215 - Sounding Each Other Out with Grandfather
Christina Saromon Cantal.
That seems to have been my full name. Since I have been called 'Tina' all this time, being suddenly called 'Christina' is quite a bother. The common nickname for Christina is 'Chris', which feels friendly from its shortness, but I could not think of it as my own name.
Along with my real name, I also heard that Bertrand was my grandfather, but for now I made sure to give Leonardo the baptism of custom-ordered shoes. If he knew about such important matters, I wished he had told me properly.
...Well, since he did not know either, I suppose that is why I was able to have no reaction to Bertrand-sama calling me 'Christina.'
I think of Leonardo as an 'honest man with an idiot attached at the top,' but I am aware that I am equally honest to a fault myself. If I had known from the start that my name was 'Christina,' I would have reacted immediately on the spot. That would have been the end of it. Knowing Bertrand, who would not hesitate to torture a criminal, I think he would have dragged me back even with a rope around my neck.
...A grandfather who neglects his sickly granddaughter? No thank you.
There should be another grandchild besides me that he knows of and even lives with, but Bertrand had been staying in the city of Grenore for a long time, neglecting that grandchild. A person who does not treasure the grandchild they already have would never treasure me just because I am a granddaughter. Fundamentally, grandparents are supposed to be the ones parents teach you to rely on first if something happens to you. But not only was I never told to rely on my grandfather, I have hardly heard anything from my father about him except that 'our hair color is the same.' I suppose my father thought that relying on the child he had named long ago who happened to visit the village was safer than relying on his own father (Bertrand).
If possible, I want to remain strangers.
...That is what I think, you know?
Bertrand's visits suddenly increased. Before, he only came to the residence at night to pick up the Black Dog (Oscar) who came to me almost every day for some reason, but now he visits by name from the morning. At this point, I think it is safe to assume he has fully noticed.
If he came in the afternoon, I could turn him away with Hermine's lessons, but the morning is my free time. It is frustrating, but hard to refuse, and since the Merit Peerage Bertrand was originally a commoner, Hermine considers him good teaching material, thinking he can get away with a bit of rudeness. Far from giving me advice on how to send him away, she ended up inviting him to tea as my practice partner, intending to make him teaching material for learning how to behave toward nobles.
As a result, I think my ladylike education has progressed by leaps and bounds. Knowing he is my grandfather, yet having to exchange pleasant surface-level conversation while being careful not to reveal any decisive information that I am his granddaughter, was truly excellent teaching material in a way. Whether Bertrand took this treatment from Hermine as an opportunity, he began visiting the residence openly, calling himself my conversation partner. Leonardo makes a sour face about it inwardly, but as far as Bertrand is concerned, that is none of his concern. He probed me about my father and mother this way and that, so I deflected him casually. When he asked about core matters like my parents' names, I played dumb, saying 'That is personal information, so I cannot answer.'
I once gently told him that since he had already met Jean-Jacques, he should go back to his territory, but he just laughed and brushed it aside.
"...Have you heard anything about your grandfather?"
That is a direct question today, I thought, but only inside my stomach. The ladylike mask I had trained rapidly over the past days was no longer going to break from something like this.
"I have not heard anything about my grandfather from my father. I have only heard that our hair color is the same, but black hair is common anywhere."
I then mentioned the name of my current guardian, Leonardo, whose hair is also black. It was a message that I am building a good relationship with my current guardian Leonardo, so do not interfere inappropriately.
...How much of it gets through, I do not know.
I faced Bertrand, hiding my true feelings behind a lady's smile. Basically, like Leonardo, I had thought him a muscle-brained person whose brain was also made of muscle, but perhaps his years of experience counted for something. My half-baked barbs were brushed aside by Bertrand with a cool expression.
"Have you never wanted to meet your grandfather?"
"I think my father disliked his own father. Or perhaps he had already passed away. Otherwise, I should have been taught to rely on him if something happened to me."
"...Does it not bother you?"
"Since he was someone who was never there, it does not bother me at all."
Whether he is alive or dead, I do not care, so do not get involved in my life, I spat venom with a smile. Since he has not cast a single shadow over my life so far, I have no need for him in my future either. I want to live an ordinary life. I do not need troublesome relatives, and though my family is unreliable, I already have a brother. I have no business with a grandfather my father avoided.
"...And why is Leonardo your brother in the first place? He should not have any family."
