CHAPTER 8
THE HARTMANN FAMILY AND DETAILS ABOUT MY NEW HOME
I am Alrescha Lyra Hartmann, the second child of Hartmann’s head of family, Icarus Valkyane Hartmann—“Cyan”, with his wife, my mom, Cassiophelia de la Sanctuaria—“Cassie”. Sanctuaria is an Earl family somewhere in the border of the eastern province and the central province, whose governance is under the Hartmann family.
That explains why the engagement between my parents were plausible. But it seems that both of my parents are in love with each other, even if I don’t know if the love blooms due to the engagement, or that they go through engagement first, then love. It doesn’t matter.
I have one big brother, his name is Altaire Ophiuchus Hartmann—Alt-nii for short. He is three years older than me. We both have the pretty hair color (subjective—sorry, but you don’t know how happy I am when I found out about my hair color!), it is a dark navy blue color—or must I say it again, the color of a beautiful galaxy or night sky that’s bright with stars. I love it when I see my hair under the light. Different light exposure affects the way I see my hair color, but they are all pretty in my opinion. Apparently, my left eye is red, while my right eye is blue.
Back then, I was really curious on where did we get this hair color from.
Now, I know. My dad kept on gratefully saying that I resemble his mother a lot.
His mother—or my grandma, she had the same blue hair and pretty blue eyes that we each have. Unfortunately, neither Alt-nii nor me had the chance to meet her. She died of illness when my dad was young. That is so unfortunate, as I am curious about her... since Dad seems to be very fond of his mother.
When I was Reinst, my grandparents did not leave any strong impressions on me. They were the same as my parents back then, I felt like I was more like a tool for them.
The current Hartmann family’s wealth is not as abundant as it was due to past generations’ corruptions. My dad was the one who bravely came forward and exposed those wrongdoings.
In the turn of events, the king decided not to punish my dad alongside with his family and entrusted the territory to my dad. My dad then sold the wealth of his family and allocated the money to help building the eastern territory and gave some to the “victims” of the wrongdoings.
Now, the Hartmann territory is doing stable, the social and economical discrepancy is not as high as what I knew.
As a result though, we lived in modesty. My mom who came from the branch family of Sanctuaria has been leading a modest life so far, so she didn’t seem to mind it.
There are only three workers here.
Chloe was close to dad and dad’s mother, so she willingly volunteered to be here.
Vince was close to mom—mom’s uncle figure, I suppose, and was a gardener at the Sanctuaria family, so he accepted mom’s offer to tend the Hartmann’s garden.
Niina’s husband is the merchant in Heartswaarth city—one that my family often went to. So rather than idly being a housewife, she decided to work here. Since her house is not that far, she has the freedom to go back and forth.
I cannot really talk well so I gather those information from what I heard. For example, the thing about my grandma—yeah, got it from my dad who spoiled the whole thing. About why we are not so wealthy, Alt-nii asked it when he came to realize about how a duke’s family should be. And the rest, from observation.
Oh! There is something important!
Niina is from the silver wolf tribe, and so is her husband! They both have a son! He comes from time to time along with Niina to play with me and Alt, especially during the time when my parents are working. His name is Clavis, and he has the same silver hair and his eyes are gray. Just like Niina’s, his tail and ears are fluffy!
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No, I am not taking advantage of the fact that I am still a toddler to mess up with Clavis and Niina’s tails and ears. They are just so fluffy and coincidentally they are often tempting me right in front of my eyes, as if asking for me to stroke them!
Ahem~ anyway!
The Hartmann house I knew was not as close to the Capitol as my current home. The house was more in the middle of the Heartswaarth city. Now, somehow my parents built a house that is very close to the Capitol. The access to other areas is good, though.
It is a very simple house. Let’s explore it!
In front of the house, there is a small but beautiful garden to welcome the visitors. Then, there is the living room. In the living room, there is the hologram for viewing the news and other kinds of shows available, then there are some sofas and a table, with a mat under them. Some decorative plants are inside, making the room lovely.
On the wall, there is a calendar and a classic clock. There are two windows leading to the front garden, each one has a simple curtain attached—with different color. Hartmann trademark??
