Translator and Editor: Maru and Aki

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Chapter 15

“Let go! It hurts!”

The woman’s scream made the ghastly pale maids rush in to help, but I didn’t let go of her hand.

No, the more others tried to pull my hand off, the harder I squeezed her hand.

In the end, the woman, who was squirming in pain, screamed.

“Gyaah! Everybody, back off! Stop it! Don’t pull this wench!”

“Yes? Yes, ma’am…”

The frightened maids quickly let go of their grip one by one.

As soon as the last person moved away from me, I released my hand.

Then I sat down and held Rere in my arms. The woman glared at me with red eyes as if her arm that I held had hurt quite a bit.

“You…How dare you hurt me?”

“There’s a saying that you should speak the right words even if you have a crooked mouth. You’re not hurt. I only held it tight.”

(T/N : An expression used to advise that one should be frank or tell the truth in any circumstance)

“Look at my hand. It’s red! How dare you hurt my noble body?”

“Why are you bothering the child in the first place! It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t touched her.”

“Ha. This crazy woman. I haven’t touched her yet!”

The woman, who was huffing, looked straight at me with an angry look.

When I found a reason to get away, the woman screamed, telling her maids to grab me. Seeing that made it clear what the current situation was like.

“You said you got her father’s permission, however, it doesn’t seem to be true though…?”

“…No? I didn’t actually hit her, did I? I was just trying to teach a spoiled child some manners. And I think the Duke would like it, wouldn’t he? What if I could lead the child to the right path and turn her into a good child? That’s why, Princess, just listen to what I say. If you want to be loved by your daddy!”I had no idea where she got her confidence from, but she tried to straighten her distorted face, kicked the chocolates scattered on the floor with her feet, and approached us.

“How long do you think this woman will protect you?”

Rere, who was in my arms, snorted and glared at her.

“Even without my mom’s protection, Rere wouldn’t lose to a poop! Poppie head!”

The word naturally made me lay my eyes on her head.

Dark brown hair. There was nothing special about it, but as if to show that she grew up preciously, her face was stiffened by the word “poop”.

Only then could I understand why Rere was saying ‘Poop’ every time she saw her.

Even today, her hairstyle particularly looked like poop. A very well-draped poop.

“Pfft.” I burst into laughter.

“…Why are you laughing?”

“You really do look like a poop.”

“You wench, how dare….how dare you say that to me! Towards the Astra of Arvida Dukedom!”

“Ah, so you’re a princess. And your name is Astra.”

It was hard to call her by her name because she didn’t tell me any information about her last time.

Come to think of it, I think her name was quite familiar in Leona’s memory.

Which family was it? There were three dukedoms in this empire. One of them was Petri Dukedom and the other must be this woman’s family.

Her family name did not exist in Leona’s head because she was busy living her own world and was not interested in other families’ affairs.

‘Was it Arvada, or Arvida…?’

The name that I was about to remember sank quickly because of the woman who yelled at me.

“What? How dare you….arrogant wench! Now that I see it, you’re going too far! I’ll give you a hell of a beating right here!”

Unable to overcome her temper, she rushed at me as if she would hit me right away.

At that time, she was caught red-handed by the duke who came into the room at a terrific timing.

“What’s going on?”

Only then did Astra hurriedly turn around as if she had figured out the situation.

Her face, which was full of evil and contempt, soon turned into an angel’s.

Not only that, she burst into his arms with tearful eyes.

“Hnggg!”

“Why are you crying? Explain what’s going on.”

“It’s nothing. Nothing.”

The woman, who completely turned into a victim, shook her head with a sniffle.

Her figure looked sorrowful. I watched the pair of cockroaches for a long time with Rere still in my arms.

At that time.

The duke’s face hardened as he looked down at Astra in his arms.

I could see that he clearly made an annoyed expression as if she was a mosquito flying around him.

I’m sure she was the woman that he brought in, but the way he looked at her wasn’t much better than when he looked at me.

Eventually, the duke, who couldn’t bear it any longer, grabbed her shoulder and slightly pushed her away.

“Won’t you tell me?”

“If the duke wants me to speak…I have no right to refuse, right…?”

