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Chapter 5 …
Every so often, the real Boss would show through, which was a bit fascinating. I guess that just meant he’d gotten more comfortable around me.
Ahaha.
“Next time, please say ‘You’re the star of my heart.’”
Instead of replying, he pressed harder into the apple with his finger. He stabbed it again and again, like a child throwing a tantrum just to make a point.
Poke. Poke. Poke.
“You are stabbing the apple, right?”
Poke, poke!
“You’re not imagining it’s me, are you?”
“……”
“That’s an apple, you know. If you mistake it for me and stab, I’ll cry.”
Poke!
Apple juice spilled all over the marble floor.
“……Boring now.”
Well, did you have fun?
If you had fun, that’s enough.
Looking at the apple smashed into pieces, I prayed my future wouldn’t end up the same way.
“Good morning, Lady Titia.”
“It’s a bad morning, Mr. Veilt. Good timing, though. Wait here.”
I went inside, fetched a letter I’d prepared for Hannah, and handed it to him.
“Please give this to Hannah.”
Taking it, he asked,
“Any progress?”
“Nope.”
“Refreshing honesty. I like it.”
He nodded and knocked on the hermit’s door.
“Boss, today you really have to sign.”
Looks like he’d given up on the polite speech he used around me.
Without waiting for permission to enter, he boldly pushed the door open and slapped a stack of documents down in front of Boss.
Boss turned his back, pretending not to see them.
Veilt tried to grab his shoulder and force him around.
“Urgh……”
“Grk……!”
Watching the two wrestle for dominance was hilarious. In the end, Veilt lost, and Boss plastered himself smugly against the wall, savoring victory.
So Veilt resorted to threats.
“Think about when you come back to your senses later. You’ll regret it if you don’t sign now. Otherwise, I’ll hug you.”
“……Didn’t I tell you not to say things like that?”
“Shut up.”
No one in this world could provoke someone like Veilt did.
Apparently, just enduring his presence gave Boss a headache. Without even checking the papers, Boss scrawled his signature across them and threw them back.
Even so, Veilt left with the reports bundled up like they were treasures.
Boss looked completely drained, like Veilt had sucked all the energy out of him in those brief moments. I changed the water in the vase, then quietly sat down beside him.
“Boss, I have a confession today.”
“……”
He didn’t even look at me.
“It’s… a confession of conscience!”
I decided it was time to tell him the truth about why I ended up here.
“The truth is, the reason I came here was because my half-brother tried to sell me off to Marquis Kennedy. Can you believe it, Boss? That guy has kids my age! And I was supposed to marry some old man? Ridiculous, right?”
The moment my stepfather died, William had put me on the marriage market.
“……I don’t care, so shut up.”
“So I ran away. I didn’t want to get married. But they kept looking for me.”
He covered his ears, but I leaned closer and raised my voice a little.
“Then Mr. Veilt showed up and said if I helped get you out of this room, he’d protect me from William and the Marquis. So I signed a contract—with my life on the line.”
The reason I was blurting this out so suddenly was to prevent pointless misunderstandings later.
After all, given time, someone would always say, So you were only by my side for selfish reasons! and things would spiral into drama.
Misunderstandings and lack of communication always led to frustration.
He said nothing at first, then dropped his hands from his ears. His voice came out strained, almost choking.
“Why are you telling me that? You want pity? You want sympathy from someone like me?”
“Will you give it to me?”
I heard his teeth grind. He snapped his head up with fury, glaring at me, only to freeze.
“You, what are you…! You… you…”
He opened and closed his mouth without words. His glasses slipped down his nose.
I let go of my cheeks, which I’d been stretching sideways like a blobfish.
He didn’t laugh at the sight of that face? Tough opponent.
“Why aren’t you laughing? Not even a blink at my masterpiece.”
How impressive!
Was my comedy face a failure?
Usually, anyone who saw it burst out laughing. Maybe my mistake was only ever using it on kids.
While I was seriously analyzing the problem, his shaky voice cut through.
“G-Get out…”
“Pardon?”
“Get out. Get out!”
He was so flustered he stammered. His pupils were trembling.
“Get out! Now!”
“Okay, okay! Don’t throw the pillow!”
I scrambled out of the room. I heard the lock click, but it didn’t matter.
I had the Boss’s key, after all.
Today, I would catch the culprit.
One soaking with water, one bee sting—fine, I could dismiss those as coincidences.
But drawing a mustache on me while I was napping in the garden? No way that was random.
“Why won’t this come off?”
No matter how hard I scrubbed, the mustache only looked darker. The more I stared at it, though, the more I kind of liked it.
“It looks stylish, actually.”
My shoulders straightened with pride.
If I liked it, maybe I should forgive?
I tilted my face in a hand mirror, admiring it, when suddenly someone popped out of the bushes with a shriek.
“You idiot! What are you grinning for! If a girl grows a mustache, she should cry!”
