Chapter – 10
Just as the question crossed her mind, the carriage that had arrived at the ducal residence came to a stop.
Seymour got out of the carriage first and then effortlessly lifted Rowena into his arms with one arm.
Rowena’s eyes widened in surprise as her entire field of vision suddenly rose several feet into the air.
‘Wow!’
It’s like riding on a swing!
And a really, really high swing at that!
Every time Seymour strode forward into the mansion, Rowena’s view shifted rapidly.
His stride was so long that a distance which would have required the child to scamper along with her short legs was covered in a single step by him.
‘This feels amazing!’
She wanted to excitedly kick her legs around, but if she did that, Seymour would obviously get kicked.
And if Seymour got kicked, couldn’t he possibly just throw her away?
‘Let’s stay still.’
What if he decided she was too troublesome and stopped carrying her?
‘But since he bothered to pay attention to me, maybe he doesn’t actually dislike me.’
Heehee!
Rowena’s mood, which had almost become a little gloomy, shot straight up into the heavens in an instant.
‘Maybe I can ask him to carry me again next time.’
Of course, this might be the first and last time…
Still, she had gained one more reason to win Seymour over.
While Rowena secretly burned with determination, the entrance to the mansion opened, and a young butler hurriedly came running out.
“Welcome home, Your Grace. But the child beside you…?”
“She’s a child my mother-in-law entrusted to me. She told me to keep her with me.”
Seymour conveniently left out the part where he had been told to actually raise her and instead presented a neatly edited version of the facts.
Despite the rather unhelpful explanation, the young butler, Hugo, quickly understood the situation.
He was already accustomed to his insensitive master.
“I understand. Then I’ll escort you inside. Young lady, this way.”
“……!”
When Hugo extended his arms as if asking her to come to him, Rowena’s eyes, which had been clinging tightly to Seymour, grew round like a startled rabbit.
‘Do I have to get down already?’
She had barely gotten to ride!
And there was no guarantee the Duke would carry her again next time.
‘Oh, whatever!’
Rowena suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around Seymour’s neck and clung to him.
“……!”
At that moment, every adult present held their breath.
The person who was particularly horrified by this unexpected situation was Hugo Lyle, the young butler of the Somerset ducal residence.
‘W-What am I supposed to do?’
His master, Seymour, had a terrible personality.
He could only describe it so mildly because Seymour was his master.
In reality, he was extremely, unbelievably terrible.
Seymour was practically a mad dog, and there was only one person who had ever been able to handle him.
‘Madam.’
Rose Hayworth, Seymour’s wife, who had been like a rose blooming from the warmest sunlight.
After she passed away, Seymour, who had at least behaved somewhat like a normal person before, had completely lost his restraints and fallen into an abyss.
As a result, for nearly the past year, Hugo’s daily routine had begun with cleaning up the bottles of alcohol Seymour had drunk and ended with hearing about whatever kind of havoc Seymour had caused that day.
And now that Seymour had a child?!
‘What on earth was the Madam thinking…?!’
Thinking that Seymour, who hated troublesome things, might immediately shove the child away, Hugo squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again.
He needed to deal with the situation first.
Hugo hurriedly reached toward the child.
“Y-Your Grace. I believe the young lady is simply startled. I’ll take her with me, so…”
“Take your filthy hands away.”
But the one who got swatted away wasn’t the child.
With a sharp smack, Seymour knocked Hugo’s hand aside and glared at him with eyes filled with ominous shadows.
“How dare you think of touching a child without even wearing gloves? Are you out of your mind?”
Until this very moment, Hugo had never imagined that a thoughtless remark could escape his mouth.
Not once, from the time he graduated from professional butler school to the day he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a butler of the Somerset ducal family.
At least, he had never imagined it until this moment, when a thoroughly bewildered sound escaped his lips.
“Yes, yes?”
“Do I have to say the same thing twice? She’s a child entrusted to me by the Madam. If you touch her carelessly and she catches some illness, are you going to take responsibility?”
“T-That’s…”
When Hugo unusually faltered over his words, Seymour clicked his tongue irritably.
“I’ll take the child inside myself, so tell Airi to look after her. If I leave her in the hands of an idiot like you, it won’t even take a day for the Somerset family’s reputation to plummet.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
As Hugo bowed deeply at the waist, Seymour withdrew his displeased gaze and began walking.
Only then did Rowena cautiously open her eyes.
‘Does that mean I don’t have to get down?’
She hadn’t heard half of what had been said, but she could tell one thing for certain:
It was basically permission to cling to him for a little longer.
‘Yay!’
For an adult, crossing the hallway took only a moment.
Perhaps it seemed that way because Seymour was much larger and taller than ordinary people.
He had only taken a few long strides, yet Rowena had already arrived at a tea room furnished with a soft sofa.
Only then did Seymour put Rowena down on the floor.
“Someone will come to look after you, so wait here quietly.”
“Can’t I go with the Duke?”
“Hugo, go bring tea and desserts.”
“I’ll stay right here quietly!”
I’m really good at being quiet.
As though she intended to demonstrate the very essence of good behavior, Rowena hopped onto the sofa.
Watching Rowena change her attitude as easily as flipping over the palm of her hand, Seymour let out an incredulous “Huh.”
Then he left the room.
Afterward, the tray Hugo pushed in contained all kinds of colorful desserts and a steaming cup giving off a fragrant aroma.
This smell…!
“Hot chocolate!”
And not some cheap cocoa powder mixed into milk, either.
It was rich, genuine hot chocolate, bursting with the deep flavor of real chocolate!
How many times had the children at the orphanage drooled over advertisements they saw in newspaper flyers?
‘Do you think we could ask the teacher for hot chocolate as a birthday present?’
‘But we get cake on our birthdays. Even if it’s a cake with only a tiny bit of cream on top.’
‘I want cake.’
They were at an age when they absolutely adored anything sweet.
They did get desserts from donated supplies or at tea parties they were occasionally invited to, but that was nowhere near enough.
The children at Townsend Orphanage would cut out pictures of all kinds of food from flyers and stick them on the walls, swallowing hard as they stared at them.
Rowena was no different.
Hugo smiled warmly as he watched Rowena practically scraping the bottom of the cup as though she intended to eat every last drop.
“I wonder if it will be to your liking, young lady.”
“It’s really, really delicious!”
Of course, the food she had eaten at the Hayworth residence had been delicious too.
But hot chocolate was an entirely new kind of thrill.
And the whole cup was hers!
Just the hot chocolate alone was enough to make coming to the Somerset ducal residence completely worthwhile.
After quickly emptying the cup, Rowena licked the hot chocolate from her lips as she thought.
‘People who give me delicious food are people who like me.’
And the Duke had given her hot chocolate.
‘Then…’
Could it be that the Duke actually likes me?
Of course, there were sometimes people whose affection was obvious even when they didn’t give her food.
Which meant…
“Hello, young lady? My name is Airi.”
Yes! Someone exactly like this!
Rowena put down her cup and looked up with bright, alert eyes.
A woman whose hair curled neatly downward was standing in front of her before she even realized it.
The woman, Airi, broke into a radiant smile the moment their eyes met.
She looked like a child who had just spotted a fountain in the middle of summer, unable to contain her delight.
“It seems you really enjoyed the hot chocolate, young lady.”
“It was really, really delicious. How did you know?”
“Hehe. Anyone who saw you just now would have known.”
Airi held out a handkerchief and gently wiped Rowena’s cheek.
A smear of sticky chocolate came away on the cloth.
“……!”
Instead of chocolate, embarrassment flooded Rowena’s cheeks.
