Chapter 68
“Dinner?”
Sharon Abner lifted her head from the documents she had been reviewing.
Behind Wendel, who nodded in response, she could see the maids attending to Anellia.
“Suddenly wanting to have dinner with me…”
Anellia had always eaten dinner alone.
From the moment Sharon had taken her in, she had arranged it that way out of consideration, worried the child might feel uncomfortable.
“When I asked what she wanted, she said she wished to have dinner with you, my lady…”
Sharon Abner frowned slightly, her expression dazed.
Is this suggestion praise for Lia doing well in her role here?
I’ll become independent when the duke wishes it.
The answer the child had given her, so earnestly, when Sharon suggested adoption resurfaced in her mind.
The girl had spoken as though she were certain she would one day be cast out.
As though she believed the only reason she had been taken in was because she had been useful to the family.
“…Was she afraid of me?”
Sharon Abner narrowed her brow.
Of course, that had never been the reason she decided to adopt the child.
She herself was the sole surviving member of the Misherian bloodline.
Which meant something quite simple.
Sharon Abner, too, had once been in a situation very similar to Anellia’s—when she was only five years old.
But she had been fine.
Even when I was left alone in the world, I had a husband who took me in.
Her husband, Lloyd, had brought her to the Abner ducal house when she was all alone, and made her family.
Sharon Abner still remembered those childhood days spent with the Abner family.
I thought that child, too, should have someone like my husband.
Every time she was reminded that Anellia was officially alone, her heart felt strangely unsettled.
That feeling only deepened after the children from the Ivehill Orphanage had come to visit.
Lia can’t be adopted anymore.
She’s already here. She’ll stay here until she grows up.
It wasn’t only the orphanage children who were troubled by the fact that Anellia alone would never meet her family.
At first, Sharon had even considered having Anellia adopted by another respectable noble house.
After all, she could still support the child even if Anellia bore a different surname.
But when she seriously thought about carrying it out, an inexplicable, twisting feeling rose in her gut.
“Grandmother Empress!”
Especially when she imagined Anellia calling someone else “Grandmother,” the way she did the Empress Dowager…
Sharon Abner abruptly stood up.
The two maids and Wendel stared at her in surprise.
She spoke solemnly.
“We’ll have dinner together.”
She needed to check how the child was really doing anyway.
They were family now.
Especially if it wasn’t that she felt uncomfortable around me.
“I’ll soon arrange an occasion to introduce the child to society. Now that I think about it, there’s much to prepare.”
Little by little, all sorts of tasks came to mind.
First of all, Sharon Abner wanted to completely redo the child’s room.
“For now, I need to find out what she likes.”
A strange sense of determination flared up inside her.
If the child became comfortable living in this mansion as a young lady, if her heart grew more at ease—
Perhaps, just once, she might even call her by that title.
“Make sure you remember this. From now on, she is to wear only the finest clothes and eat only the most valuable food. You already know, but that child still needs to gain much more weight.”
The two maids nodded fervently.
Wendel, too, listened with a serious expression.
* * *
“So th-that’s why… having twenty-four bodyguards is—”
“I see. As I thought, that’s far too few. I’ll add the same number again.”
“…Pardon?”
I froze mid-motion, my fork halfway to my mouth.
Sharon Abner and I were quietly eating at the prepared table.
What? I was trying to say there are too many!
“What about servants? Don’t you need more attendants?”
Blinking in confusion, I hesitantly waved my hand.
“Uh—no! Lia is already very—!”
“Yes. Very uncomfortable, I imagine. After all, how could just two possibly attend to you properly?”
“Huh?”
“A daughter of a ducal house should have at least three or four servants. I’ll add two more. No—three?”
My vision spun, and I set my fork down completely.
But Sharon Abner wasn’t finished.
“And soon, I’ll prepare an occasion to introduce you to high society. As it happens, there’s a suitable event coming up.”
“A s-suitable event…?”
