“Oh, right. This is our first time meeting like this.” He swept into a courteous bow and introduced himself. “My name is Placido Alexis. I’m Lauretta’s husband and your uncle.” Then he looked over his shoulder and introduced the young girl who’d followed him in. “This is our maid Alice. You can ask her for help with things you may feel uncomfortable asking Danilo about.”
The maid with walnut-colored hair bowed silently.
Alice looked to be around Johanna’s age. She seemed oddly nervous as she kept her face blank but blinked an awful lot.
“Alice, prepare breakfast.”
“Yes, milord.”
Upon Placido’s orders, Alice rolled a large cart into the bedroom. She quickly moved the plates from the cart to the flower-decorated round table. During that time, Placido watched Rock with a soft smile that twinkled in his gold eyes.
“I bet you’re hungry. How do you feel about eating while chatting with me?”
Rock was certainly famished. But she didn’t have an appetite.
“Are you telling me to eat the food prepared by my kidnapper?” Rock couldn’t stop herself from sniping back. Alice’s hand stopped in the middle of laying out the food. “I think not.”
Placido glanced over at the maid before returning Rock’s question with one of his own. “I had a delicious breakfast prepared for you, but…are you saying you suspect the food?”
“I can’t trust anything served by you,” Rock boldly affirmed.
Placido’s smile didn’t waver as he told the maid, “Alice, you can return to your other duties.”
“…Are you certain?”
“I’ll take care of the rest. Roxy still needs time to calm down.”
Rock snorted. There was nothing to calm down about, but Alice said nothing as she expressionlessly left the room.
After seeing the maid out, Placido promptly continued her work. He poured water from the pitcher into two china cups and held them both out to Rock.
“You can choose which one you want. I’ll drink the other.”
Rock was hesitant. He seemed to just be after gaining her trust. Next, he asked Rock to choose her own lightly baked bread, soup, and fruit. He placed what she didn’t select in front of his own seat. It seemed like he was accustomed to serving food as the table was swiftly set with breakfast for two.
“It’s ready. Come, let’s eat,” Placido said, pulling out a chair for Rock to sit. When she didn’t move, he flashed a knowing smile and changed out the chair for another. “Did you want to choose your own chair too? Forgive me for not noticing sooner.”
That wasn’t why Rock didn’t move, but it seemed the conversation wouldn’t get anywhere until she sat down.
She reluctantly plopped down on the second chair he pulled out for her.
“Enjoy,” Placido said, sitting opposite of her.
He took a sip of water and bit into the bread. He also elegantly scooped up some of the steaming hot soup on his spoon and closed his eyes as if savoring the taste.
This was probably his way of showing her it wasn’t a trap. Poison or no poison, Rock wasn’t in the mood to eat with her kidnapper.
“You aren’t going to eat?” Placido eventually asked.
“I don’t feel like eating,” she answered with a scowl. “I just want to go home.”
His expression grew awfully gentle then.
“I’m willing to let you go back from time to time if you become our child. Back to your father, Fredericks Berwick.”
Rock’s eyes went round with shock.
She was surprised not only by the fact he said she could go back but also that he’d called himself her uncle and Phoebe her father.
This was the same man who’d referred to her as “our precious child” when speaking to Lauretta.
“And here I thought you were trying to become my father yourself,” Rock shot back, and still Placido responded with a sort of warm kindness.
“Of course, it is my and Lauretta’s greatest desire for you to become our child. But I also want to respect the life you’ve lived thus far, including your biological parents.”
Talk is cheap, Rock thought.
He might be trying to cajole her into letting down her guard with every intention of going back on his word once he won her over.
Honing every skill she’d learned in the slums, Rock cautiously listened to what he had to say.
“Lauretta has been moping about near always these days.” Placido frowned with pain when he mentioned his wife. “As you know, we don’t have any children. She has become more hurt by that fact as we’ve aged. I told her I’m fine with adopting an heir, but she’s obsessed with it being blood-related.”
“And that’s where I come in?” Rock asked.
“It seems Lauretta became terribly depressed when your mother, Valencia, left the house,” he solemnly told her. “It became even worse after she learned your mother ran off with a mere mercenary. But she still tracked her down and sent people to keep an eye on her so that she could offer a lending hand if she ever needed one. I remember her being very pleased when she heard the stories of you growing up.”
That all matched up with what Phoebe had told Rock about spies poking into her and her mother’s life while they lived in that rural mountain village.
“But we lost all track of your whereabouts after your mother passed away. Lauretta nearly lost her mind, she was so frantic. She tried every means possible to find you, but there wasn’t so much as a trace for years.”
She probably never imagined her niece was living in the capital slums disguised as a man. Phoebe’s plan to hide in plain sight worked like a charm.
“Then we heard the rumors about you attending Duke Linus’s daughter’s birthday party a few weeks ago.”
Rock was shaken at this. She definitely remembered standing out more than she should have at that party.
“Rumors had it that there was a beautiful, young lady with wine-colored hair at the party. Count Mateus was her chaperone for the evening, but her identity was a mystery, and she was said to look a lot like Lauretta in her heyday.”
