It was the biggest mistake of my life.
What.
I was clinging to that woman, trembling like a pig.
My life since my mother told me about my real father has been so turbulent that it could be turned into a play that would draw an audience.
But no matter how good a play is, you can’t write a plot where the protagonist is adopted into a duke family and lives happily ever after at the end of the story. At the very least, the word “duke” wouldn’t be used.
After all, there are five duke families.
There are only five of these houses in the country, and each one shines with a dazzling majesty to the common people.
Kafir Radiata, Duke of Lilia, is indeed a man worthy of respect.
There…is no comparison to my real father, Narcissus Rankraz.
At first I was wary of him, as he struck me as a tough guy, but there was nothing unreasonable about him and he tried to treat me and his daughter, Lycoris, equally.
I never intend to say this out loud, but his words and actions were exactly what I imagined my father would be like when my mother told me, “Your father is a nobleman.”
Well, I guess he’s a lot more doting on his kids than you’d think.
And also shining with majesty was the Duke’s daughter, Lycoris Radiata.
Her demeanor and behavior are indeed those of a duke’s daughter, but when she opens her mouth she speaks quite frankly. Looking at my sister Krinum, I had assumed that this is what a sheltered aristocratic daughter is like, but I am still surprised by her completely opposite nature.
Lycoris reluctantly agreed to me becoming her adopted brother, but once we began our new life together, she took care of me diligently, like a parent bird building a nest.
“This is your room.”
“This is yours. You can be angry if anyone, including me or my father, takes it without your permission.”
This task was first completed one by one.
In other words, she wanted to clarify my rights in this house. I’m not saying that her efforts bore fruit, but before long, I began to feel that my room in the Duke’s house was “my place.” At least, much more so than the room I was given at the Rankrats Mansion.
However.
But there’s no way that this has won me over to her, no, that woman.
The first unforgivable thing about that woman is that she always comes to wake me up early in the morning.
By the time I was old enough to understand, I was used to the nightlife in the city, and going to bed after the sun had risen was the norm. Although I’ve gotten used to sleeping at night since then, I’m still weak in the mornings.
That’s what that woman was. She yelled in my ears without any mercy, pulled the blanket off me, and once I ended up falling off the bed along with the blanket. She apologized right after, but I couldn’t forgive her because her voice was laughing.
On top of that, she insists that I eat breakfast.
When I told her I couldn’t eat it, she replied with a smug look on her face.
“That’s why you’re always so thin. Your arms are much thinner than mine. What’s with that? Are you bragging?”
How can that be?
The second thing I can’t forgive about that woman is how she always tries to persuade me with her eloquent talk.
That woman brings up the time when she saved me from my crazy father at the Rankrats Mansion, teasing me by saying things like, “You were so cute then,” and “If you can’t sleep at night, I’ll read you a book.” I no longer feel like I can win an argument with her. I really regret having made the mistake of asking this woman for help back then.
It’s still the same today.
“Volunteer work, huh?”
Hearing words that were completely foreign to me, I tried to put up a resistance.
“I’m not interested. As a former commoner, I can tell you that this is a deception of the nobility.”
“Yes, yes. But the ones we are inviting today are small children, and I don’t think they know the word ‘deception’. I’m sure they will be delighted with the sweets and food. They are so innocent, unlike you.”
“I don’t like children.”
“Because you’re a child yourself?”
This is it.
In the end, after some persuasion, I ended up working as a waiter for a bunch of ill-mannered brats.
As for that woman, she is making an absolutely futile effort to get the children to behave in a way that is at least a little bit good. She seems to be trying to teach them how to use sanitary napkins, but it seems to be unthinkable for children to use sanitary napkins that are cleaner than their own clothes. It is just confusing to be told that it is okay to get them dirty.
Of course, it is wrong for people with worlds of difference in birth and upbringing to sit down to eat at the same table.
As I looked at them sarcastically, Lycoris, for some reason, took the spotless white napkin and wiped the face of the child with the worst dirt around his mouth.
The white napkin was completely stained, but she laughed and said it was okay, and concluded by saying that this is how you use it.
From then on, the children followed suit and started wiping their hands and mouths with napkins instead of their own clothes.
I watched it with a feeling of unease.
–Actually.
Waking up to the morning sun was already becoming a part of my life.
In the morning, the birds’ cries make me wake up a little, and although I don’t feel like opening my eyes yet, the smell of freshly baked bread makes my stomach whine. In the back of my mind, I think to myself that she will be coming soon.
My body is so greedy that I feel pathetic for having fallen so quickly into the comfortable life of a duke.
As I furrowed my brow, I suddenly saw a child running up to Lycoris, having finished off a meal far too large for his small body. It was the child whose face Licorice had wiped earlier.
The child, so small that it was hard to tell if he was a boy or a girl, was blushing cheekily as he looked up at Lycoris, who was bending over to match the child, and was frantically talking to her about something.
“—sister Lycoris is…”
The brat, who probably doesn’t fully understand the concept of social status differences, carelessly calls Lycoris sister.
“Well, she’s not your sister.”
The muttered words echoed unexpectedly loudly throughout the dining hall, and Lycoris looked my way in surprise before grinning, either amusedly or maliciously.
It was the biggest mistake of my life.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
