Chapter 182
* * *
“What?”
“You decided to beco happy, right?”
It was the sa words as before this ti too.
When lody was contemplating whether she could receive the painting of yellow flowers, Higgins had encouraged her with these words.
As if to remind her that in order to beco happy, she had to say and act honestly.
His question today seed to hold the sa sentint.
However, lody still couldn’t let go of the lingering guilt in her heart and alternately looked at the Higgins couple.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to be loved more?”
“…”
“You can receive it. Even more than now. Fill everything around my daughter with such things. That way.”
Higgins looked back at his wife. She abruptly stood up from her seat with fierce eyes and shouted.
“I’ll be able to sleep with my legs stretched out!”
“Yes, that’s right. And I don’t particularly like it when my fragile wife has long sleepless nights.”
He handed the plate again, and lody finally accepted it.
“…I.”
lody looked at the cross-section of the pie for a mont and then raised her head.
The two adults lody loved very much were looking only at her. With eyes full of worry.
“I think I… forgot how much you two favor .”
The parents lody knew cherished her heart more than the Higgins na.
She didn’t know why she had forgotten that fact for the past few months, but…
‘Maybe I was looking for an excuse to run away from my own heart.’
“I’m sorry.”
At her apology, the Higgins couple both shook their heads.
“We’re good. Just hurry up and go.”
“What about cleaning up? I still have things to do.”
“I said go. As if I can’t do that one thing!”
At lody’s stubbornness, Higgins stepped in to resolve the situation.
“Then next year, you can clean up everything. Then you can go without worrying now, right?”
lody still felt uncomfortable, but she couldn’t refuse her parents’ urging any longer.
“Um… then I’ll go deliver the pie!”
“Be careful on your way.”
“Absolutely don’t run, you little lamb.”
lody left a light kiss on each of their cheeks and left the drawing room with slightly quick steps.
Watching her back, Mrs. Higgins fiddled with her cheek for no reason and grumbled.
“…When will those feet learn silence?”
“Actually, it’s fine even if she doesn’t learn. Our daughter’s brave footsteps are quite splendid.”
Higgins poured more tea into his wife’s cup and smiled brightly.
* * *
lody hurriedly went up the stairs with the plate in hand. Sohow her footsteps felt light.
Just deciding not to run away from her heart made her feel this good.
She knocked on Claude’s door without hesitation.
Soon an answer ca, so lody pushed the door open without holding back.
The window must have been open, as the wind imdiately blew through, scattering her hair into a ss.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry.”
Claude imdiately apologized and stood up from his seat. As he seed to be trying to close the window, lody quickly stopped him.
“It’s autumn. You can leave it like this. It’s not like I’ll be blown away by the wind. Well.”
lody approached his desk.
Five file folders with red tags were neatly laid out. That ant there were five absolutely urgent matters.
On the trolley next to the desk, there were a few more file folders with green and yellow tags.
Moreover, next to it, various records were piled up from the floor to knee height, probably separately collected for Claude’s reference.
“…Why didn’t you call ?”
lody didn’t know she would say such a thing to Claude herself, but anyway, it was sincere.
“Wasn’t it to get help in monts like this that you worked
to the bone day and night?”
“Well.”
He closed the window after all and returned to face her.
lody was relieved that he was no different from usual.
From his composed expression, upright posture, to his neat attire.
He must be properly balancing work and rest by dividing his schedule into minutes and seconds.
“Right.”
Thinking she shouldn’t take up too much of his ti, lody first held out the plate with the pie in front of him.
“I ca to give you this…”
But sohow she ended up hesitating for a mont.
The mont she saw the apple pie on the plate, a strange thought occurred to her for so reason.
‘Sharing apple pie is a tradition of the Higgins family, so giving it to the young master is sohow.’
Wouldn’t it look like lody was asking him to beco her family?
‘…It’s like I’m proposing to the young master to beco a Higgins family.’
She swore she had no such intention at all.
She just wanted to brush off the awkwardness with him and ask him to go to the Hatfield concert together.
That was really all.
“Miss lody ca to give
the Higgins family’s apple pie.”
At his words as he held the plate, lody quickly shook her head.
“Ah, no.”
“No?”
“Well, you see.”
lody still held the plate tightly and sohow made a resentful expression.
“It wasn’t , but F-Father told
to give it to you.”
Although she stamred a bit, this was the truth. In fact, Higgins had handed her the plate and said, “Will you deliver it?”
“That’s surprising in itself.”
He slightly pulled the plate towards himself.
lody, who was tightly holding the plate, took a step towards him.
She was still making a very tearful face, so Claude laughed.
“Haha.”
“Young Master, you’re making other assumptions now, right?”
At her words, Claude shrugged, saying “No way.”
“You’re making other conclusions.”
