Chapter 5
Chapter 5
After the bread incident, life went on quite peacefully.
If you could even call it an incident, it was just me eating seven candies Duke Dubled gave me in one sitting before Leah caught me.
But today was different.
From morning, I was being dressed by the maids. It was a dress for children that spread out wide from the chest.
On top of that, I wore lace socks that came up to my calves, shiny shoes, and a pretty ribbon tied on the top of my head.
"Now, let's see if it's comfortable. Walk, Young Lady."
As I toddled around diligently, the maids clutched their chests and groaned, "Oh!"
'Good, good.'
I had worked hard to win them over, and now they seemed to have three layers of rose-tinted glasses on.
How much effort had it taken to get to this point?
Dubled's employees weren't as bad as Valua's, but they were wary of me.
For some reason, Dubled was at odds with the Order, so they weren't happy that the Child of Destiny, who was practically a symbol of the Order, had come to the estate.
But for me, a young child, to live comfortably, winning over the employees was essential.
As soon as I arrived here, I started targeting the maids.
[Linda da! Linda ga watda! (It's Linda! Linda's here!)]
[Ohoho, you saw me last night too, but are you still happy to see me today?]
[Bimirinde…… Leubu, Linda jeil johaha nika. (It's a secret…… LeBlaine likes Linda the best.)]
First, I conquered a maid with influence.
[Ja, Dannia man satang ju gge. (Okay, I'll only give Dahlia candy.)]
[Why are you giving me this precious candy?]
[Bimirinde…… Leubu, Dannia jeil johaha nika. (It's a secret…… LeBlaine likes Dahlia the best.)]
I won the heart of the snack manager.
[Uni ga apeumyeon seulpeo……. (If Uni is sick, I'm sad…….)]
[Oh my…….]
[Bimirinde…… Leubu, Uni jeil johaha nika. (It's a secret…… LeBlaine likes Uni the best.)]
I captured the person in charge of recording my daily life.
'Now, even if the head of the family hates me like at Valua, the maids will secretly give me food.'
Seeing the maids who were so fond of me, I felt proud as I recalled the hardships I had gone through.
'But why did they dress me up like this today?'
I asked Leah, who was smiling kindly.
"Na, odi ga? (Me, where go?)"
"You will be attending the meeting that will be held today. The master said he would introduce the Young Lady to his retainers."
'Introduce?'
Of course, I had seen a few of the Duke's close retainers, but I hadn't been formally introduced. If they were planning to send me back soon, there would have been no need to introduce me.
That means…….
'They're planning to keep me here for quite a while!'
I cheered inwardly and followed the maid.
But there were people in the hallway wearing clothes I hadn't seen before. When I looked at them with a curious face, Leah answered.
"They are the employees of the sponsored children and their fathers."
Ah, so the selection of sponsored children is also on the agenda for today's meeting.
Noble families had a <Sponsorship System>.
They would mark talented children from a young age and sponsor them to cultivate them into the type of talent the family wanted.
'Who is the child who will be sponsored this time?'
If it's a child who receives sponsorship from a High nobles family like Dubled, they must be a famous prodigy from a young age.
When I entered the conference room, I saw the retainers surrounding a child.
He's quite big to be called a child. At first glance, he looked like a teenager.
The boy was buried among the adults, so I couldn't see him clearly, but his voice was dignified.
"Hello. Viscount Dubois, Viscount Martin, Baron Lux, and……."
The retainers chuckled, pleased that the polite boy had memorized so many people's names.
"Young Master Jude is getting smarter every day."
"My father told me that I have to study hard to become a wonderful adult like Viscount Dubois!"
Viscount Dubois laughed and patted the child's shoulder.
At that moment, one of the retainers discovered me.
"Young Lady."
There were a few retainers in this place who I had become acquainted with when I told them about the Imperial Palace and the Order.
'I need to make a good impression on them too.'
"Annyeonghaseyo. (Hello.)"
When I grabbed the hem of my dress and greeted them as I had learned from the maids, the retainers chuckled as if I were cute.
"Oh my, you've learned how to greet people."
As some of the retainers approached me, the child's face, which had been hidden, began to be revealed.
When I saw his face, I stiffened.
'Marco Jude.'
I know that child. Very, very well.
Because he was one of the worst people I had met in the past!
When I was living as Lady Valois, I briefly attended the Academy. At that time, Marco was my exclusive professor.