She turned slightly and stared at me. The duke wouldn’t be able to see her, but I could see the face of Princess Astra smiling as if she was the winner.

“Princess.”

“I…feel so wronged. Duke, why should I go through this? I…I was just trying to do my job as a mother well.”

…They were truly the perfect pair of cockroaches. I looked at her trembling shoulder without a word.

“Instead of the princess who was unable to speak…I will explain it…properly.”

The duke, whose eyes glistened more fiercely than yesterday, glared at me.

The red eyes that looked like a ruby shone coolly today.

“What do you want me to say? Are you going to believe me?”

His expression demanded an answer from me, so I spat out moderately.

“What?”

“Aren’t you going to listen to that woman anyway?”

“That’s…”

“If I said that woman in your arms tried to hit Rere under the pretext of ‘teaching’ her, you wouldn’t believe me no matter what I say, right?”

The duke’s eyes naturally turned to her at my words.

“Hitting the child? Is that true, Astra?”

“As I said, it was in order to teach her. You don’t know how much that woman and the child ignored me. That’s why I did that.”

“….”

“I feel wronged. I…hnngg.”

As I watched that woman take out her handkerchief to wipe her tears, Rere lashed out.

“How dare you act like you’re pitiful! It’s annoying. I said it’s annoying! I hate that poop! I hate you! I hate daddy, too! You’re always siding with that poop!”

Whether he was shocked at the child’s words, the duke denied her words with shaky eyes.

“Did I hear it right?”

“Yes! I really hate you.”

“……”

“That’s why… Get out of here before I hate you even more!”

I wondered if those words would work on him. The effect was excellent.

As if the word ‘hate’ was the most terrible word in the world, the Duke grabbed Astra’s arm and turned around.

“Wh-What are you doing? Are we going out just like this? We need to fix the child’s bad manners!”

“Be quiet. Shut your mouth and follow me.”

“…Why! Just why! Why are you telling me to shut up? Huh?”

Astra screamed as if she didn’t want to get out, but the door was already closing.

Astra’s maids were also being dragged along. In the blink of an eye, silence came with a ‘thud’ sound.

The sound of two people arguing and fighting outside the door could be heard from inside.

“Let go of me. It’s hot.”

It wasn’t until I heard Rere, who was in my arms, grumble and lift her head to look at me.

Her voice was filled with annoyance, but Rere stayed still as if she didn’t really want to get out of my arms.

“Is it really hot?”

“Yeah! Because I took your side, you’ve become so arrogant!”

“Did you say arrogant? Do you even know what it means?”

“…I don’t know.”

Meanwhile, Rere, who escaped from my arms, stepped on the chocolate that Astra had brought. No, it was such a waste. The kid in the street would love it if we gave it to them.

“It’s such a waste! Why are you stepping on that!”

“Why? If Rere doesn’t want to eat, we need to throw it away!”

I embraced the child I had put down a moment ago.

“Don’t do that.”

“Why? Why can’t I?”

“That…That’s not something Rere can’t do, but Rere doesn’t have to do it because it was hard for Rere. Let the nanny pick that up and throw it on the street.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah! Is that so! That’s what you mean! If we threw the things she gave on the street, that would make that poop feel worse. Mom is better than me!”

As if she had come to realize it, Rere clapped her hands and rejoiced.

Then her face suddenly hardened, and she put her hand on my face.

“You know.”

“Hmm?”

“I heard that woman say bad things to mom yesterday.”

“Ah. Did you hear our conversation outside the door?”

“Yeah. That’s why I hate her. She looks ugly.”

Her red eyes, which resembled a ruby, looked straight at me.

“Mom is less ugly.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! That’s why you have to become my mom.”

I knew how many thoughts and how many worries were contained in each of the grumbles that she spits out.

So I smiled and nodded as if I find nothing strange about whatever the child does.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

She pretended not to, but Rebecca’s face was brimming with a sweet smile.

“Yes, I’m giving you special permission. But why didn’t you give me the one you hid earlier?”

I blinked my eyes at Rebecca’s sudden question.

“Hid?”

“Yeah, choco.”

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