The Damn Family Is Back Again

395. CHAPTER 6. ■■■■(4)

Returning to the beginning.

Because I know nothing about her, I return to the start.

Even now, I don’t believe that judgment was wrong.

If I return to the beginning and notice what I missed, I might be able to pinpoint the cause.

But I don’t believe there’s a vague path where simply wearing the same clothes as back then, or returning to the cluelessness of that time, will bring enlightenment.

Everything had to be overturned.

Everything in my head had to be turned upside down.

Change my perspective.

Cover over the existing perspective.

I had to shatter my common sense like that, so that something else could catch my eye.

The terrace inside the Bagrand Ducal estate. It may seem like just a simple resting place on the surface, but this place holds a rather special meaning.

Knowing this, Harnie couldn’t bring herself to speak, covering her mouth with both hands.

“…”

-Clink.

“This is still…”

Harnie fiddles with the water glass on the shelf.

Perhaps, she might be thinking the same thing.

That the terrace is not much different from back then.

That’s the blind spot.

As time passes, such consumables are quickly replaced.

They gradually wear down and fade with use, causing visual and practical problems.

Moreover, the trends of the nobility are even faster.

These items, which possess elegance, style, and even an effect of creating an atmosphere, rarely last more than three months, no matter how long they are used.

Especially given the location, the replacement period would have been even sooner. If it’s the terrace inside the Ducal estate, where nobles frequent, that time is hastened even further.

But the water glass remained as it was.

The water glass that fell here with a *thud*, was still placed on this shelf.

You understand now, don’t you?

Yes. I preserved that scenery, exactly as it was, back then.

The state of things inside that terrace, where we bumped heads and fell.

If you call it a first, this was certainly a first.

Our first meeting. And for that, I have this place arranged identically to how it was then.

“…”

She, who had been wondering just what I was hiding so closely, couldn’t quite find the words.

This is where it becomes important.

The situation from back then was reproduced, exactly.

The place, the furnishings, the people.

Gazes crisscrossed, going back in time to decipher the incident.

What was it I failed to decipher?

What did I miss?

It was time to find out, little by little.

“It would have been right around here that we fell. Back then, well… I was a little shorter. So our heads probably collided completely.”

Harnier, who was gazing at me intently, gave a small smile and agreed.

“That’s right. If we bumped into each other now, I’d be the only one falling. But back then, I was built a little more petite, so we fell together.”

“Mm. But the glass of water in my hand happened to spill toward you. Your dress got wet because of that. Were you alright?”

“Yes. It was just water, so it was fine. More than that, I thought you were surprisingly fragile, and that you might have been hurt?”

“Why would I be hurt when you were the one who fell?”

“But—”

As we chatted about this and that, it felt like that image was shimmering before my eyes, like heat haze.

Memories of our unforgettable first meeting were being drawn out, fresh as could be.

“Now that I think about it, isn’t it strange?”

“Strange?”

“Yes. Our first meeting. What man and woman meet like that?”

“You’re right. It was a strange way to meet. Us.”

Hearing those words, Harnier suddenly chuckled and sat down, picking up a glass of water.

“Water. Will you pour it for me? Like back then.”

I took the pitcher from the shelf and poured.

Just like back then, when we had our first meeting.

*

With cups of water between us, our conversation from that day deepened.

“I was already having a complicated time when someone suddenly burst onto the terrace, knocking me over before I even knew what was happening.”

“The water cup fell, my dress got soaked, and I took a tumble… Ha, haha… Even now, it feels like utter chaos.”

But because it was chaotic, it’s all the more memorable.

That entire commotion that unfolded in this cramped space.

That day’s memory, though hardly a first meeting for either of us.

Remains here as a cherished anecdote.

Harnier fiddled with her water cup.

She suddenly looked at me and began a conversation with a slightly more serious tone.

“But I think I may have been the first to find something strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yes. You see, Carsein, even though you were the one injured, you bowed your head so readily.”

Clearly, of the two of us, the one bleeding from the cheek was the one who was more injured, yet you bowed your head. It seemed peculiar to me.

…So that was Harnier’s perspective.

“Well… it wasn’t a situation where I could afford to cause any trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“As you well know, that day was Claire’s coming-of-age ceremony. They were already looking at me with such disapproval…”

“Hmm. I see. So that’s why you were trying to kill time on the terrace. Perhaps, that’s why you were dressed as a servant?”

“Correct. So I wouldn’t attract attention. Furthermore, the nobles wouldn’t dare find fault with me, and since I rarely went outside, few guards would recognize me.”

“…So you had to go to such extremes.”

She looked saddened as she understood this unknown fact.

This atmosphere wouldn’t do. To lighten the mood, I decided to pose a question.

“Then why, instead of getting angry that your clothes were wet, did you use your handkerchief to wipe the blood from my face?”

“It’s for the same reason you mentioned. I, too, didn’t particularly want to make a scene.”

“Hmm… Come to think of it, the social circles were spreading malicious rumors at that time, weren’t they?”

“Indeed. I didn’t want strange scandals clinging to me from the outside world, nor did I want to hear rumors that I was playing the temptress in social circles again.”

