Curious, Rock turned around to see a single carriage parked outside the closed gates at the end of the vast Mateus gardens.
It was an awfully magnificent carriage drawn by two beautiful horses.
An unfamiliar family crest was painted on the carriage doors. Phoebe was first to respond to the crest depicting a balanced scale with azaleas growing up it.
“The Alexis family…”
Rock spun toward her father and saw his jaw was set in a hard line, his expression stiffer than she’d ever seen it before.
“Are you well-acquainted with that family, Your Excellency?” Phoebe asked Ebel, who promptly shook his head.
“I don’t know them well enough to receive an unannounced visit.”
“Then what are they here for…?”
“I hate to think it, but it seems likely they’ve caught on to you.”
Ebel looked at Rock, forcing her to quickly come to terms with the situation.
Apparently, the Alexises had successfully pinned down her whereabouts. How or why they did was still up in the air. But the one thing Rock knew for certain was that their visit was an unwanted one.
The carriage door finally swung open as they watched from the reception room’s bay window.
A woman stepped out into the strong orange light cast by the setting sun. The lady wore a sheer veil over her face and an elegant navy-blue dress. There was quite a distance from the manor across the garden to the closed gate, which made it even more difficult to make out her face under the veil.
But Phoebe shoved Rock’s head down under the window to hide her from view.
“Get down, Roxy!” He crouched beneath the window beside her and exhaled a rueful sigh. “There’s no question about it, that’s Lauretta Alexis.” Rock didn’t recognize that name, but her father quickly explained, “She’s Vale’s older sister and your aunt.”
“That lady?”
Rock fought off the desire to stand back up and take a second look. Trouble was sure to come if Lauretta saw her too.
“Did you ever meet her?” Ebel asked, directing his question to the crouching Phoebe.
“Yeah, in my mercenary days,” Phoebe bit out.
“It seems my father met my mother when he was hired by the Alexis family,” Rock added, since it was a touchy subject for Phoebe.
“I see. So that’s where your love story began, eh?”
“What a beautiful start!”
“That’s not important right now,” Phoebe snipped, uncomfortable with the way Ebel neatly surmised their romance and how Johanna’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
This wasn’t the time to talk about the charming way they met anyway.
“Why don’t we see what move she makes first?” Ebel suggested in a somber voice just as footsteps could be heard quickly approaching the reception room.
“Pardon the intrusion,” Butler Ludovicus said, bowing before entering the room. “Your Excellency, Lady Alexis wishes to meet with you,” he imparted with a hard expression.
“What business brings her here?” Ebel asked.
“She wouldn’t tell me,” Ludovicus responded solemnly. “She said she’s aware it is rude of her, but she wants to speak with you directly, Your Excellency.”
“Do you think you can send her away?”
“She seems unlikely to move until she has an audience with you.”
From the sound of it, Ludovicus had already tried to send her away. The kindness in his eyes when he looked down at Rock and Phoebe hiding under the bay window told them he had a good grasp on their situation. Someone who knew nothing of their circumstances would have raised an eyebrow or two at their behavior.
“…Show her to the east wing reception room,” Ebel instructed him after a moment of thought.
“As you command.”
“Johanna, prepare tea for our guest,” Ebel told her after seeing Ludovicus bow.
“Yes, sir!”
Once the maid and butler left the room, Ebel turned toward Rock and Phoebe.
“Let’s figure out our strategy while they buy us time.” He smiled soothingly at Rock, who was all nerves. “Rest assured. I will respect your wishes above all else. I intend to handle this matter the way you want.”
Rock didn’t doubt that for a moment. But she was terrified by this unknown aunt who’d hunted her down.
After confirming Lady Alexis had been shown into the opposite wing and no one was lingering outside, Rock, Phoebe, and Ebel retook their seats around the table. Then they put their heads together to figure out a plan of attack.
“Lady Alexis is definitely here for Roxy,” Ebel asserted, pointing to the carriage to back up his claim. “I just caught a glimpse of that man we saw at the church inside her carriage.”
“Then it’s because he saw me there…?”
Now that was a stroke of ill-fortune. The man who’d stormed out of the sanctuary seemed to be connected to the Alexis family. Their objective was clear then.
“But I didn’t give my name. Neither did you, Ebel,” Rock whispered that point.
“He could probably tell by your face or the color of your hair,” Phoebe interjected.
“Is that really enough to go by?”
