How should they condemn them for something so complicated and supernatural?
Rock didn’t know the answer to that, so she made what she did know clear.
“I will never become your child. I have a father.”
Phoebe quietly nodded along, and Placido and Lauretta stared at Rock in silence.
“But it is the undeniable truth that I am your niece,” she stated, then continued with reservation, “So, if you ever need me to—if my presence will make you just a little happier—then I will be happy to visit as your niece next time.”
After making that declaration and finally smiling ever so slightly, Rock turned toward Phoebe.
“I hope you’ll allow my father to accompany me then.”
“I have to go too?!” Phoebe cried out hysterically mid-nod. He probably didn’t expect to get dragged into the conversation like that.
Catching Ebel cracking up out of the corner of her eye, Rock also placated her father with a laugh.
“You’ve got more recent stories about Mother, Father. I’m sure Auntie would love to hear about the good times.”
“I mean…yeah, I guess…” Phoebe mumbled, sounding unusually unconfident. His blue eyes darted away from his daughter and in-laws.
Lauretta, her cheeks stained with dried tears, quietly walked up to him.
“Fredericks Berwick.”
Phoebe jumped when he was called by his full name. He wasn’t so rude as to keep his eyes averted, but his whole face tensed.
Lauretta continued to address him regardless of the uncomfortable look he gave her.
“I’d always believed that you stole my sister from me. That my foolish sister betrayed me and my family because of your wicked seduction… I even convinced myself that you were at fault for her early death. I thought myself in the right for taking my niece—for taking Roxy back, by justifying everything that way.
“But Valencia…she left because she wanted to… Not because you seduced or tricked her. She left home and chose you because that’s what she truly wanted. I knew that…and yet, I was the true fool for seeing things through clouded eyes…!”
She stopped there and buried her face in her hands. Placido wordlessly rubbed her back.
Phoebe seemed even more lost for words, but after giving Rock another look, he settled with: “I’ve got plenty of stories about her.”
And then he offered her an awkward yet true smile.
“I hope you will let me visit with my daughter to talk about it someday.”
“…Please do. I would be honored if you would tell me about my little sister.”
Lauretta nodded, her face wet with tears.
She really does look like Mother, Rock thought, her heart aching as she watched her aunt and father interact.
♚♚♚
AS the sun went down, everyone gradually left Mateus Manor.
Guido and Michaela left for home shortly after the Alexises and Danilo. There was nothing gloomy about their departure as the siblings boarded their carriage with a smile.
“Let me know if you find anything else out.”
“I’ll come right over with my brother when you send the word,” Michaela said after Guido, then followed up her comment with a devilish grin. “Of course, we would be happy if you send word of good tidings as well—such as your engagement announcement.”
“PARDON?!” Rock squeaked.
“You will be the first to know.”
Ebel’s response was the definition of calm, directly contrasting Rock’s panic. A smile blossomed on Michaela’s lips when she heard, and Guido warmly took in his sister’s joy.
Around nightfall, the last visitor of the day appeared at Mateus Manor.
The doctor, a man held in high esteem for his skills within the imperial capital, grimaced after examining Krister and his busted leg.
“It looks like the leg was left unattended for quite a long time after the injury occurred. He’ll need to use a cane for the rest of his life.”
Rock was shocked by the news, but Krister looked like he’d already accepted that fact before being examined.
“I struck gold just by surviving my ordeal,” he said frankly with a wry grin.
It was such an oddly admirable thing to hear from the greedy man who used to put profit above all else.
“Did you ever think we would hear such a philosophical line from Krister, Roxy?” Phoebe remarked, shrugging with exasperation.
At any rate, it was also a fact that they’d safely rescued him. And since they had, there was one person Rock wanted to let know right away.
“I want to tell Nisha as soon as possible.”
Nisha was likely still waiting to this day for Krister to return to her in the slums. There was no way she’d give up after continually investing so much time and money in finding him. Rock was positive it’d make her day and year if she heard the good news.
“That’s a brilliant idea, Roxy.” Ebel clapped his hands together and happily suggested, “I’ll send a messenger out to invite her here first thing tomorrow morning. Krister still needs more medical treatment, so it’s best if she comes to him.”
“You want to bring her here?” Phoebe looked around the fancy guest room Ebel was letting Krister rest in, worry edging into his features. “I sure hope she doesn’t lose interest in you after getting invited to a nob’s house.”
“Nisha ain’t that kinda girl. She’s a much better human than me,” Krister argued, taking Phoebe’s joke seriously.
Rock found his reaction funny, so she decided to tease him a little more.
“You’ve gotta wonder why such a fine lady fell for somebody like you.”
“Hey, you’re one to talk, Rock, you’re—” Krister stopped mid-argument as he realized an important fact. His eyes cruised Rock’s figure. “Hold on, why’re ya still wearing that?” he asked, confused.
Rock was still wearing the blue and gold embroidered dress Lady Alexis had prepared for her. Although she was covered in dust from everything that had happened at the ruins, no one would mistake Rock for a man right now.
“That’s not all either…” Krister’s gaze drifted to Ebel and Phoebe, who were standing on both sides of her. “Why are His Excellency, Phoebe, and even Lord and Lady Alexis calling you Roxy?”
