Chapter 424: Conclusion

There were times when Cordelia would turn metallic for a long time, and since I had to carry her around, she must have overheard me when I was talking to the girls.

I think I said a lot of very compromising things.

Things that would make anyone question me if they heard them, but when she came to her senses, she acted as if nothing had happened, so I figured her brain had frozen up or something like that.

It was quite a surprise that she could actually hear everything.

“You didn’t know?” (Astrid)

“Of course not. If that were the case, she’d already know my secret, wouldn’t she? I feel like I said a lot of revealing things while she was in that state.”

“Ahem, that’s what I was getting at. She noticed something was off, that she was missing something, and that it had to do with your secret.”(Astrid)

“Just that? I think everything she heard would already be easy enough for her to figure out on her own.”

“Ahem!, it’s not that easy, honey. I also just found out that when she caught you in the bathroom, she didn’t look closely and just thought you and Alice were hugging and kissing—she didn’t see your, ahem, friend.” (Astrid)

“Does your throat feel scratchy?… Besides, even so, I think it would be easy to guess. In fact, I think I’ve said more than once that I wanted to do it with you. I said “Instructor Astrid”very clearly.”

“Honey!, your secret is so complicated that it’s hard for anyone to figure out; no matter how many clues you give her, it’s totally normal that she hasn’t figured it out.” (Astrid)

“…”

If Cordelia heard everything I said, it wasn’t just a clue—it was a straight-up confession. I feel like she wants to defend Cordelia and her cluelessness.

But as always, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe what I said sounded so ridiculous that Cordelia took it to mean something else.

“Anyway, wanting to figure it out on her own led her to do and say some things that, well, I think made Alice-chan angry.” (Astrid)

“I really still don’t understand how; I thought it was impossible. Did she tell you how she did it?”

“Ahem, here comes the delicate part and the reason why I thought it was time for everything to come out. Apparently, Lia thought you were only dating Alice-chan.” (Astrid)

“Huh? I mean… how the hell? Just this morning I talked to Lys about the people I was dating. I was carrying her at the time.”

“Uh? Lia, what happened there?” (Astrid)

“I thought it was just a joke… a funny one.” (Cordelia)

“…” (Astrid)

“…”

“Pwahaha!, your daughter is funny.” (Leyla)

“Lily, it’s not funny. Ahem! Anyway, because of that, she… well… honey, sit down and listen calmly until the end.”(Astrid)

“Seriously, what the hell?… Well, I’m listening; I’m curious too. I want to see an angry Alice as well.”

“Okay, what Lia told me happened was that…” (Astrid)

..

.

I listened to Astrid’s explanation of what Cordelia told her. Well, unlike what she said, it wasn’t such a long explanation, but by the time I finished listening, I had a frown on my face…

“ehem! I-I can’t imagine Alice-chan getting angry either, but everything points to her actually doing so, and I’m partly to blame for that.”

“Well, that’s true considering the re-education talks didn’t seem to work, since, in short: Cordelia rejected the idea of a harem.”

“Ahem, large harems, honey. She’s not opposed to a harem, so it wasn’t in vain.” (Astrid)

“But from what I understood, she considers more than three to be a large harem, so it doesn’t help much.”

“Ugh!. Yeah, that’s my fault. You don’t know how it felt when she explained her way of thinking to me. I was the prime example. Being with you had made me forget that I’m still an Argent and how badly everyone there views harems, including Lia.” (Astrid)

“Astrid, how can you forget more than ninety percent of your entire life? Besides, you have a perfect memory.”

“Honey, don’t bring that up when I’m saying something sweet like how the short time we’ve been together has overshadowed my other relationship, and you know very well how my Skill works.” (Astrid)

Well, yeah, she explained it to me when I asked her why she sometimes seemed to forget things. According to her, she can remember every moment of her life, but it’s not like everything is present in her mind at all times.

It’s almost the same as my memory palace. Even though she’ll never forget anything, if she doesn’t look for the information, she can overlook a lot of things, and curiously, that happens quite often.

“Well, anyway, the point is that Cordelia doesn’t view large harems positively, even after all these months of re-education.”

“Haah~ I don’t understand why everything I do goes wrong. Even though I try seriously to make everything work out, it ends up like this in the end. It really is hard to be a mother.” (Astrid)

“Yes, I understand you, big sister Astrid, but you don’t need to blame yourself. The fact that she’s like this means she’s a person capable of having her own judgment and criteria, and that already shows that you raised her well.” (Leyla)

“Lily…” (Astrid)

Astrid seemed very moved by Lily’s sudden sympathy and support; the fact that Lily was a mother herself meant these weren’t just empty words.

It was a heartwarming scene, but Lily continued speaking.

“Yes, though it’s a shame she doesn’t have good judgment.” (Leyla)

“Huh?” (Astrid)

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? Something about her wanting to evaluate Elena or something like that. How dare she say that? I’ve only known her since today, but I already know my place in the hierarchy.” (Leyla)

“Hey, Lily, what are you talking about? There are no hierarchies in my harem.”