On the right of the living room, there is a narrow hall that leads to a meeting room. It is used every time when the nobles under the governance of Hartmann duchy gather and report... and to have discussions regarding the development of the Eastern Riviera.
Behind the living room, there is a hall.
On the left side of the hall, there are a guest room and a bathroom, for the guests, obviously. The hall leads to a room with two stairs : one to upstairs and one to the basement.
The basement stair is neatly hidden under the floor and mats—and the basement hides a spatious library!! The room seems to function as a relaxing room? It has a few decorations and portraits of the Hartmann areas, paintings of historical people from the Hartmann, and my family portraits. There is also a fireplace and larger, fluffier sofas that can also function as bed. Some magical tools such as magic cooler and... alright I don’t know yet.
By the way, magical tools are convenient tools that are run by pouring your mana. Anyone with magical power can use it, regardless of their attribute. Under the stair that leads to the second floor, there is a small storage room, for storing tools such as the broom, the mop, the vacuum cleaner, and even magical cleaning tools!
Behind that comfy room—let’s say “family room” (Ah, apparently the baby crib I was in when I first met the others was located in the family room), there is the dining room, and to the right of the dining room, there is the kitchen. And behind them, there are two rooms—one for Vince and one for Chloe. Their rooms are not very small, but are not big, either. Niina can even have sleepovers at Chloe’s, if she wants. Apparently, it was built under the precautions of hiring more people, or having Chloe and Vince’s relatives visiting?
From what I heard, Vince’s family consists of his two sons, both are already working in the Sanctuaria territory and have built their own families. As for Chloe, she has a daughter who is married to a travelling merchant, so her daughter is nomadic, although they have a house in the outskirt of Heartswaarth city. They sometimes get visits from their families, or during big holidays, they get the chance to go back home.
Eh?
What about their spouses?
Isn’t it obvious?
Actually, I don’t really know the full details as they never talked about their spouses, but I suspect these possibilities :
1. The situations are complicated
2. They have passed away
3. They are divorced, or separated
Remember I am only a toddler! When I ask questions that seem too deep for my understanding, my parents would say, “let’s save it for when you are older.”
Yeah, before I know it, I have turned 3!
Although I feel that my time is soooooooooooooooo long, I often sneak out of my room and go here and there, asking for books to be read, and others... playing with Alt-nii helps me to pass the time, though!
Let’s not go on the awkward details about having my diapers changed, having to breastfeed, bath time (especially with my dad), and so on...
At first, I really did not expect any of this. I thought most of my care would be handled by the maids—oops yeah, we only have Niina and Chloe that can be my nanny—and I thought my interaction with my parents would be short, but it was very different from when I was Reinst. Or... I don’t really remember my past life as a toddler, could it be that things were the same and then everything changes when my trainings started? There is no way to know that, now.
But in order to anticipate my future disappointment when things turn sour and my relationship with them is strained, either due to the expectations given to me, or that my abilities are too low... I should not indulge myself in being pampered like this.
Somehow, there is this tingling sensation that feels excruciating whenever I remind myself to not expect these warm feelings to stay.
Oh, right! I forgot to continue the exploration report of my home.
On the second floors, there are the second floor’s “living” room—well, it’s just an empty room where the stair ends, with a sofa, a bookshelf, a table, and other decorations, my parents’ room, which leads to their respective study/working rooms, Alt-nii’s room, my room, and an empty bedroom which is used whenever a family member is visiting. Each bedroom has their own bathrooms.
I won’t go into details as it is exhausting and the furniture can be changed at ease with the help of magical power and tools, anyway. Sometimes there are toddler’s playing stuffs in the second floor’s living room, sometimes it is in the family room, etc... And most of the time, Alt-nii’s lessons are held in the second floor’s living room.
But I won’t explain it now, since I forgot that at the back of the house, there is a spacious garden for playing and agriculture! There is also a small fish pond! Besides that, the left and right sides of my house also have a small garden before it is bordered by the not-so-high fence. Really, my house is very green.
Outside my house, there are fields with plants, before it leads to neighbors. Niina’s family can be considered my neighbor. The fields are quite spatious, however. It seems like my parents emphasized on surrounding the house with nature rather than with people.
And that concludes Lyra's report on her investigation!