He was an ambitious young talent to his superiors, and a good professor who could communicate with his students. But to me…….
'He hit on me like crazy.'
He was aiming for the position of Duke Valois's son-in-law.
He would disgustingly stroke my shoulders and hug my waist while pretending to adjust my riding posture.
When he tried to call me to a secluded place and kiss me, I couldn't stand it anymore and reported him to the school.
But he instead framed me as the perpetrator.
[This is the one who seduced me. Think about it. If I had been making her uncomfortable all along, why wouldn't she have reported it from the beginning?]
When something like that happens, you don't really know what's going on at first.
You can't imagine that a man more than ten years older than you, and a professor at that, would have ulterior motives.
[If you hated it so much, why didn't you scream? In the end, you liked it too.]
Because I was scared. My body was so stiff with fear that I couldn't even scream.
[Then why now…… Oh, now that I think about it, I guess I didn't meet your standards? Are you also one of those women who cares about a man's status and wealth?]
My protest didn't work.
He was only given a six-month pay cut for touching a student, and I was pointed at as promiscuous and left the Academy.
After that, I don't know how much I was beaten by Duke Valois for tarnishing the family's reputation.
Just thinking about that time made me feel wronged and angry, and I wanted to grab the head of the young Marco and smash it.
But he's still a child. And I couldn't just take revenge on him, saying, 'You're future trash!'
'Calm down. If you cause such an accident for no reason, the adoption will be ruined.'
At that time, Duke Dubled entered the room. Marco and his father and the retainers bowed deeply, and the Duke took his seat.
The first order of business at the meeting was the review of the prospective sponsored child.
Marco, who was sitting behind the table with me, went up to the platform.
"Oh, you're already solving math problems at that level?"
"Yes! I need to be familiar with numbers to enter the Imperial Audit Office. But the study itself is also fun. I made a few formulas with my teacher……."
'Liar.'
As someone who knows his future, I was dumbfounded.
Marco Jude didn't even get into the Audit Office, but instead entered the faculty of a remote academy through connections. And then he was a fool who bragged to me about how great his connections were.
His father, Baron Jude, chuckled proudly.
Judging from the friendly atmosphere, it seemed that the selection of the sponsored child would go as Marco and his father wished.
After the Q&A session, Marco returned to the seat next to me. He looked down at me and whispered.
"See, fake? You can never beat me."
What?
I was so dumbfounded that I looked at him.
'Is this guy checking a four-year-old right now?'
Marco Jude seemed to think that I was in the conference room because of the sponsorship screening.
He had a restless face, wanting to somehow put down his competitor and stand above them. It was the same expression he had when he was an Academy professor.
'Well, he might think that Duke Dubled has left me alone until now and is trying to finish things off by sponsoring me without adopting me.'
He grinned and continued.
"You, they say you're a pitiful child?"
"……."
"The Empress Dowager threw you into the Dubled trash heap, so you're the same trash."
After saying that, Marco grinned, and I clenched my fist tightly.
In my previous life, I was naive.
I didn't know anything, I was afraid of the world I had been thrown into alone, and I was innocent.
There were many times when I couldn't say a word to such words and lowered my head.
But I, who have died three times and am living my fourth life, am not.
'Now, I'll bite if you touch me, kid.'
And I really bit Marco's arm.
"Agh!"
While he was holding his arm and crouching down, I quickly clenched my fist and punched him! Punch!
"Ack! Ack!"
As screams echoed, the people who had been concentrating on the meeting and the employees who had been guarding the hallway were surprised and rushed over.
People immediately tried to pull me away from Marco, but I only let go after pulling out a clump of his hair.
"What are you doing!"
The retainers frowned as they looked at me and Marco.
"That crazy thing…… me, suddenly……!"
Marco was panting and shouting something. He was so excited that I couldn't understand what he was saying.
On the other hand, I calmly stretched out my index finger towards Marco.
"Jae, nappeun ae! (He, bad kid!)"
"Yes?"
"Naega yeogi inneun geo Dubledeuga sseuregi deomigi ttaemuningaesseo. (I'm here because Dubled is a trash heap.)"
A colleague from my beggar days said that the person who throws the first punch wins the fight, and the person who is calm wins the argument.
That's right. The retainers who had been ignoring Marco's words were now focusing on my words.
Of course, making a fuss in front of the Duke was unsettling, but it seemed better than being seen as a fool who just takes it.
But something was strange.
Why has it become so quiet around here?
