Chapter 75: Phlandia

When I opened my eyes in the morning, a rather rustic-looking ceiling greeted me.

The furniture, somehow crammed into the spacious cabin, was impressive.

“Ugh….”

I stretched my arms and legs and yawned so wide my mouth could have torn.

My long, platinum blonde hair, disheveled in my sleep, had stray dog hairs here and there.

“Pant, pant, pant.”

“Yeah. Good morning.”

I rubbed my eyes and cleared my blurry vision, and my dogs on the bed greeted me good morning.

No matter what, they only listened to me, their owner, so I couldn’t leave them at the mansion for a long time.

So, they were all on this long voyage with me, without a single one missing.

“Haaam….”

A series of yawns, as if I wasn’t fully awake yet.

I fumbled with my toes and put on my fluffy slippers, then stood up.

“Are you awake?”

Sarah, sitting on a small table in the room, greeted me good morning.

She was drinking milk tea with Kiriel, in a doll-sized teacup.

Dinavel and Exia were still lying comfortably among the dogs, resting.

They were dolls that didn’t need to sleep, but after achieving their spirit forms, they would sometimes sleep as a form of amusement.

They found it strange and fun to dream sometimes, they said.

So, when they couldn’t dream, they would just wake up, but when they succeeded in dreaming, their excited chattering became a new daily routine.

I dragged my slippers and grabbed the doorknob.

Just as I was about to turn the doorknob, Kiriel flew over and tugged on my sleeve.

“Wait a minute! Are you going out like that?”

“Ah….”

I’m not a newly transmigrated villainess.

I almost went outside in my negligee pajamas.

“Can you call Heine for me?”

After taking my hand off the doorknob, I gave Kiriel her first task of the day.

What is there to hide?

A true villainess must have a maid change her pajamas for her.

Kiriel slipped out through the doll-sized doggy door I had made.

In the meantime, I looked in the mirror and picked off the dog hairs stuck to my hair one by one.

Knock, knock. A knock soon followed.

“I’m coming in.”

Heine carefully opened the door and came in.

Seeing my disheveled state, Heine, along with the other assistant maids, began to treat me like a living doll.

Every morning, at this moment, our roles were reversed, and I was the one receiving orders.

If they told me to stay still, I had to stay still, and if they told me to spread my arms, I had to spread them.

That way, Heine and the other maids could finish their work faster.

As a villainess, I also felt that the longer it took to get dressed and ready, the more of a waste it was, so I never even fidgeted.

“Uhm… Lady Heine.”

“What is it?”

At that moment, one of the maids who was putting on my underwear stopped fastening the hook and whispered to Heine, who was choosing my clothes, in a troubled voice.

The maid called the underwear a corset, but the name was only classic, and it was no different from its modern counterpart.

It supported the chest and had straps over the shoulders, exactly the same shape I knew from my past life.

If anything, it was so modern that I wondered if it could be.

It was actually invented around this time… right?

Well, it would be a bit funny if a world that could build airships couldn’t make modern underwear.

“The size of the corset doesn’t fit….”

“…….”

Anyway.

My height doesn’t grow, but other parts of me grow day by day.

Heine came over to check the maid’s words and tried to fasten it herself.

“Uhm… Heine?”

“Please stay still for a moment.”

“…Yes, ma’am.”

Heine handed the underwear to the maid next to her.

Then, with a serious and complicated expression, she stared at my chest and carefully lifted it from below with both hands.

At that, a feeling of lightness in my shoulders shot up my neck and into my brain.

“It’s… gotten bigger again….”

‘Ah.’

‘It’s heavy again.’

“What should we do, Lady Heine?”

“I did prepare a larger size just in case… but I didn’t expect to have to change it so soon.”

As expected of my Heine.

Her preparedness is truly outstanding.

Finally, with Heine personally and carefully putting on the precious necklace, a keepsake from my mother,

I was finally able to get some fresh air.

As I finally opened the door, countless clouds brushed past my vision.

Looking to the side, white seagulls were crying over the rolling waves.

That’s right. Seagulls.

The fact that seagulls, which had not shown their faces at all while crossing the great sea, finally appeared, meant only one thing.

“Land!!”

The good news echoed loudly from the top of my head.

I ran to the bow of the ship and poked my head out.

It’s true.

I can see land.

The salty sea breeze brushed past my ears.

My hair, which had just been neatly groomed, fluttered, and the unique salty smell pricked my nose.

But, it wasn’t so bad.

If anything, it felt nostalgic and welcoming.

