“Like two sweet peas in a pod.”
“Uncle! You’re home!”
“Indeed. And at loose ends, so I thought I would pay my darling niece a visit.”
Byletta turned around to find a tall man welcoming her with wide-open arms.
His hair—dark brown, almost black—fluttered about his face, and his jade-green eyes were creased into a smile.
Samus Eteau was a man on the cusp of forty, but he still looked youthful for his age. Despite that, his handsome features lent him a rather distinguished air, which made it difficult to pinpoint exactly how old he was.
He was also the head of the Highrain Association, which operated stores not only in the empire, but all over the continent—and had been the source of the capital Byletta had used to open her first store.
“Welcome home. How have you been?”
Byletta jumped into her uncle’s arms; as they exchanged a hug, she took a good look at his face. She was relieved to find that he seemed well.
“I was already happy to return home from such a long business trip out of the country, but my heart is even lighter now that I’ve seen my lovely niece.”
Samus had been in the neighboring kingdom of Naris conducting trade deals for around six months now. Each one had almost certainly been significant, with a lot of money on the line. But though such deals were anxiety-inducing by nature, on the surface it appeared her uncle hadn’t faced any issues.
“I’m glad that you feel that way. When did you arrive home?”
“The day before yesterday. Hey, Byletta. Look at me.”
“I’m already a big girl. I don’t grow and change as much as someone like Milena.”
“Now that you mention it, Milena has undeniably bloomed into a fine lady these past six months. But you, on the other hand—there’s no telling what you’ll get up to if I don’t check in on you every now and again. I have to stay vigilant.”
Samus knew just how much Byletta doted on her sister, whom she brought to his stores often, and he and Milena had become quite well acquainted. He was of the opinion that anyone would consider Byletta a wild card compared to a girl as mature as Milena.
“How rude, Uncle… I think you’ll find that I’m quite a lady myself.”
“You got into the best school in the country, but all you did after you arrived was cause chaos. Then, the moment you finally graduated and I thought I could finally let out a sigh of relief, you went and got married while I was away on business. And then, just as I thought you’d settled down, you took the liberty of expanding your store and building a textile factory. For the last six months, I’ve been living in fear of any more updates concerning you.”
Faced with his serious green eyes, Byletta found she had to look away.
She’d been twelve years old when she’d first entered Stacia Academy, one of the empire’s most prized educational institutions. She had graduated at fifteen, then married at sixteen. The trouble she’d caused during her school years had cast her in a rather unladylike light—Byletta knew that very well. But she’d had her reasons.
Still, because of her behavior, people talked about her in high society as if she were some kind of temptress who liked to toy with the feelings of men. There was always some sort of gossip about her supposed unhealthy relationship with her father-in-law and uncle, or murmurings about how she liked to twist boys around her finger. In fact, among those who envied her beauty, those who competed with her in business, and those who happened to be her husband’s ex-lovers, these rumors seemed to prevail above the truth. But Byletta didn’t care about the slander. She was so busy with work that she didn’t have the headspace for it. In other words, she just left it to fester.
Her uncle, who was aware of the rumors, had long been concerned about Byletta. But he also knew that she utilized those rumors as a means to discourage any unwanted male attention. It was one of the reasons she didn’t bother to actively stamp them out.
Samus was Byletta’s mother’s younger brother. The second son of a merchant, he had at some point absconded from the family home and started his own company, the Highrain Association. For over two decades, it had operated stores not only in the empire, but across the entire continent. It was a big name and was growing further still. Byletta was proud to have a similarly wild and industrious disposition. That’s why it stung so much to hear him say that he had to be vigilant.
There were whispers that her uncle was involved in some shady business, but Byletta knew it wasn’t true and that such murmurs were likely fueled by jealousy. But just as she did, her uncle used his notoriety to his advantage. She was merely following his lead.
Still, despite her uncle’s cool exterior, he was a bit of a firecracker on the inside. Given that, Byletta found it hard to completely deny some of the rumors about him out of hand.
Samus had been raised by Byletta’s mother while their parents worked as merchants. As such, he was deeply grateful to her, and he treated her as the utmost authority in their family. Naturally, when Byletta’s mother had married her father, it had been her uncle rather than her grandfather who’d opposed the match—and rather nastily, by all accounts. Her father still feared Samus now, as if his very presence conjured up past trauma.
Byletta reminded Samus of her mother—that was why he doted on her so much.
He’d gone so far as to bestow a fifteen-year-old girl with her own boutique just because she’d declared she had no interest in men and wanted to go into business instead. On paper, the store had belonged to its manager, but in reality, Byletta’s uncle had supplied her with all the capital she desired to run it. But that boutique had been the precursor to this one. Now that Byletta had grown up, she finally had one under her own name.
Byletta was well aware that her uncle deeply cared for her—and that he worried for her in equal measure.