It’s probably needless to say this, but after that conversation ended, we hastily parted ways that night. Nerha felt extremely embarrassed based on her expression and body language. The moment her laughing streak passed over, we found ourselves awkwardly staring at each other in a silent room, unsure what to say.

She quickly excused herself, practically fleeing the room, no doubt realizing that the composed image I had of her have been permanently damaged.

Still, we wished each other a good night before parting, and she offered me a gentle smile, which I attempted to reciprocate. I believe that all in all, it was a fruitful exchange on my part.

After reassuring myself that I won’t be thrown out of the house or stuck in a hateful relationship with my so called “mother” I could finally relax. I slept through the night in a comforting deep sleep without interruptions, and it felt so good I could hardly state it with enough emphasis.

~oOo~

I would like to say that the next morning I woke up quite late, but it was not the case. Thanks to my habit of waking up early, I woke about the same time as usual, but that didn’t take away anything from the restful sleep I enjoyed. After all, I went to sleep relatively early.

Waking up while laying among pillows and thick blankets was quite a strange thing, after living in the deep roads for so long. I mean, even back in the outpost, the quality of beddings were far from the ones here in the heart of the nobles district. I will even admit that for a second or two I thought that I was once again back in that cursed hospital when I opened my eyes.

It was not a good feeling, something I tried yet failed to forget, and something that soft beddings, and beds in their entirety, seemed to keep reminding me at the most unexpected moments. I would imagine that if you can get traumatized by a bed, this is how it would feel like. Not that I intend to linger on the thought right now.

I crawled out of the nest of pillows and blankets, walking over to the mirror with a new determination.

I stood in front of the mirror with the familiar image. Internally reminding myself of the fact that yes, that pretty girl in the mirror was actually me. I released a soft sigh and started to do my appearance some justice. By that I mean I washed up my face and combed my hair that got somewhat tangled after a night’s worth of sleep.

It didn’t take much time to be done with that, and I quickly turned to the clothes that were prepared for me yesterday. I placed them on a nearby desk before I went to sleep last night, right next to my staff that was leaned against the wall. I picked a relatively simple looking white blouse with long sleeves, and a black skirt that ended just above my ankles. I believe that it was intended to actually reach my ankles. Alas, it was likely made with dwarven women in mind. Meaning that it turned out to be slightly shorter because of the relatively small difference between my height and the average dwarven women's.

Regarding footwear, I found that there were three pairs of shoes placed in a cabinet that was right under the mirror next to the entrance. One of them was a pair of sandals skillfully made from strips of leather that were dyed black. Another was a simple-looking, but aesthetic white shoe for more formal occasions in mind, and the last was a pair of dark brown boots with short boot tops.

After spending so much time wearing that insufferable pair of boots, I literally couldn’t even look at that one and instead I pulled off the pair of stockings that I still had on since last night and went for the simplest option, the sandals. Why did I take off the stockings? Well, this elf ain’t going to accidentally create a sandal and stockings fashion combination in this world. No chance. Aside from that, this place was surprisingly warm, and for the first time since I came here, I don’t have to cover myself in various layers of clothing to stay comfortable.

With everything finally done, I took one last peek into the mirror and felt a slight sense of satisfaction seeing the results of my dubious dress-up.

The girl in the mirror looked fresh and happy, a sharp contrast compared to the state in which I yesterday arrived to this estate. There seemed to be a hesitant tug of a forming smile at the edge of her lips.

One that immediately dispersed the moment I reminded myself that the girl in the mirror was me.

While the smile disappeared, or more like never truly formed to begin with, the girl, unlike previously, didn’t frown at her own image. There was no sense of shame suffocating her from the inside. She merely acknowledged that it was her now.

Following a short stare down with my mirrored image, I decided to grab my staff and headed out of the room. It was high time to find the others, and perhaps eat something on the way.

After all, the girl in the mirror was getting hungry.

~oOo~

A few minutes later.

After I left my room, I went over to Camilla’s. Her door was already wide open when I arrived and, thanks to that, I walked inside with little thought. Just after I entered the seemingly empty room, I heard pattering foot steps coming at me from behind the shade of the opened door.

My ears twitched lightly, as I immediately recognized the light footsteps with barreling momentum and prepared myself for the impact.

Just as I expected, a young girl jump hugged me from the back, and my hips were quickly engulfed in said girl’s arms from back to front. I instinctively reached down to steady the giggling menace that so-so heart wrenchingly reminded me of my true granddaughter. A thought that bore no fruit in this world, only pain, something I wanted to forget, even if I knew that such an act was nothing but cowardice.

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I was, however, rescued from the imminent cycle of self-hate by the bubbly voice of the girl.

“Did I scare you?” — She asked, with a pair of glinting brown eyes, immediately reminding me of the conversation we shared with Nerha yesterday. If Lady Nerha has such a heart to truly allow me to enter this family, in consideration of everything that happened. Then, who am I to deny such an invitation?

I crouched down to the girl’s eye-level, reminding myself that pulling off this move would send waves of shivering pain from my waist area in my old body, while offering a warm smile to the girl.

“This grand-…” — Cough. — “I mean… this big sister got really scared from you. My heart almost jumped out of my chest.” — The girl pouted. Staring at me curiously for the parapraxis.

“Were you about to say grandma just now? Mommy said that you are older than you look, and that I should be aware of that, but I didn’t think you were that old!” — She chirped thoughtfully. Completely unaware of the sudden wave of sweat her words emitted from a certain someone.

