GBHDF 04

Chapter – 04

How incredibly lucky could she possibly be today?

‘I was just wondering how on earth I was going to meet Seymour, and then I find out today is the day I’m visiting Grand Lady Hayworth.’

And just when she was wondering how she could possibly strike up a conversation with Grand Lady Hayworth, she had been invited to tea!

Of course, something like this wasn’t particularly rare.

Nobles always wanted to show off whenever they did something charitable.

And as part of that display, it wasn’t uncommon for children from an orphanage to suddenly be invited to tea.

‘But Grand Lady Hayworth isn’t the sort of person who shows off.’

She had wondered if perhaps she was mistaken, but she really had been invited to tea!

Thanks to that, there was a full-blown party going on inside Rowena’s head.

‘Does this mean today is really one of those days when I can get away with anything?’

Of course, the faces of the other children who had been invited to tea looked like they were on the verge of death!

But as long as she was happy, who cared?

Rowena hummed a little tune to herself as she calmly picked up her teacup.

Though she was singing, dancing, and throwing a grand party inside her head, her actual movements were flawlessly proper.

Naturally.

‘A wonderful opportunity has practically fallen into my lap. I can’t ruin it now.’

At most, they visited the mansions of their sponsors once every quarter.

Her current visit to the Hayworth estate was also to commemorate Thanksgiving, which had only recently passed.

So the next visit would probably be at the end of the year at the earliest—around Christmas.

‘But there’s no guarantee I’ll get a better opportunity than this on my next visit.’

In other words, this was practically her first and last chance.

That was why Rowena was being twice as careful as usual with her behavior.

Fortunately, she was quite skilled at tea etiquette, so as long as she didn’t make any mistakes, she didn’t have to worry too much.

At Townsend Orphanage, whose primary sponsors and prospective adoptive families were high-ranking nobles, the children were always taught proper aristocratic manners.

And among them, Rowena had consistently ranked as one of the brightest students.

‘Once tea is over, I’ll have a chance to talk to her.’

Rowena silently swallowed a sip of hot tea and glanced around.

She hadn’t often been invited to tea parties with noble ladies, but the procedure was generally similar.

Especially at a garden tea party like this, after having refreshments, the ladies and children would usually pair off and take a walk together.

‘That’s when I’ll make my move.’

Judging from the atmosphere, although everything looked warm and friendly on the surface, all the children were stiff with tension.

Most of them were desperately staring at their plates, terrified that they might accidentally make eye contact with Grand Lady Hayworth.

‘So when it’s time for the walk, none of them will want to link arms with Grand Lady Hayworth.’

And then I’ll step forward and—

Bam!

Link arms with her!

Game over!

‘Hehehe.’

She couldn’t believe things were going this smoothly.

As Rowena hummed happily to herself, her twin braids swayed gently behind her.

‘Now all I have to do is figure out how to win Grand Lady Hayworth’s favor.’

Rowena wasn’t a foolish little girl.

Even without the memories of her past life, she knew that when asking an adult for something, you should only do so when that adult looked as though they were perfectly willing to open their purse for you.

The problem was, she had no idea how to make someone look like that.

‘What should I do?’

Just as Rowena was lost in thought, stealing little glances at Grand Lady Hayworth—

“Ah-choo!”

A series of sneezes came from a table a little distance away from Rowena.

Every single one belonged to the same person.

A nine-year-old boy named Martin.

“Oh, my.”

“What are we going to do…?”

But the sneezing itself wasn’t the problem.

The sudden sneezing had caused a large amount of tea to spill from the teacup Martin was holding.

As a result, Martin’s shirt was completely soaked with tea.

Fortunately, none of it had splashed onto the noblewoman sitting beside him.

That didn’t mean the orphanage teachers’ glares became any kinder, though.

“H-ha ha… Oh dear, what a mess. I’m so sorry, Madam. Our boy is sensitive to pollen… What are you doing, Martin? Stand up and apologize properly!”

The teacher practically yanked Martin to his feet by the back of his neck.

