(Chastity Reversed) The Legitimate Wife War: How I, a Harem-Hater, Ended Up Creating an Ultra-Eccentric Harem with a Villainess, a Sadistic Beauty Teacher, a Scheming Classmate... etc. - Chapter 146.2 - Starting Over

“…Eh?”

Only here did Karen-san finally look at Tachibana-san.

Tachibana-san was listening to the family conversation with a dazed expression.

Karen-san and Tachibana-san’s eyes met.

“…!? …Aah.”

Seeing Tachibana-san’s eyes, Karen-san suddenly crumbled.

Looking at her eyes, what did she notice, what did she realize?

Karen-san began shedding tears profusely.

“Eh?”

“You didn’t notice until just now, did you? You couldn’t notice until I came and you regained your senses. Earlier Mizuri said it too, didn’t she? [Your love was painful.] That voice hadn’t reached you until just now either.”

“I… I…”

Karen-san sobbed with wordless groans while crying.

Even so, Kazari-san’s accusatory words didn’t stop.

“I offered myself to the NAZ Agency because I thought you would be happy. Back then I thought I could be happy on my own, so I went to the NAZ Agency alone. I wanted you to pour the love I received onto Mizuri too. I left home because I thought that opportunity would be lost. What you should have done, what you had to do, wasn’t violence but dialogue. Not locking her in a closet, but sleeping together with her in the futon… like you two used to do for me.”

“Aaahhhh…”

Karen-san covered her face and curled up with groans.

At this point, you couldn’t tell which was the parent and which was the daughter.

Finally.

“The pain Mizuri received must have been much more than this. What have you been doing until now—you, the parents who must protect your children, you who should be her greatest allies!”

“Uuh…”

“At first, when I heard this child was entering the fiancée system, I didn’t think it was something like this. I thought she wanted it herself. So I applied as a NAZ Agency maid to confirm what kind of person her partner was.”

Ah, so that was the initial purpose. That was the first I’d heard of it.

She came to confirm what kind of person I was.

“After entering the NAZ Agency, there were of course many difficult things. There were truly many. But those efforts paid off, and I was able to do something for Mizuri.”

“…!”

“My Master is a wonderful person, but very delicate, always anguishing over something. Someone who could empathize with others’ pain. Truly, really truly a kind, admirable person suitable for Mizuri. I… was truly happy to be able to support such a person. I thought they were suitable for Mizuri. I wanted her to be happy.”

Kazari-san…

“That’s why after Father died and the abuse stopped, I thought you had become happy too. I thought there was no way you would abuse her. …At least the old you would never have become like this.”

There was certainly disappointment and disillusionment in Kazari-san’s words.

“The current you is nothing but harmful to Mizuri… You should gracefully step aside.”

“Harmful… yes, certainly so. Thinking back now, what a terrible parent I am… Yes, truly.”

It was a quiet murmur.

These were words that Karen-san, who had been sobbing until now, let slip.

Karen-san no longer had the wildness she’d shown earlier.

“Rinka is right, I really am a terrible parent. Forgetting my daughter, comparing the daughter beside me, abusing her. I… no, we just ran from the mistakes we made. Because of that, I took it out on my daughter. I hated myself for that and ran away more, ran to work, drank alcohol. Really utterly hopeless. I was a failed parent.”

It was self-deprecating.

Not because she wanted forgiveness or anything, it really felt like her heart just leaked into words.

So it was inevitable that denial would come from her.

“That’s not true! You’re not harmful!”

“Mizuri…?”

It was Mizuri-san who denied it.

Because she’s kind.

“Like Kazari-san said, there were certainly many unpleasant things. But not all of them are bad memories. I remember playing with Mother, eating together, laughing while commenting that the taste was so-so. Not all of them are bad memories—there were lots of fun memories too. There were scary times, unpleasant times… but even so, I don’t think Mother is a failed parent!”

“Why would you go that far… I abused you, you know? I even tried to use you as a tool for your father.”

“…Yeah, I know.”

“Then why? Why can you say such things to me?”

“But you also protected me. More than that… I don’t know! I can’t put it into words. I just thought I’d somehow hate it if I couldn’t see Mother anymore. Because I just don’t hate you… you know.”

“Mizuri… I’m sorry.”

For the first time, Karen-san apologized.

“After Father died, I knew Mother was somehow pushing herself too. But since it was just the two of us, Mother had to work too. I couldn’t do anything about it, didn’t know what to say. So I thought you’d worn yourself out. I thought maybe if you took it out on me, it would settle down. But it seems that was wrong.”

Tachibana-san smiled with particular brightness.

That smile was the figure of a daughter worrying about her parent, trying not to make them worry.

“So, like Kazari-san says, why don’t you go to the hospital once? To recover your heart, going on a trip might be good too. I’ll go with you then. So let’s start over, Mother.”

“For me… even someone like me, you’d go that far… why?”

Karen-san covered her face with her hands.

It was like something possessing her was being washed away with tears.

“…I’m surprisingly sentimental, you know? Mother. I wonder who I got this personality from?”

“…!”

I could see people with stretchers running from afar.

The car seemed to have arrived too.

Ayaka-san was coming with various adults.

Our ride had finally come.

“I don’t know if I have the right to say this, but I also… agree that you should go to the hospital… The trigger was probably… me going to the NAZ Agency.”

Kazari-san must have her own thoughts.

She acted thinking it was for the best, and it actually did solve the problem. But other problems arose because of it.

“Yes… like both my daughters say, I’ll do that.”

It was a face of acceptance.

Karen-san’s heart had been broken… honestly, I thought it couldn’t be helped.

Things you want to forget from memory.

…Her daughter’s sale…

On top of that, her husband left, and then she’d break.

No, maybe Hirotaka-san had also been broken.

Otherwise, there’s no way Hirotaka-san, who wasn’t good with women, would have an affair.

Though that doesn’t mean abuse was justified.

Karen-san stood up borrowing the shoulder of an adult from the Hosho family.

She would be going to the hospital now.

To that back, Kazari-san called out.

“I serve a wonderful person. I didn’t want to report such happy news in this form, Mother… So I’ll pretend today didn’t happen. So please recover to be like your old self first.”

“Rinka…”

“Right now I’m Kazari. Please don’t mistake that.”

“…I see. I understand, Kazari.”

Following Kazari-san, Tachibana-san also called out.

“I’ll go to the hospital too… with me… and Kazari-san, onee-chan, and all my fiancés!”

“…Thank you.”

Saying that, Karen-san got in the car with trembling shoulders.

It was such a night where Tachibana-san’s kindness permeated everything.