I tried hard to control my expression. Despite Ardion’s young age, he was good at objectifying himself and was aware that people were obsessed with money.
What in the world has he been through?
“Why aren’t you answering?” Ardion questioned and got up from the bed.
I smiled and nodded at him. “For me to tell you, you have to eat and listen to me often, not just once.”
“I didn’t listen to you before though.”
“That’s what I mean. Anyway, I’m in charge of taking care of you, Young Master.”
“Alright. I’ll eat that food to figure out if what you want from me is trivial.”
He gave me a passing glance before taking a seat. Ardion ate the bread with cheese on top. Fortunately, he didn’t frown, so I guess it didn’t taste bad to him.
I felt relieved that Ardion was eating.
At that moment, his hand holding the bread suddenly stopped, and he looked expressionlessly at me. “Do you plan to watch me while I eat?”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, I shall take my leave. I am just glad you are eating well.” I quickly turned around and left the room.
❋ ❋ ❋
[Third-Person POV]
Silence engulfed the room, and then Ardion put down the bread he was eating.
“...”
He eyed the door to make sure that Laila had left. Then he rolled up his sleeves and stared at his arm. There were all kinds of mana flowing through his arm, and they were fused together, which made it worse.
This mana was the reason his half-brother envied him so terribly. Whenever Rowell saw his arm, he always glared at him as if he would kill him.
A few days before coming here, he had warned, “Stop rolling up your sleeve. I don’t want to see it.”
Ardion, who had been playing in the garden, quickly pulled down his sleeve. But afterwards, he had ended up here as if he had been discarded.
He had mana that reacted to all kinds of attributes, which meant he had the power to use all kinds of magic. But it was also a fatal weakness for him.
If an opponent used magic that utilized mana with various attributes, Ardion would be helpless.
What’s the use of being so envious of this? He biterly lowered his sleeve.
❋ ❋ ❋
[First-Person POV]
I immediately headed inside my room and closed the door. The maid who had come earlier and looked around uneasily was nowhere to be seen.
For some reason, Benji ran over me, her face pale as soon as she saw me. “Laila, the head maid said she went to your room, and she was very angry.”
“Why?”
“She went to look for you, but she didn’t find you.”
Everyone working at Duke Orchid’s mansion seemed to get angry easily. They all seemed to take after the duke’s personality...
“But why did the head maid come?”
“I don’t know. I think you should go see her yourself.”
I nodded firmly despite not wanting to. The head maid spent most of her time looking at the garden.
The reason was simple.
First, to supervise us working outside, and second, to greet the maids working in the hallway.
The hallway she stood in was in the center of the mansion, so maids passed by it almost every day.
Today, the head maid was still standing there, looking down as if she were scanning the area, her eyes arrogant.
Of course. In the original story, the duke gave poison to anyone who didn’t obey him and left their bodies in the wilderness.
It was cruel, but it was the truth. That was why I had no choice but to pretend to obey.
I said with a nonchalant smile, “Have I ever failed to do anything for the duke?”
Despite pretending I obeyed the duke’s commands, everything I did was for my future, and it seemed to be turning out well.
“...” The head maid looked at me silently and then turned her head away.
The duke wants me to drain Ardion’s mana?
Then, I should teach him how to hide his mana.
But how do I teach that?
Things became complex again. Duke Orchid wanted Ardion’s mana to be drained away completey.
However, it was impossible to completely drain Ardion’s mana from his body, as his body produced mana on its own.
I furrowed my brows in thought while walking down the hallway. Then something stepped on my foot.
“Ouch!”
As expected, when I raised my head, I saw Rhody glaring at me.
“Why did you step on my foot?”
“Did I? I thought it was just a rock.”
When I heard her response, the smile on my face remained, and I just walked past her. I wanted to ask her about what happened earlier, but it would just be a waste of time.
Rhody would just continue to plot against me out of envy.
I could tell without even looking.
“Laila!” Her voice called me from behind.
I continued walking, but she relentlessly chased after me, her footsteps getting closer and closer.
I turned around. Rhody stopped and stepped back with a surprised face, almost falling over because I turned around so abruptly.
I asked casually, “What do you want?”
“Why do you keep ignoring me?” Rhody said, hesitant.
“Because you do things that deserve to be ignored.”
Rhody grumbled, “I was being honest to the head maid.”
“That wasn’t an act of honesty. Besides, I have never affected anyone’s work. What I did was cover up for Benji. So please, in the future, understand the whole situation before speaking.”
Rhody bit her lip, strangely avoiding my gaze.
Since she wanted to talk with me, I added one more thing. “And don’t make up stories about me from now on.”
Rhody raised her head, her eyes wide in disbelief. “When did I make up stories? I just said what I saw.”
I shook my head in resignation. It was unlikely that Rhody and I would ever see eye to eye.
The best course of action was to leave this mansion as soon as possible. As I lowered my head, I noticed my hands were trembling even more.
A sigh escaped me. I was even more exhausted than before.
I was about to turn around, but I heard Rhody's voice.
"I saw you use magic."
When I looked up, her face was brighter than before. She must have thought she had touched my weak spot.
I gave her a grin in response. "So what?"