Book 6: Chapter 10: An Outstretched Helping Hand

The next day, I woke up, only to find the mansion in utter chaos.

When I asked the reason, it seems that Irene came over to wake me up, only to find the devastation we have done in the room and us in our disarrayed clothes. She made a great deal out of it, thus starting the great panic.

She doesn’t usually do this kind of thing so early in the morning, especially when the sun was yet to rise. When I asked her why she’s waking me up this early, she explained that she got a bad feeling.

Though I admire your instincts, I really wished that thing should have kicked off when I was being assaulted yesterday. But that would be too selfish of me so I didn’t say that to her.

Anyway, Mio and I were woken up by Irene and were ordered to have a quick bath, in which I am grateful, as I might have caught a cold if we stayed too long in our wet suits.

After washing thoroughly and warming up my body, I changed into a clean set of clothes.

Exactly after I was done changing, Irene called out to me.

Feeling guilty that I underestimated her warnings, I walked on the direction her room quietly.

“Ah, Tomo, you’re here. Have a seat there. Please.”

I sat in the chair designated to me.

Irene is sitting on one of the sofas in front of her work desk.

If it’s the usual, she would be sitting next to me. Is she implying that I’m also responsible for this incident?

After a while, Mio came in.

She should have gotten out of the bath before me, but since Japanese clothing needed a lot of time to put on, she arrived a bit later.

The attendant who was there yesterday is nowhere in sight.

Some parts of this chapter has been cut to prevent aggregator sites from copying without permission. Only read at stabbingwithasyringe dot home dot blog.

“About you, Lady Mio, you can sit on the opposite side of Tomo.”

Irene spoke calmly.

That tranquil tone is a bit scary, but Mio doesn’t seem to mind at all.

“Eh? Why not next to Tomo?”

Instead, she threw something e;se.

I was terrified by her response, in which Irene corresponded by repeating the same polite tone, and finally felt relief when Mio followed suit.

Still, with this kind of tension right from the beginning of the discussion, you won’t know what will happen later on.

“First of all. Tomo, may I ask what really happened yesterday?”

“Yes! Last night, when I was about to go to sleep……”

I have to state the facts as objectively as possible.

“……And that’s what happened.”

After listening to everything I had said, Irene gave a single nod.

“Somehow, I can now understand what happened. It’s Tomo’s fault for forgetting my advice, as well as mine for refraining excessive caution when I heard that Mio is a foreign dignitary.”

She broke it off word for word.

“However, the one who has the most fault is still you, Mio.”

Irene stared at the Japanese-clothed woman with a snap.

I’ve heard that people of high positions possess a gaze as if there is a physical pressure in them, but Irene was exactly that.

She has built and ran a city despite of the harsh circumstances, which also served as proof of her ability that ordinary beings couldn’t cope with.

However, Mio wasn’t shaken by this at all.

“You have good eyes, but still, not as good as my dad.”

Mio’s father is also in a position where he carries a country in his back. If someone like him is always close to Mio, then Irene’s glare won’t have much of an effect, as she might have developed an immunity from it.

However, Irene didn’t mind and continued the talks.

“This man, Tomo, is engaged to me. Even though I haven’t told you about it yet, it’s still an unforgivable act to assault him out of the blue and try to take him home.”

Mio’s expression changes at those words.

“You two, engaged? Has Tomo agreed with that matter?”

And I nodded at Mio, who’s now giving me a serious look.

After having a staring contest for a while, Mio is the first one to give in. 

She takes a deep breath, then shrugs her shoulders with it.

“Sigh. Okay, you guys win. I was the bad girl all along. Do what you want.”

I’m surprised that she easily admitted her fault, being all forceful so far.

“Why do you admit it so easily, even now of all times?”

“Stealing someone who was already married by the country is a major crime, and is always subjected to an exile if prosecuted. Engagements have pretty much the same treatment as well.”

So the reason was in their county’s culture, huh.

“But how come you two are still engaged? I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me you guys are married at this point.”

Our faces darkened at Mio’s question.

It’s because it’s our biggest problem at the moment.

“To tell you the truth, this city where you are standing on……is not an official city.”

Irene told Mio the story behind the city’s construction.

“That’s why, even if we wanted to, we can’t even submit a marriage application to the country.”

She ended her explanation.

After listening to it, Mio clapped her hands once. Then, 

“In that case, then you can come to our country. If you do that, your application will be approved all at once.”

For us who were suffering from tour current predicament, those set of words were like a sweet temptation. However,

“Your offer is great, but I can’t just abandon this city. If it’s gone, there will be no other place to go for the women who were kicked out due to being discriminated by their appearances.”

Irene declared as she shook off Mio’s temptation.

We’ve been preparing ourselves to hit a difficult wall. It’s too late for us to retreat now.

Seeing our reactions to this matter, Mio bobbed her head once.

“That’s quite the guts you have, both of you. I like it.”

All of a sudden, she began praising us.

When we’re about ask her why, what came next took us off from our seats.

“I’ve decided. We will lend you a hand. For now, I’ll seek dad to see where we could be of help.”

By her dad, did she mean her the ambassador, who possess a great power over their country!?

“But why would you do that? What’s your purpose?”

Upon being asked the obvious question, she answered with a smile.

Some parts of this chapter has been cut to prevent aggregator sites from copying without permission. Only read at stabbingwithasyringe dot home dot blog.

“Well, for one, I can’t stand watching Tomo and everyone else get smoked out. Besides, it’s not so bad, living in here.”

It seems that she still had that grudge on the fact that they didn’t let her inside the castle.

But for us, it’s much more convenient this way.

“……Sigh, I guess I have no choice but to let this matters slide, for now.”

Irene also gave a big sigh, as if she has no other choice.

Mio seems to be doing whatever she wants at first, but in the end, she’s still a powerful negotiator.

Whatever the case is, we have successfully gained a powerful backer.

We’ll now have the ability to gather information from the inside and outside of the country, along with the help of Suzette.

You can even say that we had made a great progress with this alone.

Still, the enemies we have in this country are enormous. We can’t relax just yet.

And so, along with our new friends and strengths, we proceeded to carve a new path for ourselves.

Here are the characters of Book 2 (Web Volumes 4-6)

From left to right: Mio, Edith, Marietta, Irine, Tomoaki and Nina.