She didn’t get angry even though her clothes were wet.

The reason she had lingered there until the moisture dried was the same.

For the same reason as me, she was trying to choose safety over causing any trouble.

A gaze meets mine, somehow.

Just as I had, she, too, was looking at the same sight.

Yes. The very same gaze.

Sharing the same memories, holding the same recollections.

‘If that’s the case.’

I rose from my seat and offered my hand to Harnié.

Unlike before, this time I said nothing at all.

No words of where we must go, nor did I blindfold her eyes.

Yet Harnié asks nothing. She simply takes my hand and moves with me.

Now, it is only our hands that are joined.

But, in the future, that will not be so.

*

It is not merely the Duke’s manor terrace.

For us, there remained so many more memories.

Each time we passed along those paths.

Each time we rekindled our recollections.

The scenes from our memories were realized in reality.

The distance between us, who had only held hands, began to shrink.

And so, after we had explored almost every place, as it became time to return… Harnié was leaning against my shoulder.

It was a first for her, and a first for me as well.

Returning to the beginning and facing all of it was definitely not wrong.

From this vantage point, having revisited all that had passed, Harnié no longer tried to avoid me.

Inside the carriage, on the long road back.

Silence flows.

“Um… Harnié.”

“W-well… Karsein.”

Within the silence. The voices of both of us overlapped, attempting to speak.

“Harnié. You speak first.”

“Speak first. Karsein.”

How can it be that even the timing of wanting to say something is the same?

We erupted in laughter together then, a spontaneous burst.

When the clear sound faded,

Haruníe, leaning against me, inquired softly,

“You chose only places that were firsts on purpose, didn’t you?”

“You noticed?”

“How could I forget? They were experiences… I shared with you.”

Haruníe puffed out her cheeks and tapped my chest lightly. Then, she confessed honestly,

“So, why only places that were firsts?”

“That’s…”

Seeing Haruníe’s earnest expression, I changed my mind.

“I felt I didn’t know enough about you. About Haruníe, the person. So I wanted to look back a bit. I thought that to start a…relationship, I needed to know that much.”

“Uh-huh. Thought I needed to know… Wha?”

Haruníe, who had been nodding, widened her eyes as if she had misheard.

“E-eh, that… Rel… ationship you say…”

Truly. Someone so easy to read.

The quick-witted yet clumsy nature never disappeared.

Now she was realizing it far too late, so the reaction was much delayed.

And so I understood.

‘This… she’s embarrassed.’

All this time, Haruníe avoiding me, it was out of sheer embarrassment.

A defeated laugh escaped me.

‘How could I not have realized that? You idiot.’

Someone so easy to read.

How could I only realize it now?

I couldn’t help but reproach myself.

A sliver of the author I knew so well. That reaction, laying bare a characteristic of Haruníe.

Even if I tried not to recognize it, I couldn’t possibly miss it.

‘But it’s okay now that I know.’

From now on, there’s no way I’ll fail to recognize it.

And now I know the way to set things back to how they were, too.

Status windows? Episodes? Chapters? Those things don’t necessarily need to exist.

“Dating. Starting from today, we’re Day One.”

I made sure to say it one more time.

That the fake dating stops here, and we’re starting a real one. That we are dating, starting today.

At that, Harnie’s face flushed a rosy red.

But, this isn’t nearly enough. There’s still a long way to go before she returns to normal.

“I’m so happy to have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world.”

“Ugh…!”

Harnie’s face deepens to a darker red.

I can already feel the warning emanating from her eyes.

Still, I won’t stop.

“To think the most beautiful woman in the Empire is my girlfriend. I’ve never been so happy. I want to boast about it to the entire neighborhood.”

I already know what’s coming next…

Still, I don’t regret it.

“Wh-what are you saying…!”

“Ugh!”

“Don’t you dare go around bragging about that, anywhere! Got it?!”

Because I know that this touch is filled with affection.

After that clear(?) spiking sound reverberated.

Someone’s horrified voice was heard near our carriage.

“Hey, you guys! Just where were you wandering around… No, no! That’s not the issue. We really need to get back now. Missing one more day is really not going to work, Arsien somehow managed to extend the time but… Huh…?”

Claire tilted her head.

“Young Lady. Why is your face so red? And Karsein, why are you like that…”

“L-let’s go! I’ll go right now!”

“Eh? Lady Harnie. Let’s go together!”

I’m certain.

From this moment onward.

Harnie will have returned to normal.

▶Harnie’s Abnormal Status has been lifted.◀

Even the status window says so.

Just so.

“Why isn’t this going away?”

▶CHAPTER 6. Proceeding with ■■■■.◀

▶The clearing conditions for Episode I will be changed.◀

▶Sigh. You imbecilic human. You are the most dense and foolish human I have ever seen.◀

▶Ugh, so frustrating. Just try getting inside the Imperial Palace, you dolt.◀

Even though Harnier’s abnormal state had recovered, Chapter 6 remained uncleared.

Moreover, the messages…they seem rather strange, no?

“Still, there’s work left for me to do, is there?”

…I don’t know.

Let’s just go inside for now.