CHAPTER 54

“Aunt, me, me! I can do it too!”

Suddenly, Colin stepped forward, raising his hand as if trying to show off. Seeing Colin standing in front of me, I smiled widely.

“Nephews, you should also give it a try if even the little one is doing it, right?”

“Uh, Aunt… B-but…”

“The song is still going, and I think they would enjoy it if you sang along.”

At my words, Aiden, along with Jaden, who seemed like they were being led to the slaughterhouse, stood beside Colin. Then, showing off their incredible memory like true magicians, they sang the cutie song along with the rhythm.

From the moment the nephews started singing the cutie song until it ended, the adults held their stomachs and laughed. Their laughter was so intense that it felt like the surroundings were fading away. Grandma was on the verge of tears.

“As expected, our little Lady Rafi is the best. Hohoho. Seriously, she’s so cute that words can’t describe it properly. It’s like I might die from the cuteness.”

“Having you, Rafi, makes us do things we never did when we were young. Hahaha.”

Helena and Daniel laughed brightly as they spoke. The cutie song brought comfort to the hearts of the extended family. Completely armed with joy, I sang the song just like I would at the Tigris Manor.

It was a song and rhythm that surely didn’t exist in this world, yet they didn’t seem even slightly awkward. As if they knew that I came from a different world.

*chuckle*

“Because of you, Rafi, this old lady feels like she’s truly alive. It’s been so unfair that I’ve lived without seeing this adorable soft rice cake all this time.”

Grandmother, who kissed my cheek loudly enough to make a sound, smiled warmly. 

“Where else can you see it now? My heart beats happily knowing that I can see you up close anytime I want. Isn’t that right, my lady?”

The way my grandparents treated each other with respect and reverence was truly heartwarming. But looking at my father’s face, who was smiling but seemed to be overshadowed, I quickly went to him and hugged him tightly.

“Father, thank you for being my Father.”

“You’re saying all sorts of strange things. It’s me who should be thankful and happy for having you as my daughter. I love you, Rafi.”

He wasn’t my biological father, but when he said he loved me, I blinked in surprise. His eyes, holding mine gently, welled up with tears. Before those tears could fall, handkerchiefs appeared from somewhere, wiping away the tears before they could even drop.

“You, use this to wipe.”

“Father, the handkerchief is right here…”

“Your Grace!”

“Dear Aunt!”

“Great-Aunt and Uncle!”

In an instant, layers of handkerchiefs piled up. Grandfather, my sister, my brother-in-law, Helena, and Aidan, all handed over their handkerchiefs. Soft curves appeared around my father’s lips as he accepted them.

“These… can I take them as a keepsake?”

“I don’t know how to do much, but I can at least make handkerchiefs for our son-in-law. So, feel free to use a new one every day. We have plenty at home.”

While my father’s words made Grandma smile with delight, Grandfather’s expression turned subtly peculiar.

“Uh, Sophia? Aren’t all those handkerchiefs mine?”

“Dear, you’re quite greedy. You’ve monopolized the handkerchiefs I’ve made all this time, so how about sharing a bit with our son-in-law this time? He’s the only son-in-law who’s given us our one and only Rafi. Can’t we do this much for him?”

It was Grandma who tried to placate Grandfather. In response to her words, Grandfather reluctantly nodded his head.

Indeed, is it true that the mother-in-law’s love extends to her son-in-law? Finding that thought amusing, I burst into laughter without realizing it.

“Grandma next time I’ll come with your son-in-law please.”

“Yes, yes, when our Rafi and son-in-law come, we will tell them to prepare a delicious chicken dish, so feel free to come. My baby.”

Grandma seemed incredibly spirited as if she could catch all the chickens in the northern region right now. Just a while ago, she had been in such a weak state that she couldn’t even have a proper meal.

“Oh? Sister-in-law! If they’re going to give chicken to the son-in-law, then what about me? Father, I also like chicken.”

“Stop talking. The kitchen staff will take care of it.”

“Can’t you catch them yourself?”

“Before I catch you myself, how about you bite your tongue a bit?”

Father’s threat to my brother-in-law was delivered without hesitation, but it didn’t seem scary. It was just a moist-eyed remark.

After spending a fun day on an outing, we spent the next day in the gardens of the Panteur Ducal Estate. 

After thoroughly enjoying two days together, the extended family returned to their respective homes. It was heartwarming to see the farewells, where everyone promised to meet again soon.

Although the extended family had become a small family once again, it wasn’t as lonely as before. We stayed connected by communicating through communication devices, sending each other greetings, and checking in on each other’s well-being day by day.

Today, I listened to my brother-in-law’s complaints. He spent a solid hour telling me how difficult it was for him because my sister wouldn’t agree to have a daughter. My Father, who came looking for me, couldn’t bear to hear it and was about to throw his communication device in frustration, but I managed to stop him just in time.

“Don’t do that. It’s expensive.”

“It’s alright. Father’s rich, so he can afford to buy a few of these.”

“But… it was expensive… Just throw my brother-in-law instead.”

“Okay.”

Father readily agreed with my suggestion and refrained from throwing the communication device. I knew my brother-in-law was sturdy enough that even if Father threw him, he wouldn’t get seriously hurt.

[Oops! Sister-in-law! How could you sell me out to Father?] 

“Brother-in-law lost to father.”

[I want to win too, but… well, some things just aren’t meant to be.]

It seemed my brother-in-law gave up quickly after attempting. When he first came to ask for permission to marry my sister, he had to undergo a martial arts contest brought up by Father right then and there. He said he was beaten to death by my father.

[How could I ever sell Father? It’s better for me, even though I’m young, to take a few hits.]

“Oh? If you’re that confident, come and try.”

