The Stepmother Has Left - Chapter 36

***

“Hah.”

 

With a deep sigh, she picked up a mop and looked around the store.

 

‘Why is there no end to cleaning?’

 

It was the first time she felt it in Lawrencia, a hell of a deadline.

 

Since Nick was not there, she had to do what they were doing together, but the number of customers had more than doubled compared to when she was running the store alone. It meant that the amount of dust blown into the store all day and the amount of garbage thrown away had more than doubled.

 

By the time Nick left, she had thought she would be able to do the job on her own, but she must have been wrong.

 

She left the mop on the table and sat down on a chair to wipe the sweat.

 

“Should I find someone new?”

 

She had serious concerns.

 

She, too, was once a Duchess and wasn’t very strong.

 

It was a gallery she chose to run small, but now the work has grown too large for her to handle this place alone.

 

As she sat down with a sigh, a picture on the wall caught her eye.

 

She looked at it.

 

‘…Come to think of it, when was the last time I drew a picture?’

 

For a while, she was so busy with her work that she never thought about painting.

 

[So, I want to go to the capital with you. Cassia. And if you go to the capital with me, I will support you in all circumstances so that you can paint to your heart’s content.]

 

[…The pictures my mother drew, I can only say now, but they are so beautiful. I hope you don’t waste that talent.]

 

“…”

 

Cassia got up from her seat, walked towards the painting, and stopped in front of it.

 

A few pictures she had just drawn to calm her mind were looking at her.

 

Those paintings were nothing at all in her view, and it was honestly hard for her to know what was beautiful.

 

[I want to go to the capital with you, Cassia]

 

However, Adolf’s last suggestion was passing by over and over again.

 

‘When I go to the capital, I can learn painting well formally. Can I really be a painter?’

 

‘As Adolf and Nick said, was it true that I had a talent for painting?’

 

She kept seeing her imagination unfold.

 

After looking at the picture for a while, Cassia turned around.

 

She wasn’t quite sure yet.

 

She was convinced that she could save her paintings while taking the risk of going to the capital and meeting up.

 

She was sure that she would not regret leaving Lawrencia, where she came to rest at the most and going to the capital.

 

She left the Duke’s mansion with a strong heart, but she wasn’t sure that she would be able to go back and have a good time there again.

 

Cassia picked up the mop again.

 

‘Let’s finish it once. I’m going to start with that and think carefully about it.’

 

Because she still has a lot of time to think. About hiring new people, and about Adolf’s proposal.

 

That was when she was about to start working again.

 

The door opened with a small sound.

 

“Customer, I’m sorry, but the shop is closed today…”

 

Occasionally, there were customers who came at the closing time, so she was trying to talk to them without much thought.

 

Her eyes widened as she turned her head to see the customer. The person standing at the entrance was not a guest.

 

“…Michael?”

 

“It’s been a while, Cassia.”

 

It was Michael with a warm smile as usual. The mop she was holding fell from her hand.

 

“Michael!”

 

His visit this evening was sudden. Without realizing it, Cassia ran to him and hugged him tightly.

 

Michael seemed startled by her reaction, but he soon hugged her back face to face, holding her tight.

 

A small laugh escaped his mouth.

 

Their laughter echoed through the store.

 

“How did you get here tonight? I haven’t even been able to tell you yet.”

 

“I missed you so much.”

 

He lowered her safely to the ground and stroked her hair.

 

“I heard that the Third Prince had returned to the Imperial Palace. The Empire is in turmoil. So I thought this place might have been a little organized, so I sneaked in at the end of the day.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Did you mean to wait patiently for your letter? I thought it came at good timing.”

 

“No.”

 

Cassia waved her hand.

 

“I was just about to write a letter to you saying you can come now. I haven’t been able to do it yet because I’ve been busy.”

 

“Right. After all, you look tired. Did something happen?”

 

“It has unintentionally become a sacred place since the Third Prince visited.”

 

Cassia smiled bitterly.

 

“So the number of people visiting has increased tremendously. Thanks to him, I’m spending my days busily.”

 

Michael’s visit was sudden, but she was more than happy.

 

It feels like a late-night gift.

 

“Looks like a lot has happened. I can’t wait to hear your story.”

 

Seeing her expression, Michael said with a smile as if he was happy.

 

Cassia answered.

 

“I also want to talk about this and that right away. Can you wait a second? It’s not over yet.”

 

“Oh, it was closing…”

 

“Yeah. Because there are more people, the number of things to do at the end of the day is doubled. But I’m almost done, so I can finish it right away.”

