SEM 13

Chapter 13

Nina smiled brightly at her family.

“Since Joel has come all this way, I’ll take him back home safely once he’s finished looking at the harpoon gun.”

“Go ahead, then. Once you’ve shown him the harpoon gun, you can take your guest—harpoon gun?”

Chaison, who had been nodding unconsciously at Nina’s cheerful, rabbit-like appearance, suddenly widened his eyes until they looked ready to pop out.

Only then did the four of them notice the harpoon gun secured to the balcony railing, and they gasped.

So that’s how she connected the ropes. She even has a harpoon gun?

Natalisha’s eyes darted around Nina’s room.

The wardrobe was half-open, and a heavy-looking duffel bag had been pulled out of it.

Exi had already failed once at searching Nina’s room.

Back then, Nina had been asleep inside. But what if they searched while Nina was out?

The four exchanged quick glances and devised a plan.

This was their chance to have a private conversation with Nina without Joel around while simultaneously searching a room that Nina wasn’t in.

They couldn’t keep getting pushed around like this and wasting time forever.

“Nina. Why don’t you come have a little talk with your uncle?”

Chaison decided to lure Nina into the sitting room alone.

“Right now, Uncle?”

“Yes. As an elder of this family, there’s something important I need to discuss with you in private.”

“But Joel…”

Nina glanced at Joel with an uneasy expression.

“I understand that you’re excited, since this is your first time living with family in your own home. But even among family, there are certain boundaries we must observe.”

“……!”

At Chaison’s words, Nina realized she had committed some terrible faux pas, and her face flushed red.

Seizing that moment, Katahari stepped in.

“Nina. Leave the young master next door… I mean, the young man next door to us, and go have a chat with your uncle.”

“Would that be all right?”

“Of course. It’s not as though we’ve only met him once or twice.”

“That’s true. Joel is probably closer to all of you than he is to me. You must have a much deeper, more affectionate bond.”

“Not quite that much.”

Katahari swallowed the words she had been about to say: It’s not that we’re close. It’s that we’re so sick of that bastard from Soltum that we want to punch him.

“Joel. I’ll leave this magnifying glass here. I’ll go talk with my aunt and come back, so take a look at the harpoon gun while you wait.”

“……”

Joel accepted the magnifying glass and gave Nina’s fake family a displeased look, as though something about the situation did not sit well with him.

“Are you sure you want to stay here with these people?”

“Mm-hmm. If you’re not feeling well, should I take you home right now?”

“That’s right, young master next door. You look terribly ill. If you’re feeling unwell, you can go straight home.”

Katahari eagerly tried to shove Joel, whose complexion was healthy and whose build was robust, toward the door.

But he didn’t budge an inch.

“No, Nina. Please go ahead.”

In the end, his curiosity had overcome his embarrassment and discomfort.

This was an opportunity to examine a harpoon gun modified in a way he had never seen before.

He couldn’t possibly leave when the spies pretending to be Nina’s family might do something to the harpoon gun.

“I shall devote myself to a period of research.”

Joel adjusted his grip on the magnifying glass and stood solemnly before the harpoon gun.

After looking at spies who held no research value, turning his attention to the magical device made his heart thump with anticipation.

As Nina and Chaison left the room and the door snapped shut behind them, Katahari immediately stepped onto the back of a small sofa, leaped over it, and landed in front of the wardrobe.

“I’ll take the wardrobe.”

“I’ll handle the rest of the drawers.”

Natalisha opened the desk drawers, while Exi took up position in front of the duffel bag.

“I’ll search the bag and under the bed.”

Without even looking at the three of them bustling about, Joel spoke up.

“Do not touch the magical device. I’ll be examining it myself.”

“You sure are greedy, considering the harpoon gun is right in front of you. What are you going to do if we touch it?”

When Katahari snapped at him, Joel finally turned around, slowly.

“I suppose what happened to you during the preliminary meeting wasn’t enough.”

“You little…!”

With Nina gone, Katahari apparently couldn’t hold back any longer. She flung aside the clothes hanger and charged at Joel.

Against the backdrop of Exi hurriedly cramming himself beneath the bed and Natalisha sighing as she pressed a hand to her forehead, the two collided.

Chaison sat across from Nina in the sitting room where he had first welcomed her.

Tea and cookies had been laid out on the table, but a pleasant tea time was not the purpose of this meeting.

