Chapter: 26
I hurriedly spoke to the young lady.
“L-Lady! This clause about the duty to maintain one’s dignity…!”
“Why?”
The young lady tilted her head.
“Is the amount a little insufficient?”
“No! It’s far too much! In the first place, the fact that you’re paying me a maintenance allowance for my dignity at all is…!”
At that, the young lady’s expression turned serious as she asked me in return,
“What do you mean, too much?”
“What?”
“I can’t stand by and watch Lady Ansi be treated with contempt from now on.”
The young lady crossed her arms and continued indifferently.
“Even though we’re friends because of a contract, Lady Ansi is practically my only friend now, isn’t she?”
“B-But…”
“If my friend is looked down upon, it’s the same as me being looked down upon. Besides, giving you gifts every time would be a hassle.”
The young lady shrugged.
“Anyway, don’t worry about the amount. I’m giving you what I can afford to give.”
“Even so, this is…”
“Oh, come on. Are you going to make me say the same thing over and over?”
The young lady narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
“Anyway, you don’t have any complaints about the contract itself, right?”
Overwhelmed by her forcefulness, I found myself nodding.
I suppose it would have been easy to have the cynical thought, ‘Is she trying to buy a friend with money?’
But I knew very well that the young lady had no ill intentions, so it was nice that I didn’t have to unnecessarily doubt her intentions or jump to conclusions.
When interacting with Seraphina, I had to stay on guard in case there were twisted ulterior motives hiding behind her smiling face.
The young lady then pointed at the contract with her chin.
“Then sign it.”
“Ah, yes…”
As though I were under some sort of spell, I signed the contract.
“Hmm.”
The young lady nodded, picked up the pen, and wrote her signature beside mine.
Then she held out her hand.
She was asking for a handshake.
“I look forward to working with you, Lady Ansi.”
“……”
For a moment, I felt something well up inside my chest.
The owner of that fair, beautiful hand neither ignored me nor held any prejudice against me, nor did she look down on me.
Even though our relationship was bound by a contract, she treated me as an equal friend…
The only person who did.
I carefully took her hand.
“I look forward to working with you as well.”
Upon hearing that, the young lady smiled brightly.
It was a radiant smile, warm and cheerful like the sunlight of spring.
Chapter 2. Seeping In Like the Warmth of Spring
“Lady Ansi-i-i-i-i!”
A booming cry calling my name shook the entire living room.
‘W-What?!’
I had been sprawled out on the sofa when I jumped up in surprise.
I saw the young lady running toward me like an excited cat.
“This is amazing! Something huge happened!”
The young lady shouted that, but the moment our eyes met, she suddenly made a face as if she had realized something.
“Ahem.”
After a brief cough, she abruptly stopped where she was.
Then she approached me with an elegant, dignified gait.
‘What’s the point of that?’
I had already seen her running toward me, after all.
For the record, it had been some time since the young lady had started coming and going through the Ansi family’s townhouse as though it were her own home…
“What happened?”
At my question, the young lady’s eyes sparkled once again.
Then she completely abandoned her dignified walking and scampered over to my side.
She was moving so hurriedly that I was worried she might step on the hem of her dress and fall.
‘Gasp.’
I suddenly sucked in a breath.
The moment I had that thought, the young lady stepped on the hem of her dress!
Her body tilted precariously.
“Y-Young lady!”
I instinctively shot to my feet.
At the same time, the young lady regained her balance and looked at me with sparkling eyes.
“Hm? Why?”
“……”
I stared at the young lady with a complicated expression, then shook my head.
“Um, please sit down and tell me about it first.”
Good grief.
I thought my heart was going to stop…
For the sake of my heart health, I made the young lady sit down first.
The young lady barely perched on the very edge of the sofa, and continued speaking in an excited voice.
“Guess what? My brother told me to decorate the townhouse this time!”
A blissful smile spread across the young lady’s face.
“I think my brother is finally starting to trust me a little!”
So, to summarize what the young lady excitedly rattled off, it went roughly like this.
“Brotherrrr.”
Evangeline called out to Dietrich in a sweet, coaxing voice.
Dietrich kept his gaze fixed on the documents in his hand as he asked indifferently,
“Did you cause some kind of trouble?”
“No, why would you say that?”
Evangeline glared at Dietrich, her eyes blazing.
But that only lasted for a moment.
Soon, Evangeline softened her gaze and gave him a coy smile.
“You knowww, there’s something I want to do.”
……Apparently, this conversation was going to take a while.
Dietrich placed the documents on his desk and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his younger sister.
“What is it?”
At that, Evangeline clasped both hands over her chest, her expression earnest.
Her eyes were sparkling brightly as an added bonus.
“The salon I hosted this time was pretty successful, wasn’t it?”
“If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t beat around the bush.”
“Tch.”
Evangeline pouted for a moment, then continued in an intentionally gentle voice.
“I want to take charge of the townhouse’s household affairs.”
Dietrich stopped for a moment.
“……Household affairs?”
“Yes.”
Evangeline nodded enthusiastically.
Strictly speaking, it was only right for Evangeline to take charge of the household affairs.
Dietrich was still unmarried, so the position of lady of the house at the House of Claudius was currently vacant.
In such cases, Evangeline, the only daughter of the family, would act as the lady of the house.
However.
“You don’t have to bother with things that troublesome.”
Remembering Dietrich’s usual refrain, Evangeline became slightly dejected for no reason.
“I don’t want to see you pushing yourself too hard.”
His voice sounded indifferent at first glance.
“I’m capable enough to handle even that much.”
……Yet there was tenderness hidden within it, born from his concern for Evangeline.
In truth, Evangeline knew.
Even though he pretended otherwise, Dietrich cared deeply for his younger sister.
But still.
‘It would be nice if he trusted me a little.’
There was no way she couldn’t know.
She knew just how hard Dietrich was currently pushing himself to protect his only younger sister and keep her sheltered like a delicate greenhouse flower.
‘I don’t want to be a burden on my brother anymore.’
And while hosting the salon this time, Evangeline had realized something.
‘Maybe I can, too…’
Evangeline swallowed hard.
‘Maybe I can lessen my brother’s overwhelming workload, even if only a little.’
Even if she was inexperienced now, her newly acquired first friend would be there to help her.
As she became accustomed to the work, perhaps one day she could become an excellent lady of the house without Larit’s help.
But to do that…
‘First, I have to convince my brother.’
Evangeline clenched both fists tightly and raised her head.
“Listen, Brother! I properly hosted the salon this time, so…!”
“Sure. Go ahead and do it.”
“Huh?”
At the unexpected answer, Evangeline, who had been desperately trying to persuade her brother, blinked blankly.
Dietrich pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses and replied sullenly,
“I said you can do it.”
“……That’s what my brother said, you know?!”
The excited young lady was sitting on the sofa, even bouncing her feet.
‘Even the young lady is adorable when she gets excited.’
Up until then, I had simply been watching her with an affectionate gaze.
‘How can someone be this lovable?’
I was indulging in such idle thoughts.
However, the young lady sometimes displayed an incredible amount of drive in completely unexpected directions…
“Of course, he did say there was one condition: I mustn’t cause any trouble…”
Her blue eyes rolled around as she spoke, and then she lightly shrugged before dropping a bombshell.
“But that’s something Lady Ansi can help me with.”
