#Chapter 15. Lucy Goes to the Bathroom

“Sir Bruno, the two tutors who taught at the Zenova ducal residence were dismissed.”

“Did you find out why they were dismissed?”

Bruno asked with a pleased expression.

“It seems they select based on academics, but both the first and second were given warnings before starting. However, they didn’t seem satisfied with those warnings.”

“What kind of warnings did they give?”

“Well…… It was something about giving plenty of time to think, but more than that, there was a common point when they were dismissed. When criticism about a lady’s life was included, the lessons were immediately stopped.”

“A lady’s life? Aha! Hahahahahaha!!”

Bruno burst into laughter.

“Hah…… I never thought those words would be true. Good. Well done.”

Bruno nodded to his subordinate and immediately ordered him to withdraw.

“Select a few good-looking ones among those with decent education. Choose men with desires so they’re easy to use.”

“Yes, understood.”

*

“Lucy. Marchioness Orsini is coming to the house today. How about playing with Benjamin and solving history quizzes?”

“That sounds great!! Then before the quiz, I want to make flower rings with Benjamin!”

Lucy jumped and hugged Ariel.

“Then we’ll go outside today, so shall we tie your hair in a ponytail?”

When Ariel asked, Lucy nodded vigorously.

“Yes, yes!”

Later, the marchioness and Benjamin came to play at the ducal residence.

Ariel, who welcomed the guests who came to the ducal residence, took Benjamin and the marchioness to Lucy’s playroom and chatted for a while.

“Benjamin! How about we go out to the field instead of the playroom and make flower rings?”

Unlike Lucy’s delighted invitation, Benjamin didn’t look very pleased.

Certainly because he was a boy, he seemed uninterested in things like flower rings.

“Elisha would like it if you gave it to her later!”

However, as soon as Elisha was mentioned, Benjamin’s face turned red and he nodded to Lucy’s suggestion.

“…… Would Elisha like it?”

“Of course! You can make it and give it to Elisha, or you can make it for her when you’re together! Oh, I can make flower crowns too, not just flower rings! My mom taught me!”

Because of Lucy, who acted as if bragging about something amazing, Ariel smiled awkwardly.

The marchioness, who watched this from the side, looked at Lucy enviously.

“You must be really happy, Duchess. I would have been happier if my second child had been a daughter too.”

“Two sons are also cute and wonderful.”

“At home, the two of them have sword fights every day. Moreover, they fight so often that I deliberately didn’t bring the second one today.”

The marchioness, who shook her head, said that two boys were a bit overwhelming.

“…… Do you perhaps hire tutors separately for the first and second sons?”

When Ariel asked the marchioness, the marchioness nodded.

“Yes. Since what they learn as heirs is different, it doesn’t fit. …… Are you perhaps thinking of hiring a tutor?”

Since the marchioness had wanted to discuss tutor matters, she didn’t know how to receive the changed story about hiring a tutor for Lucy.

Ariel, who nodded calmly, met the marchioness’s eyes.

“Yes…… Lucy said it would be good to have a tutor because she has high academic curiosity.”

“Oh my, I see. To want to hire a tutor. Indeed, she’s exceptional in learning.”

“Actually, the reason I didn’t hire a tutor from an early age was because of my strong will. I didn’t know it would cause such a stir in high society.”

When Ariel gave a short laugh, the marchioness slowly nodded.

“When I heard the news that you didn’t hire one, I understood to some extent, though it was presumptuous of me. And coming here and hearing the lady’s words, I became even more certain.”

The marchioness’s eyes, which had been looking at the children, now contained bitter sadness as if recalling the past.

“If you hire a tutor, the warmth of making flower rings that you taught and reading books every evening will disappear, and only her life as a noble lady will remain.”

At the marchioness’s unexpected words, Ariel slightly parted her lips.

No one in high society had empathized with Ariel’s actions.

Everyone wrapped their words in plausible packaging, but the marchioness was the first to truly understand Ariel’s actions.

“When His Majesty the Emperor was still Crown Prince, all parents of young ladies of that age would have wanted to raise their daughters as the crown princess. My parents were no exception. It was truly…… harsh. At such a young age. My parents seemed to teach me imperial etiquette with fire in their eyes.”

At the marchioness’s words, Ariel also recalled the past.

Her childhood when she couldn’t eat well or laugh well. The time when she tried hard to become the most wonderful trophy came to mind.

“Oh, we also invited several tutors who taught you at our house.”

“Oh my, we grew up under the same teachers.”

“It wouldn’t have been just me. If it was said that you learned from someone, that tutor rose to stardom from that day on.”

Ariel blinked at the unknown fact.

“Such a thing happened. I had no idea.”

