Translator and Editor: Maru and Aki

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Chapter 28

“Princess…please listen to us.”

Jayna shook her head with an ashen face as if she would fall down right away.

“No. I’m going to say what I want. You guys, there’s one thing you haven’t heard. I don’t live in distress. Do you know what that means? That means I’m going to go to my daddy right now and make a fuss. I’m curious about what will happen.”

My daughter did a great job.

“And one more thing. You’ll be punished greatly for cursing at my mom.”

“Bu-But your mom….. Your mom is not her!”

Perhaps because she thought that was her only way to survive, Lily screamed back.

“Do you mean Astra? That poop? Absolutely not. She’s just an old fox living in the back room who contributes nothing for the Petri Dukedom, let alone become a mother.”

“Bu-But….”

“Stop saying ‘but’. Since it’s the truth that the person next to me is my mom. More than that, you guys insulted my mom. I’m taking this matter…”

“Th-That woman…rumor says…”

“Rumor? What rumor? She’s the only mom I’ve ever acknowledged as a princess. You guys who cursed at my mom are the same as cursing me.”

I naturally cheered for Rere by holding her hand tighter than she held mine.

“…Princess. We….. We just did what we were ordered to do!”

At that time, Jayna’s body trembled because she was unable to win against Rere.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

As if surprised by the unexpected course of events, Rere’s temper lessened.

“Unlike Princess Lily, I don’t want this to reach my parents’ ears…I-I only moderately responded to the conversation…that’s why I…”

Rere’s eyes naturally turned to her.

“What are you talking about? Whose order is it? What is the order?”

“…Disregard the princess….. That way, we can be a great help to the dukedom…”

“Are you saying Astra ordered you to do it?”

Neither of them answered, but Rere nodded as if she understood.

“….Seriously.”

“We were told to break the princess’ bad habit. And you need a scolding…that’s why we…”

“Shut up. Jayna.”

Lily tried to silence Jayna as if she still couldn’t accept it, but Jayna shook her head.

“I don’t know about this matter. Anyway, I’m sorry if I offended Princess Rebecca.”

Jayna’s eyes were filled with tears. I didn’t know about what words she heard, but she certainly was sincere in asking not to let her family know about this.

Looking at these two alternatively, Rere finally pouted her lips.

“But still, Lily, you’re arrogant. It would have been better to be honest like Jayna. Okay then, I’ll do whatever I want.”

Lily’s face turned pale at her words.

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“I’m going to tell my daddy about your arrogance and get a formal apology from your family.”

Only then did she shake her head in a hurry.

“Ho-Hold on.”

“Hold on, my ass. I was about to end it after I got an apology, but you won’t even tell me the person behind all this mess…”

Only then did Lily shake her head with trembling lips.

“…Oh, no. I’ll tell you. That’s right, princess. We were told to do this.”

“Hoo… Is that so?”

“Yes. She said everything would be fine. She told us to look down on you and mention your birth. She said you’ll be discouraged if we do that…The Duchess said….if something goes wrong, Duchess Astra’s household, Arvida Dukedom, will support us.”

She was tossing out this big matter to these children.

Rere shook her head as if she felt the same way as me.

“…What an amazing woman. Pretending to be my mom until the end. Too bad, that woman is worth nothing. And now that I heard it, it pisses me off even more.”

“Pardon? Are you going to tell the duke?”

“Glad you know that.”

Rere, who smiled broadly, said it like it was a threat. As a result, the two ladies hurried out.

And as soon as they went out, Rere buried herself among the rabbits and hugged ‘Ugly’. As if gritting her teeth wouldn’t be enough to appease her anger, Rere started to pound the floor.

“Mom.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go meet ‘that’. I’m going to scold him so bad.”

It was quite different from the attitude she showed to the two ladies before.

“Are you going to see your daddy?”

“‘That’ is not my daddy.”

Rere, who was being stubborn, took my hand and led me. It would be better to scream angrily and lose her temper like usual, but Rere only walked casually as if such neglect were common things.

