WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈

Episode 12

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“Miss, someone from the main house is here. Shall I let them in?”

“Who is it?”

Surely it was not Gillian, after the scene he made yesterday.

“Head Steward Greg.”

“Ah, let him in.”

Then again, Gillian would not personally visit for two whole days just to persuade me.

Still, I did not like it.

‘He told me to do whatever I wanted, so why send someone?’

On top of that, the head steward's eyes darted around the room, staying just within the bounds of propriety as though the head steward were here to inspect the place.

That made me even more uncomfortable.

“Head Steward, what is this about?”

“I heard you changed residences. And that you dismissed all the maids from the old wing.”

“I had good reason. Are you here to reprimand me?”

“No. I trust that, since it was you, Miss, you had good reason for doing so. However...”

“However?”

“It would have been better if you had quietly informed me instead of handling it yourself.”

“What would have changed if I had told you?”

“You do not trust me. I will try harder.”

Unlike the other servants from the main house, the head steward was at least polite.

‘It would be unfair to accuse someone like this of not doing their job.’

That would only make me seem like the difficult one.

There were many things I wanted to question, but I let them go for now.

“The main house handles matters too slowly. I will take care of the annex myself, so do not involve yourself in its affairs.”

“I serve only the Duke and you, Miss.”

Head Steward Greg bowed politely, as though accepting my words.

“However, Miss, even I do not understand this situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“You never allowed others into your sphere unless they were family. Yet you say you will live with someone you have never even met. It is quite surprising.”

‘Was Vivette like that?’

She had been excluded both inside and outside the house. I had never considered that, in turn, Vivette might have excluded the world as well.

Come to think of it, Vivette was an Ashwilt too. Someone who had no interest or affection for others.

Then perhaps this reaction was understandable.

‘But that is none of his business.’

“Head Steward.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Is that something Father or my brother wanted to know, or are you simply asking because you are curious?”

Greg hesitated briefly before answering.

“...I am asking because I am curious.”

“Is that so?”

His tone sounded as though he were forcing the words through clenched teeth.

“The Duke and Young Master Gillian know neither that you have decided to live with Lady Fadde nor that you dismissed all the maids.”

“Hmm.”

“It is not a trivial matter, but I was ordered not to report it, whatever it may be. Nothing will be conveyed to His Grace in the future, either. I will handle everything myself.”

I had been right after all.

No matter how great a mess I made, they would pretend not to know.

Whether they truly did not know or merely pretended not to out of pride, I would have to wait and see.

‘Either way, it is nice not having to watch my back.’

“If Father did not send you, why are you here?”

“Even so, if something should happen to you, Miss, I must handle it myself.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“If you are injured while living with someone who is not of sound mind, or hurt in a rundown building, it will become my responsibility, as the one assigned to keep watch over you.”

This was almost amusing.

In other words, the Duke had passed his duties as a father onto the head steward. Along with the responsibility if something went wrong.

Yet he intended to keep only the feelings of a father for himself.

‘...Are all nobles like this?’

“It is all right. There is no need for you to take on unnecessary responsibility.”

“What do you mean...?”

“Father said that even if I died, he would not receive word of it. Why would he care about something as trivial as this now?”

“Miss, you know he did not truly mean that.”

“And?”

“He only says such things because he is angry. You know that...”

How was I supposed to know? That was what they said.

“Listen carefully, Head Steward. They say you should do only what you are told.”

“Pardon?”

“If you come looking for me like this again, driven by some needless sense of duty, be prepared to get cursed at from both sides.”

“Miss!”

“If the Duke said not to tell him anything about me, then do exactly that. If something goes wrong, you will be the only one who suffers for it.”

“B-but you are family...”

I glanced coolly at the hesitant Greg.

“Those are words you should say to the Duke and the Young Duke, are they not?”

“They care for you more than you may think, Miss.”

“Whether they do or not, tell them not to expect anything from me.”

“Pardon?”

“For twenty years, I have been told not to meddle, not to interfere, and to please leave them alone. They were the ones who constantly said we should keep our distance, not me. And that is what I want too. I will do as they wish, so I hope they will refrain from interfering with me as well.”

The head steward broke into a nervous sweat at my firm stance.

“Ah... It seems your feelings have been deeply hurt, Miss. I understand clearly. I will do my best to mediate.”

“Do not.”

If he had been capable of that, he would have done it over ten years ago.

And now, there was no need for mediation.

“But what I came to tell you this time has nothing to do with you, Miss.”

“Then why tell me?”

“It concerns Lady Fadde.”

Greg spoke without hesitation.

“Having determined that Lady Fadde may potentially harm the estate, His Grace has decided to send her to a rural estate by the end of this month.”

“What?”

This time, I was truly dumbfounded.

“Wait. You cannot do that.”

“I am afraid this decision cannot be reversed.”

“How could Lady Fadde harm the estate? The people in the annex and I take turns watching over her.”

Lady Fadde was in such serious condition that she could not even lift a spoon by herself.

Even to a non-mage like me, the idea that someone in her condition would wildly fire off magic that consumed so much strength was absurd.

It was no different from tying a patient with paralysis in all four limbs to a bed because they might cause a disturbance.

