Can Someone Please Explain What's Going On?! Volume 8

1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-7183-1432-0
Verlag: J-Novel Heart
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Can Someone Please Explain What's Going On?!

Little Lettie has a question for her parents: 'How did I come into the world?' The tale begins during a turbulent time for the Fisalis manor-weddings and adoptions and childbirth, oh my! Between all these delightful shake-ups at the estate, Viola and Cercis find themselves starting to long for a little one of their own. In the meantime, the couple gets invited to the Argenteia family's housewarming for their brand new villa-only for Viola's très expensive Viola Eye jewelry to get stolen amid the festivities! Who could the culprit be?! Just like everything else with this duo, the story of the days leading up to Violet's birth is one full of ups and downs!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tsuredurebana

Weitere Mitwirkende

Hagiwara, Rin

Quinn, Tara

Leseproben

1. Just Before Violet Was Born

It had been over a year since I, Viola Mangelica Euphorbia, had married Duke Cercis Tinensis Fisalis.

I know I just summed up that whole year in passing, but it was actually a pretty jam-packed and turbulent time. During those twelve months, Mr. Fisalis and I went from having a superficial contract marriage to being a normal couple. And a truly couple, at that.

Between the “Neighboring Prince Incident” a little while back and the surprise Mr. Fisalis put together for me (a do-over wedding in my own personal garden), it was safe to say that our bonds as husband and wife had grown much deeper.

Meanwhile, I was well on my way to becoming a first-class duchess...!

I was still keeping up with my various etiquette lessons; however, being such a fast learner, I’d more or less mastered every subject (by my standards, anyway), so these days my lessons amounted to little more than laid-back review sessions. Of course, it was going to take more than mastery of the basics to make me “first-class,” but at least I was making progress there.

As a dyed-in-the-wool impoverished aristocrat, I’d settled into my life at the manor more as “a fellow servant” than “the lady of the house.” The second my husband left for work, I would rush to change into my maid uniform and take my meals with the rest of the staff. For lunch, I would eat in the servants’ dining room, sitting among the chattering maids and chowing down on a staff meal. Now that’s what I call pure bliss!

Any days where I didn’t have to socialize were devoted to cleaning the mansion, doing the laundry, and working in the garden! Nobody was going to stop me now!

* * *

The day had started out with gorgeous weather, making it the perfect chance to do some cleaning.

Once I’d seen Mr. Fisalis off, I jumped at the chance to switch into my maid uniform.

“I bet the laundry will dry nice and quick in this weather! Hee hee—oh boy, I’m pumped!”

“Now there’s a line I never thought I’d hear from such a well-to-do lady... Well, I suppose I can let it slide,” said Stellaria, heaving a sigh as she helped me get changed. She had an air of resignation about her.

She tied back my hair for me, and then it was time to get to work.

We finished the laundry before lunchtime; in the afternoon, I went about polishing the windows. I left the really high places to the other servants, focusing instead on wiping down whatever my hands could reach. Anywhere too far off the ground would take a ladder to get to, so Rohtas and company would start yelling that it was too dangerous if I even tried. I really wished they’d let me have a go at it at least once—I was hardly a child!

Everyone was still so gosh darn overprotective of me, though.

Brushing my disgruntlement aside, I did my share of the chores, going from room to room and making the windows shine. Hustle, hustle. Squeak, squeak.

I’m

As I carried on with the cleaning, lost in my own dumb thoughts, the Window Wiping Squad (myself included) finally made it to the room next to the entrance. From here, it was quite easy to spot anyone coming in or out of the manor.

He drew closer and closer. And then—

With whom, you might ask?

Why, the uniform-clad Mr. Fisalis, of course!

this

Clearly I wasn’t the only one surprised; Mr. Fisalis was staring back at me goggle-eyed.

“It’s Cercis! He’s home!” I shouted, hastily peeling myself away from the window and informing my fellow cleaners.

“What?! Master Fisalis is back from work already?!”

“This is a disaster! Madam, head to your room and change clothes at once!”

“We’ll tidy up after you, so get going!”

Faced with the untimely return of their master, the Cleaning Squad went into panic mode.

“Got it! I’ll leave the rest to you guys!”

I did as the servants directed, dropping my cleaning supplies and dashing off to the bedroom as fast as my legs could carry me.

Unfortunately, just as I had left the room behind and started running for the stairs, the jig was up!

“What’s going on? Care to explain?” came a voice, paired with an oh-so-sweet smile.

Mr. Fisalis had made it to the entryway one step ahead of me, and there he was blocking the path to the stairs, his arms crossed. He knew me too well.

* * *

I recalled a similar scene once playing out between the two of us, right around when we first got married.

One time, when I was wearing my maid uniform and doing chores around the house, Mr. Fisalis had just happened to pass by and catch me in the act. Back then, however, he hadn’t realized who I was. He wasn’t the least bit interested in me at the time, so he had just assumed I was the latest young addition to the staff.

But now...

After getting dragged off to the parlor, still in uniform, I took my usual spot on the sofa next to Mr. Fisalis.

“Tell me, Vi... What, precisely, were you doing dressed like ?” my husband asked, lifting the hem of my uniform’s apron ever so slightly.

He didn’t sound angry; if anything, his tone was quite gentle. Somehow that made me even scared, though.

“Uhh... I was cleaning with the servants,” I mumbled in response. I drew in on myself as much as possible, and I did my best to keep my voice just as small as the rest of me.

There was no point in lying here—he’d caught me red-handed, after all!—so I chose to come out and tell him the truth.

“Yes, that’s about what I expected. I’m not sure what else this have been. Then my next question is this: how long have you been doing this?” he followed up, sounding no less mild than before. No matter soft his tone was, however, the fact that he was in full uniform made this feel a lot like a cross-examination...

“Since morning.”

“I didn’t mean when you got started . I meant in general.”

I’d hoped playing dumb might work, but sadly, he saw right through it.

“Oh! Pretty much since I arrived at the manor, then. Tee hee?”

I flashed him a dazzling smile.

“What do you mean, ‘since you arrived at the manor’?”

“Since we first got married...I guess?”

At that, my husband heaved the loudest sigh I’d ever heard out of him, then looked over at Rohtas. “You lot... to have known about this, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir.” Rohtas, who had been hanging back behind us, gave a quiet nod. not

It wasn’t just Rohtas, either; Dahlia and the rest of the servants in the room all bobbed their heads meekly.

“Seriously?” Mr. Fisalis was shocked to see everyone else confirm it. didn’t “Rohtas, what is the meaning of this?” he then demanded, glaring at his butler.

your

made

“Rohtas and everyone didn’t want to let me do it, but I them! I wasn’t exactly brought up as a sheltered maiden, so I couldn’t stand the thought of staying put in the mansion all day long; if...