Chapter 90

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"Meow! Meow! Meow!"

After completing five dresses, the Steward family, who had a busy week, finally relaxed in the family gathering room with their cats.

"?? What's wrong, Ryu?"

Ryu, who used to meow a lot from the past, was supposed to be calm in this world, but now he was complaining to the family.

"Meow! Meow!"

"!? What?"

Worried about William, Emma strained to hear what Ryu was saying. Cat language is hard to understand unless you concentrate. The most important things are the rhythm and love.

"Miss, is Ryu okay? Is he saying his stomach hurts?"

"..."

"Miss?"

"Meow! Meow! Meow!"

While Emma fell silent, Ryu continued to complain. After hearing Ryu's story, Emma turned to the family, trembling with a bad feeling.

"To Mother... about... the... letter...?"

Mersa is traveling to the Imperial Kingdom. Mersa's letters are stored in a special box on her desk, and this must be one of them.

They hurriedly asked Martha to bring the box. All the invitations to tea parties and evening parties that arrive at the Steward family are decided by Mersa, so the box is full of letters.

Since Mersa left, Leonardo has been checking and responding to urgent matters, but something must have gone wrong.

The family divided the work and checked each letter one by one.

"Father, this invitation to a tea party is for the beginning of next week, but Mother is still in the Imperial Kingdom, right?"

William showed an invitation from a certain marquis's family to his father.

"Ah, I already sent a refusal for this one because Mersa is away."

"Then, Father, what about this request for a donation from the church?"

"Hmm? Ah, this is the one where I was going to send 100 gold coins, but Joshua told me to send only 1/10. Since they will come again next month and the month after, I can't reduce the amount... Can't we just send 100 gold coins every month?"

"!!!"

"Father, please don't make decisions alone from now on?"

Georg made a serious request to his father. The Steward family had finally reached a point where they could eat their fill, but if they neglected Leonardo's supervision, they could become poor again in an instant. They couldn't let the father handle the finances without the mother around.

Even if the Steward family made large donations, new churches might be built, but the slums wouldn't disappear. According to Joshua, donations were necessary expenses to avoid trouble and didn't really benefit the people. The three former Japanese brothers agreed with this. "No harm in not touching the gods."

After checking all the letters, which took less than an hour with everyone's help, they reached the last one.

"Hmm? This envelope is the only one that hasn't been opened?"

"Hmm?"

"Since it was at the bottom, it must have arrived on the day Mersa left. We might have been too busy to check it in the morning?"

The decision to send Mersa to the Imperial Kingdom was made late the previous night, so it was understandable that the morning was hectic. It wasn't strange that a letter received in the morning wasn't checked properly.

"......This is a sad...... announcement......"

William slowly rotated the last letter, showing the seal.

"Oh"

"Oh"

"Oh"

The black seal, like a drop of ink, indicated a letter from the royal family.

"What should we do...... This is an invitation to an evening party...... tomorrow night!!"

After quickly checking the contents, they found an invitation to the evening party that caused trouble for William's embroidery class friends and Hanna.

"An invitation from the royal family...... Ignore it!?"

It had been nearly a week since the letter arrived. In noble society, could anything be more dangerous? The servants and Martha, who had been watching nervously, screamed. They started checking the schedule for the next evening, cosmetics, the carriage, and preparing a reply to the royal family.

"Ah...... It seems the reply is already fine. The Steward family is definitely attending......"

"!!! Tyrant!"

The king's unreasonable request was too much. While it's rare for a noble to refuse an invitation from the royal family, it's unheard of to explicitly state it in the invitation.

"Miss Emma's dress is missing!!!"

Martha, who was checking various things, came back with a pale face. The dress for last weekend's evening party was hastily made, and this week, they were busy making dresses for Emma's embroidery class friends and helping Hanna, so they hadn't thought about Emma's dress.

"Ah! Maybe we can try one of the dresses made for Francesca, the twins, or Marion...... No, that won't work......"

Georg suddenly had an idea, but Francesca and Marion had very different body types from Emma. The twins' dresses were closer in style, but they were a bit too revealing.

"We have to...... make it...... by tonight......?"

This was a bitter decision for the family.

"It's impossible...... Absolutely!"

Emma firmly refused.

"But, Emma......"

Leonardo tried to calm Emma, but she didn't budge. She couldn't move.

"I can't...... do it either......!"

William apologized, looking embarrassed.

"But if we wait until tomorrow, we won't have time to make a new one. We also need to prepare makeup and hair...... But...... Ah...... I might not be able to do it either......"

On the laps of Leonardo, Georg, Emma, and William, the cats were sleeping soundly, their heads resting comfortably.

In the family gathering room, where a corner of a rabbit carpet was placed so they could sit on the ground without shoes, the cats had started to purr and fall asleep on their laps while they were checking Mersa's letters. This week, they had been coming home late, so the cats were extra affectionate that day.

Could they move the beloved cats who were purring and sleeping soundly? No, they couldn't. It was impossible.

"Komei......"

Emma stroked Komei's ear.

"Mmm mmm pusu pusu... meow......"

He responded with a happy snore. So cute. The happiness of having a cat on your lap. From the past, no matter how much they needed to go to the bathroom or how numb their legs were, they couldn't let go.

"Uuu so cute...... Ah, so cute......"

Even if their bladders burst, even if they were mocked by other nobles for wearing the same dress, the happiness of having a beloved cat purring on their lap was irresistible.

As time passed mercilessly, the sound of four large cats purring filled the room.

Ryu foresaw the family's frantic future over the dress.

(It's serious! I have to tell them quickly!)

"Meow! Meow! Meow!"

The family started checking the letters.

(Okay, this should be fine! Good, good♪...... Zzz... zzz... zzz... Purr purr purr purr purr purr purr purr purr purr...)

The other cats also started to sleep on their laps.

The family couldn't move.

The next day, they were in a frenzy.

Ryu's foresight couldn't be changed.