DDSWTB 61

Chapter 61

“Good morning, my lady.”

“Oh, good morning.”

My eyes felt so heavy, I could barely open them.

Still, I’m glad I finally understood both my own feelings and Father’s yesterday.

“Just a moment ago, the Duke took his leave.”

Huh? Wait—does that mean Father was here just now?
If I remember right, yesterday we cleared up all the misunderstandings, and I cried my eyes out…
Then—nothing. My memory just cuts off there.

But I do remember falling asleep in his arms…
So, maybe he stayed with me until morning.

“Please use this to cool your eyes. They’re very swollen.”

Mariana handed me a mirror.

“My eyes are so puffy! They’re huge!”

“You cried quite a lot yesterday, didn’t you?”

Mariana looked at me with a sad expression and pressed a cool towel over my eyes.

It seemed she didn’t know what had happened last night.

“Once you cool them down, you’ll be back to your usual cute self, my lady.”

Even Lucy was worried about me.

…This feeling is kind of nostalgic somehow.

“…You’re like my mom…”

The words slipped out as memories from my previous life suddenly resurfaced.

Ah—oops.

They must have heard me. Mariana and Lucy both fell silent.

The towel still covered my eyes, so I couldn’t see their expressions,
but Mariana probably thought I was longing for my mother.

There’s no easy way to explain that.

“My lady… do you wish to see your mother?”

The old me would’ve said, “No, I don’t,” just to keep up appearances.

But—if it’s really true, like Father said, that no one thinks ill of her anymore…
then yes, I’d like to see her.

“Maybe… I’d like to, a little.”

“My lady…”

Ah, the air just got really heavy.

Ugh—I shouldn’t have said that.
This silence is so awkward.

Good thing my eyes are covered.
I can just feel Mariana’s awkwardness—and probably Lucy’s too.

After a while of uncomfortable silence, one of them quietly left the room and soon returned.

By then, I’d finished cooling my eyes and removed the towel.
Looking in the mirror, they weren’t quite back to normal, but the swelling had gone down.

“Today, we asked the head chef to prepare all your favorite dishes, just for you.”

On the breakfast table were my favorite sweets and meats.

So that’s what they went out to arrange earlier.

I could tell they were watching me carefully, gauging my mood.
Their eyes kept darting around nervously.

“Ahaha, wow—so happy! All my favorite foods!”

Maybe I sounded too fake.
It was painfully obvious they were trying to cheer me up.

So awkward!

I screamed it inside my heart.

Tiana kept smiling brightly, pretending nothing was wrong.

I began to eat, but even my favorite meat tasted strangely bland today—
and harder to chew than usual.