Chapter 17

Chapter 17

「You’ve finally returned, Your Ladyship!  Why did you come back so late!」

「…Selene.」

As I returned, exhausted, to the lake, Selene waved her beak around as she spoke.

It looked like she’d waited for a very long time, as I could see that the mallard duck had turned pale with worry.

「Do you know how much I worried! I thought something happened to you while you were outside…」

「Don’t even get me started.」

It would’ve been better if something had happened at least.

I’d only returned empty handed after dragging my body out.

Not only did I not find out about Loam, I hadn’t even gotten to take a single bite out of the cakes.

「Ah ah…What is this, seriously.」

Though it was a relief I hadn’t gotten caught, I’d used up all my energy to secretly turn into a swan and get myself back in that form.

Basically, I experienced a game of extreme hide-and-seek and then returned.

「Your Ladyship. What’s going on? Were you unable to find the child’s father?」

「I’m not ready to talk about tha…Ah, where’s the child?」

I spread my wings and looked around for Haniel. The small baby swan that had been playing happily when I left was nowhere in sight.

Selene, I told you to watch the kid! Why are you out here alone!,

…But there wasn’t much I could do..

What do you mean?,

“She didn’t even let me near her, you see. As soon as Your Ladyship left, the child’s spirits dropped immediately and sank into silence, zipping her mouth shut. She just stayed quiet and then kept hiding from me, over there….

*Pout.*

She pointed her beak in the direction of the field of reeds. I saw a small white, curled up, little wad of cotton like thing appear in my line of sight as Icarefully approached in that direction.

THa, Haniel?

“Mommyyyyy. Hnn, hnngh..

As she lifted her head and saw me, Haniel burst into tears.

*Pitter-patter,* she dashed into my embrace, and I couldn’t bring myself to shake her off.

「Mwo, Mwommy…」

「…」

Her trembling appearance reminded me of the shaking shoulders of the two children at the pastry shop.

I stood in place, unsure of what to do as my nose soured, when Haniel shook her head rapidly.

「It, it’s not Mommwy, wight? Bweck Swan-nim?」

「Haniel.」

「Pw, pwease don’t gwo, Bweck Swan-nim. I won’t caw you mommwy anymore.」

She said this as she desperately burrowed into my wings.

What should I do.

No matter how much I grit my teeth, I couldn’t move, whether it was because my body couldn’t or wouldn’t move.

At some point, Selene approached me carefully after seeing how Haniel had disappeared into my plumage, practically burying herself in my feathers.

「She looked for you so much, Your Ladyship, she wouldn’t eat anything.」

「You still should’ve given her something. She’s still a child. How could you leave her alone like that?」

「What do you mean leave her alone. I asked Lady Melloe to watch after her.」

「Lady Melloe?」

I gave a derisory snort all the way to the end of my beak.

I wasn’t asking because I didn’t know who that was.

Instead it was that I knew her all too well that this was the problem of all problems.

「There are so many others you could have asked, why did you give the child to Lady Melloe to watch?」

「Bu, but…」

「You’re really asking for it, aren’t you. 」

Unable to believe what I was hearing, I shot daggers at Selene.

I was at the peak of the lake’s ecosystem and so I was familiar with the members and inhabitants.

Lady Melloe.

As you could tell from how we addressed her as ‘Lady,’ at one point she was from a noble family, but that very lofty mindset of hers sent her to the lake.

The world was about class and dignity.

As someone from one of the oldest families of the Northern Lands, she remained unmarried and spent all her time and energy into teaching an etiquette class for young noble girls.

This temperament that seemed so fragile remained steady even in the face of power.

At the newly instated proxy Rania’s order for her to marry the late duke who’d been half-dead at the time, she’d honestly responded with ‘a lady must keep her dignity’ and gotten herself cursed.

‘In one way, you could say she’s incredible.’

Even after Lady Melloe became a goose, she never lost that dignified attitude of hers. Despite becoming a bird, she only said that throwing away the noble mindset was subjecting oneself to becoming a true beast and then set up an etiquette school at the lake.

Many of the either clueless newcomers to the lake or the children who’d been born at the lake had entered the school, but among them, not a single one had been able to last long under her intense curriculum.

