WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈

Episode 31

──────

Snow did not fall in Erenston for even a moment throughout the New Year Festival.

But as soon as the festive mood faded, a heavy snowfall struck.

It was terrible weather that kept departing visitors from leaving.

A few days later, the heavy snow eased, and on the morning people began to leave one by one, Harris only stared at the snowflakes falling beyond the window of his room in the West Wing.

In the end, his father had not come.

Neither had Sister Vivette.

As he considered which of them he should resent, he chose the latter without hesitation.

His father had at least conveyed through Aunt Ingrid that he intended to stop by sometime this year. But his sister had left behind a single note and gone out as decisively as if she would never return.

Anyway, it was all his sister's fault that he felt so miserable.

Even after the noisy guests who had stayed in the West Wing left in a rush, he did not feel any lighter.

If anything, the empty estate looked pitiful.

Only one person had left, yet it felt as though half the estate had been torn away.

Once again, he headed for the annex.

The place where Vivette had stayed.

His sister had not particularly done anything there. She had merely existed there.

Was that why?

He did not feel like doing anything in the empty space she had left behind.

Harris only looked out the window from one side of the annex.

The annex maids whispered behind him, but he did not move.

“Hasn't the young master been coming here far too often lately?”

“Exactly. He never came by once when the young lady was here.”

“Maybe it's been bothering him? Is he regretting it now or something? We need to clean this place this morning.”

Chatting while sharing a space with someone above them.

And gossiping about the person himself, no less.

If this had been the main house rather than the annex, and if Gillian had been the target instead of Harris, they would not have dared imagine such a thing.

‘Even the workers are just like Sister Vivette. Acting so freely without knowing their place.’

Even the West Wing was not like this.

The annex had an exceptionally unruly atmosphere.

No, perhaps not.

As he had just said, if Gillian had come here instead of him, they would not dare say such things.

Crack.

The windowsill in his grip froze over.

Sensing the subtle chill, the maids fled, saying they would come back later.

He was alone again.

Just as he had been when he first entered this estate.

Those who had considered looking down on him for being from the collateral branch gradually changed how they saw him once the Duke began to expect great things from him.

Thanks to his own efforts, everyone now thought he was Gillian's biological younger brother wherever he went.

Some even mistook Vivette for a member of the collateral branch.

Yet why was it that he could not forget when he first came to this estate?

The moment his biological father had abandoned him and left him alone.

Though he had practically been a newborn then.

“I'm sorry, Harris. I said something thoughtless and made you hope.”

Aunt Ingrid's apology tore through his mind.

She said she had received a letter from his father.

It said he would return to the Empire sometime this year.

But even as the New Year Festival came to an end, he had not shown so much as a shadow at the estate.

“Please wait for your father just a little longer. He will definitely come this year.”

This year? Only ten days had passed. How much longer was he supposed to wait?

‘And if I wait? What will change? He'll only leave again after a short meeting anyway.’

Still, he had been all right until now.

Vivette had always been beside him, so things had never been at their worst.

But now she was gone too.

There was no way to know where she had gone.

‘If I wring something out of those maids, I might learn something.’

Harris looked toward the annex maids who would be standing outside the door.

Out of the many maids in this large annex, only Vivette's personal maid had disappeared.

The rest remained, doing nothing but eating their fill.

They pretended to be busy with cleaning and tidying, but did an empty room really need so many maids?

‘Should I threaten to dismiss every last one of them if they don't tell me about Sister Vivette?’

Harris considered it, then dismissed the thought.

The main house would never heed the words of a collateral relative living under its roof.

If someone questioned the maids, something would surely come out, but the Duke did not do that.

It was a powerful declaration that he did not want to care about his daughter, even in that way.

The Duke could have driven them all out to punish his daughter, but he did not bother.

Because he was certain she would return soon.

Those maids could remain here thanks to the Duke's arrogant assumption.

And because of it, Harris had his hands tied.

“Hey, Harris. Stop wasting time on pointless things and focus on preparing for enrollment.”

When Harris had shared his brilliant idea, Gillian had scolded him like that.

“At this rate, you'll still be second in the Academy forever. You're second in the family too. Do you want to be second there as well?”

His brother was very good at saying unpleasant things.

Yet Gillian had been preparing another scheme behind the scenes.

He planned to seize Vivette's personal maid and put her on trial for failing to properly serve her mistress.

He intended to dismiss the powerless maid, of course, and squeeze every last coin of compensation from her as well.

It was a timid and cowardly revenge against Vivette.

“Then she'll hate you again.”

Harris had sneered from behind him, but Gillian had not cared.

“Nothing will change.”

