Rock was hard-pressed apologizing and explaining herself to Cargus and Justia until Phoebe showed up.
They’d sat her down in a corner of the bakery and drilled her with questions. What’d happened to Krister? Where was he, and what was he up to now? And how were Rock and Phoebe involved in the search for him?
She was stuck walking a thin line between telling them the gist of things and blurring the truth.
“Krister was kidnapped by a shady group and put through some pretty terrible stuff. Phoebe and I just so happened to come across their hideout…”
“How?”
“B-Because someone else was checking it out…”
Justia’s question had thrown her off, but she was able to come up with a quick save.
“Krister is injured,” she swiftly mentioned to distract the other woman from asking more questions she couldn’t answer. “He’ll survive, but he needs time to recover before he can come home, and he’ll be stuck using a cane for life.”
Justia and Cargus’s concern instantly switched to him.
“I see… It sounds like he went through a lot.”
“But even he said, ‘I struck gold just surviving my ordeal.’ Nisha was overjoyed when I told her how he took it.”
Krister should be returning to the slums soon too. Maybe they’d spot him walking through the shantytown using a cane while Nisha supported him on the other side.
“Well, now Nisha can finally collect on all the money she used for those posters.”
Contrary to her word choice, Justia was smiling, the dark shadows finally lifting from her worried face.
Phoebe, now changed into his favorite attire, walked into the hash house just then. His chestnut tresses cascaded down his back, his beautiful face was powdered and highlighted by makeup, and he wore a blue dress Rock had tailored for him.
He spotted Rock as soon as she waved, and his rouged lips broke into a sweet smile.
When he dressed like this, he really did look like a big-boned beauty.
“Phoebe, I just heard all about your big adventure with Rock,” Justia called out to him, sounding a little exasperated.
Phoebe playfully winked at her.
“You need a good adventure every once in a while to stave off boredom.”
“You can adventure all you want with your skills but try not to drag Rock into too much danger. This kid is so weak, you could snap him like a twig,” Justia warned, then returned to the kitchen with Cargus.
Phoebe sat in the chair across from Rock and shrugged.
“It was quite the big adventure this time, huh?” He swept his thick, luxurious hair off his shoulders. “But we both got home safe and sound. His Excellency doesn’t have any dresses in my size on hand yet, so I’m thrilled to finally be back in my second skin.”
“You look beautiful,” Rock complimented him from the bottom of her heart.
Rock loved both Phoebe, who dressed and lived as a woman, and Fredericks Berwick, who did the opposite. She loved that her father didn’t have to give up either side of himself.
“Living in that mansion in pants for days on end almost made me forget how much I love this look, too,” Phoebe said jokingly.
Rock had already learned all about how he spent those ten days from Johanna. She giggled as she recalled her stories and Phoebe arched a suspicious eyebrow.
“What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking how much I would’ve loved to see what things were like between you and His Excellency.”
“…Grr. That little rat. She’s such a blabbermouth.” Phoebe clicked his tongue, then cracked a wry smile. “You sound awfully optimistic for someone who got kidnapped.”
“Yeah, I guess I do…”
Rock was undeniably violently kidnapped and forced to live days on end with no peace of mind. The air of tension and volatility she experienced at Alexis Manor was still fresh in her mind too.
But she had a feeling that even those miserable days might become a different kind of memory with time.
Maybe she would feel differently about her aunt and uncle when she looked back on that time someday in the future. There was still much she couldn’t get over yet, but she hoped she could forgive them eventually. And hopefully, when that time came, she could speak with them without being scared. She really wanted to hear more about her mother.
“Anyway, let’s enjoy some of the potato bread that we haven’t had in days!” Rock exclaimed, the smell of the bakery making her nostalgic. She raised her hand and called out to the kitchen, “Justia! Can we get some bread?!”
“Sure thing!” Justia answered from the kitchen. Then she turned around as if she just remembered something important. “Oh yeah, Rock! Have you been by to see Lady Trilian yet?”
“What? No, I haven’t…”
“She seemed super ticked off that you hadn’t been around in days and started wondering if you were skipping rent. She went around grumbling that she’s going to jack up the rent, so you’d better go speak with her.”
Now that she thought about it, Rock had been staying with Phoebe ever since Krister first showed up in front of her apartment. It really had been a long time since she actually went back to her own place, so it made sense her landlady would worry.
“How ticked was she?” Rock asked, fearful of the answer.
“Do you think that woman’s capable of quiet anger?” Justia laughed. “It’s so bad, she was going around complaining that her tenant fled in the night. I’d prepare for the worst.”
“I was planning on moving out soon too…”
It seemed unlikely she’d be allowed to move out in peace with her landlady so upset.
Holding her head in her hand, Rock glanced at Phoebe.
“…Will you come with me to talk to her?”
Phoebe graced her with a benevolent smile.
