CH 5.03

Chapter 5: Are people born a tsundere?

Part 3

The parlor door swung open roughly. A woman who appeared to be the same maid quickly approached Chelsea, who was now on her knees.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Huuuh, huuh, huuh.”

As if the sight of Chelsea with tears rolling down her cheeks was enough to tell her what was going on, the incoming maid glared at Lila.

“What is this?”

She didn’t use half a word like Chelsea, but the look in her eyes was no different. Amused by the maid’s tactics, Lila braced herself and spoke up.

“Is it the norm for a duke’s maid to speak back to her superiors?”

“What?”

The new maid, taken aback by Lila’s question, had no answer.

Lila met Chelsea’s venomous glare with a steady gaze and asked again.

“Has the Duchess set the young duke’s diet?”

“Why do you ask?”

The other maid, instead of Chelsea, asked in a wary tone. Lila watched the two maids’s actions and expressions.

“I suppose it’s part of the ducal code not to answer questions?”

Chelsea and Rose clamped their mouths shut at Lila’s words. Before leaving the duchy, Michael’s biological mother had placed her trust in her handmaidens, Chelsea and Rose.

They were to watch his diet to make sure he didn’t gain weight. She also instructed them to take care of his skin.

Few knew of this, especially not the current duke and butler. They had told Michael that his mother had asked him to do this and that it was a secret.

A crowd gathered outside the parlor. They couldn’t get in, but milled about outside.

Most of them were busy discussing Lila’s dress and her appearance.

Lila continued to stare at Rose and Chelsea, demanding answers, but they said nothing more.

They both knew that even Lucas, who was indifferent to the estate, would not be pleased if he found out.

Especially if it was at the behest of the Duchess, who had left for her lover as soon as her husband’s funeral was over.

Lila pursed her lips, determined to hear the answer, even though they had already given it to her, she wanted to make sure they got it right.

The chatter of the crowd fell on deaf ears.

It was all too familiar.

She’d been bullied so many times at banquets, she didn’t even care.

“Duchess.”

A deep voice broke through the stiff atmosphere. Vincent, who had heard the commotion, approached Lila.

“Vincent.”

Lila called out to him, her expression calm. Vincent looked back and forth between Lila and the two maids, then spoke.

“Please return to your room, Duchess.”

Vincent held out his hand, and Lila, although intent on hearing an answer, couldn’t help but take it, the warmth of his palm feeling awkward.

As she watched Vincent calmly escort her away, Lila was lost in thought.

Had anyone ever helped her when she was so publicly embarrassed, she wondered…

She had thought it was inevitable, since she had ruined her face on her own, but Vincent was a very gracious and curious man indeed.

It was Vincent’s warmth, rather than the disgusted glares of the two maids, that made Lila’s heart flutter.

Returning to her room, Lila announced that she would not be eating dinner and went into the bathroom.

Eager to cleanse her sweaty body, she stepped into the bathtub, which was made of red azurite. It was a special bathtub that kept the water in the tub at just the right temperature.

Looking at herself in the mirrors that lined the walls of the bathroom, Lila felt slightly depressed.

“I don’t know if this is really my face, or if this is the face I usually put on, and now I’m confused.”

It was like seeing a blurry, freckled face in a mirror that was increasingly obscured by humidity.

Splash.

Lila went into the water and closed her eyes for a moment.

* * *

“She said she won’t be eating.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“Hmm.”

Seated at the wide marble table in the dining room, Michael sliced his steak, his ears perking up at the conversation between Vincent and Lucas.

It was rare to have dinner with his busy uncle. And for the first time in a long while, they were having dinner together.

Looking at the knife and fork that perfectly fit in his small hand, Michael thought of Lila.

She was ugly but cute.

He especially liked the warmth in her cobalt eyes, unlike the eyes of some of the servants who looked at him with displeasure.

It was almost as if she found him adorable, which confused him.

“Send some soup and fruit to the prospective duchess.”

“Yes, my lord.”

He watched Vincent leave, and then Michael looked at Lucas.

“Do you have something to say?”

His tone seemed soft, but Michael knew his uncle well.

“Ugly, why isn’t she eating dinner?”

At his nephew’s question, Lucas stopped chopping and looked up.

“Ugly.”

“She’s ugly. She’s fat, freckled, squinty-eyed, and very ugly.”

Lucas frowned slightly at Michael’s comment.

“Then you and I are ugly, too.”

“…”

Michael pouted his lips in response to his uncle’s comment.

“You’re not wrong, but she is uglier than me.”

Sometimes, when his nephew says something mature beyond his years, Lucas is at a loss for words.

Uglier than me.

That means that you are also ugly.

“Be quiet during meals.”

“Yes…”

As he ate his usual meal, Lucas thought of Lila for a moment. And he thought about the commotion earlier.

“Hmm…”

I’ll just have to hear what’s going on.