I Don't Need a Family - Chapter 9

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

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◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈

Episode 9

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* * *

I stood at a crossroads.

The question was whether to die or not.

Should I leave, live freely for exactly ten years, then die? Or should I live a long life while facing them every day?

Gillian presented marriage as a compromise, but I had no expectations.

There was no guarantee that the marriage partner the Duke chose would be any better than them.

In truth, Vivette Ashwilt was only looked down on in the world of mages because she could not use magic. Outside her family, there was no better marriage prospect in the entire Empire.

She was literally stunningly beautiful, from a wealthy and noble ducal house, and even had a good personality.

If she wanted, she could even marry into the imperial family.

The prince was apparently still a teenage boy, so he was difficult to consider. But excluding the direct line, there were candidates. The first person who came to mind was Grand Duke Isherwolf, who was around her age.

He had equally impressive genes, so people in high society quietly anticipated the two meeting. Yet the two had never even been in the same room together.

That was because Vivette's father was no easy man.

"My daughter marrying a non-mage? What kind of nonsense is that?"

Whenever his booming voice, fit for an opera singer, rang through the mansion, people from the capital who had come to arrange a match would shrink back.

He was just as difficult with mages.

"Vivette must marry the greatest mage on the continent! Even a grand lord with a hundred castles and fortresses is unacceptable if he isn't a mage."

The Duke's standards for an exceptional mage were as high as a mountain.

'Even Harris, who ranked second at the Academy, wasn't good enough for him. Would he only accept someone like the Mage Tower Master?'

"The Mage Tower Master? Xavier is too old. Isn't he already over thirty?"

No, even the youngest Mage Tower Master could not satisfy him.

At this rate, it seemed like I would not get married for as long as he was alive.

Did that mean I really had to keep living here?

Suffering mentally, losing my health, and alone without anyone I could call family?

That was not all.

"What's wrong with the food?"

The meals were especially poor today. I had always eaten simply because I was used to patient meals, but even the ingredients seemed suspicious.

Since I barely seasoned my food, the musty smell from the vegetables stood out even more.

"Miss... It isn't our fault."

The annex maids hesitated as they watched Lola and me.

"Well, um, these were brought over from the main house..."

"They've been skimming off the provisions."

It was obvious without looking. The Duke had cast me aside, so they thought I was an easy target.

"S-So we went to question the main house, but they said it couldn't be helped because all the crops had withered in winter!"

In a world with magic, and at a mage's mansion no less, that was a ridiculous excuse.

"They only scolded us, asking how maids from the annex dared protest to the main house maids..."

I let out a long sigh.

For me, it would only mean eating bad food. But it was different for the people in the annex.

They were among the few people who were kind to Vivette, so I wanted to set things right somehow.

"Really? Should I go turn the place upside down soon?"

"Excuse me?"

Instead of being pleased, the maids waved their hands and tried to stop me.

"You can't, Miss! What if the Duke gets angry again?"

"That's right. What if you receive an even harsher punishment because of us...?"

"You don't need to worry about that."

"What?"

"Father said, 'I will hear no news whatsoever concerning her!' Surely he won't complain if I go to the main house and cause a little trouble while he's away?"

In emotional fights like this, the first person to care was the one who lost. I had to act confidently.

Then Lola put a stop to my thoughts.

"Um, but Miss. How are you going to get to the main house? Your access is restricted."

Not restricted. Forbidden, Lola.

Still, she was right. If I barged in blindly, the knights might seize me. That would only make me lose more face.

"...Isn't there someone I can send instead? Someone with a higher position than the main house maids?"

At that, one of the maids cautiously raised her hand.

"If that's what you need, there is someone suited for it..."

"Really?"

"She's the highest-ranking person in the old annex building behind us. She's even scarier than the Duke. Very strict, too..."

But the maid could not finish.

The maid beside her jabbed her in the side and whispered something. The first maid's face steadily turned pale.

"What is it?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Miss. I heard she's very ill right now."

Ill? Was that really all?

* * *

"Wow, it's raining even though it's the middle of winter."

In Korea, it would have been deep enough into winter for snow to fall, but Erenston was relatively warm.

Even in Vivette's memories, it had only snowed a few times.

Still, winter was winter. It did snow occasionally.

