Chapter 51: A Warm Welcome at the Deretia Estate

The next morning, Celian prepared breakfast using simple cookware over the campfire.

Whether it was Celian’s meticulous preparation or the thoroughness of the Deretia family, I couldn’t say, but using ingredients stored in the carriage, she was able to prepare a surprisingly decent breakfast.

Even her movements while cooking in the wilderness looked quite skilled.

After a quick bite, the repairs on the carriage were completed the night before, and there was no reason to stay here any longer.

Although I was concerned that something might break again, the carriage didn’t face any issues and arrived safely at Celian’s estate.

When the carriage stopped, the servant opened the door and guided us out.

Before us stood the massive estate.

Celian’s mansion, as expected of the Deretia Marquis family, was dazzling even from the outside.

In the garden, I could see a fountain, and on the other side, there was a statue, likely of a past hero.

The mansion appeared to already be in full swing, with only a few servants visible.

Given that our arrival had been delayed due to the sudden accident, they probably only received word when we passed the city entrance.

“Let me show you around,” Celian said.

I entrusted my personal luggage to one of the butlers standing by and followed Celian as she led me through the mansion.

The mansion was quite large, but fortunately, it seemed that it had been built by the same architect as Yuri’s mansion, or at least followed a similar structure. This made it easy to get familiar with the layout.

After visiting several places, Celian guided me to the room I would stay in.

“This will be your room while you’re staying here,” she said.

Entering the room, I noticed that the guest room was decorated more lavishly than I expected.

Though I didn’t have the best taste, I could tell that a fair amount of effort had gone into decorating this room, judging by my own cheap sense of money.

Even the decorations in the room were all things that matched my tastes.

The simple design of a table in one corner looked almost identical to a table I had bought after being impressed with its design during a shopping trip, although this one was finished far more elegantly, meaning the price difference was probably considerable.

This was the room I had often imagined before going to bed during my days as an assassin…

A dream of someday quitting the life of an assassin, leaving the noisy world behind, and enjoying a leisurely life in a home decorated to my liking.

Now that I had actually quit being an assassin, this room reflected the dreams I had once only imagined.

I would fill this room with bookshelves full of novels, place workout equipment here, and set up a table for tea in another corner, just as I had always thought.

It was a room full of everything I had imagined.

But there was one thing that struck me as odd: this room seemed to be a bit too tailored to my unique tastes for a guest room.

I wasn’t being self-deprecating, but my tastes were a bit different from the average person’s.

Given my past growing up as an assassin, it was only natural. I didn’t intend to deny it. Even my dorm room had always been a little more bleak compared to others.

If this room perfectly matched my tastes, then from a general perspective, it might not be received too well by most guests.

I briefly wondered if someone had deliberately designed it this way for me, but it was just an absurd fantasy.

The Deretia family wouldn’t go so far as to redesign a guest room just to match my tastes.

I had never told anyone about my dreams, not even Celian. While Celian had spent a semester at the academy close to me, we hadn’t spent enough time together for her to know my preferences in detail.

So, this room must have simply been a coincidence, perfectly matching my tastes by chance.

“How do you like it? Do you like the room?”

“Yeah. It’s surprisingly perfect for my tastes.”

“Yes. I haven’t forgotten anything that El told me, piece by piece.”

From Celian’s words, I could feel her consideration, as she had remembered everything I had casually mentioned and assigned me the guest room that seemed most suited to my tastes.

“Ah, are those novels on the bookshelf?”

I asked, pointing to the bookshelf I had seen earlier.

“Yes. I filled it with books of a similar genre to those I recommended to El. You can read them when you’re bored; they should be fine.”

The books I had read throughout the semester had piled up, all novels I had read following Celian’s recommendations.

Celian seemed to know my tastes well and often suggested romance novels among women.

Since I had become a woman myself, I could easily relate to the female protagonists, and given that I still remembered my past as a man, I naturally connected more with the parts where the story involved a woman falling in love.

