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Thank you for the Kofi Alyce [3 of 4] (*^ ‿ <*)~♡
I was surprised.
I didn’t know who’s mother she was, but her voice was so loud that many people around me noticed it.
The problem was, of all things, that voice broke out around us.
“Isn’t that the Duke of Bastion?”
“Who did he come to see here?”
“Oh, maybe that’s the girl I’ve heard so much about…”
A murmur of conversation.
It was a spectacle to see them fluttering all at once like a flock of birds.
I know, I know. The Bastion was out. You’re both nervous and curious.
What was a little strange was that there were more eyes on me, then Wolfgang.
When I realized, it was too late.
“Ms. Aisha.”
“…Stand right there.”
I’d hidden between Wolfgang and Benjamin’s legs, then took a look.
Anyway, I’d run away from the temple by pretending to be dead, so shouldn’t I avoid being too obvious for a while?
Wolfgang and Benjamin looked down at me as if I was doing something strange again, whether they knew the deeper meaning or not.
“Come out.”
“Wait a minute, please.”
“Come out now.”
“No, I just…”
Stop pushing me!
I saw the writing on the wall, and in the end I stepped out on my own.
At that moment of contemplation, the owner of the voice that was the source of all this appeared. She had silver hair, and a plump figure.
“Daughter! It’s your mother!”
“Who…”
“It’s your mom!”
She must be a crazy person, in a distant way.
The woman walked up to me as if she was going to hug me right away.
‘Scary, what’s wrong with you? Help me!’
I looked back at Wolfgang and Benjamin, but instead of stopping her, they were silently urging me on.
Give her a hug right now.
The stinging glare of their eyes caused my mouth to drop.
“Oh, Mom!”
“Yes! My daughter! How long has it been?”
The woman hugged me tightly. If you looked at it, you would think it was a really tearful mother-daughter reunion.
Tightly restrained by the woman’s ample bosom, I was only able to escape just before I was crushed to death.
“Baroness Manet.”
“Oh, my dear Duke. I’m sorry for the late greeting.”
“It must’ve been hard for you to come such a long way.”
“What! It wasn’t hard!”
The woman was very friendly with Wolfgang.
Oh, she even slapped him on the arm with a smile, a slap!
I could feel the gasps all around me.
As I heard this, I developed a liking for this woman.
Yeah, people are supposed to live a little half crazy. So, she was a little out of her mind.
I’ll go along with it. I looked up at her with glittering admiration, and the story was getting more and more bizarre.
“The rumor that the Duke and the Young Master love my daughter so much has already spread to our Manet estate!”
“I’m sorry about the engagement.”
“Well, I was dismayed, but it just means that the Young Master wanted to hurry up and make a connection. Ho-Ho. By the way, I wonder if my daughter is doing well at your home.”
“It’s because a Manet’s love is so bright.”
“Well, she’s very friendly just like me!”
The woman, who was laughing out loud, led Wolfgang inside.
Wolfgang also politely escorted the woman, and casually tucked her hand under his arm.
“Let’s go, Ms. Aisha.”
I was dumbfounded, while Benjamin was taking it in strides.
What the heck was this?
As I clumsily followed Benjamin into the restaurant, it was as dazzling inside as it looked from the outside.
Did they really put gold on the wall? Look at the size of the chandelier. It looked like the ceiling should’ve collapsed from the weight.
“Oh, welcome! We’ve been waiting!”
The manager, who popped out as soon as he spotted us, led us to our reserved table inside with trembling hands.
The room was a bit too open to be called a room. There was a privacy screen along the hall, which made the space reasonably private.
So, if someone pretended to pass by, they could almost get a sense for the atmosphere.
At that moment, the manager said he would go check on the food and disappeared.
“Excuse me.”
The woman became expressionless.
She fell away from Wolfgang, and bowed her head politely.
While doing so, when people’s eyes were felt through the gaps in the screen, she would freely change her facial expressions and behaviors.
I thought she was just crazy, but was she crazy in a higher-level way?
As I backed away from the round table, Wolfgang pulled out my chair.
“The meal first.”
“…Yes.”
If I starved myself for even one meal, my growth period could close.
As a restaurant visited by the Duke of Bastion and other nobles, an extremely luxurious meal was soon served.
A delicacy of the mountains and sea that I had never heard of before. Tableware that would cost a couple of houses if broken. Perfect attendance from the servers.
“Eat this too.”
Plus, there was Wolfgang’s preference.
I gave him a fed-up look as he kept putting pieces of meat on my plate.
“My Father, eat some vegetables.”
“If my daughter-in-law eats more meat.”
Did he want his blood vessels to get clogged up one by one? At this rate, we’ll all die of heart disease together.
The woman looked on blankly, as if the sight of me and Wolfgang arguing was unfamiliar and strange.
Of course, I haven’t forgotten my role in all of this.
“Ohoho, it was true what they said about the Demon Duke serving our daughter like a princess! It really can’t be denied!”
While various foods and people came and went, the woman created the atmosphere with excessive excitement.
Either she would skillfully intervene between us, or praise Wolfgang’s kindness as he took care of me.
It was like she was telling the employees to carry this situation out, and not just the plates.
During this time, when no one was around, Wolfgang and the woman would exchange certain questions and answers, but it was almost impossible for me to understand them.
It was a conversation made up of unfamiliar names, places, and perhaps even code words.
It was only at the end of such a strange meal that I could get answers to my questions.
“Can you explain it to me already?”
Benjamin, who was serving dessert to me, answered quietly.
“Actually, there was a rumor among the aristocracy.”