“I can’t send you into that fox den alone. Shall we go get our heads chewed off together?”
Thus, Rock and Phoebe headed to the battlefield together after they finished eating.
Negotiations with Lady Trilian, who was already armed and ready, weren’t pretty, but Rock laid out a sound argument, Phoebe occasionally made matters worse, but eventually, they arrived at a deal both sides could agree to.
In the end, they won the right to move out comfortably in exchange for two months’ rent.
♚♚♚
AROUND the time father and daughter finally started their happy life together, Rock finished tailoring the court uniform Ebel had ordered.
She promptly sent him a letter, and he arrived at the shop the same day.
“It’s been a while since you last came as a customer,” Rock said, greeting him when he came through the door.
He approached the counter, looking relieved.
“I’m thrilled to see your days have gone back to being peaceful.”
“All thanks to you, Ebel,” she promptly responded. Phoebe started clearing his throat as he swept the floors. She laughed and amended her statement. “Father too… Also, Lord Linus and Michaela helped out as well. I haven’t forgotten what Johanna and the others did either.”
Rock’s current tranquility existed with the help of many people.
They were able to recover what they thought they’d lost forever.
The Linus siblings were also spending their days in harmony together.
Johanna’s cheerfulness was still probably making life at Mateus Manor that much more fun and full of both dry and happy laughter.
Krister was due to return to the slums soon too.
And most of all…
“I hope your days are just as peaceful,” Rock said.
Looking at her with fondness, Ebel reached across the counter and took her hand.
“Your presence is my peace of mind, Roxy.”
Rock fidgeted bashfully from the feeling of his big, warm hand holding hers.
“Ebel…”
“If possible, I hope to have you closer all the time.” Ebel gazed
straight into Rock’s eyes, completely undisturbed by Phoebe watching them. “As we discussed before, it is my greatest wish to spend my future with you.”
Rock had long since made up her mind about that. But it was a lot harder for her to ignore Phoebe’s presence.
And there was something else that’d been on her mind all this time: the dream her father and mother had worked toward. And her own slender hand resting in Ebel’s.
So she answered him truthfully.
“That’s my wish too, Ebel,” she said and confided, “I’ve been thinking about the future a lot lately.”
“…Oh? What do you have in mind?”
She hesitated for a moment. But a second’s pause didn’t change her mind. This was her dream, after all.
“I want to open up a shop as Roxy, not Rock,” she said sheepishly.
Ebel quietly nodded, accepting her dreams fully.
Rock nodded back to him and continued, “I want to leave these slums with Father and open up a tailor shop in the imperial capital. That’s what I’ve been thinking about.”
She glanced to her left and saw Phoebe silently smiling at her too.
That’d been her father and mother’s dream. And now it was hers.
“That is a lovely objective,” Ebel said as enthusiastically as if it were his own dream. “I’m sure there are things I can assist you with in accomplishing your dreams. Please tell me when the time comes.”
“Thank you very much, Ebel.”
Truth be told, she might really need his help to make her dreams come true.
Rock was twenty—she knew the cold, hard truth about reality. She’d a general idea about the huge sum of money necessary to buy her way out of the slums and that some things couldn’t just be solved with money alone.
But she would think about how to solve each obstacle as she came to it.
She wanted to obtain citizenship with her own two small, calloused hands.
She wanted to become a version of herself that could be confident standing at Ebel’s side.
“I hope you will continue to be a regular customer of mine,” she told Ebel. “I will reward your trust by putting my whole heart into every piece I tailor for you.”
She squeezed his hand, and he put his other hand on top, encompassing it.
“Your determination has touched my heart. I’ll become the best customer you’ve ever had.”
“Never let go of that hand, you hear?” Phoebe coolly interjected, his eyes on their hands.
Which one was he saying that to? Either way, their aspirations and determination remained unchanged.
They would never let go until the day their dreams came true.
Of course, even after that, Roxy’s small hand wasn’t going to let go of Ebel’s either.
♚Afterword
THANK you for joining me for the second volume of The Werewolf Count and the Trickster Tailor. I’m the author, Yuruka Morisaki.
I’m delighted you decided to continue Rock and Ebel’s story with me.
After becoming a couple at the end of Volume 1, Rock and Ebel get to show off their intimate relationship throughout Volume 2. Of course, they run into all sorts of trouble, but I hope you enjoyed how they overcame their problems differently from the first volume because of the trust they now put in each other.
The people in their lives continue to be the same while changing in small ways: Phoebe has started exploring his two gender identities, Guido and Michaela are coming to accept the curse, and Johanna has awakened to a new fetish (?). In this way, everyone has started down their respective paths. Volume 2 introduced some new characters as well, and I hope you will come back to see where the future takes them.
And, of course, I hope to deliver Rock and Ebel’s happy ending into your hands next time!
The Werewolf Count and the Trickster Tailor, Volume 2 Page 23