“Duke, can I meet Adele as I do now? I won’t cause any trouble. Please allow that. Because I won’t be greedy anymore.”
I did not want to meet with Adele while making the Duke anxious. Nor did I want Adele to act recklessly and widen the gap between himself and the Duke.
Since their conflict had nearly reached its limit, it was important to narrow the distance between them, even if it was only by a little. The two of them were busy striking each other’s defenses, so the situation might improve if I intervene. I can’t do as much as Adele’s real mother, but I can still try.
Adele looked at me with an unreadable expression.
If I had told Adele beforehand, he would have been against it. He had already concluded that the Duke was someone who couldn’t be persuaded. That’s why I made up my mind to risk being hated.
The Duke looked at me for a long time. Various emotions flashed across his intelligent eyes.
Most of them were negative, but there was some hope.
With my hands still raised to my head, I blinked anxiously. The Duke barely responded.
“I’ll be honest with you. I can’t say that I’m not going to put some surveillance on him.”
“I understand. I like Adele and the Duke. Of course, I’ll put up with whatever I have to for you both.”
Fortunately, my answer seemed to please the Duke. He looked over at Adele.
“Adele, please do not betray Anastasia’s trust.”
“Of course,” Adele replied with a somewhat confused expression. He was probably expecting to be immediately sequestered. I hugged the Duke in thanks.
“Thank you very much, Duke!”
With this, I had diffused the most urgent ticking time bomb. About being followed… the Duke will try not to make it uncomfortable for me.
The Duke returned to being his usual arrogant and gentle self.
“Well, I don’t think I have to worry much about Adele for the time being, given your skill in harassing him. But why don’t we get rid of that hideous thing?”
It was likely that the Duke intended to lighten the mood, but I raised my head slightly at his words.
“Is it… hideous?”
“Father, that’s…”
Adele urgently tried to stop the Duke.
But I had already realized what the Duke was referring to. Without knowing that I was faking a smile, the Duke asked nonchalantly, “Oh, is it trendy for young people to display trash nicely these days?”
Trash?
Traaaash?!
(t/n:rofl he called it trash oh my gosh hahahah I’m dying. Anastasia, sweety, practice makes perfect. You should draw the duke next. )
I replied with a smile, trying not to forget that there was no intended malice in the Duke’s words.
“That’s my drawing.”
The Duke froze for a moment and then tried to clarify.
“It’s really beauti… No, I can’t say that.”
Jeeze, this old man! He can’t even say empty words! I jabbed the Duke forcefully. The gratitude I felt for him just a moment ago had already evaporated.
“Anastasia, that’s…”
With an icy expression I shot back at the Duke, who was rarely ever flustered.
“Don’t come near me. Don’t even talk to me.”
I was hurt by his sober assessment.
Of course, I was also surprised to see my drawing earlier, but how can you say it’s trash when it’s a drawing of your son?!
It seemed like the Duke hadn’t even guessed that the drawing was of Adele. He cleared his throat and tried to reconcile with me while fighting against his always forthright and honest nature.
“Looking closely, it seems like a very expressive piece. You’ve really captured the resentment and pain of a good citizen that, having never done anything wrong in his life while always helping others, was falsely accused, imprisoned, and executed.”
(t/n: I’M DYING AHSJSJAJS )
“Um, that’s Adele.”
I was trying hard not to forget that the Duke cared about me like his own daughter and that he was the father of the man that I liked.
The Duke finally admitted that his attempts to lighten the mood had failed by raising his hands to shoulder height in defeat.
“Seeing that you aren’t very dexterous, it seems that you really are Yevgenia’s daughter. In the past, Wall showed me a handkerchief that he had received from Yevgenia as a gift, even though it had many loose threads and the needle as well. Wol said that it was still good and carried it around.”
When a story about my mother came up, I stopped to listen without realizing it. My mother, Yevgenia Sinclair, had an amazing ability to screw up any item.
Also, objectively speaking, my mother wasn’t a striking beauty. My brother was the same.
I resembled my father, while my brother looked like my mother.
I didn’t know my mother well yet. My mother didn’t appear in the original book and after I became Anastasia she left with my father to find a cure, so I hadn’t had much opportunity to talk to her.
Even so, I knew that she loved Anastasia very much.
“Can you tell me more about my mother?”
As I grumbled in a more subdued tone, the Duke smiled kindly and said, “Anastasia, Yevgenia often severely criticizes people.”
His answer had profound implications.
“She’s gentle in front of you, but whenever she sees me, she beats me up for not managing my estate properly. She’s really frightening. Frankly, I wouldn’t even notice if I tossed a few thousand gold coins by the roadside, so when on earth does she have the time to check every single one? I don’t have that much free time.”
No, if my close friend went on sprees often, wasting money made of gold, I think I would beat them up as well.
“Anyway, please forgive my blunder. If I think of it as a totem that chases nightmares away, then it becomes acceptable.”
The Duke comforted me with patronizing encouragement. You’re treating my drawing like a voodoo symbol!
“Do you want me to draw you too?”
I endeavored not to forget that the Duke was my godfather, while he also diligently tried to remember the same thing. He gave a short, fake laugh.
“Ha, ha, isn’t it lunch yet? Come on, let’s head down.”
The Duke was a bit mean, but I didn’t resent him too much, so I quietly followed him.
As it happens, I was hungry as well. It seemed like I came by too early today.
However, that just proved how much I wanted to quickly meet with the Duke and Adele.
These two helped me feel less lonely while my parents and brother were away. It would be much better if they got along with each other, though, instead of just caring about me.
The chef may have been ordered to prepare a meal in advance. The servants carried food over as soon as we came in.
I took some bouillabaisse filled with fresh seafood, fish, potatoes, onions, garlic, fennel, and saffron.
The crustaceans were neatly peeled and all of the fish were deboned, so it wasn’t difficult to eat.
Suddenly I realized that I had never properly observed Adele having a meal.
The Adele I know is not picky, but I was extremely curious to know what he would be like.
Because his bedroom was nearly spotless, he seems like the type of person who would wipe their mouth after drinking a single sip of water. If I spill food, he might look at me with contempt.
Ack! Come to think of it, when I dropped the scone with butter earlier his reaction was pretty bad…
A maid entered as we were leaving, so it was definitely cleaned up earlier, but I still felt bad about it.
I glanced at Adele while pretending to properly cut up my steak. He was eating food next to me, but when he put bouillabaisse in his mouth, he hesitated for a moment.
It was a trivial movement that I would not have noticed in the past.
However, it seemed somewhat suspicious after learning that Adele always made a conscious effort to maintain a proper image.
He blinked twice in a row and stared at the spoon for about two seconds!
Following my hunch, I put some fish on a new spoon and held it out to Adele.
“Adele, try this.”
Adele tilted his head as I held the spoon out and stared at him with a blank look.
“Anastasia?”
He won’t eat it? I put the spoon down, speared some venison with a fork, and held it out.
Adele stared at me with a puzzled look, but he quickly understood what I was doing, opened his mouth, and ate the meat.
Hyuk! Crazy! What was that?!
I couldn’t breathe because my heart was pounding like it was going to burst. Adele ate the food that I gave him! That was also incredibly cute!
“You can’t do this with anyone else!” I shouted as I grasped my chest.
Adele asked curiously, “Pardon?”
“Even if someone feeds you something delicious, refuse it! You should refuse it no matter what! It would be a serious problem if you ate something poisonous or you suddenly got a stomach ache. This is all for you. Do you understand?”
Please trust me! I made a desperate appeal, pretending that it was for Adele’s sake. I wish I could bring this fork home as a souvenir. Ah… I want to ask Lynette to preserve this.
“Master, the tablecloth is getting all wet…”
All of a sudden, I heard the attendant’s words so I turned my head slightly and saw the duke pouring a whole bottle of wine into his glass while looking at us.
He’s been a nobleman all his life. How could he make such a mistake? I frowned and looked back at Adele.
I don’t know if my duplicitous sincerity worked, but Adele replied, “I will.”
Hooray! I was so happy that I felt like crying. I suddenly had the urge to hug Adele tightly, but I still had some conscience left, even if it was only as much as the dust on my fingernails, so I was okay with holding myself back.
I didn’t care whether or not the attendants cleaned the wine that the Duke had spilled. I was only focused on Adele.
I eagerly asked Adele, “Shall I feed you again? Do you dislike the fish?”
I focused all of my senses on Adele. Suddenly, he politely requested that I pardon him for a moment.
“Before that, please excuse me.”
“Huh?”
Adele reached out. He took my haphazardly cut steak and exchanged it for his own untouched one.
A moment ago, while I was diligently peeking at Adele, I had cut my steak into misshapen right triangles.
Argh! I’m so embarrassed all of a sudden. No! If you take it, I can’t even eat it to get rid of it!
I chewed on my lips in embarrassment as Adele asked a question.
“Duke, can I meet Adele as I do now? I won’t cause any trouble. Please allow that. Because I won’t be greedy anymore.”
I did not want to meet with Adele while making the Duke anxious. Nor did I want Adele to act recklessly and widen the gap between himself and the Duke.
Since their conflict had nearly reached its limit, it was important to narrow the distance between them, even if it was only by a little. The two of them were busy striking each other’s defenses, so the situation might improve if I intervene. I can’t do as much as Adele’s real mother, but I can still try.
Adele looked at me with an unreadable expression.
If I had told Adele beforehand, he would have been against it. He had already concluded that the Duke was someone who couldn’t be persuaded. That’s why I made up my mind to risk being hated.
The Duke looked at me for a long time. Various emotions flashed across his intelligent eyes.
Most of them were negative, but there was some hope.
With my hands still raised to my head, I blinked anxiously. The Duke barely responded.
“I’ll be honest with you. I can’t say that I’m not going to put some surveillance on him.”
“I understand. I like Adele and the Duke. Of course, I’ll put up with whatever I have to for you both.”
Fortunately, my answer seemed to please the Duke. He looked over at Adele.
“Adele, please do not betray Anastasia’s trust.”
“Of course,” Adele replied with a somewhat confused expression. He was probably expecting to be immediately sequestered. I hugged the Duke in thanks.
“Thank you very much, Duke!”
With this, I had diffused the most urgent ticking time bomb. About being followed… the Duke will try not to make it uncomfortable for me.
The Duke returned to being his usual arrogant and gentle self.
“Well, I don’t think I have to worry much about Adele for the time being, given your skill in harassing him. But why don’t we get rid of that hideous thing?”
It was likely that the Duke intended to lighten the mood, but I raised my head slightly at his words.
“Is it… hideous?”
“Father, that’s…”
Adele urgently tried to stop the Duke.
But I had already realized what the Duke was referring to. Without knowing that I was faking a smile, the Duke asked nonchalantly, “Oh, is it trendy for young people to display trash nicely these days?”
Trash?
Traaaash?!
(t/n:rofl he called it trash oh my gosh hahahah I’m dying. Anastasia, sweety, practice makes perfect. You should draw the duke next. )
I replied with a smile, trying not to forget that there was no intended malice in the Duke’s words.
“That’s my drawing.”
The Duke froze for a moment and then tried to clarify.
“It’s really beauti… No, I can’t say that.”
Jeeze, this old man! He can’t even say empty words! I jabbed the Duke forcefully. The gratitude I felt for him just a moment ago had already evaporated.
“Anastasia, that’s…”
With an icy expression I shot back at the Duke, who was rarely ever flustered.
“Don’t come near me. Don’t even talk to me.”
I was hurt by his sober assessment.
Of course, I was also surprised to see my drawing earlier, but how can you say it’s trash when it’s a drawing of your son?!
It seemed like the Duke hadn’t even guessed that the drawing was of Adele. He cleared his throat and tried to reconcile with me while fighting against his always forthright and honest nature.
“Looking closely, it seems like a very expressive piece. You’ve really captured the resentment and pain of a good citizen that, having never done anything wrong in his life while always helping others, was falsely accused, imprisoned, and executed.”
(t/n: I’M DYING AHSJSJAJS )
“Um, that’s Adele.”
I was trying hard not to forget that the Duke cared about me like his own daughter and that he was the father of the man that I liked.
The Duke finally admitted that his attempts to lighten the mood had failed by raising his hands to shoulder height in defeat.
“Seeing that you aren’t very dexterous, it seems that you really are Yevgenia’s daughter. In the past, Wall showed me a handkerchief that he had received from Yevgenia as a gift, even though it had many loose threads and the needle as well. Wol said that it was still good and carried it around.”
When a story about my mother came up, I stopped to listen without realizing it. My mother, Yevgenia Sinclair, had an amazing ability to screw up any item.
Also, objectively speaking, my mother wasn’t a striking beauty. My brother was the same.
I resembled my father, while my brother looked like my mother.
I didn’t know my mother well yet. My mother didn’t appear in the original book and after I became Anastasia she left with my father to find a cure, so I hadn’t had much opportunity to talk to her.
Even so, I knew that she loved Anastasia very much.
“Can you tell me more about my mother?”
As I grumbled in a more subdued tone, the Duke smiled kindly and said, “Anastasia, Yevgenia often severely criticizes people.”
His answer had profound implications.
“She’s gentle in front of you, but whenever she sees me, she beats me up for not managing my estate properly. She’s really frightening. Frankly, I wouldn’t even notice if I tossed a few thousand gold coins by the roadside, so when on earth does she have the time to check every single one? I don’t have that much free time.”
No, if my close friend went on sprees often, wasting money made of gold, I think I would beat them up as well.
“Anyway, please forgive my blunder. If I think of it as a totem that chases nightmares away, then it becomes acceptable.”
The Duke comforted me with patronizing encouragement. You’re treating my drawing like a voodoo symbol!
“Do you want me to draw you too?”
I endeavored not to forget that the Duke was my godfather, while he also diligently tried to remember the same thing. He gave a short, fake laugh.
“Ha, ha, isn’t it lunch yet? Come on, let’s head down.”
The Duke was a bit mean, but I didn’t resent him too much, so I quietly followed him.
As it happens, I was hungry as well. It seemed like I came by too early today.
However, that just proved how much I wanted to quickly meet with the Duke and Adele.
These two helped me feel less lonely while my parents and brother were away. It would be much better if they got along with each other, though, instead of just caring about me.
The chef may have been ordered to prepare a meal in advance. The servants carried food over as soon as we came in.
I took some bouillabaisse filled with fresh seafood, fish, potatoes, onions, garlic, fennel, and saffron.
The crustaceans were neatly peeled and all of the fish were deboned, so it wasn’t difficult to eat.
Suddenly I realized that I had never properly observed Adele having a meal.
The Adele I know is not picky, but I was extremely curious to know what he would be like.
Because his bedroom was nearly spotless, he seems like the type of person who would wipe their mouth after drinking a single sip of water. If I spill food, he might look at me with contempt.
Ack! Come to think of it, when I dropped the scone with butter earlier his reaction was pretty bad…
A maid entered as we were leaving, so it was definitely cleaned up earlier, but I still felt bad about it.
I glanced at Adele while pretending to properly cut up my steak. He was eating food next to me, but when he put bouillabaisse in his mouth, he hesitated for a moment.
It was a trivial movement that I would not have noticed in the past.
However, it seemed somewhat suspicious after learning that Adele always made a conscious effort to maintain a proper image.
He blinked twice in a row and stared at the spoon for about two seconds!
Following my hunch, I put some fish on a new spoon and held it out to Adele.
“Adele, try this.”
Adele tilted his head as I held the spoon out and stared at him with a blank look.
“Anastasia?”
He won’t eat it? I put the spoon down, speared some venison with a fork, and held it out.
Adele stared at me with a puzzled look, but he quickly understood what I was doing, opened his mouth, and ate the meat.
Hyuk! Crazy! What was that?!
I couldn’t breathe because my heart was pounding like it was going to burst. Adele ate the food that I gave him! That was also incredibly cute!
“You can’t do this with anyone else!” I shouted as I grasped my chest.
Adele asked curiously, “Pardon?”
“Even if someone feeds you something delicious, refuse it! You should refuse it no matter what! It would be a serious problem if you ate something poisonous or you suddenly got a stomach ache. This is all for you. Do you understand?”
Please trust me! I made a desperate appeal, pretending that it was for Adele’s sake. I wish I could bring this fork home as a souvenir. Ah… I want to ask Lynette to preserve this.
“Master, the tablecloth is getting all wet…”
All of a sudden, I heard the attendant’s words so I turned my head slightly and saw the duke pouring a whole bottle of wine into his glass while looking at us.
He’s been a nobleman all his life. How could he make such a mistake? I frowned and looked back at Adele.
I don’t know if my duplicitous sincerity worked, but Adele replied, “I will.”
Hooray! I was so happy that I felt like crying. I suddenly had the urge to hug Adele tightly, but I still had some conscience left, even if it was only as much as the dust on my fingernails, so I was okay with holding myself back.
I didn’t care whether or not the attendants cleaned the wine that the Duke had spilled. I was only focused on Adele.
I eagerly asked Adele, “Shall I feed you again? Do you dislike the fish?”
I focused all of my senses on Adele. Suddenly, he politely requested that I pardon him for a moment.
“Before that, please excuse me.”
“Huh?”
Adele reached out. He took my haphazardly cut steak and exchanged it for his own untouched one.
A moment ago, while I was diligently peeking at Adele, I had cut my steak into misshapen right triangles.
Argh! I’m so embarrassed all of a sudden. No! If you take it, I can’t even eat it to get rid of it!
I chewed on my lips in embarrassment as Adele asked a question.
