Chapter 14
“I found this while reading a picture book with Theon. He told me to give it to you.”
I pulled the note Theon had given me out of my pocket and tried my best to look angry.
Though my rabbit ears kept falling over my eyes, ruining the effect.
Vittori slowly unfolded the note and read it quickly.
The smile on her face slowly faded.
“What’s this? That skinny guy’s doing now?”
Aramis muttered, grumbling.
Vittori, now fully serious, lightly ignored him and asked me,
“Milady, is this why Theon’s cough stopped?”
“Yes.”
“The story was in the picture book Harper found?”
“Yes. I found it in the central library.”
I nodded vigorously.
Callista’s eyes widened as she watched.
“Theon’s illness got better?”
“Yes, milady. I heard the story from Dr. Rubens yesterday. I was just about to ask what happened…”
Vittori trailed off as if she was still surprised. Callista silently stared at me intently.
“Milady Harper, are you giving this to me?”
When Vittori asked again, I nodded even more eagerly.
“Yes!”
“Why?”
“Because I like you, Vittori!”
“Oh my.”
The serious-faced medical student blushed as she picked up the Hwangnokcho.
At the same time, Aramis pretended to gag.
“Vittori, Harper’s head seems strange. Please treat her.”
“Aramis, don’t stand near Harper with that ugly face. She’s scared of you.”
The twins snarled at each other without waiting for who started first.
Vittori’s warmth clearly didn’t apply to her twin brother.
Turning back to me from Aramis, her face shone with a radiant smile like the sun.
“Harper, come with me. As a thank you for the gift, I’ll give you some delicious cookies.”
Cookies!
I knew step one of my plan had succeeded.
Vittori was looking at me with eyes overflowing with fondness.
Hand in hand, Vittori and I left Callista’s study.
Just as the door closed, I caught Callista’s gaze, her eyes fixed on me, deep in thought.
Vittori’s lab was a warm beige.
Like Callista’s study, the desk and floor were neat, but the wallpaper gave a cozy feeling.
Small pictures of cats and dogs hung here and there on the walls and on some furniture too.
Her taste was clear at a glance.
“Are they delicious?”
“Yes!”
From a cozy corner sofa, Vittori pushed a plate piled high with warm cookies toward me.
Taking a bite, sweetness mixed with a unique fragrance spread through my mouth.
I could eat them endlessly without getting tired of the taste.
Why didn’t I know I liked this much in my previous life?
“Dani, pour tea for the lady too.”
A maid entered carrying tea and cookies.
She glanced at Vittori and poured a beautifully colored liquid into both our cups.
Knowing tea often tastes bitter despite looking pretty, I focused on eating cookies enthusiastically.
“How can you be so pretty when you eat?”
Vittori looked at me with an expression like hearts were shooting from her eyes.
Honestly, I thought I looked a bit cute these days.
Theon bought me proper clothes, so I didn’t look shabby like before.
Jenna had more time to brush my hair neatly, so it shone more than ever.
The rabbit hat might not be fashionable, but in Vittori’s eyes, it was just adorable.
“Eat plenty, milady. These cookies are made by artisans from the Müller domain. Very sweet but good for your health. You can only eat them here.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Callista loved them as a child. Aramis and I don’t like sweets much, so you ate them all.”
Did Callista like sweets?
We never ate together, so I hadn’t known that.
“She doesn’t eat them much now. She has no likes or dislikes with food anymore.
Maybe she thought even small things could be used against her by the elders.”
“The elders?”
The topic caught my attention and I paused eating to listen.
“Yes, milady. Some elders don’t like Callista.”
“I see.”
I already knew that the elder Igard was in strong opposition to her.
It all began with the conflict between Igard and Lucille Litra, Callista’s mother, before I was born.
The tutor who taught Father and his wife fiercely competed for control of the dukedom. So fiercely, I heard they once drew swords on each other.
The quarrel led to their divorce.
Lucille left Callista behind and returned to the Litra dukedom.
Since Callista already held Luferen’s castle, she was considered Luferen’s.
Though the duchess was gone, Callista, her daughter, didn’t have good relations with Igard—perhaps she resembled her mother.
