Chapter 25

Of course, that wasn’t what actually happened.

One of the worse things can happen when a feeble noble lady goes in an alleyway without a single guard.

“Do you get it? The reason why I’m going to use Eclise as my bodyguard.”

“…… .”

“Sorry for worrying you, brother.”

With that said, I walked passed Rennald who was stiff on the spot, to the stairs.

Eclise was emotionless and Emily was looking at the ground when they followed my back.

Another term for hatred could be onlooking.

The people working here who only watched Penelope from afar when she could be in danger anytime… There was no way I could…

There was no way I could think of them in a good light.

‘I couldn’t also when I thought of ‘me’ and what I’ve been through before coming to this world.’

I was walking up the steps.

[Date At The Festival] with [Rennald] quest fail!

Try again?

[Accept / Reject]

I clicked on ‘Reject’ straight away.

Eclise followed me like a puppy through the hall until I got to my room.

Emily freaked out when he tried to follow me in my room, so I opened my mouth.

“Until where are you planning to follow me?”

Eclise was blocked by me from coming in.

“But…… .”

He tilted his head then spoke without much hardship.

“You told me to prove my worth.”

I was a little dumbfounded at his reason for acting so well up until now.

‘Seems like he really hates the idea of going back to the slave market.’

Then I spotted the yellow marble on the choker he was wearing.

‘The ring.’

That was when I was reminded that I had a tool I could use to suppress him.

The excitement I felt when I saw [Interest 18%] was gone as my head cooled down.

It was still fresh in my mind. The sight of him killing people after breaking the cuffs in one go.

The polite and well-mannered knight, who showed up in the normal mode, who was still loyal to Penelope ’till the end, even when he knew that his master was like a villain.

However, Eclise who wasn’t yet trained was even more dangerous than I had expected.

I came to think that maybe the choker was the reason behind his loyalty towards Penelope.

‘I can’t be fooled by his innocent-looking face. He’s a guy who beat up all those hyenas with just a wooden sword.’

I opened my mouth after reminding myself not to be fooled.

“That doesn’t include you being my night partner.”

“Then…… .”

“You heard the conversation, didn’t you? That I brought you here in order to use you as my bodyguard.”

“Yes.”

Eclise nodded.

“It’s your first mission to make all the people here to accept you in this mansion.”

“Mi……ssion?”

“Yeah. I can’t forever keep on arguing with people to let a useless one in the mansion you know?”

I said in a cold tone, and it was when I did when I realized that it sounded so half-heartedly. Therefore I added…

“I trust that you won’t disappoint me. Right?”

Eclise slowly nodded his head at my question.

I thought I saw his grey eyes sparkle.

[Interest 20%]

(NOTE: ……)

His interest percentage changed just then.

It was now closer to 30% of interest, which is where all the male leads’ interests start at in the normal mode.

‘Ha…… When will I be able to get it up to 30%, and when will I be able to get it up more to see the ending…… .’

I felt tired of everything thinking about how I still had a long way to go.

“Emily, escort Eclise to the room that the butler has prepared for him.”

“Yes, lady.”

Just then.

“Master.”

A dry tone of voice pierced my ears.

“I’ll do my best to be complimented by you.”

Then I held a hand up and patted his currently dirty hair.

Eclise rubbed his head against my hand as if he was waiting for this.

But that still didn’t make the fears I felt for him to completely go away.

Nevertheless, the hope of getting out of this place.

“I’m really happy that it was master who got me out of there, master.”

Made me determined and willing to make my next move.

***

I didn’t come out of my room, my excuse for it being that I was going to go for a self timeout after I brought Eclise in this mansion.

Derrick and the duke didn’t kick Eclise out this mansion after hearing my false explanation that day.

They also didn’t do anything about me staying in the room, not showing my face for days.

But I heard from Emily that the duke was searching through each noble family for any person with the name ‘Clurie’ in their full name, which made the chills go down my spine.

Not only that, but I also heard that the training time and its difficulty for the knights have increased all of a sudden.

‘There’s no way he’d go finding that pig…… .’

There wouldn’t be much problem even if he did, but I felt weird because the things seemed like it was flowing rather strangely.

