Episode 2. Changed fate
Chapter 3
Jade had been harassed by Erwin and Alan since morning. Some people would feel more comfortable being taken care of, but
Jade, who had been doing everything on her own up until now, felt very uncomfortable. However, Erwin said that it was a characteristic of a duke’s daughter to take for granted the help of her employees.
With Alan’s help, Jade spent a considerable amount of time washing, fixing her hair, and putting on makeup. Finally, Jade put on the clothes that Erwin recommended her and stood in front of the mirror, while doubting her eyes.
“Oh.”
Her black hair, which was always covered, was tied up in a voluminous manner with pearl ornaments, and the purple dress with layers of white lace made Jade’s thin body look voluminous. Jade’s face, which had been dull due to the sideburns, was brightened by the makeup, and her facial features were more distinct thanks to the makeup that highlighted her sparkling green eyes.
“It exceeded my expectations.”
Alan clapped her hands beside Jade as she looked at her. Erwin, who was guarding behind her, nodded his head in satisfaction.
“It was worth the effort. Do you like it?”
“I like it, except I don’t know who this is.”
Jade’s answer, which she still couldn’t believe was her own reflection in the mirror, made Alan and Erwin laugh slightly. Jade couldn’t take her eyes off the mirror. She still had a small, skinny body and rough hands, but with the lace gloves on, she really looked like Jade Morgan.
“Let’s go.”
Erwin led Jade to the reception room. It was a place to meet the Duke of Morgan’s family. Erwin said that there was no need to become close to them, but it was good to get to know their faces.
“So you are Jade.”
“Yes, nice to see you.”
Jade greeted the Morgan family in the morning, as Erwin had taught her. The Duke of Morgan, who seemed to be in his middle age, greeted Jade warmly.
However, the eldest son Derek and daughter Leah, who seemed to be the same age as the Duchess had unpleasant expressions.
They were nobles to the core, and it was very unpleasant to adopt a daughter from the slums and to be in the same space as them.
“Please take good care of her so that a bride for the Black Dragon can come from our family.”
“I will work hard.”
The Duke of Morgan kept glancing at Erwin while talking to Jade. It seemed to Jade that the Duke of Morgan was displeased with her and wanted to vent his displeasure on Erwin.
Erwin told Jade that she didn’t have to look good in front of the duke’s people, but she couldn’t let Erwin get cursed at.
Jade kept her head up straight and kept a smile on her face, just like Erwin had taught her.
It was hard just to stand there calmly, not showing her trembling heart in front of the duke’s people, whom she couldn’t even dare look at.
“Whew”
Jade sighed softly as she finished her greeting and went out. As expected, Duke Morgan called Erwin aside. He was probably going to evaluate me.
Jade, who had to wait for Erwin, leaned against the wall in the hallway and looked up at the sky outside the window. Contrary to her feelings, the sky was clear and clean.
“Oh, this is annoying.”
A woman’s voice was heard from inside the door. As the door to the reception room opened with a click, Jade’s head naturally turned. The Duchess, Derek, and Leah came out of the door.
Jade nodded without realizing it.
The Duchess and Derek passed by her, while ignoring Jade as if she wasn’t even there, and Leah stopped in front of her, looking Jade up and down.
Leah, with her dark blond hair flowing down her face, let out a cold voice that didn’t match her honey-sweet expression.
“I am the only daughter of the Morgan family. So don’t be mistaken.”
“I know.”
“Dad is seriously mistaken. There’s no way the Black Dragon would take a lowly commoner like you as his bride. Live quietly until you crawl back to the slums. Don’t be unlucky.”
“Yes.”
Jade couldn’t smile at Leah, but Leah’s verbal abuse didn’t hurt her at all. Jade agreed with Leah.
However, unlike Leah’s idea that Jade would want to cling to the dukedom and beg, Jade wanted to start a new life through this experience.
Jade, who had low self-esteem, had never thought that the dukedom would accept her. Leah was even more upset because Jade was still indifferent to her verbal abuse.
“What were you two talking about?”
Erwin, who had come out before she knew it, approached Jade. Leah’s eyes, which had been glaring at Jade, widened at Erwin’s appearance.
“Oh, Erwin!”
Leah called out Erwin with a bright smile and a short tongue.
Then she approached Erwin, crossed her arms, and looked up at him with kitten-like eyes. It was obvious that she was not looking at her butler. Jade wondered if the Duke’s daughter had feelings for the butler, but she was easily convinced when she saw Erwin’s figure next to Leah. Even among the nobles, such beauty was rare.
He was a man that any woman would have looked at at least once.
“Let’s go on a trip. We’ll do some shopping on the way back.”
“I’m sorry. I have a lot to do today.”
