Chapter 69 – Ichijouji Reina’s Daily Life – Part 5

“Are you the one who played with my juniors?” Someone asked.

I looked at the rude guy that called me out from behind and asked back, “… Who are you?” I have no idea who he is nor who are those juniors he mentioned.

“I’m talking about the trio you beat this morning.” He said.

“Yeah! That’s her!” One of his sidekicks said.

“Please show her how it’s done, boss!” Another one said.

I’m in a bad mood due to all those annoying people at school that kept asking me the same questions over and over again, so it felt hard to hold back… But I have to keep my promise with mom…

“Let’s go talk somewhere else, there are too many eyes here.” I told him.

“Oh, it’s going to be a quick talk alright, before I ruin this pretty face of yours that is.” He pointlessly claimed.

******

“I-I’m sorry!” One said.

“M-monster!” Another exclaimed… I overdid it due to my bad mood. PE didn’t help me relax at all, and then these people decided to bother me before I could get home and play… I wonder if it’s okay to go a bit far? I’m still from a duke’s family, so my word will probably win against theirs anyways.

“Die, you piece of- Gah!” A man that thought he was hiding himself well with a baseball bat tried to attack me from behind, I smashed his nose with my elbow, twisted his wrist and stole the bat from his hand.

“W-what’s wrong with this woman!?” One exclaimed.

“Let’s run, boss!” Another shouted.

As the two tried to run, I threw some empty beer cans that were piled up nearby at them. As I hit their necks, they lost their balance. Then I moved closer and hit their legs with the bat to stop them from moving.

Following that, I dragged them near the rest.

“Forgive me… Please forgive me…” One said.

“J-just what are you doing?” Another said.

I was annoyed at them, but I didn’t really care that much… They were just playmates in the end, so they don’t have the right to complain much.

I guess this much is fine… I ended up hitting them quite a bit in areas that were still covered by their clothes, it should be enough.

******

“Welcome home, young lady” Mr. Yamamoto said as I got home.

“I’m back, Mr. Yamamoto. I will visit the study for a bit before going to the villa.” I told him.

“Please be wary, there are visitors in the house right now.” Now? That man is aware that this is the usual time I come home, yet he scheduled them to be here anyways? Must be related to that adoption…

“I’ll keep it in mind.” I told him and left towards the study, while making sure to avoid the reception and that man’s office. The servants were surprised by my presence, but I ignored them. I lived here up until mom’s death, so I don’t need them to show me the way.

“The adoption has nothing to do with you.” That man said… For some reason he was talking to his guest in the study instead of in the meeting room. It’s probably better to ignore them altogether and just get what I came here for… I accidentally stole glances with that man though, who didn’t even try to hide his disgust, though it’s not like I tried to hide mine either.

“Oh, miss Reina! You have grown so beautiful, you’re just like your mother!” The guest said… For a moment I thought he was just unable to read the mood, but considering how he mentioned mom, he probably knows exactly what he is doing.

“… Hello, count Anegakouji, I’m sorry, I had not noticed you were here.” I told him.

“No, no, not at all. I’m so unremarkable that even I sometimes forget I’m here!” This annoying person always tries to be humorous, but he is mostly a pest, this is surely trouble. “I know! Let’s see what miss Reina thinks of it!” He then asked that man.

“What of it?” That man answered.

“No no, you see, that’s something she should have the right to talk about!” The count continued… He’s really a viper.

“… Don’t push it.” That man said.

“Oh, of course, my apologies.” With just that, the count retreated, but he is definitely going to try causing trouble right after… “It’s just that I can’t help wanting to know why you decided to adopt someone when you have miss Reina, who was born from your lovely wife?” That man seemed to be getting more irritated with every word of the count. “She has become so beautiful, I’d be glad if she could become closer with my son.”

He is definitely aware of how my family works, yet he still says those things… I can’t curse him openly though, so let’s just give a neutral rejection, “Unfortunately, I dislike men”

“There’s nobody who’d want to have a child with a monster.” That man said. It’s annoying that he took my side, but it’s a good thing that he is making it easier for me to avoid contact with others.

“Are you two, parent and child, really saying that?” The count idiotically asked.

“”We’re not parent and child.”” Me and that man said in unison.

“I see…” The count said. I wonder if he was just going for this kind of reaction from the start. Such a bothersome person… “Well, I’ll go home for now, we can decide what materials we can trade later.” And with this, the count left.

“… I’ve gotten a report. You had to do it while going back and forth from school?” That man suddenly said… He probably means those thugs.

“What about it?” I asked him.

“It’s a good excuse to imprison a monster.” He replied.

“Nobody will believe a bunch of outlaws were beaten by the lone daughter of a duke. It’s more likely that they’ll suspect some of her relatives set her up.” I told him.

“… So disgusting. And here I thought you had just stayed in the villa obediently these days.” That man said. Though even if he wanted to lock me up by himself, one can’t simply lock up a member of a ducal family. “I don’t accept your inhuman existence, unlike the rest of the world.”

“Is that so?” I vaguely replied, that kind of thing doesn’t bother me anymore, so I just stared at him as he got up and started leaving the study.

“… You’re the monster that killed your mother.” Before leaving, he looked back and made such a declaration. Just what the hell did you just say!?

“… Obsolete aristocracy.” I murmured just loud enough for him to hear.

“… What?” He stopped as he heard that.

We’re both aware that he has more than enough merit to his name. He did a lot as the minister of finance and was even a pretty likely candidate for prime minister, but that didn’t really matter right now.

“Whatever glory that you think is yours, just came from some old wars that happened more than 80 years ago.” I continued.

“You little…” He was biting it. He can make as many political speeches as he wants about equality, but he was still part of a noble house in the end.

“The world only sees the Ichijouji household, you are nothing.” I kept going.

“Shut it!” He said while punching me.

Seems like I fanned him a bit too much, his punch actually made my back clash against the bookshelf and made a bunch of books fall down. “Is this alright? That’s assault against a woman, isn’t it?” I said.

“… The monster that robbed me of Reiko is not a human.” He said something like that and left. I had to take some deep breaths to not kill him when he tried hitting me… I really should have killed him.

I really can’t be normal like my dearest mother wished me to, there just isn’t enough affection in me for that.

And that man is really so stupid and childish, just what did she see in him…?

Oh wait, one of the books that fell down was the one I was looking for, guess I won’t need to search for it and can just go back to the villa already.

“Young lady, is everything okay!? I heard a loud noise… Your mouth is bleeding!?” Mr. Yamamoto came in running into the study while saying those words… And behind is… A girl? She’s small, was there any child of this age in here? Maybe she came with count Anegakouji… Well, she came with him anyways.

I touched my mouth a bit and noticed the blood. “Oh, it seems like it is bleeding.”

“Just what happened here…?” Mr. Yamamoto asked.

“I just fanned that man’s flames a bit too much, so don’t bother with it. Please clean up the bookshelf, if you could.” I said while getting up and moving out of the study.

“I don’t mind doing it, but…” Mr. Yamamoto seemed to be troubled as he said this… “Oh! Maybe you could spend some time with your sister-in-law!?”

…

“It’s a great pleasure to meet you! I have wanted to meet you for so long, could we please-“ Yuuki said that this book had quite a bit of information on the game, I should hurry up and start looking over it. “D-dearest sister-in-law…”

“Young lady Komari, perhaps it would be best to give up for now…”

Yuuki said that the eastern route is the quickest path to reaching the royal capital, so it might be a good idea to go there.

…

Let’s go to the villa already.