Volume 2 - CH 5

We headed to the town in the middle of the territory after talking with Patrick’s father. The family residence was located within the town surrounded by the rampart.

During the journey I ask Ryuu.

「Hey Patrick, is your mother really scary? Your father told me to be careful around her.」

「Uh… I don’t think so? My mother is just like any other ordinary mother out there.」

Patrick stammered when he tried to answer my question. Well, let’s just see for ourselves what kind of person his mother is.

However, I imagine there would be a rift between us. Historically speaking, a future daughter-in-law and mother-in-law have been fighting each other without honor since the day humans gained sentience. I’ve never actually seen those kinds of scenes personally, though.

And I believe Patrick had an older brother. I want to meet his brother, too.

「Say, what is your brother like?」

「Eh, you want to meet my brother… right? I have a feeling he wouldn’t want to meet you, Yumiela.」

Did he hate me even though I haven’t met him? My stomach started to hurt.

The reminders to fly as slowly as possible didn’t get through to Ryuu, soon the town came into view.

The atmosphere was a little tense due to the emergency, but there were no signs of a major disturbance.

「Let’s see, where do I land?」

「See that mansion in the middle? That’s the Count’s residence. Land in the garden over there. 」

Ryu slowly descended toward the house Patrick pointed to. So that’s Patrick’s house. The landing spot for Ryuu seemed to be clear, the space was large, large enough for a training ground.

Suddenly a woman ran out of the residence. She waved her hand at us, her long silver hair swayed and glistened, reflecting the sunlight.

I guess she would not be much older than me. But I’m pretty sure Patrick didn’t have a sister… Is that his brother? Wow, I didn’t know my brother-in-law was this pretty.

「Perhaps, is that Patrick’s—」

「Oh, Mother!」

Between an older brother who dresses as a woman and a youthful looking mother, the latter was more realistic.

As I thought about some random stuff, Ryuu softly landed on the ground.

Yosh, this is the first daughter-in-law and mother-in-law’s face off. I’ll use my Level 99 power to give the first strike.

Hopping off of Ryuu’s back, I rushed over to Patrick’s mother and bowed deeply.

「Nice to meet you, my name is Yumiela Dolknes. Please take good care of me!」

「Araara~ don’t be so formal, okay?」

「Thank you for your kind consideration!」

I called off the preemptive strike due to a political decision.

When I lifted my head, Patrick’s mother stared intently at my face. Just as I was wondering what she was thinking, she grabbed my cheek and started rubbing them softly with a grin.

「Cute! Patrick was right, your face isn’t changing at all! But my son said he could understand the expressions on your face.」

「Mother, you’re making Yumiela uncomfortable.」

「No, I’m not feeling uncomfortable at all. Feel free to touch it all you want.」

If being touched on the cheek is all it takes to build a good relationship, then so be it.

As she rubbed my cheek at her leisure, I observed Patrick’s mother. She looks really young, almost like she was in her twenties.

With his youthful mother, humble talent and generally good-looking, Patrick could be a highly appropriate protagonist for a bishōjo game. Ah, a protagonist requires a distinctive heroine, but is there anyone with that characteristic?

After a moment of fondling my cheeks, she leads us into the house.

「Come on, come on in. Uh, Ryuu-kun… won’t be able to enter, is that okay?」

「Yeah, it’s not a problem.」

When I turned around, Ryu was using his tail as a pillow as he started to doze off. Cute. He did fly quite a distance today, guess he must be tired.

Ryu could sleep anywhere, on that note, so can I. Children are like their parents, apples don’t fall far from the tree.

What a lovely person my mother-in-law is, for her to show how much she cares about Ryuu. You can’t really rely on other people’s evaluations.

As we were escorted into a parlor-like room. His mother, who walked in front of him, turned around as she opened the door and said.

「Patrick, shouldn’t you be somewhere else? It’s been a long time since you’ve been home, and I’m sure there are some people who you’d like to meet.」

「……I have something to report about the recent attacks towards our country—」

「It’s okay, I can hear the report from Yumiela-chan.」

She interrupted Patrick.

I nearly forgot that we were currently in the middle of a face off between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. Separating Patrick from his mother…

To which he says with a sigh.

「Mother, please don’t say anything strange in front of Yumiera. And please don’t do anything strange, Yumiela.」

Eh… Patrick, you’re leaving? And I would never do anything strange.

He whispered in my ear before he left.

「Please don’t mention anything about Remrest in front of my mother.」

I felt his breath on my ears as it made me shiver. Stop it, I didn’t like Patrick because he has a great voice. Please don’t do this kind of stuff. Although he can do it one more time if he has to, or possibly two or three times, or at worst, as many times as he wanted. Nope, it’s absolutely not something I want to do.

Um… what did Patrick say just now? I couldn’t wrap my head around the conversation at all. Oh, could he say it again! It’s all about conveying the information accurately. Well, it can’t be helped.

I was about to tell him that I didn’t hear him and if he could say it three more times, but Patrick had already disappeared.

I know how this gonna go. She’s going to change as soon as her son is gone. I often saw it in daytime dramas.

I was trembling with trepidation, Patrick’s mother opened her mouth.

