I arrived at the family dining room. The spacious room was adorned with servants standing patiently in a row, waiting for the arrival of all family members.
In the center of the room stood a large table with beautiful carvings and a high-quality tablecloth. On it, various dishes prepared by the servants before sunrise were already laid out. The dish was Deep-fried Sailfish, consisting of several food items prepared with the best ingredients and high-quality spices from the Southern Continent, and the food itself had an elegant presentation, clearly cooked by a professional.
"Honestly... that looks really delicious," I thought to myself while gazing at the four plates on the dining table, which contained the food served on what looked like antique plates. Above the food, other cutlery had been arranged by the servants as perfectly and precisely as possible.
There were four chairs, one in the middle facing the other three. The middle chair belonged to my father, asserting his position as the head of the Lynch family.
I promptly walked towards the chair usually occupied by me. My own chair was next to my sister Viola's—I mean, John's sister.
After sitting down, I remained silent and observed our family dining room in more detail. This dining room remained just like the familiar one in my memories, so there were no specific differences.
The room was filled with the truly tempting aroma of our food, which made me quite hungry, especially since I had been thinking about everything for so long that my head really needed new energy.
On the other side of the room was another painting of the Cathedral of the Church of Steam and Machinery, although the style of this painting was somewhat different from the ones in other rooms. Honestly, all this proved that this family was truly loyal to the Church of Steam and Machinery, which reminded me of the Moretti family, who were very loyal to the Evernight Goddess. It was somewhat amusing because I could indirectly draw a parallel with the main character.
Come to think of it, John even owned a copy of the Church of Steam and Machinery's scripture. "Heh, of course!" I immediately muttered to myself because of course John would have that church's scripture. He does believe in the God of Steam and Machinery. It would be stranger if he didn't have it.
This room also had a painting of Charles with a more serious expression than in our family photo, wearing a black suit and holding a long wooden cane. Behind Charles was a seascape with many ships, and next to it was a table piled high with papers.
Honestly, the design style of this painting strongly reminded me of the portraits of super-rich Victorian-era businessmen I had found on the internet, which made me truly aware that this world was technically in a Victorian era.
"Heh, Roselle... you truly succeeded in exerting your influence on this world, leaving no chance for other transmigrators to use and show off their knowledge!" I said while tapping the table with an amused expression because of the Emperor.
Because I kept thinking about many absurd, strange, and unimportant things, I unconsciously pressed my temples. Hmm... come to think of it, has pressing my temples become my new habit since coming to this other world?
Well, I've only been in this other world for a few hours... but honestly, in these few hours, I've acquired a new habit. It's really something strange.
After that, my mind became calmer and my face returned to its normal mode. I just sat quietly and stared at the food that looked incredibly delicious, waiting for the other family members.
As I sat quietly, I heard the sound of footsteps with a not-too-fast rhythm heading towards this dining room.
"Ah, that must be Viola..." a familiar thought about my sister suddenly surfaced unconsciously. I remembered that although John usually didn't wake up as early as Viola or their parents, he was actually the quickest to get ready compared to them, which usually made John the first one in the dining room.
Suddenly, a girl of average height for a 16-year-old appeared, with a slim and proportional figure, green eyes, slightly reddish hair, a clean, pale white face, and a polite smile.
She was wearing a dark yellow dress with many intricate patterns, accompanied by a not-too-tight corset. The sleeves of her dress almost covered her palms, made of the finest silk, and the dress had ribbon decorations.
Viola seemed to notice me staring at her and immediately showed a polite smile, then gave a slight bow while holding her skirt.
"Good morning, Brother," she said to me with her polite smile and excellent demeanor.
"Yes. Good morning to you too," I immediately replied to Viola with a faint, relaxed smile that suddenly appeared on my face.
Next to Viola, Elizabeth was seen promptly walking towards Fritzh and the other servants as usual. Of course, Elizabeth was Viola's maidservant.
Hmm, come to think of it, Elizabeth is like Viola's assistant, just as Fritzh is my assistant and the household's assistant. Honestly, thinking about assistants reminded me of when I was on Earth and once worked as a teaching assistant during my university days, though the duties were clearly almost ninety percent different.
Viola promptly arrived and sat down next to me, then looked at the served food with a neutral expression on her beautiful face.
