Young lady albert is cou.., p.1
Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster: Volume 8, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Characters
Prologue
Chapter 1
Idle Memories: Part 1
Chapter 2
Idle Memories: Part 2
Chapter 3
Idle Memories: Part 3
Chapter 4
Idle Memories: Just the Two of Us
Epilogue
Afterword
Bonus High Resolution Cover
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Prologue
“I did it!” shouted a little girl while raising an envelope high up in the air. The paper was beautiful, yet the address upon it was shoddily written, and there was a crooked drawing of a flower on the side of it. All this clumsiness made it evident at a glance that the girl had done everything herself.
There were a few other envelopes atop the table, which she had also made. For an adult, writing letters was more of a simple pastime, but for a child, it was quite the laborious task. The little girl exhaled deeply and wiped her brow, proudly showing off her work. She rotated her neck as if to imply her shoulders felt stiff, causing her silver curls to move softly in response.
“I knew I’d do a good job!” she said, boastfully praising herself. Next, she hurriedly slid off of her chair, grabbed the envelopes, and triumphantly walked out of the room.
“You want to deliver these letters by yourself?” Mary asked, unable to hide her surprise.
The little girl nodded enthusiastically. Her rust-colored eyes glimmered, and her chubby cheeks were a bit flushed. She was overflowing with confidence. Mary knew the expression upon the child’s face meant that she had made up her mind and would see her idea through to the end no matter what.
All Mary managed to get out was “But...” before the girl interrupted her, as if anticipating the rest of the statement.
“It’s okay!” she reassured Mary, drawing closer and standing on her tiptoes to make up for the height difference between them. She hadn’t interrupted Mary out of malice—rather, she simply couldn’t suppress her own excitement. If anything, it was impressive that she was still in the room, since she might as well have run off with the envelopes in hand. “I’m already six years old! I can go out by myself!”
“But there are many dangers outside,” Mary argued. “A stranger might try speaking to you. Wouldn’t that scare you?”
“Nope! I’ll punch them in the flank!”
Mary paused. “I wonder whose influence this is? How awful... Anyway, leaving that aside, what if you get lost on the way?”
“I’ll go by carriage, so that won’t happen! And I’ll bring a map with me too!”
“That’s fine, but at the very least let me and your father go with yo—”
“No! I’ll be okay!” the girl asserted, exiting the room without regard for Mary’s attempts to stop her. The child was so full of energy that Mary could only stare after her, dumbfounded. In fact, “exiting” felt like too lukewarm of a term to use here; it would’ve been more accurate to say the child had shot out of the room instead.
Mary reached out her arm in vain, her fingers grasping the vacant air. She drew it back, then shrugged and let out a deep sigh. “Year by year, she’s becoming more reckless and single-minded...” she grumbled with exasperation.
Someone chuckled at her words, and she glared in their direction. It was Adi, who quickly hid his mouth behind his hand when he noticed Mary’s glower. His gesture was incredibly put-on.
“There, there,” he soothed her, touching her shoulder. He gently rubbed it, but Mary didn’t let herself get caught up in the moment, smacking his hand away to show her objection. Naturally, this didn’t put Adi off in the slightest, and if anything, his smile grew larger. Instead of drawing his hand away, he pulled Mary closer. “She’ll be fine. I’ll inform the driver of what’s going on, and we can follow her carriage.”
“How can you be so relaxed about this?” Mary questioned. “Aren’t you worried about her?”
“Of course I am. However...” Adi looked to the door through which the girl had disappeared, and shrugged.
Most likely, she was walking enthusiastically through the mansion at this very moment, grinning proudly with her chest puffed out, all while her silver ringlets swayed softly. She was sure to exclaim, “I’m going on an errand all by myself!” to any passing servants or maids.
They’d in turn say things like “Wow!” and “How incredible!” only emboldening her further.
The first thing she’d do is go to her room and change into her pink and white dress. Then, she’d put on a matching bonnet, and start choosing what to put into her white pochette with the gold embroidery. This outfit was her favorite lately.
All dressed up to go out, she’d triumphantly walk through the estate, her strides longer than usual on account of her pride. Her silver hair would sway elegantly the entire time.
Adi could easily picture her every move. After all...
“She’s just like you when you were her age,” he told Mary, looking to her for agreement.
Mary had no idea how to respond. His words made her happy, but they also irked her. If she agreed, she’d be admitting that she had been reckless and single-minded when she was younger. It was embarrassing, considering how Mary had behaved a few minutes ago. She was throwing stones while living in a glass house.
However, she couldn’t hide any part of her childhood from Adi. He knew her better than her parents or brothers—better than Mary knew herself, even.
She didn’t feel like nodding along, but she was aware of how she used to be in her youth, just a little bit. Really, only three or maybe four of her memories applied here. That’s exactly why I should take the offensive now, she decided.
“Of course she is!” Mary declared with a huff, flipping her hair from her shoulder. “She’s my daughter, after all. It’s only natural that she resembles me, no?” she prompted, causing Adi to smile wryly and nod. She pursed her lips at the adoring way he gazed at her. His smile was as composed as ever, even while she poked him in the chest with her finger. “But she’s also your daughter, so her recklessness and her one-track mind might have come from you, don’t you think?”
