Stealing Spree

Having my focus solely on calming my and Otoha’s nervousness, I’d only got a good look at our surroundings once the car stopped.

Looking ahead and to our side, the view felt like we arrived in the countryside with nary a huge building or establishment in sight. Apart from trees towering from a distance, giving shade to a lone house, I could also see rice fields on both sides with the rice stalks having just sprouted as well as some farmers already doing their job of taking care of it.

Our city still had places like this. But not so much anymore. Although I haven’t been to this place before, it was located on the north side of our city and at an elevated plain close to the mountainous region bordering another prefecture. Hence, the lack of visual eye candy that screams ‘modern’.

Even though our city was already on its way to complete industrialization, this kind of place was fairly preserved or protected, to say the least. The prefecture’s specialty was agriculture. They wouldn’t just phase the agriculture sector out even if big businesses relocated here.

Now, what left me wondering was… why here? I thought we were going to their estate and meet the Patriarch of a former noble lineage – or still a noble lineage, just not officially recognized anymore.

“Grandpa does things this way, Ruki. This particular part of our city is owned by the family. It supplies us with high-quality crops rather than relying on the market.” Perhaps noticing my puzzlement, Otoha offered an explanation. She then pointed at the lone house right in front of us.

Well, I called it a house but it’s more apt to call it a villa. Although it still had the traditional feel around it, it’s luxurious enough to not mistake it for a farmer’s hut. There were other houses sparsely scattered around the place and they were in no way similar to that one.

Furthermore, there was another car parked in front of it and a gray-haired old man in a butler outfit was standing at its side and looking in our direction.

Even though he’s still quite a distance from where Hitomi stopped, I could partially make out his facial features. Hitomi greatly resembled him.

Her father, or perhaps grandfather. Considering the Mihara Family she belonged to served the Kaneko House for generations, he’s probably the latter.

“Wait, I’m in my uniform. Won’t it be rude to meet him like this?”

Although this worry seemed a bit late, it actually only flashed by my mind at this moment.

Hearing that, Otoha sweetly laughed and teased me, “Your focus is always this whacky, Ruki. Don’t worry, Grandpa won’t mind even if you’re still in your sleepwear.”

“That’s a bit…”

“You can call him an eccentric. And I know, you’ll also be dumbfounded at how he dressed for this occasion.”

Is that so?

I wanted to ask that but there’s no time anymore. With Hitomi turning the engine off, Otoha dragged me out of the car and we approached the old butler.

He stared reverently at Otoha before bowing respectfully. Then when his eyes landed on me, I could easily feel how I was being sized up from bottom to top. Although he didn’t say anything, the slight twitch of his eyebrows told me that I somehow failed his evaluation. He still bowed to me though but it’s just as a courtesy to not make Otoha upset.

Following that, he turned to Hitomi, his initial straight and respectful expression twisted into a slight frown and discontentment. “Why didn’t you open the door for your mistress? Have you been slacking off because ojou-sama is treating you well?”

Although I couldn’t clearly put it as a harsh scolding, he seemed to be an old man who cared too much or too fixated about their role as servants to the family.

“I…” Hitomi was about to open her mouth and explain but his eyes turned sharp making her shut her mouth and gulp her words down.

Seeing Hitomi being treated like that, a certain fire was ignited in me. Grandfather or not, I just couldn’t stand if my girls were being undermined. It made my evaluation of him drop to its lowest.

I know that it's normal behavior for him. He’s just doing his job and he’s trying to set her straight on what her role should be but I still couldn’t stand it.

I clenched my fist, steeling myself to step up and stand in front of Hitomi.

However, before I could do so, Otoha squeezed the palm that she was clasping. Following that, she displayed something I hadn’t seen often.

“I told her to do just that, Shigemasa-jiisan. Hitomi-nee is my servant, it’s at my discretion how she should act around me. Also, you don’t have the right to scold her right in front of me.” Gone was the sweet voice she always used on me. She coolly sounded like how nobles should be as she stood her ground and looked at him with authority.

“O-ojou-sama, it’s just… I’m correcting her—”

“Again, I don’t need to hear that from you. Now, will you lead us in or not?”

“A-as you wish, please follow me.” Being cut off by Otoha like that, the old man had no more avenues to pursue. His shoulders drooped for a moment before he reverted to how he was earlier. This time, however, he dropped his sharp gaze directed to Hitomi.

He bowed his head, turned around and began leading us into the villa.

We didn’t follow him quickly because, beside me, Otoha remained rooted to her spot. Beneath that authoritative act she had just shown, I could feel her whole body shaking as if she was already at her tipping point. If not for my support, she’d probably lose strength on her knees from acting like that.

The girl wasn’t used or it’s not in her character to exercise that kind of authority over anyone. She’s more inclined to act not as a noblewoman but as a normal girl.

Right. That’s also the reason why I could approach her rather easily back then. She’s not someone who would flaunt her status as someone from an important family. In fact, she’s more humble than most people. Mizuki was different in that regard. Even if she’s only from a branch family, one could easily point out that her upbringing was a bit sophisticated. That’s why even though they’re both from a noble lineage, the method I used to steal them was too different.

“O-otoha-sama, you shouldn’t have done—”

“Hitomi…” I cut her off and shook my head at her. With just that, she understood what I was trying to say.

Rather than saying that Otoha defended her, the girl did that more for herself. She sees an older sister in Hitomi’s form, if she can just be easily scolded like that then it also extends to her.

Or that’s my evaluation of it. With Otoha tightening her embrace on my arm, she approved of what I did. She didn’t want Hitomi to apologize to her or take what happened to heart.

Following that, Otoha raised her gaze and showed her gentle and calming smile to us before saying, “Un… Let’s go in. Grandpa is waiting.”

Defeated by that smile, Hitomi, who was possibly beating herself in her mind, flashed a relieved smile. She gathered her confidence back and walked alongside us, following the old man into the villa.

Truthfully, it’s hard to understand this kind of social hierarchy between them but now that I’m here… I have to get accustomed to it. We’re living in different worlds. I couldn’t just act as though we were still in the same environment.