“Isn’t autumn just around the corner? His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday banquet is close. At this banquet, House Abner will be commended for great merit, so it will be the perfect occasion.”
My eyes widened.
Receiving merit from the Emperor?
If it was something like that…
“Do you know the Eastern Continent?”
Sharon Abner set down her cutlery and met my gaze.
I nodded.
“As you may have heard, war is raging on the Eastern Continent. The Eastern Alliance and the Kingdom of Pantaeon are fighting.”
Of course, I already knew.
I was the one who had provided Tian with war intelligence to secure this contract.
But I listened quietly.
“We supplied weapons to the Eastern Alliance, and as a result, they’ve gained the upper hand.”
“Wow…”
“At this point, their victory seems all but certain. The war didn’t even last long. Many say it’s thanks to our weapons.”
A faint smile appeared on Sharon Abner’s lips.
I hurriedly chimed in.
“That’s amazing! Is that why His Majesty is rewarding House Abner?”
“Yes. And I want you to receive that reward from His Majesty.”
“M-me?”
“Yes. You.”
At her gesture, the chefs rushed forward and cleared the plate in front of her.
“I hear you said something like this to the Crown Prince—that the Eastern Continent trade routes were blocked.”
My eyes flew open.
Did Tian tell her that?
I was so flustered I couldn’t close my mouth.
He had only just begun securing his position in the imperial palace.
He could easily have omitted the fact that the information came from me.
That way, he could have claimed all the credit for himself.
That’s why I sent it in a letter!
“He said everything was possible thanks to you. So naturally, you should be the one to receive the gift His Majesty bestows.”
“Th-that’s…”
“You’re a proper member of House Abner now.”
In the end, I closed my mouth.
An excessive number of bodyguards.
An excessive budget.
And servants who might continue to increase.
I felt like I’d come to remove a burden—only to have an even bigger one attached.
* * *
After dinner, I trudged toward the main building.
Logrio followed at a fixed distance behind me.
This was the drastic measure he’d taken because I complained so much about the guards.
“I cannot abandon Your Ladyship’s protection. These are the orders of His Highness the Crown Prince and Duke Abner. So…”
“…?”
“The other guards will remain out of sight. Except for me. This is to ensure your safety.”
I shot Logrio a gloomy glance.
Logrio—who should have been Tian’s loyal aide by now.
Everything’s ruined…
Things kept getting more and more tangled.
My bodyguard count had increased to forty today.
Sharon Abner had added an entire extra squad.
I’d protested desperately at the end, shouting, “I don’t need that many! I really don’t!” but it was useless.
“We only need as many escorts as necessary. Have about twenty lie in wait, and split the remaining twenty into groups of five to secure all directions. Yes. That should be perfect.”
Meanwhile, Sharon Abner herself had only one guard—Wendel!
One Logrio is enough for me too…
Logrio was an excellent knight.
Even after losing the wrist he’d mainly used in his previous life, he’d retained formidable swordsmanship.
And yet, on top of that, thirty-nine more Abner knights…
The more I thought about it, the more I sighed, my shoulders slumping.
“It’s overwhelming. This is really overwhelming…”
The words spilled out under my breath.
Why is Sharon Abner acting like this?
She could’ve just treated me like a temporary honorary young lady.
But there were so many things about her behavior that didn’t make sense.
“From now on, let’s have dinner together every day—unless I’m away from the estate.”
“Y-Yes?”
“If you said you wanted to eat with me, then that means we… ahem. We are now…”
“…?”
“Anyway, we’ll eat together. Just remember that.”
She finished her meal in no time, then stared at me the entire time I ate.
It was as if she’d come solely to watch me eat.
Every time her serious gaze sharpened, the chefs brought out another dish.
As a result, I now felt like my stomach was about to burst.
I was trudging along in a daze when—
“Anellia?”
A voice called out from across the garden.
I lifted my head to see a familiar, welcome face approaching from the distance.
