Chapter 13: 13

On the other hand, the maid felt fear rather than surprise. She unwittingly took a step back, but she changed her mind. She needed to say something before she was scolded.

“It seems like the Y-Young Lady hasn’t mastered our language fully yet. She was just telling me she was happy that she received a pretty hat as a gift.”

Then Loretta shook her head and answered, “Hmm, not dat. Loretta is cute, smawt and talks well.”

Loretta didn’t want to hide her brilliance that Melody recognized. So, to prove this, she wanted to talk even more about what the maid told her.

“She even told me dat Melody is going to jail.”

“That’s nonsense! I would never dare say that! I didn’t!”

“No, yu did.”

Loretta responded mercilessly this time as well.

“And, she said I am nat da Duke’s dauhter until the pries in white says so.”

“Young Lady!”

The moment the maid shouted, Mrs. Higgins approached her with wide eyes. As she raised her hand, the maid closed her eyes tightly involuntarily, but she didn’t hit her head nor her cheeks. She grabbed the maid’s badge on her apron and pulled it roughly. It is the proof that the maid showed off whenever she would go out into town – that she’s a maid in the Valdwin household.

“…!”

There was the sound of something being torn from her apron. The maid looked down at her clothes with perplexed eyes. The badge that she cherished so much was absent now – there was nothing on her tattered clothes.

“Ah, ah…!”

The maid clearly felt an impending crisis – she could tell she was about to lose her job. There was no place in the capital that would hire a maid that was driven out in this way. She quickly changed her attitude and hurriedly fell flat on the floor.

“I-I was in the wrong! Mrs. Higgins, I was wrong!”

Mrs. Higgins did not blink an eye despite the maid’s desperate appearance. So the maid quickly changed her target and approached Loretta this time, who was in front of her.

“Young Lady! How could you do this to me?! I treated you well. I combed your hair and brought you snacks!”

“Uh, uh…?”

Loretta, who is still a child, could not turn away from the maid’s threatening plea. Besides, what she said was true. This maid helped make Loretta’s life comfortable. Seeing that the young lady felt troubled, the maid approached her even more tenaciously.

“This is too much. I really worked hard!”

She reached out and raised her hand toward Loretta, but she could not reach the little girl. It was because of Melody, who suddenly ran over in their direction, and blocked her from touching Loretta as she grabbed the maid’s wrist.

“Stand back.”

Melody looked down at the maid with a disgusted expression.

Just because something didn’t go her way and went wrong, she was blaming it on Loretta.

In the first place, it’s all because the maid told Loretta things she shouldn’t have said.

“Instead.”

Melody squeezed her hand she was holding. She was just a little child, but it was quite a painful grip as it was mixed with anger. The maid contorted her face and quickly pulled out her hand.

“…You said that if she had just acted cute and was pretty, then everything would be better.”

“You!”

The maid jumped up from where she was kneeling down and rushed towards Melody in a frenzy. Of course, things didn’t go the way the maid had thought they would once again. Mrs. Higgins, who is called the devil amongst the servants, grabbed the maid by her uniform’s collar and threw her to the floor.

“How dare you run at someone else’s precious sheep?! Get out of this mansion right now!”

“Mrs. Higgins!”

“Or, are you going to formally receive punishment for your disrespect towards the Duke’s precious guests?”

“Hiic!”

The maid was startled and quickly flinched back. Mrs. Higgins stared at the scene and clicked her tongue, then ordered the other servants to get her out of the mansion.

When she looked back at the children, Melody was holding Loretta tightly into her arms so she wouldn’t see what was happening.

 

* * *

 

Their play outside immediately ended on the spot. When Melody and Loretta returned to their room after bathing, the butler and his wife were waiting for them together. The two of them had put down all their friendly attitudes, so it was a bit awkward for Melody.

“We have come to apologize.”

Loretta didn’t understand the word ‘apologize’, but she can understand everything just by the atmosphere around them.

But you helped….

“Grandma to Loretta……?”

The two adults still slandered seriously to their troubled questions.

“It was our fault that we entrusted the Young Lady to a servant to attend you without knowing her inner desires.”

Is that so? In any case, the two little girls liked these two kind adults, so they quickly changed the mood by saying they wanted to have a snack. Especially today, there was a very big cake that came; both Loretta and Melody felt like it was their birthday.

 

* * *

 

Butler Higgins’ hard work didn’t end with just apologizing to the two little girls, but he also reported all that had happened in the incident in detail with the Duke, who arrived late.

“Sorry for causing concern.”

“Who is that maid?”

“She had been fired. Tomorrow, I will send her information around the entire capital so that she can never get a job again.”

“No.”

The Duke shook his head with a short response. The butler wondered why the Duke was now showing mercy.

“Make sure to send it to all provinces. Give them my name, and the post office will respond as soon as possible.”

