CH 39

“I’ve told you, right? That he had never thought about it. And he just cut it off, saying that he can’t spend time on such useless things.”

“….he had never thought about it….”

“He was so angry that he didn’t even want to hear about you, who took Older Sister’s life. Am I the only one who got scolded for nothing?”

“….”

Glance.

As if it was very tough, Firina pretended to touch her forehead and peeped at Beatty.

‘Hoo, hoo, hoo. You must be able to figure out the situation a bit now.’

Seeing her niece was quiet, she seemed pretty shocked.

Contrary to her thoughts, of course, Beatty was just absorbed in another world.

‘But it’s strange.’

What Aunt said was different from what Beatty heard.

“…Whenever Your Excellency had time, you had picked up these candidate papers and thought about the Young Miss’ name.”

The conversation that she unintentionally overheard in the office.

“…The name that you’ve been thinking about for years… To think that it took more than eight years to name the Young Miss….”

Since it was impossible for him to know that there was her in the tree outside the window, it wouldn’t have been made up for her to listen.

‘For her to say that Father had never thought about my name… Just why is she lying?’

Maybe it’s because Aunt really doesn’t know about Father, but she didn’t really think it was so.

Rather, she thought it was like a deja vu somewhere.

‘No. This is not like a deja vu… but it’s definitely something that I’m familiar with?’

This time, she said that he didn’t want to name her, but even apart from this, the basis of he didn’t send money, he ignored her letter, he didn’t come to see her face, etc, were various.

Aunt always said, “Look at this. All these grounds show how much he hates you. You are a child that is even hated by your own biological father.”

How many times that she had heard this, Beatty could even predict what words would follow behind.

‘After saying this, it’s surely….’

“Do you understand now? That I’m the only one who gives for you, Niece.”

‘…She’ll surely say she’s the only one I can trust, right?’

When she saw Aunt moving her fan to her face with a little look of gain, Beatty thought.

‘As expected.’

Come to think of it, it was like that.

When she was young, she didn’t know because she was just focused on the fact that she was hated by Father, but it was an obvious pattern to see with the eyes of the present, with a past where she grew up to almost an adult.

Shrink your opponent, and raise yourself in preparation.

‘This is the one that a person use when bargaining to knock down the price of things!’

It even came out in the Memoirs of the Great Merchant Leader which was Beatty’s favorite book, but it was a method of reducing the price by using inferiority, rather than quoting a target that mainly deals with continuous transactions.

“Hoo, hoo. I guess you understood. Then from now on, follow my words like a Holy Scripture.”

As she was ashamed of her childhood for being swayed by her obvious tricks, while Beatty was holding her head, Firina misunderstood the silence, stuck her chin out, and said.

“….”

Beatty, whose head got cold after seeing the shameless appearance, chased away the sense of shame that had come for a while and thought.

‘Maybe she has lied like this, even before.’

Aunt’s words that inevitably permeated while she was growing up.

‘Abandoned child.’

‘A sly rat that eats away her fortune.’

‘Shameful Half.’

Suspicions of deeply rooted ‘facts’ began to grow in Beatty’s heart.

“Hoo.”

For a long time since then, Firina has only continued to make a lot of nonsense rants about ‘the ugly niece and benevolent me’.

‘Although I didn’t listen to it properly.’

While Firina was talking nonsense, Beatty had been thinking about another matter as her aunt’s words flowed through one ear. She murmured with her small hand stroking her chin.

“Aunt is suspicious, but rather than that, something else is much more important now.”

Settling in the Duke’s Castle.

Only by securing the right to live in Duke’s Castle, the best place to stay safe before the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, she will be able to become an adult who can hide her Signum safely and become a merchant who she has long wished for, leading to her dream of freely traveling around the continent.

So the most important question for Beatty now was how to continue to extend the time-limited accommodation ticket until winter.

‘Well about Aunt… even if she lied to me, there’s nothing I can do about it.’

She’s still broke with no house, no money, nor strength.

In such a situation, there was no time to struggle with hatred that could not be avenged.

‘Even though, I don’t know again if I have the ability to pay back the matters before I regressed.’

Well, surely such a thing is impossible to happen in a flash.

Beatty shook her head to shake off her lingering feelings, and said her pledge out.

“What’s important right now is securing a safe residence to live in.”

