“......I was really like a beggar.”
Looking back on the past, I smiled weakly. I thought maybe it was much better to be a “fake princess” now, which I thought was no better than me.
“That’s enough, it’s nothing more than past.”
I jumped out of bed. At times like this, I had to move my body. Staying still will only erode you into gloomy thoughts.
I took out a shawl and went out of the room. I was going to take a walk.
I was just going down the stairs across the hall.
“.....lady.”
I happened to run into the butler who was coming down from upstairs. He asked with astonishment.
“Where are you going?”
“Outside the house.”
“You’re going to East Hill to see the fireworks?”
“......East Hill?”
As I asked back, I immediately remembered where it was. Not long ago, it was a small hill where I was taken by Derek and came down alone.
Penelope must have been out to watch fireworks on the last day of the festival every year. I found out why the Duke asked such a question at the dining room.
“No.”
I shook my head straight away. I wasn’t romantic enough to go all the way there just to see fireworks.
“What are you doing this time...”
“I’m bored.”
The butler put on an awkward face. It may be quite embarrassing to see a kid who had been going steady until last year suddenly change her attitude.
But it didn’t matter. A wicked woman is bound to boil with whims.
“To celebrate the victory, the finale of this festival will be much bigger than last year...”
“Fireworks will be everywhere.”
I don’t know why the butler is holding me back and telling me this story. It was very uncomfortable to face him because he was also at the luncheon earlier.
“Good luck, then.”
I brushed right past him.
“Lady Penelope.”
But I couldn’t go down the stairs because of the urgent voice that held me.
“......why?”
Down a notch, I stopped and looked back at him. The old butler hesitated for a while and managed to open his mouth.
“..........I’m on my way back from organizing the attic under the direction of the Duke.”
“.......”
“I’m on my way to deliver it to you.”
“To me?”
I wondered why the butler told me that. The passage to the attic was at the end of the corridor on the third floor. So I’ve never been there.
“Why?”
“...... don’t you often go up when you’re young? When you first came to the dukedom, you saw fireworks in the attic.”
“......”
“The Duke probably told me to clean up the attic because he remembered it.”
“You have to say what you want to say right away, butler.”
I cut off him coldly, with a sarcasm, burst into laughter.
“I’ve been in a position where I couldn’t go up even though I wanted to. Thanks to someone who felt uncomfortable for me climbing up there often, the third floor was closed, and I couldn’t get near the attic.”
“......”
His mouth shut. I wouldn’t have been this aggressive if I were normal. The butler happened to have a bad time. It was because he caught me who was on my way to calm down my anger because of the strangely overlapping situation with the past.
My sharp point carved deep wrinkles on the butler’s forehead.
“... Mrs. Donna was fired immediately. Miss.”
He carefully opened his mouth again with a darkened look.
“The Duke was so angry that she was kicked out naked without a penny of severance pay.”
“........”
“There was no more punishment for this woman, who had been a duchess for a long time, and who was a fallen family, but who had enemies in her own writer.”
I opened my eyes wide at the unexpected news. Looking at the butler with a puzzled look, he calmly continued.
“But Master Derek has come forward and burned his employment contracts and letters of recommendation, so she won’t be able to find a job in the aristocracy.”
“So? Do I owe you a toast?”
I blinked and asked back in a cold tone.
It was a little surprising, but it wasn’t exactly a pleasant story. Why didn’t you take any action last time to solve a problem that can be solved right away?
‘What’s with the measures? I would read about how long Emily had worked and threaten her to live quietly.’
When I recalled Derek at that time, I felt even more pathetic.
“You don’t have to give me all that stuff. It’s not my responsibility anyway.”
“The Duke was heartbroken by the day. He seem to keep worrying about your skipping meals.”
So what do you want me to do? Pressing down the words that filled my throat, I forced up the corners of my mouth.
“If I go down to the dining room and eat now, will my father feel better?”
“Princess.”
It was then.
“It’s all my fault today.”
The butler suddenly bowed deeply in front of me. I opened my eyes wide.
“My biggest fault is that I haven’t been able to faithfully support you under the pretext of being busy. If you punish me separately, I’ll take it sweetly.”
“......”
“By the way, my lady.......... could you please accept the Duke’s sincerity?”
