It was amazing that someone could be this friendly to Kaneff, and the name that came out of the lady’s mouth was also very fresh.
For a second, it occurred to me that maybe she got the wrong person.
Kaneff opened his mouth at the woman who approached him.
“It’s been a while, Zaina. How have you been?”
“Did you ever wonder if I was doing well? You never replied to the invitation letters or the letters I sent through my son. You’re so mean, Brother Kaneff!”
“Ugh…”
The woman constantly poured out all the complaints she had with Kaneff.
What was even more interesting was, despite her behavior, Kaneff only frowned slightly and did not openly criticize or annoy her.
His actions were way different from the usual Kaneff I know.
When I looked blank at the unexpected situation, Andras introduced the lady with an awkward look.
“Sihyeon, that’s my mother, the Mistress of the Schnarpe family.”
“Ah…”
I wondered where Lilia learned the way to call someone ‘Brother’ and now I got the answer.
I also got the answer to why Lilia’s appearance and personality never looked like Andras’s.
Lilia seemed to be influenced by her mother. In particular, the tone, eyes, and atmosphere were very similar.
“Andras, Is Boss really your relative?”
“No. I was told that my maternal grandfather was very close to Mr. Kaneff. That’s why my mother has been close to Mr. Kaneff since she was young.”
As Lilia calls me Brother, there don’t seem to be any blood ties.
Kaneff, who had been suffering for a while, shook his hands to stop the lady’s complaints.
“Okay, I’m sorry I’m sorry. No more complaints! If you keep doing this, I’ll go back right now.”
When Kaneff admitted his fault, the lady who was talking nonstop, stopped.
“Then, I’ll let you off with this,” she said with a smile.
“And I’m not the important guest today. How can the mistress of a noble family ignore the important guest like this?”
“Oh, my!”
The lady was surprised and covered her mouth with both hands with a loud noise.
Realizing something belatedly, she hurriedly began to look around.
The bewildered lady’s eyes met with mine.
While I paused for a moment, she approached me in a blink of an eye.
“Oh! I’m so sorry. It’s been so long since I met Brother Kaneff that I forgot the important guest. Are you Lord Cardis who helped find Lilia?”
I soon managed my expression and began to recite the prepared greetings.
“Nice to meet you, Madam. I’m Sihyeon Lefmere Cardis, Lord of Cardis Estate. Thank you for inviting me to the mansion today. Mrs. Schnarpe.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too. My name is Zaina. Please call me by my name comfortably, not the stuffy Mrs. Schnarpe.”
She looked so comfortable like a neighborhood aunty that it felt hard to believe that she was the Mistress of such a large family.
When I hesitated to answer due to embarrassment, she waved and smiled brightly as if it was no big deal.
“Ho-Ho! It’s really okay. You’re not only close to my son, but also to Brother Kaneff. Maybe that’s why Lord Cardis feels more like a family to me.”
Zaina looked at Andras and Kaneff in turn and expressed her fondness for me.
“I understand. Then, I’ll call you like that, Zaina.”
“I don’t mind even if you call me Sister Zaina…”
“……??”
This time, I failed to manage my expression, it crumbled in a second.
“Mother, stop it?”
“Zaina, do it in moderation. Do you want to be called ‘the crazy old lady’ in your old age?”
Zaina replied with a sulky face.
“What’s the matter? Even now, when I go to parties, youngsters look at me and say I’m hot…”
“Mother, please…”
“Tsk tsk”
Andras, who was genuinely embarrassed, stopped her as if begging her, and Kaneff clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Compared to Zaina, maybe Lilia might be on the quieter side.
Zaina’s eyes, which finished greeting me, naturally headed downward.
There was Speranza, who twitched her fox ears in tension.
Her eyes glistened once again and she came closer to Speranza.
“Oh, my! There was a cute guest here.”
“Ah…”
Speranza quickly hid behind my legs as if embarrassed when attention was focused on her.
I encouraged her by gently stroking her little back.
“Sweetheart, say hello to Zaina. We practiced hard on the farm, didn’t we?”
“Un…”
Speranza, who was encouraged by my support, slowly stepped forward.
She bowed to Zaina and continued to greet her.
“He… hello… I’m Speranza. Thank you for inviting me.”
It was a very short and rough greeting considering the manners of the aristocracy, but it felt very great and proud to me.
Considering the time when she was very afraid of meeting strangers in the past, Speranza has come a really long way.
Kaneff and Andras also looked at the little fox girl with satisfaction.
Zaina also answered Speranza’s greeting with a bright smile.