Adi’s smile grew even more at her question.
Roxanne Albert was Mary and Adi’s firstborn, and the start of House Albert’s new generation. She had beautiful silver hair like her mother, and deep rust-colored eyes like her father. Her cheerful smile was as lovely as the sun, and if she stood still, she looked like a figure right out of a gorgeous painting. She could easily capture anyone’s heart.
Her little body was crammed full of adorableness, as she often tried to act like a grown-up, complaining to her stuffed animals that she was sick of being treated like a child.
Roxanne had turned six just a few days ago, a fact which made her incredibly proud. The way she insisted that this made her an adult only amplified her cuteness. I can’t believe she’s already this big... Mary found herself thinking all the time, amazed at her precious daughter’s growth.
“I can track her growth just by walking through the mansion... I see there’s yet another new portrait,” Mary said with a sigh, stopping to look at the painting hanging on the wall.
A beautiful little girl was smiling in the frame. The painter had used watercolors, giving the painting that delicate look, along with an ambiguous, fantastical background. It looked like an illustration from a book of fairy tales. The girl’s silver hair, which appeared pale due to the paint, reflected the pink of her cheeks. Her eyes were gazing back at the viewer happily, as if she were on the verge of reaching her hand out towards them.
Needless to say, it was a painting of Roxanne.
Next to it was another, depicting Roxanne sitting in a swing, and on the other side was a painting of her right around the time she was born. The paintings weren’t all done exclusively in watercolor, but using various methods and styles, and were displayed all over Albert Manor. (This didn’t apply exclusively to the interior either, as currently the castle Roxanne had made out of dirt a few days ago was being safeguarded in the gardens.)
“Lord Lang and Lord Lucian summon an artist to paint Roxanne any time they notice a free space,” Adi remarked. “My brother’s the one who makes the arrangements, so everything happens very quickly...”
“This is no longer Albert Manor. This is the Roxanne Historical Museum,” Mary replied. “Wait! The paintings that used to be here have been replaced with Roxanne’s animal drawings!”
“And here’s a display of her origami. Just how much did this frame cost...?” Adi muttered, staring at the lavish frame, the center of which housed a slightly clumsy origami figure. He could only describe this as surrealism. The apparent skill gap between the craftsmanship of the frame and what it displayed was so large that he could almost find an avant-garde artistry to it.
As for Mary, even if these items hadn’t been her daughter’s creations and she had seen them on display in another family’s mansion, she would still have gazed at them with a smile. In a hoarse voice, she would’ve praised them by saying, “This is what love looks like.”
Alas, everything here had been made by Roxanne—her beloved daughter and the cutest little girl in the whole world.
“She really is adorable. She looks so good in both watercolor and oil paints that I think every artist should try depicting her at least once,” Mary declared.
&nbs
Indeed, both of them had the same opinion when it came to the Roxanne Historical Museum. Of course, if Roxanne were to ever exclaim, “I’m embarrassed!” they would close the museum down instantly. However, that hadn’t been the case. In actuality, when Roxanne’s drawing or origami folding went well, she’d jump up and down and hold her creation out, shouting, “Hang this one up too!”
“Our sweet little Roxanne is going all by herself to hand out the invitations... I’m worried,” said Mary. “I have to go with her.”
“She insisted on going alone, but I’m sure nobody will listen to her. Ah, how nostalgic...” Adi trailed off. Apparently, when Mary was little, she had proclaimed she would be going on an errand by herself too. When Adi asked if she remembered it, she nodded with discontent...
Back then, Mary was six years old, just like Roxanne. On that particular day, Albert Manor had hosted guests since the early morning. They were a married couple who had long been friends with her father, and Mary had seen them numerous times before. Each time they saw her, they’d compliment her and tell her how fast she was growing. They were kind people.
The guests had lunch with the Alberts, and left before evening. However, the woman had forgotten one of her gloves. Usually, they would’ve just sent a servant to take it to her, but little Mary, whose growth the couple had praised so much, volunteered to deliver it herself.
“I’m already a wonderful lady! I can do an errand by myself!” she declared, and flew out of the room without listening to her parents’, brothers’, or even Adi’s protests. She then proudly went to her room, picked out her favorite dress to change into, and exultantly boarded a carriage. All the while, her silver ringlets had rocked to and fro...
The more Mary looked back, the more she realized Roxanne was just like her. “I see. Persuading her not to do it will be impossible,” she admitted reluctantly. “But I can’t let my child wander off all by herself. I know she’ll be going via carriage, but something could happen on the way.”
“That’s why I think we should follow her,” Adi said, adding that they ought to be secretive about it.
Mary frowned, wondering if that would work. She obviously wanted to go, but if Roxanne noticed them, her self-esteem would be wounded. It was troublesome that the child had decided to leave without listening to her parents, but this was part of her growth. Mary couldn’t disregard that, no matter how worried she was.
