I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ~Transmigrated into an Otome Game~ - Chapter 34
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- I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ~Transmigrated into an Otome Game~
- Chapter 34 - Letter from Harold (Part 1)
Letter from Harold (Part 1)
Time passed quickly at the Northland Estate.
Around nightfall, Isabel and Tiger accompanied Amy as she bid farewell to her two friends.
When the carriage disappeared from view, Amy turned towards Isabel with a reluctant but satisfied expression.
“Today was fun!”
“I’m glad you made some good friends, Amy. How is school going?”
“Yeah. It’s been good. There were some people who talked about me behind my back at first but it’s gotten better now. Other than that it’s fine. There are lots of familiar names on the board as well.”
“Ah, are they from the ‘Cat Association’?”
The ‘Cat Association’ which was presided over by the Duchess of Coverdale was well known among the aristocrats.
Amy had helped her in the past, working with vets to help heal injured cats, and so her name had also become well known among the aristocrats who were members of the Duchess’ association.
This was also one of the reasons the backbiting in the academy didn’t escalate much. These people were well aware of Amy’s ability with healing magic due to her work in the association.
They stepped back into the house and Tiger immediately walked up to Amy, following behind her.
The appearance of the two walking together like this was a common thing in the Northland estate.
Tiger looked like he wanted Amy to walk while holding him in her embrace. But, although Amy had grown taller, it was still difficult for her to carry him.
His big size was one of the reasons but it was also because he was so fluffy; whenever she picked him up, all she could see was his fur sticking out everywhere.
“By the way, we finally received a letter from Hal.”
“From brother? Where is he now? How is he?”
“I wanted to open it together with your father when he comes home so I haven’t read it yet. Do you want to read it first?”
“Well. I am curious about it but… if it was an emergency he would have sent us a message through the guild. A letter must mean that there probably isn’t anything urgent in it.”
She felt glad to receive a letter from her brother after a long time of no contact from him but, to be honest, Harold’s letter never contained anything important.
His earliest letters had only been a few sentences long.
“It’s Harold we’re talking about so the letter is probably something like ‘I’m at the sea! The fish is delicious!’ or something similar.”
“Really, it’s like reading a school report. Well, it’s fine as long as he’s safe. Then, let’s read the letter together with your father when he gets home.”
They talked some more about her brother, laughing as they recalled his antics.
He would sometimes send small trinkets with his letters like a coin from the local currency or a scale from a dragon he had fought.
However his letter itself would always be sparsely written. Sometimes Nicholas or Gilbert added their own accounts in more detail, and that gave them more of an idea about what was happening with them.
“I can’t believe my brother was able to graduate top of his class with the way he writes his letters. I took the geography class he recommended to me just because ‘it was interesting’ but the assignments were so difficult! He got a good grade in that, right?”
“Well Hal has always been good at memorising random information like what kind of monster would come out of what kind of rock and whatnot. He also did a lot of adventuring before so he had a strong foundation for that class.”
“Ah, this reminds me, he always made extremely detailed notes on what kind of monster he’d encountered…though he never took his studies as seriously……..”
“Yeah it would have been nice if he could apply that spirit to other things. He’s the heir of a Count after all.”
Isabel’s words were those of someone complaining however she didn’t look troubled at all.
Similar to her past life, aristocratic titles and estates were passed down to blood relatives.
Both Harold and Amy were eligible for the inheritance as direct descendants of the Northland Count. However, since Amy became the fiancee candidate of the Third Prince, the succession fell onto Harold.
It was unheard of for a family head working as an adventurer. It would certainly distract Harold from his duties as Count.
Still, Joshua was still alive and healthy so there was no rush to have Harold succeed him.
Besides, his parents didn’t want to force him. Even if Harold didn’t succeed, they could pass the inheritance on to a distant relative.
“I’m more worried about Harold getting married.” Isabel said.
“Even if he got married he’s likely to go off on another adventure as soon as he can. If he stays away for long periods of time his wife is probably going to leave him.”
Amy’s mother brought her hands to her cheeks and let out a long sigh.
After all, her brother had a huge record of breaking up with his lovers in the past because he was too preoccupied with hunting beasts.