Erwin politely took Leah’s hand off his arm with a blank expression. Leah’s pride was hurt.
It was impossible for a mere butler to refuse his master’s orders.
However, the new butler Erwin did not listen to a single word of her story. She went to her father several times to tell him, but he just told her to leave him alone. Leah thought that she could make all the men in the world boil under her feet, so she was attracted to Erwin.
Unable to give up on Erwin, who could not be helped even by her father’s power, Leah changed her course by gently seducing him.
“Let someone else do it and I’ll go with you. Okay?”
“No, I can’t. I decided to show Miss Jade around the house.”
“Ha, just because of something like that?”
Leah narrowed her eyes and glared at Erwin, and sighs of incredulity came out one after another from her mouth.
She tried to hold it in to look good to Erwin, but it was really ridiculous. Erwin paid no attention to Leah’s reaction and asked Jade for consent.
“We made an appointment yesterday, didn’t we, Miss?”
Jade was taken aback by the arrows flying at her. It was true that Erwin had offered to show her the house, but she didn’t think it was important enough to tolerate this kind of discord.
Jade, who had never been able to properly express her own opinion, thought she had to appease Leah, who was the angrier of the two.
“We can go see the house tomorrow…….”
“Tomorrow, I have something else to do. As you know, Miss Jade ran away, so my schedule has been pushed back a lot.”
Jade had nothing more to say to Erwin, who was blaming her for the delayed schedule. Leah’s face turned bright red in anger at Erwin for blatantly ignoring her.
“You’re the Morgan family’s butler. Don’t you know who your real master is?”
“Miss Jade is also a Morgan’s person. I am in charge of her.”
“You are just a butler. Let’s just wait and see.”
Jade, who was just watching the tense atmosphere flowing between Leah and Erwin, felt her heart shrink to the size of a fingernail.
Leah, who was completely drunk in anger, eventually pushed Erwin away while grumbling.
Jade worried that Leah might harm Erwin. However, Erwin was calm.
“You have to just listen to the Morgan’s and let it go out the other ear. They’re not trying to be a real family with you.”
Jade nodded. It wasn’t a relationship that would last three months anyway, so there was no need to get involved.
There was no need to go around telling anyone that Duke Morgan was her father.
“Then what should I do here?”
“It’s simple. Just do whatever you want.”
When Jade came to the duke’s house, she thought there would be some kind of great class prepared to make the bride of the black dragon.
However, Erwin was talking about the same thing as Marion.
Jade looked up at Erwin with a bewildered expression, wondering what on earth he meant by doing what she wanted in duke’s house.
Erwin smiled slightly at Jade and held out his large hand in front of her.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. That includes holding this hand too.”
Jade couldn’t understand why this man was doing this. Towards Jade, who was reluctant to reach out, Erwin made a small gesture as if telling her to grab his hand.
The smile he was looking at me was so refreshing, I couldn’t help but fall for him. Jade, who had been hesitating, carefully placed her small, lace-gloved hand on Erwin’s large hand.
‘How could I say no to Erwin?’
“You’ve gained weight recently and you look prettier.”
Erwin said happily as he put a large blue bonnet on Jade. Jade was embarrassed by Erwin’s compliment and couldn’t look him in the eye. Erwin took Jade and stood her in front of the mirror.
“Look, you really do seem like a different person now, don’t you?”
Jade seemed like she could be in a textbook on how people change depending on how they dress up.
Jade, who had now gained enough flesh to hide her bones, looked completely different from when she first came to the mansion.
Her body, which had been receiving massages and soaking in warm water every day according to Erwin’s schedule, had become much softer, and her once chapped cheeks had become round and plump, and her complexion had returned.
“Your posture will straighten up and you will look taller.”
Jade, who always had her shoulders hunched, started walking with her back straight and chest out, following Erwin’s advice. Whenever she fell back into a hunched posture, she followed Erwin’s upright posture and it worked well.
Just having a confident posture made me feel like a better person.
“It’s all thanks to you, Mr Butler.”
“What are you talking about? It’s all thanks to you for following along so well. Even if you’re like this, you’ll be the prettiest among the black-haired ladies.”
Jade shook her head. It couldn’t be.
It had been more than two months since she had come to the mansion, but she had done nothing but follow Erwin’s words.
When she woke up in the morning, Alan would dress her up, and she would start her day by following Erwin who came to pick her up.
Erwin raised Jade with care. He was very virtuous, exercised her by horseback riding and walking, and put her to sleep.
He put her to sleep everyday.
“Shall we go?”
Jade, who had finished preparing for the walk, naturally linked arms with Erwin.
The time spent together walking slowly and chatting with him was a great pleasure for Jade.
Today’s walk ended at the glass greenhouse behind the mansion.
