Chapter 88
***
“Uh.”
lody felt the urge to turn her head away.
However, Isaiah tightened his grip slightly, as if he wouldn’t allow her to pull away.
“That’s what I’ve been saying. There are too many young masters in this house!”
Isaiah was convinced that they must have been the ones harassing lody.
After all, in the village where they used to live, there was a mountain of boys who couldn’t stand not being able to bully lody.
Beating those boys had been almost a daily routine for Isaiah.
He thought that the young masters from noble families in the capital would be no different.
“It’s not because of the young masters from the ducal house. They’re basically nice to .”
lody quickly defended the three. She hoped Isaiah wouldn’t harbor unnecessary suspicions.
“What?! It’s not because of the young masters from the ducal house?!”
“Yes, so.”
lody wanted to say, ‘You don’t need to worry too much.’
But then, a significant problem arose.
Isaiah, who was unusually perceptive about
her matters, inadvertently ca close to the truth.
“So now the young masters from other houses have started to bother you?!”
“…!”
Gasp. How, how did he know?
lody could only tremble and stare at Isaiah with shaking eyes.
“I knew it! Who is it? Huh? I’ll go right now and just—”
“You can’t hit them!”
lody quickly shouted out. Fortunately, Isaiah nodded as if it were obvious.
“I know, I wanted to give you a catalog in your hand. That would be more effective than my fists.”
“….”
It seed he rembered what lody had said before.
That she didn’t want to rely on soone else to defend herself.
But lody felt helpless to do anything about this particular situation.
“It’s just… an unavoidable situation.”
“There’s no such thing. Which family is it?!”
Isaiah pressed for an answer, but lody shook her head, indicating she didn’t know.
“Have you beco so famous that unknown people are harassing you?”
“No, no, that’s not it. It’s Lady Loretta who’s famous.”
“There’s soone who goes out of their way to harass you even though you’re not famous?”
“It wasn’t on purpose. We just happened to et.”
Perhaps because the conversation had started, lody began to spill stories she hadn’t told anyone.
“By chance? Where?”
“At an art gallery.”
“Ah, the place you went with the Duke last ti?”
“…Yes.”
lody’s face twisted a bit, recalling a painful mory.
“Don’t keep it all bottled up. Little l.”
“Okay, I understand.”
lody leaned on Isaiah’s hand for a mont and closed her eyes, rembering the day she first went to the art gallery with the Duke.
She was incredibly happy that day.
The
paintings by famous artists were full of fascinating colors and landscapes she had never seen before, captivating her heart completely.
She was truly moved.
The Duke, pleased by her interest, told her to pick any painting she liked.
Although the Duke said she could choose several, lody decided on just one.
“Can I look around a bit more?”
“As much as you like.”
While he and Loretta took a break, lody freely wandered the exhibition hall, maintaining a quiet and elegant deanor according to the etiquette she had recently learned.
She felt it was necessary to navigate such places adeptly to live alongside Loretta.
During her exploration, lody fatefully encountered a certain painting.
It was a landscape.
A field blooming with yellow spring flowers…
“This exhibition is a failure too.”
That’s when she heard an unfamiliar voice.
Turning around, she saw a boy she hadn’t t before, arms crossed, looking at her with disdain as if his favorite outfit had been spoiled.
“To catch the eye of a slave trader, how undignified.”
He lifted his chin and ordered the servant standing by his side.
“Prepare the carriage. Let’s hurry before this frivolity spreads.”
The boy glared at lody until the end, then abruptly turned and left the room.
lody watched his retreating figure and suddenly had a realization.
What would happen if it beca known among the nobles that this beautiful painting hung in a ‘slave trader’s’ room?
“…….”
No one would want to keep the painter’s work close. They would be mocked for sharing the sa taste as a re slave trader.
It wasn’t possible to fault the actions of such nobles.
“It’s just…… because I am of such a lowly status.”
Perhaps things would have been a bit better if she hadn’t been the daughter of a criminal.
After that day, lody beca much more cautious.
She couldn’t even go outside wearing noticeably beautiful clothes, fearing that wearing clothes she had bought might lead to a bad reputation for the clothing store.
“……I’m okay, Isaiah.”
lody erged from her reverie, opened her eyes, and looked at him. Sohow, Isaiah’s expression of injustice was amusing.
“You know, Isaiah, what kind of life I had before I ca here.”
“Well, yes, but.”
“I, recently, ate a very big piece of at?”
“…….”
“And I received a lot of ink of a special color.”
“You, really.”
“And the hat I’m wearing now was made for
by Mrs. Higgins. Isn’t it pretty?”
Of course, lody would be pretty and cute no matter what, so Isaiah naturally nodded his head.
“See, I’m doing really well.”
Isaiah knew that lody was being treated preciously at the ducal house.
Her bragging like this was just a part of the kindness they showed her, and in reality, she was receiving even more warmth.
lody’s life was certainly better than it had been in the past.
Yet, why did her heart still hurt like this?
“Uh.”
At Isaiah’s sigh, lody responded with a sense of sorrow.
“It seems like you’re more upset than I am.”
lody actually wanted to confide in the Duke or Mrs. Higgins, but sohow, she couldn’t bring herself to speak in front of them.
“What if my sadness has transferred to Isaiah?”
“That’s not possible.”
Isaiah placed lody’s hand, ward by her own warmth, atop the white hat.
“Anyway, if l’s heart feels a bit lighter, then I’m glad.”
“Sohow, I end up telling Isaiah all sorts of things…”
“Well, listening to l’s complaints has been part of my daily routine since a long ti ago.”
“Are you saying I complained so often it beca part of your routine?”
“It was a relief when you just talked. Do you know how crazy I felt when you would cry and shut your mouth tight?”
Back then, he would call out the nas of all the kids in the neighborhood in front of a crying lody, asking, “This kid? Or that one? Who exactly bullied you?” until lody nodded.
“Umm… sorry.”
“But now, you’ve grown up enough to talk without crying. That’s comndable.”
He lightly tapped on the hat he had placed on her head.
“And Isaiah has grown up enough not to rush off to hit soone at the slightest provocation.”
lody, undeterred, reached out towards his head, but sohow couldn’t quite reach, ending up tapping near his ear with her fingertips.
Did it look like she was struggling? Isaiah chuckled.
“How co you haven’t grown at all over ti? Sotis I wonder if you’re not a doll.”
“It’s not that I haven’t grown. It’s Isaiah who’s grown weirdly fast.”
lody slightly lifted her toes, wanting to appear taller out of so desire.
Isaiah began to laugh even more, finding her effort amusing.
“Ahahaha, oh l, you’re too cute!”
“Are you going to keep teasing ?!”
“Ah, really.”
Unable to hold back, he firmly grasped lody’s cheeks with both hands.
“l, will you beco my family?”
“…Fa, family?”
That was such an absurd thing to say that lody looked at Isaiah with wide eyes, bewildered.
“That’s right.”
He explained with a broad smile.
“I’ll beco a knight, so you’ll be a knight’s family. How about it? Cool, isn’t it?! No one will be able to bully you. Behind you will stand the greatest knight, Isaiah Mullern!”
“Um, the greatest knight?”
“Gasp, how can you point that out! My fragile heart is going to break!”
He hastily clasped his chest with both hands, making a sorrowful face.
“I really will beco one, so… just wait a little.”
He wiped away his playful expression and looked at lody seriously.
“I’ll beco a knight quickly, so that no one can ever bully you again.”
“Thank you, Isaiah. But…”
lody was overjoyed by his willingness to solve her problems together.
“…I don’t think that’s going to work.”
Of course, lody couldn’t accept that.
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