Anyone who heard that name would think it belonged to a woman. Even if it sounded a little similar to the tailor living in the slums called Rock, no one would ever connect the two.
“Maybe Father rubbed off on me,” Rock said with a laugh, deliberately not telling him the truth.
“My kid took after me in the weirdest ways,” Phoebe added with a chuckle, which seemed to make Krister even less convinced.
“That part of you is definitely similar, but… Whatever. You’re a weird family.”
“But you won’t find a closer family anywhere in the capital,” Ebel added, sounding a little envious.
♚♚♚
NIGHT wore on after they had all those separate conversations, and Rock and Phoebe decided to stay over at Mateus Manor. Everyone was exhausted from the long, chaotic day, and after what happened the last time they left, neither of them wanted to ride a carriage back to the slums in the middle of the night. Besides, Ebel had invited them to join him for dinner, so they happily took him up on his offer.
Rock also had some things she really wanted to ask about while she had the opportunity. Specifically, she wanted to know how things went between Ebel and her father while she wasn’t around.
“Did my father behave while he was with you, Your Excellency?” Rock asked as soon as the three of them sat around the dinner table.
Ebel chuckled and Phoebe snorted.
“Hey, I behave wherever I go,” he retorted.
“I didn’t mean it like you have no manners. I’m pretty sure you were worried sick the whole time I was missing.” Rock shrugged. “I’m just curious if you were being antsy wanting to rescue me before it was time.”
“Well, I definitely wasn’t calm,
” Phoebe said vaguely, glancing in Ebel’s direction.
Meanwhile, Ebel was slowly savoring his bite of food, pretending like this topic didn’t also include him. It was easy to guess something had happened, given the way they were both acting.
“Don’t tell me you fought?”
Both men froze at her question before Phoebe answered.
“Us fight? Never! His Excellency and I are full-grown adults. We were perfectly calm throughout it all.”
“Is that true, Your Excellency?” Rock asked Ebel to confirm what sounded awfully like a lie to her.
“Of course. Your father speaks the truth,” Ebel responded with a genuine smile, further adding to Rock’s suspicions that something had happened.
But they said nothing more after that, as if they were colluding to hide the truth from her. Meanwhile, Johanna looked like she was itching to talk the whole time she served them dinner. Clearly, she was dying to tell Rock all about it.
After dinner, Rock offered to help Johanna clean up.
“Oh no, you needn’t trouble yourself, Master Rock…”
Johanna only refused Rock’s assistance once, however. She was quick to pull Rock into the kitchen and gave her dishes to wash.
Only the coachman Iniel was in the kitchen with the girls. He was still recovering from the injuries he’d sustained during Placido’s attack and had started to take on light jobs around the house that wouldn’t negatively affect his recovery.
“I’m so glad to see you are safe and well, Master Rock,” he said, looking truly relieved. “I’d never be able to face His Excellency again if anything happened to you.”
“Nothing would ever happen to her!” Johanna objected at once. “Master Rock has two heroes on her side, after all!”
“Heroes?” Rock asked with a smile, even though she’d guessed who Johanna was talking about.
“Yes, heroes! No enemy will be left standing if His Excellency and Master Phoebe join hands to take them down!” she proudly declared as if she were talking about herself.
Rock actually thought so too.
The heroes in question had already returned to their rooms for the night. They’d both told Rock they wanted to talk after dinner, but Rock turned them down and headed to the kitchen to hear Johanna’s account first.
After all, there were things only the maid would tell her.
Water was pumped from the well and placed in a washbasin where Johanna washed the dishes. Iniel was responsible for rinsing the dishes, and Rock was responsible for drying them with a towel.
“Johanna, how was my father while I wasn’t here?” Rock asked while they worked.
“He was, well…in a frenzied, irritated panic,” Johanna replied over the sound of bubbles popping in the washbasin as she scrubbed the dishes with a sponge.
“That he was,” Iniel nodded in affirmation. “That night, I was injured, and Master Phoebe carried me all the way back here. After he spurred one of the horses back to the manor with me, he explained the situation to His Excellency in a tizzy. His Excellency jumped into action and raced to the scene of the attack…”
Iniel sadly cast down his gaze.
“…But there, he only found the wrecked carriage and the other horse that was obediently waiting to be brought home. He couldn’t track you by smell because the other werewolf had escaped by jumping from point to point.”
Placido did an excellent job of hiding his trail. Thanks to that, Rock’s whereabouts were a mystery, leaving her truly helpless and alone until the Linus siblings visited Alexis Manor.
“His Excellency and Master Phoebe knew that the kidnapping was the Alexis family’s doing, but—”
“They couldn’t recklessly charge in!” Johanna enthusiastically finished Iniel’s sentence. “And that’s when they violently went at it!”
“V-Violently?!”
Rock was horrified by what that word implied.
Were Ebel and Phoebe really at such odds with each other? What kind of bloody confrontation did they have?
Rock’s horror was minimized by Johanna’s big, excited nod.