Placido stopped speaking to see Rock’s reaction.
When she pressed her lips in a flat line, refusing to speak, he let out a light chuckle.
“We’ve been searching ever since—for you, Roxy.” Then he began to plead with her. “Won’t you please grant Lauretta’s greatest wish? Her deepest desire is to have her own child. If you do, I’ll do whatever I can to make your wishes come true too. I don’t even mind if you go see your father. Lauretta won’t be happy about it, but I believe it’s the right thing to do.”
Rock couldn’t help but marvel at the whole thing after hearing the chain of events that led to this moment. When she spoke with him like this, Placido Alexis came across as a kindly gentleman who loved his wife.
But this was the same man who’d attacked Ebel’s carriage last night and abducted her while leaving Phoebe and Iniel to die on the roadside.
And then there was what Danilo had told her about Placido willingly offering himself up to the werewolf curse for Lauretta’s sake.
Rock stared back at Placido’s gold eyes from across the table. It was the exact same golden shade Ebel and Guido had.
“Do my eyes bother you?” Placido pointed to his eyes, noticing the intensity of her gaze. “You likely know this already, but this isn’t their natural color. They became this way the day I obtained the werewolf curse.” He took a sip of water, breathed in, and then straightened in his chair. “Roxy, I’ve been meaning to ask you—you know another werewolf besides me, don’t you?”
Rock knew he was already on to her, but she still didn’t answer him.
Placido also seemed to guess the reason for her silence.
“From what I heard from Lauretta,” he looked straight into Rock’s eyes and gave away what he knew, “it appears the young Count Mateus has the same color eyes I do.”
I can’t answer. I shouldn’t answer. I must never let my words
destroy Ebel’s reputation or life.
Placido smiled as he saw Rock bite her lip.
“You don’t want to tell me, eh? I wonder what he is to you,” he said, then lightly shook his head. “Rest assured, I’m neither trying to pry into his life nor spread bad rumors about him. I simply wanted to see whether he was a kindred soul or not.”
Kindred soul. Those two words nagged at Rock.
Was he implying all werewolves shared the same motives? That certainly didn’t seem the case to her.
“As far as I know, the werewolf curse can only be obtained from an ancient relic—the werewolf statue—which houses it,” Placido explained. “The Brotherhood gifted me one such statue from which I received the curse. I just want to know if there are others like me out there.”
“…The Brotherhood?”
Rock accidentally broke her silence.
She had a terrible feeling about where this was going. She’d heard about the Brotherhood from Phoebe, Ebel, and even Johanna.
“I’m speaking of the Werewolf Brotherhood, Roxy.” Placido spoke the cult’s full name, exactly as she’d heard it before. “Lauretta and I offered up our prayers there, all so that she could have peace of mind and that her wish would come true.”
No matter how hard Phoebe and Ebel searched, there were only a few measly records left about the Brotherhood. Johanna’s werewolf hunter family only had their torture devices to go by, and Rock had come to believe that the truth about them had been forever buried in the past.
However, the Werewolf Brotherhood still existed.
The person sitting across from her had sought out the werewolf’s power to grant his desires—and succeeded.
“But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Placido was smiling.
It was a gentle smile without an ounce of malicious intent.
Even Rock, who’d come across every kind of human in the slums, saw a genuinely good person in that expression. His was the face of a man who wholeheartedly loved his wife every minute of every day.
“Werewolves aren’t monsters. This is a wonderful power that gives hope to the powerless. If you’re already acquainted with one, then you should know that too. Am I wrong, Roxy?”
Rock found herself wavering as he pressed her for an answer.
She had no intention of ever becoming their child. Fredericks Berwick was her only father, and Vale Floria was her sole mother.
But if she stayed, maybe she could figure out where those accursed statues were coming from when Phoebe and Ebel couldn’t.
The Werewolf Brotherhood… If I could only infiltrate it…
“Will you give me time to think about becoming your child?” Rock requested, masking her true intentions to uncover whatever information she could. “I still don’t know anything about either of you. I don’t even know how I should behave in your presence.”
“I’m delighted just to hear you’re willing to think about it.” Real happiness showed in both his words and his softening expression. He took another sip of water and placed a hand on his chest in relief. “I really am glad. I’d be too ashamed to see Lauretta if you continued to be stubborn.”
“I’d love to speak more with my aunt.”
That part was true. Granted, she had self-serving reasons for wanting to talk.
“Wonderful. I’ll set up a meeting between you later. Lauretta will be thrilled.”
Placido gave the okay, so Rock plastered an awkward smile on her face.
And then she finally reached for the food on the table. She drank the water, ate the bread, and sipped her soup. She had no appetite but had to choke down the food no matter what.
She couldn’t spy on an empty stomach, after all.
“Is it good? I sure hope it suits your tastes.”
Placido’s golden eyes brimmed with unadulterated affection as he watched Rock eat.
♚♚♚
AFTER breakfast, Placido recommended Rock take a hot bath.
“There’s a particular outfit I’d love for you to wear. Feel free to wash up before getting changed.”
Just like that, Rock was led out of the room by Alice and shown to Alexis Manor’s bathroom. Alice didn’t leave the room, even after she’d finished showing her the way.
