Countess Youngae’s Money-Sweeping Makeup Shop - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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9

I stared quietly at the Middle-aged Man.

Soon I slowly exhaled and approached the Middle-aged Man.

Stopping in front of the Middle-aged Man, I raised the corners of my mouth in a smile to hide my fear.

“Who am I? I’m father’s daughter.”

“My daughter doesn’t act like you do. And the atmosphere around you is different from my daughter’s. Where do you get off lying…”

“I’m trying to live differently now. Living under harassment is difficult. And this face looks different because I’m wearing makeup.”

The Middle-aged Man stared at me intently, then looked me over from head to toe with his eyes.

The Middle-aged Man’s expression remained stern, but he didn’t seem convinced I was someone else, so he didn’t call for anyone.

The Middle-aged Man blinked slowly once, then turned his body and walked toward the corridor that led to the Dining Hall.

I was watching him when I tried to go up the Staircase, but I heard the Middle-aged Man’s voice from behind me.

“Aren’t you going to eat dinner?”

That voice contained no suggestion or hesitation.

It was a tone that said eat if you’re going to eat, don’t eat if you’re not going to eat.

If I go anyway, I might face cold food again.

It would be better to share cake with Lili instead.

“It’s fine. I don’t want to face cold food again.”

When those words reached the Middle-aged Man, the Manor maintained silence for a moment.

“What do you mean by that.”

The Middle-aged Man’s voice broke the silence.

And that voice had a subtle tremor as if it came out after much hesitation.

Don’t tell me he didn’t know or something like that?

The entire Manor was harassing Sillia.

There’s no way he wouldn’t know.

Right. There’s no way he wouldn’t know.

He was just pretending not to know.

Earlier too, when I mentioned ‘harassment,’ there was no reaction at all.

This Middle-aged Man must have been turning a blind eye to that harassment to some extent.

“You know everything. Why are you reacting like you’re hearing this for the first time?”

“This is the first time I’m hearing about it. Why do you think the food would be cold?”

“Then you’re saying I’m lying right now… Fine. If that’s what you want to think, then think that way. I’ll go ahead first.”

“…Don’t cause a disturbance.”

At the Middle-aged Man’s words, “You should manage your son properly!” rose up to my throat.

But there’s no point in fighting since he won’t listen to me right now.

If I do something big and come back, he’ll try to get on my good side whether he likes it or not.

Let me just endure until then.

Anyway, starting tomorrow, people who sensed danger will properly prepare meals at least…

How naive of me to think that.

I wanted to simply eat a salad for breakfast.

I decided to go to the Dining Hall as if it were morning exercise.

As soon as I got out of bed, Lili, who seemed to never sleep, knocked on the door saying she would help me get ready.

It was around 7 AM when the sun hadn’t fully risen yet!

At this point, I wondered if Lili had installed CCTV to monitor me.

So I arrived at the Dining Hall with Lili and sat in a chair.

When I sat down, Lili went to tell the Kitchen about the menu, and the food came out in less than 5 minutes after she returned.

“What is this…!”

As soon as Lili saw the food, she was shocked and headed to the Kitchen.

On the plate was a salad that would be hard to look unappetizing.

But that salad showed a visual that could no longer be called food.

Before, they gave me proper food even if it was cold.

But now they brought out something that was almost spoiled and looked like bugs or animals had been eating it.

I took that food with the plate and followed Lili into the Kitchen.

There, Young Men with confident expressions were ignoring Lili and me while making warm dishes.

Judging from the Middle-aged Man’s atmosphere yesterday, it seemed he didn’t know I was being discriminated against with food.

Did Kiel order this?

Or did they do it among themselves?

Even if I told them to leave, they wouldn’t listen.

Should I check how the Middle-aged Man thinks of Sillia?

I scanned the Kitchen with my eyes once, then whispered to Lili in a quiet voice.

“Lili, is the Middle-aged Man awake?”

At my words, Lili turned to look at me, then quickly came to my side and took hold of the door I was holding.

And she spoke with a confident voice.

“He should be having coffee around this time.”

How does she know all this stuff?

…Is she really monitoring me?

After briefly holding this random thought in my head and then forgetting it, I left the Kitchen and headed to the Middle-aged Man’s Study with Lili.

***

Knock knock knock.

I knocked on the door calmly but firmly.

So that someone could be certain that the door had been knocked on.

“It’s me.”

When I spoke up, the knight standing guard in front of the door hesitated and couldn’t announce my presence to the person inside.

Fortunately, the Middle-aged Man seemed to recognize who I was and spoke in a calm voice from inside the door.