Rock twirled her wine-colored hair around her finger—the same as her mother’s. It’d grown out lately, and she was just starting to think she needed to cut it before it clashed with her male guise.
“Whatever the case may be, I plan to face Lady Alexis,” Ebel said, his golden eyes studying Rock’s face. “Tell me what you want first, Roxy.”
Rock’s mind was made up long ago.
“The Alexis family is one of the things my mother willingly gave up. I have nothing to do with them, and I’ve no intention of ever getting involved,” she firmly declared. Then she added, “Before Mother passed away, she told me about my father. She told me he’d surely help me. That I should go to the imperial capital and rely on him. But she didn’t tell me a single thing about her own family. I believe that sums up how she felt and what she’d want me to do.”
Phoebe quietly closed his eyes as he listened to Rock. He had a solemn expression, as if in prayer.
“…All right.” Ebel nodded and rested his chin on his folded hands. “In that case, there are two paths for us to choose from. Either we completely conceal your existence, or we reveal you to them while expressing your desire to not get involved.”
“Can you conceal my existence even after they’ve found me?”
Rock’s question was met with a casual wink.
“I excel at keeping things hidden. I can feign ignorance or stick to my story about your being my mother’s relative. Either way, it won’t be difficult to insist you aren’t Roxy Floria.”
It was reassuring when he worded it like it wouldn’t be much trouble at all. Rock’s relief was shadowed by Phoebe’s frown.
“But that won’t solve the core issue.”
“No, it won’t. I can get rid of the lady for a while, but as long as she wants you, she will likely show up out of the blue again and again. She might come directly to you next time.”
Ebel shared Phoebe’s concerns, but Rock didn’t.
“Would a fancy lady really come all the way out to the slums for me…?”
The werewolf count sitting across from her was an eccentric nobleman who enjoyed roaming the slums. Guido and Michaela’s reaction when they’d visited Rock’s shop proved just how unusual Ebel’s proclivities were.
But on the flip side, their visit also showed that even someone of Guido’s standing was willing to come to slums with his precious little sister if the circumstances were right.
Rock didn’t know what drove Lady Alexis, but it was enough to bring her unannounced to Count Mateus’s manor. It was impossible to say she wouldn’t hunt Rock down in the slums next.
Rock’s shoulders slumped after she thought it over.
“…I guess I can’t say she won’t, can I?”
“You can’t. She seems to have a reason to take action and to be obsessed with you,” Ebel said gently. Then he offered up a third plan. “With that in mind, I suggest we purposely reveal you to her.”
Rock gagged over that abrupt tactic.
“In other words, I should speak with her directly.”
“If the situation calls for it, yes. We need to see what actions she takes first, but if she asks about you, I will say you’re here.”
Ebel was going to reveal that Rock was there on the premises to the lady who’d come searching for her. And when he did that, the lady’s likely next action would be—
“Lady Alexis will most likely ask to see you,” Ebel continued in clerical tones. “I will then proceed to introduce you, while also being sure to drive home your desire not to be involved with the Alexis family and how that was also what your mother wanted. I will tell her that since you are an independent adult with your own profession and livelihood secured, you have every right to choose where you want to be and what you want to do.”
Then a mischievous grin lit up the count’s face as he added, “I don’t mind declaring your intentions to marry me too, if you like.”
“What? Um, that’s a little…” Rock sheepishly trailed off. She hoped they wouldn’t have to play that card.
She didn’t want to use her relationship with Ebel as an excuse. Even if he wasn’t a part of her life, she still wouldn’t want anything to do with her mother’s family.
“I want to use as few lies as possible to get through this,” she told him truthfully. “I get the feeling the ground will fall out from under us if they catch us lying.”
“…That’s true. We’re talking about Lauretta here,” Phoebe grimly interjected. “Twenty years ago, she was a shrewd, clever woman. When Vale said she was tired of competing with her sister, Lauretta bore down on her until she’d poked holes in all her weaknesses and had Vale emotionally crushed… She’s probably become ten times the demon in the decades since.”
Phoebe seemed to have a horrible impression of her. His expression was as grim as the story he’d recounted.
“But you aren’t alone. You’ve got His Excellency and me,” he reassured, patting Rock on the head. It tickled in more ways than one.
“We’re in His Excellency’s presence, Father. Don’t treat me like a child.”
While she’d complained out loud, she was internally relieved.
Not alone—that was an unimaginable blessing.
Ebel watched father and daughter interact with an envious smile.