I wonder if this is what they call the nostalgia of one’s hometown.

“Be careful.”

“Dad.”

Dad, who had approached me at some point, stood next to me.

He held me tightly in his arms, as if worried I might fall into the sea.

Really, he worries too much.

“Rio!”

I called out for my younger brother, wanting to show him the continental homeland he didn’t even remember.

However, there was no sign of my younger brother.

‘This kid, surely he’s not still rummaging through his bed, is he?’ I thought for a moment.

Soon, I saw Heine’s finger pointing in Rio’s direction, and I was so dumbfounded that I was at a loss for words.

“…When on earth did he get up to that top?”

“In the first place, the one who just shouted that they saw land was Young Master Rio….”

“Was it!?”

‘No wonder the voice was so familiar…!’

‘It seems I couldn’t recognize it for a moment because of the unusually bright and clear shout.’

‘Rio, you knew how to be that excited?’

‘As an older sister, I feel a little reflective….’

With land already in sight, it didn’t take long for the ship to arrive at the port.

“Wow….”

Flandia, the port city in the western part of the Empire where the historic Rosegarden Castle is located.

Unlike Lunden, where it periodically drizzles and a faint blue mist, a remnant of the magitek revolution, hangs in the air, a relatively pastoral landscape unfolds, with numerous windmills slowly turning on the low hills stretching beyond the horizon.

The sight of colorful flowers surrounding the windmills, clearly visible even from far out at sea, is quite a spectacle.

“Are we still far from docking?”

Clear skies. Clean sea.

And, a colorful meadow and hills stretching beyond the horizon.

Even though it’s a port city, my heart swells with the desire to see a new environment so different from Lunden.

The gangplank is finally being lowered.

I pushed aside Rio, who was trying to cut in line, and was the first to get off the ship, and a soft carpet welcomed my footsteps.

‘Hey, what’s with all this….’

“Oh, my lovely little ones! You’ve finally arrived!”

“Grandpa?”

I looked ahead at the booming voice.

And there stood a middle-aged man in a magnificent noble attire with the Rosegarden crest, too old to be a young man but still full of vigor for an old man.

Richard von Rosegarden.

The lord of Rosegarden Castle and a count, my grandfather.

“Have you been well all this time, my lord?”

“Hah, when did these little ones grow up so much?”

‘Your body… eh?’

‘Rio, this kid, why is he suddenly chanting a spell I don’t even know?’

‘A guy who can’t use magic, just like me, where is he going to use a chant he memorized….’

Grandfather, pleased as if proud of Rio’s formal first greeting.

He strode over and patted my younger brother’s shoulder heartily.

Rio looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Did you see that?’

‘No, so that body… what is what?’

“However, there is no need to be so formal. We haven’t seen each other in a long time. Wouldn’t this old man be sad if you were so stiff?”

‘Mm-hm.’

‘Grandpa is a hundred times right.’

‘You shouldn’t be so formal with family, calling him “my lord” and all that.’

‘That’s why nobles are always stabbing their parents, siblings, and children in the back.’

“Grandpa!”

“Hahaha, yes, yes! Our cute Lin is just like she was when she was a little girl!”

‘…What?’

‘Even if you’re my grandpa, that’s a little over the line.’

‘How much have I grown since then!’

I was lifted high by his massive body, which seemed to be almost 2 meters tall.

Even me, a grown adult who had finally reached 150cm after my fourteenth birthday, was made to look like a mere child by my grandfather.

“You still look healthy.”

At that moment, Dad, who had come down from the ship late, greeted Grandpa.

Judging by the look in Grandpa’s eyes as he looked at Dad, it didn’t seem like they had a very positive relationship.

‘In any era, in any world, the relationship between a father-in-law and a son-in-law is bound to be uncomfortable.’

“…You came too?”

‘I thought so, but.’

‘It wasn’t a light atmosphere that could be explained simply by that.’

‘It was enough to make me feel self-conscious.’

“Everyone must be tired from the long voyage. Let’s go back to the castle and rest first.”

Fortunately, Grandma, who was next to Grandpa, intervened.

Dad bowed his head in respect to his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

As a doting husband, befitting his Rosegarden blood, Grandpa also accepted his wife’s mediation.

Although he clicked his tongue briefly, it seemed to be settled for now.

…

‘…Lin.’

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong, Lin?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”

And so, Lin returned to her hometown.

‘Child… of the lake….’

In her embrace.

The necklace glowed as if it were about to speak.