'Just like Vivette's family.'

Thinking something so silly, I closed the window against the driving rain.

But the next moment, I threw it wide open again.

The rain battered my ears wildly.

"What? Isn't that a person?"

Far away, a figure stood by the window of the building opposite mine.

They were so pale that they looked like a ghost. A ghost imprisoned in the old annex.

No, no. Why was I thinking of the ghost stories Vivette heard as a child?

Those things were all made up to scare children. To keep them from going somewhere dangerous.

...Though I did not know why they needed to frighten children to keep them from going to the old annex.

After calming myself so I would not be frightened before bed, I felt strangely uneasy.

'It would be worse if that isn't a ghost. They're going to fall.'

The person with their hair hanging loose had stretched one arm toward the rainy night sky.

The railing only reached the pit of their stomach.

'Ah... That's dangerous.'

I grabbed only the robe hanging over my chair and hurried outside.

* * *

When I arrived, the woman was nearly draped halfway over the low balcony railing, abandoned there and soaked through by the winter rain.

Her center of gravity had already shifted too far forward, and she could not climb back up by herself.

She probably would have fallen if I had left her there. If I had delayed by only as long as it took to drink a sip of tea.

"Be careful. You almost got seriously hurt!"

After barely managing to pull the woman up, I raised my voice in shock.

But my words did not reach her.

I could tell just by looking into her vacant eyes. She was not in her right mind. It was as if she were dreaming.

'She's sick.'

During my final years in a nursing hospital, I had seen many patients like her. So I was not particularly surprised to find someone wandering around senselessly at night.

What was truly surprising was that someone like this had been left alone in a room filled with danger.

Someone whose condition was severe enough that she could not even recognize danger.

"You'll catch a cold if you stay here any longer. Come on, go to a warm room and get some proper sleep. Change out of those wet clothes, too."

But there was no fire in the room. On a winter day like this.

Even after searching around the fireplace, I could not find a trace of mana stones for fuel, so I had no choice but to bring her to the new annex where I lived.

I did not see a single maid anywhere along the old annex's long corridor.

"Stay here just for tonight. As soon as it gets light, I'll return you to where you're supposed to be."

And give those people a piece of my mind.

'Did she used to work here?'

Perhaps her mind had gradually clouded and her body grown weak, but she had no children to take her home, so she remained in a place this heartless.

I looked sadly at the woman, who was dozing on the couch by the blazing fireplace without even taking off her shoes.

'She doesn't look much older than Duke Ashwilt. Why is she already...'

Maybe she was around fifty. Even with age, she still had a dignified and upright bearing.

Though it was hidden beneath her long, full white nightgown that dragged across the floor, and her loose white hair.

Everything about her was so pale that I could understand why someone might mistake her for a ghost from afar at night.

'Hm?'

As I watched her, something felt strange.

'Do maids normally wear clothes that nice?'

The color alone was different from the sleepwear given to maids. Even to someone like me, who knew little about clothes in this world, the fabric looked far finer than the outing clothes Lola and the other maids wore on special occasions.

And then there was her white hair.

Could she be...?

After considering it for a moment, I immediately denied the thought.

'No. Her hair has probably just gone gray with age. Surely she isn't an Ashwilt.'

There was no way she was an Ashwilt.

On a cold day with rain pouring down like this, a day when not even a dog or horse would be left outside, she had been left alone in an unheated room without anyone to care for her. She had nearly fallen over the railing and died. A woman with such a miserable fate could not be an Ashwilt like the Duke or Gillian, who lived comfortably in the main house. Even I, an unwanted burden, was cared for by servants.

If the Ashwilts had even the slightest sense of decency, they could not treat someone from their own household like this.

At the very least, not family.

Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, the woman trembled faintly as if she truly had caught a cold.

I brought the winter blanket from my bed and covered the lady from the annex with it, then immediately pulled the bell cord to summon a maid.

Before long, the maid on night duty entered.

"Yes, Miss."

"Bring this lady something warm to drink and some medicine. Her fever might rise overnight."

"Miss, who is this...?"

"Do you know her?"

The maid's eyes widened, then she quickly began sweating.

"Uh, well, it's... difficult to tell you..."

"Since you're pretending not to know her, she must not be an ordinary person. Is she a member of our household?"