Preparations for that have already been carried out step by step.

“I don’t know why Aunt came here, but since it’s definitely not a good thing for me, let’s speed up what I had prepared.”

Yeah. Beatty clenched her fist vigorously, and ran to the study, taking a few papers she had written down along with her.

***

The next morning.

The bright morning sun shone on Beatty’s room.

Tok. Tok.

After the light knock on the door from outside, the door soon opened smoothly.

As usual, the maids came inside with washing water.

“Huh? Young Miss?”

They looked around when they couldn’t see a small figure lying on the bed.

“Gasp…!”

Thud.

A towel fell to the floor from the hand of the maid who first found the person they were looking for.

“Kyaaaaaak! Young Miss!”

The maids screamed when they saw the Young Miss who had changed overnight.

“Huu, hoo….”

Beatty was sitting at a desk full of a pile of unknown books instead of a bed.

There were dark circles around her eyes that didn’t match her chubby child’s face.

“I almost… gathered all of it….”

As she muttered with her hollow eyes, there was an old book in her hands, which she was holding tightly, afraid that she might lose it.

When they saw the Young Miss who had become a zombie squirrel that had dried up overnight, the maids opened their mouths, with trembling lips in shock.

“Are you alright, Young Miss?”

“Oh my… What happened overnight?”

“Am oh-kay.” [I’m okay.]

At the words of the worried women, with an 8-year-old body that stayed up all night and was always sick all the time, Beatty raised her hands and said in a very untrustworthy manner.

“Am bizhyyy.” [I’m busy.]

“Young Miss?”

“I am peeerfectly—saaane….”

Coool.

Without knowing it, her mouth warmed up, and the maid hurriedly supported Beatty’s forehead, which had fallen forward into the washing water as if she was going to hit her head.

“You need to sleep more.”

At that, Beatty shook her head in surprise.

“I have to see Father!”

Not even knowing that the name she had only called inside came out of her mouth, Beatty washed her face trying to wake up.

“Oh my. How commendable.”

Looking at Beatty, who was struggling to move vigorously, the maids smiled small, then wiped the water with a soft cloth, and said.

“However, even the Duke will be happier to see the Young Miss sleep well.”

“That’s right. The Young Miss’ health comes first.”

As she was still not used to the kindness, Beatty blushed without realizing it—by herself thinking that they were being very polite—and reciprocated with a sparkling cute expression.

“Thank you, everyone.”

‘Even so, I have to deliver that quickly.’

Glance.

Beatty looked back on the desk with last night’s achievements.

It was the material that was completed by speeding up even if it was excessive, since she doesn’t know what kind of interference Aunt, who suddenly arrived, would do.

Slap, slap!

Beatty shook off the remaining drowsiness and slap her cheeks. Then, applying pressure to her eyelids which were closed, she opened her mouth.

“I have something to give to the Lord, can I go to his office?”

“Oh my, what should I do? I heard that he has meetings all day today….”

Beatty did not give in to the regret voice, and presented the organized material.

“Then, can you at least deliver this?”

“Of course. I’ll send it up right away.”

She wanted to let him know as soon as possible, so she sent the material first, and Beatty thought to herself.

‘He wouldn’t take it away, right?’

Seeing that he kept taking care of the price of Tuberosum information, which he refused to accept, saying that it’s okay, she thought he was not a person who would just ignore information and pretend not to know.

It was after she had established that much of a level of trust in Father.

The Duke’s reaction would have been a masterpiece if he knew this very shallow trust Baby had in him, but fortunately, such Beatty’s inner thoughts were unknown.

“It was delivered well. It was left out on the very top of the desk in the Master’s office.”

Still sleepy under her eyes, Beatty was relieved only after hearing that the documents were delivered well.

Only then did she get up and stumble in drowsiness toward the breakfast table.

***

“….”

Wilt.

Looking at Beatty, who was swinging and shaking her spoon with no energy like dry grass, Carl tilted his head.

A life full of stamina.

Let alone from being sleepy in his life, the stamina monster, who had never been in a sick chicken state of sleepiness, did not understand Beatty, who nodded her head with cloudy eyes.

“Tail Fur.”

“….”

Tok.

“… Are you trying to put your head in the soup?”

Unable to even hear the call, Carl held Beatty’s forehead, which almost shoved her nose into the plate, and asked.