.”
And there was no better way to disgust Rock than to besmirch her father and mother.
“Don’t speak ill of my father!” she shouted despite herself, causing Johanna to jump beside her.
Ebel was undisturbed as he watched over Rock with a slight smile. She nodded to him and continued her defense, “Father is a damn powerful and wonderful person who loved Mother and protected her. And now he protects me—”
“Did you just curse?” Lauretta interrupted Rock to nitpick at her manner of speech. “You are a lady, Roxy. You mustn’t speak like an ill-bred man.”
“My father taught me how to talk this way to protect myself.”
Rock was a trickster tailor who dressed as a man to get by without incident in the slums. Doing so had made her dreams come true and protected her—especially from the life her mother happily threw away.
“I’ve been living as a man all this time in the imperial capital,” she continued, purposely invoking the tone of speech she used when dressed as Rock the Tailor. “Father recommended it—so that I can protect myself and my identity.”
That was likely enough information for Lauretta to realize what Phoebe was trying to protect Rock from. She let out her first irate sigh, as if she had no other way to clear her mounting resentment.
“That man isn’t happy just depriving me of my sister? Now he wants to take my niece away too? The audacity…!”
Rock was ready to argue back when—
“Roxy,” Ebel whispered, urging her to stop.
She’d nothing to gain from arguing with Lauretta here. Besides, the conversation would end quicker if she just made her stance clear.
“I will not join your family.” Rock thrust her unshakeable decision at her aunt. “I have my father to protect me.” Then she looked at Ebel and continued after seeing his smile, “And Count Mateus also…cares for me very much.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw both Ebel and Johanna nod.
I’m not alone. Rock knew that with every fiber of her being.
“And I’m really happy now with all the people I have in my life supporting me.”
After losing her mother, Rock was tormented by the thought she’d lost everything. But that was no longer the case—she was surrounded by more happiness than she thought possible.
“So I’m not going anywhere, ever. I have no intentions of calling myself an Alexis either. This is my answer, Lady Alexis.”
Rock spoke her piece then waited in silence for her aunt’s reaction.
Lauretta Alexis stared down Rock with frigid eyes for what felt like an eternity. But then she sighed. Loudly enough, it seemed, to help her organize her thoughts.
“I now see that you have been poisoned by Fredericks Berwick.” After uttering Rock’s father’s real name, she emotionlessly remarked, “You will surely come to regret the decision you made this day, Roxy.”
“What do you mean by that?” Rock asked back, but Lauretta didn’t answer her.
All emotion hidden by a cold mask of indifference, she stood and bowed to Ebel.
“I apologize for the scene, Your Excellency. Thank you for making time for me today.”
“I am happy to help if it has helped you understand the situation,” Ebel said, but Lauretta refused to give any response indicating she actually accepted what happened. “Ludovicus, please show Lady Alexis out.”
The door opened in response and Ludovicus appeared.
Lauretta silently walked past him before the butler finished bowing. She swept out of the room with a face that seemed to have all the emotion sucked out of it and then turned around.
Her gray eyes locked on to Rock for a whole second.
Those eyes, which seemed to be the frozen over version of her mother’s, gleamed like a hunter’s after he’d found his prey.
“…!”
Rock flinched despite herself, and Lauretta disappeared into the hallway at that moment.
“She’s one unfathomable lady,” Ebel groaned after confirming through the window that the Alexis carriage had left the premises.
“I couldn’t agree more…” Rock sighed.
That term—unfathomable—fit her to a tee. The sheer lack of emotion on her face made it hard to believe the woman was her mother’s biological sister. Yet their features were so terribly similar, it made Rock shudder.
Even so, Rock’s mind was made up. Lauretta had left on that threatening note, but Rock doubted she’d ever regret her decision.
She wouldn’t, would she?
“…I hope everything is settled now,” Rock muttered as eerie chills crept down her spine.
The final look Lauretta gave her made Rock feel like she was about to be hunted down.
♚Chapter 4: Waiting for the Chance to be Reunited
ROCK and Phoebe had dinner with Ebel that night. The meal Johanna had pulled out all the stops to prepare was incredibly delicious, but Rock’s thoughts were too preoccupied with what’d happened with her aunt to truly enjoy it.
“She looked just like Mother…” she muttered, recalling the visage that’d been burned into her eyes. Though it seemed Phoebe disagreed as he shrugged off her comment.
“You really think so? You could easily tell them apart, even when they stood side by side.”
“I think they would’ve looked perfectly alike if Mother had lived another ten years.”
“I doubt it. Vale was always the pretty one.”
Apparently, that was the point Phoebe wanted to emphasize.
“Makes sense to me,” Ebel chuckled before Rock could respond. Phoebe shot him a death glare, to which the count raised his hand in apology. “Pardon me… Did you and your wife elope?”
“I’m not sure if you can call her my wife… We didn’t officially marry,” Phoebe replied, sounding loath to admit it as he glanced at Rock.
