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"But our young lady is in the next room right now, and she really wants to see you, Miss Karasuma."
"Does she know me?" Vermouth asked curiously.
"Of course, but that was when you were very young, Miss Karasuma. It's normal that you don't have any memory of it now..."
The old housekeeper's words aroused Vermouth's interest at the time. She really wanted to meet Miss Hatoyama, who had once seen her in a foreign country called "the motherland."
"Is she much older than me?"
Following the old butler walking in the corridor, Vermouth asked curiously.
"Haha, she is a little older than Miss Karasuma, but not much, only four years older." The old butler replied with a smile.
"Why would she want to see me?"
Along the way, Vermouth had a lot of problems.
"For this question, Miss Karasuma can ask my mistress herself...Okay, here we are."
Stopping in the corridor, the old butler turned around, faced the room with the closed door in front of him, and raised his voice slightly outside the door.
"Miss, Miss Karasuma has arrived."
"Boom!"
Suddenly, just as the old butler finished speaking, some strange noises were heard in the room, very hurried, a bit like footsteps.
Vermouth looked up at the old butler beside her in confusion, but the old butler seemed to be used to it. He just stood quietly at the door with that kind smile on his face.
"Well, please come in."
Finally, after a long time, a female voice was heard in the room.
The voice was very special, completely different from those of other traditional Japanese women that Vermouth had seen in the past few days.
There was no suppressed formality in her voice, nor was there the dull and dull tone that had long been numb.
On the contrary, her voice is light and lively.
It was just a very simple word, but like the song of a lark, Vermouth could hear a completely different flavor in it at that time.
It suddenly occurred to her that she might hit it off well with the woman in the room.
"Whoosh."
After receiving a response from the woman in the room, the old butler reached out and opened the shoji door between them.
In an instant, the heat accumulated in the room poured out, dispersing a lot of the coldness on Vermouth's body.
In the room, the first person that caught Vermouth's eye was a woman in a kimono sitting by the window.
She was very surprised because the woman was wearing a black kimono.
That’s right, a pure black kimono without any unnecessary decoration.
Even Vermouth, who doesn't know much about Japanese culture, knows that in Japan, this pure black kimono and mourning clothes have basically the same meaning.
As for this obviously inappropriate attire for a woman, the old butler standing by had no reaction at all and still had that kind smile on his face.
[Why is this person...wearing mourning clothes?Did I remember it wrong? 】
Vermouth really wanted to ask this question, but immediately, her eyes were attracted by another part of the kimono woman.
"Why don't you come in? Little sister of the Karasuma family who has come all the way from afar?"
The woman in kimono gently put down the book in her hand, turned her head slightly, and looked at Vermouth standing outside the door with a smile.
She was very beautiful, with long, smooth black hair tied behind her head with a wooden hairpin. She paid great attention to her manners in every move, and one could tell at a glance that she was the kind of lady from a noble family that was often described in books.
But, but...
[As expected…]
When the woman in kimono put down the book, Vermouth's cheeks suddenly puffed up and her eyes curved like crescent moons.
She was suppressing a laugh.
Because she was completely sure.
This beautiful lady, the book in her hand...
Hold it upside down.
【What a lovely sister. 】
This was the only thought in Vermouth's mind at that time.
I originally wanted to say something, but after thinking about it carefully, it seems that I can’t say anything, so I’ll go to bed early.
Chapter 361 Don’t Forget This Time
"puff."
But in the end, Vermouth couldn't help but laughed out loud.
"Ok?"
The kimono-clad woman in the room seemed unaware of her small mistake. She tilted her head and looked at her in confusion. Then she followed her line of sight and looked at the upside-down book on her lap.
In an instant, Vermouth saw very clearly that the delicate face of the woman in kimono showed an expression of great surprise.
Soon, the surprise turned into confusion. She seemed to have no idea why she made such a mistake.
Then, confusion turned into blushing, and then into struggle. She was probably thinking about how to make a "reasonable" excuse for herself.
But in the end, the struggling look disappeared, leaving only the self-abandonment after completely giving up the struggle.
