Vol 2 Chapter 5: PATRICK’S MOTHER
Chapter 5
VOL . 2 CHAPTER 05: PATRICK’S MOTHER
We headed to the town in the middle of the territory after talking with Patrick’s father . The family residence was located within the town surrounded by the rampart .
During the journey I ask Ryuu .
「Hey Patrick, is your mother really scary? Your father told me to be careful around her . 」
「Uh… I don’t think so? My mother is just like any other ordinary mother out there . 」
Patrick stammered when he tried to answer my question . Well, let’s just see for ourselves what kind of person his mother is .
However, I imagine there would be a rift between us . Historically speaking, a future daughter-in-law and mother-in-law have been fighting each other without honor since the day humans gained sentience . I’ve never actually seen those kinds of scenes personally, though .
And I believe Patrick had an older brother . I want to meet his brother, too .
「Say, what is your brother like?」
「Eh, you want to meet my brother… right? I have a feeling he wouldn’t want to meet you, Yumiela . 」
Did he hate me even though I haven’t met him? My stomach started to hurt .
The reminders to fly as slowly as possible didn’t get through to Ryuu, soon the town came into view .
The atmosphere was a little tense due to the emergency, but there were no signs of a major disturbance .
「Let’s see, where do I land?」
「See that mansion in the middle? That’s the Count’s residence . Land in the garden over there . 」
Ryu slowly descended toward the house Patrick pointed to . So that’s Patrick’s house . The landing spot for Ryuu seemed to be clear, the space was large, large enough for a training ground .
Suddenly a woman ran out of the residence . She waved her hand at us, her long silver hair swayed and glistened, reflecting the sunlight .
I guess she would not be much older than me . But I’m pretty sure Patrick didn’t have a sister… Is that his brother? Wow, I didn’t know my brother-in-law was this pretty .
「Perhaps, is that Patrick’s—」
「Oh, Mother!」
Between an older brother who dresses as a woman and a youthful looking mother, the latter was more realistic .
As I thought about some random stuff, Ryuu softly landed on the ground .
Yosh, this is the first daughter-in-law and mother-in-law’s face off . I’ll use my Level 99 power to give the first strike .
Hopping off of Ryuu’s back, I rushed over to Patrick’s mother and bowed deeply .
「Nice to meet you, my name is Yumiela Dolknes . Please take good care of me!」
「Araara~ don’t be so formal, okay?」
「Thank you for your kind consideration!」
I called off the preemptive strike due to a political decision .
When I lifted my head, Patrick’s mother stared intently at my face . Just as I was wondering what she was thinking, she grabbed my cheek and started rubbing them softly with a grin .
「Cute! Patrick was right, your face isn’t changing at all! But my son said he could understand the expressions on your face . 」
「Mother, you’re making Yumiela uncomfortable . 」
「No, I’m not feeling uncomfortable at all . Feel free to touch it all you want . 」
If being touched on the cheek is all it takes to build a good relationship, then so be it .
As she rubbed my cheek at her leisure, I observed Patrick’s mother . She looks really young, almost like she was in her twenties .
With his youthful mother, humble talent and generally good-looking, Patrick could be a highly appropriate protagonist for a bishōjo game . Ah, a protagonist requires a distinctive heroine, but is there anyone with that characteristic?
After a moment of fondling my cheeks, she leads us into the house .
「Come on, come on in . Uh, Ryuu-kun… won’t be able to enter, is that okay?」
「Yeah, it’s not a problem . 」
When I turned around, Ryu was using his tail as a pillow as he started to doze off . Cute . He did fly quite a distance today, guess he must be tired .
Ryu could sleep anywhere, on that note, so can I . Children are like their parents, apples don’t fall far from the tree .
What a lovely person my mother-in-law is, for her to show how much she cares about Ryuu . You can’t really rely on other people’s evaluations .
As we were escorted into a parlor-like room . His mother, who walked in front of him, turned around as she opened the door and said .
「Patrick, shouldn’t you be somewhere else? It’s been a long time since you’ve been home, and I’m sure there are some people who you’d like to meet . 」
「……I have something to report about the recent attacks towards our country—」
「It’s okay, I can hear the report from Yumiela-chan . 」
She interrupted Patrick .
I nearly forgot that we were currently in the middle of a face off between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law . Separating Patrick from his mother…
To which he says with a sigh .
「Mother, please don’t say anything strange in front of Yumiera . And please don’t do anything strange, Yumiela . 」
Eh… Patrick, you’re leaving? And I would never do anything strange .
He whispered in my ear before he left .
「Please don’t mention anything about Remrest in front of my mother . 」
I felt his breath on my ears as it made me shiver . Stop it, I didn’t like Patrick because he has a great voice . Please don’t do this kind of stuff . Although he can do it one more time if he has to, or possibly two or three times, or at worst, as many times as he wanted . Nope, it’s absolutely not something I want to do .
Um… what did Patrick say just now? I couldn’t wrap my head around the conversation at all . Oh, could he say it again! It’s all about conveying the information accurately . Well, it can’t be helped .
I was about to tell him that I didn’t hear him and if he could say it three more times, but Patrick had already disappeared .
I know how this gonna go . She’s going to change as soon as her son is gone . I often saw it in daytime dramas .
I was trembling with trepidation, Patrick’s mother opened her mouth .
