Chapter 9

– Chapter 9 –

When she wasn’t by Aiden’s side, Whitney made sure that Erin was put into Mona’s care, so that Erin couldn’t affect him anymore.

But there was also a way to keep Whitney from going to Aiden if Erin could not stay by his side. Since Mona had already heard of his situation from Erin, she reluctantly agreed to follow Erin’s plan.

Around the time when Whitney would explode, Erin would go and meet up with her.

As expected, the moment Erin entered the room, Whitney’s facial expression was fierce.

With a face full of complaints that she didn’t even bother hiding, she stared straight at Erin.

“Young Miss. I heard you were looking for me.”

Although Whitney’s posture was straight and proper, her facial expression and voice clearly showed that she was pissed off.

“Yeah. I have something to say.”

“Good timing, because so do I.”

Whitney said in a stern voice, cutting Erin off as soon as she was finished talking.

It seemed like Whitney would hit her at any moment.

Already expecting this kind of response, Erin, who was unfazed, opened her mouth very calmly.

“From now on, you don’t have to take care of Aiden anymore.”

Erin said with a smile on her face.

As expected, from Erin’s words, Whitney frowned, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

“What do you mean by that.”

Although Whitney was trying to talk calmly, it was obvious that her voice was shaking in anger.

“It means that you don’t have to be his nanny anymore.”

Erin said, in a very straightforward way.

Whitney’s face turned red immediately.

“Young Miss.” Whitney said in a cold tone, looking at Erin with a pissed off face.

“Although you are the Young Miss of this household, that isn’t a decision you can just make.”

Whitney continued to speak with a bossy tone. “As his nanny, my role is to be by Master Aiden’s side and take care of his needs.”

With a tone that asked if Erin even knew what a nanny was supposed to do.

“When the duchy family comes back, I will tell them. A nanny is supposed to help Aiden, not boss around their owner. That they can’t keep someone who’s crossed the line.”

Erin refuted.

“All I did was follow the duke’s orders on what to do for the young master. There was not a single time when I did something to cross the line.”

Whitney said with utmost confidence.

“We can nitpick through that later.”

Erin decided not to pick through Whitney’s behavior anymore.

Right now, that wasn’t the important thing that Erin was trying to say.

Erin slowly started to open her mouth.

“But before that.”

“At this moment, there’s nobody who can go against my orders, right?”

Although she didn’t have any connection with the duchy, she would be taking the Leinster name once she got married to Aiden.

Truthfully, there was no way that Whitney could go against Erin’s orders.

Because all the power Whitney had came from serving the duke and duchess.

Because of that, everyone in the duchy was careful around Whitney, but Erin was a different case.

Due to Erin’s confident tone, Whitney had no words to say

She clenched her teeth in anger.

It was obvious from her eyes that Whitney was trying to keep her composure, but in the end, her glare became sharp.

“From the moment Master Aiden was born, I have been taking care of him. I know him better than anyone else, so I hold full responsibility over him.”

Whitney said, as she was looking down on

Erin.

She was trying to convey that a child who doesn’t know anything should know their place and do nothing.

If Erin really was a normal 10 year old girl, then Whitney’s remarks would have scared her, and she would have not been able to say anything.

But Erin was not.

Rather than assistance, it was probably pressure.

That was mental abuse, especially since Aiden had nothing to do with her problems, yet she was just controlling his life as she pleased.

And Erin knew that the best.

There was tension going on between Erin and Whitney.

While the two of them were just staring at each other, the corners of Erin’s lips started to raise slightly.

“Still, it doesn’t matter.”

Erin continued to speak with a sly grin on her face.

“Aiden is my husband now.”

So from now on, he doesn’t need your overbearing concern.

Despite the outcome, Erin reminded Whitney that she was above her.

Erin walked around with light steps.

Although only temporarily, she was able to separate Whitney from Aiden.

And just from that, her mind and body felt much more relaxed.

Wanting to enjoy the fresh air, Erin decided to walk around in the garden. The air felt nice and the flowers smelled good.

“Oh…..?”

Erin’s eyes went to the bottom of the highest tree in the garden.

Aiden was sitting under the shadow that the tree was casting

He had fallen asleep with his body leaning against the base of the tree.

Erin’s mouth automatically turned into a smile.

Although she was able to see Aiden often, she hadn’t been able to see his face clearly since their wedding night.

Honestly, it’s not often that you can just admire someone’s face.

She had never thought of wanting to look at other people’s faces.

But…… Aiden was different from other people.

It was a face that she wanted to closely observe again.

However, it wasn’t something she could do whenever she wanted, because she didn’t want Aiden to respond weirdly.

That’s why it was the perfect opportunity.

The time Aiden was asleep was the only time that she could admire his face.

Erin went onto her knees and blankly stared at Aiden.

Even when he was sleeping, he looked like a work of art. It was to the point where if someone was made just to look beautiful, they would look like Aiden.

She was only going to look at him for a short amount of time, but that turned into a long time.

This is why someone would go crazy.

Again, she was able to relate to how the real owner of Erin’s body fell for Aiden.

When looking at Aiden, the saying being handsome is a sin’ popped up.

Perhaps if he wasn’t traumatized from Whitney’s abuse, he wouldn’t have hated the original Erin that much either.