“Nice to meet you, too, Speranza. I’ve heard a lot about you from Andras.”
“Teacher Andras?”
“Yeah. He always bragged to me that Speranza was a very smart girl. He said, even though Speranza started learning Demon Language recently, she’s really good at dictation. Is it true, Speranza?”
“Un… I got 100 points last time.”
Speranza boasted her 100 points for dictation even though she was nervous.
“Wow! Speranza is amazing.”
When she complimented with a genuinely surprised expression, Speranza blushed and smiled pleasantly at the same time.
Thanks to Zaina’s natural conversation with the familiar Andras story, Speranza’s guard against Zaina lowered a little.
“In the past, Andras was so lazy that he was so bad at dictation. There was a time when he got scolded by his father after getting a zero.”
“Teacher Andras got zero?”
Speranza’s pure eyes headed toward Andras.
Andras stammered in embarrassment at the sudden disclosure of his dark history by his mother.
“Oh, mother, when did I…”
“Hahahaha”!
“Hahahahaha”!
Kaneff and I couldn’t hold back our laughter, and Andras’ face got flushed in embarrassment.
Andras was humiliated by the release of his dark history, but thanks to that, the mood got lively.
Speranza’s flinching fox ears became normal, and her tail began to shake gently.
It was almost as if the tension had been dispelled.
Zaina quickly noticed Speranza’s change and approached more boldly.
“Speranza is so cute, can I give you a hug?”
She opened her arms and gave Speranza a mournful look.
Speranza, who was asked, looked up at me without saying a word.
Looking at the look in her eyes, she seemed to be hesitating rather than disliking it, as if asking [Can I hug someone I’ve never seen before, papa?]
I smiled and nodded as a sign of permission, and Speranza slowly moved toward Zaina.
Zaina hugged Speranza, who came close.
Speranza moved a little stiffly, perhaps because she was in the arms of a stranger, but she did not show any rejection or dislike.
“Ah! So cute. Look at the soft skin!”
Zaina screamed happily as she enjoyed hugging Speranza in her arms.
I was worried that Speranza might not like her loud behavior, but to my surprise, she stayed quietly in Zaina’s arms.
Meanwhile, Kaneff and Andras looked at Zaina with a little envy.
It was because the two had never hugged Speranza as if they were hugging a doll like that.
“Speranza, do you want to go see the house with this sister?”
When Zaina slyly called herself sister, Kaneff, who was grumpy for no reason, suddenly intervened.
“Huh, Sister? That name is ridiculous to Speranza. I think grandma should be perfect.”
-CHARIIING!
At the utterance of the word ‘grandma’, Zaina stared at Kaneff with a terrifying look.
If Speranza wasn’t in her arms, it looked like she would have rushed toward Kaneff right away.
Not only Kaneff but also me and Andras trembled as if we had stepped on a dragon’s tail.
Zaina, who overpowered us in an instant, looked at Speranza with a smile as if nothing had happened.
“Speranza, let’s go to see the mansion with this Big sister, okay? I’ll give you a lot of delicious snacks on the way.”
Zaina changed her name from ‘Sister’ to ‘Big sister’.
But despite all this, Speranza in her arms nodded her head calmly.
As if possessed by the little fox girl, Zaina smiled and took Speranza into the mansion.
Yes… She just took off with Speranza, leaving us all at the entrance of the mansion.
Not only the group left behind, but also the employees next to us were stunned by the absurd situation.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. Mr. Kaneff, Sihyeon. I’ll show you around, please follow me.”
Andras bowed to me and Kaneff and began to guide us in the direction where Zaina disappeared.
As the Schnarpe family’s mansion was large, there were many places to see.
A splendid banquet hall that was recently decorated, a corridor that expresses the family’s history with artistic paintings, and a library that holds many books reminiscent of a library, etc.
Among them, the most interesting was the private workshop, which was a characteristic of the Schnarpe family.
Every member of the Schnarpe family had a private workshop, and that space seemed very important to them.
It seemed like it was impossible to even for the prominent noble families of the Demon world to look at their private workshop, but as a special exemption, we were allowed to look around the workshop.
The first workshop we visited was Andras’ private workshop. It was not a very interesting place, except for the fact that it was huge for an individual to use.
It felt like the workshop on the farm had grown in size.
The next place we visited was Zaina’s private workshop.
“It’s been a really long time since I opened my workshop to an outsider, so I’m a little shy…
She said she was shy, but her actions didn’t appear like that to us at all.
Rather, she opened the door of her workshop with an excited expression.
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