「Why don’t you come in and sit down instead of just standing there? I’m glad that Yumiela-chan came. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.」

「Yes, excuse me.」

Should I take the fact that you’ve been wanting to see me for a long time to mean that you were looking forward to bullying your soon-to-be daughter-in-law? I think as I prepare myself, sitting down across from her.

「So, how far have you and my son gotten?」

「W-what do you mean with how far?」

「Oh! You’re blushing a little! Yumiela-chan is so cute!」

「Ehhh?」

…What? Maybe she’s just a normal person? Maybe I was being too harsh towards her, I’m embarrassed. If you think about it, I’m not the bride since Patrick is the one joining Dolknes family. There was no such thing as a face off between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law from the beginning.

Besides, there’s no way someone who is so kind would turn into a nightmare.

「Now, let’s talk about what happened on the battlefield first. There seems to be alot going on.」

「There’s an attack from Remrest.  But, all their troops have withdrawn. So, the Count will have to stay at the border for a little longer… um, mother-in-law?」

「Hahahaha! That garbage worm from Remrest! If you’re going to run home with your tail between your legs, it was better to stay in your place. Hmph, if I were on the battlefield, I’d chase you to the ends of the earth and you’d never see the sun again!」

…I was amazed. The way people can change so much in an instant.

She has a gleeful glint in her eyes as her mouth twisted up in a crooked manner. It really was scary.

「U-um… there wasn’t any damage.」

「Damage?! What do you mean there was no damage?! I’m sorry now that Yumiela-chan is here, I can’t give you a satisfactory welcome. I knew we had to exterminate Remrest.」

Wow, she really was serious. I’m glad. But I’d be happier if she’d calm down.

I think this is what Patrick was warning me about earlier. Who cares about how good his voice was or whatever?

But I really need her to settle down soon. I have to say something, something clever…

「If you wish to wreck Remrest, I will accompany you.」

Ah, I added fuel to the fire. No, I just thought, maybe this would make her like me…

It’s okay. If it happens, Patrick and the count will stop us. Between me and her, I’m just a girl with an accelerator and gasoline in her hands. We will leave the brake and oil coolant to the men.

While I don’t know why she hates the neighbouring country to such an extent, if I said anything to oppose her my words will only anger her more.

…However, Patrick’s mother suddenly lost her expression. Her blank expression was the scariest. It’s not something I can say though.

I could hear my own heartbeat pounding heavily. Her blank expression lasted only a few seconds, but for me, it seemed like an eternity.

Then again, she suddenly smiled. How scary.

「…Oh my, excuse me, I got a little heated. I can’t drag Yumiela-chan into this.」

「It’s okay, I don’t mind. I believe that the country you mentioned is safe for the time being. There seems to be an internal division in the country, besides, I don’t think we can afford to send out another army.」

「That’s good to hear. So tell me, how did you and my son meet? That boy always leaves out the important stuff.」

「I think the first time we spoke was during outdoor training—」

I kept on talking, pretending that nothing her outburst had not happened, but inwardly I was freaking out whether or not she would have another outburst.

◆　◆　◆

We probably talked for half an hour or maybe a quarter to hour, which was around the  time Patrick came back. He’s late.

「Mother, Yumiela just had a long journey, so let her rest for today.」

「Forgive me, Yumiela-chan, I just got carried away.」

「No, I enjoyed our talk.」

That’s a lie. It was terrifying.

Afterwards, Patrick lead me to the guest room and asked about our conversation.

「Do you think you’ll get along with my mother? You didn’t talk about Remrest, did you?」

「…I’m sorry.」

「Ah— I should’ve been there with you, too.」

More importantly, what I’m wondering is why did she change when she heard about Remrest.

But before I could ask, Patrick explained it to me.

「I know many people don’t like their neighboring countries. But my mother is special, no one hates them more than my mother.」

「Yup, I can see that.」

「The reason why my mother seems to hate them so much… it’s because they crashed her wedding.」

「Eh?」

Did he say her wedding? That wedding where you wear your wedding dress, cut the cake, and say your vows?

「My mother was from a central marquess family and her parents strongly disapproved of her marriage to my father. The day before the wedding, which was finally pushed through, there was a skirmish with the neighboring country. So there was no wedding, and my father had to go to the border for reinforcements.」

Indeed, I would be angry if someone ruined an important once-in-a-lifetime event. If someone interrupted my wedding to Patrick, I’d be like… what? What’s wrong with that? Don’t you have to wear a dress? I mean, shouldn’t I have to behave myself in front of everyone? Isn’t it rather lucky?

Why is it customary to hold an event like that in the first place? I wouldn’t want to do it if I didn’t have to. The only downside is that I won’t be able to eat the big wedding cake.

「Hey, are we going to have a wedding, too? I’m talking about the future here.」

「Of course. We won’t let anyone get in our way, and we’ll do it no matter what happens, grandly at that.」

「…Or we can just skip it, you know? Patrick, you don’t like that stuff, do you?」

「I’m not a big fan of extravagant events, but I think weddings are a different story.」

Jeez, why are you so excited about this, Patrick?

「Wedding…」

There was something about the wedding, with its happy image, that just didn’t sit well with me.

We still have a long way to go, so let’s put that event on hold for now.