Chapter 14
***
It had been over two weeks since Loretta and lody arrived at the Duke’s estate. The two girls spent this period, transitioning from the hot sumr to the clear autumn, in apparent joy and without worry. However, beneath the surface, lody’s heart was rotting away. Her concern was this: the treatnt she received was far too good.
The butler and his wife treated lody as if she were their own granddaughter. They would reprimand her severely for mistakes, but also reward her for trivial things. While she appreciated the warm treatnt, it also made her anxious. This was because, on occasion, lody’s mother would treat her kindly as well. On days when things went well, or simply when in a good mood, she would praise lody as if she were the best daughter in the world. But over ti, such warmth would fade, and her mother would revert to being terrifying.
“I must not let my guard down.”
lody knew that she would not always receive kindness. Not all of her past experiences had been positive, after all. Perhaps one day, she would be treated like just another mber of the household here too. Especially since she wasn’t actually doing anything significant… It was not strange to expect such treatnt eventually.
Therefore, lody wanted to find so way to be useful around the mansion before it was too late. She hoped to delay the day she would be treated as just another mouth to feed, even if only by a day. But lody was not allowed to do chores like cleaning or laundry. Instead, other maids would wash and iron her clothes beautifully before bringing them to her.
So, on a day when the sky turned even bluer as autumn approached, lody gathered her courage and went to Grandma’s room.
“I want to do so work, Grandma.”
“Good timing, I was just needing a pair of small hands.”
Surprisingly, she was imdiately given a task. lody was thrilled to finally be entrusted with a job and ran towards Grandma.
“What will I be doing? I’m good at cleaning, and I can read too!”
“How many tis will you repeat the sa thing? Everyone in the Duke’s house knows that there’s a chatty little lamb living here! Just sit down there.”
Grandma pointed her chin towards a chair, and lody quickly took a seat. Then, a delicious aroma wafted before her, and a pile of sothing was poured out in front of her. It was peanuts. They had been shelled, leaving only the thin inner skins.
“Is it because my hands are rough that I can’t seem to get these pesky inner shells off? Peel them all off.”
“Leave it to !”
lody cheerfully began peeling off the thin shells, carefully separating the white kernels.
“No, what are you doing like that?”
However, Grandma seed displeased with lody’s thod.
“Are you an ant? Why are you just hoarding the kernels? Aren’t you supposed to eat them after peeling?”
“Am I supposed to eat them after I peel them?”
“Do you think this old lady with rough hands is supposed to peel these thin shells for you! They’re freshly roasted peanuts, they should taste quite nutty, if you have the palate to appreciate it.”
Upon hearing Grandma’s words, lody tried the peanuts and indeed, they were nutty and slightly warm.
“They’re delicious.”
“Hmph, you just gobble them up without offering any to this old lady, how ungrateful.”
lody quickly offered so of the peeled peanuts to Grandma and brought the conversation back to the main point.
“I really want to help with so work.”
“If you have any conscience, you should think about helping after you’ve grown a bit more.”
“But I am grown up.”
“This fluffy thing, pretending to be a grown sheep!”
Although Grandma said this with a stern face, the phrase ‘grown sheep’ made lody smile slightly.
“Besides, from tomorrow, we’ll be very busy.”
“Tomorrow? What’s happening?”
“Guests are coming.”
At the ntion of guests, lody briefly recalled the content of the original work. There was a story about elders visiting the temple right before going to the temple.
“The Duke and three elders who lead the duchy are coming. They’re all old grumblers.”
See, I was right.
“Then you’ll be very busy, won’t you?”
lody asked with a hopeful look on her face.
“Hmph, even if you ask like that, do you think I’d ask for help from a little lamb?”
“But…”
The child’s spirits deflated, and she hung her head, looking worried.
The wife clicked her tongue and shook her head. This soft-hearted child even found it uncomfortable to relax and have fun.
“…Alright then.”
“Really?!”
“If you insist so much, I’ll give you a job.”
“Really?! Thank you!”
“But not until after the busy days are over.”
“Anyti is fine! I’ll be very well behaved until then!”
“Yes, you better. I absolutely can’t stand troubleso children.”
lody was overjoyed at the thought of finally being able to do so work.
