“Thank you.”

Mrs. Devaka murmured, burying her face in her hands. I noticed her tears, but remained silent, simply standing there looking down at her. Or rather, I couldn’t do anything else. I could vaguely sense how Mrs. Devaka must be feeling right now.

“Really, thank you… Miss Bertin.”

***

Paul, Candy, and Mrs. Devaka quickly adapted to life at Duke Baniche’s residence. I also came to enjoy the daily routine with the three of them. It was especially encouraging that Elodie no longer followed only me around. Until now, perhaps because of the change in environment, Elodie had hardly left my side at the Duke’s residence. But after the Devaka family arrived, the situation changed. Now I didn’t need to take care of Elodie while running the café at the same time.

‘Originally, she would cry and cling to my legs if I didn’t take her to the café…’

It’s not that I didn’t want to see Elodie. Rather, I missed her even more because I couldn’t see her during the day. As usual, I rushed to the Duke’s residence right after closing the café, and approached the playroom window with a pleased smile to check on the children and Mrs. Devaka. Through the slightly open door, I could hear excited voices.

“Candy caught it first! Not Lodi young lady!”

Candy, a year younger than Elodie, shouted clearly. Candy was still so young that she had trouble pronouncing ‘Elodie’ and called her ‘Lodi’, which Elodie seemed to quite like. Of course, Mrs. Devaka was horrified, but who could blame a young child who couldn’t pronounce properly yet?

“Candy, give it here. I saw the young lady catch it first.”

Paul decisively snatched the ball from Candy. Elodie wrung her small hands nervously, visibly unsettled.

“It’s okay for Candy to have it…”

“It’s the rule.”

Paul shook his head. Paul, who wanted to become a future guard, had a tendency to be very obsessed with rules. Mrs. Devaka looked anxious every time Paul brought up rules even in front of Elodie, but I reassured her that it was a good thing.

I wanted Elodie to grow up happily, not as a reckless child who tries to get whatever she wants. Probably Duke Baniche would feel the same way.

“Now it’s the young lady’s turn to throw.”

“Uh, how?”

Elodie looked at the ball with a mix of tension and bewilderment on her face.

“Like this.”

Paul demonstrated, but Elodie still couldn’t get the ball into the hoop. After several attempts, Elodie shook her head and handed the ball back to Paul. Her drooping eyebrows looked so cute.

“…It’s hard.”

“You shouldn’t hold the ball like that. Look, your thumb should be like this…”

Elodie listened to Paul’s explanation with a deeply concentrated face, then carefully threw the ball towards the hoop. The ball, flying in a low arc, hit the edge of the hoop and spun to a stop. Judging by the dead silence, it must have been a breathtakingly tense moment for the children. After a few seconds, the slightly wobbling ball dropped into the hoop.

“Wow!”

The children clapped and cheered.

“You did so well, young lady!”

Even Mrs. Devaka praised her with a bright smile.

“The wind helped me get the ball in.”

Elodie shrugged her shoulders. Seeing the child’s proud expression, I couldn’t help but smile, feeling elated as well.

“The wind? What’s that?”

Paul looked puzzled.

“The wind is… just the wind! Just wind!”

After making this perplexing statement, Elodie handed the ball to Candy.

“It’s Candy’s turn now.”

Just as I was thinking about going inside, I heard an unfamiliar voice from about a dozen steps away.

“I wonder when those noisy brats will go back.”

What?

I doubted my ears, but immediately heard a response to the previous statement.

“Give it up, Johanna. His Grace said they could stay indefinitely, do you think they’d be crazy enough to leave? They’ll probably stay as freeloaders until they die of old age.”

I bit my lip. While I hadn’t heard the voice of the woman called Johanna before, I recognized her companion’s voice.

‘Surely, it was one of the butlers working under Eric.’

Johanna spoke in a voice that still sounded displeased.

“If they knew their place, they wouldn’t. Well, looking at that nanny…”

“Darling, be careful. Have you forgotten what happened to Eric?”

Despite her lover’s warning, Johanna just snorted.

“Oh, excuse me. I was going to say, looking at the ‘guardian’ who doesn’t know her place and struts around, those brats and their mother from the same rural village must be similar.”

A hearty laugh echoed through the corridor. I felt my blood run cold. It would be a lie to say I hadn’t felt hostility towards me before. After all, my first encounter with Eric was the worst. There was no way I could have made a good impression, working the head butler without pay. But to badmouth Mrs. Devaka and the children just because they disliked me…

‘This is natural too.’

I suddenly realized. As long as I invited them, Mrs. Devaka and the children would always be unwelcome guests.

‘The button was wrongly fastened from the start.’

Should I not have been so harsh with Eric? I thought there couldn’t be hostility because Elodie was the young lady and the heir of this house, but that was completely wrong. But regret can’t turn back time. Moreover…

“That woman is clearly trying to seduce His Grace.”

“Johanna!”

“She goes out all dolled up every morning, doesn’t she? And comes back looking disheveled! That’s how I seduced you too, darling. Didn’t you notice?”

“Well, my darling would know women’s affairs better. Come to think of it, it was strange how that woman insisted on following the young lady from the start. Listening to you, it seems she’s trying to become His Grace’s mistress. She should know her place.”

“Now you’re getting it. I’m telling you, that article wasn’t made up out of thin air. The reporters must have swarmed because that woman was wagging her tail so much.”

Huh. This was ridiculous. The newly established <Café Aria> on Saturn Street was conceptualized as a high-end café. Even Eric, an employee, serves customers in a perfect suit, so how could I go there wearing just anything?

As money was coming in quite well, I bought a few dresses that were good for activities on Saturn Street and quite formal. Being early spring, they were modest dresses buttoned up to the neck…

‘Besides, I always run here because I’m eager to see Elodie, so of course I get disheveled! If I wanted to look good, I would have tidied up my clothes instead.’

I frowned. I felt like the puzzle pieces were slowly coming together in my head.

‘This is, being looked down upon.’

It’s not because I responded poorly. They had been wearing colored glasses even before I set foot in this Duke’s residence. That’s probably why they’re saying things they wouldn’t dare utter in front of Elodie.

‘I underestimated the Duke’s residence too much.’

Elodie is the young lady. I am the guardian of the Duke’s only young lady. I thought I might not be welcomed, but I would be respected. I was foolish. I thought they would be careful because of Elodie… but it seems I was wrong. Elodie burst into laughter, probably because Mrs. Devaka had said something funny.

“Ugh, these brats… it’s so noisy I could die.”

“Should we send them to the villa? The work would be easier and the allowance would be higher.”

“No thanks. Then I wouldn’t be able to see my darling, would I? I don’t like that.”

“Oh, you…”

Judging by the smacking sounds that followed, I didn’t need to check what they were doing. My face hardened involuntarily. Not because it was an unseemly sight.

‘Even Elodie is being disrespected.’

Thinking about it, it’s a natural principle. They dislike me and the children I invited. Of course, they would look down on Elodie who gets along well with them and sticks to me like glue.

‘For Elodie’s sake too, I need to resolve this situation.’

I gritted my teeth. The moment they touched Elodie, they might as well have thrown a lit match into a haystack.

‘You don’t like noisy brats? I’ll make sure you can’t even get near our kids for the rest of your life.’