“Rere.”

“…Yeah.”

“…Are you okay?”

“This is why I hate kids. Dumb and absurd. But daddy brought them in. Last year, the kids he brought in to be friends with me were also like that.”

“…Oh, yeah?”

“Daddy…no, ‘that’ never learned his lesson. I went crazy back then, but I can’t believe he brought them again this time. How foolish. No one can be like that unless he’s a fool!”

Meanwhile, Rere arrived in front of Duke’s room.

“Open it.”

“…Ah, yes….miss.”

As it was familiar, the attendant hurriedly opened the door. Then, I could see the Duke walking back and forth anxiously.

“Rere!”

He ran towards her with great joy because he thought Rere was looking for him, but Rere kicked him in the leg as hard as she could.

“Agh..!”

“…Have you gone crazy just because I spoiled you too much?”

Rere pointed at the Duke with a very distorted face.

“What are you talking about?”

“What are those!”

“What do you mean by those?”

“The girls you brought earlier!”

As if he had finally come to his senses, the Duke smiled awkwardly.

“Rere, didn’t you want friends? Daddy thought Rere wanted friends….!”

“I’ve never wanted a friend! Did I say I needed a friend?”

“But that woman treats you like a friend. You liked her, didn’t you?”

His eyes met mine at that moment. But he leaned down again because the child had not finished her words.

“That is exactly why. Because daddy is like this…”

“Do you think that’s the same thing? And mom didn’t treat me like a friend! She watched me and listened to me!”

He tried to say something, but he hurriedly shut his mouth.

“And that’s not the only thing!”

“…Rere. Don’t be angry. Daddy is scared. I’m afraid you’ll collapse if you continue to be angry…”

“Did you just send me people who were working for that poopy head Astra? Did you do that on purpose to piss me off?”

Perhaps the duke also didn’t know about it as he approached us as he waved his hand.

“What do you mean…working for Astra? Do you mean those kids? No. That’s a misunderstanding. They’re the ones that daddy chose, so that’s impossible.”

“You’re not listening again! You don’t believe me at all.”

“No. I’ll listen. So tell me, what do you mean by that?”

“Those kids you brought here as my friend were all working for that poopy head. She told them to discourage me!”

The Duke stammered as if he couldn’t believe it, but Rere did not stop talking.

“They said I’m like a baby! They made fun of my rabbit dolls and milk. They said something about my mom and even brought up about my birth!”

“Wh-What did you say?!”

“That’s what Astra told them to do!”

The Duke’s face turned pale at her words. So pale, as if he was about to collapse.

“Bu-But…!”

“Daddy, you brought those kids to be my friends….Did you want to hurt me on purpose? Did you want to discourage me, too?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that. Daddy didn’t know because daddy was in a hurry. Even though I’m the one who chose them personally…I’m sorry, baby. Don’t be angry….”

Rere’s hand, which was holding my hand tightly, trembled. She pretended to be strong in front of those kids, but she couldn’t hide her anger anymore.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Daddy, too…you’re just like them! You’re treating me like that because of my birth….because my mom is unknown! You don’t care about what happened to me!”

“Rere!”

“I don’t want to see you anymore. I wish people like daddy would disappear from the world!”

The child’s eyes were filled with tears.

“Daddy and that woman are the same! Both of you make me sick!”

“Wa-Wait. Please listen to daddy first, okay?”

“You want me to listen to you when you always do as you please without listening to me? Are you kidding me? I….I don’t need a daddy!”

The Duke, who shook his fists as he listened to the child’s words, rushed to her. But Rere avoided him and ran away.

“Rere!”

I followed Rere in a hurry, and so did the Duke. However, she ran so fast, so none of us could see her anymore.

“Rere!”

I kept looking for Rere because I was worried she was very heartbroken or might fall down somewhere. It wasn’t just me.

The atmosphere was very unusual.

But even though the Duke and I did not explain why we were looking for Rere, nevertheless, the attendants followed us around to search for the child.

However, I couldn’t find Rere despite all the hardships.

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