Unedited
In the afternoon, Alyssa Dalton, Rohan Dalton, and Kyle Villard came all at once.
“What the hell is this?”
“This? Are you seriously using ‘this’ to refer to people?”
“Ari! My baby!”
As I argued with Kyle, who strutted across the threshold like he owned the place, my mom ran up to me with her arms wide open. I could smell the salty scent of the sea breeze from my mother, who hugged me tightly and rocked me vigorously. I twisted my body and wrenched myself out of her embrace.
“Ugh, stop it. I’m not a baby.”
Normally, I would have embraced her and spun around the hall, but with Kyle present, I acted more demurely, like Cynthia, who had decided to be a lady starting this year. Sure enough, Kyle raised the corner of his mouth and said, ‘Baby Ari?’. He looked like he was about to start singing until verse 32.
I jabbed Kyle in the ribs with my elbow. He didn’t seem to mind and ruffled my hair. He must have picked up some bad habits from Maverick Villard.
“Why are you three coming together? Did you meet him on the way?”
“I thought it was about time for a ship to arrive at Dalton Harbor, so I decided to play the role of a son-in-law.”
“So unserious, again.”
When I swung my fist, Kyle ducked behind my dad. My dad, who was inspecting the contents of crates being moved by the servants, defended Kyle enthusiastically.
“We had too many crates to handle, but thanks to him, we managed. Why give him a hard time? Here, take this, Ari.”
“You bought something strange again!”
Despite my habitual complaint, my lips curled into a smile. Whenever my father went somewhere on a trading ship, he would always buy me interesting gifts, which were usually toys meant to rip off tourists.
Exotic toys always excite the merchant’s mischievous only daughter. The worse the quality, the more excited I got. They were horribly low in durability and never worked as expected.
For instance, last winter, he brought back a snow globe from the northern continent. When shaken, the snow-like substance inside would form a snowman. As with most cheap magic tools, some part of its design was completely wrong. The proportions between the head and body were good at first, but as time went on, the head grew larger than the body. I remembered bawling my eyes out over the snowman, who lamented over its large head every time it was formed.
However, there was nothing in the box I received this time. When I started to get upset, my dad told me to stop and put my hand inside. I did as I was told, and, oh my God, I felt something soft!
“What’s this?”
“It’s an invisible fabric. We’ll start importing it officially at the end of the month. You know how rare invisibility magic is, right?”
My dad puffed out his chest proudly. My mother narrowed her eyes and said something that was inaudible to me. She was probably dissatisfied with my father, who had decided to buy fabric again after spending so much gold on elven-printed fabric.
“This is crazy!”
Anyway, I am completely fascinated by the invisible fabric. I quickly picked it up and wrapped it around my waist. If you focus, you can see a slight curve, but at a glance, it looks like the area from my pelvis down has completely disappeared. Kyle also couldn’t help but be impressed.
“It would be perfect for making a robe with a hood. You could achieve your long-time goal.”
“The perfect crime.”
The day when we’d hear the fantastic obituary of Walsh wasn’t far off. I smiled sinisterly and continued.
“That would be great, but another of my goals was to perfectly replicate a Dullahan* at the Joke Month Banquet.”
*(The Dullahan is a type of legendary creature in Irish folklore. He is depicted as a headless rider on a black horse, or as a coachman, who carries his own head.)
“Hey, if you do that, my Medusa costume will look pathetic! I have to win the ‘Best Joke’ trophy this year!”
Graduating without the ‘Best Joke’ trophy, which even adorned Cornelia Villard’s room, was nothing short of humiliation for Kyle. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t greedy for the greatest honor a Fitzsimmons prankster could claim.
While arguing with Kyle, I dropped the invisible fabric I was holding. We had to spend the entire evening groping the hall floor to find where it had fallen.
The dining hall was lit up for the first time in a while. When my parents were away, Bree and I would grab a quick meal in my room or at a restaurant in the downtown area.
Having grown accustomed to the pungent flavors of Fitzsimmons cafeteria, I could not be considered much of a gourmet. The same was true for Brianna. Kyle, however, was different. Although he was no longer as picky as he had been in his childhood, he could still discern what was good and bad about a dish. Also, as Viscount Dalton and his wife tried a variety of cuisines in so many different places, they became indifferent to most flavors.
As a result, the chef’s expression as he set the plates down was one of determination. Today’s menu was a fricassee of rabbit meat sautéed lightly in butter, served with mushrooms, spices, and a cream sauce.
“Did you do well on the test, Ari?”
Mom asked as I put a piece of finely chopped rabbit meat into my mouth. I swallowed the barely chewed meat with water and patted my chest as I made an excuse.
“It wasn’t bad….”
“Why won’t Fitzsimmons send me your report card?”
