Shoot. I knew exactly where this was going. She was heading right into one of her lectures again, and those things could last for ages. What was worse, it sounded like her hatred for bugs had only increased.
When my uncle graduated from the royal university, our family would temporarily relinquish control of our territory to him so we could move to the capital. It would take a whopping fifteen days by carriage to travel from our territory to the capital, so it was no exaggeration to say we were living in quite the rural area.
We specialized in silk products, handling everything from raising the silkworms to weaving the fabric—and our silk was of the highest caliber. Even in the capital, where fashion trends tended to change every day, the silk produced within the Stewart family’s Pallas region had been sought after as the finest quality in the country for the past several years, used even by royalty.
I, or rather, Emma Stewart, was born and raised in Pallas, so silkworms and bugs and the like were my bosom buddies. It wasn’t my fault that I loved bugs. At least, that was what I always told myself.
“Your love of bugs is beyond the pale! It’s not just the silkworms, but the caterpillars, the centipedes, the spiders, the grasshoppers, the spiders...oh, you collect all of them! I’m just begging you, my lady. Can’t you be even a little bit more like a normal girl?”
Uh, I always thought I was normal. Like, I apologized for that time I filled my pockets with all those caterpillars and forgot about them. And it wasn’t like I meant to fill my sketchbook with swarms of centipedes. I was just so proud of how realistically I’d drawn them...
And hey, why’d she have to go and mention spiders twice? Was there some reason she hated them in particular? If I had to guess... Oh. Right. Yeah, I might have had a sneaking suspicion why, actually.
I remembered there was an entomology hut that was nicknamed Emma’s House in the backyard of the manor. It was a beautiful building, far too big to be called a hut. In addition to being a place where Emma could personally research silkworms for fun, she also used it to collect other thread-producing bugs and raise whatever creepy-crawlies she happened to find in the courtyard or the park. Originally, Emma had enjoyed her hobby in her room, but after the servants (mostly Martha) had complained and the scope of her research had grown too large to be contained in one room, Emma’s excessively doting father had directed the hut be built for her as a birthday gift two years ago.
“Oh no... My babies! I haven’t checked on them for three whole days!”
My bugs might’ve already started eating each other. I kept them separate from the silkworm research area, but they were still all in the same room. I just hoped that beautiful purple spider would be okay at least...
About two weeks ago, I remembered Emma had found the most beautiful spider in the forest. It quickly became her favorite, so she had shown it off to everyone.
“My lady...” Martha’s glare had been cold as ice.
I could never forget the bloodcurdling scream she had let out when I’d tried to show her that spider.
But this was bad. Now that bugs were involved, Martha’s lecture was going to go on for ages. I had to find some way to distract her.
Just then, we heard a reserved knock on the door that cut Martha’s lecture short. It was such perfect timing, I knew just who it had to be.
“Um, sis? I heard you were awake, so I came to check in on you.”
When the door opened, I saw the most stunningly beautiful boy...who just happened to be my dorky little brother, William. He was nine years old, with stunning red hair from his mother and the Stewart family’s characteristic bright purple eyes from his father. He was carrying a large bug box in his tiny little hands.
“I’m really sorry... I completely forgot about your bugs while you were sleeping. The silkworms were separate, so they made it out okay, but the rest... The only one left is this spider...”
That was exactly what I had been worried about, but it seemed ridiculously fast. How could all of my babies have eaten each other in only three days? I’d even managed to get twenty whole species of ladybugs too... I guessed without food, all my beetles, mantises, grasshoppers, millipedes, and pill bugs just had a giant battle royal... If only I’d gotten to see it and record my observations...
“Aw... Well, that’s a real shame, but I guess that’s that...” I said, taking the bug box from William. That purple spider I’d taken such a shine to was skittering about inside. It looked like it was the victor, the lone survivor of the bloodbath.
Hey...is it just me, or did you get bigger? Like, a lot bigger?
All eight of the spider’s adorable, big round eyes were looking right at me. Or at least, that was what it seemed like.
Yeah. You’re perfect. I’m so sorry I couldn’t feed you...
As I gushed over the spider and opened its box, it inched closer to me until a deafening scream rang out. Martha had taken one look at the massive spider and fled. I doubted she’d be back anytime soon. Go figure, she wouldn’t understand just how great this spider was.
To think my little brother would use my precious babies just to chase someone away, though... I mean, it was just Martha, but still.
William was fidgeting, looking at me with curiosity. It was like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Like he had something to ask—something he needed to know, but also didn’t want anyone else to know. He was nervous, clearly lacking the conviction to decide.
I figured we were both thinking the same thing.
William fixed his gaze on me, took a deep breath, and with a great deal of determination, he finally said what had been eating at him.
“Is that...you, Mina-nee?”
“Peyta...?”
Then, having confirmed our suspicions, we both screamed at the same time:
“We’ve been freakin’ isekai’d?!”