CH 23

One Day at a Time Commitment

“Evelyn? What are you doing?”

I looked in through the open doorway and saw that she was gathering clothes, underwear, towels, and other daily necessities.

“Lady Kanade. I’m preparing these so that when Lord Richmond and Master Leo bring the children home, they will have something to change into immediately.”

“I see! That certainly might be needed. As expected of you! You are really thoguthful!”

“Thank you very much. My husband also setting out clothing and other items from other vacant houses in easy-to-access places. We are also preheating the bathtub and preparing sports drinks and cups.”

“Logan is also doing an amazing job. You guys have thought of everything, haven’t you? Ah, I should also cook something!”

I can’t not work while Evelyn and the others are, right?

“As expected of Lady Kanade! That will definitely help.”

“Thank you. But, it’s you and others who are the best!”

Evelyn often praises us.

The reason is that everyone who lives here is very good at finding good things about each other, and they are very honest about it.

Because that was the condition I set for everyone when I came to live here.

When they first came here, they were all insecure and reserved.

They used words like, “Someone like me,” and “You jest,” and the same was true for Arthur and Lui.

They were discarded in the woods like disposable items. It’s understandable they lost confidence.

So I asked everyone to promise me to praise someone’s good qualities at least once a day and to accept the praise. I asked them to promise never to make themselves lacking.

It’s a confidence booster to have someone around who affirms you.

That is why I also try to say out loud what I think is nice about everyone.

I want them to replace their painful experiences with happy feelings.

“Thanks to you all, I am living a very happy life, and I want those who come here to have a good time too.”

“Yes. I want the people who come here to have a good time, too. I am also happy to be here and spend time with you and everyone else. I enjoy every day here.”

Evelyn smiled happily, saying, “Thank you so much for calling us family and welcoming us here.”

I couldn’t say what the complicated feeling I had was, but I smiled and tried to cover it up.

Returning to the mansion, I pulled out a large pot and decided to make a pot-au-feu with lots of vegetables.

I had already learned that drinking sports drinks would make even the weakest person feel better, so I decided to make a pot-au-feu with lots of vegetables, thinking that they could eat solid food.

“Having thought that, I don’t think lots of meat will fit the mood, so let’s start with a soup.”

I was torn between that and pork miso soup, but I figured it would be easier to accept than an unknown dish.

“What else should I make after that…”

“Mother Kanade, are you going to cook something?”

I don’t know when he came to the kitchen, but Lui popped up at the entrance and was looking at me.

“Lui, have you finished your studies?”

“Yes! Today was the test day. We were free to go as soon as we finished!”

Lui seemed to have finished his test in a flash and came to the kitchen to take a peek.

“You are good at taking tests, aren’t you!”

“Ah, yes. I’m good at remembering, and the test was just a review of what we’ve learned so far, so I just wrote down what I’ve learned.”

I patted him on the head and was soothed to see how cute and shy he was.

I had vaguely thought that since Lui was a smart boy, he might become a scholar in the future, but it seems that I was wrong.

I recently noticed that he was interested in cooking and may want to become a chef.

“I’m going to make pot-au-feu now, would you like to help me?”

“Yes!”

I was a little disappointed that I would be a useless teacher as an amateur cook if Lui wanted to become one, but I showed him how to make pot-au-feu.

After a while, Arthur and Mimily arrived and the kitchen became more lively.

At that time, we were enjoying cooking, unaware of the hardships Richmond and Leo were going through.