“Quite! His Excellency insisted they prepare and wait for the opportune moment, since it was hard to get a feel for the other side. Meanwhile, Phoebe exhorted that they should rush in and save you, since your safety mattered above all else. They were in direct conflict, leading to many fierce quarrels. His Excellency used his very own body to obstruct Phoebe from storming out of the house more than once!”
Rock felt the blood drain from her face—quite the opposite of Johanna, whose cheeks were flushed over the excitement of it all.
She understood that Ebel and Phoebe both had their own ways of caring and worrying about her. But one wrong move likely would’ve led to an irreparable crack in their relationship.
Rock’s hands grew clammy as she thought about her absence being another trigger for disaster within Mateus Manor.
“So, uh, did Father and His Excellency make up?” Rock asked, not sure if that was the right way to phrase it.
On one side of her, Iniel looked like he was trying to suppress his laughter, while Johanna grew unusually serious on the other side.
“Of course they did! They are full-grown adults after all.”
“I see…but weren’t they quarreling a lot?”
“They were!” Johanna chirped without a moment’s delay, her hands no longer scrubbing the dishes. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, despite Rock shuddering from the thought of it.
“Why are you so happy?”
Johanna’s enthusiasm was only further stoked by Iniel’s dry question.
“Because! I was a witness for their dramatic reconciliation!!!” Water splashed everywhere when she thrust her fists into the air. “Master Phoebe struggled to shake His Excellency off when he gallantly grabbed him, putting his own body at risk. Enraged, Master Phoebe raised his fists, but His Excellency chose not to dodge, instead accepting the blow to his wrists!”
“I-It turned into a brawl…?”
“No! His Excellency emphatically yet patiently tried to persuade Master Phoebe with his words!” Johanna grew even more animated as she reached what seemed to be her favorite part of the story. “I understand why. His Excellency lost his father while he was young. I believe he sometimes sees his father in Master Phoebe… He felt the same way as Master Phoebe but tried to persuade him not to be rash. He trusts him.”
“His Excellency did that…”
Rock also understood that about him.
Ebel occasionally said things that made him sound envious of her relationship with her father. It was easy to understand why he wanted what they had, considering what he’d lost.
Phoebe also should’ve known that.
“His Excellency’s feelings definitely reached Master Phoebe!” Tears formed in Johanna’s eyes. “And then, at long last, Master Phoebe said he’d entrust everything concerning this case to His Excellency… He promised to bitterly wait for the right opportunity to save Master Rock! They shared a passionate look and a firm handshake. I saw it with my own eyes!”
“I see…”
Rock was relieved.
She couldn’t say she was happy about the overall situation, but she felt she should still be glad that the relationship between them had been repaired.
Or maybe it was better to say that their relationship had improved and grown stronger rather than just repaired.
Rock was impressed all over again by Ebel’s calmness and her father’s magnanimity.
“It’s probably imprudent for me to say this, but…” Rock started as she wiped down each dish she was handed. “I’m okay with everything that’s happened if it resulted in His Excellency and my father coming to trust each other.”
Rock had met her aunt and uncle, and they were able to form a relationship through all the pain and hurt they caused each other.
There were definite losses. There were a mountain of unsolvable mysteries and yet-to-be-settled circumstances.
But they’
d definitely gained some things along the way.
“I believe we might actually be making some real progress,” Rock quietly finished.
“We have,” Johanna agreed. “This time, it might have just been a small win, but a win is still a win! We absolutely didn’t lose!”
“You’re right, Johanna.”
Although some things were lost, Rock was able to return to the people she loved and gained much more in the process.
Maybe someday, they would be able to bring back an even greater happiness.
“But I still can’t believe Father raised a hand against His Excellency…”
Rock snickered despite herself.
Her father often accepted any fight someone brought to him, but he was rarely the instigator. It was just like her father to choose a nobleman as the one person he personally picked a fight with.
“I don’t mean to correct you, Master Rock, but that is the way in which all gentlemen forge friendship!” Johanna said in a singsong voice.
“Really?” Rock asked, curious.
“Master Rock, please ignore her,” Iniel appealed with a sigh. “You’re going to get her started rambling about her fantasies again.”
Apparently, Johanna didn’t hear him. She completely stopped washing the dishes and stared into the distance like she was daydreaming.
“If I may join you in being imprudent, seeing them fight was honestly the best thing ever… The trust that forms from clashing, a slowly changing dynamic—those are some of my absolute favorite story beats!”
“Story beats?”
“Please ignore her! I implore you!”
Johanna entered her own little world despite Rock’s dubious look and Iniel’s pleas. But then she seemed to abruptly snap out of it and whirled toward Rock in a panic.
“Oh, please don’t misunderstand! I fully support your romance with His Excellency, Master Rock!”
“What? Wh-Where did that come from?”
“I’ll admit I did temporarily fantasize about how great of a pairing they’d make, but it’s too immoral! It’s an undeniable fact that His Excellency is madly in love with you, and Master Phoebe treasures his beloved daughter above all else. I’ll just have to enjoy shipping them in my own fantasy world, so please rest assured that you can stay by His Excellency’s side without your father getting between you! Please let him stay with you!”
The Werewolf Count and the Trickster Tailor, Volume 2 Page 21