Chapter 16 – Manolie Forest

Grandma Rollo, absorbed in reading under the orange tree in the yard, took off her glasses and set her book aside.

“The weather’s nice, so we can hang the blankets out in the forest. While we wait for them to dry, we can have lunch outside.”

Sasha cheered at the delightful suggestion. Like a squirrel, she darted up the stairs and quickly got ready to leave. While Mrs. Vinoche braided Sasha’s hair prettily as she wiggled her hips, Grandma Elodie took out her cherished lace handkerchief and tied it as a headscarf for her.

“Be careful, Sasha.”

Mrs. Vinoche, who declined to go along saying she’d help Mr. Vinoche with his work during the day, saw Sasha off at the kitchen door with the two grandmothers. Sasha, carrying a wooden tub with their bedspreads, chattered as she headed toward Manolie Forest.

The summer heat that made her back sweat eased as she entered the forest. Sasha happily stomped on the bedspreads with her feet in soapy water. Under Grandma Rollo’s direction, the clothesline was tied between an oak and a birch, and Sasha and Grandma Elodie stretched the bedspreads wide and shook them out. After hanging the sheets high on the line, Grandma Rollo clipped the middle with clothespins.

Lunch was served under the snow-white bedspreads. While eating sandwiches with ham and cheese, the breeze sometimes shook the cloth, spreading a scent of soap.

“Sasha, are you enjoying your summer vacation?”

“Of course! Mr. Robert has come back to Hawthorn Mansion. This summer, I really want to paint a picture for him to hang on the wall. He doesn’t seem to like anything yet, though. Even after seeing all the paintings I’ve made, he hasn’t asked for one.”

Grandma Elodie, seeing her granddaughter so eager, asked,

“Does Mr. Robert like you, or act in any improper way?”

“He doesn’t think of me like that at all! As you know, I’m sixteen but still such a child!”

Sasha, startled, vehemently denied it. The birds perched on the branches took flight, startled by her shout. Sasha thought of the sophisticated lady who had visited Hawthorn Mansion last time. Probably someone from Laurent who came to see Mr. Robert. He must associate with women like that in Laurent—mature, elegant women. The kind who suit him.

“No one knows how that will turn out.”

Grandma Rollo shrugged, eating melon. Sasha, with her lace headscarf, was not just pretty as a granddaughter but objectively a striking beauty. Her curly orange-blonde hair fell like a deer’s neck under the scarf. Her small face had lovely green eyes, doll-like in size, and her once round, flat nose had grown straight and sharp. If she didn’t run around the woods like a tomboy, she’d already be treated as a young lady.

“I guarantee that in two years, there won’t be a prettier girl in Manolie than you.”

“And what good does that do?”

“At least boys like Damien won’t bully you so easily.”

Sasha was briefly interested but quickly disappointed. Two years was too far away. She wished she could drive Damien and his gang away from the gate right now.

“Sasha, among the boys who follow you, isn’t there one you like? If you give me a hint, I’ll check from the second-floor window and tell you if he’s any good.”

“Any good, Grandma Elodie? Those boys torment me terribly. If I fall and cry, they get so excited they don’t know what to do.”

The boys who hung out together would call Sasha from afar and throw fruit when she looked back. If they met her on the street, they’d trip her. If her skirt flipped up, they’d laugh together.

“But you’ll have to marry someday—wouldn’t it be better to pick a partner early? Even if they act foolish now, they might settle down when they grow up. Their older brothers all did.”

Grandma Elodie used Damien as an example. Sasha looked to Grandma Rollo for help, but she simply wiped her hands with a linen towel. For a Manolie girl, marriage was inevitable. As Elodie said, in a few years she’d have to choose a spouse—something she’d have to worry about eventually. She wanted a more encouraging story, but that was reality. Having lost her only ally, Sasha sprawled out on the mat.

“I’ll worry about it later. Marriage is too far off for me.”

“You’re already sixteen.”

“Oh, goodness!”

The grandmothers shook their heads at Sasha’s weak reply. The childish granddaughter pretended not to notice and rolled around. Grandma Rollo was the first to stand, brushing her knees.

“Sasha, we need to head home now. I want to take an afternoon nap.”

“Already?”

“At my age, enduring the long summer day is tiresome.”

“I’ll stay longer. I still have homework.”