Though I was in a woman’s body, my tastes were something I couldn’t speak of openly, but fortunately, Celian seemed to think of novels as just novels and didn’t look at me oddly.

Since I would likely be busy with Celian during the day, I thought I’d read before bed later on.

“But… is it alright that I didn’t greet the Marquis or anyone else?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll see them during the meal later. It would be a waste of time to show your face twice, don’t you think? You’d be better off spending that time…”

“That’s true. The Marquis must have a schedule too, so it would be selfish to take time out just to greet them.”

“…Exactly. So don’t worry about it. For now, shall we unpack?”

Celian picked up one of my bags, which had been placed by the servants earlier.

It wasn’t the bag I had packed when I first left the academy, but the one Yuri had given me along with clothes.

“You definitely didn’t have that bag when you left the academy, did you?”

Celian also mentioned that I had left with only one bag, and she unlocked it.

Since the bag was full of clothes, I thought it might be better to unpack in the dressing room, but the bag was already wide open.

It seemed Celian had the same thought, as she paused the moment she saw inside the bag.

She then reached into the bag and pulled out a dress.

“That’s… a new one, isn’t it?”

“Oh, when I went to Yuri’s place, she gave me clothes she didn’t wear. She said they were practically new and it would be a shame to waste them.”

“…I see.”

Celian put down the dress and then pulled another item from the bag. This time, it was the academy uniform.

“Um, El?”

“What?”

“Is this… your academy uniform?”

“Yes? Of course, it’s mine… Oh, right. I got another one from Yuri’s house when my uniform got torn.”

With several new clothes now in my possession, I hadn’t needed to wear the academy uniform before returning to the academy, so I had completely forgotten about it.

I handed the clothing bag to Celian and started unpacking the bag I had originally brought with me.

As I carefully put my now familiar women’s undergarments into the drawer, Celian’s voice called out to me.

“El?”

I turned my head, and Celian was looking at me. In the process, her gaze subtly drifted toward the underwear drawer, as if curious about what I was doing.

Well, I wasn’t the type to be shameless enough to slack off while helping Celian unpack.

“Did you call for me?”

Without saying anything, Celian’s gaze went back and forth. When I spoke to her, she seemed to have realized that I wasn’t slacking off and turned her gaze toward me.

“Shall we go?”

Instead, Celian grabbed my hand and, without waiting for my answer, began to pull me somewhere.

Of course, there was no reason to refuse, and since Celian was stronger than me, I quietly followed her, diligently matching her pace.

We arrived at a room on the upper floor.

Though she didn’t say exactly which room it was, I immediately realized it was Celian’s room as soon as we entered. It looked similar to the dormitory rooms, and without hesitation, she led me inside.

She took me to the dressing room.

Why did something from Yuri’s house a week ago come to mind now?

“Celian?”

After entering the dressing room, Celian finally let go of my hand. Instead of answering me, she began rummaging through the clothes.

…Wait, no, that’s not right?

In the end, my bags had increased to a total of three.

Just like with Yuri, or perhaps even more so than with Yuri, I had spent a longer time in a fashion show.

Both Yuri’s clothes and Celian’s clothes fit me well, except for the fact that they were a bit larger around the chest area. Overall, the fit was comfortable.

Although I felt tired and embarrassed, I had to think positively. After a bit of hardship, I had received several clothes I could never have imagined buying with my own money, so it was an incredible bargain.

I wondered if I would ever choose these clothes for comfort over fashion, but I decided not to comment on that part.

“I should have done this sooner, but I was a step behind. Anyway, I guess even Yuri can’t let her guard down.”

Why am I competing with Yuri over something like this, Celian? Even now, Yuri, who must be resting comfortably at the mansion, probably has no idea about Celian’s competitive spirit.

Well, since Celian seems satisfied, I decided not to make any further remarks about it.