Chapter 44
Lately, Monica had been zoning out more and more.
Since returning to her home in Sazandoll after the party hosted by the 〈Star-Seer Witch〉, she could no longer seem to get the numbers in the research documents into her head. Letters were one thing, but this was the first time she'd ever had trouble processing numbers.
Before she knew it, she would stop moving her pen and find herself thinking only about the day of the party at the 〈Star-Seer Witch〉's estate.
After changing from the dress she'd borrowed from Raul back into her own, Monica had furtively left the party without seeing anyone.
At the time, her thoughts had been a mess, and she couldn't bring herself to face anyone.
Once back in Sazandoll, Monica remembered that she hadn't properly said, "Congratulations on your engagement," to Cyril-sama, and clutched her head.
(...I completely missed my chance to say it...)
Even though she thought she would have to say it properly the next time she saw him, for some reason she felt terribly reluctant. Her chest felt heavy and unsettled.
Worse, thinking of Cyril made her remember the moment her dress had come off, and the embarrassment made her want to disappear.
Maybe talking to someone would take her mind off things. But Isaac had returned to his own estate for work, and Nero was hibernating.
The house, with her alone in it again after so long, seemed terribly quiet and cold.
(...Maybe I'll have some coffee.)
Monica rose and headed for the kitchen, but then remembered that she had run out of coffee beans. Deciding to have tea instead, she reached for a teacup in the cupboard.
But when things go wrong, they go wrong in every possible way.
Her chilled fingers couldn't grasp the cup properly. It slipped from Monica's hand and fell at her feet.
Before she even had time to use silent magic, the crash of breaking pottery rang out.
"............Ah."
At her feet lay the cup, shattered into pieces. The beautiful white cup, decorated with delicate flowers, had been one of the gifts Lana had given Monica as a housewarming present when she moved to Sazandoll.
It had shattered.
Monica could use all sorts of difficult magic, but she couldn't restore a broken teacup.
Once broken, a teacup could never be returned to its original state.
"............Ngh."
The instant the precious teacup broke, something that had been stretched taut inside Monica snapped.
All the emotions she had kept bottled up spilled out, and teardrops fell onto the shards of the teacup.
"Hic... sniff... uuuuuugh...!"
Monica stifled her sobs as she gathered up the shards of the teacup.
She felt that if she made a sound, she would start bawling like a child.
At that moment, the sound of someone knocking on the door echoed through the house.
"Monica! Long time no see! Let's go out for lunch together!"
It was Lana's voice.
Ah, what kind of expression could she possibly show Lana right now?
Monica wiped away her tears with her sleeve and tried to stand... but she stepped on the hem of her skirt and fell over.
The shards she had gathered scattered with a clattering sound. One of them sliced deeply into Monica's left palm, and red blood slowly seeped from the wound.
Everything was going from bad to worse.
"U... uuu... waaah..."
As Monica sniffled miserably, Lana opened the door and rushed inside.
"Hey, I heard a huge crash! Are you all right!?"
When Lana saw Monica lying on the floor, her eyes flew wide in shock.
"Monica, are you all right!? Oh no, your hand's bleeding! Are you hurt anywhere else!?"
"Hic, wh... hic... Lana, sor... I... I broke the teacup... waaah, I'm sorry...!"
As Monica sobbed like a child with her face pressed to the floor, Lana gently stroked her back.
She then took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around the wound on Monica's hand.
"Don't cry so much. There, calm down."
"But... sniff... uuuuu..."
"Walker-san is away today, I see? For now, let's wash your hand first."
"O-okay..."
＊ ＊ ＊
Lana efficiently cleaned up the shards of the teacup while glancing over at Monica as she washed her hands.
(...Something happened.)
The Monica she was seeing for the first time in a while was visibly haggard, and the braids in her hair were horribly disheveled.
Monica was the type whose emotional strain showed directly in her appearance. In particular, the more troubled she was, the more careless she became about her grooming.
Monica had been away from Sazandoll for some time, and Lana had been busy the month before, so it had been a full two months since she had last seen Monica.
Surely something had happened during that time.
"There, sit down. Let's put some medicine on that hand. Do you have a medicine kit?"
"Um, on that shelf..."
The shelf Monica pointed to was neatly organized, presumably thanks to her capable apprentice, and Lana found the medicine kit right away.
Lana applied medicine to Monica's hand and covered it with a bandage.
"There we go. Don't move it around too much today."
"...Okay."
Monica sat in the chair with her head bowed, staring vacantly at her bandaged left hand.
After putting away the medicine kit, Lana crouched in front of Monica and looked up at her, propping her cheek on one hand with her elbow on her knee.
"Did something happen while we weren't seeing each other?"
"............"
Monica bit her chapped lips and fell silent, as though searching for the right words.
Eventually, Monica slowly opened her mouth.
"Lately, I'm just... completely useless."
"What are you bad at?"
When Lana asked in a gentle voice, Monica closed her swollen eyes as though reflecting on her own actions.
"I broke the cup you gave me, and I knocked over the pot and the pen holder..."
"Mm-hmm."
"I can't concentrate on my research, and I make mistakes even in simple addition..."
"Mm-hmm."
"And I couldn't properly congratulate Cyril-sama on his engagement..."
"............Huh?"
The fact that Monica had made a mistake in her calculations was shocking enough, but this second revelation was so serious that Lana's face stiffened.
"Ashley-sama is engaged?"
"...I heard at the party the other day that there was talk of a match with someone from House Harvey..."
This was the first Lana had heard of it. She often visited salons where gossip-loving ladies gathered, but she had never heard that Cyril had received a marriage proposal.
Still, Monica had attended the party only recently, so it was reasonable to assume that her information was more up-to-date.
(House Harvey is related to House Ashley, if I remember correctly... They have three daughters, and I suppose it wouldn't be strange for there to be a marriage proposal, but...)
Unless the information came from a reliable source, one should never take rumors at face value. That was a merchant's ironclad rule.
Fortunately, many of the ladies at the salons Lana frequented were well versed in this sort of thing, so she would be better off confirming it with them.
As Lana considered how to go about that, she observed Monica.
Monica was visibly depressed. The teacup alone couldn't be the reason.
(Does she even realize why she's so depressed about Ashley-sama's engagement?)
Lana let out a weary sigh and stood up.
Regardless of whether Cyril's engagement was true, doing something about the depressed Monica took priority.
"Monica, I'm going to teach you how to cope when nothing you do goes right."
"How to cope...?"
Monica looked up at Lana with beseeching eyes, like a patient being told how to treat an incurable disease.
Lana jabbed a finger firmly at Monica's forehead.
"When nothing you do goes right, you put on your fanciest outfit, go shopping, and buy something you like. Then you eat your fill of delicious fried pies."
Monica blinked in confusion at Lana Collet's nouveau riche young-lady method of coping and murmured, "...Fried... pies?" Apparently, she had never eaten one.
"Fried treats make you gain weight if you eat too many, but times like this are special! You spoil yourself completely!"
Monica still looked as though she didn't quite understand. Serious Monica probably couldn't grasp the idea of indulging herself at times like this.
It was not something she could take pride in, but Lana was extremely good at indulging herself.
Well, then, she would teach Monica how to indulge herself.
She had actually wanted to ask about Bartholomew Alexander today, but cheering up Monica took priority for now.
"Now, once the swelling around your eyes goes down, we'll get you changed and put on some makeup!"
Incidentally, Lana had planned to spend the afternoon finishing her office work, but she secretly decided to dump it all on her secretary, Clifford—because Lana was very good at indulging herself.