“I… it was just a bad joke Bella… Don’t think too much into it.” — I said to her while trying to direct the conversation somewhere else. Luckily, young children were fickle, and their attention easily redirected.

“If you say so!” — The girl smiled up at me, then gave me a quick hug from the front this time, which I gently reciprocated. — “Hmm… you smell nice, and I see you managed to find a comb after all! Brother will be shocked to see how pretty our new sister is! Oh! That’s it. I will introduce you right away!”

The girl stated in an excited voice, already starting to pull me towards the door. I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about that idea. I stiffened up and put my heels into the ground, stopping her momentum. The girl looked over her shoulder at me with a confused expression and I suddenly felt kind of embarrassed by my own actions.

“Uhm… D-do you know where the girl that slept in this room went?” — I asked quickly to distract her once again and direct her attention towards a question I was genuinely interested in.

She frowned lightly than said with an annoyed pout of sorts. — “Miss Camilla went to train with the scouts in service of our house. Daddy told me to wait for you in her room, since you will likely come over the moment you woke up.” — She paused, her frown deepening slightly. — “I wanted to visit you last night, but mommy told me that she will have you first. She seemed really angry. You can tell when she speaks really quick like! Did you do something bad?” — The girl stared up at me with a suspicious glare that made me speechless.

“I…” — I gulped drily. — “I didn’t… but your mother misunderstood something and… but I did not…” — The little girl's suspicious glare eased considerably as she lightly patted my hand again.

“I get it! You were scolded for something you didn’t do, just like when mommy told me that I was lying about you!” — Bella’s face contorted into a heavy frown as she continued. — “It really hurt me when mommy said that I was a liar, but she apologized later when she realized the truth. She gave me lots of hugs and even baked my favorite cookies. She told me that she was wrong and I am a good girl. I bet she will tell you that too!”

“Ugh… I am not so sure about that part…” — I mumbled half aloud, but it seemed that Bella caught my voice and throw me a dirty look.

"Um… sorry about that.” — I immediately caved under her glare and she seemed to acknowledge my words, looking at me thoughtfully now.

“You should feel lucky that mommy didn’t spank you instead of complaining! I wasn’t that lucky when I splashed my new dress with milk yesterday! Right before the elder’s council. Mommy can be really scary sometimes. Grandpa always tells me when mommy and daddy isn’t there that he thinks that mommy wears the pants in our household, but I think grandpa might be drinking too much since mommy clearly always wears a skirt.”

I nodded along, trying to subtly hide the grin that was forming on my lips.

“Daddy also told me when grandpa wasn’t there that I shouldn’t take grandpa seriously after he had drunk more than three glasses of wine. Because at that point, it is the wine that is speaking. I don’t really believe that, though, I am not a little girl anymore, you see! How could wine speak, anyway? Daddy is plain stupid sometimes.”

At that point, I have long lost the fight against smiling and were openly grinning from ear to ear. — “You are right about that, Bella.” — I said, struggling to hold back a bark of laughter.

“See!?” — She shouted turning around hands on her hips and speaking in a bossy tone, looking relieved to finally find someone reasonable.

I took advantage on the moment and asked her another question. — “By the way Bella, do you know where the other elf lady is? The one that came with me.”

Bella made a strange face as she listened to my question, but she evidently nodded. — “The grumpy elf lady went over to mommy’s room in the morning. I only know because I was there at the time. It was really weird, she scolded Mommy. I never heard anyone scold mommy before, then they got into a big argument, then both of them stormed out together to look for daddy. All of it happened in a few minutes, and they spoke in a strange language, so I didn’t understand a word, just what mommy told me before she left.”

I sweat dropped hearing Bella’s explanation. The picture quickly standing together in my mind. Aria must have heard some of the argument between me and Nerha yesterday. Her room is further from mine than Camilla’s, with the walls and doors in place. It is not ideal for eavesdropping, even for an elf. She could likely only hear the parts that were shouted or spoken in a loud voice. I bet she boiled in anger all night after witnessing the disrespect towards me, then first thing in the morning, she went to unleash it on Nerha. The language they used was likely that of the elven tongue. After they evidently cleared their misunderstanding, the two women likely went to look for a common enemy to vent their frustration. The most optimal target for such an excursion was undoubtedly in the form of Emrum.

A cold shiver went up my lower back in the wake of the realization, along with an immense sense of relief that it was not me that was going to be chewed out.

I reached out my hand and gently grasped Bella’s, offering her a gentle smile. — “Can you help this big sister find something to eat? After that, we can play together a bit. What do you say, little sister?”

The young girl showed a victorious smile without reservation. — “You bet I can! The kitchen is this way. Come quick, then we can play more afterwards!”

“By the way, do you know where are the servants of the house?” — I asked her while walking along.

Bella chuckled hearing my question. — “We don’t have any. It is the way of our house, something you will have to get used to.” — With that she started to repeat a well-practiced phrase as if reading it straight from a book. She even lifted her chin with a learned haughtiness that seemed almost alien on the sweet child. — “We are proud warriors and warrioresses, relying on servants would only make us soft.” — The seriousness crumbled away without any trace as the girl continued. — ”At least that is what the elders tend to say.”

“I see…” — I was starting to suspect as much, but it is always good to have it confirmed.

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I wish you all a happy and memorable New Year.

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