He spoke as though it did not matter what his younger sister thought of him.

Gillian really did seem like the sort of person who meant it.

He was a man like a block of wood, without blood or tears.

Harris had always found that brother of his admirable and enviable.

If he too had a heart as cold and light as the drifting snowflakes, he would not have to feel so miserable over his father and sister.

Of course, the Duke learned of Gillian's plan and forcefully made him abandon it.

The Duke had become remarkably enthusiastic about not caring about Vivette.

Not only his own concern, but everyone else's as well.

He said his pride would not allow even a little manpower to be spent on Vivette's affairs.

Well, would Vivette, who had run away from home, care whether he took an interest in her or not?

Judging by what she had said and done over the past few weeks, it did not seem likely.

Only the annex maids watching them shook their heads as if they found the whole thing ridiculous.

* * *

The servants of Ashwilt Estate were put to clearing snow for the first time in ages.

It rarely snowed in Erenston, so this was strange.

‘Something must be about to happen. The day has come when I have to clear snow in my lifetime.’

One servant grumbled to themself.

“When the snow melts, it will look utterly hideous. Clear it away before His Grace sees it!”

At Head Steward Greg's insistent urging, the servants had no choice but to go outside the entrance while being drenched by snow.

‘It's still snowing, and they're telling us to clear it? Ridiculous.’

It was not even a blizzard, only light snow that seemed barely thick enough to make a snowman. They could have swept it after it stopped.

But they were being put through this hardship because the Duke could not stand to see even a little snow pile up and melt.

There was not much snow, but considering how vast the ducal estate was, it was enough to make them sigh.

Why not melt it with magic?

That was the sort of thing someone would say if they did not know House Ashwilt, the pinnacle of the magical world.

They believed it was better for dozens of ordinary people to struggle and somehow get the job done than for a single mage to suffer.

Because mana was too precious to be measured in money.

Mana was precious, and so mages were precious too.

So do not make precious people work. Lowly people like you should go do it instead.

It was an appalling sentiment, but the servants could not complain.

In harsh Erenston, the only reason people who could not use magic could survive was because of the mages' laziness.

In the Ashwilt main house, even the most ordinary servants and maids could use a little magic.

Except for these people.

That was why they had been brought in. The difficult work always fell to non-mages.

Their hands froze stiff as they cleared the snow.

On this especially miserable day, the servants cursed as they gossiped about others.

There were usually only a few targets for their insults.

Sometimes it was themselves, who had no money or ability and had to work with their bodies to make a living. Sometimes it was their arrogant and terribly lazy mage employers.

But the person most satisfying to criticize was the young lady of this house, Vivette Ashwilt.

A person without abilities, just like them.

That woman who had the audacity to be born into a fine family by sheer luck and live comfortably, despite having no magical ability.

Was it not terribly unfair?

None of them could use magic, yet one person lived in luxury while another suffered.

“The world is seriously wrong.”

“What is so great about that woman anyway? Ah, her pretty face?”

Cursing mages would only be spitting in their own faces.

‘It would make us look like pathetic people envying those better than us.’

But there was nothing wrong with criticizing a fellow person without abilities.

‘I am only criticizing someone lazy who relies on her status. It is justified criticism.’

The young lady's fault was that she lived well without abilities, but there was one more unforgivable sin.

She had not been grateful, and had thrown away her good fortune by leaving.

People who wanted too much and were too greedy were bound to be criticized behind their backs.

Vivette Ashwilt was the greediest woman they had ever seen.

Just because she could not use magic, she could laze about and rest comfortably in a warm room without lifting a finger.

And she had abandoned the father who let her enjoy such luxury?

“She'll definitely regret it and come back.”

“Someone has to suffer outside before they realize there is nowhere as comfortable or good as home.”

“Just wait. Once everyone starts forgetting her, she'll sneak back in shabby clothes.”

The servants mocked her as fiercely as they swept.

No one was around to hear their gossip.

The mages were all sensitive to the cold and had hidden deep within the estate.

No one lingered nearby.

As night fell, the snow began to fall more thickly, and even their voices were buried beneath the raging snowstorm.

In a land where snow was rare, it almost seemed as though all of Ashwilt Estate were being buried in winter.

Then, with the loud ringing of the bell at the estate entrance, the young lady returned.

Vivette Ashwilt stood at the doorway with the hood of her robe pulled up, snow swirling around her.

Her shamelessness remained unchanged. She wore a calm smile, the corners of her lips gently raised.

“See? She came back after all.”

That woman had never once defied their expectations.

Just as she had always done.

The servants' deliberately loud sneers settled softly over the snow.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried