ETVEWHF 8

Chapter 8

Half of me wanted to see exactly how things would unfold, while the other half didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire by staying nearby…

“Mr. Ron’s people are coming today. I think I should stay at the mansion.”

In truth, I didn’t really have a choice.

“Ah, that’s right.”

Kristine’s expression made it look as though she had genuinely forgotten.

“If you don’t mind, could you take me with you next time?”

It wasn’t as though I was desperate to attend some social gathering.

I simply needed to understand what was going on in Kristine’s mind.

“…All right.”

That was enough.

Kristine left, and she didn’t return until late that evening.

I happened to be instructing the head maid to arrange the kitchen, which had been left in disarray after the shop employees had come through and replaced the tableware, so that the maids would have an easier time working.

The head maid and I were standing where we had a clear view of the entrance, preparing to greet Kristine as she came through the front door.

Kristine was leaning heavily on her cane, and her complexion was so dark that she looked as though she might collapse at any moment.

Her posture was perfectly straight, but her blue eyes were filled with confusion.

There was one person behind Kristine.

No, there were two.

The head maid let out a silent gasp.

The person who stepped into the house was Julia, carrying a young boy in her arms.

“Dad!”

The child pointed toward the portrait of Tom Blackwood hanging on the wall.

“…Give the two of them the attic.”

“The attic, Madam? Tommy and I are guests, after all.”

Julia interrupted while gently stroking the boy’s head.

“Ah, Tommy might become a member of this household, too.”

At those words, Kristine’s jaw tightened.

“Give them a guest room. The room farthest from mine.”

“But, Madam—”

“That’s an order.”

After delivering that sharp command, Kristine looked at me.

“Rowina, come with me.”

Once we entered the private room, Kristine asked me,

“You used to tolerate Julia’s behavior. Why were you so angry yesterday?”

“Because Father wanted me to.”

“I thought I should obey the wishes of the head of the household. And Madam never asked me about it.”

Rowina was incapable of making decisions based on other people’s emotions, but she did have a strong tendency to follow rules.

For example, she overlooked the maids’ vaguely disrespectful attitudes or looks.

But if they neglected their duties, she punished them without hesitation.

“Now you’re saying that because I’m the head of the household?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’ll have to follow my instructions from now on. There’s no need to keep a close watch on Julia. But if she does anything suspicious, report it to me immediately.”

“I will. But how did Julia end up coming here?”

“Tsk. If it weren’t for Eleanor Ford…”

As I listened to Kristine’s explanation, a scene that had previously been blurry in my memory suddenly became crystal clear.

The book I’d read had been a play script.

If I reconstructed the scene, it probably went something like this.

—Kristine: “It seems things have been rather difficult for you lately. Miss Ford, if you need a dress, please let me know. I know a good dressmaker. There’s nothing wrong with having a dress made for the daughter of an old schoolmate.”

Kristine and Mrs. Eleanor Ford had been notorious enemies since their days at Pendleton Girls’ School.

Mrs. Ford had two daughters, one of whom was an illegitimate child born from Mr. Ford’s relationship with another woman.

The illegitimate daughter was treated poorly in comparison to her legitimate daughter in many ways.

That day, the illegitimate daughter had appeared wearing clothes that were obviously shabby and dirty compared to those of her legitimate sister.

—Lady 1: “Tsk. Even if she’s illegitimate, discriminating against her through her clothes? She’s thrown all sense of propriety out the window.”

Kristine probably couldn’t help pointing that out.

—Gentleman 1: “What has that young lady done wrong?”

Hate the sin, not the sinner.

Adultery was a disgraceful act, but the illegitimate child had committed no crime.

—Lady 2: “You may not be able to love her as you would your own daughter, but you still have to do what’s right by her.”

Whatever happened inside one’s own home was considered a private matter.

But in high society, maintaining appearances was practically an unspoken rule.

And that was precisely what had come back to bite Kristine.

—Lady 1: “Who…?”

—Lady 2: “That’s Miss Clearwater! You know, the woman who was having an affair with Mr. Blackwood—”

Julia had appeared with the child.