[No, thank you. Father, how could I abandon my principles and defeat you? Just let me be forever defeated. Ahem, sister-in-law, I’ll contact you next time. Take care in the meantime.]

Father snapped his fingers at his signal to come in anytime and my brother-in-law suddenly shut off the communication device. From this sight, it was clear that Father recognized he was stronger than my brother-in-law.

“Father is stronger than my brother-in-law?”

“Well, and he’s got a bigger chest than that guy too.”

Is chest size an indicator of martial prowess? I chuckled to myself, seeing Father off as he was led away by Vance and Oscar after eating with me.

“Hmm, what should I do now?”

Back when it was a big family, there was always so much to do that I couldn’t even think straight. But now that everyone had gone back and I had some free time, I looked around without really putting effort into studying. 

Ciel asked me to play with the fishing rod like a toy, tapping it with his foot, but I pretended not to understand and turned my head. After shaking the fishing rod several times a day, it felt like my arm would become as firm as a rice cake.

“Oh! That’s right. The book, hasn’t been delivered yet, right? Can it be there?”

Father had the key but I didn’t want to upset his peace of mind, so I didn’t say anything and just walked out of the room with Jenny.

“Where are you going, young miss?”

“I’m going to Father’s wife’s room.”

“Oh my, dear! Father’s wife? You should call her Mother. Here, try saying it. Mother!”

Last time Father did the same, correcting me from calling Seraphina Panteur “wife” to “Mother.”

“Uh, Mo… ther?”

While the word “Mother” might be familiar to others, it felt unfamiliar to me. In my past lives, I didn’t have a mother. Both of them abandoned me and fled. I had to endure those outbursts all on my own as a young child.

I’ve never actually met her even once, but somehow since I became Father’s daughter, I must also be her daughter. With a hesitant expression and a bittersweet address, when I called her, Jenny smiled gently.

“His Grace said that if you ever wanted to go to that room, you could go anytime.”

“Really? My Father’s amazing!”

“Of course. His Grace is always the best. And even better than that is our sticky rice cake young miss. Now, go quickly.”

Taking Jenny’s hand, I entered Seraphina’s, no, now she’s become Mother’s, room.

“I want to be alone for a bit.”

“Sure thing. Young miss, you need your own time too. We’ll be outside, so take care of your matters and come out when you’re ready.”

Sending Jenny outside, I moved towards the bookshelf with Ciel trotting along beside me.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

The two books I wanted to see fell onto the floor. Considering it a coincidence, I was taken aback when I saw them.

“This is unbelievable!”

Truly unbelievable images met my eyes. In this era, I could never have seen, let alone imagined, illustrations like these in a book. 

Seeing cars running on packaged roads, I plopped down right there, astonished.

“Meow.”

Ciel came to me and, as if realizing I was hurt, lightly bumped his head against my leg.

“I’m not hurt. Just a little startled, that’s all.”

I couldn’t help but be amazed by this. Who on earth drew such illustrations in this era? Looking at the book filled with imaginative illustrations, I couldn’t keep my mouth from hanging open.

In this era, I thought it might be a science fiction fantasy novel. But in there, romance existed. I read through the book, which was portrayed as a modern romance.

“Oh no. Seriously, what’s this!”

It was an utterly unbelievable romantic fantasy.

“I’ll just read a bit. This… What’s this!”

The more I looked, the more embarrassed it made me. The protagonist was a girl living in a humble neighborhood. It was the kind of content you’d expect in a drama where she overcomes difficult circumstances, works hard on her own, and enters a large corporation to eventually fall in love with the CEO.

But the problem was that the humble neighborhood was the place I had lived. And the protagonist girl, while not particularly close to me, was someone who lived in the same neighborhood. We sometimes passed by each other, exchanging only glances.

“Haah, this is ridiculous!”

It was truly an absurd story. The girl who knew about my exposure to domestic violence was about to report it, and in that instant, I had already ceased to exist in this world. The girl, who pitied me who had left due to a car accident, grew up to become someone who couldn’t stand injustice from that point on.

“Ah, seriously, this is too much.”

The conclusion was that I had become possessed by this book. Unable to comprehend, I shook my head in disbelief and started reading another book. It was the same situation there.

Princess Seraphina had vanished without a trace at the age of her full adulthood due to a rebellion within the family, as written in the book. 

Emperor and my older brother, Lancelot, of the Benedict Empire, had suppressed the rebellion of his former fiancée and survived. I could only gape in astonishment at the contents.

“So, at first I got involved ‘here,’ and now I’m ‘here’ in this book? Wow, what’s going on with me now?”

Had I become a part of this world originally? Or was it through dimension-hopping, with the flow of time different between that world and this one, that I became a sticky rice cake?

Unbelieving even after seeing it, I quickly looked up the authors of the two books. I at least wanted to use the information network of the aristocracy to find out about them. However, I was discouraged as soon as I read where the author was listed.

[An Oral Romance by an Unknown Author.]

“Seriously, are you playing with me?”

I exclaimed, and the door opened as Jenny leaped inside. 

“Young miss, what’s the matter?”

“Jenny, do you know about this?”

An authorless oral romance? I’d rather it be an authorless Goryeo-era song.

As I courageously showed Jenny the two books, she chuckled.

“Who wouldn’t know about this? These are romances that were orally passed down in ancient countries and later transcribed. It’s exactly as it sounds—oral, so the author is unknown.” 

They say that nobody in the Savannah Empire is unaware of these two romances. Although they’re originally oral romances, it’s said that later, written versions were found in ancient languages, so there are original texts or something like that.

Hehe, seems like people from ancient times also enjoyed melodramatic morning drama-level novels.