"Brother, you look tired. Is something the matter?" Viola said that and looked at me with a slight frown visible on her forehead.
"Eh." I was somewhat surprised that Viola could notice I had been thinking deeply about many things.
"Yes, actually, there are a few issues going on," I said, looking into Viola's green eyes with a somewhat weary expression. "I feel quite nervous about the event later, especially since they say the prince will be attending and might meet our family." I continued to Viola, slightly lying about what I was actually thinking about.
But I wasn't entirely lying; the original John had indeed been a bit stressed recently, thinking about what he needed to do during the upcoming event. Ugh, remembering that suddenly makes me feel stressed too!
"Relax, Brother. I'm sure the prince will merely express the royal family's gratitude to the company for our family's assistance in building the country's latest model of warship," Viola immediately replied with a calm expression and her gentle voice, clearly trying to reassure John.
"However, of course, we must make the royal family more interested in us so that this family can become stronger," Viola continued with a more serious expression.
"Well... you're right, and don't worry, I will try my best and won't make this family look bad in the eyes of the royal family," I immediately said with a faint smile towards Viola, and we both smiled because of that.
As we were looking at each other, the sound of several people's footsteps suddenly echoed at once, with a somewhat slow rhythm, but they were heading straight for this room.
At that moment, a man with a wrinkled face but a very stern expression, green eyes, and black hair appeared. He immediately looked towards us, his firm gaze assessing this morning.
The man himself wore a typical black businessman's suit, somewhat similar to what I had seen in some English dramas or even famous films.
Next to the man was a woman who looked to be in her thirties, though her actual age was older, with blue eyes and somewhat reddish hair, wearing a calm, smiling expression.
The woman wore a dress set with intricate patterns, seemingly also made of silk, with a not-too-tight corset and colored green. She looked at us and smiled more broadly.
"Good morning, Father," we said, bowing our heads politely to the man. "Good morning, Mother," we continued, bowing our heads politely to the woman as well.
After saying that, they simply nodded and promptly went to their respective chairs.
My heart beat fast as Charles's sharp gaze swept across the room. I quickly looked down, trying to hide the sudden anxiety that made my palms sweat. But it seemed no one noticed.
After he sat down, Charles immediately looked at the food and promptly picked up his cutlery.
Then he immediately made the gesture of drawing the sacred triangular emblem on his chest.
"By Steam!" Charles said before he slowly began to eat.
After Charles took the first bite, we also immediately made the gesture of drawing the sacred triangular emblem on our own chests.
"By Steam!" we all said softly, and we began to eat the food that had been served earlier.
I was eating Deep-fried Sailfish for the first time. As the first bite entered my mouth, I tasted a Western-style dish with many spices and some Asian flavors mixed together very well.
As I took the first bite, I unconsciously glanced around the entire room and at this family. Suddenly, I felt a intense heat in my heart and felt my eyes become watery.
Unconsciously, I thought of my original family while eating this food, which made me feel extremely, extremely sad at this moment.
I remembered what it was like to eat meals with my family before and to eat the dishes my mother cooked. I remembered how my father would always tell stories about his past life during meals and say how proud he was to have a child like me.
I also unconsciously thought that it wasn't just my original family that had disappeared, but also how the original John would never experience a moment like this again because he had disappeared and been replaced by me. This made me realize I was sitting here, enjoying unimaginable luxury, while John's original family would never know an intruder had taken his place. And my family... my original family... might be frantically searching for my missing corpse, or even worse, they had already forgotten me as if I never existed.
"Are you alright, dear?" Eleanor suddenly said that and looked at me for a long time. "Your eyes look red," she continued.
"I..." I wanted to speak, but it was somewhat difficult because my voice had become a bit hoarse. But then I managed to regain control and become calmer. "I'm fine. This food truly reminds me of a certain memory because it tastes so good," I immediately answered Eleanor.
"Isn't it because you have too many thoughts? Are you feeling tense about the event later? Don't worry, dear, you can definitely handle it calmly," Eleanor immediately said to me, her blue eyes looking at me with concern.
"What Mother said is absolutely right, you can get through it well," Viola suddenly joined the conversation and smiled at me.
"Of course. Thank you, Viola," I said, looking at Viola. "Thank you, Mother," I continued.
"Of course, my dear. Be calm and believe in yourself," said Eleanor, her blue eyes looking at me with a softening expression.
