Chapter 17.1

The luncheon went very smoothly.

She didn’t know whether the food she had been preparing with all her heart and soul the other day had gone into her mouth or her nose, but Yelena was just happy that the luncheon was over.

With the help of the nanny, she quietly led the children out of the dining room.

The Duke and his father will enjoy a coffee and cigar and talk business in earnest.

Meanwhile, Yelena’s job was to take the children upstairs to the smaller parlor and play.

The parlor upstairs, as checked in advance, was comfortably furnished for the children to play.

Desserts such as cakes, chocolates, pies, puddings, sweets, and fruits were set on the tables, firewood was burning in the fireplace, and there were toys on one side.

Yelena walked into the children’s room and addressed Betty, who had been quiet the whole time.

“Your name…… was it Betty? Did you like the meal?”

“Yes, the steamed croaker and pheasant meat dishes were especially excellent.”

“How did you find out that it was a croaker?”

“Before receiving the Duke’s favor, I did some work in the kitchen as a dishwashing maid.”

Come to think of it, the child’s hands were rough for her age.

Yelena guessed at how the child’s temper had become tough.

It made her sad to think of how those thin hands would have washed the dishes from morning to sunset and scrubbed off the oil stains.

She quickly recommended the desserts laid out on the fine tablecloth.

“I see. Would you like some of this pie? It’s made from apples pickled this fall.”

“Thank you.”

Yelena was keeping an eye on Betty to make sure she didn’t feel left out among her younger siblings, but the child, Betty, seemed kinder and more polite than she thought.

Betty was very different from the way she was with the duke, opening her eyes wide and saying, ‘No!’

‘All children are angels.’

It upsets her sometimes, but deep in her heart, an angel is sleeping too.

Her adolescent imagination drove her far.

In her imagination, she becomes the amiable Duchess Janus, inviting orphans to the mansion to take care of them, setting up a nursery school, a normal school, and more…….

“Matthew!”

It was her brother’s mischief that brought Yelena back from her daydreaming.

Matthew, who had been glancing at Betty ever since her luncheon, tugged hard at Betty’s hair, which was in two pigtails.

Seeing the child’s body, who was eating her apple pie, tip over in an instant, Yelena screamed. Despite Yelena’s shouting, Matthew showed only a cold reaction.

“You scared me.”

“What kind of gentleman pulls a lady’s hair, really! Apologize Betty.”

“What kind of lady is she?”

“That’s mean, Matthew. You’re a bad kid.”

“Why am I mean? That Betty is an idiot. In the wild, all animals that are stunned like this one get eaten by the top predators.”

Matthew responded to Yelena’s scolding with a snort.

Her face instantly heated up as her authority was going to collapse even in front of a commoner’s child.

Yelena, unable to find anything to say in response, hesitated and looked around until she realized that Christine was missing.

‘In no time…… !’

It would be obvious where Christine was. She will be snooping around the dining room for sure. Because the only two people Christine cares about are there.

Yelena quickly called the nanny who had taken the children with her.

“Jane, I can’t see Christine.”

“Oh, really. Where did she go?”

The nanny, who had been sneaking in and eating the fruit and chocolate, suddenly raised her head and asked more in surprise. Stunned by the audacity, Yelena couldn’t find her words.

The servants of the County regarded Yelena as nothing more than a high-ranking employee, on the level of a governess, the head maid, or a nanny.

“I think I know where she is, so I’ll bring her. Jane is going to say you can’t bring her back anyway.”

“You understand that too, Miss. How stubborn Miss Christine is. The ones above should be the one to say something, what could the lower one do?”

Yelena wanted to snap back at least one word, but she didn’t want to raise her voice in front of the children.

Yelena stroked Betty’s hair once as she was eating an apple pie with a fork, then stood up.

“Jane, take care of Betty. Matthew, Betty is a guest in our house. Stop talking nonsense. Do you understand Sister?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“It’s not nonsense, it’s natural for weak kids to suffer.”

Jane answered dryly, and Matthew responded again with nonsense.

“I’ll be fine, Lady Yelena. You can go ahead.”

Only the little child who came to this house for the first time today got up and looked at Yelena. Yelena walked out of the children’s room with a weak smile in response.

She didn’t know that one of her mother’s earrings, which she had taken out to greet Duke Janus, was missing.

***