WYDM 09

Planer was quiet.

Even quieter than Croft.

No one knew she’d returned here. Everyone had already left before she arrived.

But it seemed someone occasionally came here to check on the estate’s condition. The dust was light compared to how long this estate had been empty.

It was quite different from her expectation that it would be nearly abandoned.

She decided to spend exactly one day quietly after sending Willin back. She’d come here vowing and vowing again that she wouldn’t just live quietly anymore from now on.

Sehera went to the room she’d used before. The room she’d decorated cutely was indeed dusty but looked usable. And she returned to the room holding a rag and broom she’d never held in her life.

To use this room right away, this dust had to go, and the only one who could do that work was herself.

Cleaning was never easy work, and it made Sehera’s body creak all over—she who’d only gone between her room and dining room every day—but she thought it was manageable enough.

When sweat started beading up, that feeling was actually quite good. So this is what using your body feels like. That’s what she thought.

“I wonder if I’ve gotten too used to being alone like this.”

It was so quiet that even talking to herself felt natural now. Perhaps when people started bustling about, she might not adapt to that bustle and hide in her room.

But even so, she’d come out determined to accomplish all these things.

As she started moving her body simply, her mind cleared. The thoughts that had been vague and covered in fog came out one by one and felt like they were being organized again one by one.

“I need to hire people… and I need to find the assets in my name… hmm… the proxy authority must be with Uncle. He won’t hand it over easily, will he?”

While mopping, Sehera tried to recall a hazy face.

People whose character was truly hard to recall just from their faces—her uncle and aunt.

Those branch members of Planer had apparently thrown a fit when Father passed away and left all the assets in her name.

She hadn’t listened carefully to what the lawyer who came to see her said, and he’d suggested leaving it in the form of proxy authority.

Actually, since she had to manage the territory’s people, she couldn’t just leave the Count’s position empty. And she was already Croft’s mistress too. Even if it was like a scarecrow.

But now it was time to take that back. Of course, she also had plans to generously compensate for what they’d done until now.

These things had always been only in her head, but Sehera had been carefully making plans from some point on.

She’d just been deliberately looking away because it was proof that her heart was growing distant from Croft.

She didn’t want anyone to discover that she was planning to leave Croft and stand alone in Planer.

Not even herself. So she’d suppressed and restrained her thoughts until even her body became numb.

She swallowed the sigh that was about to burst out. However the past went, she’d made up her mind now and left that house.

If someone asked how the mistress of a family could leave so irresponsibly, she had nothing to say either.

She couldn’t avoid criticism since she hadn’t left after finishing all the procedures.

“But I had no choice.”

She nodded her head in rhythm with the pushing and pulling motion of the mop.

She truly had no choice because she had no capacity left to endure anymore.

The letter she’d written on the desk was full of sentences appealing her feelings and situation once more to him, who gave no answer to the content of the letter she’d sent through Leri before.

She tried not to write it abjectly. She wanted to let him know this was something she could choose sufficiently too.

“Only if he reads it.”

She hadn’t delivered it directly, and this time she didn’t go through Leri either. With the whereabouts of the previous letter unclear, she didn’t want to burden her once more.

She’d left it on the desk thinking, well, if he sees it fine, if he doesn’t, can’t be helped.

“Maybe… it was a heart hoping not to be discovered.”

Because that person had no reason to come to her room. Or maybe she hoped someone would come in, discover it, and deliver it. Whether right now, or in ten days? Or a month later…

“All done.”

After finishing the second mopping, beads of sweat dotted her face.

Wiping it off with her sleeve and looking around the room, she felt strangely proud. She felt like she understood the maids’ feelings.

Not just mopping the floor, but she’d held the rag directly in her hands and thoroughly wiped the chairs and table too.

Because from now on I’m not just the daughter of Count Planer. Because I need to become Count Planer now.

“Alright! Good job.”

It was good up to rinsing out the rag… she’d wanted to do at least that much, but she couldn’t bring herself to think she could do laundry after cleaning.

“I’m not procrastinating, I’m just doing what I can.”

Spouting sophistry, she put the tools back in the storage and scurried outside.

After doing that, Sehera returned to her room, opened the terrace window, brought a chair in front of it, and sat quietly.

The wind was blowing gently, and stars were scattered across the sky outside.

