“…..”
Gulp.
The restaurant was so quiet that I could hear someone’s swallowing. Everyone froze as they were working.
“Ah, I’m hungry! I’ve never seen food like this in my life. I want to hurry up and eat it.”
I pretended to have no idea about the surrounding situation and knocked on the table with a big smile in my mouth.
I don’t know what the servants believed, and acted like that, but now I have a strong background.
“What do you mean?”
“Huh?”
Cardin’s gloomy voice came out. With a ghastly sinking gaze.
When I looked at it, my stomach felt numb. Some people had eyes that seemed to be able to send someone directly to the other world.
“No. I just said hello because I was happy to see them Papa.”
I smiled as brightly as I could as if I knew nothing.
Cardin looked at me for a while and turned to the servants in the restaurant.
I could see the servants shaking because of the presence of Cardin’s gaze.
I also trembled; it wasn’t because I was scared.
I finally thought that the child abusers could be punished, so I was so thrilled that my body trembled.
‘Oh, it’s thrilling. You guys messed with the wrong person. I’m not such a good-tempered kid.’
When I saw the servants who had been looking down and mocking me trembling with fear like mice standing in front of a beast, peace spread from deep inside.
I wanted to enjoy more peace in this heart while sitting in a chair and taking a more comfortable position.
“You there.”
“Yes!”
“What does she mean?”
Cardin pointed to the nearest servant and asked.
Somehow, I thought his face was familiar.
The servant who was pointed out was so pale that it would not be strange if he faints soon.
“Oh, that’s the old man who told me not to walk around uselessly.”
She smiled and waved her hand happily.
“Wh, when did I… Hyuk.”
The servant who was trying to refute me, bowed his head quickly again at Cardin’s brutal gaze.
“Are these all true? They have done such things to you …..”
At the same time as the grim murmur, a black aura slowly spread behind Cardin.
It showed that he was really angry.
“Oh, never mind that Duke! I’m just worried about the princess, so I want her to be careful!”
“I also heard that it’s too hot in winter!”
One of the servants, who couldn’t stand the pressure, made an excuse by bending his knees in front of Cardin.
As if it were a sign, other servants began to make excuses one by one.
“Mouth…..shut it”
The noisy restaurant became quiet again.
“Bring the …. head Chamberlain and the Butler.”
“…Yes!”
The servant who was bending his knees ran out of the restaurant like bitter flesh.
Soon after, I heard the footsteps of several people rushing in.
“Du, Duke.”
The Head Chamberlain and the Butler immediately turned pale as they watched the scene at the Dining Hall exuding a bloody atmosphere.
They were like captains who ignored me and looked down on me.
Inside the Dining hall, the kneeling servants looked at the head Chamberlain and butler, silently asking what to do.
“You two.”
“Yes, Duke.”
“Is there not a single lie about the fact that you have managed the duke family well for the past two years without me?”
“…That’s right.”
The head chamberlain and the butler answered, bowing their heads as if they were going to poke themselves on the floor.
“Then there are no lies in the contents sent in letters over the past two years.”
“…That’s…”
What did he write in the letter that he hesitated to answer like that?
Cardin has been staring at those trembling guys in front of him and then turning their heads toward me and asking random questions.
“Last winter, did you have a small banquet with the servants of the mansion to celebrate your birthday?”
What are you talking about?
“No, I don’t…”
I couldn’t even eat proper food, let alone a banquet. I always have hard bread and lukewarm soup.
“Have you ever bought a new dress in the dressing room?”
“Dressing room …….?”
The look on my face that did not seem to understand what he meant already answered his questions.
The clothes I’m wearing now were not shabby, but that did not mean that the princess of the duke’s family would wear them.
Whenever the season changed, all I had to do was to wear the clothes they handed over from somewhere.
Even after that, Cardin asked me a few questions, but I could never come up with a positive answer.
After Cardin’s attack of questions, silence came back to the dining hall.
At that moment.
“Oh my god!”
“Argh!”
“Wh, what are you talking……..”
Black auras spread around Cardin surrounded the entire Dining hall as if exploding.
The Black aura swallowed all the lights and grew strong enough to cover the hall with darkness.
In a blink of an eye, the servants in the dining hall were screaming, tied to the black aura.
“It’s noisy.”
