“You’re here.”
A mature voice resonated in the quiet office. I bowed my head and politely greeted the woman sitting at the wide desk.
Her name was Artasha Blanc. With white hair strikingly similar to Tina’s and slightly darker blue eyes, she was the head of the Baron Blanc family and Tina’s mother.
To sum up Artasha in one word… she was an impressive woman.
Originally, Bonnie Blanc, who was the head of the Baron Blanc family, was obsessed with gambling. Despite tight finances, he accrued debts just to gamble.
His end, as expected, was not a good one. He squandered all the family wealth and, lost in alcohol, got into a harsh skirmish one night with some ruffians.
He even lost the clothes and jewels he wore, tripped over his own feet, and ended up with a concussion. A truly miserable fate for a gambler.
Listening to Renihel, it seemed that with Bonnie’s death, the Baron Blanc family should have collapsed. Not only was there no family fortune, but due to the immense debt Bonnie left behind, no one wanted to inherit the family head position.
The person who has managed to keep this doomed family afloat until now was Artasha. She stayed up nights studying management, determined to protect the family, and managed to keep it going with her outstanding business acumen and unique accounting methods.
While there were still enormous debts left in the Baron Blanc family, the fact that this mansion stood firmly was entirely thanks to Artasha.
If Artasha had been the head of the Baron Blanc family from the beginning, it might have turned out to be quite a respectable household.
‘Come to think of it, Tina is quite selfish too.’
In the original game, Tina was a timid character obsessed with reading. Therefore, she was always found glued to the library like a ghost. There was even a narrative that when approached, she would flee to the library to escape the pressures of home.
Meanwhile, her mother was sleeplessly toiling to pay off the family debts, and the only daughter was not only unhelpful but wasting time on reading. What kind of unfilial behavior was this?
I couldn’t help but feel pity for Artasha. She loved her family so much, yet her pillar, her husband, was drowning in debt from gambling, and her daughter, who should’ve been her support, was turning a blind eye to her.
“Please wait a moment.”
Artasha said briefly and shifted her gaze back to the documents. Silently following her instruction, I sat on the sofa and maintained my silence. After a while, Artasha let out a short sigh and sat across from me.
“Tina. You know you’re already fifteen, right?”
I had felt this way before, but Artasha’s voice directed at her daughter was rather cold. It was evident that Tina and Artasha did not have a good relationship.
“Yes. I know.”
“Really? Is that why someone who knows that is spending all day holed up in their room reading? Do you have any thoughts on that?”
Her cold voice flowed into my ears, filled with clear accusations. The chilly atmosphere made me feel unconsciously intimidated. No wonder she was the head of the family; Artasha certainly exuded a formidable presence.
This was likely the kind of “pressure” Tina mentioned in her lines.
If it were Tina, she’d probably take this as nagging, but to me, it sounded like a mother’s anxious concern. If Artasha truly disliked her daughter, she would have ignored her whether she was reading or out causing trouble.
“I’ll be debuting you in high society this month, just so you know. I won’t watch you sit around eating like a slacker any longer.”
Her tone was intimidating.
This was why Tina probably ran away to the library. It wasn’t hard to understand. At just fifteen, Tina was merely a middle schooler in her teenage years.
At that age, it’s common to take whatever parents say as nagging. Moreover, if Tina’s act of rebellion was just hiding in her room, it wasn’t too far off from normality.
If I were actually fifteen, I would have found Artasha’s words quite unpleasant. But that was just me when I was fifteen.
My teenage years had passed a long time ago.
Having spent half of my previous life as an orphan, I didn’t know much about family love, but I wasn’t so dull that I couldn’t recognize my mother’s genuine concern.
Looking at Artasha, whose eyes were exceptionally cold… no, my mother, I smiled softly.
“I’ll follow your words.”
Without a second of hesitation, Artasha twisted her face into a scowl in response to my words.
“I knew you’d respond that way. But this time, your will is completely unimportant. Right after—”
With her voice raised, Artasha suddenly stopped talking as if she had been struck by lightning. She blinked for a moment, staring at me with wide eyes.
“What did you just say?”
“I said I would follow your words.”
My same response made Artasha appear quite flustered. Did she not expect my answer to be like that? Seeing her always dignified figure displaying such a confused demeanor was quite a sight.
“Ah, ahem. Yes. I’m glad you’re following. I’ll notify you of the plan later, so just wait.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“…What?”
I could almost hear the chair creaking under Artasha as her body trembled noticeably. Whatever startled her, her eyes were quite wide open in surprise.
“What… what did you just say?”
Artasha asked me, looking at me with trembling eyes. I calmly cleared my throat and spoke again, just in case she hadn’t heard me properly.
“I said I understood.”
“Not that. What did you call me?”
“…Mother?”
Artasha’s eyes began to shake again. Seeing a woman I had always thought was emotionless show such flustered reactions made me feel a bit flustered myself.
Could it really be because I called her ‘mother’?
Oh, surely not.
It shouldn’t be surprising to call my mother, mother.
“…Okay, go in and take a rest.”
“Yes.”
I politely bid farewell to Artasha and slowly exited the office. Cautiously closing the door, I leaned my head against the wall and let out a deep sigh. As the tension dissipated in an instant, I felt slightly drowsy. Since it was my first proper encounter with Artasha, I must have been quite nervous without realizing it.
‘…Still, considering everything, I think that went pretty well?’
There didn’t seem to be any animosity in Artasha’s last glance at me. Instead, it felt like there was a hint of goodwill. It seemed I might have an easier time winning Artasha over to my side than I thought. For my comfortable life as a wealthy freelancer, her help was absolutely necessary, so I could say today’s venture was quite successful.
Well, there was another reason too.
I felt sympathy for Artasha. In the game, she was portrayed as the villainous mother who pressured Tina and was the source of her stress, but now that I had been in Tina’s body for three months, it was clearly evident.
Artasha was a strong mother working tirelessly to support her family, even at the cost of her health. And she was a kind mother who truly loved her daughter, Tina.
While Tina rejected Artasha’s love, I wanted to be able to help her in some small way. Although I wasn’t her real daughter, I wished to be a small source of comfort to her as she carried such a heavy load on her own.
Isn’t it too harsh that even as she exerted herself late into the night, her own daughter could not provide any solace?
“Then my first goal will be to get close to my mother.”
But there was one problem.
I am not Tina.
Naturally, since I wasn’t Tina, I didn’t know much about Artasha. I didn’t know what food she liked or what hobbies she had. Even if I wanted to do something to win her favor, I couldn’t think of anything clever right away.
“Hmm… What does Mother like…?”
I pondered while tapping my chin with my finger.
I thought she seemed pleased when I purely followed her words, but it would be fundamentally hard to get close to her like that.
I couldn’t think of a solid approach, but I wasn’t overly worried. In times like this, I could seek help from others. Thankfully, there were a few servants who had worked in the Baron Blanc family for years. Asking them for advice would surely be of great help.
Should I ask Renihel?
She had been working here for a whopping fifteen years.
She would probably know what Artasha likes.
