CH 24

Chapter 24 – Big Silkworms and Violet Spider



“…what is? this?”



The moment Arban entered Emma’s shed, he asked with a tense smile.



“What? This is uncle’s silkworms, you know?”



Emma answers like it’s a matter of course.



“…aren’t they too huge?”



Silkworms are insects. No matter how big it gets, it’s body length couldn’t possibly exceed 10 centimeters. Arban, who is an expert in this field, couldn’t believe that the large larva William’s holding is a silkworm.



A silkworm… is 50 centimeters… furthermore, it’s plump and fat.



“A year ago, when Uncle sent a research paper about whether or not silkworms could become bigger, I also tried it out myself.”



With sparkling eyes, Emma talks.



She tested out the feed and crossbreeding, environment, and every little detail.



When Emma finally decided on mulberry leaves, the feed that passed through a lot of trial and error, the silkworms successfully became huge.



Right now, 50 centimeters is the best size in terms of breeding and cost.



It’s just, is it possible to color the silk thread through the feed? She wants to know her uncle’s opinion.



With sparkling eyes… Emma recites her research.



A genius.



Thought Arban. It’s true that in the research report he sent, he raised many hypotheses on how to largen a silkworm. But, the research needs a large number of samples, an enormous amount of work, and many comparisons. Furthermore, based on the comparison results, it requires to compare repeatedly how effective it is, how much was the quantity, and how much is strengthened. It was a hypothesis that even university researchers find troublesome.



This niece of mine has succeeded in doing it. Not just doing it, she also has results, which is rare.



Yet, this is not the result of some consequences, but her real accomplishment. Is it a good thing to master biology?



“Emma? Did you research this by yourself?”



“Hm? George nii-sama and William also help me with their aid. The comparison test was pretty hard since we have to give each silkworm a different feed.”



Emma answers smilingly. My niece is cute even at a time like this.



William makes a distant look as he doesn’t want to remember that moment. It must have been tough.



I know that our territory’s silk improved its quality when I was attending university. Palace’s climate is warm, so it is a suitable environment for silkworms, but that alone can’t explain the fine quality of the silk.



Even when I heard it from my older brother’s letters, he only told me that the territory has a good researcher and helper. Confidential matters can’t be written in letters, so it can’t be helped. Be that as it may, who knows that it’s about my own little niece and nephews. Now I can understand the painful feelings of my brother who told me nothing.



Maybe, it’s beyond any expectations for older brother himself. He still can’t understand it even now, doesn’t he?



While Arban’s thinking on his own, ‘Ah, right…’ Emma brought an insect cage from the room next door.



“Uncle, let me introduce you to a spider I like most!”



‘Why spider?’ when he’s thinking so, he peeps into the insect cage.



A big… violet purple is there. It’s as・big・as・Emma’s・face.



Why even spiders become giant like this?



Arban has a shocked look on his face.



“Isn’t it such a pretty violet color? A translucent violet just like Uncle and the others! That’s why I named it Violet!”



Emma… the problem is not the color but the size, you know?



The shocking point is a bit off.



But a spider who has the Stuarts’ peculiar eye color is undoubtedly pretty, and Emma, who introduces her favorite, is innocently cute.



Between the siblings, only Emma has green eyes inherited from her mother.



Emma takes out the spider from the cage. William, who realizes the bitter expression on Arban’s young face, gives a further explanation.



“This spider seems to ate the feed used for making silkworms larger.”



So that’s why the spider became this big? Is that so, my nephew…



Gigantification doesn’t happen immediately, you know?



The spider climbs Emma’s arm and further settles on the top of her head. This picture-like scene is supposed to look great.



“That’s right, this spider is amazing!”



Emma boasts to Arban with glittering eyes throughout.



If it has come this far, let’s act like I’m not shocked by anything she said. There isn’t anything more shocking than gigantification… right?



“If I place this spider on my head, I can run super-fast, you know?”



I can’t understand anymore…



・・・



That was going back to three days ago.



After being harshly scolded for going out in the middle of the night, she decided to verify what was that Emma’s fast running.



She goes out to the garden, and with the family and cats watching, she sprints at her full speed.



“?”



“?”



“?”



“Meow?”



It was normal.



Koumei-san, who runs along because she gets into the mood, catches up to her in no time.



