TSIMG 07

Chapter 07

“You know that’s an insult, right?”

“It was a mutter.”

He erased Damian from his mind.

“For now, I want to play until I’m sick of it. Doing nothing, just playing.”

“Miss Proxhate.”

Hystein called her name with a resolute tone and gaze.

“You want to play until you’re sick of it? There’s a timing to life. While you’re playing, others will be securing their positions and drawing the life they’ve designed. Can you afford to be so leisurely?”

When Hystein had called Rodia’s name a moment ago, his meal had been served.

But he didn’t even touch his spoon to the appetizer soup, instead launching into a lecture.

“So what? Everyone’s drawing a different picture of life. No matter when you start, you can’t complete it the same way.”

Rodia shrugged.

“Anyway, couldn’t you stop that lecturing during meals? I feel like I’m going to get indigestion.”

“I’m saying this because you’re like a younger sister to me, Miss Proxhate.”

“But you’re not my older brother, are you?”

“Tha—!”

Hystein, struck speechless by Rodia’s retort, could only blink.

Rodia then let out a scoff, as if finding it ridiculous.

“And besides, Damian doesn’t lecture me like that. He’s a person who doesn’t have a plan for his own life, so who is he to lecture anyone else.”

“…….”

That was true. Hystein chose silence as a sign of agreement.

Rodia opened her mouth, looking as if she couldn’t be more wronged and indignant.

“Look. Five years at the Academy, four years at university. And even in my fourth year of law school, that damn professor kept throwing assignments at me every single day. After studying for a total of nine years without being able to sleep in properly, I’ve just graduated. What do you want me to do?”

Rodia’s voice was filled with a firm resolve to play.

“For now, my biggest goal is to do as little as possible, if possible. I’m going to play. I’m going to sleep in, and I’m going to do everything I’ve wanted to do.”

As she said this, a hint of loneliness flickered in Rodia’s eyes. The only reason she could speak like this was probably because she was at Hystein’s house. A place where no one could find her as long as she didn’t go outside. It was a bravado she could only afford when hiding in such a place.

Rodia was well aware of her situation.

The moment she started living outside this mansion, she would have to worry not about playing leisurely, but about how to make a living and where to find a job. The money Damian had supposedly left for her sat in the bank, but it was far too precious to Rodia. She couldn’t afford to use it carelessly and squander it. But she didn’t need to share such deep-seated concerns with Hystein either.

“So, I have no plans to get a job right away.”

Lying to herself, she cut a large piece of meat and shoved it into her mouth. Her cheeks puffed out as if they might burst.

That was hardly proper dining etiquette. But seeing her with her cheeks all puffed out, Hystein found himself amused.

*Cute.*

Holding his fork, he thought so without realizing it. And then, startled by his own thought, he flinched.

The fork slipped from his limp hand, clattering and rolling across the marble floor.

“…….”

*Crazy.*

What was I just thinking?

Have I lost my mind?

His unfocused eyes wavered as if in a daze. He raised his left hand, which held nothing. And then, he slapped his own cheek.

*Snap out of it, you idiot!*

While he was doing that, Rodia stared at him with a bewildered expression.

Here was a madman who, in the middle of dinner, suddenly slapped his own cheek!

Rodia asked him, incredulous.

“……What are you doing now?”

“……Just trying to wake myself up a bit.”

At his obviously flimsy excuse, Rodia let out a small chuckle.

He too knew how absurd an excuse it was. So he assumed Rodia wouldn’t believe him.

“See? Even you need a break sometimes. If you keep running nonstop like Mr. Roart, you’ll end up sick and collapse someday.”

But Rodia believed this ridiculous excuse without a hint of suspicion.

He forced a scoff and retorted.

“Me? I’d actually like to collapse at least once. I wonder when that wish will come true.”

And then, he began to enjoy his own meal.

Little did Hystein know that he would soon fulfill that wish.

He really had a loose tongue.

—

* * *

“How are you doing these days?”

On the afternoon of the last gathering with her friends before they left for their respective families, Rodia, sitting at a table by the window and sipping coffee, looked up.

“……What? Why are you all looking at me like that? It’s weird.”

Various colored eyes sparkled, fixed on Rodia.

“Oh, nothing. Just wondering if you’re doing well?”

“Yeah, Ridi. Are you okay? Doing alright?”

“Is Mr. Hystein just as handsome at home as he is in public?”

Melia, Greiner, and Isolesia spoke in turn. Each question carried a distinct personality.

Amused, Rodia chattered on, her voice full of laughter.

“I’m doing fine. Having fun, actually. The Roart mansion’s library has lots of interesting books, and there’s plenty to see in the mansion.”

