CH 7

A few years ago, Mrs. Harrison visited the Loris family with her two daughters. She then entrusted them to Callie so they wouldn’t interfere with the grown-ups’ conversation.

Callie sat the two young girls down, read to them, taught them to play the piano, and made them paint. 

They returned home after teatime, and the daughters told Mrs. Harrision about their time with Callie and wanted to learn from her. 

And that led Callie to visit the Harrison house twice a week and teach the two young ladies three years ago.

Susan hated that Callie went out, fearing that Callie would inform others that she was being abused. Calli was worried about what would happen if Susan objected to her tutoring, but fortunately, she didn’t. 

Susan was displeased when she gave her all the money she had earned, but she didn’t tell her to stop.

More families learned about her skills; since last year, thanks to Mrs. Harrison, two more families have availed of her tutoring services.

She brought all the money she earned to the house, but she decided to consider it an investment for the future.

That thought made her feel less regretful; more than anything, she was glad to be able to pay for Noah and Lisa’s salary.

“Sir Brandon said he liked my job as a tutor. He said that a woman who embroidered at home looked stuffy.”

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Of course, Brandon never said that. He wouldn’t even have known she’s a tutor.

But in this situation, there was no better excuse than Brandon.

As expected, at the mention of Brandon, Susan let go of the idea of her quitting her job. “Then, at least reduce the time. The wedding preparations should be done without a hitch. Even if they have a lower status than us, they are the wealthiest family in Irze, so there are a lot of things to worry about.”

While it wasn’t a marriage for love, the wedding was out of interest no matter how it was done.

Callie’s fatigue surged as soon as she heard the words about preparing for marriage.

She wanted to finish talking and rest quickly.

“Yes, I will. If you’re done, may I go up now?”

Susan scowled, displeased with Callie’s eagerness to end the conversation. But now that Brandon has decided to marry Callie, Susan couldn’t get angry at her attitude.

Callie politely lowered her head to the blushing Susan, then slowly left the room.

Just the thought of Susan’s scowling face following her behind her made her ten-year-old congestion go away.

‘Just you wait, Susan. There will be a day later when you’ll tear your heart out and regret what you did to me.’

One corner of Callie’s mouth curled up.

Today, she had a class with the Harrison family.

She could take a breather on class days because she could go out without being scolded by Susan.

She would leave the house as early as possible and head to the library downtown. There, she would read books until class started and leave at the right time. 

With that in mind, she finished getting ready early in the morning. She was about to leave quietly without bumping into Matthew or Susan when Lisa, who had been boiling onion soup and was waiting, grabbed her.

“My lady, are you leaving already?”

“Yeah. I’ll be back, Lisa.”

“Are you going to skip breakfast again today?”

“I’ve already gotten used to it,” Callie said. She then checked the time on the old wall clock, which was strangely still moving.

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“Then, have some soup and go. It would be difficult to go to the Harrison Mansion on an empty stomach.”

“I’m fine.”

“Don’t be like that that, come over here.”

When Lisa remained stubborn, Callie couldn’t refuse and headed to the kitchen.

Noah, who was preparing breakfast in her kitchen, greeted Callie, “Good morning, milady.”

“Good morning, Noah.”

“Aunt Noah, milady doesn’t have much time.”

Lisa knew Callie was in a hurry, but she urged Noah to give her a little something to eat.

“Have a seat, milady. I baked some cookies this morning. Let me wrap them up for you.”

Noah put the cooled soup on a plate in front of Callie.

“Thank you, Noah. You wake up early because of me… Sorry.”

“It’s nothing. As we get older, we wake up earlier because we sleep less in the morning. Baking cookies isn’t even work.”

Callie held up a spoon, thanking the two people who must have been busy cooking soup and baking cookies for her early in the morning.

Then, Romi, who woke up early today, burst into the kitchen.

“Seeing that you’ve been eating alone so early in the morning, I guess you’re going to the Harrison family today?”