However, in just a few seconds, these expressions and reactions flashed across the faces of the kimono women one by one, leaving young Belmod stunned.
"Ah... This is really a huge mistake in my life. I wanted to leave a good impression. I should have gotten up earlier..."
With a deep sigh, the kimono woman had a look of self-abandonment on her face. She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling of the room with lifeless eyes.
Until this moment, the image of a lady from a noble family that she had deliberately created completely collapsed.
But Vermouth was somewhat happy.
Because compared to the traditional lifeless ladies of this country, she actually prefers the image of the kimono woman at this moment.
By the way, those strange noises she heard outside the room before were made by the women in kimonos hurriedly getting up?
It’s almost afternoon already...
【What a good sleeper. 】
"Well, forget it."
But this look of self-abandonment only lasted for a short while, and the woman in kimono quickly recovered from it, stood up, and looked at Vermouth who was still standing at the door of the room with a smile again.
"Karasuma-chan, if you don't come in, all the heat in my room will be gone, okay?"
The old butler had quietly left at some point, and upon hearing that, Vermouth quickly took off her boots, entered the room, then turned around and closed the shoji door behind her.
During this process, the woman in kimono was sitting on the chair, looking at her with a smile.
"I heard you came from the other side of the Pacific Ocean?" asked the woman in kimono.
"um, yes."
Although she felt that the woman in kimono would be easy to get along with, Vermouth was still a little nervous. She nodded and knelt down on the cushion by the fire.
It was not until then that she noticed that there was only one chair in the room, and it was right under the woman in the kimono.
Since she couldn't ask the host for food directly, nor could she sit too casually, Vermouth could only sit in the same posture as the traditional Japanese women she had seen a few days ago. However, because she had never practiced in this area, her sitting posture was actually very awkward.
But she didn't realize it at the time.
"Your hair is so beautiful and the color is so unique. Is it naturally curly?" the woman in kimono asked again, her eyes falling on Vermouth's long silver curly hair.
"Yes, it's innate." Vermouth nodded.
"It's so special... Can I touch it?" The woman in kimono waved at her and made a somewhat unreasonable request.
Vermouth hesitated for just a moment, then stood up and walked towards her.
Then, very naturally, the woman in kimono stood up from her chair, stood behind the back of the chair, and motioned for her to sit down.
“Well, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the feel…” Standing behind Vermouth, the woman in kimono lifted up her hair and said seriously.
"Because it's just normal hair..."
Vermouth replied after hearing this, but she seemed to feel that it was not a good idea to just answer like this, so she spoke again:
"I think your hair looks nice, too."
She suddenly remembered that she didn't seem to know the name of the woman in kimono.
"Huh? Thank you."
The woman in kimono accepted her compliment without any modesty, then withdrew her hand, but did not let Vermouth leave her seat. Instead, she walked to the cushion by the fire where she had been kneeling before, and sat down in a very standard posture.
It was much later that Vermouth found out that the woman in the kimono had noticed her extremely awkward sitting posture from the very beginning, but was afraid that asking her to sit down directly would hurt her and make her feel embarrassed, so she deliberately used the excuse of wanting to touch her hair so that she could sit on the only chair in the room naturally.
"Karasuma-chan."
Sitting quietly in front of the fire, looking down at the red charcoal inside, the woman in kimono suddenly asked.
"Do you know why the head of the Karasuma family came here today?"
Her eyes were still fixed on the fire in front of her, and her expression suddenly became more serious.
At that time, Vermouth vaguely felt that the woman in kimono seemed to be talking about something very important, but she was completely unaware of it at that time.
"I don't know. The head of the family didn't tell me..." Vermouth shook her head and answered her truthfully.
"That's it..."
The woman in kimono nodded. The fire illuminated her face, making it red. However, she still maintained that sitting posture with her head slightly lowered, as motionless as a sculpture.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a little depressing.
In a trance, Vermouth seemed to see a deep-hidden emotion in her eyes.
This emotion is very complicated, containing worry, expectation, doubt and even fear, things that Vermouth could never understand.
But in the end, all of those emotions turned to relief.