Chapter – 07
“Huh?”
“T-That she finds you annoying… or pushes you away and tells you to leave….”
Elliot thought he was lowering his voice as much as possible in his own way, but unfortunately, everything could still be heard.
Anriche narrowed her eyes.
Honestly, what can I do? With all the terrible things this body has done until now….
Just as Anriche was sinking into deep skepticism—
“No, she didn’t.”
Lilliana spoke with unusual firmness.
At the unexpected answer, Elliot’s eyes widened on their own.
“What? She didn’t?”
“Yes. Um, I mean… Mother….”
Lilliana glanced sideways at Anriche, then clenched both fists cutely and continued clearly,
“…is a very good person.”
Yes, Lilliana! That’s it!
Little by little, clean up my image like that!
Anriche clenched her fists tightly and cheered inwardly.
“She treated me very well.”
“…Mother did?”
“Yes. This dress I’m wearing right now was personally chosen by her.”
Lilliana’s face was filled with pride toward Anriche as she said that.
Elliot frowned deeply.
That can’t be true. Mother has never even chosen a single outfit for me before….
“Really? You’re not being threatened or anything, are you?”
As he asked again, Elliot took a step toward Lilliana.
“If that’s the case, wave a handkerchief and—”
“That’s not it.”
Lilliana finished firmly.
After hearing that answer, Elliot looked back and forth between Anriche and Lilliana with a suspicious expression he could not hide.
But then—
Grrrrumble.
A loud growling sound came from Lilliana’s stomach.
“Ah, ah…?!”
Lilliana’s cheeks instantly turned as red as ripe tomatoes.
But the growling did not stop after once.
Grrrumble, grrrrumble—.
“I-I don’t know….”
They had been having such a serious conversation, so what was this embarrassing situation?!
What an insensitive stomach!
Lilliana immediately looked miserable.
Unable to overcome her embarrassment, she covered her face with both hands.
“You know, Lilliana.”
At that moment, a calm voice rang out.
Lilliana, who had been internally writhing in embarrassment, slowly looked at Anriche through the gaps between her fingers.
“Yes, Mother….”
“Did you eat lunch today?”
“…Th-That is….”
After hearing the question, Lilliana tightly shut her eyes.
What do I do? I’m so embarrassed I feel like I could faint right now!
But Anriche had not asked to tease Lilliana.
At this moment, she was desperately suppressing the burning rage rising inside her.
No, just how badly did they starve this child for her stomach to growl like that?!
Anriche looked back and forth between Elliot and Lilliana.
Unlike Elliot, whose cheeks were plump and rosy, Lilliana’s cheeks were pale without a trace of flesh on them.
Even the soft curves unique to young girls did not show on her small, skinny body.
“Could it be… you didn’t get to eat lunch? Then what about breakfast?”
“….”
“…Don’t tell me you’ve been starving the entire day?”
Instead of answering, Lilliana lowered her head toward the floor.
At that moment, sparks flashed in Anriche’s violet eyes.
Londini or Panini or whatever they are—I should’ve stomped on them a little more before leaving…!
Anriche ground her teeth hard.
At the same time, Lilliana looked at Anriche with a frightened face.
“Um, M-Mother….”
“Yes?”
Anriche, who had been buried in anger for a while, suddenly came back to her senses.
Lilliana’s shoulders were trembling.
“I’m sorry for showing such an unladylike side of myself… I-I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“No, it’s not that!”
“S-So please don’t be angry. P-Please forgive me just this once….”
Lilliana kept anxiously watching Anriche’s expression.
Feeling strangely sorrowful, Anriche swallowed a sigh.
A stomach growling was simply a natural bodily reaction.
If they had fed the child properly in the first place, those sounds would never have happened.
A moment later, Anriche spoke.
“Lilliana.”
“Yes?”
“Starting today, I’m thinking of giving you an assignment. Do you think you can do it?”
“Yes, of course!”
Without even hearing what the assignment was, Lilliana nodded immediately.
Her light green eyes were filled only with boundless trust toward Anriche.
Anriche’s gaze sank deeply.
