“My sister is sick.”
“It doesn’t hurt though…”
“You must not leave the room today! Get some rest.”
“It’s not that painful. How hard did you work yesterday?”
“No changing the topic! And no! Get a good rest today! I received a leave notice from the head maid in advance.”
“It’s crazy.”
My sister sighed. Is she mad…?
She lowered her head for a while, apparently thinking, then and turned her gaze towards me, smiled brightly and nodded.
“Okay. Only because you want it, Layla.”
I’m mad… Yuria reached out and stroked my injured cheek gently.
“But are you not going to tell me what happened? I can’t believe you hit a wall.”
“… sorry.”
I couldn’t tell my sister the truth, she would freak out if I told her I was beaten by a tall, bumpy man. I never want to see my older sister cry again, if I had been honest, she might have actually flowed a river of tears. It’s good I didn’t pull at that thread.
“You always are secretive. You don’t tell me anything i want, still… … will you tell me someday?”
My sister laughed melancholically. Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it someday when we’re happy and out of this peacock family. All things I did were to get out of that future, even this injury.
I smiled, showing an innocent face.
“… When was the last time I wasn’t honest with my sister?”
I was not feeling well because of a cold I had from last night, it peaked this morning. My sister was in a similar situation and I convinced to keep herself to her room for the day.
I sighed mentally and left the room.
Anyway… great. Done! There were a lot of embarrassing things, but now I can lock my sister in the room! My head felt dizzy and my body felt droopy, and I staggered throughout the walk.
“Lord, I think I’m going to die…”
I was scolded for pretending to be okay in the room. As of today, the hot flushes, which covered the reddened face due to high fever, helped.
She hypnotized herself several times saying she is fine, not sick. not hurt, in good shape.
It should be okay, I have to watch over Count Nigor’s deputy. I had to check whether they really came here to celebrate the duke’s birthday, or if they came all the way here to pursue his sister. If it was the latter, I would have to force myself to get a letter of recommendation and run away immediately.
The birthday party was held around one o’clock, and it was just past breakfast for the employees.
She headed to the kitchen, passing by people who looked at her face with worried expressions, wondering if she had a fight with Lemon, as Lemon and her group showed indescribable strange expressions.
Her job was to arrange food on the party table that stretched out in the garden, and replenish the food, I needed to get food from the kitchen. I got a pot of hot soup from the chef and placed it on the table. He moved it with another servant, but the pot was too big and hot, so our sweat dripped like a river.
I was going to die from the current heat, but it felt like it was getting hotter.
She wiped her forehead with her sleeve and looked up at the sky, meeting her eyes with Isli, who was staring blankly out of her window. Wow, will I ever run into Isley?
The reason I couldn’t look away right away was that he was wearing a pretty cool outfit. Probably because it was his mom’s birthday party, it was definitely decorated nicely (I hate to admit it). His frizzy hair was neatly tucked back, and his always shabby clothes were turned into neat suits. It was a shock as if the man next door, who was always wearing gym uniforms, suddenly came out wearing a suit one day.
I tilted my head, nodded, and went back into the mansion to go get my next meal. This time, I moved a piece of bread that was small enough to be eaten with my fingers. I don’t know the name of the food. Then I met Isley, who seemed to be looking for someone.
I was the person Isley was looking for, he immediately came up to me and asked me about the wound. I keep getting asked if I had a fight with a kid named Lemon again… … . I laughed hard and agreed to the answer, but to be honest, I was a little annoyed. What does it have to do with you whether I fight or not, whoever beats me or not?
He made a bewildered face and poked my cheek. He was saying something which I couldn’t comprehend.
Why are you doing that? my cheeks? Were you surprised to see the wounds? Or was it a strange feeling because the bandage on the cheek was unusually large? I remembered that he had a strange reaction when he discovered the wound I had suffered from fighting with Lemon the other day. Also, isn’t he trying to play a prank? I don’t know, let’s ignore it.
He continued to squirm next to her, moving food until she gave him the right answer. His attention was robbed by the clock on the wall pointing to one o’clock, he went into the garden immediately. She was then able to catch a breath a sigh of relief. She tried not to comment.
I sat down on the kitchen chair, rested a bit and looked at the clock indicating the time was 1:20, and headed to the garden. I could see the employees saluting the nobles entering the mansion. The servants holding the invitation list were checking the nobles coming.
“Welcome, Count Siegfried!”
“Welcome, Baron Efort!”
The real party had begun.
The garden was heavily decorated for the party. Tables with white tablecloths were placed neatly and decorated with various foods, similar to a buffet. The entrance to the bathroom and the first floor were also decorated for guests stopping by.
Like Yuria, she hid in a corner, behind a barrel where her face was concealed, and watched their positions. A representative who remembers her face might come, so she had to be careful. Where is Count Nigor’s deputy? She pressed her forehead against his trembling forehead and looked around.
As if one cannot help but pay attention, the thing that stands out the most here is the duke’s family.