“Uh,Uh……”
“Duke!”
At that time, Elvin stormed into the dining hall door.
Elvin, who apparently was in a hurry to run to the dining hall with the knights, was stunned to see Cardin standing at the center of this incident.
“Elvin. Go get the child’s nanny.”
“…yes.”
“No. You’d better take the child back to the room.”
Cardin entrusted me to Elvin and ordered another knight to bring the nanny.
What are they going to do by calling my nanny? I was struck by anxiety that she may become like the dying servants on the floor.
“I want to stay here, too!”
Shaking off Elvin’s arm, she told Cardin.
“Go back.”
Cardin gestured to Elvin with a cold face and beckoned him to take me out.
“The nanny is my family! She’s the one who always tells me that she loves me.”
I strongly said, thinking that even the nanny would fall into a black aura.
“……I just have something to ask.”
Cardin looked at my expression that was about to cry and replied to me in a slightly more relaxed tone.
“Duke…..”
It was a good thing I wasn’t going out and holding out. The nanny entered the restaurant and found me with a trembling voice.
“Nanny……”
I ran to the nanny and buried my face in the width of her skirt.
Cardin, look. Don’t touch my nanny.
Cardin looked at my nanny and me and soon beckoned Elvin to back down.
“From now on, answer my questions without lies.”
“I wonder if there is. Duke.”
“How have you been during the time I wasn’t in the mansion?”
The nanny looked at me hanging at her legs and smiled softly. Then, with a determined expression, I lightly buried my face in the width of her skirt and she covered my ears with her wrinkled hands.
In this way, I couldn’t see anything, but I couldn’t stop the nanny’s efforts from overshadowing all the sounds.
The nanny covered my eyes and ears and told them in detail about the atrocities that the servants had been doing.
It was a pretty long story. To summarize the story of the nanny, it was like this.
Before Cardin left the subjugation, Me and my nanny, who were still babies, ate in a fairly luxurious room.
The servants saw that Cardin was not looking for me and made a wild guess that I was abandoned.
Surprisingly, however, Cardin regularly and secretly sent Elvin to be briefed on how I was doing.
Then, as Cardin left the duchy for the northern subjugation, the neglect and harassment of his servants began.
At first, they sent a subtle disregard, and then embezzled the money that was allocated for me, and eventually, even the food, clothing, and shelter were controlled by themselves.
The nanny wanted to let Cardin know about this, but she couldn’t even try because the servants blocked her.
Moreover, the nanny herself was not sure if Cardin had affection for me, so she had not taken any action so far.
“…Ha.”
Cardin, who was listening to the nanny’s story, let out a small breath that seemed to be clogged.
“Take the child back to the room.”
“…yes.”
Cardin barely opened his mouth, chewing his lips.
The voice that seemed to suppress something seemed very difficult.
The nanny hugged me and quickly left the restaurant.
“Nanny……”
“Should we go back to your room and have lunch, princess?”
“Yes…”
I had no choice but to hug and respond to my nanny who tried to ask with a smile as if nothing had happened.
Now it’s quite far from the Dining Hall, but I could hear the sound of the chilly wind and the ground ringing heavily.
“Princess, you have to eat.”
“Yes.”
The nanny brought lunch to my room.
They were appetizing enough to make my mouth water, but I couldn’t easily fall for them because I remembered the back of Cardin when I left the restaurant.
“Princess, you have to eat quickly to be healthy and grow taller.”
The nanny once again recommended a meal, comforting me as if I were drooping.
I couldn’t refuse anymore, so I ate a little bit of food.
“I’m full”
The nanny stroked my hair once and went out of the room to organize the utensils.
Some time has passed since lunch.
I wanted to go see Cardin, but the nanny tried to divert my attention with an awkward smile.
So, I spent time with the nanny reading books and drawing, and settled in my room until evening.
‘Can’t we see each other today?’
The last time I saw Cardin was at the Dining hall, sighed.
Even if I asked the nanny, I just got frustrated because she didn’t give me a proper answer.
Looking out the window, the darkness was already deep.
Returning to the room, the nanny leaned over and made eye contact with me.
“Princess, shall we take a walk in the garden?”
The nanny was smiling softly. It was an expression I see every time she gives me a small present.
You are to blame you can’t manage your house trash dad