“No, not that.”

Greiner and Melia leaned closer to Rodia.

“Nothing happened with Mr. Roart?”

Melia asked in a suggestive tone. Her voice carried a subtle undercurrent of expectation.

*My friend’s romance with the most eligible man in the country! And I get to watch it all up close!*

Melia’s eyes sparkled as if stars were about to pour out.

“Something did happen.”

“Something did?!”

“Really?”

At Rodia’s answer, the three women huddled close to her. They all had one thing in common.

Rodia’s romance!

But Rodia was more oblivious than they had anticipated.

“We met at dinner a few days ago, right? And I’m not exaggerating, Mr. Roart is so busy that I’m lucky if I even get to see him at mealtimes.”

“Uh-huh, and?”

Rodia answered her friends’ enthusiastic prompting with a voice full of indignation.

“But then Mr. Roart asked me when I was going to get a job! Isn’t that too harsh for a student who just graduated the day before?”

What Hystein had actually asked was different, but there was no one present to tell her that.

“……Ah.”

“Hmm, a job. Right, I suppose I should.”

“Phew…….”

Fuming, Rodia frowned at her friends’ strange reactions. They had asked if anything happened, so she told them, and now they were openly sighing.

“What’s with that reaction? What were you expecting?”

“Nothing. Right, our Rodia is the only pure soul left in this world.”

“Yeah, you mustn’t be tainted.”

Greiner and Isolesia said, patting Rodia’s head. Her wavy, deep purple hair tangled like wine around their fingers.

“No, she needs to know some things.”

Greiner said coolly.

“Tainted? Pure? What don’t I know?”

As Rodia’s eyes widened, Greiner’s eyes gleamed.

“Listen carefully, Rodia. From today on, while you’re staying at the Roart mansion, there’s something you need to do.”

At the rather solemn words, Rodia unconsciously swallowed.

Only Melia and Isolesia, who could guess what Greiner was about to say, were giggling.

—

* * *

“……Is this right?”

Rodia compared the title on the paper Greiner had written for her with the book.

The author and title matched, so it seemed to be the book she had recommended. Rodia pulled it out and hugged it to her chest.

The paper contained a list of books her friends had recommended as good reads for her time off.

Rodia was striding back and forth across the bookstore, holding that list. She already had a few more books she had found that way in her arms.

“How can a book title be this poetic?”

**”The Serpent Hiding in the Goddess’s Garden”**

Admiring the author’s sense of style, Rodia grabbed the book. Adding it to the four she already had, she carried a total of five books to the bookstore clerk.

“Oh, these are all so good!”

The clerk said, looking at the books Rodia had brought while writing up the sales record.

“Have you read these?”

“Of course! They’re so famous! If you’d like, after you finish these, I can recommend some others too!”

The clerk said in an excited voice. Rodia was surprised by her words.

A book so good that even a bookstore clerk would enthusiastically recommend it. Rodia’s heart pounded with anticipation, wondering just how enjoyable it could be.

Back in her room, Rodia threw herself onto the long settle right next to the bookshelf. Her comfortable indoor winter dress draped over the side of the settle.

The book had a brown cover. The title was **”Red Marks Left on White Snow.”**

Red contrasting with white! Drawn in by the intriguing title, Rodia opened to the first page.

If Greiner had seen her like this, she would have given a thumbs up, saying she was as decisive as a model student.

“……?”

The first chapter was an ordinary novel. Rodia’s hand, which had been reading without much thought, paused when she opened the fifth chapter.

*What’s this?*

Rodia closed the book. The title was “Red Marks Left on White Snow.” The author was Marianne Pipi.

The book information Greiner had read aloud was correct. Rodia opened the book again. She decided to keep reading anyway.

And then, a moment later. Rodia’s eyes reached the part in question. With each word and sentence she read, her blue eyes widened by the second, and then—

“Eek!”

Her face turning crimson, Rodia involuntarily threw the book away. The brown-covered book flew through the air and landed with a soft thud on the fluffy rug below.

“Wh-what, what, what?!”

Rodia’s face was as red as a ripe strawberry or a tomato. She stared at the book with wavering eyes, seeming to deliberate whether to keep reading.

After a moment’s hesitation, Rodia finally, slowly, picked up the fallen book. Looking at the now-closed cover, Rodia, with a resolute expression, opened the book again.

*The bookstore clerk said they were good, and Greiner, who recommended them, also told me to read them. There’s no way they’d give me anything bad.*

Like a child doing something naughty, Rodia rationalized her actions and resumed reading. It was the beginning of the first romance novel of her life.