Chapter 181
* * *
He handed the cushion he was holding back to lody.
“I’m your friend.”
He bit his lip for a mont, but soon raised his head with a face that seed to have made a decision.
“I can quickly notice when you’re in trouble.”
“Ronny.”
“Well, honestly, it’s a bit annoying to compare a guy like Isaiah to our great brother.”
“What’s wrong with Isaiah?”
“What’s wrong with him? He’s just a bastard with filthy strength.”
“But Isaiah is kind.”
“Sohow that sounds like you’re saying my brother isn’t kind.”
“Young Master Claude is…”
Sotis he acts kind arbitrarily, but usually he’s quite an.
From childhood until now.
He interfered when lody showed interest in soone.
Even at the Records Keeper exam, he showed up without a word and surprised her by smuggling in a newspaper.
That wasn’t all.
He pulled her into his arms late at night, and recently he even kissed her wrist.
Moreover, even though lody revealed that she couldn’t seriously think about him for the sake of repaying the Higgins na…
“Please slowly… please, generously think about it.”
When he made the request to et with a desolate and pitiful appearance, wasn’t it difficult to refuse sohow?
“What about Brother?”
Ronny, who had been waiting for her story, asked for an answer again, and lody imdiately made a tearful face.
“…He’s a bit too much. Young Master Claude is really underhanded and an.”
It wasn’t particularly words of praise about him, so why was her face turning red?
lody completely buried her face in the cushion.
As if finding that sight amusing, Ronny started laughing again, chuckling.
* * *
The next day, a small incident occurred at the ducal residence.
A new servant had mistakenly left the wagon he was transporting on a sloped part of the garden, causing all the fruits in the cargo compartnt to fall out.
Red apples and pogranates all rolled into various parts of the garden.
When there were many young children in the mansion, it was fine even if such accidents happened. They would have happily picked up the fruits, saying “Let’s all go on a treasure hunt!”
But now there were hardly any young children in this mansion.
Loretta, who belonged to the younger group, recently wanted to act like a very well-behaved young lady for so reason.
While muttering to herself, “Because I promised to cherish it for a long ti…”
So, led by the Higgins couple, all the servants of the ducal residence gathered and started the labor of picking up the fruits one by one.
lody also followed the Higgins couple with a basket in hand.
“Seems like apples these days co with wheels attached? They rolled away so quickly, tsk.”
Mrs. Higgins picked up an apple that had fallen on the dirt and threw the badly bruised ones far beyond the garden.
Saying that insects, birds, or any creature would pick them up and eat them.
“This one has already cracked and beco the property of ants.”
At her father’s words, lody looked back and saw ants busily transporting small pogranate seeds they had torn off.
“I bought expensive fruits, and only the tiny creatures are delighted.”
Mrs. Higgins sighed as she put the apple she found between the bushes into the basket lody was holding.
“…Why isn’t there a single intact one?”
“There must be at least one left that will suit Madam’s liking. If there isn’t, I can go and buy a pretty apple.”
Between them, lody grinned while hugging the basket.
Her parents must be looking for unusually good apples all for lody’s sake.
“I like slightly bruised apples too. You’ll soak them all in sugar and make a pie anyway, right?”
In autumn, the family gathers to eat apple pie made together.
It was a new tradition of the Higgins family, and lody loved that ti very much.
Even if they made a pie with bruised apples, that joy probably wouldn’t fade.
“I don’t like it. Why should my little lamb eat bruised apples? Even if she eats only pretty apples, she won’t be able to eat all the apples in this world!”
That’s sophistry. lody wanted to answer like that.
But when she saw Butler Higgins taking notes of that story in a small notebook, she couldn’t bring herself to criticize him like that.
“Another wonderful quote today.”
He looked down at the notebook with “My Wife’s Sacred Words, Volu 147” written on it and nodded with satisfaction.
“Of course, I don’t say wrong things.”
“I know. That’s exactly why I respect you.”
lody looked at the two alternately and sohow worried if she was disturbing her parents’ fruit-picking date.
“Uh, um… I’ll go check if there are apples over there too!”
She timidly moved away between the bushes where the maids were looking for apples.
* * *
Fortunately, there was no need for Butler Higgins to go buy apples.
Among the apples that had fallen on the ground, there were several that maintained a pretty red color.
The Higgins family put several apples on the table and carefully selected the prettiest one to use for the family tradition.
lody washed the apples and cut them into appropriate sizes.
While Mrs. Higgins kneaded the dough she had rested, Higgins brought a large sugar jar from the pantry.
After repeating the task of making it together for several years, now their hands and feet matched perfectly without even having a conversation.
lody poured all the cut apples into a large pot.
Higgins poured the sugar, and soon brought a large spatula to gently stir the inside.
The crunchy sugar granules that had been sizzling from the subtle flas gradually lted.
“Father, shall I stir now?”
“It’s alright.”
“But your arm hurts.”
At the admirable words filled with worry, Higgins handed the long spatula to lody.