The duke and his sons were gathered in one place, lavishly dressed. Unlike usual, the peacock in the red dress looked very beautiful. His dark hair, strong in color, and his white skin contrasting with the red dress highlighted his white skin.
Anyway, it looks really uninteresting. It might be your birthday party, but it’s not fun.
Then, one after another, I looked at the masters in suits. Osses conversed with the guests with a smile; Isley, who was gazing around, yawning and stuffing food; Arthur was talking to the duchess, clinging to her like gum.
In fact, rather than sharing, it seemed like he was talking one-sidedly. No matter what they were saying, the listener didn’t seem to be paying attention. Arthur talked like that for a while, then sipped champagne with a gloomy face.
I looked around other nobles, but there was no face that resembled a proxy. Usually, the person who comes as a proxy came with a brooch engraved with the crest of the family in question, but none of them were wearing a brooch with the face of a deer with four huge horns, representing Count Nigor, on their chest. Maybe they were far away.
Let’s go a little closer… … ?
Then someone tapped my shoulder.
Startled, I looked back. Amy was looking at me with a puzzled face.
“Lala, what are you doing here?”
“Huh? me… … nothing… … ?”
“I’m in charge of refilling food, so I’m relaxed now, right? If you have nothing to do, why don’t you serve like me?”
Now I see she is standing there holding a tray full of champagne. I opened my eyes and looked over the tray.
How do you transport something like that? If it were me, I would not be able to take even a single step, fearing the imminent fall. Amy asked in a puzzled voice, unable to take her eyes off my face.
“But you look more red than usual.”
“What? I? You must be mistaken!”
“Something doesn’t seem right… … . Is it an illusion… … ?”
Smiling hard, Amy scratched the back of her head and returned to the garden to serve.
As I was trying to go in as an excuse to serve, I noticed Aunt Emily striding over this way. It seemed to be coming to me. I thought it was a mistake, but she was coming in exactly the direction I was. Seeing that her face was so terribly distorted, I ran away inside the mansion by instinct.
Why the hell are you chasing me so persistently? Did I do anything wrong?
I went up the stairs to the second floor, into the guest room at the far end of the floor, and locked the door. Outside the door, Emilia knocked hard on the door and squeaked.
“Lala… … you… … What the hell are you thinking! Why didn’t you tell me!”
“Wait. Aunt Emily, calm down! I have no idea what you’re talking about, do you?”
“I saw the invitation list.”
It felt like my heart stopped for a moment.
“How? Auntie, you’re not even in charge of checking the list… … .”
“While the person in charge was dazed, gazing at the sky, I took over the task instead. That’s when I found out.”
“Ah… Seed… ”
She slammed her palm against forehead and lamented.
Why didn’t I expect this to happen? My thoughts regarding sister’s and our aunt, Emily was that Emily didn’t care about Yuria. Silly Lala. Stupid Lala. Ignorant and fallen lump of garbage.
she exhaled as if in a whisper.
“That he came to this mansion! I am… I didn’t know he was invited to this mansion… Why is such a person… I have no idea what the Duke is thinking.”
“… No one in this mansion will know.”
“I heard you were in the role of helping the maid check the invitations. Then you must have seen that person’s name already. Well then, why didn’t you tell me? Do you think I can’t help you?”
Well, that’s not it. She took care of us and helped us get hired as a maid in this mansion. She was a good person. But the reason I didn’t think to tell her was probably because of my gut feeling.
“But if I tell my aunt, Yuria will find out.”
… that it is
A harsh breathing sound was heard.
“You… Haven’t you told Yuria about this yet?”
“Ah… … .”
I made a mistake. I should have said I have finished talking with my sister and that she had plans.
Now she could tell her sister that Count Nigor’s deputy is coming.
Aunt Emily had always been overly cooperative. She didn’t want to see her doing anything alone. She made her won job even harder by recruiting her sister, who was always struggling.
Even though I could have done better on my own. The anger ran up to the tip of my head, and it was hard to bear. It seemed as if I could pour my swear words at her, who was like my benefactor at any moment.
“… No. We talked.”
“Don’t lie.”
“It’s real.”
“If you lie one more time, I will go tell Yuria.”
“… All right! Got it! Please don’t tell Yuria, unnie.”
“Yeah, I knew it. I’m sorry but I have to tell you. I think that Yuria should know about this as a party on the day.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t tell my sister! My sister is sick and won’t come out of the room for the rest of the day. I mean, I’m never going to run into that person anyway! And you’re a representative anyway, right? He’s not that person. I’ll take care of everything, so please don’t spoil anything. Have you ever thought that there must be a reason why I didn’t tell you? Yes?”
“Why have you been so selfish from long ago? Why are you trying to handle everything by yourself!”
“Please, listen to me.”
“I will tell Yuria. That is final.”
“… Don’t do that! Don’t do that!”
I slammed the door with my fist. Despite my reluctance, the aunt put her words into action. I heard her running down the hallway.
She opened the door quickly, but her aunt was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes pinged and turned, whether it was from anger or from a cold.
“You are the one who is selfish…”
Thank you so much for the update!!! ❤