“Don’t conclude! Absolutely not! Because it’s not!”
When she unconsciously shouted, he lowered the corners of his eyes and tilted his head obliquely.
“Hmm… absolutely not.”
At his pitiful-looking appearance, lody sohow felt guilty.
Until before entering this room, she had made up her mind to act honestly…
“It’s not that it’s not.”
“It’s not what it’s not?”
“No, no! No, I an!”
lody shook her head to shake off the negatives piled up on top of her head. It was just making things more confusing.
“Anyway, first, I ca to give you the pie. Please accept it.”
lody let go of the plate she had been holding.
“Thank you. And?”
He placed the pie plate on the desk and continued to wait for lody’s words.
“And.”
lody naturally avoided his gaze and slightly lowered her head.
For so reason, her clasped hands felt hot.
“…I want to go.”
As the stamring words continued, her head kept dropping lower and lower.
“To the Hatfield concert.”
And now she was completely staring at the floor.
“With you…”
lody thought her last words might not have reached his ears.
Because even she couldn’t hear them properly.
“…”
Sohow he had no answer. As much as she thought he would like it, lody found the brief silence very difficult.
Still, she didn’t have the courage to lift her head and check his expression.
“…I see.”
At the answer that ca back after a long ti, lody quietly raised her head and stared at him blankly. With a face that seed sulky, as if saying ‘What’s with that bland reaction?’
“No, that’s not it. Ah, not that it’s not.”
He started piling up a lot of negatives, just like lody did a little while ago.
“So.”
He suddenly placed his hand on his chest and elegantly bowed his waist.
“Thank you. Miss lody.”
“…”
Claude raised his head and smiled awkwardly for a mont, then sheepishly fiddled with his hair.
“As I thought, this kind of polite greeting doesn’t seem right.”
“…Young Master is really an idiot.”
He readily nodded at the word ‘idiot’ that he heard for almost the first ti.
Seeing how he could only react like that at such an important mont, even he thought he was definitely an idiot.
“I’m sorry for disappointing you. But it’s only because it’s the first ti, so please forgive . Your forehead, it’s wrinkled again.”
lody released the tension from her face that had been straining.
But that was only for a mont, as her whole body stiffened again when their eyes t.
“It’s a big deal that we’re only getting tense with each other. You know you’ve been avoiding eye contact with
lately, right?”
“But you avoided
too.”
He smiled brightly and held out both hands in front.
“Well, I’m also just an ordinary person who gets nervous when I make eye contact with the girl I like. Then, will you give
your hand?”
“…?”
“I think it would be good to relax the tension a bit.”
lody didn’t know what the connection was between relaxing and holding hands, but she lightly placed just the tips of her fingers on his palm.
“Co a little closer.”
“Clo… ser?”
lody slowly moved her hand and stretched it out a little more.
“This… much?”
“…I shouldn’t have bothered teaching you how to tease people.”
He let out a big sigh, then completely pulled and held lody’s hand.
“Now lift your head, straight up.”
He must have been worried that lody would act ambiguously again, so he specifically demanded it.
“Wh-Why?”
But sohow lody’s head only turned further downward.
“As I said, it’s a process of us relaxing together.”
“But, it doesn’t seem to have much effect. Really!”
As proof, the hand he was holding was extrely hot, and her heartbeat only grew louder.
“We haven’t even tried it properly yet. Right?”
He was pretending to appease her with sweet words, but his actions were becoming bolder.
Now he was even interlocking their fingers one by one. To the point where they were touching without any gaps between them.
“Are you really not going to look at ?”
Moreover, now he was bending his waist and sticking his head out here and there.
“Ugh.”
“Don’t make cute sounds. Even if my personality is like that, my face is the shape you like. Look at
a little.”
Even with his continued persuasion, lody only avoided him, so he made a slightly different suggestion.
“Okay, then I’ll count to ten… no, just five. It’s okay if it’s just for a mont, right?”
“…Is it really just for a mont?”
“Of course.”
lody carefully raised her head. She flinched a little because his face was right in front of her.
“One.”
But since he had started counting the numbers he promised, she couldn’t avoid his gaze.
lody stared at his blue eyes while biting her lips tightly. It was close to glaring.
“Two.”
He counted another number.
She was wondering if she would be teased again if she faced him like this, but it seed to be unnecessary worry.
He really seed to be trying to help lody relax.
“Three.”
By this point, lody’s expression had also beco much more relaxed. She wasn’t biting her lips or straining her eyes.
“Fou…r.”
Before the last number, he counted a little slowly.
With an appearance that didn’t hide his regret.
“Has the tension eased a lot?”
“…Yes, it’s okay.”
“That’s a relief. If you kept being that tense, it would be difficult to tell you. Five.”
“What? What…”
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