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Rock said. It was strange for slum dwellers to adhere to imperial capital law. She continued to tell the tale in her father’s place because he seemed uncomfortable recounting it in front of her. “Mother left home to pursue Father, so I don’t think it counts as ‘eloping,’ in the strictest sense of the word.”
“Ah, is that what happened?”
“She fled home for the sake of love! How lovely!”
After hearing Rock’s explanation, Ebel gave an understanding nod, and Johanna’s eyes sparkled. Phoebe became instantly uncomfortable and tore off a piece of his roll with his teeth instead of using a knife.
Unfortunately for him, this was not a dinner table that would be silenced by such behavior.
“I would just love to hear stories about when you and your wife first began falling in love! Were you dressed as a beautiful woman when you first met her too? Who confessed first? I’d also love to hear about the tales surrounding Master Rock’s birth!!!”
Phoebe clammed up as Johanna hounded him with a million questions.
“It’s rude to ask so many questions at once, Johanna.”
On the surface, Ebel scolded his maid for pestering Phoebe, but he seemed equally interested. He turned toward Phoebe to ask his own question.
“Lady Alexis seemed to have a poor opinion of you. Is that because she believes you responsible for her sister leaving the family?”
“I doubt that’s the…only reason why.” Phoebe blew out a long breath, as if preparing himself to tell the truth. Then he looked directly at Rock before continuing. “Lauretta and Vale were never—and I mean ever
—on good terms. If anything, I’d say things were always stormy and strenuous between the sisters.”
“Really? But…”
It didn’t seem that way to me, Rock thought.
Lauretta Alexis seemed to lose her composure when she saw Rock. She probably saw a shadow of her younger sister in Rock from when she was her age. Just like how Rock sensed the biological connection between Lauretta and her mother.
She hadn’t interacted with Lauretta enough to know her innermost heart, but her reaction wasn’t that of someone who hated her sister.
“They were always competing for who’d take over the family while the former lord was still alive,” Phoebe explained, the corners of his mouth turned down. “He believed making them compete like that would raise a better heir. Everything was a competition: their studies, how they carried themselves, even how they interacted with their parents. They were even encouraged to knock each other down a peg. Vale was scolded by her parents whenever she was outdone by Lauretta.”
It was suffocating just thinking about living that way.
“Then your wife was also running away from that competition?” Ebel asked as Rock was rendered speechless by the story.
“That was definitely part of it,” Phoebe responded with a sullen look. “But Vale never hated Lauretta, despite being forced to compete with her. Lauretta probably felt the same. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have paid people for years to find her niece.”
Phoebe’s side profile gave away the pain he felt when speaking about Vale. Maybe he knew something more about why her mother ran away. Some secret he wasn’t willing to divulge here.
“I think that’s why…Lauretta directed all her hatred toward me.” Phoebe heaved another tormented sigh. “By hating me, she can pretend Vale didn’t betray her.”
“…There are as many different sibling relationships as there are people in the world,” Ebel intoned in a low, rumbling voice.
The Linus siblings were the siblings he knew the best, and Rock knew just how close Guido and Michaela were. Compared to them, her aunt and mother had a more complicated, twisted relationship.
Perhaps her desire to take Rock in had to do with more than just wanting an heir. Something deeper and more complicated might’ve been driving her.
“I wonder if that was enough to make Lady Alexis give up,” Rock put out there. Neither Ebel nor Phoebe seemed to think so.
“It’s hard to say she will when she left saying you’ll regret it,” Ebel said, his brow furrowing with concern.
Rock couldn’t fathom what she meant by that.
What was she going to regret? She highly doubted it meant she would regret not becoming a member of the Alexis family, in the most basic sense. It’d sounded more like a threat than anything.
“Either way, you should pay extra attention to your surroundings and safety for now,” Ebel instructed. Then he gave her a reassuring smile. “I am prepared to keep you safe no matter what it takes. Rely on me any time.”
“Thank you, Ebel. I’m currently living with my father, so I doubt there’ll be much trouble,” Rock responded bashfully.
Johanna’s expression lit up as if she’d just discovered something absolutely incredible.
“You have two knights in shining armor to protect you, eh, Master Rock?! How wonderful!”
“This girl is impressed by even the most trivial of things.”
Whether she didn’t hear Phoebe’s grumbled jab or simply ignored it, Johanna stomped her feet on the ground for an altogether different annoyance.
“If only I had the abilities of a werewolf hunter, I could’ve protected you alongside His Excellency and Master Phoebe…!”
“Th-Thanks. The sentiment alone makes me happy, Johanna,” Rock rushed out.
She really was happy—spending time around the dinner table with people she loved helped her finally regain her cool after how shaken she’d been feeling since speaking with her aunt.
She reveled in the joy of not being alone.
Ebel also seemed to be of the same mind.
“This has turned into quite the lively dinner, no?” he said with a bright smile. “I would love to sit down to a meal with you all again soon.”
His words meant even more because he didn’t have a family of his own.
“It would be my pleasure!” Rock accepted the invitation with all her heart.