The Northland family had a policy of not forcing their children to get engaged before the age of eighteen, however they still wanted to see their children settle down eventually.
They wanted to see Harold settle down but no one would like to be left alone after getting married, no matter how much love and understanding they had.
“I’ve heard that in political marriages, where you’re a couple in name only, the wife doesn’t mind if her husband leaves her alone.”
“Yes but I have a feeling that my brother would rather stay single than go through a marriage of convenience.”
“You’re right. I think the same.”
Actually, Harold had received a number of marriage proposals as well. Amy suspected that the reason he stayed away and never came home was to avoid having some potential match’s picture or family chart shoved onto him.
Harold was twenty years old now, a perfectly marriageable age in this world. But in their past life he would still be a college student. Moreover, he had just recently started his career as an adventurer in earnest. He wanted to work a bit more to establish himself.
What’s more, that brother of hers found everything, apart from his own hobbies, to be troublesome.
They had returned to the living room and Amy sat down on the sofa, Tiger immediately following to settle on her lap. Amy petted him happily. Isabel sighed as she looked at her daughter dote on the cat.
“Your brother doesn’t seem to have anyone he’s interested in right now. At this rate you might end up getting married before him, Amy.”
“Eh?”
“Oh, am I wrong?”
“I mean, for some reason, I haven’t been striked off the list but I’m still just a fiancee ‘candidate’.”
Amy looked startled when the topic was suddenly brought to her, blushing as she replied.
Isabel leaned towards her daughter and asked in a low voice, “Are you still worried that this might be an ‘Otome game’?”
“…… No, not as much as before. But I can’t help but feel uneasy. I mean, Prince Jahar turned out exactly as the game. Maybe it really is…”
Amy buried her hands in Tiger’s fur as she thought over her answer.
Her life had consisted mostly of practicing magic ever since she remembered the memories of her past life, and of the game.
She spent each day living her life to the fullest, and as the small experiences piled up her doubts that they were nothing but two-dimensional characters in a game started to disappear.
However, some doubts still remained.
It couldn’t be a mere coincidence that she had come across a number of people who looked exactly like characters from the game. She couldn’t just dismiss it as having nothing to do with the game.
And although she couldn’t be sure that the girl she saw at Warram was the ‘heroine; yet……
The fear that the ‘heroine’ will appear soon, and the game’s compelling force would begin to compel her to follow the plot, settled at the bottom of her heart like grains of sand.
And, ironically, the cause of her concern was actually the people she was close to. The so-called ‘capture targets’ of the game, Edward and Alexander.
As the years passed, they started looking more and more like the illustration from the game’s opening, and now they completely resembled the images. The closer she got to them in reality, the more she was reminded of the game’s screen — it was a conflicting existence.
“I see. Put it that way, it does seem difficult.”
“But I do understand that this is the reality for me right now.”
Her family members who reincarnated with her, and the capture targets she met in this world. All of them think, act and live according to their own free wills.
That’s why… Amy lifted Tiger up from her knees and hugged him. His purring voice meow hit her ears, and she could feel his warmth on her cheeks forcing a smile out of her.
Tiger was the main reason she could believe unconditionally in the reality of this world.
After all, believing that this world was nothing but a creation of some writer would be equal to denying the existence of Tiger.
“If the heroine does appear and set the game’s plot in motion I will…”
“You will what?”
“I will go somewhere else with Tiger!”
“……So you want to put your all into running away. I can’t tell if you’re being optimistic or a pessimist.”
If some parts of the game were missing then maybe the future would be able to change.
Especially if the ‘villainess’ Amy was missing, there would be no chance for her to get involved in the plot, let alone oppress the heroine.
Amy had thought about it a lot and she wanted to take the route that would end the game without her family being dispersed or hurt.
But if that happens I definitely wouldn’t be able to see Ed again, she thought.
Somehow this thought made her heart ache.
“Well, I suppose that would be better than letting an uncertain future scare you.”
“Right……. I will do my best.”
“Haha, don’t push yourself too much though, ok?”
Isabel smiled at Amy who, unknowingly, clasped the pendant that rested against her chest.