It was probably because I had kept bringing up Leonardo, Leonardo. Today's conversation shifted from getting information about my parents to talking about Leonardo. This was a bit unusual. It was the first time since Bertrand started visiting.
...He changed his approach, I wonder?
Either way, I tensed up, thinking caution was necessary. If it was about Leonardo, it should not lead to talk about my parents, but carelessness could happen.
"My father apparently gave Leonardo Big Brother his name back in the day. Um..."
I thought about whether it was okay to mention that he was in an orphanage, and then stopped. I had heard before that Leonardo was popular in the capital. As the hero of a success story, rising from orphan to Silver-White Knight. Which meant Leonardo being an orphan was probably a well-known story. Bertrand also knew that Leonardo should not have any family.
"...Through his name-giver, it seems we became brother and sister."
I had heard that my father, who was a White Knight at the time, rescued him and then took care of him at the orphanage, but that story might have reached Bertrand. Just in case, I kept the timing of when my father named Leonardo hidden. Just because the topic was Leonardo did not mean I could let my guard down.
"Leonardo Big Brother seems intent on raising me properly until I come of age."
Though it feels like Leonardo himself only hires people like tutors and nurse maids and just spends money on my upbringing without actually doing much himself. I did not need to honestly tell Bertrand that now. It was enough to say we had a good sibling relationship.
"A complete stranger's daughter, until she comes of age..."
...It slipped out, Bertrand-sama.
That is something you should not say out loud, I thought internally. To be precise, I am indeed a complete stranger, but to Leonardo, my father is his name-giver, a connection without blood, but still a 'parent.' Perhaps he is an even greater presence than the parents who sold him. Leonardo is just honestly accepting the sister left behind by that 'parent' as a brother. Bertrand might truly be my grandfather by blood, but I do not want him to say anything about my brother (Leonardo).
"Surely he is not keeping you as his mistress..."
"Mistress?"
For a moment I did not understand what Bertrand meant and blinked. As I tilted my head, I realized from the muttering close to a soliloquy that followed what he was insinuating.
--A complete stranger's daughter.
--Leonardo seemed to be trying to hide something about her.
--A little girl he needed to hide.
In other words, was she not Leonardo's mistress? The moment I understood what he was insinuating, my body moved. I reached for the cushion beside my bottom and hurled it at Bertrand's face.
"Hwah!?"
It was a complete surprise attack, so although it was an amateur's strike, the cushion hit Bertrand square in the face. Coffee spilled from the cup Bertrand was still holding, but I did not care. This was a situation where I had to be angry.
"Get out!"
Any thought of ladylike conduct flew out the window like a scone. I just grabbed another cushion in anger and swung it at Bertrand.
"Do not say rude things about Leo, you damn old man! Leo is not that kind of person! Idiot!! Moron!!"
"There is no need to get so..."
"What sister would not get angry when her own brother is called a lolicon!?"
As I began swinging cushions in a rage, Hermine, who had been supervising the tea party with Bertrand as part of the lesson, came over. Thinking this would stop me, Bertrand looked at Hermine while blocking the cushion with both hands.
"Tina-san."
"Do not stop me, Hermine-sensei. There is no sister who would not get angry when her brother is insulted!"
"I believe striking with something soft like a cushion has little effect. If you are going to aim, aim for the cup at hand, or elegantly throw the contents of your own cup at him."
"Understood."
I had thought she would stop me, saying things like violence against a guest, but Hermine only seemed to be instructing me on more effective attack methods. Indeed, if I threw the contents of a cup, Bertrand's clothes would get stained. Throwing the contents of my cup would have the same effect. Striking him with a soft cushion did no damage at all, but using the cup's contents would damage Bertrand's wallet.
After I drove Bertrand out of the reception room, I asked Bart, like a proper lady, that he need never announce Bertrand again. He was someone I had not wanted to get close to in the first place, but I was grateful he stepped on my landmine himself. As for Bart, he should not want to treat someone who insulted the master of the residence as a lolicon as a guest either.
Hermine evaluated my anger at having my brother insulted as justified, but scolded me as a student nonetheless. Apparently, as a lady, the correct answer was to smile and let it slide. I think so too, so I will gratefully accept this lecture. The anger was certainly real, but as a lady, enduring it would have been the correct answer.
...But, good. I was also taught a ladylike method of retaliation.
Apparently, a lady retaliates in ways that do not dirty her own hands. In this case, throwing the cushion directly at his face was a deductible point. If I had thrown the cup's contents while saying, 'Oh my, how clumsy of me,' while wearing my ladylike mask, there would have been no deduction. Smile and let it pass cleanly, then achieve retaliation without dirtying my hands later for bonus points.
