Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Yes?”

“Well, she says I’m bothersome… or she pushed me to go away…”

Elliot thought he lowered his voice enough, but unfortunately, I heard everything.

Anriche narrowed her eyes.

‘Oh my, what can I do. There are a lot of evil deeds this body has accumulated so far…’

So, just when Anriche was caught up in her deep skepticism.

“No, she didn’t.” Liliana spoke with a rare determination.

In response to an unexpected answer, Elliott widened his eyes unknowingly.

“What? She didn’t?”

“Yes. She, I mean mother.”

Liliana glanced up at Anriche with her side glance, clenching her two fists to fit her cuteness, and spoke clearly.

“…She’s a very good person.”

Yes, Liliana! That’s it!

Step by step like that, improving my image.

Anriche clenched her fists, shouting cheers internally.

“She has been very good to me.”

“…Mother? ”

“Yes. This dress I am wearing right now was chosen by mother.”

Liliana’s face, saying so, was filled with pride for Anriche.

Elliott narrowed his eyebrows.

That can’t be true. My mother has never even chosen a suit for me.

“Really? Are you not being threatened or something like that?”

Asking so, Elliott stepped his foot towards Liliana.

“If that’s the case, if you shake the handkerchief…”

“It’s not like that.”

Liliana put strength to her words.

When he heard the answer, Elliott looked at Anriche and Liliana alternately without hiding his suspicious expression.

But then.

Growl.

In Liliana’s stomach, a loud sound came.

“Uh, uh… ?!”

Liliana’s cheeks turned red like ripe tomatoes in no time. However, the beating sound did not stop.

Rumble, rumble.

“I, I don’t know…”

They were talking about something serious, what a shame this is!

You are so stupid!

Liliana stopped crying.

Unable to overcome her embarrassment, Liliana covered her face with both her hands.

“You know, Liliana.”

Then, a calm voice was heard. Liliana, struggling to hide her embarrassment, faced Liliana quietly from the gap of her fingers.

“Yes, mother….”

“Did you have lunch today?”

“…That, that.”

When Liliana heard the question, she closed her eyes tightly.

What should she do, she’s so embarrassed that she’s going to pass out right now!

However, Anriche wasn’t asking questions to make fun of Liliana. She was holding back the burning anger.

‘No, how hungry a child can be to make such a rumbling sound!?’

Anriche looked at Elliott and Liliana alternately.

Unlike Elliott, who has chubby rosy cheeks, Liliana’s cheeks were pale without any flesh. In her small, skinny body, even the soft curves peculiar to a girl are not revealed.

“You haven’t had lunch? Then, what about breakfast?”

“…”

“…Oh dear, have you been starving all day today?”

Liliana, instead of an answer, dropped her head to the floor.

At the moment, sparks bounced from the purple eyes.

‘Whether it was Rondini or Panini, I had to step on them a little more…!’ Anriche clenched her teeth.

At the same time, Liliana looked at Anriche with a terrified face.

“I, uh, mother.”

“Huh?”

Anriche, who had been angry for quite a while, quickly came to her senses.

Liliana’s shoulders were trembling.

“I’m sorry for showing an unladylike appearance… I’ll be careful in the future.”

“No, it’s not that!”

“So don’t be angry. Pl, please forgive me just once…”

Liliana hurriedly looked into Anriche’s eyes.

Somehow, feeling sad, Anriche swallowed her sigh.

It’s just a physiological phenomenon to make a rumbling noise from the stomach. If they had fed the child well in the first place, it wouldn’t even sound like that.

After a while, Anriche opened her mouth.

“Liliana.”

“Yes?”

“From today, I’m going to give you an assignment. Can you do well?”

“Yes, of course!”

Without even being told what the assignment was, Liliana nodded her head.

The child’s light-yellow eyes were filled with only infinite trust for Anriche.

Anriche’s gaze sank deeply.

‘…How hungry for affection is she to follow me who she saw for the first time.’

All Anriche did was bring a child from the orphanage and buy her some sets of clothes.

It was as if she saw a young animal trusting and following the first person it saw as its mother.

At some point, she could feel that her nose was sniffing. Anriche vainly turned her gaze away and said something.

“The assignment is…”

***

A while after.

Liliana sat in front of the dining table with a colossal amount of food.

It started with light soup, then tenderly cooked veal hind legs, followed by lasagna made with layers of minced meat, tomato sauce, and cheese. There were also fresh salads, juices, and fluffy white bread.

“Today, I want you to eat comfortably, so I deliberately asked to put all the food on the table.”

“Yes? Can I do that? Well, the table manners…”

“Then, what about when we’re alone?”

Anriche, who winked, pushed a plate of cookies in front of Liliana’s nose.

“Oh, the dessert is chocolate chip cookies.”

Liliana looked down at the food on the table with a fascinating gaze.

She had attended the Rondini family’s meal.

She would watch the scene of skillfully cutting ribs while swallowing her saliva. Though Liliana thought she would never even have a chance to eat good food, like they had, in her lifetime.

‘This… I think it’s much better than the food I saw then.’

Liliana lifted her fork and carefully cut a piece of lasagna into her mouth.

At the same time, the light-colored eyes began to shimmer.

“….!!”

My God, there are so many delicious foods!

Her tongue seemed to melt.

Liliana cut a piece of veal and put it in her mouth. The sweet and salty sauce, along with the texture of the soft meat, tickled her tongue.

It was the first taste she ever tasted.

“Yes, you have to eat a lot.”

Anriche watched Liliana engrossed in her meal with a happy face.

“If you eat a lot, you will be able to complete the task I gave you.”

Because the task she gave to Liliana was ‘to gain enough weight to make her forearms and cheeks soft.’

Liliana, who chewed in her mouth like a rabbit, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

After swallowing the food, she looks down.

“I, thank you.”

“For?”

“I mean, you prepared a meal for me like this.”

‘What the hell does that mean?’ Anriche narrowed her eyes.

Liliana turned and had a guilty look, gaze falling to the back of her hand that was holding the tableware.

“Because of one me, I’ve caused a lot of trouble.”

In the past, when she was living under Baron Rondini, it was difficult to even get a piece of dry bread to eat.

Washing the floor all day, hanging wet laundry, and serving orphans…

‘I didn’t even have time to sit at the table.’

Liliana, who was so buried with her work, could only sit at the table late at night when the stars were bright. However, the only thing that she got in return was Baron Rondini’s fierce shouting.

‘Do you know how much money it costs to have you? ‘

‘A girl who is ungrateful and doesn’t know how to appreciate food!’

Followed by the waves of laughter from the Baroness and the Lady.

From that day on, Liliana got into the habit of hiding and eating out of their sight because she’s a bothersome kid, she can’t bother others.

If the Rondini family cleaned up the leftovers, she had to starve herself to sleep that day.

Had some of her close friends not secretly provided food behind her, Liliana might have really died.

“Don’t think about that.”

Then, a firm voice rang. Anriche, who straightened her waist, was looking straight at Liliana.

“The employees currently residing in the townhouse are those employed by dukes.”

The violet pupils were rarely strict.

Anriche said clearly.

“They take care of this townhouse, and we take care of the employees with a decent pay.”

“I know that, but…”

“Because this townhouse is maintained by the efforts of the employees, of course, you should be grateful for it. But.”

But?

Liliana tilted her head.

Anriche continued her broken words.

“Their work includes serving Lilian’s meal.”

“Well, can I really think so?”

“Of course. So, you don’t have to feel guilty about that. All right?” Anriche added jokingly.

“If you have time to worry about such a problem, try to eat another bite of the stew.”