Because of strong opposition from the elders, Callista hadn’t yet received the title of minor duke at sixteen, a fact known within the family.
Father didn’t want to give her the title but feared if he excluded her, his uncle might assassinate him and seize the family.
So Father chose the easiest way: leaving for a trip and leaving the decision to the elders.
While postponing the decision, he planned to have another child with a concubine appointed by the elder’s chair.
Well, the two’s relationship isn’t important now.
What matters is the person in front of me.
“…What about Vittori?”
“Yes?”
“Do the elders dislike Vittori too?”
I added a little innocent emphasis to my question.
“I like Vittori.”
“Oh my!”
She covered her cheeks with both hands, delighted.
She looked at me lovingly as if I were a baby kitten.
“I don’t meet the elders often—except my father.
So no one really hates me, right?”
“Really?”
I looked up at Vittori with suspicion.
I’d heard the elders had spies planted for a long time in my previous life…
Though there was still time, the elders would surely attach someone to Vittori soon, friend or foe.
“Vittori.”
“Yes?”
“You have to research Hwangnokcho by yourself. No one else.”
“Oh? Why?”
“I don’t like it if someone else does.”
Though a strange request, Vittori blushed and nodded as if it were a child’s affectionate whim.
“Of course, milady.”
“You’ll do it every day?”
“Of course, absolutely!”
I finished the last cookie in one bite, stood up, and hugged Vittori tightly.
“Vittori, play with me again next time.”
She smiled happily, covering her mouth with both hands as I left the lab.
By now, I had taken all the precautions I could.
Click—
I opened the lab door and stepped back into the hallway.
Through the closing door, I saw Vittori’s maid carefully moving my untouched cup back onto the tray.
Clang!
Clang—
Clarissa threw a mirror, a cup, and whatever else was at the wall.
“Milady! Please be careful…”
“Shut up! Can’t I even touch whatever I want?”
Crash!
Salia barely dodged a vase Clarissa hurled. It shattered sharply against the wall.
“They’re blatantly disrespecting me!”
Clarissa shouted, running her fingers through her loose hair.
Recently, nothing had gone right for her.
It began with a moldy bread incident caused by a reckless child. She’d spent the day gagging.
When she tried to grab the child’s hair, she met Theon and lost her last shred of authority.
Her cousin Leroy Brown completely ruined her reputation, and she lost the benefits she’d enjoyed while overlooking his embezzlement.
And that girl even threatened her to apologize to a mere maid.
Clarissa’s greatest shame.
“I thought she was obedient but was secretly…”
Afterwards, her nephew Louie fought with the girl—right in front of Callista.
Callista almost crippled Louie, who barely escaped banishment and lost his chance at rapid knighthood.
Since then, Louie strangely avoided Clarissa’s summons, giving her a headache as she needed him for spy work and errands.
“Milady.”
“Shut up, Salia!”
“But…”
“I said shut up!”
Clarissa threw a plate.
Whoosh—crack.
“Oh!”
The plate hit someone’s chest instead of the wall and broke.
Clarissa finally looked up to see the door.
“Isn’t this a bit much for early morning?”
“Seems you didn’t see me, Oscen.”
The middle-aged man dusted ceramic shards from his chest.
He was Oscen, vice-chairman of the Luferen Council.
“Why do you always hide where no one can see you?”
“I’ve been standing by the door for ten minutes!”
Oscen protested with a look of injustice.
Though the vice-chairman acted as the chairman’s right hand, his timid personality and soft appearance made him almost invisible.
Many elders often failed to notice Oscen standing right in front of them or tried to sit in his chair.
“I almost got hit on the head, ma’am.”
“Would you rather slip on my bald head?”
Clarissa sneered at Oscen, who looked struck by lightning.
She dropped the knife she was holding and flopped onto the sofa.
Salia sighed in relief and offered Oscen a seat.
“Go out, Salia.”
“Yes, milady.”
At Clarissa’s cold command, Salia hurried out as if waiting for the chance.
In the suddenly quiet room, Oscen and Clarissa faced each other.
Oscen was the first to speak.
