The talk ended after Mother poured her heart out to me. All I could do was just sit there and listen though. So apparently Mother had a really different image of Father all this time. He thought that Father was a cool man with a silent temperament, never knowing that the reason Father didn't talk much was because he was simply bad at it.

All the talking took longer than expected that by the time we were done it was already lunch time. When Anastasia told Mother about it she requested the meal to be brought to her room like usual.

“Mother, do you eat alone in this room every time?”

“Hmmm? No, Anna always accompanies me when I eat.”

“I don’t think she meant it like that.”

Maybe this is a chance to bring Mother to outside even a little while. I didn’t really see it when the room was dark but looking at Mother in the light I could see that her skin was really pale. I was also afraid that she didn’t get enough fresh air just staying inside this room all year round.

“Mother let’s eat this lunch in the garden.”

“Why?”

“We can see flowers and we can enjoy the fresh air and many other things.”

“Oh my, Milady. That is such a good idea. Let us go.”

“Wait, why do I want to go outside in this kind of heat. I don’t even...”

Before Mother could finish her sentence Anastasia gave her a really scary glare. Seeing the glare Mother quickly closed her mouth and sat nicely like an obedient child. Anastasia then dragged Mother back to the side room. This time there were no loud noises though, just some cloth rustling. Once again the door of the side room opened and Mother emerged. She no longer wore her pajamas, she changed into a simple bright yellow dress and a wide brimmed hat. Seeing that Mother still had a reluctant expression I got up from the sofa and approached her then I grabbed her hand.

“What is it Charlotte?”

“I will hold on to you so you won’t run away.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Another good idea, Milady.”

“Why am I being dragged like a prisoner?”

While I grabbed Mother’s left hand Anastasia grabbed the other one. We then led Mother to the garden gazebo where I was this morning. Once again I saw the servants stealing some looks at us. For another reason this time, the morning was weird because I appeared with Anastasia, the afternoon was even weirder as we finally appeared outside pulling the introverted lady of the house to the garden. I also gave an instruction to one of the maid to check if Brother already came home.

The journey back to the garden took much longer than before because Mother wasn’t used to walking a long distance, or so she said. I didn’t think that the distance was that far though, sure our mansion is big but it wasn’t as big as the castle where you need a full day to go from one end to another. Anyway after the long walk we finally arrived at the gazebo. There the maids already prepared the place for lunch. The maids saw us coming and pulled the chairs for us. I and Anatasia sat Mother down. I invited Anastasia to join us but she refused saying that I should use this opportunity to get closer to Mother. I also realized that when there were other people present Anastasia 

After the both of us were seated the food was immediately presented before us. The meal followed the standard 3 course meal, with appetizer, main course, and desert. 

We ate the meal in silence. During the meal I could see that even though Mother usually hides herself in her room, she still ate her meal with elegance of a noble lady. Maybe the event that happened this morning and the revelation about her true self distorted my image of Mother. I really didn’t think that she could even be my etiquette tutor in table manners and her gracefulness.

“Charlotte, are you surprised that your Mother has such a good table manner? Good, praise me more.”

Mother whispered such a thing to me during the meal. It seemed that her real personality leaked out a little bit at the end.

After the meal the maids cleaned the area and put tea and cookies on the table. Then Mother ordered them to leave us alone. In the end only I, Mother, and Anastasia were left in the garden.

“HAAAAAaaaaaaa… that was really tiring.”

“Good job holding back, Clarina.”

“So that was an act?”

“Hmm? Not really, guarding your image in front of other people is a noble thing after all so I guess it was a part of the job?”

“I see...”

As soon as the other people exited the garden Mother gave a really long sigh. What she said made sense though, we as nobles were thought to erase our emotion and act like a puppet all day long. That though made me wish that I was born in a normal family instead. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy all this luxury anymore but at least I could just be myself.

“Charlotte what’s wrong?”

“I thought that it would be better if we are just a normal family.”

“That’s true. But we the people that were born as nobles have our own duties that the ordinary people couldn’t do. Maybe our family wasn’t the best family in the world but sometimes there are things more important that you should pay attention to like the life of the people in this duchy and many other things. Those are the duties that we as a noble have.”

Hearing what Mother said I could only nod my head. I finally saw the flaw in my plan, especially the one for Father, I was just thinking about our own family and I forgot about our duty as nobles to the people. I just hoped that our family would finally be together without paying attention to many other things.

“Not like I can say anything about it since I just hid inside my room though.”

“Do you hate it that I brought you here?”

“No? I think that it's pretty nice to be outside once in a while. Also I got to spend my time with my precious daughter.”

Mother’s answer made me blush, that was the first time she ever said anything like that to me. Seeing me redden like a tomato Anastasia and Mother laughed softly. They really resembled each other in this kind of situation.

While I was busy trying to control my facial expression I heard a hurried footstep nearby. I then saw Brother running towards us.