"You must do your best during the event. Make the royal family and those foolish nobles realize they must understand we are stronger than them," Charles suddenly joined the conversation and looked at me with his stern expression.
"After all, they are indebted to us for the help we provided them. Of course, they should respect us accordingly," he continued.
"After all, compared to those foolish nobles who have barely contributed to the country, this family has supported this nation many times," Charles said that with a somewhat dismissive expression but still looked at me with his green eyes.
I just remained silent and didn't comment on Charles's statement because I was confused about what to say. Although I somewhat disagreed with Charles's statement—because, as I recalled from the novel, Audrey had helped the common people many times, and compared to some truly outdated nobles, all of this family's money was essentially useless paper.
We finally finished eating, and Charles was handed a newspaper by one of the servants and began reading it seriously.
Then suddenly he spoke while looking at me. "I suppose it's time I started considering your future partner. I will try to find a Viscount who is short on funds and then arrange a marriage between you and their daughter," Charles said that with a serious face.
Hearing that, I was suddenly shocked, but I immediately remembered from the original John's memories that a conversation about this had apparently been mentioned by his father a week ago, although John hadn't taken it seriously at the time. But I don't want to change the plot! What if the person I marry turns out to be an important noble? No! I reject this idea!
"But Father... I think it's better for me to develop those factories first rather than get engaged to someone," I immediately said that while looking at Charles with a serious expression.
"You don't need to do that. Besides, you can develop the factories more easily if you are officially engaged to a noble," Charles said with a furrowed expression.
"All this time, our family has only had one shortcoming: the lack of blue blood in this family. With you engaged, it will silence those foolish nobles," Charles continued with a faint, dismissive smile.
"I agree with your point on that, Father. But clearly, it can be postponed because, compared to now, there are more pressing matters we need to think about, such as the increasingly tense relations between Loen and Intis, or between Loen and Feysac, which are making our trade flows much more difficult than before," I immediately made up a far-fetched excuse to counter this request.
"This is just as pressing as those matters. Besides, compared to the deteriorating relations, they won't become critical unless the country goes to war. But as long as war hasn't broken out, there won't be any significant difficulties, and it's far more difficult to do business because those foolish nobles sometimes obstruct us," Charles said indifferently.
"It's still an unknown variable whether the nobles' perspective will truly change if I get engaged to a Viscount's daughter," I hurriedly refuted Charles's statement.
We continued our debate, which grew increasingly intense because I truly rejected any arranged marriage for myself, as it could affect the plot and might ultimately lead to Klein's death. And if Klein dies, I'm sure the story would collapse, given that the entire novel is built around Klein as the main character.
"Besides, wouldn't doing that be like begging to those nobles?" I said that while looking into Charles's green eyes with my firm expression.
"Hah. Let those foolish nobles think we are begging until they realize we will control them later," Charles again rejected my thought.
Viola, who had been quietly silent until now, suddenly said something. "Father, doesn't the teaching of Steam and Machinery state that one should prioritize innovation for the common good over personal interests?" Viola said that gently.
"Correct," Charles replied indifferently, glancing at Viola.
"Then, wouldn't it be better to postpone Brother's engagement since he hasn't yet provided you with any innovations beneficial to society?" She looked at me with a relaxed expression.
Heh, heh. So you mean I'm useless! If I wanted to, I could have started a company and run away from this house long ago; it's just that I'm not interested in doing that!
I felt slighted by Viola's statement about me, but I just looked back at her with a faint smile.
Charles looked confused and furrowed his brow again, but unconsciously he stroked his chin as if he were thinking about all this seriously. Then his expression returned to its stern mode.
"Yes, you are right. Perhaps the engagement can be postponed for a few years," he said that indifferently. But that made me very happy!
"Thank you, Viola! You are my savior today!" I muttered that in my heart. It's truly wonderful to have a kind-hearted sister!
Then, at that moment, Viola leaned close to John's ear and whispered.
"You owe me one now, my dear brother," she said that and then looked at me with her faint smile.
I just looked at her expressionlessly because I was indeed still very grateful to her... but I hope all these debts of gratitude will be easy to repay...
…
After the family mea
l earlier, I immediately went to the front hall, and I instinctively pressed my temples. Then I remembered that I needed to prepare myself for all the events I had today…