「Did the child even do anything wrong? Don’t you remember? After that baby duck, no, Viscount Arte’s son was expelled from the school, how he ended up? Before, he didn’t really have the best mannerisms, but now he’s completely given up on life. Not that long ago I saw him sadly chewing on hemp seeds.」

T/N the word 대마 (dae-ma) here means either hemp or marijuana so I went with the safer choice…0x0

「I’m very sorry. But I don’t have experience with taking care of such quiet kids. So I took her to Lady Melloe, who said that these kind of children needed to be starved until they asked for food.」

「What?!」

That old grandma is asking for it!

But I didn’t leave immediately to confront the woman and only covered Haniel’s ears with my wings so she wouldn’t hear any other horrible words.

How can I leave this kid alone by herself again.

I was unable to take another step and ended up just sitting down instead.

It wasn’t just because Lady Melloe kept badgering me to keep a temperament befitting of a duchess every time I saw her.

「Your Ladyship, you went all the way to the city today, please tell me what happened. Were you able to visit the pastry shop?」

「Hyoo. About that…」

I felt a headache coming on as I thought of how to explain that I’d ended with nothing after I’d spent all that time waiting in line.

Though, of course, standing in line wasn’t the only thing that had happened.

I gave cake to those kids and those brothers who were exploring popular shops and restaurants…

「Uhm.」

But why is my back so cold? I had safely returned to the lake, but the cold ringing of metal from earlier in the day still lingered in my ears.

At the same time the chiseled jaw of the man I’d pushed hazily resurfaced in my thoughts.

“…Are you really…”

How rude to speak so casually. Being handsome isn’t everything.

Although I didn’t see his face properly, it wasn’t just my imagination.

Just like how one can recognize an animal as an elephant by its trunk, there were similar features to recognizing beautiful people. From the shape of his briefly revealed hands to his firm chest muscles, it was clear that he wasn’t an ordinary guy.

‘So what? It’s not like I’m going to see him again.’

From the way he treated me even after knowing I was a Duchess, he either didn’t believe me or was really asking for a beating.

The only other reason why he’d cling to me like that is…

「Oh my gosh, no way.」

「Yes? Is something the matter, Your Ladyship?」

「…It’s nothing. Just that my beauty got me in trouble again.」

Catherine, you troublemaking woman.

I feigned innocence while slowly shaking my beak.

Though my knowledge of romance was limited because I’d only learned them by reading novels, the only reason a man would stop me like that was that he fell in love with me at first sight.

Seeing as he even left his brothers’ side to pursue a woman, I got the picture.

Honestly, was I that nice to him?

I told him about standing in line and gave him an expensive cake, so I guess I showed him a lot of different sides of me.

「So Your Ladyship, will you be going out again?」

「Yeah, there are no other options so I think I’ll have to do that…」

How could I let this matter go.

I quietly mumbled out a response, then suddenly raised my head.

I wondered if it was a sort of wild instinct, since after I turned into an animal I was much more sensitive to people’s presence.

「…Selene.」

As I saw an approaching torch from far away, I quietly called out to her.

All sense of happiness and idle imaginations had disappeared from my face.

Carefully lifting my wing, I nudged the sleeping Haniel towards Selene.

「Take her and hide right now. Watch over her to make sure she never comes out.」

「Your Ladyship, why so suddenly? And it’ll be hard for me to take care of her myself-」

「Then at least take her to Lady Melloe.」

Hearing the resignation in my voice, Selene flinched, surprised and confused.

But before she tried to stop me, she noticed the approaching torches as well.

「Y-your Ladyship, that’s!」

「Yeah.」

I calmly raised my head and took a step forward.

「They’re a bit late, for once. My daughters. 」

⬦⬥⬦

“HONK!”

Let go of me! I said, let go!

No matter how much I kicked and struggled, the snare around my neck only tightened.

As soon as I’d decided to show my face, I’d expected that news from my venture into the city would quickly travel to the sisters.

I suspected they’d interrogate me, but who knew that they’d tie a rope around me like this instead.

“Come on! Why aren’t you following!”

Holding the rope firmly, Rebecca dragged me even more insistently.

It’s not like I resisted them at first, even willing to go with them voluntarily since I didn’t have a way to escape, but it looks like she wasn’t satisfied with that.

Thud.

As soon as the door to the villa closed behind me, she grabbed the rope and pulled even harder at it.

「K-keuk!」

“Looks like your liver swelled up! Tell me what you did, immediately!”

「…You can’t understand me even if I talked!」

*Fwip.*

I’d hit my head against the wall. When I fiercely turned to glower at Rebecca, she met my eyes with a glare of her own.