“His Grace does not know that you are caring for her.”

“Ha. He does not know? My brother came by yesterday because of this very matter.”

“I will say it again. Yes, he does not know.”

...Anyone could tell that was a lie.

Not receiving reports, my foot. He was watching every detail.

If he had no interest in the annex, how would Gillian have known that I moved as soon as I did and come stomping over?

But if the Duke said it, then it was so. They had the power to make something true simply by insisting it was.

“All His Grace knows is that every maid attending Lady Fadde was dismissed overnight, leaving no one to care for an elderly woman who may pose a risk.”

“A man who has no interest in the annex knows the maids were dismissed?”

“He must be informed of personnel matters. And this concerns the old lady, not you, Miss.”

The more I listened, the more absurd it became.

“Since an ill old woman cannot live alone, His Grace has thoughtfully arranged for her to reside in a quiet rural estate.”

“...So this happened because I dismissed the maids.”

Somehow, everything had been cleverly made my fault. Not that I accepted it.

After that, I tried to expose the holes in their logic, but I lost every time.

“Miss, His Grace is extending grace to Lady Fadde, who has nowhere else to go. She ought to be grateful even for being sent to the countryside.”

What could I say when he put it like that?

Infuriatingly, all the time and money spent on Lady Fadde came from the Duke's pocket.

“Haah...”

Unaware that dark storm clouds hung over her future, Lady Fadde remained vacant as ever.

“Madam, do not sit at the edge of the bed. You might fall.”

“...”

Lady Fadde could not even avoid danger, just as when she had leaned over the railing in the rain.

That was why Lola and I had to stay by her side day and night in turns.

My insides burned. Where did he think he was sending someone like this?

“Is he insane? He calls her dangerous, then plans to send someone like this to a remote place without a single mage?”

They had neglected her even at the Ashwilt estate. How much worse would it be there?

‘She absolutely cannot go to the countryside. I need to have it out with the Duke.’

It would have been nice if I could appeal to the Duke's compassion and make him let Lady Fadde stay here, but that had already failed.

Then I would have to use my second option.

‘They said a House and its members are bound by a magical contract, right? That means the House has a duty to care for its own members.’

Then I would pressure the House to take responsibility.

Surely mages would not violate a magical contract.

‘Then I need to find out where Lady Fadde stands within the family...’

That was why I made this choice.

In the middle of the night, I boldly slipped into the Duke's office.

The reason I came at night was because I did not want to hear someone squawk, “Weren't you banned from entering the main house?”

The direct line of House Ashwilt lived here, so security was strict.

But only against mages.

‘Is that a security device?’

It was a device found only in the estates of high-ranking mages. It detected a person's mana and identified intruders.

‘And I have no mana.’

It was nothing to worry about.

This loophole existed because it was nearly impossible for non-mages to infiltrate the estate in the first place.

Everyone working in the main house had been selected from mages alone, so I could practically be called the only ordinary person who could come and go there.

Until recently, even I had been forbidden.

Also, spaces where work like this was done normally had locks on their doors.

To open one, a person had to draw a specific magic formula by hand using only Ashwilt's unique mana.

Yet even that was missing from the Duke's office.

“Father, please open the door!”

Vivette had come to see the Duke nearly every day.

As his daughter, she knew the formula, but she did not have even a trace of mana to draw it with. Still, Vivette never gave up and went home. She would stand blankly before the door for a long time, or, unable to wait any longer, knock on it, knock, knock, interrupting the Duke's work.

Exasperated, the Duke had simply removed the lock altogether.

‘But he still has not put it back. It is not as though he will ever see Vivette again.’

The Duke was very meticulous, so that was strange. Still, it worked in my favor.

I searched diligently for the Ashwilt family tree.

“Let us see. Is this it?”

Something shining by itself in one corner of the display case caught my eye.

A book covered in unusually thick leather.

The family crest on its cover was giving off light.

Even in the darkness, the silver wolf's fur, howling at the moon, shone brilliantly.

It was so beautiful that it could not be compared to a glow-in-the-dark sticker, and I found myself staring for a moment.

Anyone could tell it was the family tree.

I opened to the very last page.

Reading a family tree was simple.

If the names of family members were connected by glowing blue lines of magical power, they were related by blood.

If they were connected by black lines drawn in ink, they were not.

They had either joined through marriage or been adopted.

The distinction was based on whether the relationship could be severed, at least administratively.

A biological parent-child relationship could never truly be severed once formed, according to social convention. That was why it was inscribed in mana.

Marriage and adoption were different.

No one wanted to be bound forever to a relationship that could end in divorce or the dissolution of an adoption.

Mage society did not consider divorce taboo. It was a rather open society.

In the family trees of mage houses, the rule was generally simple: blue lines meant blood relations, and black lines meant non-blood relations.

‘Gillian and I are the only members of the direct line, so there is no need to look there. I need the section that includes the collateral branches.’

I quickly turned the pages.

Names I had never heard before were connected in complicated constellations of blue and black.

As I hurriedly searched for Fadde Ashwilt's name, I froze at one point.

Vivette Ashwilt.

The line was drawn in thick black ink.

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