“What rumor?”
“A rumor that Young Master Bastion is engaged.”
Really? It didn’t really matter, but how did that happen?
Benjamin beckoned, as he looked back and forth as if he was observing a ping-pong game.
“It spread among the academy students, and then to their parents.”
“Oh… How did they know?”
I thought he didn’t even have a dog friend.
Maybe that’s what my face said, Benjamin pointed at my face while a smile spread on his lips.
“Thanks to Aisha’s letters.”
“Hmm, was there a leak?”
“Well, the Young Master said they were letters from his fiancée.”
Oh, my gosh! I was so proud of you!
I nodded with a proud face. I felt like I had lost all the complaints I had been mumbling about not getting a clear reply from him.
It was a relief that he wasn’t a jerk who pretended to be single.
“So, this is…?”
“She’s Aisha’s mother.”
“You’re not joking.”
With a straight face, Benjamin continued talking without breathing.
“Ha-ha. Aisha’s, she’s the daughter of Baron Manet, a loyal vassal of Bastion and a distant relative, who is also an object of ridicule among the nobility, and has been in close contact with the Duke of Bastion since his childhood, it was decided early on that a marriage partner for his eldest son, Master Levi, would be required to officially seal him as the successor in the near future, and it was secretly decided among the current vassals, that a perfect match for him was Aisha, who was close in age, therefore an engagement ceremony was hastily performed before the Young Master’s return to the Academy, thus we had to welcome and entertain her mother at a later date, since the Manet domain was too far away and only her faithful blessing was available for that auspicious event?”
“…That’s the setup.”
Who wrote this? It was pretty detailed.
It was ridiculous, but it was a relief that she didn’t seem to really think about her external prestige.
With my eyes open to the situation, I greeted my fake mother.
“Um, hello.”
The woman nodded mechanically.
By the way, I have one more awkward question about all of this.
“Are you really Baroness Manet?”
This,
Three people looked at me all at once, and then turned their eyes away without saying a word.
Yeah, there it was. I didn’t want to know the details of this stink.
I swallowed a sigh, and ate a dessert that was similar to a pudding.
“In conclusion, now I’m the daughter of a Baron.”
“Yes.”
“And the world now knows me as the future Duchess of Bastion.”
“That’s correct.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Just in case you cared about it…”
“So that’s why! I should’ve paid more attention!”
Tang!
I lamented as I set down the empty glass bowl.
And it was agreed in advance. When you went out, make sure you enjoyed the excitement of identity laundering.
Throughout the journey under the still-fierce manager’s send-off, the unidentified woman worked well with me.
Mom, you seemed to flinch when I clung to you.
“If we don’t get caught, let’s spread my situation as widely as possible!”
In the first place, along with the extension of my life, the purpose was to become the daughter-in-law of a family that even the Imperial family didn’t dare to cross.
Look world! I’m a Bastion! I even have my own distant mother!
As soon as I got into the carriage, I spoke to the woman politely.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Oh, yes…”
In the meantime, the woman’s chubby cheeks seem to have slimmed down a bit.
Anyway, I was satisfied enough by the attention I’d attracted inside and outside the spacious restaurant.
Perhaps tomorrow, rumors of Bastion’s beloved little daughter-in-law would be buzzing even more!
While I hummed, I asked Benjamin.
“By the way, what about my name?”
“You name?”
“It’s a little late, but I think it’s better to change it. Well, it doesn’t matter much, so do what you want.”
Of course I have to change it. Even if they didn’t know my face, changing the name was the basics of identity laundering.
However, the opposite of what I thought came out of my mouth.
“Well, then, my name is… Can I leave it as is since it’s too late?”
“Be my guest.”
Benjamin shrugged his shoulders, as if it really was nothing.
There was a subtle conceit in that attitude.
Come on, it was Bastion. It meant that they didn’t have to look good, and could clean up any mess.
I was a little sick of it, but I also knew that the world would be more reassuring if it were on my side, so I stayed put and kept quiet.
The mansion was already dark after such a long dinner.
The mysterious woman followed Hugo, then Wolfgang and Benjamin disappeared to work overtime as usual.
‘By the way, why wasn’t there work going down?’
As soon as I thought, ‘What the heck are they doing?’ I erased that question.
Oh, hey. I shouldn’t dig too deep. I needed to take care of my situation first. I didn’t know how many times I promised that.
I grumbled my way back to my library bedroom, where Betty was waiting for me.
“Did you have a good trip, Miss?”
“Yes, I’m full and now I’m Baron Manet’s young miss.”
“I see. That’s great.”
Betty, who naturally accepted the change like flowing water, released my curly hair first.
Then she organized the ribbons, and asked with a face that I didn’t know if she was laughing or not.
“Did the Master really tie your hair?”
“Oh, he’s pretty handy.”
“More than that, he must be very fond of you.”
Well, maybe he thought it was just fun. Like playing with a doll.
Betty skillfully washed me, dressed me in my pajamas, and led me to my bed.
“I haven’t done my homework yet…”
“It’s late. You have to go to bed early to grow.”
That’s right. It was an assertion that must be followed to the fullest.
My belly was full, my body was warm and tired, and I didn’t want to sit at the desk. So, I laid down on the bed.
I would just act cute for Hugo tomorrow when he comes to give me a test tomorrow. Honestly, it happened a lot.
My eyes were half-closed in bed, when I suddenly mumbled.
“Did you send the letter?”
“Of course. It was on your desk, right?”
Good, I hoped it arrived soon. My letter, and his reply.
My lashes fluttered into dreamland. I thought I would have a good dream tonight.