Chapter 7

“Miss! Are you awake? May I come in?”

Lestia stammered in surprise.

“Do, please come in!”

Immediately, Dora entered the room.

“Oh, why didn’t you call me when you woke up so early. You must be hungry!”

Dora again kindly showed Lestia how to use the string inside the room to summon her.

“Pull this rope. Do you understand?”

“Yes…….”

“Now, then, I’ll help you wash your face.”

Dora helped Lestia wash her face with lilac soap as she did last night.

And as soon as she finished washing her face, Dora pushed a trolley with breakfast into the room.

“Come on! Eat up, young lady! You must eat enough to be able to go for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon!”

The room smelled delicious, and the table was filled with food.

Lestia’s eyes fluttered and she looked around cautiously.

“Lysian……”

“Oh, Miss. Did you want to eat with Master Lysian? He already had breakfast and went to practice swordsmanship. In Verchester, the masters rarely eat together.”

Lestia nodded quietly and Dora said cheerfully.

“Let’s talk to them so they can have meals together!”

“Oh, no!”

Lestia shook her head in horror.

She wanted to eat with them, but it seemed kind of rude.

“Oh, okay. I hope they’ll join you.” Dora said regretfully.

“The food looks delicious.”

Lestia turned her attention to breakfast.

The breakfast menu consisted of meat stew, rye bread and  salad with orange sauce, accompanied by a juice made from several kinds of strawberries.

Everything was prepared specifically for Lestia, who had trouble using utensils, so that she could eat with a small fork and spoon.

Lestia began to eat cautiously.

She chewed her food well, focusing on what she wanted to eat, as Lysian had taught her.

“Is it good?”

Dora asked as she refilled her empty glass.

Lestia was about to answer ‘yes’, but quickly changed her words.

“Yes, it’s really good.”

She tried to answer as naturally as Dora had taught her, but it was still difficult to talk like a noble lady in just a day.

Dora smiled calmly without saying anything. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still a good effort on Lestia’s part.

“That’s good. I’m sure the head chef will be very pleased!”

The head chef.

Come to think of it, this food they ate last night,  the breakfast, and the room she stayed in, all seemed to have been prepared with care.

Lestia often did household chores in place of her uncle. She knew that it was not an easy thing to accomplish.

She was grateful that everyone in this mansion for decorating the room and prepared delicious meals for her.

She wanted to give something back to them personally. But…she didn’t have anything to give.

She wanted to show her gratitude, even if only a little ……

Is there a way?

“Ah!”

Then, suddenly she remembered the book she was looking at on the desk earlier.

‘Can I make something out of paper and give it as a gift?’

Lestia couraged up while Dora cleared away the empty plates, and she tugged on Dora’s hand as she pushed the trolley.

“Excuse me, Dora.”

“Yes, miss. Go ahead.”

“Can I have some paper?”

“Paper? Of course you can! Please wait a moment.”

Dora soon came back with lots of colorful paper.

They were of such a variety of sizes and textures that she had to use them all because she didn’t know what the people would like.

“What are you going to do with all this paper, young lady?”

Lestia answered with a slight reddening of her cheeks.

“I’m thinking of making paper flowers…………”

The first thing that came to Lestia’s mind for a thank you was a paper flower.

In the winter, it was impossible to get flowers in the fields. So she had to make flowers out of discarded newspapers and bread wrappers and sell them.

Of course, the flowers made in this way were not good for selling but she had no choice then.

However, she did a good job. The paper flowers were unique and beautiful. If she had these colorful papers, she would make a good sale.

There was one lady who bought the paper flowers from her one day. Lestia told her uncle about it, but he said the lady wasted her money to buy such things.

The main purpose of flower sales was to stimulate buyers’ sympathy.

As they bought the flowers, they took pity on Restia, who wore light clothes in the middle of winter to sell paper flowers, and let him have some coins.

So her uncle didn’t feel compelled to improve the quality of the flowers. He thought the more tattered she and the flowers looked, the more profitable it would make.

However, Lestia made the paper flowers in the hope that those who bought them would be happy.

She hoped that those flowers, a token of her gratitude, would bring the buyers good luck.

It was the same this time.

Lestia folded the paper, hoping that the people who received this flower would be happy.

In a way, it seemed insignificant to present luxurious things to those who helped her………….

Lysian said she could do what she wanted to do.

It would be all right to return the favor.

Courage arose.

Soon, red and yellow paper flowers began to bloom at Lestia’s fingertips.

