Chapter 18

Leon even glared at Diane.

“I came here to be your reading teacher, Young Master.”

“I don’t want that. I don’t need a teacher like you. If you’re not going to be my mom, get out!”

Diane was speechless.

She couldn’t understand such unreasonable stubbornness.

After saying this, the little boy’s mouth clamped shut in a way that made him look especially obstinate.

On his face, Diane saw not the features of Duke Adrian Wale, but someone else’s.

‘Ah, he resembles Edward Wale, not his father but his uncle! Well, that makes sense, since he’s his uncle.’

While Diane was thinking of Edward as she looked at Leon’s face, Leon spoke again, sulkily.

“Get out!”

“Young Master, I was hired by your uncle to be your reading teacher. So I don’t think you can just tell me to leave or not.”

Diane spoke firmly.

She could not be swayed by the child’s unreasonable demands.

“No! If I say I won’t take lessons, you can’t teach me. That’s up to me.”

However, Leon’s voice was full of confidence.

Seeing Leon’s voice and expression, Diane finally realized.

Leon’s words were neither exaggerated nor false.

If the boy told her to leave, she might be kicked out of this house after only two days.

Facing Leon’s stern and mature gaze, Diane suddenly recalled the scene she’d witnessed that morning.

The Duke hadn’t flatly refused his son’s request.

Perhaps the Duke was unusually soft with his son, or Leon was simply strong-willed.

Even though it was President Edward Wale who had hired her, Diane felt more strongly now that if Leon rejected her, she couldn’t avoid being dismissed from the mansion.

And she absolutely could not afford to be fired.

As she grasped the situation, a chill ran down her back.

She was in no position to cut off the young master’s demands as bluntly as the Duke might.

If she got kicked out of such a good job, she’d be in a difficult situation again.

Diane steeled herself, determined not to be rejected by the child.

But she couldn’t just say, ‘I’ll be your mom.’

Diane asked cautiously,

“Young Master, so what is it you want from me? What do I have to do for you to continue your reading lessons?”

At Diane’s words, Leon’s stiff face finally relaxed a little.

Noticing herself relaxing at the child’s change in expression, Diane felt a slight chill.

This child was holding her livelihood in his tiny hands.

This little boy.

“You have to eat with me, and come to my room before I fall asleep to read me a book.”

Leon answered, satisfied.

‘Eat together and read a book before bed? Is that… all?’

Diane, who had been extremely tense, felt almost deflated by Leon’s answer.

“If I eat with you and read you a book before bed, is that enough?”

Diane asked gently, and Leon nodded vigorously.

Looking at Leon’s bright face, Diane finally understood what ‘mom’ meant to him.

Eating together and reading before bed were things anyone could do, not just a mother.

In short, they weren’t difficult things.

But this young master kept wanting those little things.

Maybe it was because he lost his mother before he could truly understand what a mother was.

Diane could only guess, but what Leon called ‘being a mom’—those two things—probably weren’t the whole reason or role of a mother.

What the child truly wanted might not be those two things, but the ‘love’ of a mother.

As an adult, Diane could think this way, but the child might be expressing the feeling of ‘love’ through those two concrete actions.

Her heart ached.

Before she knew it, Diane was empathizing with Leon, feeling a sense of kinship with him.

Even as the heir of such a prestigious family, the young master didn’t have what she lacked.

The person a child needs most.

Anyway, she was already supposed to eat with him.

Going to read him a book before bed didn’t seem that hard.

Of course, she’d need Roden’s permission, but it was what the young master wanted, so the butler probably wouldn’t object.

He was the one who’d asked her to join meals, after all.

Besides, Diane felt almost embarrassed to be paid so much for so little work, so having a bit more to do seemed like a good thing.

“Young Master Leon! If those are the two things, I can do them as much as you want.”

As Diane finally spoke confidently, Leon’s eyes widened.

“Really? You’ll really be my mom?”

“Ah…! No, I’m not going to be your mom, but if that’s what a mom does, I can do those things for you.”

