Obsessed with Regressors

“You said you had another nightmare last night?”

That evening, at a ball held at the palace, Oliver asked her with a smirk. Because she then frowned and shook the fan a bit roughly, he sighed and added.

“Mother was worried.”

“It’s not that she’s worried about me, but she’s probably telling my older brother to come in early.”

Her attack wiped Oliver’s youthful smile from his face. Yesterday too, Oliver slept in the club. It’s good that he got a room there, he should have slept face down on the game table after playing cards all night with his friends.

She clicked her tongue with a pathetic expression and said.

“If that’s the case, why don’t you get a house and move out?”

Among the noble men of Oliver’s age, there were often people who got a house and move out. If one was married, it’s natural, and even if one was single, one got a single person’s house.

At her point, Oliver’s face returned to a haughty smile. She was glad Oliver and she didn’t look alike. As much as she knew how unlucky that smile was, she didn’t have to worry about being as unlucky as he was.

“How could I leave you when my little brother has nightmares and cries every night?”

Well spoken, really. She shook her head at her shameless older brother’s excuse and said,

“Does it count as worry coming in just once a week?”

If one’s home was decided by the number of times one sleeped there, Oliver’s house would not be the Biscon Mansion, but the ‘High Hat Club’, a male aristocratic club. Oh, it would be the same even if she counted the number of meals in place of the number of nights.

At that point, Oliver put on an expression that he had nothing more to say, and she had a premonition of victory. Then their mother, who had returned from greeting Mrs. Martha, interrupted.

“This is all because of what happened at Lingard Manor. Poor Mrs. Lingard, I do not know if she has arrived.”

“Shouldn’t she have arrived by now? Where did you say that Mrs. Lingard’s parents were?”

When the opportunity to change the subject came, her brother quickly snatched it up. She also joined her mother’s story with a worried expression on her face.

The Lingard Mansion was on Escon Street, one block from Seymaria Street, and it was robbed a while ago which caused a commotion because Eschen Street was the second safest street after Seymaria Street, and Lingard Mansion was where Baron Lingard and his wife lived.

She heard that Lingard Mansion was robbed at dawn a few days ago and that someone had hit the baron on the head hard enough to knock him out. The baroness heard someone entering her house and she escaped to the study, so she was not harmed.

“Nuggetel is about a week by carriage from here, so she should have arrived by now. But I’ll have to calm my nerves, so I won’t be able to write the letter for a few more days.”

Oliver and she nodded politely at their mother’s words before she asked cautiously.

“Have they not caught the culprit yet?”

Then her mother’s expression changed. She looked at her with her concerned expression, took her hand, and patted the back of her hand.

“Don’t worry, Eugenie. They’ll catch them soon.”

She realized her mother was worried about her having nightmares. As Oliver said, her mother seems to think that she was having nightmares because of the incident at Lingard Mansion.

Maybe was right since the first time she had a nightmare was the day after the incident at Lingard Mansion. When she said nothing, Oliver interrupted with a nod of his head.

“That’s why you can’t give all your servants vacation at the same time.”

On the day the Lingard mansion was robbed, Baroness Lingard gave all the servants a leave of absence. That morning, she said, all the servants, except for the butler, left the mansion to return to their hometowns.

In the end, it was said that the only people left in the mansion when the robbery took place were Baron Lingard, his wife and the butler.

“Someone might have brought in a robber.”

At Oliver’s words, their mother made a terrified expression. If the robber knew that all the servants were away on vacation that day, it was because someone informed him.

She frowned and her mother added as if to comfort her.

“Don’t worry, my dear. Because we all have people we can trust.”

It would have been the same for Baron Lingard and his wife. But she nodded silently, as it didn’t seem like a good idea to say such a thing in that situation.

“I thought they had a trustworthy person.”

Then Oliver opened his mouth. He lowered his voice so he couldn’t be heard.

“I heard from someone I trust that Lady Devon is crazy.”

“Oliver!”

Her mother was taken aback by her brother’s words and let go of her reproach. It was crazy, probably because his words were too radical. Sure enough, her mother added, slapping Oliver on the arm. 

“Speak like an aristocrat.”

“Ah, yes. Noble Lady Devon has lost her mind.”

“Oliver!”

Once again her mother slapped Oliver on the arm and she hesitated whether to smile or frown. That noble lady, Lady Devon, was the daughter of an earl like her, and our title was the same.

A ‘noble lady’ was a title used for a princess or a duke’s daughter, so her older brother’s words earlier were kind of sarcastic.