Seeing Sasha’s untouched homework book, Grandma Rollo resolved to find her granddaughter a husband who was good at arithmetic. She had opened Sasha’s account for Baron Auguste’s patron funds, but the beloved granddaughter wandered everywhere painting and had never gone to the bank with her. If both spouses are careless with money, no matter how much they earn, they’ll soon end up on the streets. Grandma Rollo clicked her tongue and advised Sasha, sprawled on the mat.

“Don’t forget to bring in the blankets before it gets too late. It looks like it’ll rain tonight.”

“But the weather’s so clear!”

Sasha tilted her head, and Grandma Rollo glanced at the sky and shook her head.

“It’s days like this when the rain pours. If the wind starts blowing from the sea, don’t delay—come right home.”

Leaving these words, the grandmothers returned to the lemon-colored gate house. Alone in the forest, Sasha doodled in her homework book. She drew the sheets hanging on the line, the picnic basket, and the two grandmothers in the middle. By the time she finished, a lot of time had passed.

“Huh?”

Absorbed in her drawing, Sasha was startled by the sound of leaves being stepped on. A brown deer was holding the picnic basket in its mouth, and when their eyes met, it quickly ran off. The grandmothers had taken the tub, so she needed to use it to carry the blankets. Sasha rose awkwardly, chasing after the deer without even gathering the blankets.

As she searched for the vanished deer, she heard rustling from the other side. Sasha crept through the bushes. Instead of a brown deer, she saw the tip of a black shoe. The buckle on the foot shone in the sunlight under long legs.

He was the man who only came to Manolie in summer and stayed at Hawthorn Mansion. Mr. Robert, being the mansion owner’s relative, was a very lazy caretaker. He often left the mansion to lounge in places like this. Sasha knew he spent time inside the mansion mostly lying in a beach chair reading or tending the garden. Mr. Vinoche said if he were his nephew and suddenly visited to see such a scene, he’d be deeply disappointed.

Sasha wondered if his uncle hadn’t sent him to manage the place, but simply lent him the mansion for a vacation. Seeing Robert’s leisurely attitude, that seemed more plausible.

The other family members immediately denied it. Even Manolie residents took the train to beautiful cities like Viare for holidays; no one would come all the way from Laurent for vacation.

Mr. Robert, with a book on his chest, leaned against a tree stump with his eyes closed. Sasha watched quietly, wondering if she should wake him or just pass by. After much hesitation, she finally lifted her heel.

“Sasha.”

When had he opened his eyes? Sasha blushed, caught spying, and offered a belated greeting.

“Hello. I was wondering if I should wake you.”

He rubbed his eyes as if still sleepy and nodded. The girl, showing no sign of leaving, stood with her hands behind her back, as if waiting for him to get up. Robert stood with his book. Sasha followed right beside him, her unusual headscarf fluttering near his shoulder.

Deborah seemed bigger than this even before she turned sixteen. Robert, still drowsy, thought lazily. Still, Sasha Vinoche was not the right person for comparison with Deborah.

“Is there a forest in Laurent?”

Whenever silence threatened, Sasha would ask a question. Robert found this oddly interesting.

“There’s a forest the royal family bought long ago for hunting, then donated to Laurent city.”

From his hotel on Sainte-Marie Street, you could enter the forest’s lakeside just across the fountain. He answered, but didn’t expect Sasha to know Etienne Forest.

But Sasha excitedly explained she had seen the forest from the balcony of the hotel with golden bronze doors and a huge sparkling crystal chandelier. That was unexpected.

“You’ve been to the hotel on Sainte-Marie Street?”

There was only one hotel on that street. Robert couldn’t hide his smile. Thinking he didn’t believe her, Sasha tried to explain which room she stayed in, using her hands and feet. When she mentioned Enzo Vinoche studying abroad in Yelwae, Robert recalled agreeing to the Queen’s request to let academy scholarship students stay two nights at the hotel.

What a coincidence. Robert smiled gently. They had been in the same place at the same time. The fact that he had let the Manolie girl into his domain brought a unique feeling. It was different from seeing Sasha Vinoche painting at Hawthorn Mansion. Maybe they even crossed paths once. Robert tried to remember if he’d seen a girl like Sasha back then and laughed. Even if they had met, he wouldn’t remember.

“Um, sorry. I was listening. Please, go on.”

When he stopped talking, Sasha Vinoche looked embarrassed and apologized. He stopped walking. His cheek muscles pulled. Only then did he realize what a ridiculous expression he’d been making. Slowly his lips relaxed and his smile faded.