The greenhouse, which was so large that it was impossible to see everything at a glance, was a place where rare plants and beautiful flowers could be seen all year round. Jade and Erwin went into the greenhouse to look at the flowers and sat side by side on the bench.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Just a little. I think I should rest for a bit.”
Today, I went to the lake near the mansion, took a small boat, and walked around the large lake, so I was quite tired. When I was walking, I didn’t realize I was tired because I was talking to Erwin, but when I arrived at the mansion, I felt exhausted.
Before I knew it, the maid came and placed a refreshing lemonade in front of them.
“Wow, when did you order this?”
“I asked the back doorman earlier. I think you need to take a break.”
After drinking the sweet and sour lemonade, Jade leaned lightly on Erwin’s shoulder.
She was worried that Erwin might avoid her, but Erwin offered his shoulder more so that she could lean comfortably on him. In this mansion where everything was prepared to the highest standard, the best thing for her was Erwin.
Just touching his shoulder was so nice, so I thought how nice it would be to become Erwin’s lover.
However, I had to leave this mansion soon. Even if I became the bride of the Black Dragon, or not, I couldn’t return to this mansion.
Still, I was glad to meet Erwin and be with him like this. In my life, where there was nothing good, Erwin was my only happiness.
“I love it here.”
Jade couldn’t say that she was happy with Erwin.
The greenhouse was warm and sunny, making people feel tired.
Jade, who had fallen asleep leaning on Erwin’s shoulder, opened her eyes with her head down. She came to her senses and looked to the side to see Erwin asleep as well. She had entered the greenhouse after seeing the blue sky, but the sky outside was already red.
It seemed like she had been asleep for a longer time than she thought.
“Mr Butler.”
Erwin was also asleep.
Erwin’s appearance, illuminated by the fiery sunset, was mysteriously beautiful. From his neatly arranged black hair to his pale, transparent white skin, and his thick eyelashes forming a beautiful arc under his closed eyes.
“Are you asleep?”
Jade whispered softly and waved her hand in front of the sleeping Erwin. Erwin didn’t respond, perhaps because he was deeply asleep.
Jade looked at Erwin’s face with ease, then her gaze stopped at his lips.
His slightly parted red lips were so thick and clear that they looked like they would burst if touched.
Jade tried to touch Erwin’s lips as if she was possessed, but then came to her senses.
At that moment, Erwin’s hand grabbed Jade’s hand.
Erwin held Jade’s hand even tighter as she tried to pull away in surprise, and laughed heartily.
“Have you seen everything?”
“Yes?”
Erwin, who I thought was asleep, seemed to know everything I did. Jade’s face turned bright red from embarrassment at being caught looking at the him so obsessively.
“I haven’t seen it.”
Jade turned her head and pretended not to notice. Erwin’s soft laughter reached Jade’s ears.
“Really? I watched you sleep for a long time…….”
Jade couldn’t raise her head at Erwin’s words, which she couldn’t tell if they were jokes or serious.
Erwin, who brought Jade here to make her the bride of the Black Dragon, was increasingly confusing Jade. She couldn’t tell if he was a playboy or if he really liked her.
“You can see me whenever you want, and also touch it whenever you want.”
“Oh, why is that?”
As Erwin continued to tease her, Jade, who was embarrassed, tried to pull her hand away from his grasp.
Erwin did not let go of Jade’s hand, but instead brought Jade’s finger to his lips and kissed it lightly.
Jade was startled by Erwin’s lips touching her fingertips, pushed Erwin away, jumped up, and ran out of the greenhouse.
I was so embarrassed that I liked it without even knowing the topic. There was no way that the quick-witted butler wouldn’t know what I was thinking. Jade was confused about how to look at him in the future.
“Anyway, she looks so undignified…….”
Leah clicked her tongue as she saw Jade running around frantically, rushing out of the greenhouse. The unsightly fabric of Jade’s dress kept catching her eye.
“What is that?”
Leah was astonished to see Erwin coming out of the greenhouse while swiping his lips with his thumb.
It was quite a sight to see the two of them bragging to the neighborhood that it didn’t look like an ordinary conversation.
Jade was to be taken care by Erwin before she left for the selection, but it would be difficult if Erwin had personal feelings for Jade.
“Butler!”
Leah, who was a little far away, shouted at Erwin. Erwin, who had been fixating his gaze on Jade’s back as she ran, turned towards the direction of the voice. He saw Leah glaring at him with her arms crossed at a distance. Judging from her riding outfit, she seemed to have gone out on a horse riding and had returned.
“Was it fun?”
To Leah’s twisted words, which seemed to be intended to mock Erwin, Erwin nodded and answered. With a handsome face that never gets old.
“Yes, it was good.”
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