“There is, sweetheart. First there’s us, the mere mortals, and then there’s Elena above everything else. All my instincts tell me she’s a superior being.“(Leyla)

Oh! She’s not talking about harem hierarchy; she’s talking about existential hierarchy, and I think what she’s saying doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Lily has good instincts; maybe she…

“Seriously, you two, stop getting off track! And Lily, if you’re not going to help, just stay quiet or I’ll get mad. And just so you know, Lia does have good judgment; otherwise, why did she fall in love with Honey when she was five?” (Astrid)

“But that wasn’t Sweetheart, and from what I heard, that chick was a—”(Leyla)

“Enough! I’m seriously going to get mad; you’re dragging this conversation out unnecessarily.”(Astrid)

“Fine, I’ll be quiet. I’m going over to that corner to wait for the good stuff to start.”(Leyla)

“Alright, it’s true, we got a little sidetracked. Setting aside the fact that the plan failed, the result was somewhat expected—she brought out her yandere side and tried to convince Alice that together they should ’eliminate’ the rest.”

“Honey, that’s a pretty strong word. She just wanted, well, more of your love, and there was never any talk of taking anyone’s life, right, Lia? You wouldn’t do something like that.”(Astrid)

“…No”(Cordelia)

“There you go, honey, so don’t worry” (Astrid)

Thanks to me, Astrid already knows what a yandere is. I didn’t tell her that Cordelia was potentially one; I just subtly explained the concept and characteristics of yanderes to her while we were reading some books.

So she knows exactly what it is, and she denies that Cordelia is one, and I think she’s right.

There were no direct threats to life, and that’s why I just frowned instead of getting angry—maybe because of my recent experience with… Wen?… Yeah!, Wen-senpai—because that wasn’t my first thought either, and I listened calmly to Astrid until the end.

Come to think of it, Cordelia is always like that, scheming behind the scenes and plotting things, but generally harmless, though she does have a tendency to escalate things.

I don’t think that, even though she said “eliminate,” what she meant was to kill the girls; at least I don’t think that would have been her first course of action.

And another thing that I think also kept me from taking it the wrong way is that, well, one of the girls was her own mother.

When Astrid said that part, I could see a lot of conflict on her face; in fact, I think this affected her more than it did me.

After all, Cordelia wasn’t really understanding the implications of her own words, and that’s where I think Alice might have gotten angry or something like that…

So bringing her here to tell her the truth was, I think, a wise decision on Astrid’s part; that way, she’d avoid more situations like that…

Taking our relationship to the next level seems more like Lily’s idea, but I guess it’s so that everything stays together somehow.

That’s the reason for Astrid’s nervousness and her expectations of me: she wants me to somehow manage to wrap this up in a way that leaves everyone satisfied.

Yeah, it’s an unexpected situation, but I’ll definitely live up to her expectations.

I’m not lacking in motivation. I don’t think that just because she rejected the big harems, everything is lost.

In fact, I think it’s a good sign that she accepted the small harems, because it means she’s not really on the wrong path.

A yandere wouldn’t allow or accept a harem under any circumstances, unless that harem was full of other yanderes just as bad—or worse—than her, and since that’s not the case, it’s obvious she isn’t one.

’Yeah, after all, it’s not good to label people with such silly terms.’

Yeah, that’s something I’d already learned, but sometimes words like that describe people really well, like Silvia’s tsundere personality—she refuses to admit she likes Willian and might end up becoming a yandere if she just sits around doing nothing.

’Hmm, I should tie her up and hand her over to Willian so that… no, let’s leave that for another time; what matters now is Cordelia’

“Well, I don’t think it’s that bad yet. I understand why Alice might have gotten angry. Cordelia is really terrible at expressing herself; if you hadn’t told me, I’d still think she hates me.”

“What!? What do you mean by that?”(Cordelia)

“Oh, you’re finally joining the conversation.”

Cordelia finally seemed to step out of her observer mode and get involved of her own accord, but of all the things we’ve said about her and everything else, it seems like this is the only thing that made her stop being passive.

“Answer me, what did you mean earlier?”(Cordelia)

“Hey!, Astrid, look, I’m not lying. Doesn’t it sound and seem like a threat or intimidation? Look how she’s staring at me intently, as if she wants to stab me.”

“…It seems to me she’s just asking about something she’s curious about. Also, her blessing makes her expression get a little stiff when she’s nervous.”(Astrid)

“…”

Given the circumstances, it’s possible she’s right, but she’s playing dumb and ignoring what it really looks like. Well, anyway, since I understand the situation, it’s time to tell my secret, but first…

“I told you to answer. What did you mean by what you said?”(Cordelia)

“Exactly what you heard. You’re really bad at expressing yourself, and for a long time I thought you hated me, until Astrid cleared it up. But that’s not what’s important right now.”

“It is for me.”(Cordelia)

“Come on, that’s in the past. We’re already dating and everything. Anyway, I’m going to tell you about my situation and those ’secrets’ you want to know, but first tell me your own conclusion you came to, considering everything we said.”

“…” (Cordelia)

“Honey, that’s…”(Astrid)

“Come on, Astrid. If she didn’t come to any conclusions after everything we said, there really is something very wrong that, as her stepfather, I have to fix.”

I mean, we’ve been talking almost the whole time as if she weren’t even here, and we’ve already said a lot of things that could be compromising.

If Cordelia still doesn’t come to a conclusion on her own, I’m going to have to pull her aside and give her some lessons in common sense, reasoning, and how to express herself better.

Even though I’m already a bit busy with Selene, who was also a bit lacking in those areas, and Eira’s lessons on anger management and not swearing, but I can add one more to the list.

’Ugh, being a stepdad isn’t easy, and even less so when you’re the stepdad to your own girlfriends.’

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