WMHMS - Chapter 56

'Is your mother a fish-shaped bread seller? She looks exactly like Carcel.'

I didn't realize it from the portraits because all three of them looked so similar.

Carcel seemed to resemble his mother more.

Just then, we heard someone speaking behind us.

"Duke, is this handkerchief your wife's by any chance?"

At those words, I belatedly rummaged through my pockets and turned my head.

However, no matter how much I thought about it, it didn't seem like a position where the handkerchief would fall out, so I tilted my head in confusion.

"Did I drop the handkerchief?"

“I’ll get it.”

Carcel put Linea down again.

And naturally, while I was holding Linea's hand, Carcel went out the front door.

At that moment

Bang!

The sound of the front door closing was heard.

Soon, the sound of Carcel and others' voices coming from outside also came.

"I-I'm sorry, Duke!"

"You must never let go! No, even a wild beast wouldn't be as wild as this!"

"Duke, the Madam said it will be over if you just stay outside for a moment! Please!"

Even amidst all the chatter, my mother-in-law, who was sitting deep in the drawing room, wore a satisfied smile.

“I succeeded.”

"Yes?"

"Finally, only we are left."

At the sound of my mother's voice whispering in a calm tone that seemed out of place in this situation, I pressed myself even closer to Linea.

Trembling uncontrollably, I asked back in a thin voice, as if my throat were being choked.

“Mother...?”

"Yes, my dear daughter-in-law"

"It looks like Carcel was captured by the people out there."

"Yes, I told them to do that."

So why?

Why is it so cold in the drawing room where the bright sunlight is streaming in?

It felt as if a dark energy was slowly growing around the mother-in-law sitting at the head seat in the drawing room.

I made eye contact with my mother without realizing it.

'Heh.'

However, I didn't know what to say to this beautiful middle-aged woman who had even sent Carcel away.

So I couldn't even make a sound and just hunched my shoulders.

My mother-in-law raised her head, smiled with the corners of her mouth, and gave me an order.

"Come here, my dear."

"Yes!"

I moved forward slowly with Linea hidden behind my back.

Why do I unconsciously adopt a submissive attitude in front of my mother?

Without realizing it, I bowed at a right angle.

"N-nice to meet you. My name is Asha Rivandel, Mother! I couldn't come empty-handed, so I bought a gift!"

"What gift are you talking about? Why did you buy something so useless?"

To my ears, it clearly sounded like it was automatically translated as, "It’s no use buying a gift for someone like you."

I decided to immediately discard the gift box I was holding in one hand.

“I’m throwing it away right now!”

"Still, you put a lot of thought into preparing this, so please give it to me."

"Yes!"

With no Carcel to protect me, I obediently offered the gift I had brought to my mother with both hands.

“Ha. Something like this.”

Mother chuckled softly as she unwrapped the gift.

I bowed my head and apologized.

"Sorry!"

"Don't waste money unnecessarily."

"Yes!"

"Things like you, which are uselessly small, uselessly cute, and uselessly pretty, are not worth spending money on."

“Yes?”

Mother muttered as she looked down at the jeweled necklace I had given her as a gift.

"What would you little ones know? Don't run around until your legs hurt trying to buy me a useless gift; just sit down and do your bidding. And tell Carcel to do all the annoying and unpleasant things."

“Uh, yes?”

“Sit down.”

At the elegant instruction, I found myself sitting on the sofa next to Mother with Linea without realizing it.

Bang! Bang!

In the midst of this, the front door suddenly shook as if it were about to break.

"Mother! Open this door immediately!"

"Isn't the anesthetic shot ready yet? Bring it over quickly!"

Even at that sound, which was beyond words to anyone who heard it, Mother merely muttered in a low voice as if finding it pathetic.

"A fellow who has served his purpose is trying to enter my house for no reason."

Is this your mother’s son?

As I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye and tried to gauge her mood, Mother shook her head.

"You brought my daughter-in-law and granddaughter, so that's all. Why are you expecting to be treated like a guest?"

It was a look on her face that showed she genuinely did not want to let her son into the house.

So, practically speaking, she only uses Carcel as a transporter and doesn't even let him enter.