“Thank you.”
“Mm, no. Actually, I like doing it.”
lody quickly stirred the pot so that the apples or sugar wouldn’t burn.
“You’re doing well.”
“You two taught , after all.”
“My daughter must have learned well.”
Higgins slowly massaged the arm he had used to stir and smiled.
“I hope you know that we are proud of that intelligence of yours.”
“Calling
intelligent just because I’m good at making stewed apples is sohow… too much.”
“Do you think so? I think it’s sufficient. You can know ten things by looking at one.”
He brought thick glasses from the cupboard and poured tea. He seed to be preparing sothing simple to drink for his wife who had put away the dough and his daughter who was making the stew.
“Not only intelligent but also diligent.”
Even in the anti, the words of praise for lody continued.
lody felt like her own body would lt like the sugar that went into the stew.
Because there was nothing more joyful than being recognized by her parents.
“But.”
At the ominous words that followed, lody unknowingly stopped her arm.
“Give it back to . It’s better to drink tea before it cools.”
Higgins, who had finished preparing the tea, took the spatula back.
lody blankly stared at her father’s back while holding the warm teacup.
Waiting for the previous conversation to continue.
“lody.”
“…Yes?”
“Do you rember why we gave you the Higgins na?”
“Well.”
lody took a step closer to him and answered.
“It was for
to live together with Loretta.”
“And do you rember what else there was?”
“You told
that I had beco a precious person in this mansion. That I needed proper protection.”
lody briefly looked back at her mother. She slightly nodded her head, which seed to an “Say more.”
“So I pledged to you two. That I would beco a person not ashad of the nas Higgins and Ainz. Of course, I still think that way now.”
“Our daughter who thinks that way.”
Higgins’ voice that imdiately returned seed to have a hint of small anger mixed in for so reason.
“I’m sorry, Father. What… did I do wrong?”
“I told you that day.”
It was Mrs. Higgins who inford her what the conversation was about.
“We explained everything to you. About why we didn’t have children until that day.”
She was also looking at lody with very sad eyes.
“Th-That’s.”
lody quickly put down the glass and clasped her hands together. Her fingertips were cold.
“You said it was because… the Higgins na couldn’t pile glory on my shoulders.”
A shadow-like fate of having to belong perfectly to the Baldwin ducal family. The couple didn’t want to pass on such a thing to anyone.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Higgins slightly nodded his head.
“To be more precise, I didn’t want to see my child being captured by that na and being sad.”
“…”
When lody didn’t say anything, Mrs. Higgins also supported his words.
“Staking your life on a na is a foolish thing only ancient nobles do.”
“Still…”
lody made a slightly tearful face and looked at the two alternately.
She thought she knew why they were saying these things.
‘Is it because I rejected the young master using the Higgins na as an excuse? But no one knows about that…’
There’s no way Claude would have gone around telling people about such a thing, so how did they find out?
“After making such a fuss these past few days, are you curious about how we knew?”
“I-I made a fuss?”
lody could take pride in the fact that she had been relatively well-behaved.
But that was just her own thought.
Anyone living in this mansion would have known that lody and Claude were acting very strangely.
Because anyone could see how they were startled every ti their eyes t.
“I didn’t do anything.”
At her answer, the couple sighed simultaneously.
“What should I do with this clueless little lamb?”
“But, that’s… isn’t it true? I’m a Higgins.”
She didn’t want to distort the noble master-servant relationship that had continued between the two families with her own hands.
“It seems you’ve forgotten the most important promise.”
Higgins moved the entire pot to the kitchen counter. The remaining heat made the sugar water boil and bubble.
“lody Ainz Higgins.”
“…”
“What you should cherish is not the na, but you, lody, who bears that na.”
Suddenly, sothing ca to lody’s mind. The painting of yellow flowers decorating her room.
In front of it, when lody asked to be adopted, Higgins had said that.
Then she also recalled the question lody had asked at that ti.
“Does that an I need to beco a good child worthy of the na?”
“It’s unfortunate to be caught up in such precocious words, leading to insincere words and actions.”
At his advice, lody had resolved to say and do things close to her true heart.
And by doing so.
She had promised… that she would surely beco happy.
Why had she forgotten until now? She rembered almost everything else.
“My goodness, I’m sorry.”
lody bit her lip with her head bowed.
‘Allowing
to have the na was for
to use it to be happy.’
She had been turning away from her own heart using the na…
“It’s alright.”
“As long as you know now.”
As if the couple had no intention of further interrogating lody, they started making the pie again just like usual afterwards.
* * *
Making apple pie together and eating it together.
The beautiful autumn tradition of the Higgins family ended safely, and now only the last piece of pie remained between them.
Butler Higgins brought a separate plate, placed the last pie on it, and even prettily decorated it with garnish herbs.
‘Why is he putting so much effort into the last pie?’
As lody looked at it in wonder, Higgins smiled brightly and held out the pie plate.
“Will you deliver it to the young master?”
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