Romi started taunting Callie as soon as she saw her. When she did, Callie winked at Noah and Lisa to leave.

Then Noah stopped what she was doing and stood, wiping her wet hands with an apron. “My lady, have a meal and go. We have to clean the drawing room before Madam wakes up.”

“Okay. Don’t mind me and just work.”

After Noah and Lisa left the kitchen, Callie started eating her soup again, ignoring Romi’s gaze.

“You, are you getting married? With Brandon Cleart, the rumored playboy.”

Romi had a freckled face, dark skin, tall stature like a man’s, and a lack of curves. She was the opposite of Callie, to the point that if it weren’t for her hair or dress, she could be mistaken for a man.

So from a young age, Romi had been jealous of Callie, who had outstanding looks and wisdom.

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‘I feel bad for Noah since the noisy kid came out, but I need to stop eating and get up. I don’t want to ruin my mood so early in the morning.’

Callie thought she should get up at this point, so she put down the spoon she was holding and replied nonchalantly, “Yeah, I’m getting married.”

“You suit each other. The notorious son of a merchant family and you, the uncultured child.”

Romi was three years younger than Callie, but she’s never once called her Unnie[1].

“I’m glad to hear that we suit each other.”

Romi was even more annoyed when Callie smiled and laughed instead of losing her temper. 

“You’ve found your match. He suits you well. After all, he’s the famous *sshole in Irze.”

“Thank you for saying I’ve found my match.”

Callie knew it wasn’t a compliment, but when she took it as one, Romi became even more agitated.

“Does he know what you are in this family? That you’re not Father and Mother’s real daughter. You’re just a niece.”

“Why, if I tell you he doesn’t, are you going to step up and tell him instead?”

Only a few servants who worked at the time knew that Callie wasn’t their real daughter. Susan did not want to be judged for taking in Callie because of her wealth, so she hid it from others. 

When she took Callie out to social gatherings and parties, she treated Callie like they were the sweetest mother-daughter duo in the world, so no one guessed that Callie wasn’t their real daughter.

They’d been hiding the fact that Callie wasn’t their daughter for such a long time, and if the truth came out before their marriage with the Cleart family, who knew how Brandon or Baron Hugo would react?

Callie took advantage of that weakness.

“Who says I can’t?”

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“I don’t care, so go ahead and try. I bet Father and Mother will be very pleased.”

“What did you say?!” Romi wheezed as if she was about to grab Callie’s hair. 

“What, are you gonna grab my hair and scratch me? If you do, my prospective husband’s would see my wounded face. Have you thought about what would happen next?”

She wouldn’t tell Brandon about her hair-pulling fight with Romi, but she used it to put her in her place.

Besides, Romi, clueless as she always was, didn’t even notice. 

Romi thought that no matter how annoyed she was, she shouldn’t touch Callie’s face since she’s about to get married.

Seeing Romi like that, Callie’s lips went up.

“Romi Loris, there’s not much time left for you to be rude to me.”

“Can’t you see you’re marrying a good-for-nothing playboy?”

“Yeah. So be careful. Before I do anything on my playboy husband’s back.*”

Callie came out of the dining room after blowing a cocky smile at the furious Romi.

A month passed by quickly.

In the meantime, Susan constantly complained and bragged about how much money it cost to prepare for the wedding.

Who asked you to do that?

It was a kind of investment for her to put money into Callie’s wedding preparations by even going into debt. 

Callie, who saw through her, didn’t comment about the wedding preparations at all. Instead, she obediently followed Susan and left everything to her.

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However, I talked to Brandon about the dowry and put it off until later.

It was the most important part, so Matthew and Susan showed displeasure, but they persuaded them that they would try to raise the amount a little more after marriage.

In fact, Callie didn’t want any money from the Cleart family to go to the Loris family because of this marriage. 

And finally, the wedding day came.

[1] Females address female siblings or close friends older than them as 언니 (unnie). 

*Not sure about the translation