The child diligently brought the soup to his mouth, but his gaze was fixed on the jar full of candies and wouldn’t budge.
It was a behavior so much like Ellie’s that it was uncanny.
So, she knew. Though it looked like ordinary candy, it was a snack she had loved in her childhood.
These colorful candies were filled with syrup made from the nectar of flowers that only grew in the Mason estate.
Each bite was a delightful symphony of sweet and tangy fruit flavors, accompanied by a rich yet clean aftertaste of honey.
Since flowers didn’t grow anywhere else except in Mason Territory, and the amount that could be extracted at once was so small, the honey was extremely rare.
Given that the candies were made with syrup from such honey, it was only natural that they would be priced at a level that would require several months’ worth of wages for an ordinary maid.
‘I mean, why did she…’
Rather than why, How did she, as a maid, afford such a luxury?
No matter how much she loved her child, Marie, as Ariel remembered her, was never one to splurge on desserts.
She would rather buy another outfit or have an extra meal.
Just by looking at their clothes, it was even more certain.
Aside from the child’s seasonally inappropriate and ill-fitting clothes, Marie’s sleeves and hems were frayed, suggesting she hadn’t bought any new clothes since Arielle’s death.
It wasn’t to the point of being unwearable, but it wasn’t the kind of attire a maid who had worked for a noble family for a long time would be expected to wear.
Completely puzzled by the situation, Ellie narrowed her eyes and fell into thought.
“But…Isn’t Marie supposed to go back?”
After what felt like tens of seconds passed, the child, who had been enthusiastically eating, cautiously spoke up.
Marie, who had been absent-mindedly eating soup while chatting with the child, blinked in response to the child’s question.
“Why would I go there?”
“You’re supposed to go there today… like everyone else….”
“I decided to stay here and just serve the Young Master. Since The Madam and Master are both taking care of their own matters,then it’s fine.”
TL/N: Madam and Master=Ellie’s parents
The child, who had been naturally eating soup while conversing, sparkled his eyes in response to Marie’s words.
Even if he pretended otherwise, he was ultimately just a child who needed attention.
Ellie and Marie both knew that.
“Young Master.”
“….”
“Young Master?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“What if you take out all the lettuce from the sandwich? Right now, there’s only bread and meat.”
But that was not all.
Marie, who called out to the child with a kind face, smiled and said,
“What a miracle to turn a vegetable sandwich into a beef sandwich. Our Young Master must be a genius alchemist, wow.”
“But, I’m already full right now, so I won’t be able to eat it as a whole unless I take out the lettuce!”
“But you’ve already picked out the mushrooms from the steak garnish and the soup, haven’t you?”
“Uh, um…”
“…”
“So, that’s…”
“Yes?”
“…”
The child, sensing the pressure from Marie’s emotionless smile, protested weakly.
Ellie, watching the child’s feeble excuse while floating around in the corner as he wasn’t even trying to eat his food, felt a sense of déjà vu.
[Young lady, picky eating is bad for you.]
[But nanny, there’s a drought going on right now, and some of the poor commoners are starving to death. So how can I, as a noble, overeat?]
[You say that, but you ate all the bread and meat and left the vegetables untouched.]
[…That’s-]
[Young lady?]
[……]
Ellie nodded quietly, convinced.
Hmm. Yes, he’s my child after all.
Ellie, who was proud of the child’s appearance, even though there was nothing to brag about, only came to her senses after he had finished his plate.
Even the way he was chewing and swallowing the lettuce with a grimace, as if undergoing some strange magical potion experiment, was so reminiscent of her own childhood.
As Marie was about to clear the empty plates and take the tray away, the child, who had finished everything, shouted urgently.
“I finished everything! You have to talk about Mommy and give me the candy, you promised!”
Your mommy is right here next to you, my dear.
Ellie, who was rolling the words she couldn’t spit out in her mouth, was startled by Marie’s subsequent words and shook her shoulders.
“Oh. Well then, um… here you go first. What kind of story would you like to hear?”
“I want to hear about Mommy and Daddy’s first date.”
As Marie, who had taken out a candy from a glass jar and put it in the child’s mouth, hummed thoughtfully, the child said what he wanted as if he had been waiting.
Ellie’s lips curled into an awkward smile at the sight, as if she were ordering at a restaurant.
“Well, that’s a good one, uh. Like when she, the Young Lady, had her debutante banquet.”
Surely not… Oh, surely not.
Ellie glared at Marie, unable to show her true feelings with the child right in front of her.
Of course, unfortunately, there was no way that signal would get through.
Ellie, who tried to avoid the situation by tapping her foot and running away with a somewhat evasive thought, let out a deep sigh.
No matter what, there is still such a thing as a parent’s image, right? Would she really shatter that?
Ellie trusted Marie.
No one else would do that, and Marie wouldn’t either,
“Our Lady, I mean your mother, the Duchess, was incredibly sociable.”
“Really?”
“Yes, indeed. To the extent that she even took me as her maid to her debutante banquet and-”
There you go. It could have been like that.
Realizing instinctively what Marie was about to say, Ellie opened her mouth wide.
The child’s legs dangled under the bed, filled with anticipation as Marie continued without regard, despite Ellie’s silent cries.
‘Haha, I guess I’m doomed to be a cool parent in this life.’
Ellie recalled her own debutante day.