…How starved for affection must she have been to follow me this much when we only met today?
All I did was bring her out of the orphanage and buy her a few clothes.
It felt like watching a young animal trust and follow the first person it saw as its mother.
For some reason, the tip of her nose stung, and Anriche deliberately turned her gaze away as she continued.
“That assignment is….”
A little later.
Lilliana sat before a dining table covered with an overwhelming amount of food.
Starting with a light soup, there was tenderly cooked veal hind leg, followed by lasagna layered with minced meat, tomato sauce, and cheese.
There was also fresh salad, juice, and soft white bread.
“I wanted you to eat comfortably today, so I specifically told them to place all the food on the table beforehand.”
“Huh? But is that alright? W-What about dining etiquette…?”
“Of course. It’s just us here, so what does it matter?”
Anriche winked one eye and pushed a plate piled high with cookies in front of Lilliana.
“Oh right, dessert is chocolate chip cookies.”
Lilliana stared at the food spread across the table as though enchanted.
Once, she had served the Londini family during mealtime.
She had watched them skillfully cut lamb chops while secretly swallowing her saliva.
She had thought she would never have the chance to eat such fine food in her entire life.
This… seems even better than the food I saw back then.
Picking up her fork, Lilliana carefully cut off a piece of lasagna and placed it into her mouth.
At the same time, her light green eyes began sparkling brightly.
“…!!”
Goodness, she had never imagined food this delicious could exist!
It felt as though her tongue would melt.
Lilliana cut a piece of veal and placed it into her mouth.
The sweet and savory seasoning and the tender texture of the meat tickled the tip of her tongue.
Everything she tasted was a flavor she had never experienced before.
“That’s right, eat a lot.”
Anriche barely touched her own meal as she watched Lilliana focus on eating with a pleased expression.
“You need to eat well if you want to complete the assignment I gave you.”
Because the assignment Anriche had given Lilliana was—
“To gain enough weight that your cheeks and arms become soft and squishy.”
Lilliana, chewing like a rabbit, suddenly widened her eyes.
After swallowing her food, she bowed her head politely.
“Th-Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For preparing a meal for me like this.”
What in the world did that mean?
Anriche narrowed her eyes.
Lilliana looked guilty as she lowered her gaze to the back of the hand holding her utensils.
“Because of just one person like me, several people were inconvenienced.”
Back when she had lived under Baron and Baroness Londini, even getting a single piece of dry bread had been difficult.
After scrubbing floors all day, hanging wet laundry, and taking care of the orphans—
I never even had time to sit at the table.
Lilliana, buried in work like that, could only sit down at the table late at night when the stars filled the sky.
But what returned to her was only Baron Londini’s fierce shouting.
“Should we really prepare a separate meal just to feed someone like you?”
“Do you even know how much money it costs to keep you around?”
“Ungrateful girl! You should be thankful we even took you in and fed you!”
After that came the mocking laughter of the Baroness and the Baron’s daughter.
From that day on, Lilliana developed the habit of hiding where no one could see her whenever she ate.
Because she was a troublesome child, and she could not inconvenience others.
And if the Londini family cleaned away all the leftover food, she had no choice but to go to sleep starving that day.
If a few children she had been close to had not secretly brought her food behind everyone’s backs, Lilliana might truly have starved to death.
That was how things had been….
“Don’t think like that.”
At that moment, a firm voice rang out.
Sitting upright, Anriche looked directly at Lilliana.
“The servants currently working in this townhouse are people properly employed by the Ducal House.”
Her violet eyes were unusually strict.
Anriche continued clearly,
“They take care of this townhouse and provide convenience to their employers. In return, they receive appropriate compensation.”
“I-I know that, but….”
“Since this townhouse is maintained through the servants’ hard work, naturally we should be grateful to them. But.”
But?
Lilliana tilted her head.
Anriche finished decisively.
“The things they are supposed to do also include preparing your meals, Lilliana.”
“C-Can I really think of it that way?”
“Of course. So you don’t need to feel guilty about that. Understand?”
Anriche added playfully,
“Instead of worrying about things like that, eat another spoonful of stew.”