Mrs. Higgins might be rough in her words, but she was undoubtedly a good person.
lody wondered why such an interesting Grandma had only a minor role in the original work without any lines.
Ah.
Maybe it’s because her character overlapped with the tsundere traits of the second son.
‘It seems so. If tsundere characters appeared consecutively, it wouldn’t be interesting at all.’
lody nodded to herself.
“If you’ve understood, then go on now. I need to prepare for the guests.”
Grandma gave lody the remaining peanuts and sent her out of the room.
lody thanked her and walked cheerfully down the corridor, planning to enjoy peeling more peanuts in her room.
As lody left Mrs. Higgins’ room and headed to her own, she saw a boy lurking around her room from down the corridor.
Of course, lody recognized him imdiately and approached to greet him.
“Hello, Mr. Ronny.”
“Ah, you scared !”
He had been loitering near lody’s room and turned around in surprise.
“Are you looking for the bathroom?”
lody asked, pointing at his uneasily shifting lower body, wondering if he didn’t know where the bathroom was since he didn’t often co to the first floor.
“Don’t be ridiculous! Who would need to go to a place like that?!”
His face turned red as he vehently denied any need for such human physiological functions.
“It’s good if it’s not urgent then.”
“Not urgent at all!” Ronny yelled out, but he still looked around uneasily, seemingly anxious about sothing.
Was he really not in need of the restroom?
“How long do you plan to keep
standing here? What if soone sees
looking for you?”
“You ca to see ?!”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
He responded, slightly turning his face away with a look of enduring so kind of humiliation.
“Then, would you like to co in?”
“Invite
in quickly!”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you would co looking for .”
lody opened the door and invited him in, offering him a seat on the sofa. True to his arrogant nature, he sat in the most prominent seat, swinging his short legs with an air of entitlent.
“Aren’t you going to serve tea?”
He grumbled, pretending to be an adult, but lody knew that at his age, he probably preferred snacks over tea.
“Can’t be helped, I’ll share so peanuts with you.”
“Peanuts! As if I would like such a thing!”
He’d probably love it.
He must have been fed peanuts one by one by the butler since he was young. It’s all in the original work!
“If you don’t like it, I’ll just eat them myself.”
lody carefully spread a cloth with peanuts on the table.
Since it’s difficult to peel peanuts while sitting on the sofa, she sat on the floor next to the tea table and began cracking them.
“Here you go. You don’t know how to peel peanuts, do you?”
When lody offered him a peeled peanut, he suddenly stood up in outrage.
“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you think I can’t even peel a peanut?”
He then sat down next to the tea table, just like lody, and started peeling peanuts.
To her surprise, he was quite good at it.
“Wow.”
lody couldn’t help but express her admiration, and he seed a bit proud of himself.
“See. These will taste better than the ones you peeled with your clumsy hands.”
He proudly presented his peeled peanuts, and lody quickly popped them into her mouth.
“I can’t really tell the difference in taste.”
“What! No way! Stay there, I’ll peel more for you!”
He began peeling peanuts with fierce determination, and lody watched him, her chin resting on her hands.
“You’re good at this.”
“I’ve been peeling the tough shells myself since last year.”
“That’s quite tough; it must hurt your hands!”
“You’re so tiny and weak. What are you going to do in the future?”
He seed pleased to be stronger than lody.
“But why did you co to see ? Do you have so business with ?”
lody asked while picking up peanuts that were piling up like ant food in front of her.
“Business with you…!”
“Ah, you actually ca to see Loretta.”
The boy grumbled as if that wasn’t the case and placed another peanut in front of lody.
“Did you… hear about it?”
“Hear about what?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Ah. I heard that the elders of the Duke’s house are coming.”
“So, you already knew?”
He seed slightly annoyed that lody had heard the news before him. Though she didn’t understand why it bothered him.
“Did you co to tell
that?”
“Co closer.”
“Pardon?”
“Get closer!”
He yelled, and lody, setting down her peanuts, moved closer to Ronny.
“Why?”
His voice softened to a whisper as they got closer.
He glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and then leaned in to speak.
“Be careful.”
“Of the elders?”
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