𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟎: 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
“Ouch! As I thought, I can’t seem to raise my arm to shoulder height, Franca.”
“Is that so? If you don’t move it even if it hurts, the range of motion of your arm will gradually decrease. Please move it a little bit every day.”
Mrs. Franca said this and prepared a compress. The pain, which feels like heat, is subsiding, so she considered that it would be better to exercise without using a poultice soon.
“Hey. I heard your daughter Ellen is engaged. When did this happen?”
“It was yesterday.”
“Oh, I see. That’s a shame. I wanted to meet her at least once since we’ve been talking about it for a while.”
“I’m sorry. They seem to have confirmed their feelings for each other in this war. As a parent, I wanted my daughter, who has once had a pitiful experience, to be happy as soon as possible, so I rushed.”
“I see. That’s a shame.”
The topic of conversation here is the son of the queen’s brother, the second son of the Marquis family, De Verdo. The queen brought up the topic, which is troublesome.
While she was worrying about what to do when the topic came up, Ellen went out to help Stephan, and she gently refused after explaining the situation.
The queen did not give up and had invited her again for tea sometime. However, this young man had a history of breaking off two engagements, so even open-minded Mrs. Franca hesitated. While Ellen was away, she asked someone to investigate just in case, but both women who ended their engagement with the young man kept the reasons a secret. All she could find out was that a large amount of money was involved as long as they kept the secret.
That means there is a reason to pay a large amount of money to keep it a secret twice. It must be a big secret.
Therefore, Mrs. Franca and her husband Rudolph rushed the engagement of Stephan and Ellen so that their daughter would not be chosen as the third partner. It’s the strongest reason to refuse the queen’s nephew.
After treating the queen and having a conversation, Mrs. Franca, who had finished her work, was walking towards the exit of the palace, guided by someone. Then, a voice called out from the right-hand passage.
“Mrs. Franca. It’s been a long time.”
When she turned her face, there was De Verdo himself. He was a young man with a refreshing smile.
“Oh, it’s been a long time indeed.”
“How was the queen’s shoulder?”
“She is recovering well.”
“If you’re on your way home, it’s just right. I have something I want to consult with you.”
・・・
『”𝙰𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜.𝚌𝚘𝚖” – 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎, 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚐𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 “𝚍𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜” 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘 “𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜”.』
・・・
Because the consultation couldn’t be done standing up, it was decided to come to the Bowen house. Mrs. Franca has nothing but a troublesome premonition.
“So, why am I here if you have a consultation with Okaa-sama?”
“It’s crucial that you sit there with a happy face.”
“Huh? I don’t understand. . .”
While having such a conversation, they headed to the reception room. The serious-looking young man greeted Ellen skillfully and drank tea.
“I have something I want to consult with you two right away. It’s about my mother. Before I go into detail, could you promise me that you won’t tell anyone about what we discuss here? I know it’s brazen of me to ask for a consultation and then ask for this. I’m sorry.”
“Of course, we promise. If we were to blabber about other families, we couldn’t be pharmacists.”
“I’m also a pharmacist, so I promise the same as my mother.”
Hearing that, he seemed relieved and started talking. His concern was about his mother. He said his mother has a very bad drinking habit. She is usually mild-mannered and friendly, but once she starts drinking, she can’t stop and starts to abuse the people around her.
“Marquess Verde is said to be weak and has been staying away from social circles, hasn’t he?”
“Yes. But the truth is, she’s not physically weak, she just can’t be taken to places where there’s alcohol. She understands that and doesn’t participate. We don’t keep alcohol in places where my mother can see it at home. However, I can’t possibly hide it from my fiancée.”
“Does the lady get upset at meals and such?”
“Yes. The first fiancée ran out of patience once, and the second one ran out of patience the third time. My mother’s abuse is so bad because she relentlessly attacks what the other person hates the most.”
“That’s… troublesome.”
“I know it’s because of the alcohol, but my fiancée was scared when she saw how much my mother had changed, and when she was verbally abused, she just couldn’t take it anymore…”
Ellen listened in silence, feeling sympathy for both the young man and his former fiancées. The young man’s mother is still young. It’s only natural to think that it would be better to give up on a political marriage than to suffer a long-term relationship with such a person. But that would be too pitiful for the young man.
“My father has locked my mother in her room many times, but when she’s not drinking, she’s calm and cries with regret, and the worst part is that she has almost no memory of when she’s verbally abusive. Seeing my mother’s haggard appearance, my father also suffers, and when he lets her out of the room, she finds alcohol somewhere and drinks it, or goes out alone to buy and drink alcohol. It was a cycle.”
“It’s difficult. There is a medicine that makes you feel nauseous when you drink alcohol, but its effect is low if you drink alcohol first, like a seizure.”
“That’s right. The medicine of that kind is no longer effective. But I thought that maybe Mrs. Franca could come up with a good medicine.”
Mrs. Franca thought for a while, then said,
“I have an idea. But if we don’t hurry, we won’t be able to use it.”
And she began to explain her idea.
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