“Oh, my goodness, young lady, it’s so beautiful!”

Dora squealed and squealed. When she first brought colored paper, she was curious about Lestia’s request.

However, the paper flowers that Lestia made were so unique and pretty that they didn’t look like they were made by a child.

Indeed, the paper flowers made from origami were beautiful and stylish, completely different from the paper flowers Lestia had sold.

Lestia shyly handed one of the flowers to Dora.

“Dora, this…..Will you accept it?”

“Oh, Miss, you’re giving it to me?”

“Thank you for your help. I want you to bring happiness to Dora……..”

“How beautiful. Thank you, young lady.”

Dora couldn’t help but shed tears at Lestia’s shy words.

Lestia was a child who was abused to the point of having bruises all over her body.

How could such a child wish for the happiness of others? It was difficult to even imagine that feeling.

* * * *

Lysian was in the swordsmanship training hall, facing a giant knight whose four heads were taller than his own height.

The two sharp swords repeatedly strike against each other, creating a graceful sword dance.

“Master Lysian, where are you straying off to today?”

It didn’t seem to be the slightest gap in Lysian’s movements. However, Franker, a knight of Verchester who crossed swords with Lysian on a daily basis, seemed to have discovered a distraction in Lysian’s movements.

“Who said I looked away?”

Lysian’s lips twitched as he closed the distance into Franker’s sword strike. At the sudden surprise, Franker stepped back quickly.

“But why do you want to finish it so quickly today?”

As if he didn’t want to hear any more complaints, Lysian’s sword went straight to Franker’s neck.

When the sharp point of the sword stopped at his neck, Franker dropped his sword and announced his surrender.

“Phew, I’m happy we could get this done so quickly, I now have more free time.”

Normally, Lysian spent the early hours of the morning and more than half the day in the training hall. That was until the knights playing against him were exhausted and defeated one by one.

Only when he was wielding his sword, he didn’t have to think about anything else, so he thought it was a good routine to pass the time.

But today,………he couldn’t concentrate for some reason.

“If you like it so much, take a break.”

“Thank you very much! Master!”

Franker quickly disappeared, and Lysian put back his sword and left the training hall.

He walked quickly to the room where Lestia was staying.

‘Is she adapting well?’

Obviously, he didn’t think much until the morning.

He gave all the important instructions to the servants so that Lestia would have a comfortable stay.

But as time went on, he couldn’t concentrate on his daily routine, wondering why he wanted to look at her face again.

‘Oh my god. Since when do I care so much about a Duke’s job?’

He thought so, but he didn’t stop walking.

“Oh, my gosh! So cute!”

He heard voices at the entrance of the mansion. The servants were gathered in one place, standing in a circle.

Lysian could easily spot Lestia standing in the middle of it.

Lestia was taking something out of a small bag and handing it to each servant.

“Thank you very much. The food was very good. The room is very pretty.”

The servants took something from Lestia’s hand and cheered excitedly.

“Oh, my God, you made this yourself?”

“In the ten years I’ve been working as a servant for a noble family, I’ve never been presented with anything handmade!”

“Shouldn’t it be a family heirloom?”

Everyone was happily talking to each other.

Lysian’s brows narrowed as he approached and said,

“Lestia Verchester, what are you doing?”

Lysian’s words instantly brought silence to the noisy space.

The servants carefully clasped their hands together and bowed their heads towards him.

Lestia also stared at him in surprise.

” Master Lysian.”

Lysian walked closer to Lestia with a blank expression on his face.

“What is this?”

The question was so sharp that Lestia almost said the word ‘sorry’ again.

Recalling about last night, Lysian had said he would forgive her for everything, and she could do anything to her heart’s content.

Lestia went through her bag and pulled out a paper flower and showed it to him.

“It’s paper flowers. I made it in return for my gratitude.”

“Paper flowers? Return gratitude?”

Lysian glanced at the flower on Lestia’s small hand and said,

“Who told you to return the favor? You’re the one who doesn’t need to do that.”

It was a neat point. As a noble lady, Lestia did not need to give back to the servants. The servants all freaked out, and Dora quickly stepped in front of Lestia.

“I’m sorry, Master Lysian. I should have dissuaded her, but I didn’t think much.”

But Lestia protested in a clear voice at that moment.

“No, I said I wanted to. It was my choice.”

“What?”

“Last night, Lysian said that I could do what I wanted.”

Now, Lestia looked like a small rabbit standing in front of a fierce beast, and everyone was forced to stare at her, mourning in their hearts.