I Won’t Pick Up The T*ash I Threw Away Again - 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

That Woman must be referring to Sisly.

But why is she in the drawing room? I never called for her.

“Did Fillen, no, His Grace the Duke bring her?”

“That’s not it. The master sent her ahead, telling her to receive the guests.”

“What?”

Receiving guests was the duty of the manor’s mistress. It wasn’t something a mere mistress should do.

Yet he had Sisly take on that role.

It was absurd. I didn’t know what to say.

No, did I even have anything to say?

I wasn’t the manor’s mistress either.

I was merely acting as the mistress under Fillen’s tacit permission.

Thinking about it that way, it felt bitter that my situation and Sisly’s seemed exactly the same.

“Miss, what should we do?”

“What is there to do? If His Grace the Duke ordered it, then we follow.”

“Oh my.”

At my answer, Misa shook her head as if extremely frustrated, then went outside.

I felt just as frustrated.

I wanted to ask Fillen what on earth he was thinking, but I was afraid of what terrible answer might come back, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“How foolish.”

Really foolish, Leilah.

And pathetic too.

I put the documents in the safe and then headed to the drawing room following Misa.

Fillen was already in the drawing room.

While I felt relieved that he was there since it would have been awkward if he had been alone with Sisly, I also felt uncomfortable on the other hand. Like having a thorn stuck in my throat.

“You’ve arrived, Your Grace the Duke.”

“Princess Tebesa has come as well.”

After exchanging formal and stiff greetings with Fillen, my gaze naturally turned to Sisly beside him.

Should I greet Sisly too?

Since there were many watching eyes, it seemed better to do so, but I wasn’t particularly inclined to and was hesitating when.

“Hello, Princess Tebesa.”

Sisly greeted me first in a friendly manner.

Having received a greeting, ignoring it would be impolite.

“Yes, hello…”

I was about to respond appropriately when I belatedly noticed the clothes Sisly was wearing and my eyes widened.

If my memory wasn’t wrong, the clothes Sisly was currently wearing were the maternity dress that the late Duke’s wife had given me as a gift.

Though it had been nearly 10 years, I could still vividly recall receiving that maternity dress when I closed my eyes.

“It might seem too presumptuous to give this to you when you’re not even married yet, but what can I do? I want to see you wearing it soon.”

The Duke’s wife had given me those clothes as a gift, smiling shyly like a young girl.

Saying she too had received maternity clothes as a gift from the previous Duke’s wife.

That she had always wanted to do something like this when she got a daughter-in-law.

“A daughter who resembles you would be really pretty, Leilah. I hope she inherits your hair too.”

She had given me those clothes saying she really wanted to see me doing prenatal care while wearing them.

She had given me those clothes saying she wanted to see the child I would bear.

But why is That Woman wearing those clothes?

Clothes that even I had never worn once.

Clothes that I had carefully stored away, planning to wear them someday when I had a child as the late Duke’s wife had hoped…

“…Why are you wearing those?”

My heart surged as I asked sharply, and Sisly looked at Fillen with frightened eyes.

“I told her to wear them.”

Fillen stepped forward, hiding Sisly behind him.

“So don’t say anything to her, Princess Tebesa.”

Hold back, Leilah.

There are many watching eyes here.

I knew I should hold back since there were not only maids and servants but also outsiders, and showing them that there was discord between him and me would do no good, yet I couldn’t do it.

“Then what should I say to His Grace the Duke?”

It was because all the emotions I had been holding in had burst forth like a dam breaking.

“You’re overreacting to just one piece of clothing.”

Fillen frowned as if he couldn’t understand my reaction.

“Besides, it’s a maternity dress that you don’t need, Princess. Isn’t it better for someone who needs it to wear it rather than leaving it neglected?”

“You’re saying I neglected those clothes?”

That couldn’t be.

I had treasured them more than any other clothes, carefully storing them in a box in the dressroom.

The fact that clothes nearly 10 years old were still intact without a single worn spot was proof of that.

“Isn’t that so? Sisly found them neglected in a box.”

“It’s true I kept them in a box… Wait, she discovered them? Not a maid, but she did?”

“Is there some problem?”

From his foolish counter-question, Fillen seemed to have no idea what the problem was.

Well, if he had known, he wouldn’t have done such a thing.

“The dressroom is my private space.”

I pointed out his mistake while pressing my throbbing temples.

“Even if Your Grace the Duke is the master of the manor, bringing just anyone into my private space without my permission goes against propriety.”

I would have been upset even if servants or maids had entered, but of all people, it had to be That Woman.

It made me feel even worse. The thought that she had rummaged through my clothes and jewelry box made my insides boil.