Well, it didn’t matter either way. Because of the female lead’s existence, Erin would be having a one-sided love anyway.

Erin was thinking about things mindlessly while continuing to stare at Aiden’s face.

What stopped her mind from wandering was the current relationship between Erin and Aiden.

At least right now it’s much different from how it was before.

First of all, Aiden no longer avoided Erin.

That wasn’t all. The way that Aiden stared at Erin changed, too.

Now, when he sees Erin first, his eyes grow wide from excitement and his mouth curves into a smile.

If things went according to the original novel, it was an unimaginable change.

But out of everything, the most satisfying thing was how much more Aiden had been smiling these days.

The number of times Aiden smiled when seeing Erin increased. It was as if just seeing her face made him happy.

I’m not expecting a lot, but I hope you can keep growing up like this.

Erin, who has been squirming around for a while, stretched out her right hand.

Something that she would never be able to do if Aiden had his eyes open.

Something that she had to be patient with this whole time.

Erin carefully put her hand onto Aiden’s head.

She was just about to slowly caress his hair.

Erin’s eyes widened in shock.

Aiden had opened his eyes.

| She threw her hands into the air and tried to be as smooth as possible while getting up with her face slightly tilted down, but……

At the same time, Aiden was trying to stand with his head raised up…… Erin’s lips and Aiden’s lips crashed into each other.

Truthfully, before Erin arrived, Aiden was actually waiting for her to get there.

After learning that Erin liked to walk in the garden on sunny days, from time to time, he went too, trying to meet her naturally.

Recently, the thoughts in Aiden’s head had been weird.

Although the beginning of his thoughts were different depending on the situation, they always ended up being about Erin.

Of course, even if the beginning of his thoughts started off with her, it would still end with her.

Those thoughts had started ever since Erin held his hands and said that they were friends.

Back then, it was completely unpredictable that their relationship would have gotten this

close.

As Aiden’s thoughts continued to flow, he ended up falling asleep.

The Leinster Duchy.

There was no one who didn’t know the name of that house. It was a family worthy of the highest honor.

As soon as they were born, honor and pride followed them.

Although it was a spot that everyone wanted to be in, if they weren’t blood related, it wasn’t achievable no matter how skilled they were.

Aiden was born to inherit that spot.

However, Aiden Leinster was neither proud nor happy of that seat.

Although he was born with many things, in exchange for all that luxury, there wasn’t anything he could decide for himself.

He had to do everything by the rules, and he couldn’t escape from it.

Marriage was the same way.

Everything was decided from the beginning, and all he had to do was follow it.

But just because it was like that, it didn’t mean he was extremely against the marriage either.

On the contrary, Aiden actually didn’t have any thoughts at all towards the marriage.

After getting used to being controlled, it wasn’t long before he made a habit of holding back his feelings.

He had no expectations of the people who had been controlling his life.

His mother and father were only interested in protecting the honor of the Leinster household name.

The only reason why Aiden was of any importance to the couple was because he would be the one to carry on the Leinster name.

Since they had been like that ever since his birth, he didn’t feel disappointed by their attitudes.

His parents were an existence as simple as breathing.

The Leinster couple had put Whitney, who had been serving the duchy for many years, in charge of Aiden as soon as he was born.

The only thing they did was get periodic updates on how Aiden was doing from Whitney.

However, if Whitney’s evaluation was ever poor, Aiden would be taken in and shown everything he would have to take care of in the future and was taught to listen to everything Whitney said.

In the end, the heir of the Leinster Duchy could not do anything to refute his nanny.

Until he became an adult, he couldn’t do anything but continue and take Whitney’s abuse.

And Whitney continued to ruin that delicate relationship.

Whitney criticised everything Aiden did, from his words to his actions.

Even the small, meaningless emotions were made into a problem by her.

Laughing without permission and complaining like a child was not allowed.

If Aiden got closer and more comfortable with someone, he got scolded more than he did on normal days.

Whenever Whitney thought that Aiden did something wrong, she would either quietly grab his shoulder and push it down, or grab his arm so that he couldn’t move and glared at him.

The punishment would only end if Aiden realised that he had made a mistake.

Everytime that happened, it felt suffocating for Aiden.

In no time, Aiden was unable to determine whether his actions were right or wrong, but instead worried about whether Whitney would get mad.

Because doing that would at least make him feel a little bit relieved from Whitney’s abuse.

Aiden was always tense in front of her, and tried his best not to annoy her.

Still, it wasn’t too bad to handle.

After dinner, Aiden would have teachers come in for his academics, and most of the day he was in the training center, reducing the time he would have to spend with Whitney.

He thought that was all he would need to go through until he became an adult.

However, Aiden’s normal life did not continue.

Ever since his marriage was first announced, Whitney’s interference with his life began again.

“Since you are to be wed soon, you need to be taught by the book.”

He had swallowed the sigh that was about to come out after listening to Whitney’s words.

Being taught again… he felt that it was annoying

“If that’s what I have to learn, then so be it.”

He agreed to it with no emotion. Either way, it was another thing he had no say in.

He thought that it would be something he could just ignore.

It did not take long before he realised that doing that was a mistake.

– To Be Continued –