♚♚♚
ROCK and Phoebe decided to leave Mateus Manor after dinner. Ebel suggested they stay the night, but Rock wanted to get home before the date changed because she needed to open her shop early the next morning.
Fortunately, the majority of roads inside the imperial capital were well-lit by streetlights. There were no hindrances to taking out the carriage, and Ebel happily lent his to them—though he was terribly disappointed Rock couldn’t stay longer.
“I’ll have Iniel take you home. You should be back before midnight if you hurry.”
Iniel, Ebel’s coachman, was already waiting for them in the garden. He had the berline carriage all hooked up to the two horses, ready to go.
“Today was a day well spent. Thank you, Roxy.” Ebel longingly took Rock’s hand in his as he saw her off at the carriage.
“I’m also so happy to have spent today with you.”
As Rock smiled, Ebel kissed the back of her hand. Then he whispered in a soft voice so Phoebe couldn’t hear.
“Let’s visit your mother’s grave someday soon too. It’s a promise.”
“Y-Yes…please do come with me.”
It wasn’t just the lingering soft touch of his lips on the back of her hand that made Rock’s heart flutter.
♚♚♚
ROCK stared out the moving carriage’s window at Mateus Manor as it steadily grew more distant. In the dark of night, Ebel disappeared from view in the twinkling of an eye, and that saddened her.
With him out of sight, she leaned back into her seat, and Phoebe quickly pounced with a well-timed question, as if he was waiting for her to finish.
“Planning a trip with His Excellency?”
“What?! H-How did you…?!”
Becoming flustered was the same as saying yes
But Rock couldn’t help panicking, and her father frowned with exasperation at her reaction.
“That’s what’ll happen if you visit Vale’s grave.”
Apparently, her father had excellent hearing on par with a werewolf’s.
“Y-You could call it a trip, but it’s not like any funny business is going to happen…” Growing rapidly more uncomfortable by the second, Rock pulled her feet onto the seat and hugged her knees. “And it’s not like we’ve decided to go alone or anything! Why don’t you join us, Father?”
“You want to take your father on your pre-wedding vacation? I think not.”
“P-Pre—it’s nothing like that! I swear!”
“Says you.” Phoebe grinned like a cat before gently ruffling Rock’s wine-colored hair. “Well, as your guardian, I can’t say I wholeheartedly approve. But I won’t stop you.”
“Uggh… I keep telling you it’s not that kind of trip—”
Trying to defend herself further would only dig her a deeper hole. Despite knowing that, Rock still tried to explain herself.
But her excuse was cut short by the whole carriage shaking in its frame. It shook so hard, Rock and Phoebe were knocked out of their seats.
“What was that?!”
“Whoa! What just happened?”
The carriage ceiling creaked and groaned just as they reacted to the situation. The berline carriage had a solid top that wouldn’t break even if rocks fell on it, but it seemed like something especially heavy was on top.
Even the coachman realized something was off. He must’ve pulled hard on the reins since the carriage tilted to the side as the horses brayed.
“UWAH!”
Rock was about to be thrown into the seat facing her. Phoebe caught her just in time and glared outside the window.
“What happened?!”
The imperial capital’s nightscape spread outside the window. Seeing as it was still a brightly illuminated, clean cityscape, they hadn’t made it out of the aristocrat district yet. Were they in someone’s garden? Or was it a park? Rock could see a gorgeous garden illuminated by the stars beyond a stone gate covered in ivy.
The small window connecting to the coachman’s seat opened, and Iniel shouted to them while Rock was still trying to process the situation.
“Something’s wrong! Please get off!”
Hearing those orders, Phoebe reached out to open the carriage door. But a huge, dark figure loomed over the window just as he was about to wrench the door open.
Glittering gold eyes, pointed ears, a large mouth full of fangs, and a body covered in black fur—
“…Ebel?” Rock instinctively uttered that name when she saw the werewolf peering in through the window.
The werewolf suddenly took a step back and then swung up its large arm that was thicker than an oak log.
“Watch out!”
Phoebe yanked Rock to him just as the carriage was struck by a powerful force and fell sideways with a bang. They were tossed around inside the carriage and slammed into what used to be the ceiling. Shortly after Rock lifted her head, the door was ripped off, and a massive shadow fell on them as they collapsed in a heap inside.
“Wha—? What’s going on?”
The werewolf silently peered into the flipped-over carriage, ignoring Phoebe’s moaned question. As soon as its golden eyes landed on Rock, it gently scooped her into its arms.
“Th-Thank you…very much,” Rock thanked it in a daze.
Rock believed the werewolf was Ebel up until that moment.
She didn’t know what went wrong with the carriage, but she wholly believed that he’d transformed into a werewolf and ran to her rescue.
But this werewolf held her under one arm and jumped into the air, leaving Phoebe pinned under the wreckage. It leaped onto the vine-covered stone gate and cautiously assessed the sideways carriage below.
“Why…?”
Something’s wrong, Rock thought.
The Werewolf Count and the Trickster Tailor, Volume 2 Page 11