「Why don’t you come in and sit down instead of just standing there? I’m glad that Yumiela-chan came . I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time . 」
「Yes, excuse me . 」
Should I take the fact that you’ve been wanting to see me for a long time to mean that you were looking forward to bullying your soon-to-be daughter-in-law? I think as I prepare myself, sitting down across from her .
「So, how far have you and my son gotten?」
「W-what do you mean with how far?」
「Oh! You’re blushing a little! Yumiela-chan is so cute!」
「Ehhh?」
…What? Maybe she’s just a normal person? Maybe I was being too harsh towards her, I’m embarrassed . If you think about it, I’m not the bride since Patrick is the one joining Dolknes family . There was no such thing as a face off between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law from the beginning .
Besides, there’s no way someone who is so kind would turn into a nightmare .
「Now, let’s talk about what happened on the battlefield first . There seems to be alot going on . 」
「There’s an attack from Remrest . But, all their troops have withdrawn . So, the Count will have to stay at the border for a little longer… um, mother-in-law?」
「Hahahaha! That garbage worm from Remrest! If you’re going to run home with your tail between your legs, it was better to stay in your place . Hmph, if I were on the battlefield, I’d chase you to the ends of the earth and you’d never see the sun again!」
…I was amazed . The way people can change so much in an instant .
She has a gleeful glint in her eyes as her mouth twisted up in a crooked manner . It really was scary .
「U-um… there wasn’t any damage . 」
「Damage?! What do you mean there was no damage?! I’m sorry now that Yumiela-chan is here, I can’t give you a satisfactory welcome . I knew we had to exterminate Remrest . 」
Wow, she really was serious . I’m glad . But I’d be happier if she’d calm down .
I think this is what Patrick was warning me about earlier . Who cares about how good his voice was or whatever?
But I really need her to settle down soon . I have to say something, something clever…
「If you wish to wreck Remrest, I will accompany you . 」
Ah, I added fuel to the fire . No, I just thought, maybe this would make her like me…
It’s okay . If it happens, Patrick and the count will stop us . Between me and her, I’m just a girl with an accelerator and gasoline in her hands . We will leave the brake and oil coolant to the men .
While I don’t know why she hates the neighbouring country to such an extent, if I said anything to oppose her my words will only anger her more .
…However, Patrick’s mother suddenly lost her expression . Her blank expression was the scariest . It’s not something I can say though .
I could hear my own heartbeat pounding heavily . Her blank expression lasted only a few seconds, but for me, it seemed like an eternity .
Then again, she suddenly smiled . How scary .
「…Oh my, excuse me, I got a little heated . I can’t drag Yumiela-chan into this . 」
「It’s okay, I don’t mind . I believe that the country you mentioned is safe for the time being . There seems to be an internal division in the country, besides, I don’t think we can afford to send out another army . 」
「That’s good to hear . So tell me, how did you and my son meet? That boy always leaves out the important stuff . 」
「I think the first time we spoke was during outdoor training—」
I kept on talking, pretending that nothing her outburst had not happened, but inwardly I was freaking out whether or not she would have another outburst .
◆ ◆ ◆
We probably talked for half an hour or maybe a quarter to hour, which was around the time Patrick came back . He’s late .
「Mother, Yumiela just had a long journey, so let her rest for today . 」
「Forgive me, Yumiela-chan, I just got carried away . 」
「No, I enjoyed our talk . 」
That’s a lie . It was terrifying .
Afterwards, Patrick lead me to the guest room and asked about our conversation .
「Do you think you’ll get along with my mother? You didn’t talk about Remrest, did you?」
「…I’m sorry . 」
「Ah— I should’ve been there with you, too . 」
More importantly, what I’m wondering is why did she change when she heard about Remrest .
But before I could ask, Patrick explained it to me .
「I know many people don’t like their neighboring countries . But my mother is special, no one hates them more than my mother . 」
「Yup, I can see that . 」
「The reason why my mother seems to hate them so much… it’s because they crashed her wedding . 」
「Eh?」
Did he say her wedding? That wedding where you wear your wedding dress, cut the cake, and say your vows?
「My mother was from a central marquess family and her parents strongly disapproved of her marriage to my father . The day before the wedding, which was finally pushed through, there was a skirmish with the neighboring country . So there was no wedding, and my father had to go to the border for reinforcements . 」
Indeed, I would be angry if someone ruined an important once-in-a-lifetime event . If someone interrupted my wedding to Patrick, I’d be like… what? What’s wrong with that? Don’t you have to wear a dress? I mean, shouldn’t I have to behave myself in front of everyone? Isn’t it rather lucky?
Why is it customary to hold an event like that in the first place? I wouldn’t want to do it if I didn’t have to . The only downside is that I won’t be able to eat the big wedding cake .
「Hey, are we going to have a wedding, too? I’m talking about the future here . 」
「Of course . We won’t let anyone get in our way, and we’ll do it no matter what happens, grandly at that . 」
「…Or we can just skip it, you know? Patrick, you don’t like that stuff, do you?」
「I’m not a big fan of extravagant events, but I think weddings are a different story . 」
Jeez, why are you so excited about this, Patrick?
「Wedding…」
There was something about the wedding, with its happy image, that just didn’t sit well with me .
We still have a long way to go, so let’s put that event on hold for now .