After Transmigrating to Become Lady Skylark - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“And then?”

The sun was high in the sky, a blazing inferno in June, eager to show its most passionate side. At the Namimori Designated Motor Vehicle Training School, under a parasol next to the open parking lot, a woman in a luxurious collaboration pink tracksuit and her butler, who was holding a small fan, attracted the attention of the other students.

Hearing Chinatsu’s encouraging question, Jin Chaoyan adjusted the sunglasses on her nose, took a bite of the ice cream in her hand, and, to the crunching sound of ice between her back teeth, replied weakly with a voice that felt like it was melting from the heat:

“Of course, I ran—”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not going to do something stupid like climb a ladder in front of him. It would greatly damage my beautiful and polished image.”

Chinatsu nodded with a smile and, as usual, gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, praising Chao-yan’s beauty today as a perfect hundred.

The person being praised was overjoyed. The pain of learning to drive in this season was slightly lessened. She took out her phone, about to see if there were any suitable items to buy in her app store, but then glanced at the other young girls holding umbrellas nearby. She thought for a moment, gave Chinatsu a few instructions, and handed her the sun hat next to her.

The Tokyo University alumni who had agreed to return to Namimori to learn to drive during the summer break were gathered and chatting. When they caught sight of the elegant lady under the parasol, the boys suddenly started encouraging each other, nudging shoulders, but no one dared to approach her.

It wasn’t until the butler beside her walked over with a large bag of ice cream, smiling and saying that his madam was treating them to some to cool down. The boys’ shoulders sagged when they heard the word “madam,” but a girl with short, dark purple hair took an ice cream and walked towards the parasol, saying a crisp “thank you.”

“Hello, my name is Haru Miura. Thank you very much for the ice cream!”

Jin Chaoyan had finished browsing her app and was now looking at the message Kazuko Kin sent her last night. She was too busy building the handmade villa for Hibird to reply.

Now, a particularly energetic voice suddenly rang out in front of her. She put down her phone, took off her sunglasses, and gave the girl a friendly smile. “You’re welcome. Do you and your friends want to sit over here? The sun is too strong, and a regular parasol probably can’t block its heat.”

“Hai? Won’t we be bothering you?” Haru Miura looked at the large parasol above her head and was tempted by the invitation.

Jin Chaoyan felt that she was particularly pleasant to look at and her voice was so lively and infectious. She immediately nodded. “No, not at all. A girl’s skin is so delicate, how can you let it get sunburned? Tell your friends to come over. Girls only, though.”

Soon, only a few men with pained expressions were left under the sun.

However, their turn to practice driving was coming up soon, so their torment would end quickly. Under the large parasol, Jin Chaoyan and the girls were chatting happily.

Haru Miura didn’t expect to be the same age as her. Jin Chaoyan was already married, while she and her friends were still struggling in the endless ocean of medical school studies.

When they talked about the terrifying course load of medical school and the final exams they had just finished, the girls all had peaceful expressions. Jin Chaoyan tried to interpret, “If you choose a good major, every final exam is like the college entrance exam?”

“Yes!”

“Then who was the person struck by lightning who convinced you to study medicine?” Jin Chaoyan asked curiously.

Some of them were motivated by future salaries, others by the imposing white coats they saw on TV dramas. The last to answer was Haru Miura, who awkwardly raised a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“When I was in school, I had a crush on a boy. He had younger siblings who would occasionally get sick with colds. I would think how nice it would be if I were a pediatrician. I’d definitely be able to help them a lot in the future.”

Her friends, who usually only discussed schoolwork and academic problems, were hearing this reason for the first time. They began to tease her, asking, “So did you two end up together?”

Haru Miura shook her head, the smile in her black eyes still bright. “No, after graduating from high school, he went to Italy. We only get to see each other when they have their Christmas vacation and we have our New Year’s break.”

A girl’s heart is always in the spring, but life is long, and no matter how long the spring stays, it always ends.

Before the listeners could come up with words of comfort, Haru Miura, having finished her thought, quickly added, “Besides, I really like kids myself, so being a pediatrician is also great!”

After self-soothing in her cheerful and optimistic way, she shifted the topic to Chaoyan. “Anyway, since Kin-chan got married so early, it must have been because you couldn’t wait to get into a marriage with the person you love, right? If you have kids a little later, maybe I’ll have my medical license by then! I can help with pregnancy care and infant vaccinations—”

“Stop!”

Jin Chaoyan waved her ice cream stick, making a “no” gesture at her.

She was afraid that if they talked for two more minutes, this optimistic girl would have already named her and Kyoya Hibari’s children. It was too scary.

“Getting married early isn’t necessarily because of true love, is it?”

At that, the girls from Tokyo University looked at each other, then scanned the simple but visibly branded accessories on Chaoyan. They all revealed looks of sudden understanding and sympathy, mentally concocting all sorts of rich-family struggles.

“Anyway, let’s stop talking about this damned thing called love. Do you all have time later? After we finish our driving lessons, let’s find a dessert shop and keep chatting.” Chao-yan concluded.

In the evening, outside a Häagen-Dazs ice cream shop.

The girls, who were reluctantly saying their goodbyes, had created a group chat for their driving course and promised to study and take their exams together. At that moment, video calls popped up on two phones.