“By the way, by Lady Devon, you mean Millie, right? Eugenie, weren’t you at the same meeting as her?”

“Yes.”

Millie and she belong to the White Rose Society. It was a service meeting of aristocratic ladies. Of course, they didn’t just do volunteer work, they also met irregularly and drank tea.

But since she wasn’t very close with Milly, she had a bit of trouble remembering the last time she saw her. Did they do anything special at that time?

“I don’t think there has been much change.”

The last meeting of the White Rose Society was two weeks ago. It was not a regular meeting, but as always most of them attended to drink tea at the chairman’s house. The thing was, she didn’t remember what Millie said or if she did anything particularly strange. In fact, she had forgotten about Millie until she remembered it at that moment.

She was the quiet type and lived a normal life like the other noble ladies. The reason why her name has risen the most in social circles was because of the news of her engagement.

It’s not that she was particularly engaged or that she was engaged to a weird partner. Millie’s fiance was Lord Baltigor, whom she remembered as a quiet person like Millie. It’s just that socialites were passionate about someone’s love, engagement, and marriage.

“It’s a pity that the poor girl has lost her mind.”

Her mother gave her a pitiful look, as she said so. She lost her mind, what did she do? She always thought of the quiet Millie and imagined her doing something that would make her say she was crazy. But she couldn’t imagine it.

“How will the Viscounts of Baltigor react?”

Oliver’s question brought her to my senses. She knew. Sir Baltigor, who was pushing aside their marriage, was still engaged with Millie.

“They will break off the marriage.”

At her mother’s sighed words, she sighed as well. She felt sorry for Millie and Lord Voltigor, who only knew her face.

“Rather than that, Oliver. This is not the time to talk about engagements.”

It wasn’t long before she sighed over the sad story of Milly and Lord Baltigor that her mother slapped Oliver on the shoulder with her fan, and cast her gaze to one side while continuing her words.

“Let’s go over there.”

Seeing where her mother’s gaze was directed, she saw several unmarried young ladies gathered together with their companions. The purpose of those proms was definitely to find a mate.

And unlike her, who got engaged a few months ago, Oliver wasn’t even engaged yet, and he didn’t even have a marriage rumor.

She waved at Oliver, who was being led to her mother like a cow to the slaughterhouse. Normally, Oliver’s engagement should have been earlier than hers but it wasn’t probably due to Oliver’s delay.

“Could you be alone for a while?”

Taking Oliver away, their mother asked with a worried expression. She was not a child, but sometimes she felt like a five-year-old when listening to her mother.

“Sure.”

She said, holding back a laugh at her mother’s concern.

“There is an awning over there. I’ll go there if necessary.”

Only after her mother looked back at the awning where her best friend was she nodded her head. And then, along with Oliver, they headed towards a gathering of unmarried women.

“Eugenie, did you come alone?”

As soon as her mother left, a familiar voice spoke to her. When she found her mother’s distant relatives, Sir Escalee and his daughter, Julia, she greeted them with a smile.

“Hello, Sir Escalee. And Julia.”

Now that she had just turned eighteen, Julia was wearing a lovely dress like a young girl who had just made her social debut. She complimented her dress and explained to Sir Escalee that her mother and brother had gone over there for a while.

Then Sir Escalee stroked his chin and said.

“I guess Oliver still hasn’t found a woman he likes?”

“Unfortunately.”

She sighed with an excessively sorry attitude and said so. Sir Escalee grinned at her attitude and then looked at Julia and said:

“In my heart, I want to ask him what he thinks about taking Julia as his wife, but… ”

“Father!”

At the same time as her eyes widened, Julia shouted. ‘My’ Just like that she started pretending not to see her face turning red.

Fortunately, it seemed that Sir Escalee was just talking without a proper objective. He chuckled at his daughter, who was blushing in her face.

“Because I’m too weak to stand near Oliver.”

She smiled as she saw Julia twisting her body, as if she was quite embarrassed. Sir Escalee said so because he heard that Julia was rejecting all her marriage talks.

It’s an excuse. Of course, Julia hasn’t graduated from her academy yet, but everyone knew that Lord Escalee, who lost her wife and raised her daughter alone, wants to spend more time with her daughter before marring her out.

“Julia is perfect. It’s because Oliver is too old.”

As she thought, Sir Escalee smiled happily at her words. The Countess of Biscon may be a coveted position, but Oliver is a bit older for Julia.

For a father who cherishes his daughter, having a son-in-law 10 years older than her daughter was a big drawback.

“By the way, why isn’t His Highness coming yet?”

—————————————————————

Translator Note: