Translator: Blushy
Editor: Faisal
The Harvest Festival ended when my father and brother came back to the guest seats. We got into the carriage and went home to our secondary residence.
No one at the secondary residence treated me differently. They treated me like a n.o.ble and I was bewildered because their att.i.tude was too different from those from the Royal Capital.
“Welcome home.”
I entered the estate after my father and brother and froze. How should I reply to that?
My brother looked at me, “If you don’t reply like a n.o.ble then everyone will be troubled,” he said while narrowing his brows together.
This is hara.s.sment, it isn’t a reward, I held down my words. “Thank you for welcoming me home.” I raised my head and said.
My hair colour told them who I was and no one looked at me scornfully. I said, “Goodnight,” to my father and brother and left.
Hot water had been prepared for me when I pa.s.sed the guest room.
“Thanks for your good work.” The maids said. They untied my hair and undressed me… I’ve seen my sister’s servants do this before, but I’ve never had someone do this to me. It would be unbearable if they said they would wash my body so I hurriedly said, “I’ll wash myself later, so you can retire to your room.”
It was a bit sn.o.bby, but I remembered my sister’s tone when I said it. The two maids went out of the room without any objections.
… I wonder how many years it’s been since I’ve soaked in a hot bath.
I stared at my fingers as water flowed between them, they were different from the fingers of a neglected n.o.ble. There was perfumed oil in the hot water.
“I usually get hot water and wipe my body down. If this is the reward, then I’d accept it gratefully.”
I washed my hair and body and felt like the smell of flowers was emitting from my body.
I got out of the bath and drying my hair was the only thing I asked the maid to help me with.
Afterwards, I told them to only come if I called and then I was the only one left in the room. “
If they always treat me like this then I wouldn’t want to stop being a n.o.ble anymore.”
I couldn’t help but snort. Then I fell asleep on a bed that was more comfortable than normal.
The next morning, we returned to the estate at the Royal Capital as soon as we finished breakfast.
I rarely started conversations with my father, but I had something to say. It looked like he would be willing to listen to me now.
I called out to my father before getting onto the carriage, “Thank you for bringing me with you this time.”
I pinched the hem of my out-of-fas.h.i.+on dress and curtsied. My father narrowed his eyes and looked troubled.
“I’m glad you had a good time. Ayesha-maria, I’ve had more opportunities to work with you and I thought that my treatment of you was a little bad. I can’t change the impression Furore has of you, so I can’t change how you’re treated at the estate, but I’ve been thinking of improving that.”
Did his feelings for me change because he’s been spending more time with the useful me…? Still, the fact that Furore-sama was the most important to father didn’t change.
“What were your intentions when you asked Elias to escort me? Were you planning to marry me into his family?”
“You met Elias? I did ask him to escort you but…… You’re very good at paperwork. You copied the doc.u.ments and calculated like Ms. Dolcie instructed you to. The latter works show that there’s been a change in the way things are written and calculated. The people who saw the completed doc.u.ments were curious about the person who had made it. Elias thinks very highly of you…… But, if you were to marry into someone’s house, I wouldn’t let you go to a House that’s been disregarded by your brother and sisters.”
Hah, I got the answer I wanted to hear.
“I said I wouldn’t let you go, but you don’t attend any tea parties or night b.a.l.l.s so you don’t have a very good reputation. I don’t think anyone would ask you to be a bride at their House.”
Oh, I’d prefer it if they didn’t ask me to be a bride at their House.
I looked down so that he wouldn’t be able to see my smiling face and replied meekly, “I understand.” My father and I boarded the carriage. I turned around for a second while I was boarding the carriage and turned towards the servants that were seeing us off. I smiled like a n.o.ble.
After that, I silently looked at the scenery from the carriage window and thought over my plan of ‘becoming a commoner’.
Being treated like a n.o.ble for a brief moment was merely a memory.
I didn’t get attached to being treated like a n.o.ble.