Volume 7 - CH 5

I Will Avoid the Male Lead and Make a Harem

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Even until the dessert was served, the atmosphere within the dining room was cold and awkward.

Only Cedric, who had no idea what was going on, spoke to the knights on occasion.

Camilla’s face was completely disorganized, as if she couldn’t control her expression.

“Anyway, Adrian, that guy is a spoiled brat.”

Shannon appeared pleased with her brother’s behavior, which had hurt her mother’s feelings.

“I expected him to be more mature and have a better personality after the rigorous training. He didn’t seem to mature as he grew older.”

Hey, just shut your mouth.

‘Why are you fanning a raging fire……’

Shannon kept talking to Camilla, perhaps trying to keep her in the right mood.

“Try some of this, Mother. The dessert is delicious. I know you like raspberries.”

Camilla, who had been silently guiding the pie with a knife, abruptly raised her head.

“Why do you look like that?”

“What…?”

“Your hair is frizzy and dull, your lips are chapped, and your skin is even worse.”

Shannon was a 17-year-old girl going through puberty. Besides, she was under a lot of stress with the Marquis of Whiterot, which caused her pimples to swell.

“Haa……”

Camilla let out a long sigh, as if to blame Shannon, causing Shannon’s face to flush red.

Camilla appeared to be venting her rage on Shannon.

She made ridiculous quibbles, such as that her complexion was yellow and that she didn’t look like a young lady.

“Have you given up on marriage?”

Her tone was firm and sarcastic.

Shannon’s hands trembled as she was humiliated in public.

‘Originally, that would have been my role.’

Camilla targeted Shannon instead of me, probably because she was angry and tired of dealing with the case of Marquis Whiterot.

I felt bad for Shannon, who was holding back her tears, so I spoke to Camilla for the first time.

“Mo-mother, the dessert… sh-should I eat more…?”

“You’ve had your fill. It will be a big deal if you also turn into a pig like that kid.”

Camilla gestured pathetically as she pointed at Shannon.

“There’s no way you still eat caramel every night, aren’t you?”

Shannon had a slim figure.

Her cheeks, on the other hand, were a little chubby because she hadn’t lost her baby fat yet.

“What are you saying to the child? Moreover, at the dinner table.”

Cedric, who couldn’t hear it any longer, warned her by lowering his voice.

“I have no appetite. There’s no need for dessert.”

Camilla was the first to stand up, a disapproving expression on her face.

“Then me too……”

Shannon ran out of the dining room, her voice quivering like a goat’s cry.

The hall fell silent again as soon as the two left.

Cedric eventually picked up his favorite drink, as if he was embarrassed by the event’s debacle.

“Please accept my apologies.”

I assumed it would be an all-night drinking party, so I excused myself and left.

“It’s nothing. There’s no reason to be surprised.”

Cedric’s heartfelt lament could be heard from behind me.

It occurred to me, like the shrimp’s back that burst between the whale fights, that perhaps the reason Cedric didn’t return to the castle after leaving for days wasn’t because he was too busy with work.

(T/N: “shrimp’s back that burst between the whale fights” meaning when there is a fierce fight, the weak ones caught in the middle are the ones that get hurt.)

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Penny opened the door to the bedroom with a scowl on her face when I returned. Something bad appeared to have occurred.

“What’s the problem?”

When I asked, Penny stood aside, pouting her lips.

‘Why is that thing in my room……’

Shannon was sitting on my bed, swollen eyes and nose blown.

“Sniff! Sob sob!”

I was really thinking to kick her out, yet……

She doesn’t even have a maid waiting for her.

I felt sorry for her because she no longer has anyone around, so I decide to let her be.

Penny, with her mouth protruding, shook the blanket in front of her for no reason.

Shannon, on the other hand, didn’t even pretend to notice because she had no desire to leave my bedroom.

I sat in front of the mirror, removing the wildflowers from my hair and untying the braids.

The twisty marks remained, giving my hair a fuller appearance than usual.

Shannon, who had just blown her nose and wiped away her tears, asked right away.

“Are you doing it on purpose?”

“What?”

“Are you stuttering only in front of Mother?”

Did you just realize that?

I let out a deep sigh and complained to Shannon through the mirror.

“Do you think I stutter on purpose?”

“Yeah.”

Shannon, who answered firmly, added cheekily.

“Since you speak very well in front of me.”

For a moment, Penny stared at Shannon with scary eyes.

I was taken aback.

‘I’d never seen Penny make that expression before.’

Penny was once a child who was terrified of Camilla and her daughter.

Penny was always scared and shaking behind Selina, even when she was fighting with Shannon.

That, I’m sure, was the case……

I couldn’t believe she gawk at Shannon like that for coming up against me.

What happened to that sweet child?