Such was the source of her concern. Raising children was difficult, so she agonized over every single decision. Her room had a mountain of books about childcare, but would any of them include advice on what to do when one’s child decided to go on an errand by themselves? Once Mary started thinking about child-rearing, her anxieties would mount, and on many occasions she had spent the whole night reading through the books in search of answers.
Yet right now, she didn’t have time to read a book from cover to cover. There was no right answer when it came to raising children, and in the time one spent worrying, the child grew up.
When Mary asked what she should do, Adi smiled and gently rubbed her shoulder, his eyes gazing into hers. “You’re overthinking it, Mary. Roxanne won’t notice us following her. Besides, children do have to run errands on their own eventually. Everything ended well back when you did it, remember?”
“True...” Mary said, her shoulders relaxing as she breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been so worried, yet his words made all of her apprehension vanish instantly. Instead, her heart was filled with unfiltered joy at the growth of her child.
She and Adi would follow Roxanne and watch over her. That they would get to witness their daughter’s growth together made Mary euphoric.
“I’m sure everything will go well if you say so, Adi. Let’s watch over her together.”
“Indeed. I mean, back then you didn’t notice eithe— Ahem, never mind. Let’s go.”
“Wait, did you follow me on that errand?” Mary asked.
“A carriage of simple make is best for the purposes of tailing someone. We should borrow Lord Lang and Lord Lucian’s getaway vehicle. The exterior is plain, but the interior is first-class. How nostalgic... When we were tailing you, we also got onto the getaway vehi— Never mind.”
“You did follow me, didn’t you? And not just you, by the sounds of it. So even back then, my brothers had a getaway carriage, huh?” Mary asked, continuously pestering Adi.
But he pretended not to hear. “Let’s get ready,” he said before vacating the room. He was practically running away.
Mary glared at the door for a while after he’d left, before concluding, “Well, I suppose he and my brothers wouldn’t have been able to just sit and wait for my return.” With a shrug, she followed Adi outside.
Chapter 1
Roxanne’s carriage rocked gently. The interior was stuffed to the brim with high-quality cushions, which Adi had bought one after another when Mary was pregnant. Mary had been certain that once the child was born, Adi’s cushion mania would settle down, but if anything, his condition had only deteriorated further. He’d managed to build up techniques and contacts for getting cushions on the daily, to the point that he was basically a cushion collector.
“I can’t tell if our carriages are supposed to transport people or cushions...” Mary complained with a sigh, picking up one of said cushions. Her and Adi’s vehicle was following Roxanne’s, both of which were filled with numerous cushions.
The one Mary had picked up was a new addition, and when she glanced at Adi, he nonchalantly informed her, “It arrived just the other day.” Worse yet, he even began explaining all about its stuffing and design in detail. He really was a collector.
“I take it that House Albert is steadily collecting all of the world’s cushions,” Mary commented.
“Oh, of course not. I still have a long way before I can boast of doing that!”
“That wasn’t a compliment, so stop acting all humble.”
“Honestly, if my comrades heard you make that claim, I’d be a laughingstock. But I’m sure one day I’ll get there, together with them all...!”
“Wait, is there a cushion community?! Are you and your comrades going global?!” Mary questioned, surprised by such lofty ambitions. However, Adi’s amused laugh told her that he must’ve been joking (though, that wasn’t necessarily guaranteed either).
Still, realizing how much he was enjoying himself, Mary glared at him. She then punched the cushion she’d been holding, but Adi just smiled, unperturbed. He didn’t appear to be offended by her action. Mary sighed in exasperation, flipping her hair off her shoulders.
“What if the world suffers a cushion shortage and House Albert takes the blame?” she inquired. “We might actually fall into ruin this time, because of our cushion monopoly.”
“That won’t happen. If somebody tried to sue us, it’d be the same as suing the royal family, and the country would collapse,” Adi reasoned, gazing out of the window with a dry smile. Mary did the same, watching as Roxanne stepped out of the carriage a little ways ahead of them.
The child walked slowly down the ramp, holding the driver’s hand for support. Her conduct was ladylike and elegant. When did she become so calm and collected? Mary mused, involuntarily tearing up at the sight.
When was the last time Mary had called out, “Wait, you’ll fall!” only to watch her excitable daughter fly out of the carriage anyway? Huh, Mary could’ve sworn it was the day before yesterday!
Regardless, Roxanne began gleefully heading towards a building that was even more lavish than Albert Manor: the royal palace. This place made ordinary citizens and aristocrats alike nervous, and feel the need to adjust their attire. Alas, Roxanne had come here often ever since she was a baby, so she wasn’t anxious in the slightest. She acted as if she were visiting relatives.
That said, she was neither frolicking nor sprinting towards the palace. Quite the opposite—bearing the mighty responsibility of her errand on her shoulders, she was conducting herself with even more primness than usual.
She’s so cute! Mary thought, pressing her hand to her chest. She wanted nothing more than to rush over to Roxanne and hug her, but she managed to stop herself. That would have to wait until they were back at Albert Manor.