Diane hurriedly added, but Leon’s face was already full of satisfaction.

“I knew it. I knew you came to be my mom!”

It seemed Diane’s explanation didn’t reach Leon’s ears. Or maybe he’d decided to only hear what he wanted.

* * *

“Who was it that decided to finalize this contract this week of all times?”

Edward, even after bringing Diane Lina into his home and having dinner with her on the first night, hadn’t had a moment’s rest since dawn the next day because of a contract that needed to be wrapped up. He couldn’t leave his office-slash-suite on the top floor of Wale Hotel.

With at least two more days to go before the work was done, Edward was boiling with frustration and shouted at poor James.

“President, it was you, wasn’t it? You insisted it had to be finished this week. You were upset that the hotel site purchase was taking too long.”

James, having worked nearly around the clock with the president for several days, forgot his fear and talked back.

It was Edward himself who’d rushed the construction of Wale Hotel in Agris, a famous southern resort, so James couldn’t understand why he was ten times more irritable than usual.

As if he’d left a honey jar at home.

‘Ah! Could it be… that woman?’

Diane Lina’s face popped into James’s mind.

He’d heard she’d moved into the ducal mansion.

Her move-in day had been a few days ago, right when the contract was entering its final stage, so maybe the president’s nerves were because of her.

The President was acting strangely.

James unconsciously shook his head.

“So why did the site purchase take so long? Do your job properly! Properly!”

As always, it wasn’t the president’s fault. Never.

James clamped his mouth shut.

If he talked back any more, he’d only get into trouble.

“By tomorrow, no matter what, it has to be done. I’m going to the family home to sleep tomorrow.”

It was because of Diane Lina, after all.

Edward Wale was someone with no affection for the family home.

Saying he’d sleep there… Soon he’d say he was going to sleep with the woman at the family home.

James clicked his tongue inwardly.

“Ah! Before I go to the family home tomorrow, buy some women’s shoes.”

“Yes. Pardon? Shoes?”

Women’s shoes, out of nowhere?

“No, never mind! Buy them today and send them to Upper East. If she keeps going up and down to the fourth floor, she’ll trip. I was so busy I forgot!”

The President muttered cryptic words and, as usual, blamed James for everything, even things he’d forgotten himself.

“So at least tell me who the shoes are for?”

“Who else? Diane Lina! Why would I buy women’s shoes for anyone else?”

Exactly!

Why would the President buy women’s shoes for anyone else?

James wasn’t a mind reader.

But he nodded.

Since it was such an odd request for the President, he should have immediately thought of Diane Lina when ‘women’s shoes’ came up. He’d made a mistake.

“Understood.”

“It’s in the materials you researched before, right? Buy a pair that fits her exactly, comfortable and ‘sturdy,’ and send them right now.”

“Yes.”

James recalled where he’d put the documents on Diane Lina and was relieved he’d already researched her shoe size.

Otherwise, with all the work piling up, he’d have to figure out a woman’s shoe size on top of everything.

How unlucky must the woman be to have caught the eye of a man like that?

James felt a fresh wave of guilt for bringing Diane Lina into the ducal mansion.

“Aren’t you leaving? If you don’t hurry, you won’t finish by tomorrow!”

With Edward’s roar, James fled the President’s office, thinking maybe he was even more pitiful than Diane Lina.

* * *

After dinner, Diane Lina returned to her room and took a box out of the paper bag Roden had handed her earlier.

The bag had only Diane Lina’s name on it, so she asked Roden who’d sent it, but he’d only received it after delivery and didn’t know who’d sent it.

Could it have been Gale or Uncle Walt?

But the appearance of the bag with her name and the sturdy box inside felt different from anything she’d ever received from them.

“Wow…!”

Opening the box, Diane couldn’t help but exclaim.

Shoes.

Low-heeled, slip-on shoes in light violet, with a simple design.

And yet, so clean and pretty that she couldn’t help but admire them.