episode_0058

[Episode 58] – The Second Holiday

“No, you were nagging me to…control myself…”

Lily muttered as she looked at Sylvia, who was calmly explaining what had happened yesterday, with her mouth wide open. It was truly unbelievable that her older sister, who had told her to feed her mother, to restrain herself, and then left her nagging about this and that, had done something worse than her and was now calmly sipping tea.

“…Anyway, my story ends here. When I woke up in the morning, he treated me like usual, so I talked to him like usual and left the room. I didn’t like the fact that he treated me like yesterday never happened…”

“Ah, sister!”

“Oh, I got it! I’m sorry! I’m sorry for nagging you for no reason, so stop hitting me!”

Sylvia, who couldn’t ignore Lily who kept tapping her shoulder and shouting “Ah!”, eventually reluctantly apologized, and Lily, who seemed to be still angry, continued to tap Sylvia’s shoulder as if she was annoyed.

While Sylvia and Lily were bickering, Elise was momentarily lost in thought. Just like with Lily and Sylvia, her mother was extremely reserved when having sex. Whether it was intentional or unconscious, her behavior was enough to make the other person feel uneasy.

“Sure… Mom is too reserved with words. It would have been nice if she had said something like she felt good at the end.”

“…Okay.”

“…Yeah.”

The two who had been bickering at Elise’s words paused for a moment and sighed at the same time. Judging from the mother’s reaction during the relationship, she definitely felt that she liked it, but Lily and Sylvia were also dissatisfied that she didn’t open her mouth until the end. Sylvia sighed once more and asked Elise.

“Elise, what are you going to do tomorrow?”

“I’m thinking of going out on a date with my mother tomorrow.”

““Huh?””

Sylvia and Lily opened their eyes wide at the unexpected answer and looked at Elise. They had thought that Elise, who couldn’t leave her mother even for a moment, would stay in her room like them, but going out to the village and going on a date.

It’s not that Sylvia and Lily didn’t think about dating, but they gave up on it because they didn’t want to waste time going to town and returning to the mansion.

The mansion was located on the outskirts of the city, so it took about an hour and a half to get to the city by carriage. A round trip of three hours in a short day was a very long time.

Sylvia tilted her head and asked Elise.

“Are you okay? It takes more than an hour to get downtown?”

“It’s okay. I’ve never been out with my mother before, so I don’t think I’ll have a chance unless it’s like this. I guess I’ll have to accept that. I have a carriage and a coachman that Lady Catherine lent me. I don’t have to worry ‘when I go.’”

“Really..?”

Sylvia said nothing more. While Elise was wondering what to ask her to buy if she went out to town, Lily giggled and opened her mouth playfully.

“A date with Mom…would be nice! We’re adults now…so I’d like to go to a nice restaurant with Mom and drink wine together…and then miss the regular carriage to the mansion… No way! You’re not going to stay out with Elise’s Mom all night, are you? She wouldn’t allow that, right?”

At Lily’s fuss, Elise just looked at Lily with a deep smile. It was a joke, but the corners of Lily’s mouth gradually lowered at Elise’s deep smile.

“……You’re not planning on staying out overnight, are you..?”

*

“Ugh, huh!”

After waking up in the morning, I was left alone in my room, groaning in pain and kicking the blanket that covered me from head to toe. I’m embarrassed, I’m embarrassed, I’m so embarrassed I could die!! What did I do in front of my child!!

“Ugh, I want to die.”

I tried to forget last night by kicking, kicking, and kicking the blanket, burying my face in the pillow in shame, but it was no use. I wore a leash in front of the child, a tail, an animal ear headband, and as if that wasn’t enough, that, that, that…

“Eww..!”

Not only did I embarrass myself like that in front of the child, but I also held her in my arms in the end as if begging her. It was such a shameful dark history that when I thought about it, my body twisted and I let out a silent scream. I screamed until I was exhausted, then laid face down on the bed and let out a deep sigh.

“Ha… What should I do…”

Okay, let’s admit it now.

I couldn’t say I didn’t know when I came this far. No one, not even an idiot, could not know that the way the kids looked at me was no longer simply the way they looked at their mother. Up until Lily, I had escaped reality by saying, “Yeah, Lily is a very affectionate child, so that’s understandable.”

However, what Sylvia said last night lingered in my ears and prevented me from escaping from reality. It was strange to call it a confession, but Sylvia’s expression was too serious to call it a confession. The meaning behind those words was too heavy, and I couldn’t forget it.

‘I will raise you for the rest of your life, Mother.’

For life? Raise? Me?