“….”

He wasn’t. It seems that he was trying to kill her altogether. Now, she can never work in someone else’s mansion again.

“I will definitely take care of it.”

“So what about the children?”

“Are you talking about the lady?”

“I said the children.”

The butler quickly apologized and corrected his words.

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“Sorry. The young lady and Miss Melody just finished their walk and drank tea….”

The Duke’s eyebrows slightly twitched. It was because Higgins’ lips raised when he said the two children drank tea. He can’t believe that the usual emotionless butler would report to him today with a smiling face.

“Hmm.”

The butler realized his mistake and quickly changed his expression to his usual one.

“They drank tea?”

“Yes. To be precise, I gave them warm milk.”

“Then who drank the tea?”

At the Duke’s persistent question, Butler Higgins had no choice but to tell the truth.

“I… did.”

“And?”

“My wife too.”

“And?”

“Even the maids passing by took a piece of cake.”

“And?”

“The servant who came to deliver a letter for a while also got a cup of tea and went.”

“So there was a big party in the Duke’s house I didn’t know of.”

“That’s… Miss Loretta and Miss Melody are good friends.”

The butler muttered slightly. It was probably because the Duke’s expression didn’t look very pleasant.

“About that, would you like to go see the Young lady and Miss Melody if it’s okay with you?”

“It must have been past nine.”

“Though it’s a tight time, they might be reading a children’s book now if you go.”

The Duke seemed to think for a moment at the butler’s suggestion, but he soon shook his head.

“No.”

He is in a different position than the servants and the butler, so he still didn’t know how to deal with the children. Even so, this is a time where children were full of imagination. His ambiguous attitude might make them recall their bad feelings. Besides, didn’t the butler tell him that they had a terrible experience today?

Having a big party and reading an interesting book – it would be better for them to sleep in a good mood.

Understanding his heart, the butler soon bowed his head.

“I understand.”

“And the hat… uhm, nevermind.”

The butler didn’t report about the hat so he didn’t ask anymore, because he wasn’t too free to idle around and worry about little things like the hat.

Of course, the Duke wasn’t a narrow-minded person to be offended by such a thing. He was never like that. He was just frustrated and felt like he needed a walk for that.

The Duke opened the door after telling the butler he would go out for a walk for a while.

“Ah.”

Then, a small voice was heard in front of the door.

“……?”

When he looked down, Melody was wearing a white hat and bowing in front of him.

“Oh, hello. Duke.”

“Did you come all the way here alone?”

He looked around her. Fortunately, there was a maid following her a few steps away and bowing her head. He was somewhat relieved, as a child wasn’t allowed to go wandering alone late at night.

“I’m sorry I came.”

Melody quickly took off her hat with an apologetic face and put it in her arms.

“Loretta, no, Miss Loretta fell asleep while I was reading her a story, so I had no choice but to come here instead.”

“Instead?”

“Yes. She was really happy that you gave her a hat. They really fit her! You didn’t know but she tried not to take it off when she was going to sleep.”

“It’s hard to wear a hat when you sleep.”

“That’s right. So now, she is hugging it tightly while she sleeps.”

Melody seemed to be at a loss due to the cute Loretta. There was a helpless smile on her face.

“She wanted to convey her gratitude to the Duke, but the young lady fell asleep, so here I am.”

“Did you say you came ‘instead’?”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“What are you so sorry for?”

The one who wanted to see the Duke was Loretta. Melody felt sorry that it was her that came to the Duke. She felt like she stole the affectionate time meant for the father and daughter.

“Uh, anyway, I think it was only right to say thank you to you today. Actually, I wanted to write a letter, but I don’t know how to write….”

“You must have been busy with a tea party.”

“That’s right. We had a tea party that kept changing guests. You would be surprised at how skillfully Miss Loretta received the guests.”

She must’ve been quite fearless as she did that. He remembered the child who kept saying that he was a ‘lucky pot (money pouch)’ in front of him without feeling scared. Loretta will probably be brave no matter who is in front of her as long as Melody is behind her.

“I am not surprised by that.”

Maybe because of his short answer, Melody was terribly surprised, and her face turned so pale it was almost blue.

Was it scary? Or maybe she was not feeling well….

He gently pulled out the hat Melody was holding in her hands and placed it over the girl’s tiny head.

“Just go back and sleep. Now is not the time for a child like you to be running around.”

He signaled at the maid standing in the distance. He meant for her to take Melody to her room.

Melody followed the maid, but turned back toward the Duke after a few steps. To her surprise, he was still staring at her while standing.

“Thank you… for the hat. I will cherish it.”

Melody only said her thanks to the Duke now and bowed her head. The Duke looked down at Melody who chased after the maid again.

He thought it was really a good choice to give them a hat. It was a sudden thought.

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