[You know what, Marie, should I show you something fun?]
[…What?]
[I went to the library with Rutus before and read an interesting book.]
[What… are you talking about?]
[There’s a saying in the East called “The Eternal Truths.” I guess it means something that never changes…]
It was an ordinary day, just like any other.
The only difference was that it was still the time when Rutus was staying at the Mason house.
Another difference was that it was a day when the unspoken rule of doing something whenever the sun was particularly bright was applied.
There weren’t any specific promises, but Rutus would disappear like a ghost somewhere in the afternoons of sunny days.
[What are you doing here again?]
With high probability, the place Ellie would go to find Rutus at this time was the second-floor library.
[…I’m reading a book, so be quiet.]
The fourth bookshelf from the back, on the left side of the window, where the sun shines the best.
There, Rutus would always be sitting on the window seat, leaning back against the cushions, reading a book.
The topics varied. Sometimes it was literature, sometimes it was theology, and sometimes it was military science.
So Ellie would stare at the book Rutus was reading and pick out a book on a similar topic, sit down leaning back against the cushions.
No one told her to, and she didn’t understand half of the content of the books, but that’s just how it was.
Maybe that’s why I was able to maintain top grades throughout my academy days when I hated studying.
Ellie still thinks so.
[…Hey.]
[…….]
[Hey, Mason.]
[…….]
[Hey!]
[Sigh.]
It was a time when they didn’t even call each other by name.
That meant it was a long time ago.
At that time, Ellie shoved a book she had chosen into Rutus’s hands and, along with a distortion of an explanation she had once heard, proceeded to do something in the spirit of adolescence’s “let’s just try it and see what happens.”
For example, this kind of thing:
[As you know, I don’t have any close female friends yet, right?]
[Yes…?]
[So of course I’ve never met any of the ladies here today.]
Marie, with a doubtful look on her face, affirmed Ellie’s confident statement.
It was the kind of look you’d give something that was about to cause an accident.
And to cut a long story short, that guess was not wrong at all.
[But I’m going to be best friends with those ladies from now on.]
[…Huh?]
[Just trust me!]
No, I don’t want to trust you.
That’s exactly what her expression said, but Marie, who was close with Ellie, couldn’t draw a clear line in the sand and bring herself to stop the young lady she was serving.
Ellie, leaving Marie behind, walked briskly towards the group of ladies huddled together, opened the fan in her hand with a flourish, and spoke playfully.
[Oh, ladies! It’s been a while!]
[Y, yes?]
[It’s been a while since the last banquet, right? Did you get the letter I sent you this time?]
The sudden questions from Ellie made the eyes of one of the young ladies widen in confusion. It was a response as if they couldn’t remember.
Of course, it was natural. It was their first meeting that day.
But at the time, Ellie had a belief. If someone came to you with such a happy face and you genuinely didn’t remember them, then,
[Of course! Did you have a good time that day?]
You pretend to know.
Literally, it’s the ‘eternal truth.’ Nine out of ten responses were all the same.
The ladies who were just laughing and chatting awkwardly, having completely forgotten what she had just said, realized who Ellie was only when she reappeared as if nothing had happened.
How could they not, when the person they were just talking to had never even made a debut in society.
Of course, she had to endure a lecture from Rutus, after arriving the banquet hall late and escorted her back in until the very end.
[Do you know everyone is in an uproar looking for you? The debutante protagonist disappeared without her partner, so how did you get in here?!]
[Well, Through the door the servants use… secretly?]
[…That’s not what I asked…]
People frozen in disbelief and absurdity, and one magpie, who proudly shouted that it was their day as the protagonist anyway, so they could do whatever they wanted with it.
Finally, Rutus, who, with his eyes closed tightly, finally touched his forehead.
Marie was the one who watched the whole process from a seat quite far away from the chaos.
Although the expressionlessness she had worked so hard to build was quite impressive, Ellie, who had grown up with her for a long time, was able to accurately see through Marie’s true feelings at that time.
It was a face that said, “There are people like that.”
“Anyway, she was quite famous for a long time after that day. The young lady’s nickname was the hydrangea of society.”
“Why? Because she was too famous?”
“That…that’s right.”
Marie, who avoided the child’s gaze, nodded awkwardly. But it was a lie.
‘It’s a nickname I got because I would play pranks and be moody whenever I had the chance.’
By the way, the flower language of white hydrangeas is fickleness and capriciousness.
How much she had been bothered by the label she had gotten while she was unknowingly and confidently sweeping through banquets and tea parties.
There was a time when she was afraid of the gossip, backbiting, and judgments of society, which she learned about late.
It was also this time that influenced Ellie to create rules to live a peaceful life.
‘I just wanted to live quietly after dating once, you know.’
Ellie, rather, became more relieved as Marie, who had finished everything she had to say and now it was impossible to break the child’s innocence, showed signs of covering her up.
Only the child, who was captivated by the realistic storytelling based on experience, was the only one who sparkled his eyes.
“So, Marie, then she had a lot of friends?”
“…Yes.”
“What about Daddy?”
“…….”
“……?”
“H, He had a lot of friends too. It’s getting late, Young Master! You should go to bed now!”
She had to bring this to the kitchen too, so that was all for now.
Marie, who grabbed the tray without giving me time to hold on to her, disappeared from my sight.
It was a clear evasion.
* * * *
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