Chapter 28

Young Mistress, Collapsed

With Dean assisting and shortening the time needed to work on fief management, I recently have time to spare to go to town . As I thought, I feel refreshed every time I go to town .

“Ah, Dean! I wonder if it’s fine if we make the orphanage as our last stop?”

“If that is Alice-sama’s wish . ”

By the way, when I headed to town, I invited Dean along . Because work ended early… I was thinking of ways to pay him back, it suddenly came to my mind .

In the beginning, Tanya strongly opposed the idea . While saying, “To actually suggest bringing someone whose character is unknown . ” But because of mother’s recommendation and grandfather’s presence, I managed to pull through .

By the way, although Dean is not used to children, he is quite good at handling them . Because of that, compared to me, he is more popular . …When I think about it, I’m quite frustrated, but after seeing the happy faces of the children, I decided to hold it in .

“Onii-chan, onee-chan . Will you come here again?”

The child approached us and looked up at us with an upward glance . Ahh, so cute…!

“Of course . Right, Dean?”

“Yeah . Therefore, please be a good child and wait a little . ”

When dusk came, I, who enjoyed myself to the fullest, left the orphanage to return home . Un . I had a lot of fun today . Let’s do our best again tomorrow .

Although I took a break from time to time when mother came to visit, but as always, there was no day offs . However, when Dean came, I have recently been taking days off and coming to town .

Or rather, when Dean is here, work unexpectedly finishes early, as a result, it was fine even if I take a day off . As I thought, days off really are important .

“…Alice-sama…”

“Because we’re already inside the compound, it’s all right if you don’t call me Alice anymore . ”

With me retort, Dean laughed lightly .

“Pardon me . Young mistress, why do you work so hard to that extent?”

Because of the sudden and unexpected question, I stopped walking .

“You, yourself, aren’t you working hard as well?”

“It is different for me . I am working because I need to do it to live . However, the young mistress is different . As a daughter of a Duke, a daughter of the Prime Minister… even if you don’t work, won’t you still be able to survive?”

Well, that is certainly true . Among the aristocrats, it is rare for a woman to work . To protect the house and manage the household is the wife’s duty . Even in our fief, it was the butlers and the other employees who were arranged to manage our house and the fief .

“But I was granted the position of the fief Lord’s proxy by father . And to work befitting of our position, isn’t that what being an aristocrat is all about?”

“With all due respect… the image I had of aristocrats are people who do nothing but exploit taxes of the people of their fief, and continued to live that way . In addition, the young mistress could do what the fief Lord has done and leave it all to Sebastian-san . ”

“That method, it’s not as though it has never crossed my mind . But as I thought, since I have been given the responsibility… even though I’m still inexperienced, I thought to give it my best . And it is also an opportunity . But now…”

I gently looked at my hand . …A very, very small hand . It holds the life and future of the fief’s people, but yet very undeserving to protect them, and so I laughed while looking at myself .

“When I met the children in that orphanage, I thought that even if it’s me… No, because it’s me, I can do it . When I do my best, if it increases the smile of the people even just a little… If the people can find happiness, wouldn’t that be such a great thing?”

“…You are right . ”

When he gave a beautiful smile, I was fascinated for a moment . …That was dangerous, too dangerous . Because Dean’s smile has destructive powers, I really need to be careful . I became slightly embarrassed, so I quickly thanked everyone and headed to my room in a rush . Ah, really… I’m not that kind of character .

…And then, two days later . At the end of Dean’s contract, I collapsed for the first time since I came here . Up until now, I have always taken care of my health… so why?

But because of my high fever, I couldn’t concern myself with thinking of such matters, and so I slept .

The next time I opened my eyes, the room has already gotten dark . …Was I sleeping for the entire day?

“…Haaa…”

Taking care of one’s health is the basics of the basics when it comes to work . I collapsed and then spent the whole day sleeping… I still have ways to go .

“…Tanya . ”

Although my voice sounded a little hoarse, my throat seems to be fine . …In any case, I feel thirsty . I feel unpleasant because I perspired a lot and my clothes were sticking to my skin .

When I called out, Tanya who was waiting inside my room immediately arrived beside my bed . And the expression on her face looked a little angry, and she seemed to have cried .

“…Please give me, some water . After that, please bring me a towel dipped in water and wrung . I want to wipe my body . ”

“I understand . ”

She probably already had it prepared . She shortly handed me a glass of water and I quickly drank it . …Un, it permeates down my throat .

After that, Tanya promptly handed me a wet towel to wipe myself with .

…Tomorrow, I wonder how much work had piled up …Just thinking about it scares me . Dean had already returned to his parents’ house by the end of this morning . Ah, I shouldn’t have rested yesterday… Although I would think that, it’s too late to regret it . In any case, today I will fully rest myself, and began to fall asleep .

The next morning, while my body still felt heavy, I dragged myself to the study . Ah, I wonder how much documents have piled up… While I was thinking that, I opened the door and found the usual amount of documents on top of the desk… No, it’s a slightly less than usual .

“Eh…?”

While I was wondering why, with perfect timing, someone knocked on the door, and the person who entered was Dean .

“Dean! What’s wrong? Weren’t you supposed to leave yesterday morning?”

“Young mistress as well, is your body all right now?”

“Yes . Because I was able to rest for all of yesterday . That aside, this amount…”

“I finished everything I could with my authority . All that’s left are the documents and reports that need the young mistress’ approval . ”

“Is that so… Thank you . However, Dean . Will you be all right? I mean, aren’t you delayed by one day?”

“The young mistress wasn’t feeling well, there’s no way I can leave like that . I will be leaving tomorrow, though . ”

“…I’m really sorry to have caused you trouble . ”

“It’s fine . Because it’s something I did on my own . Now then, please look over these . ”

After Dean placed the documents on the desk, he left the room . When he left, I roughly looked at the documents he left on the desk . …There’s no particular problem . And I’m troubled because there isn’t any problem .

“… . Haaa…”

I unintentionally blew out a heavy sigh . …It is no good at this rate . At this rate, I will end up depending on him . In terms of work and other things . …It’s like that even now . Because he is around, I feel relieved . I rely on him . …At the same time, I want him to stay .

However, it’s no good . …I don’t want to feel like this anymore . I realized it at that time with the situation with Ed-sama . A person will one day betray others . Because of that reason, I believe that I must stand on my own two feet .

It has always been like that . I’ll accept the help . I will rely on others . If it’s this person, I can leave it to them, and I start trusting them . However, on the other hand, how much can I can leave it to this person… and how much I can trust that person, I drew a line . Since that was the case, it would have been fine if they ever betray me .

…Nevertheless, he is trying to destroy that line . He is slowing creeping into the depths of my heart without permission, making me want to leave everything to him . That’s why… I’m scared .

I strongly deny that thought and shook my head from side to side . …Let’s not think about this any further . By not thinking about it and putting a cap on it… before one realizes, that thought has already disappeared .

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