 

“What’s left?”

 

“What?”

 

Cassia asked back at his question. He answered.

 

“It has to be finished. What do you have left to do?”

 

“…I have to throw out the trash outside, and I still have to wash the dishes.”

 

Michael looked at Cassia with a warm smile at her words and looked away.

 

As she turned her gaze to where he looked, her eyes grew bigger and rounder.

 

The dishes piled up in the kitchen were disappearing one by one.

 

Many mugs were peeling off dirt and falling back into place without anyone touching them.

 

Garbage also tied himself tightly and moved outside, following Michael’s gaze.

 

Cassia opened her mouth blankly when she saw that the garbage bags were safely disposed of outside.

 

“I am a wizard. I specialize in memory-related magic, but I can freely use the magic I need in life like this.”

 

“…Is this really magic?”

 

Wizards were very rare in the Empire.

 

The same was true at the continental level.

 

Cassia had seen Adolf use magic items, but it was the first time she saw Michael use magic in this way.

 

Yes, Michael was a wizard. Although he didn’t reveal it to the public.

 

It was kind of a strange feeling. It was when she was staring at the tidy kitchen and smiling blankly…

 

Michael came to hold her hand.

 

“Let’s go home now. Let’s go on a date that we couldn’t do last time.”

[T/N: ALL HAIL MICHAEL!!]

 

* * *

 

Michael had been looking for two horses from somewhere. Cassia stood on the sidewalk in front of the gallery and looked at him.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“A black horse from the Count.”

 

Michael said while holding the reins of the two horses.

 

“Do you remember when you were young? Diana, me, and you, the three of us went horse riding.”

 

“Oh, right.”

 

Cassia answered. His words reminded her of something she had in her childhood memories.

 

“I remember. Diana begged Count for a long time, saying she wanted to ride a horse, too.”

 

“That’s right, so my father eventually rescued this horse, but she fell off the horse a day after she got on.”

 

“That’s right. I remember. Diana almost died then. She broke her arm and got treatment for a while.”

 

But Diana did not give up, and she continued to ride the horse…

 

She became terrified, and she kept holding on to the horse and kept riding, even though she kept making a terrifying ‘WHOAAA, AAAAHHHH’.

 

Thanks to Michael, a memory hidden in her unconscious came to mind, and Cassia smiled softly.

 

“Suddenly, I remembered you back then. I remember you riding a horse very well even the first time you rode it.”

 

“…Ah.”

 

“I remembered that time and brought this horse with me. I think that if we run together on a horse, the stress that has accumulated over the years will be relieved.”

 

At that time, Count Allison lent a horse to enjoy horseback riding together for Cassia, who was always next to Diana.

 

Now that she thought about it, that was a pretty big favour. At the level of her family at the time, riding such a high-quality black horse was something she could never have dreamed of.

 

Anyway, she enjoyed horseback riding with Diana and sometimes with Michael.

 

‘But did I ride well?’

 

It seemed like she wasn’t particularly scared like Diana.

 

“Okay. It’s been a while since I rode a horse, so I want to try it.”

 

Anyway, that was a good idea. As Michael said, if she rides a horse to the fullest, the stress accumulated over the years would seem to be relieved.

 

When Cassia gladly answered, Michael handed her the reins of the horse. Cassia grabbed it and climbed on the saddle as she stepped on it, remembering her childhood memories.

 

Watching herself get on the saddle with ease, she said with a smile, “Hey, I was good at riding a horse.”

 

As she also climbed up the horse familiarly, the two of them met at a high place.

 

“Let’s make our destination the villa. What do you think?” said Michael.

 

“I like it.”

 

The cries of the two horses rang out loudly. Soon they started running.

 

* * *

 

The horses ran without hesitation. Two horses were heading to the villa, parting the wind.

 

Late at night, the road to the villa had a different charm than when she had come sometime during the day.

 

The rustling trees and flowers greeted them with a mysterious aura, as if something was not so gloomy.

 

The large moon was floating in the sky, and the light illuminated them vividly and presented an open landscape. In a beautiful and calming landscape, they ran calmly but quickly.

 

After riding a horse for a long time, a sense of fun arose in her heart.

 

She grabbed the reins tightly and spurred the pace once more.

 

Michael caught up to her as if trying to overtake her, but he couldn’t keep up with her.

 

It looked like a race. Even though it was full of laughter that it was fun.

 

When she came to her senses, she arrived at the villa faster than ever.