“It couldn’t be helped.”

Fillen rattled off excuses in a tone clearly showing his annoyance.

“Sisly had to receive guests but had no other clothes to wear. The clothes she had were too shabby, and the ready-made dresses didn’t fit because her belly was getting bigger.”

“Then you should have come to me and asked to borrow clothes.”

“You were in a meeting at the time, so I couldn’t speak to you.”

It was a shabby excuse. Even during a meeting, if there was something to convey, it could always be conveyed.

I was certain he had never intended to ask for my permission from the beginning.

When I stared at him blankly, finding such excuses ridiculous, Fillen let out a deep sigh.

“That’s why if you had ordered clothes for Sisly earlier, this wouldn’t have happened.”

What did he just say…

“Are you saying this is my fault?”

“If you think about it, yes. If you had been more thoughtfully attentive in advance, I wouldn’t have had to do that either.”

I was so dumbfounded that no words came out.

There were things I hadn’t done because I didn’t know what to say.

I just swallowed empty air and looked at Fillen with bewildered eyes when I heard sniffling sounds from somewhere.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

It was Sisly.

She reddened the tip of her nose and wiped her moistened eyes with the back of her hand.

“Because of me, this happened…”

Perhaps because she was originally a beauty, even her tearful face was pretty.

Perhaps because she was naturally beautiful, even her tearful face looked pretty.

“If only I had brought my own clothes, this wouldn’t have happened… I’m truly sorry.”

Her shoulders drooped as she sobbed and repeatedly apologized, looking pitiful and heartbreaking even to my eyes.

But how much more so in the eyes of others?

Not only the outsiders, but even the maids and servants looked at Sisly with sympathetic eyes.

In contrast, the occasional glances directed at me were cold.

Looks poured down on me suggesting I was being too harsh over just one dress.

“Ha.”

A hollow laugh escaped me involuntarily.

I could make excuses if I wanted to, but doing so would make me seem too pathetic, so I didn’t want to.

“Don’t cry.”

Fillen personally wiped away Sisly’s tears with the handkerchief he was carrying.

“You don’t need to apologize either. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“But…”

“I said stop.”

Fillen treated me as if I didn’t exist, comforting Sisly with a gentle voice.

Before coming here, I thought Sisly was the outsider, but apparently I was the outsider.

Now even hollow laughter wouldn’t come.

I just felt foolish for being here in this situation.

“I’m going back to my room.”

“Pardon?”

At my words, Misa looked at me in surprise.

“But miss, you need to see the dress for the banquet…”

“I’ll look at it later separately. When That Woman finishes her business, bring them to my study.”

Staying here any longer would only make me angrier, and I wouldn’t see anything good.

I left the drawing room as if fleeing.

* * *

The news of my fight with Fillen in the drawing room spread widely throughout the domain by word of mouth.

“Duke Williot terribly dotes on the new mistress he brought in. I heard That Woman is carrying Duke Williot’s child.”

“Our miss must be very angry about that. She was being petty, not even wanting to give That Woman a single dress.”

“Hmph. Of course. I wouldn’t have given clothes to some mistress either.”

“Then what happens to our miss? Are the two of them breaking off their engagement?”

“Well, probably not. Noble lords usually keep their wives and mistresses well separated.”

“That’s true.”

…was the current rumor spreading through the domain.

I had been prepared for rumors to spread from the moment I raised my voice and argued with Fillen in front of outsiders, but actually hearing them made me uncomfortable.

The fact that I had to leave the domain and go to the capital with Fillen and That Woman while such rumors were circulating made me even more uncomfortable.

Unfinished work also held me back.

I wanted to finish everything before leaving, but since I couldn’t skip the new emperor’s coronation ceremony, I had no choice but to board the carriage heading to the capital.

I rode in a carriage alone while Fillen and Sisly rode together in another carriage.

The servants looked at me with pitying eyes, but I didn’t mind. I actually welcomed it.

Riding in a carriage with That Woman all the way to the capital would have been more torturous.

Receiving sympathetic looks was much better than that.

Misa wanted to come along, but she had to stay in the domain to manage the manor in my place.

Sara came with me instead.

It took about 4 days by carriage from the ducal domain to the capital.

That was 4 days including the time we stopped to rest in villages along the way.

While traveling I sat still, and I slept well enough at the inns, but my first carriage journey was more difficult than I expected.

“Phil, eat this.”

…No, there was something that made me more tired than the carriage journey.

“Ah.”

It was Sisly and Fillen.

Sisly acted coquettishly as she personally fed Fillen strawberries, and Fillen smiled contentedly as he ate them.

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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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