"Valen?"
On the evening before dinner, when my friends were back in their rooms getting ready for the big dinner we would have and my husband was yet to come back from the banquet preparation meeting, Aunt Nezja caught me staring blankly at the dark sky on the balcony.
I blinked stupidly as my mind was trying to register her presence, and only managed to reply three seconds later. "Oh, you're here, Aunt?"
I couldn't blame her for looking at me suspiciously. "What's wrong?"
Clutching the new scroll I just received tightly, my answer came with a slight flinch. "H-huh? N-nothing?"
Yeah. Very convincing, Val.
As expected, Aunt Nezja came over and sat beside me instead of going back inside. Her uncompromising gaze that always reminded me of a Headmaster made me feel tensed somehow, even if I didn't particularly do anything wrong.
