I want to help, but to be honest, I don’t have much relationship experience. I was a cat for a long time, and though I admired Elliot the black cat, I saw him more as an idol than anything else. And in my human life, Prince Bernard never gave me the time of day.
I mulled over it for quite some time, but as it turned out, I needn’t have worried at all. The moment we arrived at the Leeuwenhoek manor, Lady Alice dismounted from Sir Kain’s horse and rushed over to mine.
“Big sister Lucille!” she called to me, completely ignoring Lord Felix. “Are you going to the detached house? I’ll escort you there, tee hee!”
Lord Felix’s hand—politely offered in order to assist me down from the horse—lowered, empty.
The group of us headed to the detached house and settled into the reception room.
“I’m okay now,” Lady Alice said. “I’ve come to my senses. I always thought I loved you, Felix, but deep down, I realized I was only saying that while imposing my own designs onto you. That’s why you stopped being nice to me, right? It’s my fault you had to go against your nature and be mean. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”
I was startled by her sudden apology, but I could tell by her calm expression that she wasn’t forcing herself to say it.
“A-Alice?” The flustered voice came not from the apology’s recipient, but rather Sir Kain. “Are you sure? You were so obsessed with Felix...”
“Really, Kain?! All that subtle encouragement to get me to give up on Felix, and when I finally do, that’s what you say?”
“So you realized I was trying to get you to give up...”
“Hmph! Of course I did. I’m not stupid.”
It seemed there was quite a lot to this story that I wasn’t aware of.
Sir Kain was baffled by Lady Alice’s abrupt change of heart, but I doubted it had actually been so sudden. After all, feelings smoldered in the heart. Lady Alice had probably already been thinking these things, and the terrifying encounter with Maouldoth had acted as a trigger for her to put her unrequited feelings behind her once and for all.
I’m still angry at Maouldoth for scaring her, though!
Lord Felix gave a small sigh of relief as he watched the exchange between Lady Alice and Sir Kain. He seemed to deliberate for a moment, his expression unreadable, before settling on something and bowing to Lady Alice.
“I am sorry as well, Alice. Regardless of the reason, I should have gone about things in a better way. Instead, all I did was hurt you.”
He was presumably apologizing for his cold attitude toward Lady Alice.
Lord Felix and Lady Alice shared an awkward look. From what I knew, the two of them had been together since childhood, and Lord Felix had cared for Lady Alice like a younger sister. According to Sir Kain, Lord Felix “had his reasons” for being harsh. I didn’t know what justification he had, but judging by the current atmosphere, I was certain that he hadn’t truly wanted to be mean to her.
“Ahhh, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!” Lady Alice exclaimed with a smile. “I didn’t realize how stubborn I was being.”
She wrapped her arms around one of mine and began nuzzling against it like a cat.
Oh my! She’s so skilled at that! Was she a cat in her previous life too?!
“Thank you, big sister Lucille,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Huh?”
“I always thought that Felix was the only person who would come to my rescue—that he was special. I imposed my selfish feelings onto him, and before I knew it, I was forcing him to be my ideal Felix. It’s no wonder he didn’t like that. And since he was special to me, I thought I had to be special to him too or else I’d have no worth. But this time, you were the first person to come to my rescue, so I realized I was wrong.”
“Oh my...”
I can’t believe she thought she was worthless. She came across as a confident noble lady when she first barged into my detached house to stake her claim over “her Felix.”
Lady Alice’s true hidden feelings made my heart ache.
“Your thinking is too extreme, Alice,” Sir Kain said. “Besides, it’s not just Felix who’s been around for you. I’m here too.”
“You’re right,” Lady Alice said. “Thank you too, Kain.”
“Huh?”
Sir Kain, who had apparently been trying to lighten the mood, froze at the unexpected words of gratitude.
Tee hee, so even Sir Kain, who’s used to dealing with women, gets flustered when his childhood friend acts differently from usual!
“Big sister Lucille, will you listen to my story?” Lady Alice asked softly. “You see, my older brother is really smart, and my older sister is really good at magic. I was the only normal person in the Rohans family, and since they only cared about gifted people, I didn’t fit in at home.”
As I listened patiently to Lady Alice’s explanation, a pained expression grew over Sir Kain’s face, while Lord Felix’s features stiffened. They probably felt powerless because it was a family matter that they couldn’t interfere with. Given the details Lady Alice shared, this was a private issue, and to intervene as a third party would be complex—especially since Lord Felix and Sir Kain were men. If they got too involved, they risked being fuel for baseless rumors, or worse, a scandal. That would put Lady Alice in an even worse position.
While I understood that there were probably many emotions and external issues that couldn’t be gleaned from Lady Alice’s words alone, I found myself thinking that it was all really quite strange.
“Your family is rather odd, isn’t it?”
“Odd?”
Oh no! I accidentally voiced that thought out loud!
I slapped both my hands over my mouth. It wasn’t appropriate for me to criticize her family when I didn’t even know them, no matter how strained their relations seemed to be.
Lady Alice laid gentle hands over my own and said imploringly, “I want to hear your opinion, no matter what it is.”
If that’s what she says, I guess it’s okay.
“I just think it’s unfortunate that the people closest to you can’t see how sweet and lovely you are,” I said. “Though I may have phrased it too bluntly just before.”
“B-Big sister Lucille!”
“Ah!”