“Girls have facial hair too.”
My answer left the boy stammering.
“T-That’s not the point! That’s a weird mustache!”
I cocked my head, studying him.
“A kid?”
He looked about eight to ten years old, with bright golden hair and eyes—adorably cute.
“Boss’s secret child?”
“No!”
“Mr. Veilt’s child?”
“Nooo!”
“My… child?”
“Hey!”
“I’m kidding. Did you draw this mustache?”
“So what if I did?”
So bold I had nothing to say.
“If you’re bored, you can doodle on me again sometimes.”
“……On your face?”
“Yup.”
Since he was little and cute, I forgave him.
My answer left him gaping like I was crazy.
“Anyway, what’s your name? I’m—”
“Twit-twit Lowellsy!”
…What?
Twit-twit?
At least he got “Lowellsy,” the fake surname I was using to hide my real one, correct.
“Titia.”
“Hmph!”
“Hmm……”
The first person here to openly show hostility toward me, huh.
Glancing at the huffing child, I casually added,
“It really hurt when I got stung by that bee. Don’t do that again.”
“Hmph! I wanted it to hurt! Why should I stop?”
“So it was you? And the water-drenching too?”
He flinched. His eyes darted away before he vanished into the bushes. I tried to chase, but he was lightning-fast—already long gone.
“Seriously, who is he?”
Did Boss raise a child?
But I didn’t remember such a character even in the novel…
I’d have to ask Mr. Veilt.
And maybe why that kid hated me so much.
Unfortunately, Veilt wasn’t exactly free. Handling all of Boss’s duties left him too busy, so I could only catch him after work.
So I decided to ask someone else.
Jessica and Lynette were the kindest. They didn’t have fixed posts, since they were so strong they just helped everywhere, so I couldn’t find them either.
Which meant… I ended up back at the hermit’s door.
Leaving him alone too long isn’t good.
He should have cooled off by now.
Knock knock.
“Boss, I’m coming in now.”
“D-Don’t come in.”
“Huh? Okay. Then I’ll stay here.”
…Was he crying? His voice trembled.
Was he weeping over the pain of his trial, thinking about the saintess again?
Dwelling on sad thoughts only made them worse, so I tried to steer him with conversation.
What topic would work? After a moment, I chose the golden chick I’d just met.
“By the way, I just ran into a little golden chick in the garden.”
Not a real chick, obviously.
I added,
“He was bright yellow, and it turns out he’s the one who drenched me and sicced the bees on me. Do you know who he is?”
“……No.”
Yeah right.
“At least tell me his name.”
“……”
No answer. So I pulled out my key, unlocked the door, and marched straight up to Boss.
I even held up my finger to point directly at my mustache.
“Tell me! He drew this on my face too! Next time I see him, I’ll call his name and give him a proper scold—mmph!”
In an instant, he yanked me close and clamped his huge hand over my mouth. His palm was so large it covered half my face.
Wide-eyed, I looked up at him. The muscles in his jaw bulged tight.
Why was he angry?
“You, you… Don’t ever show up looking like that again!”
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
So unfair!
It wasn’t my fault! The kid drew it!
He didn’t listen. He peeled his hand away just enough for me to cry out my innocence—
“This mustache wasn’t my—mmph!”
He quickly covered me again, then, in a fluster, scooped me up like I weighed nothing.
My feet left the ground.
I knew he was tall, but up close he felt even bigger than Danny.
“Erase it, or don’t come back.”
His voice shook faintly at the edges. He really hated the sight. Then he dumped me right outside the room.
Too upset, I shouted through the door,
“What’s wrong with this mustache! Honestly, I liked it!”
“Ugh. Close the door and leave!”
I heard a strangled groan behind the door as if he was biting down on his lips.
This wasn’t good.
Too dangerous right now.
I decided to retreat for the day.
As I shut the door, I called out,
“I’ll erase it and come back!”
That yellow chick!
So this was his plan—to make me hated by Boss!
In the small clearing of the duke’s estate hill, the golden-haired boy sat hugging his knees, just like Zervant always did.
As he stared at the setting sun, his golden eyes grew wet.
So annoying…
Tears welled up. He quickly scrubbed them away with his sleeve.
“You’ll scratch your eyes like that.”
“You don’t know how much it hurts.”
At the awkwardly accented voices of the twin sisters, the boy—Joshua—sprang to his feet.
“Don’t care!”
“You got found out.”
“Didn’t you?”
“Argh! Don’t talk one after the other like that! You’re so annoying!”
Out of words, he threw a fit for a while, then slumped to the ground, exhausted.
The twins drew closer. Their tall shadows covered him completely, blotting out the twilight.
“We didn’t tell Titia.”
“We pretended not to know. We did well, right?”
“……”
“Titia’s kind.”
“Just making sure you know.”
“……”
Joshua stayed silent, lips pressed tight.