“That’s why the fact that you didn’t hire a tutor spread widely in high society. Everyone tried to learn from the tutors who taught the duchess, but when you didn’t hire tutors……”

Ariel, who smiled bitterly, nodded. She wasn’t completely unable to understand that betrayal felt by high society.

Along with Ariel’s successful marriage, everyone would have believed that her actions would become a model for high society.

However, after he went to war, she began clinging to her child and completely withdrew from high society, so their sense of betrayal would have been considerable.

“Actually, when I heard that news, I thought you might not have wanted to give your child the same education as in the past.”

Ariel nodded and looked at Lucy’s back as she walked ahead.

“That’s right. I wanted to let her live her life rather than a noble lady’s life.”

The flowing blonde hair suddenly turned back.

When Ariel met Lucy’s eyes and expressed her question with a look, Lucy ran toward Ariel.

“…… Mom, I’ll go to the bathroom for a moment!”

“Hm? Let’s go together with Mom.”

When Ariel reached out her arm to Lucy, Lucy shook her head.

“No. It’s fine. I’ll go with Bella. Wait here in the garden! Okay?”

Lucy, who said this, whispered to Ariel that it might take a while.

She made an embarrassed face saying her stomach hurt, so Ariel quickly nodded.

*

“Add these files to the tutor list and replace them with what I’m giving you now.”

At Bruno’s command, a woman wearing the ducal residence’s maid uniform hesitantly received the files.

“You’ll pay me money just for doing this?”

At the maid’s words, Bruno took out a money pouch and threw it to the maid.

“If you do the job well to the end, I’ll give you the rest of the promised amount.”

The maid, who took the pouch, nodded and entered the ducal residence through the back door.

It was a time when the servants were relaxed since everyone, including the lady and madam, had gone out.

The maid, who dusted off her apron, pressed the money pouch inside with her hand.

“Lizzy!”

The butler on the second floor called the maid, Lizzy.

“Since Bella went out briefly as the lady’s maid today, didn’t you take charge of Madam’s bedroom? Go in quickly and work!”

The butler, who thought she was slacking off, quickly gave orders.

Lizzy, who calmed her startled heart, nodded and moved to the duchess’s bedroom.

It was work she had deliberately paid Bella a silver coin to switch.

She had to succeed no matter what. Lizzy, who put her hand in the pouch and checked the pouch once more with her fingertips, looked around.

Fortunately, there was no one nearby.

When she opened the door with a creak, she felt no presence inside.

Lizzy, who walked carefully, looked down at the tutor list placed in the center of the duchess’s bedroom.

First, she placed the file Bruno gave her at the front and removed several files to replace them with other files containing false information.

After completing the mission and putting the real files in her bosom, everything became a perfect crime.

Lizzy naturally began dusting the sofa next to the table with a duster.

It was the moment when she was calming her pounding heart and briefly exhaled a sigh of relief, “Phew.”

“Wow. Lizzy switched them.”

A familiar voice strongly hit Lizzy’s ear.

When startled Lizzy slowly turned her head back, a very small and pretty blonde…… lady stood there.

Behind her was even maid Bella, who had participated in Lizzy’s crime!

“L, Lady……”

Lucy picked up the fake file on the table.

Lucy, with a calm attitude, smiled brightly and looked through the files one by one.

“Did Uncle Bruno tell you to do this?”

A voice as clear as a glass marble pierced Lizzy’s ear.

It was a voice somewhat detached from the reality she was experiencing.

She wasn’t angry, nor was she mocking or quickly calling the butler. She was just asking Lizzy.

“…… Hm? Why, is it difficult to answer?”

She had to answer well. If she said Bruno did it like this, her younger siblings back home would surely all die.

Since she was already caught by the lady, she couldn’t save her own life, so shouldn’t she at least save her siblings?

“…… No.”

“Ah~ No? Then who told Lizzy to do such a bad thing?”

“That’s……”

“That’s? But you need to speak well.”

The lady, who put down the fake file she was looking at, met Lizzy’s eyes.

In the green eyes, the same as Madam’s, was an unknown light she had never seen while serving Madam.

“…… Yes?”

“The person who can do something to Lizzy’s family back home is…… not just the person who told Lizzy to do this bad thing. You haven’t forgotten that this is the Zenova ducal residence, have you, Lizzy?”

A more wicked smile appeared on Lucy’s face, which had been consistently smiling.

It was hard to believe it was a threat from a seven-year-old.

“L, Lady, please forgive me. Please.”

Lizzy, who understood the lady’s words, immediately knelt down.

“You want forgiveness?”

“Yes, yes. Really, please forgive me. I won’t do such things again. If you tell me, I’ll leave the ducal residence immediately. Please.”

“No. That won’t do. Instead, I’d like you to become a traitor again.”

“Yes?”

A gaze moving like a pretty sculpture looked down at the kneeling Lizzy.

“Go to Bruno and tell him you solved the matter well.”