“I told you, flying squirrels are on strike demanding improved treatment. I support them. How in the world do flying squirrels work ten hours a day for an apple these days?”
I thought of the report card that had been reduced to ashes in the fireplace of the study. Not being bad meant not being good, and for me, the standard for a bad grade was a failing grade. Anyway, no matter what my grades were, my future depended on the system and Blossom.
As I answered while sweating profusely, Kyle giggled, and Brianna pursed her lips. Before a bomb could drop from my feather-light roommate’s mouth, I pretended to pick up the fork I had dropped and whispered, ‘Please be quiet.’
When a servant brought a new fork, Mom squinted and alternately looked at me, Bree, and Kyle sitting side by side. We simultaneously scraped the cream sauce off one side of the button mushrooms as if it were the most important thing in the world. After a moment of silence, Dad joined in.
“What did you do in Talon?”
It seemed like he was trying to help me, but unfortunately, the awkward change in topic, like a puzzle piece forced into place it wasn’t fit to, wasn’t very welcome either. I glanced at Kyle trying to fork some peas before answering.
“To see a friend.”
“Yeah, right, a friend.”
Kyle couldn’t hold back his sarcasm. Even Brianna-Megaphone-Mosley was keeping quiet! When I stomped on his foot under the table, he whined, ‘Ah, why.’. Apparently, he was still upset that he hadn’t been able to sneak into my travel bag because he was busy participating in the Red Hair Day event.
But it wasn’t my fault that the Villard Count’s family took Red Hair Day seriously. As I smoothed out the wrinkles in my napkin with an innocent look, a servant came in with a tray holding a bottle of wine, a block of cheese, and a letter. The wine and cheese were handed to Mom, and the letter was given to me.
“According to Gina’s letter, you performed a fire show at the Spencer family’s banquet and received money from a thief.”
“There is nothing that is not a misunderstanding.”
Gina was Viscountess Green, that is, Judith’s mother. What on earth did Jody and her siblings say about me? I’d asked them to keep the identity of the ‘Unknown Viscount Daughter’ a secret, and it seemed like she told everything other than that.
The injuries Jody suffered after getting slammed into a tree by an unknown creature could not be minor. After she regained consciousness and I confirmed that she was not the being that had attacked me, but the cousin I knew, I sought out a healer and Jared Greene, who wore a mountain goat mask. Jared had a deep-seated distrust of me after the ‘ripped pants incident,’ so it took quite a bit of work to get him to come out.
I had a dozen plausible lies ready. However, Jody left the Spencer Mansion as soon as the simple first aid was completed, without even having time to talk about the circumstances I worked so hard to make up. That was quite a strange attitude. As if being chased by something—.
“If you knew how cozy Ari was with Jaden Spencer, you’d be surprised.”
“Jaden Spencer? You mean ‘that’ Jaden Spencer?”
Lost in thought, I failed to stop my chatty friend. Mom almost fainted at Brianna’s exaggerated description.
I quickly flipped through the joke dictionary in my head to find a way to defuse the situation. After excluding jokes that were not appropriate for adults and Milua-style jokes that would be difficult for Brianna to understand, I was left with a few old favorites. When I hurriedly brought up the story about the toad that a Stia believer kept, everyone at the dinner table went serious.
“Dad thought you would naturally marry your childhood friend.”
Even after the atmosphere cooled down due to the boring joke, the topic did not change. With a wistful look on his face, Kyle quipped.
“I would love to, but she doesn’t want to.”
“Oh, Ari! What’s wrong with Mr. Villard?”
My stomach dropped at this never-ending Ariel Dalton hearing. Instead of pleading my case, I continued tearing the rabbit meat into pieces. Then Kyle let out a shallow sigh and said, “You know what?” It was a rather bright tone of voice.
“Did you know that little Benji was selected as the ‘coolest redhead’ on Red Hair Day this year? He’s probably going to be full of himself for a while.”
Little Benji, Kyle’s youngest brother, Benjamin Villard, was a seven-year-old with chubby cheeks like a cherub in a famous painting and curly hair reminiscent of Brianna Mosley. I imagined Benjamin, who usually mumbled while clinging to Maverick’s leg, basking in the small glory he had achieved. It would be so cute, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What about Cindy? She must have been really jealous.”
“Cynthia’s dress was the most gorgeous there was. But it didn’t suit her red hair at all. Although the whole family told her yellow or orange tones weren’t for her, you know how stubborn the Villards are.”
The Ariel Dalton hearing ended with a few words from Kyle. Now my parents seemed more curious about what was going on between Cynthia and Benjamin than what was going on between me and Jaden. As the story of Cindy pinching Benji’s cheeks and Benji pulling Cindy’s hair unfolded, I shared the story of Bree leaving marks on Princess O’Brien’s scalp. Everyone was amused, except Brianna Mosley.
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