Noticing Rock’s reluctance to undress in front of her, the maid broke the awkward silence first.
“I have been ordered to assist you.”
“I-I don’t need any help! I can dress and bathe myself, thank you!” Rock frantically explained, but Alice looked like she didn’t believe a word of it.
“I’ve been told you spent most of your days living in a rural village, Young Miss. Pardon my rudeness, but I thought you might not know your way around a bar of soap…”
“I know how to do that much! I’ll be fine, thank you,” Rock refused her offer, resenting the maid’s jab.
Alice also seemed less than pleased to deal with the sudden arrival of her new “Young Miss.” She grudgingly accepted Rock’s request and quietly left the changing room.
“Make sure to not only wash your whole body but also behind your ears.”
Rock simmered with anger over the maid’s last comment that was more appropriate for a young child than a full-grown, adult woman.
The bathroom was magnificently constructed using two rooms. A smaller room equipped with an imperial-capital-style steam bath was next to the room with a claw-footed bathtub filled with hot water. Owning a private steam bath was a surefire way to show one’s wealth.
In the capital, steam baths received tremendous support and business from citizens from all walks of life, and even the slums, where most people lived day by day, had public bathhouses. Justia’s bakery’s second story served as one such place, and it was said to be a fantastic facility where you could enjoy the smell of freshly baked bread from the water heated by the ovens downstairs.
Rock and Phoebe were envious every time they saw customers enjoying a good meal after their baths. They were envious because public bathhouses were segregated by gender, and there naturally weren’t any for “Ladies Dressed as Gentlemen” or “Gentlemen Dressed as Ladies.”
This was why Phoebe lived on the inconvenient fifth floor, his apartment’s top floor, because it came equipped with its own bathroom. Meanwhile, Rock’s apartment had no bath, so she borrowed Phoebe’s or washed up using the washbasin.
How would she react now that she was granted access to a bathroom with its own private, luxury steam bath?
“What the heck?! It’s so hot!”
She tried sitting in the steam bath but lasted less than five minutes in the high humidity before fleeing the room.
Rock finished bathing in the normal bathtub without ever truly comprehending why the steam baths were so popular. She cleaned every crevice of her body using the soap the right way, of course.
Once she exited the bathroom, she saw an unfamiliar dress left out next to her clothes.
Made of dull green, shiny silk fabric, it retained an old-fashioned design with its crochet collar, puffy bell sleeves, and long, dragging hem. It was as outdated as the dress Rock had borrowed from Phoebe yesterday.
Being a tailor didn’t make the dress any easier to put on alone, so Rock asked Alice to come in from where she waited outside the room to help her.
“It suits you,” Alice said in a deadpan voice as she tied the sash in a bow.
Rock wasn’t going to dignify that with a response and instead glared at herself in the changing room mirror.
It wasn’t just the design, but the dress itself seemed just as old. While it’d been stored well, there was no hiding the deteriorating silk fabric. The green fabric should’ve originally been a more vibrant shade.
It didn’t seem like a dress that was custom-made for Rock, but then who did it belong to?
“I will wash your other clothes for you.”
Alice pointed to the clothes Rock had changed out of for her bath.
“I’ll do it myself, thank you,” Rock
quickly refused.
“But—”
“It will be fine. I’m good at taking care of clothes.”
Rock managed to return to her room with her clothes after stubbornly refusing the maid. This was the dress Phoebe had lent her.
I’ll absolutely bring it home and return it with my own hands, Rock silently vowed.
♚♚♚
ONCE she finished getting ready, Rock was told to go to the living room where Lord and Lady Alexis were waiting.
“May I come in?”
Lauretta jumped to her feet from the chaise lounge when Rock bowed in the doorway.
“Oh my…!”
All the blood drained from her face as she covered her mouth with both hands.
Placido immediately rose and put a supportive arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“Lauretta, get a hold of yourself, dear.”
“I’ll try, but…but I was taken by surprise. She looks just like Valencia!”
Rock didn’t know how to react when her mother’s name came into the conversation.
“The dress you are wearing was tailored by Her Ladyship’s younger sister,” Danilo helpfully added. He was also in the room waiting to serve them.
“What…?”
Rock was also rendered speechless.
I can’t believe I’ve not only come across something of Mother’s but that I also put it on without realizing it… But now that I know, the workmanship is similar to my own.
Her mother had taught her how to make pleated sleeves and how to crochet patterns.
Lauretta let out a grieved sigh while Rock was taken by the dress.
“Valencia loved to sew ever since she was a little girl. I still remember her confiding in me that she’d rather become a tailor than take over the family headship.”
Lauretta began speaking of Vale’s childhood, which Rock knew little about.
“But our father—your grandfather, he’s no longer with us—had many enemies. His brothers were after our family title, so he forced us to compete, insisting we had to excel in every way to succeed him.”
Her expression was dark as if she was sick to her stomach just talking about the past. Placido firmly held her hand.
“I thought Valencia had betrayed me when she left with that man.”
The Werewolf Count and the Trickster Tailor, Volume 2 Page 13