"...So, please lend me your wisdom."
Saying that, I turned to my usual source: Alf. If I needed physical strength or money, I would rely on Leonardo, but what I needed now was wisdom as a means of retaliation. Leonardo was no help with this.
"And yet, Tina as a mistress... I do think he certainly has familial love for his sister..."
Whether something about it struck him as funny, Alf could not help but let out a wry laugh. I had been angry when the word mistress came out of Bertrand's mouth, but hearing it from Alf did not particularly bother me. Unlike Bertrand with his vulgar insinuations, when Alf said it, it was just the word 'mistress' with no hidden meaning. Knowing that, hearing it from Alf's mouth as a joke made me feel a little better.
"Hermine-sensei taught me that a lady retaliates without dirtying her own hands, so please tell me some stories I can use as reference."
"Sure. Unlike Leonardo, this is more my specialty."
Alf said that if I was limiting the target to Bertrand, it would be good to completely ignore him. Since he probably wanted to probe me right now, cutting off contact would be the most damaging blow.
...Which means, telling Bart not to announce him was the right move.
The Black Dog still seemed like he would come to the residence no matter what, but Bertrand understood human language, so I could refuse him. If he tried to force his way into the residence by sheer strength, the conditions would be right to report him to the Black Knights for illegal entry. I had no intention of canceling the no-announcement order, but conversely, I wondered if he might get frustrated and try to break in illegally. Then I could imprison him fair and square, and at that point Bertrand would be a proper criminal. I wonder if he has the resolve to be tortured himself, like he did to Jean-Jacques.
...And for retaliation against ordinary gentlemen and ladies, preparation is key, he said.
This was just a bonus, but since Alf was kind enough to teach me, I listened gratefully. Rather than retaliation against gentlemen and ladies, this was more like the mindset needed to deal with them. First, thoroughly investigate the target. Of course, if you move yourself, the target will notice, so here you use people and money. Various connections are formed in the process. You use those too. If you want to please someone, you prepare what they would like from the gathered information, and if you want to retaliate, you also choose the method that would hurt them the most from the gathered information. Of course, if you act directly, there will be retaliation toward you as well, so you need to interpose several layers of intermediaries so the target cannot see you. If possible, you could even find a third party with the same goal and simply guide them. What matters is how to deliver a major blow to the target without having evidence traced back to you.
...Yeah. I knew this, but Alf really is a nobleman, is he not.
Alf, who is kind to me perhaps because he is Leonardo's friend, but hearing him talk, a noble is a noble after all. He had a firm grasp of proper gentlemanly conduct.
"...Then, for now, could you please have Leonardo Big Brother tell Bart to refuse all future announcements for Bertrand-sama, as that would be the best retaliation?"
"Got it."
Perhaps it was because 'Big Brother' had made a comeback in the commotion. Though this was a discussion about keeping people away, Leonardo nodded cheerfully. I do not know whether 'Big Brother' is working on him now, or whether he is happy that I am rejecting my blood-related grandfather (Bertrand). I find the latter questionable, but since I cannot imagine being taken into Bertrand's house and living a peaceful life, I am honestly grateful that Leonardo shows no sign of letting me go even when my relatives appear. I do not want to be sold off somewhere, but I also do not want to be taken into the house of a grandfather my father ran away from.
The next day, Bertrand came to visit from the morning as usual, but Bart firmly turned him away. Perhaps because he was aware he had angered me, Bertrand could not press too hard. So he changed his approach, visiting by saying he had business with Siegwald, business with Leonardo, but I did not even come out to greet him. Everyone knew what Bertrand had said to anger me, so there was no way they would announce him.
After I persisted in ignoring him for several days, Bertrand seemed to have given up on interacting with me for the time being. As abruptly as Leonardo found it unsettling, Bertrand left the city of Grenore. According to Alf's assessment, he probably withdrew once because he lacked a decisive blow. He also likely judged that since Leonardo had hired a tutor to raise me as a lady, there was no need to abduct me immediately.
...What? That is scary. If Hermine-sensei had not been here, I would have been kidnapped?
My grandfather, I must say, chooses his methods too ruthlessly, and it is frightening. From the way he handled Jean-Jacques, his distinction between what is acceptable and what is not seems different from the general public. I really need to be seriously cautious about this.