“Come in.”

The door hesitated before slowly opening.

Frustrated by that time, I grabbed the door and pulled it wide open before entering inside.

“Father, I’m sorry, but could you please fire all the people working in the Kitchen?”

“What?”

At what I said upon entering, the Middle-aged Man froze for a moment and showed bewilderment on his face.

But he quickly looked at me with the same calm expression as last evening.

“The reason? If there’s no valid reason, it won’t happen.”

“If you won’t believe me, I’ll go back. But if it’s a valid reason yet firing them is difficult, I’d like to at least get money to eat outside.”

“Let me hear it first and then think about it.”

At the Middle-aged Man’s answer, I nodded and placed the plate I brought on the Middle-aged Man’s desk.

“This is the food I just received for breakfast. What do you think of it?”

His gaze fell to the desk.

His eyebrows twitched, then he slowly got up from his chair and looked at the Butler who was by the door.

“What do you think about this, Butler?”

The middle-aged Butler bowed his waist and seemed to tense up his entire body as if nervous.

“I’m sorry for not managing properly. However, I definitely told them to prepare everyone’s meals properly. I’ll find the ringleader of this matter right away, so could you give me some time?”

The Middle-aged Man stared at the Butler for a while, then nodded.

“Thirty minutes should be enough, right? Of course, even if you bring the ringleader, your guilt won’t completely disappear. But if you don’t bring them, you’ll have to pay the price for that responsibility.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for showing mercy.”

The Butler closed his eyes and bowed with an expression full of complex emotions, then left the Study.

Silence and a chill filled the Study.

I also became nervous for no reason, swallowed my saliva, and waited for the Middle-aged Man to speak first.

“…Sillia.”

After a few minutes like that, the Middle-aged Man spoke.

I carefully refined my voice, then looked at the Middle-aged Man.

“Yes.”

“First, I should apologize, though I have no shame left. I’m sorry.”

“….”

“I don’t expect you to forgive me. I do have a conscience, after all. And regarding the dismissal matter, I can’t fire all the kitchen staff. But I can dismiss the head cook, the butler who manages the servants, and the head maid.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. Instead, as you said, if you want to have proper meals, it seems some education is needed, so I’ll give you money to use for meal expenses.”

The Middle-aged Man’s expression hadn’t changed at all.

I couldn’t sense any emotions like regret or anger from him.

Even so, I could feel his sincerity in his words.

That didn’t mean I was forgiven though.

I just felt… strange somehow.

If emotions had height, it felt like they were irregularly rising and falling, making me queasy.

I stared at the Middle-aged Man without saying anything, then sighed and looked elsewhere.

“Yes, then I’ll ask for your help.”

In the awkward silence that followed again, I opened and closed my mouth before voicing the question that had risen to my throat.

“May I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“You knew I was being bullied, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you pretend not to know?”

“…It’s not a proper reason, but when I brought you here, Kiel had many complaints. So I thought I shouldn’t interfere between you two until Kiel became attached to you.”

“The servants bullied me too. They framed me for many things, and I don’t think you could have been unaware of this. Even so, why did you always scold me?”

“You always just repeated ‘I’m sorry’ without any excuses. I thought taking the blame and bearing the responsibility was also your choice.”

Even though I wasn’t Sillia, tears almost came to my eyes from the sorrow rising within me.

I didn’t know how, but I wanted to cry out loud.

My chest felt tight.

I forced the tears that were about to form back inside.

After taking a deep breath, I smiled with all my might.

I raised my voice as much as possible to create a cheerful tone, trying to hold back the sound of crying.

“I want to live differently than before. I know you won’t listen to me right now, so I’ll ask you, Father. Please help all the servants in the manor treat me properly. I don’t want to live being ignored and cursed at!”

At my words, the Middle-aged Man’s eyes widened briefly before returning to normal.

Soon, his eyebrows furrowed with intensity.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll help you as much as I can. If they bully you, it’s no different from disrespecting me.”

Knock knock knock.

Not long after the Middle-aged Man finished speaking, there was a knocking sound.

The voice that followed belonged to the Butler who had left earlier.

“My lord, it’s the Butler. I’ve brought the ringleader.”

It didn’t seem like even 10 minutes had passed, so why did he return so quickly?

The Butler must have really not wanted to pay a heavy price.

When the Middle-aged Man told them to come in, the door opened.

From outside, the Butler entered along with a middle-aged woman.

And at the very back, I noticed a Man who was practically being dragged in by a knight.

That Man was definitely…

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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