—Kristine: “Mrs. Winter. Did you invite Miss Clearwater?”

—Mrs. Winter: “No. But the exhibition hall is open to everyone…”

—Kristine: (aside) “How can the world be so cruel?”

She had tried to enter Sidecliff alone before, and now she was bringing a child with her!

—Mrs. Winter: “I had no idea this would happen! Miss Clearwater wanted to submit a painting to the exhibition, but I even turned her down because I thought it might make you uncomfortable.”

There had definitely been a mention of Julia trying to enter the mansion before.

‘She must mean what happened yesterday, when Julia barged in under the excuse of retrieving her brooch.’

Julia had been living in hiding because she knew she had sinned, and she claimed that the reduced financial support she received had left her struggling to survive.

—Julia: “Please, have mercy on me. He is Tom Blackwood’s son.”

It felt as though the pages of the book were turning inside my head.

Well, there wouldn’t be a stage or an aside in the real world.

This world followed the story of the play, but at the same time, it was also reality.

And what I was about to do was, more than anything else, an act of performance.

The next day, I went out under the pretense of having business at Mr. Ron’s shop.

I’d already bought the poison-detecting reagent before Julia arrived, but it would look more natural if I appeared to have purchased it after she came to the house.

Come to think of it, today was the deadline for the task Kristine had given me.

Exactly two days.

Once today passed, I might be placed under house arrest again.

To prevent that, I had to stop Julia from poisoning Kristine.

After briefly looking over the tableware at Mr. Ron’s shop, I walked through the main shopping district.

Then, almost as if drawn there, I entered a bookstore.

I went to the section containing collections of plays.

<Sidecliff>, in which Howard Blackwood was the protagonist, was based to some extent on events from the real world.

The Sewheldon Kingdom, where the story took place, was a real country.

And the war in which Howard had fought was the same war that had been ongoing before I possessed Rowina.

<Sidecliff> was a story that inserted the fictional Blackwood family and its characters into that realistic setting.

So I came to one conclusion.

I had entered the world of the book.

Perhaps I could find a copy of <Sidecliff> here, and perhaps it contained an answer that could help me get out of this situation.

But after searching and searching, I couldn’t find a play with that title.

I let out a sigh.

“Excuse me, where’s the nearest theater?”

<Sidecliff> wasn’t a novel.

It was a play script.

My parents had said it was currently being performed in Sewheldon, and that we’d go see it together once the war was over.

“Hmm. There’s no play with that title.”

“…I-I might be remembering the title incorrectly.”

I explained the general plot to him, leaving out the characters’ names.

But the employee shook his head.

“I’m quite interested in theater myself, so I sometimes travel to the capital to watch performances. I’ve never heard of a play with a story like that.”

“What? Really…?”

I was just about to give up and leave the theater when—

“I wonder what brings my wife all the way here.”

A shadow fell over me.

I turned my head.

There stood—

“Howard?”

Howard was looking at me intently, his hands tucked into his pockets.

“Hm? Rowina.”

His eyes were fixed on me, a gentle smile playing across his face.

“Who did you come with?”

Hadn’t he left saying he was busy with work?

Then why was he here?

Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered a scene in the book where Howard and Cassie went on a date to the theater.

I rolled my eyes around and glanced at my surroundings.

“Don’t tell me—”

“I-I came alone!”

“Alone?”

At my hurried answer, Howard stepped closer to me.

He came close enough that if he took one more step, our bodies would touch.

“Why?”

“I just… wanted to know what kind of plays are being performed these days…”

“Ah.”

Given Rowina’s personality, I thought it was an absurd excuse.

But surprisingly, he seemed to accept it.

“Come to think of it, you always did enjoy reading collections of plays.”

Did Rowina really?

As the question crossed my mind, a memory I’d buried deep inside suddenly rose to the surface.

—”Unlike novels, you see, plays don’t describe people’s inner thoughts.”

It was a memory from the study at Sidecliff Manor.

—”Their emotions are expressed only through their actions and dialogue.”

“Maybe that’s why this feels more like the world I experience.”

—”Is that why you like them?”

—”Yes.”

After that day, Howard would occasionally buy books for Rowina.