'So, just as Carcel said, it was true that he doesn't get along very well with my mother.'

Seeing the look of utter disgust on her face, all I could do was avert my mother's gaze.

"Oh. Mother? Still, since I came to pay my respects now that I'm married, if I were to see Carcel along as well..."

"Of course you wouldn't like that either, right?"

Mother shook her head.

"Don't worry. I anticipated this, so a few days ago I had the front door completely remade and installed using a material that monsters can't break."

"Yes?!"

Why?!

Mother rolled her eyes at the door, which was shaking as if it were about to break.

"Daughter-in-law, aren't you planning to introduce my granddaughter?"

Bang bang! Bang!

"I failed! Don't you have any sedatives?!" 

"Asha! My daughter! Are you alright?"

Unlike my mother, who was speaking to me calmly, the outside was in the midst of a battlefield.

And unlike me, who couldn't concentrate at all amidst the continuing screams of the people, my mother remained composed.

Mother continued speaking in a captivating voice while looking at Linea.

"Did you say Linea?"

"...Hiccup, yes, Mother!"

Mother smiled, pulling her red lips into a smile, perhaps because of Linea, who had learned the word "Mother" by looking at me.

"You little thing. Uselessly smart."

I thought Carcel's face had become indifferent by now.

So the original of this scary face was someone else.

I got goosebumps every time my mother smiled.

Linea wasn't much different. The child was trembling even more than when she first saw Carcel's Death Smile.

I tightly grasped the hand of Linea, who was sitting next to me, as if to reassure her.

Mother spoke coldly in a voice that somehow felt wicked.

"What should I do with a uselessly clever child?"

It was a tone that sounded as if she were about to inflict punishment.

Then Linea also bowed her head and hurriedly apologized.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll just... I'll become a fool, even right now!" 

"Did I say I wanted that?"

Linea's eyes welled up as if she were about to cry at any moment.

Even so, the child shook her head desperately, as if to show politeness.

Even I, an adult, am scared, so imagine how a child must feel.

I quickly stepped in between Linea and my mother and struggled to continue the conversation.

"Um, Mother? Could you please let Carcel in as well?"

"That guy won't do."

“Why...?”

"Didn't my son trick you once? Given his personality, there's no way he wouldn't pull off a stunt like that to get married. There isn’t one, right?”

It was a face that seemed to know everything.

Actually, Carcel did lie to me before we got married.

Sensing that I hesitated for a moment, the mother-in-law, seizing the opportunity, spoke with a sparkle in her eyes.

"He is my son, but judging by his appearance alone, isn't he just an ordinary heinous criminal? Isn't it difficult to live with him?"

“Oh, no?”

Mother? Please look in the mirror.

I was speechless when my mother, who had such a formidable presence, said something like that.

And finally, my mother subtly lured me out.

"Just stay at the Duke's mansion."

"... Yes?"

Several question marks popped up in my head one after another, as if an error had occurred.

Even I was momentarily speechless at the mother-in-law's ambition to kidnap her daughter-in-law and granddaughter to the house without Carcel.

It was then.

Crash! Crash!

With the sound of everything breaking, one of the windows outside the drawing room shattered into pieces.

"Mother!"

It was the appearance of Carcel.

He broke the window and entered nimbly, yet strode into the drawing room without a single scratch.

At that, the mother-in-law rolled her eyes and let out a blatant sigh.

Carcel frowned at his mother and laughed aggressively.

"Now, hand over Asha and my daughter."

Mother opened her mouth in a low voice and called out to Carcel, who was hurriedly approaching us.

“Son.”

"... Yes."

Mother raised her lowered gaze, looked up at Carcel, and asked.

"That I wanted to have a proper conversation with you someday. Had I ever mentioned it?" 

Upon hearing those words, I could finally understand the whole situation. 

Yes, Carcel, who her mother wanted to talk to her son, even if only through the medium of her unfamiliar daughter-in-law and granddaughter, replied coldly.

"No. Mother has never once said such a thing." 

"If you know that, why are you talking to me now? I told you I don't want to talk to you."

Previous                    Next