“Ah, whatever!”

I threw the book I had in my hands, then just flopped onto the bed.

The warm sunlight at noon came through the window and shined in the room.

Thankfully, a short period of peaceful time to relax was granted to the poor me after clearing an episode rescuing Eclise.

No one bothered me even if I slept and ate and read books for the whole day.

‘Timeout is always the best.’

I wanted Derrick to put me on timeout until I’m able to see an ending if possible.

They wash my clothes, clean my room, give me food when it’s time. This is like a dream!

Knock knock-.

“Whew, lady! Are you still lying on your bed? You should get up now. Its time for lunch.”

“What’s for lunch?”

I lied in bed and looked at Emily coming into my room with a tray.

“It’s pumpkin salad and fried chicken legs.”

“Is that all?”

I didn’t try and hide my disappointment.

“I told the cook about how you wanted to eat something spicy, and he said that he specially invented this sauce.”

“Really?”

I got up from the spot in excitement.

I’ve been repeating the word ‘spicy chicken leg’ in front of Emily for days, and it seemed like those words finally reached the cook’s ears.

“Goodness. I feel like your taste has changed in food. You didn’t even look at strong-flavored foods before…… .”

Emily tilted her head in wonder while she set the plates on the table.

Though she hated and looked down on Penelope. she did work as Penelope’s maid for years.

She seemed to be finding it strange that the one she’s served has changed in some ways.

“They say that people’s taste in food changes as they grow up.”

“True.”

Emily nodded. Then she dropped the topic as she told me.

“Go ahead, lady.”

Emily, who doesn’t play tricks on food anymore, started separating the meat from the bone on the plate.

Thanks to that, I didn’t need to do that myself.

“How is it? Chew the food well before swallowing.”

Even while separating the meat from the bone, Emily didn’t forget to check on me from time to time.

I came to wonder if she was that maid from before at her whole-hearted serving.

But even so, I didn’t let my guard down.

She wouldn’t be able to guess even in her dreams that I’m still keeping an eye on her while eating.

‘Anyways, this should be sweeter…… It’s not the taste of that spicy sauce I ate back then.”

I was able to relax completely on eating after I was certain that nothing was wrong with this food.

What I wanted was the spicy chicken I ate with my friends sometimes.

The cook’s spicy chicken was really just fried spicy chicken.

‘I should start saying “sweet-salty” now, in front of Emily.’

It wasn’t the desired flavor but still ate it as I liked the spiciness that I haven’t eaten for a long time.

“I’m full now.”

I set down the fork when Emily immediately took the plate away and set the desert down.

“The festival’s coming to an end now, lady.”

Emily said to me who was eating the melon sherbet.

“Is it?”

“Yes! You’d always go out on the festival days and brought in some new unique jewels each time. Were there none of them that caught your eyes this time?”

“I don’t know.”

I was too focused on a certain something that time that I didn’t even get to see what was there at the festival.

Now that I think of it, I remember Rennald saying something like that, too.

Seemed like Penelope really did go mad when it came to jewels.

‘What a diligent customer she was to a lot of stores.’

I already felt tired just by imagining her visiting from stores to stores, buying jewels.

“Ah, right! The butler said that the thing you ordered from a jeweler through the butler, has arrived.”

“Orders? What…… .”

“Do you remember when you called for a jeweler before the festival started?”

“Ah.”

Now I remember. I totally forgot about it until now.

“Should I bring them right now?”

Emily asked, seeing that my face was getting serious as each moment passed. I lightly nodded my head.

“Yeah, right away.”

_______

-CatLovesTowels -Lizette

Only

[NOTE: Hi~! I just want to tell you guys that whoever the male lead is, probably no one is going to be disappointed.]

COMMENTS (On the raw):

– Strange but I can’t seem to hate the male leads.

– I honestly think that real Penelope had a reason for buying all those jewels…

– Did Eclise’s brain melt a little already? I thought he was a noble before??

– They really should suffer more. They abused Penelope in several ways before and now they’re sorry. Even if they cry and beg about it, I think I’d only be more disgusted.

– Sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob…

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