“C-cough! I-I’m sorry…”

“Can’t you apologize louder? Bow your head properly!”

The teacher repeatedly placed a hand against Martin’s waist, as though forcing him to bow.

Each time, Martin flinched and made a pained expression.

She was secretly pinching his waist as hard as she could.

Eventually, Martin burst into tears.

“I-I’m sorry… hic, sob…”

“Oh, honestly! What are you crying for? What did you do to deserve to cry?”

The teacher glared at him, demanding that he stop crying immediately, but Grand Lady Hayworth waved her hand.

“That’s enough. Leave him be. The child must have been quite startled. Seeing him cry makes me feel rather uneasy. Henry, take the boy away and calm him down.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“You’re truly so generous, Grand Lady. How broad-minded you are… We really should make sure not to bring children with pollen allergies next time. We nearly ruined your tea party.”

As the butler called Henry led Martin away, the teacher put on a flattering smile and showered Grand Lady Hayworth with praise.

It was practically a performance of endless flattery.

Jenny, who was sitting beside Rowena, gave her a little poke.

Then she slipped her hand beneath the table and wrote something in Rowena’s palm.

Ugh.

Jenny even exchanged a surreptitious glance with her.

Apparently, Jenny thought the teacher’s flattery was absolutely unbearable.

But Rowena was interested in something else.

Grand Lady Hayworth.

‘Grand Lady Hayworth is usually very particular about things like this.’

Of course, she wasn’t a cruel person toward children.

But that was precisely the point.

She wasn’t normally so generous as to say that seeing a child cry made her feel bad.

‘And yet she doesn’t exactly look happy, either.’

No, actually… how should Rowena put it?

The more the teacher flattered her…

“Even if the child does have an allergy, isn’t it truly unpleasant to see them sniffling or coughing without regard for the setting? You have no idea how much effort we put into educating them so that they won’t display such behavior in front of a refined lady like yourself.”

“Those children don’t do such things because they want to. Aren’t you being rather harsh? It’s unpleasant to listen to. Stop.”

…

Her mood seemed to be getting worse and worse?!

‘Come to think of it, when Martin coughed earlier…’

Everyone else had been looking elsewhere and seemed not to notice, but Rowena, who had been keeping an eye on Grand Lady Hayworth the entire time, had seen something.

She simply hadn’t been able to be certain because everything had happened so suddenly.

‘But if I’m right…’

Maybe this was a secret that only she had noticed!

As Rowena’s eyes sparkled with realization and a shiver of excitement ran through her, the tea party had already begun winding down.

The atmosphere had become unsettled because of Martin’s incident, and everyone had also noticed that Grand Lady Hayworth’s mood had visibly soured.

“Oh, h-hoho… I hear the spring garden at the Hayworth estate is absolutely beautiful. Since the children are here as well, why don’t we go take a look together?”

“Oh my, that sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“And since the numbers work out perfectly, perhaps we could pair off two by two.”

As the noblewomen each added a word, the more perceptive children quickly rose from their seats and approached the ladies.

And that meant the moment had finally arrived for Rowena to act.

‘Now!’

Rowena quickly stood and approached Grand Lady Hayworth.

Then she lifted the edges of her dress and gave a perfectly flawless curtsy.

“Grand Lady Hayworth, would you grant me the opportunity to learn your elegance?”

At the bold request from the little girl, gasps escaped from various parts of the garden.

“Gasp!”

“R-Rowena…”

Of course, they were very quiet sounds, but a small commotion still arose.

Children weren’t very good at hiding their emotions, and children who were already tense were even worse at it.

Thus, Freya Hayworth, the Grand Lady of Hayworth, narrowed her experienced eyes.

‘So this is the child who’s been sneaking glances at me.’

She had noticed from the beginning that someone had been stealing glances at her.

The child apparently thought she was hiding it quite well, but no matter how clever a child might be, they could never outwit someone as old and experienced as her.

‘I thought she was doing it because she was afraid of me.’

But she had come forward like this.

Could it have been the exact opposite?