Chapter 17: CH 16

Translated by Yonnee

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“But he said it’s the red solution.”

She heard it clearly.

“By the way, Reina, can you add that red solution into the beaker over there?”

“Yeah. I’m absolutely sure he said that.”

However, nobody would believe Reina since she had such low credibility amongst all her groupmates already. Apart from that, more than half of them had already fallen for the magical charms of Lehman, so it’s obvious just how they would react.

“Reina. I said you should add the solution that was behind the red one.”

Who would they believe, Lehman—who said this out of the blue—or Reina?

“Ha… No matter how much I think about it, this is obviously a trick to get me in trouble.”

Still, she already refused to get engaged to him. No, the proposal letter didn’t even make it to House Karr. There’s no way Lehman knew Reina before this.

“But is there a reason for him to resent me?”

Reina plopped back on her bed and muttered to herself.

“Oh, I dunno. For now… Let’s just avoid Lehman.”

She was much too hasty back when she decided to befriend Lehman.

“But anyway, all that thinking is just lowering my blood sugar.”

Knock— Knock—

“Dear, can I come in?”

When Reina was in the middle of pulling out some stashed chocolate from under her bed, she heard a clear, bell-like voice coming from outside the door.

At the calmly asked question, Reina rushed to the door.

“Go ahead, Mother.”

When Reina opened the door with a welcoming expression and a cheerful voice, what answered her back was a bag to her face.

“Here.”

“Um.”

What’s this now. It didn’t look like a gift.

When Reina glanced at her mother sideways, she responded with a beautiful smile.

“Deliver this lunch box, dear.”

“Lunch box? To whom?”

When I took the lunch box from her and asked again, her mother’s smile took on a more worried atmosphere as her expression dimmed.

“Your father. He’s been so busy at work lately, and he’s become so gaunt… It really hurts my heart.”

‘What do you mean, gaunt?’

He’s just really good at overworking.

“What if he gets malnourished? That’s why, my good, kind daughter. Go and give this to your father.”

After her mother said this, she smiled and dragged her youngest daughter out the door.

‘…Yet again, I’ve been fooled by that angelic face.’

She could have very well asked someone else to do it, but it’s obvious that she’s purposely asking her youngest daughter, who, by the way, had a reputation for not caring about appearances and just doing whatever she wanted.

‘Just how much of a return of investment are you expecting to get from your daughter…’

Genuinely feeling how troublesome this was, Reina gestured towards a passing servant.

“We literally have servants, Mother.”

“No can do. You’re the one who has to go.”

“Why?”

“Everyone’s busy. You’re the one who’s got the most free time here.”

She’s technically right, but she was a noble lady from one of the noble empire’s most noble founding households. Should she really be running an errand like this?

Letting out a small sigh, Reina grumbled.

“Mother, do I look like I’m just lying down with nothing to do?”

Well, that’s exactly how she was found. Whenever she wasn’t at the academy, she just laid down on her bed and did nothing.

“That’s really not the case, you know.”

Nope. That’s the truth. On her days off, it felt like she was under a magic spell that made it like her body was made of jelly. She couldn’t even lift one single finger.

“Right now, I’m preoccupied with thinking about my future while I’m reviewing what I’ve learned in school.”

This was kinda right. That is, well, she was thinking about how she could avoid a death flag waiting for her at the ending.

Her mother let out a small hum at the lame excuse.

“Hmm… Really?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“It does look like that. Since your grades are so wretchedly shitty, I thought you were just lying blankly like that while staring at the ceiling.”

“…Mother?”

A little flustered, Reina called her mother unwittingly.

‘No… I mean, is it okay for a viscountess to say such a word?’

On top of that, a viscountess who was the future Marchioness Chantra?

“Ohoho, then instead of wretchedly shitty, can I just look forward to your grades being plain shitty in the future, my dear daughter?”

As her mother burst into a delicate peal of laughter, she turned around and shrugged.

“What a shame, but it can’t be helped. I’ll send someone else who’s free to the Imperial Palace.”

The imperial palace?

With her eyes going as wide as a meerkat’s at the words ‘imperial’ and ‘palace’, Reina switched gears and clung onto her mother, who was in a hurry to leave.

“Wait, wait, Mother? What do you mean, the Imperial Palace?”

By chance, are you talking about the imperial palace where my beloved Ethan is? That imperial palace?

Her eyes looked like a rotten frozen pollock’s eyes before this, but her gaze soon transformed into a much livelier gaze now because of this.

“Mother, say that again please?”

“Hm?”

“Didn’t you tell me to bring Father’s lunch box to the Imperial Palace?”

Now that she was being given keen interest, her mother turned her back to Reina and motioned to leave the room.

“Yes, that’s what I said. He said he’s busy working on an inspection report these days, so he can’t even come home.”

Was it inspection season now for the private academies? So that’s why he’s not often home these days… But no, no, never mind that for now.

“Ha, Mother!”

“Yeees?”

“You told me to do it after all!”

Then, Reina flipped her hair confidently to her back and shouted confidently.

“No one else in House Chantra is more free than me! That’s why it’s only right that I should go!”

When it came to the shamelessness of turning back on one’s own word, there was no one else out there who could possibly beat the shamelessness of Reina Chantra.

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