I looked at the butler with a strident glance, bowing before me.
“After leaving the dining room like that, the Duke thought a lot about how to get rid of your hurt feelings. Then he came up with what you liked when you were young.”
“You know it’s very rare to withdraw an order once you’ve given us.”
What the butler said was true. It has already been six years since he locked up all the doors on the third floor and banned her from entering due to a small commotion that took place shortly after she was adopted.
But now that you want to withdraw it, it must have been shocking in many ways to see your abused foster daughter who showed you her broken heart.
The butler stooped more closely, seeing me thoughtless and silent, thinking that there was hope.
“The old man opened the third floor, which was closed himself, and arranged the attic with all his heart. So let’s get out of here, lady.”
“.........”
I looked at the butler with a dull face without an answer.
If it was really Penelope who was here now, not me, she would have been so happy.
One of the humans who led the bullying was fired and the family’s attention was drawn. How satisfying would this situation be for the deacon, whom I have always felt sorry for, to nod his head to me?
But...
It’s late.
I wasn’t Penelope.
Why didn’t you do this for her at least once before I came into this body? If so, this stupid, pathetic little girl would have forgiven everything unlike me.
‘It’s too late.’
At the moment, the butler’s pupils, which found my face distorted in a mess, expanded greatly.
“Oh, lady?”
when the embarrassed man raised his back completely
“...yes. How can I ignore my father’s sincerity?””
I had a quick look on my face.
“I was just on my way out for a walk, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go there after a long time.”
When he look like he was going to cry, I went back to my arrogant Penelope and said,
“Take me to the attic.”
It did not seem to have fully opened the third floor. Crossing the hallway, a large two-door was tightly locked with a chain wrapped around it.
‘That’s the lady’s room, isn’t it?
Penelope’s room was pretty good, but the FL’s room was different from the size of the door. It wasn’t offensive or upsetting.
‘How can a real daughter and an adopted daughter be treated the same way? You need to know your place.’
As I passed in front of it, the butler looked at me with a particularly. Of course I didn’t show anything.
When I opened the small door at the end of the corridor on the third floor, a spiral stone staircase came out. It seemed to be a turret built in preparation for the invasion, but it was poorly managed compared to other places, perhaps because it had not been used for a long time.
“Be careful with the high stairs, lady.”
The butler went up first and warned me. I grabbed my skirt and carefully climbed the stairs.
The attic at the top of an old, narrow stone tower.
‘It’s definitely a secret place for kids to like.’
He climbed and climbed spiral stairs with no end in sight. After a long time, the stairs broke as if they had finally reached the end, and an old door came out.
The butler opened it up with familiarity and went inside. After that, I honestly didn’t have much expectation. Even the attic was made by roughly removing the place used as a warehouse.
Oh.
But the place I entered was surprisingly good. Like a small study, on one side of the attic was filled with books, and on the other was a cozy couch and a fireplace.
There was a large, round window in the middle of the window. through an open window gap
A cool breeze came in and tickled the bridge of the nose.
“Do you like it, my lady?”
The butler asked me with a satisfied face when I looked around. I answered mildly.
“This good.”
“May I bring you some refreshments?”
“No thanks. I’d rather stay here till late in the evening.”
“Of course you can. The Duke has already allowed us to spend as much as we want.”
I liked it. Feeling a little better, I spoke in a softer voice.
“Thanks for your guidance, butler.”
“Don’t mention it. Then make yourself comfortably, lady.”
The butler bowed to me and went down to the attic. I walked slowly inside, looking around the quiet interior once again.
“..........Penelope deserved to go up a lot.”
Comfortable; desolate. She was just adopted as a Duke daughter and was perfect for a hated child to hide without knowing the reason.
I arrived in front of a large open window. Then I glanced out.
The site of the duke was very large. Therefore, the city streets were not as visible as when I followed Derek on the hill a while ago. Instead, it was good to see the endless sky and scenery as there were no buildings high enough to block the view.
I left a couch covered with blankets and flopped down on the bare floor in front of the window frame. The sun was setting outside the window. It was when I was staring blankly beyond the horizon, where the red sunset was overflowing.
dalkak- Suddenly, I heard something behind my back.
“What....?”
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