If she had simply said, “I’ll raise you,” I could have just let it go, thinking, “Oh, Sylvia said that because she was intoxicated by the atmosphere,” but the words “forever” in front were too heavy. And the expression on her face as she whispered while looking down at me was the same expression Elise had when she confessed her love to me.

“There was a reason Catherine said I was inconsiderate…”

Now I think I know why Catherine made up such a ridiculous excuse to teach the ‘lover’ class. Was it for the sake of the kids, who didn’t see me as their ‘mother’ but as their ‘opposite sex’, or was she just trying to make me notice?

It’s shocking that not only Elise, but even her own daughters Lily and Sylvia are thinking like that, but what good is it to know what the children are thinking? It’s not like I can accept their feelings.

Even if I didn’t want to be left alone, even if the children liked me, I was going to get the children married and send them away from me. Even if I accepted the children’s feelings, that wouldn’t solve the practical problem.

The gaze of society, the economic situation, the treatment of homosexuality in this era, everything except love was a problem. Selling all your possessions, paying off your debts, and living in hiding in the countryside with your children where no one knows you? It was a realistically impossible story.

What if there was a rumor that there was a house in the countryside where only women lived? Just thinking about it made me frown. It wouldn’t have been strange at all if they had been robbed. No, it would have been strange if they hadn’t been. In a way, it might have been a natural story.

Even if this world really is Cinderella, reality is not a fairy tale.

‘Well… I’m still not sure if this world is Cinderella or not.’

Bad stepmother, bad step-sister, poor Cinderella. The fairy tale and the reality I am experiencing now are so different. Lily and Sylvia were not on bad terms with Elise, and her stepmother Trisha did not hate or dislike Elise. It was because of her husband who died in debt rather than Elise.

And poor Cinderella Elise…

“Haa…… Really, what should I do with you?”

As soon as I thought of Elise, I sighed and covered my face with both hands. What should I do with this unfilial daughter who attacked her drunken mother and even confessed to her? On the last day of love with Elise, I honestly couldn’t help but feel anxious.

Would she stay in the room all day like Lily and Sylvia? Would she torment me with strange tools like Sylvia? Either way, Elise was serious about me enough to attack me while I was drunk. It was clear that she would be more serious than Sylvia, if not less.

Heuuu, I let out a groan that felt like I was going to collapse and wiped my face with both hands. I felt sorry for Elise, but this time I felt like I had to be a little more decisive. I had already experienced Elise’s reins slipping away, so this time I had to hold on to her reins tightly.

“Yeah… I have to reject the confession… What can I do..? I’m the children’s mother, and the children are getting ready for marriage? It’s too unrealistic to be realistic…”

With that determination in mind, I headed to Elise’s room to ask her what she wanted to do on Valentine’s Day. To cut to the chase, Elise didn’t ask for anything as difficult as I had thought. She didn’t ask for anything as perverted as I had expected.

“…Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yes, it’s okay. So, please prepare, Mom! I have to prepare too!”

“That, that’s right…”

After saying that, Elise pushed me out the door, saying that she had to prepare for tomorrow. It was so unexpected that I couldn’t say anything, so I returned to my room. I knew that Elise would ask for something I couldn’t even imagine, but…

“No way, what you wanted to do was a date.”

Was I being too sensitive? I was rather embarrassed by the ordinary date invitation. Of course, since we were lovers, a date would be ordinary. Wasn’t it rather strange up until now? I returned to my room, opened the closet wide, and began to rummage through the neatly hung clothes.

“What… I said it was a date, but I feel bad about wearing the same clothes I always wear…”

It would be okay to wear a simple dress that you would wear at home, but I thought it would be rude to go on a date without dressing up too much. While I was going through the clothes in my closet, a bright red dress with open shoulders caught my eye.

The red dress with the collarbone exposed on the off-shoulder was the kind of dress I wouldn’t normally wear. I took the dress out of the closet, stood in front of the mirror, and tried it on. It felt a little provocative, but I really liked the seductive feel of the dress.

“Still, that’s nice… You must have thought of me and asked me to go out. Sylvia and Lily are lovers, so they only do that in the room… Maybe you’re trying to change my mood?”

I was grateful for Elise’s kindness. I was so grateful that she gave up being with me at home and chose to go out. I thought Elise’s personality would keep me locked in the room all day and never let me go out, but it seems I was wrong.

I hung the bright red dress back on the hanger and put it in the closet, then collapsed on the bed and let out a pleasant sigh. Come to think of it, it was the first time I had left the mansion since Catherine’s invitation.

“Okay… Let’s have fun without thinking about anything this time. Eat something delicious with Elise… and look around the market… and also…”

As I was wandering around the town, wondering what to do, I began to feel sleepy. It was still too early to fall asleep, but I refused to let my eyes close and slowly fell into a deep sleep.