George could catch up composedly, William could catch up if he did his best. It was like a usual noble daughter running.



“Huh?”



Already running out of breath without being able to run a full lap, Emma tilts her head in confusion.



That time she ran for how many kilometers without getting tired. Furthermore, maybe because she wasn’t found out, so she didn’t say it, but Emma also feels like she couldn’t do the 2-meter jump.



Leonard and Melsa both look at George.



“No, no, it wasn’t a lie, alright! Moreover, in pitch dark, she ran without hesitation at all! With slippers!”



Emma, who is too impatient to change into shoes, ran with slippers. The next morning, Martha, who just calmed down from the shock, found the muddy slippers and scolded Emma even more.



“……because it was at night?”



William suggested that maybe Emma’s feet can become fast with a condition.



‘I hope you don’t say it like I’m some kind of werewolf or a vampire,’ Emma thought. But she still goes out at night to the garden while rubbing her sleepy eyes, and with the whole family and cats watching, runs.



It was normal.



Koumei-san, who runs together, also runs behind Emma leisurely.



Because the night is dangerous, she’s such a kind cat.



As Emma can’t see well in the dark, she is slower than at noon.



That time she didn’t bother the night darkness. She only thought that it was dark after her feet were caught by the men that make her fell down…



“Is it a brute power coming from a sense of crisis?”



While groaning, ‘Ummm,’ William tries to explain some unexplainable phenomenon.



Leonard and Melsa both look at George.



“…it really is not a lie, you know?”



‘Even if I lie, there’s no use…’ George says but with a voice that gradually becomes smaller.



The atmosphere of nothing being unsolved surrounded the whole family in an instant.



At that moment, Koumei-san put his front paw on Emma’s head.



“Meow”



The paw is squishy on the head, and it feels good.



” ” “Ah-!” ” “



The three siblings exclaim at the same time.



” ” “Spider-!” ” “



Now that you mention it, the spider rode on my head that time.



William goes to take the spider at once.



During the time William went, Emma was greeted by the misfortune of getting scolded for running with a spider on her head. She reaps what she sows.



The mother, Melsa, looks at the spider William brought and frowns.



It clearly becomes bigger than the time Emma showed it to her gleefully when she just caught it. It’s not the size of a spider anymore.



Even if it’s a big enough spider that could make Martha shrieks and runs away, Melsa is different from other countesses. She is Emma’s mother. In her previous life as Yoriko, she was born into a rural farmer family and married to a family in the countryside.



She is relatively calm. She is the best in the family in terms of how to settle our guts.



Leonard is a bit close to her.



That spider rides on Emma’s head.



The picture is terrible.



“Ah, maybe I can see the road a little brighter.”



Emma says that and starts running.



*whoosh*



It was a speed that exceeds Leonard and Melsa’s expectations.



It was that run that tormented George and William.



All four cats happily chase after Emma.



“See, it wasn’t a lie!”



George looks triumphantly at his parents, but Leonard and Melsa think it was better to be a lie.



・・・



“…and that’s what happened.”



Emma talked about what happened a few days ago to her favorite uncle.



She hides the thing about the family reincarnation but recalling the reunion with Koumei-san and the others, she becomes happy and can’t help smiling.



“I don’t know where I should point out anymore…”



Arban holds his head together with a sigh.



Within the time I went to university, my family (mainly Emma) becomes weird.



The sericulture I specialized in learning got passed by my niece and nephews, and with no time for my self-esteem to feel hurt, there’s a spider and cats with mysterious stories and evidence.



“But I’m not allowed to put the spider on my head outside Emma’s shed, so it’s a waste of talent.”



Emma downheartedly says.



A daughter of a count is forbidden to let a spider rides on her head.



This can’t be seen outside the family.



She is being told that by her mother strictly.



While patting Emma’s head, Arban abandons all his hope.



Well, if Emma is cute, then all’s good.



The cats are also cute, it’s all good. It’s huge though.



The spider is also pretty, it’s all good. It’s big though.



To researchers, it’s also important to know how to quit.



Everything is good because Emma is cute.



I won’t think deeply about my niece-con.



I’m protecting myself by not thinking much.



In this case, if I think, then I lose.



Author’s note: The story keeps talking about insects.