Chapter 51: CH 51

“What’s with me?”

“You, me!”

You, me? I don’t know why I’m groaning to myself. Since he couldn’t open his heart, Kirsec’s face changed as if it was about to explode as anger piled up.

“Ugh! I don’t know!”

Kirsec stomped on his feet, screaming and huffing and left the drawing room. I was embarrassed to be left alone.

What is this? What the hell did he mean? What did he want to say? When will that hot head be fixed?

I’m happy though. I thought Kirsec had a tenacious side and wanted me to beat him to the end, but he got tired of himself and disappeared.

I shook my head in confusion, and then looked at Mrs. Seryl at the back, and she was also standing there with a very awkward expression. Anxiety was read from her strange face, neither smiling nor crying.

Mrs. Seryl had also seen Kirsec’s strange behavior! How disgusted will she be now that she knows the secret tastes of the people she will serve in the future? It was not normal for anyone to ask someone to beat him.

Now that Kirsec is young, he has thoughtlessly exposed his own tastes, but later when he grown up I felt like his weakness will be caught and he would harass Mrs. Seryl. What to do? Mrs. Seryl is my benefactor. She shouldn’t be in trouble. We’ll have to find a way to keep Kirsec from harassing Mrs. Seryl.

“The tea time is over, so can I go home?”

“Ye, yes. That’s right. Wait a minute, I will prepare the carriage.”

Mrs. Seryl, who was awakened by my question, remained trembling. I was terrified that Kirsec would return during the brief time Mrs. Seryl had been away from me. He was such a selfish person, would he open the door again and come in screaming for me and beat him?

However, Kirsec did not return, and I returned home safely in the carriage prepared by the Grand Duke’s residence. In that way, the first tea time with Kirsec, which seemed like nothing special, came to an end.

* * *

“You’re back?”

That evening, I approached my father after work and as soon as I greeted him, he asked me with a firm expression.

“How was your tea time with the Young Master?”

Father’s worries are unfamiliar and excessive. Was he worried that Kirsec would ask me to beat him because it was rumored that he likes being right? Or was it because he later found out that I was harassed by Kirsec when Father was away?

There were many doubts about this and that, but I first shook my head, not wanting to worry my father.

“There was nothing special. I just quietly drank tea and left.”

“Really? Did the Young Master ask for something out of the ordinary?”

My father’s question, as if he had seen Kirsec ask me to beat him, surprised me and caused my pupils to tremble. Does everyone else really know? Was it an open secret in the Grand Duke’s residence? Surely the Grand Duke also knows his son’s secret? It was confusing.

“Father too….Well…… Do you know that the Young master has strange tastes?”

My mouth was itching to speak it, so I asked as carefully as I could. Then Father’s expression became hard and serious. Kirsec’s original taste! It was an open secret!

Though fortunate, I lamented knowing Kirsec’s secret. And I resented the Grand Duke. If he wanted to keep such an important thing a secret, Kirsec, who was still young, might make a mistake.

Maybe that was Mrs. Seryl’s role, but couldn’t she keep Kirsec’s mouth shut? So, that’s why he was caught by me?

Then I have to pretend I don’t know. If I keep my mouth shut, neither my father nor Mrs. Seryl will be harmed. I was confident that I could pretend I didn’t see anything and didn’t hear anything. Even though it looks like this, I have 7 years of acting experience as a child.

When I put on a bright face, my father asked, unable to hide his surprise.

“Did the Young Master have any strange tastes?”

What? My father’s question was strange. By looking at his hardened eyes, I could tell that my father did not know about his tastes.

I made a mistake. I guess I misunderstood. So did Kirsec really get slapped by me and wake up to a new taste? Ugh, why is he so weird?

When I was silent as I was organizing my thoughts, it seemed that my father was letting his imagination run wild about some strange taste. A look of distrust crept onto my father’s face. Not because of what I said, but because of distrust of the Grand Duke himself. I couldn’t watch my father’s expression change as if he had chewed a bitter persimmon.

“It’s just food taste. The Young Master has a strange taste for food.”

I don’t know why I’m making this excuse, but it was an instinctive excuse.

“Really?”

I nodded my head at the feeling of distrust emanating from my father.

“Yes. There are so many sweet things, but he didn’t eat any of them. Oh my God, there are so many great sweets in the Grand Duke’s residence!”

I was trying to distract my attention, but as I spoke, the sweet things I ate earlier came to mind as if they were still in my mouth. I jumped and delivered the emotion of the past.

“It looks pretty, and it tastes good! I was really happy! It just melted in your mouth and disappeared!”

“Our Aren loved sweets.”

I woke up to the sound of my father’s bitter voice. My father’s face was distorted by guilt. He must be reflecting on the life he lived frugally and neglected to pay attention to me.

“No. I don’t like sweets that much. It’s good to eat occasionally. If you keep eating it, your teeth will rot.”

I quickly switched stances. Although I was not from a poor family that could not eat even a single cookie, I did not have the greed to eat sweets. I didn’t want my father to worry about me for nothing. Then my father’s hand came down and brushed my hair.

“It’s okay if you like it. As long as Aren likes it, you can eat as much as you want. Father will buy you a lot in the future. So don’t hide what you like and tell me.”

My toes wiggled in a friendly touch that seemed to say, ‘A child should not be worried about that.’