She’d surely been alone at this hour before too, there were no sounds interrupting anything, but instead she’d kept thinking she was ruining the household atmosphere.

But she decided to put away all those thoughts here.

No matter how much she worried, nothing came back from that place. With just thoughts, there was truly nothing.

A place where something only happens if she moves. That’s why she’d come. To create a situation where she had to move herself even forcibly, rather than just being stuck in a corner.

She didn’t think sleep would come, but she was arranging the blankets on the bed like this, and when she entered the blankets with a slightly trembling heart, soft warmth was seeping into her forehead.

She felt that way even though the sun wasn’t out. It was a strange feeling.

Because there were still many things left to do, she stopped thinking and fell asleep.

* * *

In the quiet room, there was no sound at all. The only thing that could wake her morning was sunlight.

Sunlight gradually pouring in through the large terrace window brilliantly approached the foot of Sehera’s bed.

Since she hadn’t drawn the curtains from the start, the sunlight stretching in long stabbed at the eyes of her still sleeping. After a bit from the sharp sunlight’s attack, Sehera naturally woke from sleep and opened her eyes wide.

Sehera’s morning was almost silent.

Season aside, the night had been too cold. Even with all the windows closed, cold wind crept around and she couldn’t help it.

Even burrowing into the blankets, she couldn’t feel completely warm.

“I feel like I’m catching a cold… Should I be grateful I didn’t catch one?”

Sehera moved toward the terrace window where sunlight poured down unfiltered. In the shadows created by the terrace window’s beautiful frame, she had to thaw her body that had frozen all night.

That’s when it happened.

For some reason, a commotion started from far away.

That sound was definitely a human voice. A chattering, high-toned woman’s voice was recklessly invading the estate.

Who is it?

Sehera thought that while sitting in the sunlight, rolled her eyes for a moment, then pulled her knees up to hug them again and looked at the sunlight.

The estate had been maintained compared to the time it was empty. It was probably someone who periodically came here to manage the estate.

She didn’t know if it was one person or several, but Sehera decided to just focus on warming her body for now.

This house was hers anyway. The Count’s name was just temporarily with Uncle as proxy authority. Since she was just now properly starting to claim her rights, there was nothing legally problematic at all.

“Hmm-hmm~ Cleaning, cleaning.”

The voice gradually getting closer and louder belonged to a young woman.

Even though she must have come to work, her voice humming an unknown melody matched the warm sunny morning.

The fact that the child coming to clean was a child like that felt somehow lucky.

How long had it been since she woke up receiving morning sunlight and had such positive thoughts?

Nothing had changed except that this wasn’t the Croft estate, but even so, suddenly everything felt different.

The humming got louder then softer repeatedly depending on where the child was.

Of course, she didn’t hum every moment so there were more times it wasn’t heard, but hearing that sound was quite interesting.

She’ll come into this room soon, right? Won’t she be startled at seeing me and chase me out swinging a broom?

With some unknown anticipation, Sehera lowered her eyes. She smiled pleasantly at the sunlight settling on her eyelids.

As expected, the humming kept getting closer. The Count’s estate was small compared to the ducal estate, but it would be a bit large for a girl to clean alone. But listening to the sounds of her moving efficiently, her speed was quite fast.

Her body was all thawed now. The time was coming when the sunlight would get hot and make her head dizzy.

Should I wait a bit more in this position, or should I move again—even thinking and deciding that was ultimately herself alone.

She was in the middle of continuing various thoughts to shake off the thoughts deeply embedded inside.

Just as she turned her thoughts away from waiting a bit more, she heard a presence in front of the door.

Now was the time to watch the reaction of the child who would open that door and enter seeing her.

Because it was getting subtly interesting, she closed her eyes.

“Hmm-hmm~ Nothing to wipe except the floor… Kyaaah!!”

She’d thought it would be a high-energy child, but she hadn’t thought she’d scream this loudly.

Ah, come to think of it, sitting on the floor with knees together following the sunlight… it might have been too stimulating to see from the side.

When she slowly lowered her knees and straightened her hunched upper body, the child who’d screamed once also carefully followed her with her eyes, mouth hanging open.

The girl, who carefully examined her clothing and eyes that clearly showed she’d just woken up, looked around the surroundings with slight wariness.