“I’d like to know how you suddenly ended up inviting Joel Smiler over. And why you connected the balconies with ropes.”

He needed to find out whether those sly Soltum bastards were secretly attempting a honey trap.

Nina looked intimidated even before she opened her mouth.

“I was startled when Joel’s companion pigeon, Gugu, collapsed… So I ended up using the harpoon gun, an essential tool for maids, without thinking, and crossed over to the house next door.”

“An essential tool for maids…”

“Then Joel said he wanted to see my harpoon gun, so I invited him over and brought him here.”

Nina lowered her head apologetically.

“I’m sorry for bringing a guest over without permission when I’ve only been in this house for a few days.”

“I-I’m not trying to scold you for that.”

Chaison firmly steeled his heart, which was already threatening to soften.

“From now on, make sure your guests enter through a proper entrance. It would be even better if you informed the family beforehand or introduced them to everyone.”

“I’ll do that. I was so excited that I ended up being discourteous.”

Nina’s shoulders drooped.

Chaison wanted to place a sweet cookie in each of Nina’s hands and comfort her right then and there, but there were still things he needed to ask.

She said she would repay him for the magic gun.

He had to prevent Rikitta’s inheritance from gradually making its way into Soltum’s hands without their knowledge.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say you were going to look for something in the storeroom to give Joel as a present?”

At that question, Nina lifted her head in alarm, as though she had been burned.

“Don’t worry about that. There wasn’t a separate record sheet in the storeroom, so I made a temporary one and filled it out myself.”

“A record sheet?”

“Yes. A record sheet for removing items from the storeroom. I wrote down the type of item, the date and time of removal, my name, and the purpose. Since I wasn’t sure whether I was allowed to take it, I even left some money behind, as though I were purchasing it.”

“……You went that far?”

Chaison was puzzled, but Nina seemed determined to make him understand that she didn’t want to be disrespectful to her family.

“The will still needs to be notarized, so I haven’t inherited anything yet. And there are people who originally lived in this house. I’m essentially just staying here as a guest in a home where I don’t own a single thing. I know that, you see?”

“……I think you can make yourself a little more comfortable.”

Chaison had almost blurted out that every last speck of dust in this house belonged to her.

He had never felt his conscience prick him so frequently in his life.

“Ahem. So, what did you give Joel?”

“Oh. It’s this, but I wasn’t able to give it to him.”

Nina handed Chaison a pouch containing a magical engineering cube toy.

“Apparently, lightning strikes anyone who touches it if they aren’t a blood relative of Grandmother’s.”

Chaison had just slipped half his hand into the pouch when he immediately pulled it out and tightly tied the opening shut.

“It’s a d-discriminatory object.”

He had narrowly avoided exposing himself in front of Nina by proving that he wasn’t truly part of the family. The thought sent a chill down his spine.

After checking the time, Chaison decided that the others would need a little more time to search Nina’s room thoroughly.

So he said the sort of thing an uncle might reasonably say.

“Regardless of how frail a young master Joel Smiler may be, he’s still a man not much older than you. I think it would be best to be careful so that no misunderstandings arise between you.”

At that, Nina burst into laughter, as though she found the idea amusing, and waved her hand dismissively.

“Oh, Uncle. You don’t need to worry about that. There’s no way Joel would ever be interested in me.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve grown into a very beautiful young woman despite all the hardships you’ve endured.”

He wasn’t just saying that to be polite.

Rikitta Bones had been an exceptionally elegant and beautiful spy, and Nina looked exactly like her grandmother had in her youth.

As she grew older, she would look just like Rikitta’s portrait hanging in this house.

“But that’s not what determines who the protagonist is.”

With the same radiant smile still on her lips, Nina continued.

“Someone like a prince from a neighboring kingdom will always be drawn to the protagonist, won’t they? Not to someone like me, who’s just a supporting character.”

“……?”

Chaison felt as though something unpleasant had lodged itself in his chest.

Nina’s thoughts and outlook on life were irrelevant to the mission.

And yet, perhaps it was because of that innocent expression and those clear eyes of hers.

He found himself asking a question he had no particular reason to ask, one that had nothing to do with the mission.

“Why do you think you’re a supporting character?”

“Think? You mean, what do I think? Well…”

Nina’s eyes wandered, as though she had heard an unfamiliar word, before she answered.

“No one ever waits for a supporting character’s story, do they? Not even the supporting character herself. All I can do is wait for the Madam’s orders.”