Haru Miura walked a few steps away to answer. On the screen, a boy with slightly curly hair and a black cow-patterned jacket put his two fingers together and waved them at his forehead. “Haru-nee.”

“Lambo!” she exclaimed with a bit of surprise.

The boy saw her surroundings and asked lazily, “Ah, are you out shopping with friends?”

“Yes, I met a great new friend today—”

As she said this, she turned to look for Chaoyan but only saw her and her thoughtful butler disappearing around a corner with their shopping bags.

On the other side.

“Big sister, why haven’t you been replying to my messages?”

Chaoyan had just answered the video call, not quite understanding Kazuko Kin’s in-your-face approach. She had been a little strange during the family dinner and their shopping trip, but why was she suddenly so enthusiastic after the shocking kidnapping?

… Is this some sort of mutual sympathy between victims?

“I was just chatting with friends,” she said. “What’s wrong? You’re not looking to go shopping again, are you? I’m not in Tokyo right now.”

At the mention of shopping, a look of lingering fear appeared on Kazuko’s face. She quickly shook her head. “No, no, no!”

The girl on the video call was still wearing her school uniform, and the background was the back of a car seat, so she was likely on her way home from school. Seeing Chaoyan in her tracksuit, she tried her best to forget her recent trauma and asked, “Are you out exercising, big sister? Are you playing golf or…?”

“Learning to drive.”

Chaoyan replied faintly.

Kazuko thought of the recent temperatures and gave her a look of sympathy. Then she remembered something and suddenly said, “I have summer vacation in two weeks. I’ll come visit you.”

Even though she hadn’t spent much time with Chaoyan, Kazuko had a vague feeling that she was different from before, ever since their half-day warehouse trip. But after being rescued by Chaoyan’s strange ability, she gave up on exploring those changes and just wanted to stick close to her handsome, life-saving big sister!

Now, realizing that the other person was about to refuse, she immediately used her usual technique on her mother. “Please, please, please, if I don’t find an excuse to get out, I’ll never get out of the house this summer. Mom has scheduled so many tutoring sessions for me…”

“Studying is a good thing,” Chao-yan started to reason with her.

“I’m 18 now,” Kazuko Kin pouted slightly. “They’re going to start picking a marriage partner for me soon, so most of these courses are about how to be a good housewife—even though the person Mom picks for me will definitely be much better than the one they chose for you back then, it doesn’t mean I have to willingly sacrifice my life and live for someone else.”

“…”

Chaoyan was silent for a while before sending her the address of the Tokyo mansion.

“Tell me when you’re coming.” After that, Chaoyan added, almost under her breath, “Better than the one for me back then?”

“Yeah. Didn’t they want to marry you off to the youngest son of the Seiwa Zaibatsu? Good thing you had a sharp eye and found this one…” Kazuko Kin paused, remembering the handsome and ruthless man she saw in front of the warehouse. She quickly updated the information about her sister’s husband in her mind before continuing smoothly,

“This excellent husband… anyway, I heard that guy from the Seiwa family recently developed a gambling addiction. He’s involved with some shady people, and his private life is a mess. It’s a good thing you got out fast.”

Chaoyan was absent-mindedly listening to whatever else Kazuko was saying.

On the way back to the Kyoya Hibari mansion with Chinatsu, she was thinking. If the original owner and Kyoya weren’t in an arranged marriage, then how did they get married?

Could it be that…

The original owner was like Haru Miura, secretly crushing on Kyoya for many years? After finding out about her family’s marriage arrangement, she went for broke, confessed her love to her idol, and then, after all her dog-like devotion, got everything she wanted?

“What are you doing standing here?”

The black Bentley stopped at the entrance to the mansion. Kyoya Hibari got out of the back seat and, seeing the woman in the pink tracksuit, raised an eyebrow. “Lost again?”

Meeting his phoenix eyes, the woman realized that she had been too busy ordering Chinatsu to put the ice cream in the freezer and then spent too much time pondering the original owner’s pathetic one-sided devotion to the point where she lost track of time. Now, facing him, she suddenly wanted to try and salvage the situation. So, she put on a particularly bright smile and called out sweetly,

“Anata~”

Kyoya Hibari stopped his steps towards her. He noticeably looked her up and down, as if to see if she was under an illusion. He remembered that in the morning, she was trying to nitpick Hibird’s tree villa, but now her attitude was completely different. He asked thoughtfully,

“Did you eat something bad?”

“…”

Chaoyan clenched her fists.

She felt so sorry for the original owner. She was completely devoted but ended up with nothing! Besides, the world might be ending. Who cares about salvaging this broken situation!

It’s better to figure out if this timeline is salvageable and try to save her wealth. As for this man, she could just leave him the day he tries to expose her true identity!

“It’s nothing.”

She turned around and walked away expressionlessly.

When Kusakabe finished parking the car and came over, he happened to see her angry departure. He asked, “Why is the madam leaving so quickly?”

At that moment, Kyoya Hibari was looking down at his phone. Hearing the question, he curved his lips, putting away his phone after checking his balance. “She probably found her way—”

Thinking of Jin Chaoyan’s inexplicably sweet greeting, he added, “Go and see what she’s been trying to buy lately. Transfer the money to my secondary card.”

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