T/N: Extra chapter
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Melsa and the Cats [Part 1]
“Ughnn…”
Melsa stretched her body after sorting out the letters sent to the mansion.
The children were at the academy, and her husband was out of the house for a summon to the Royal Castle.
After moving to the Royal Capital, she had more time to be alone like this. While she was happy because of this, she also felt somehow lonely.
“Even so…”
Things don’t turn out as I hope. Melsa sighed.
Today, 10 letters for George, 12 letters for Emma, and 8 letters for William arrived.
Most of them were similar invitations to tea parties. Because the family arrived at the Royal Capital late, they still hadn’t shown up to any tea parties. At this stage, it was already starting to feel a little hard and awkward for Melsa to say, “We want to participate. Can we join you guys now?”
Melsa truly only got a headache whenever she thought about Emma, but for some reason, Melsa received the most portraits for matchmaking for Emma among the ones sent for the three siblings. And, every young lord who sent the matchmaking request was all the excellent and proper type.
Even though Emma was in a blessed environment where she could choose as much as she wanted… she only took one glance at the portrait and refused flatly.
“It’s still… thirty, forty years too early for them…”
After muttering that, Emma left while skipping happily to take care of her insects.
Melsa thought Emma’s preference might be that of Minato’s minus another twenty years, but it was somewhat difficult because she had a strong memory of her previous life.
Melsa couldn’t stop sighing deeply.
‘No, more than that, I should take care of my eldest son, George, first.’ Melsa collected herself and took one letter into her hand.
The cute pink letter arrived all the way from a territory near Palace. It was from Lady Marina, who had been corresponding with George since a year ago.
Her son was so frighteningly dense that he didn’t mind showing his mother the cute love letter that was opened with the greeting “Dear my beloved George-sama.” The young lady’s feelings didn’t seem to reach him at all.
Melsa let out another sigh.
Lady Marina also sent William another letter.
The ordinary white letter, clearly different from George’s, overwhelmed Melsa with a sad and ironic feeling even without her having to open the envelope. And even she, as the parent, was sometimes scared of her second son, who continued to reply to the business-like letter that always started with “Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you well” without losing heart.
Although things didn’t go as she wanted them in her previous and current life, thankfully, this world ultimately had an environment where parents could easily meddle with the children’s marriage.
It was obvious that the same thing would happen again if she just left it up to her children like in their previous life. She firmly vowed to herself that she wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.
Even so, for now, the children were happily attending an aristocrats-only academy and had made some friends, so she wanted to wait and see for a little longer. ‘This is the last time, after all,’ Melsa sighed.
“Now then…”
Melsa stood up and looked at the garden through the window, thinking of moving her body that had gotten stiff from doing official duties.
The weather was great this day too.
“Koumei, Ryuubi, Kan’u, Chouhiii!”
Melsa went out to the garden and called the cats.
After sending off her children and husband, the four cats had their first nap for the day at their own favorite spot and were about to start patrolling their ‘territory’ soon.
“Mew!”
“Meoow!”
“Oomeow!”
“Meow?”
The cats gathered together from here and there at Melsa’s voice.
“Can I go together with you on your territory patrol today?”
“Meow!”
Melsa made it a habit to patrol the Royal Capital mansion’s too-vast-of-a-land on the cat’s back from time to time.
The cats patrolled their home every day but wouldn’t be so detailed to check the wear and tear of the buildings on the mansion grounds, so Melsa would occasionally go together with the cats and inspect the damages.
Normal countesses didn’t do chores like this, but Melsa, who had lived in Palace for a long time and got used to the ways there, hadn’t noticed that.
The reason Melsa didn’t hire many servants even though the family now had abundant assets was that she couldn’t get rid of the outlook she had during their poverty days.
The servants and family members uniting and working together was how House Stuart was.
The cats were no exception.
“Mew?”
On the way, Kan-chan looked up at the sky and twitched his nose.
“Kan-chan? What’s wrong?”
“Meow♡”
The black cat looked back once at Melsa on Chou-chan‘s back before dashing off somewhere happily.
“I wonder if he found a big cicada or the like?”
Melsa tilted her head and chased Kan-chan with the other three cats in the direction Kan-chan ran off to.
