I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 36

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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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I’m a Mother-in-Law, But I Don’t Want Family Conflicts Episode 36

Mirinai, who had been proudly examining the problems he solved, muttered to himself.

“If Jace hadn’t helped me, I would have had to go get the answer sheet. That’s a relief.”

“…Answer sheet?”

When Jace tilted his head and asked back, Mirinai pointed his finger toward outside the study.

“Yeah, Grand Madam told me to study using the answer sheet when she’s busy.”

‘Do you need an answer sheet for problems like these?’

Jace looked at the notebook again with an incredulous expression. To Jace, these were problems that didn’t even need understanding.

He was about to sneer, thinking ‘what can you do if you’re stupid,’ but he paused at Mirinai’s next words.

“There are tons of workbooks and answer sheets there. I want to try solving them all.”

“…Tons? Hey, do they happen to have this too?”

Jace showed Mirinai the cover of the ‘San’ workbook that was spread out on the desk. Mirinai looked at it quietly, then nodded.

“Yeah, they have it. A new book.”

“…!”

Jace was about to slam the desk without realizing it, but startled and pulled his arm back. Then he hurriedly glanced at the sofa in the corner of the study. Wilhelmina was still sleeping without moving.

“Go… bring me the answer sheet.”

“Why? Is there something Jace doesn’t know either?”

“Stop talking nonsense! Just bring it when I tell you to!”

“Uh…”

Mirinai shrank his shoulders at Jace’s sudden change. Though he felt momentary guilt at the sight that looked like a frightened small animal, Jace instead grabbed Mirinai’s shoulders and spoke in a threatening voice.

“I need the answer sheet, okay? I just helped you. If we’re friends, you should return the favor.”

“But… that’s a place I’m not supposed to enter except when I’m looking for my answer sheets.”

“Where is that place?”

“The former master’s office.”

“Former master… the Late Duke’s office?”

Come to think of it, he had heard from the Baroness that this annex building used to be the Late Duke’s house.

‘But if it’s an office…’

The head of household’s office is a place that not only servants, but even family members cannot enter carelessly. Even at Jace’s main house, only the butler and retainers could access the office.

“I can’t touch other things. She told me to only take what I need.”

“It’s fine if you just take the answer sheet.”

“But it’s not mine…”

“Are you ignoring what I’m saying? Did I say I’d steal other things? I only need the answer sheet.”

He had hesitated at the mention of an office, but the Late Duke was dead anyway.

In other words, the office was now being used by Wilhelmina. In that case, there was nothing to fear.

Wilhelmina was a parasite living in the Duke’s estate. Even if he went in and out of the office a bit, she wouldn’t be able to scold him.

‘Besides, even a page boy like this goes in and out.’

It was called an office, but it was probably no different from a study.

‘If I just solve all these weird workbooks, I can go home. The Baroness won’t be able to say anything else either.’

Thinking this was an opportunity to end his tedious boarding life, his heart became even more impatient. At Jace’s forceful tone, Mirinai looked at Wilhelmina with clouded eyes.

“I want to ask Grand Madam.”

“No!”

“Ah!”

There was no way Wilhelmina would allow it. Jace pinched and pulled Mirinai’s cheek as she was about to speak.

“Hey, we’re friends, right? Can’t you do me one favor?”

“….”

“If you tell the Grand Duchess, I’ll cut ties with you. I won’t teach you anymore, and I won’t even acknowledge you. And if you get in my way….”

Jace looked at Mirinai, whose eyes were welling up with tears from the pain in her cheek, and closed his mouth.

If it had been his subordinates at the Academy, he would have mixed in harsh words to threaten them, but when those large teardrops turned toward him, somehow the words wouldn’t come out.

“A-anyway. I won’t let it slide.”

“But still… it’s Grand Madam’s order….”

“Mirinai!”

Jace called Mirinai’s name for the first time.

“Just once, okay? Please, just this once.”

At his desperate words, Mirinai slowly nodded her head.

Unaware that Wilhelmina’s eyes were half-open as she sat behind them.

“Excellent, all correct answers.”

The answer sheet Mirinai brought was perfect. Since it was the answer sheet that came with the workbook, all the solution processes were written out, and thanks to that, it could pass without arousing Wilhelmina’s suspicion.

‘She doesn’t monitor us anyway.’

Wilhelmina frequently left the study empty. At noon, she would have conversations with some scruffy boy in the garden, and in the afternoon, she would say she was going to the main house and not return until sunset.

Once, she was even teaching origami, saying she wanted to play with the pages. A Grand Duchess sitting at a table with pages, folding paper airplanes. It was a scene he’d never seen in his life.

‘Is her being a Grand Duchess actually a lie?’

Anyway, copying the answer sheet during those gaps was no trouble at all.

‘The problem is there isn’t just one answer sheet.’

The answer sheets were divided into three parts in total, but Mirinai had only brought one.

Jace demanded the next answer sheet from Mirinai, saying ‘one or two, it’s all the same anyway.’

Mirinai looked confused about not following Wilhelmina’s words, but she fell for Jace’s sweet talk.

‘If I don’t have the answer sheet, I’ll have to ask the Grand Duchess anyway, right? What’s wrong with giving the answer sheet so the Grand Duchess won’t be bothered?’

Because when he brought up Wilhelmina, she generally gave in.

So from the second day, Jace began using the answer sheets and spent his time easily solving problems.

For some reason, the Baroness who had been bothersome also stopped interfering at some point, and since Wilhelmina basically didn’t bother him as long as he finished his homework, time passed quickly.

‘Tomorrow it’ll be over.’

The last of the promised ten days had arrived. Once tomorrow’s lessons were finished, this detestable boarding would be over too.

It should have been something to be happy about, but Jace, who had finished all the problems, was sitting on a garden bench leisurely yawning and passing time.

“Ah- I’m bored.”

Once he finished the problems, he was given free time until returning to the Baron’s house. Since the annex building had no entertainment except books, Jace, who had run out of things to do, became fed up with the boring time.

While he was blankly passing time, he heard a voice calling him from afar. The reddish-brown hair visible even from a distance – it was Mirinai.

“Jace!”

“Hey.”

Jace waved his hand at Mirinai who was approaching from the other side of the garden.

Thanks to his overflowing free time, he had been spending more time with Mirinai.

‘Did she tell her to attend to me?’

It would normally be time for work, but Mirinai would unfailingly come find him after Jace finished his homework.

Jace secretly suspected that Wilhelmina had assigned Mirinai to him instead of attendants.

Anyway, for the past ten days, Jace had been wandering around the annex building with Mirinai.

They would steal snacks from the kitchen, play treasure hunt where the stable used to be, or guess the names of flowers in the garden, among other things.

Though these games held no interest for Jace, he had nothing else to do so he reluctantly went along.

This time, what caught Mirinai’s interest were the books in the study.

“Have you read this?”

“What, it’s the founding myth.”

The founding myth, one of the essential cultural knowledge for nobles, was a book he had read several times.

Since it was also a regular on Academy entrance exam questions, Jace could recite the dialogue from the book verbatim.

“I read it last night, but there’s a lot I don’t understand.”

“Well, that’s because there are many ancient characters.”

The founding myth was full of proper nouns, making it difficult for commoners to read.

Since he had time anyway, Jace nodded as if telling her to point out what parts were difficult.

“Here, and here.”

“It’s about the ivory tower. This originally…”

Jace explained with a boastful air to Mirinai who was looking at the text with sparkling eyes, but he couldn’t hide his racing heart.

‘She is kind of cute.’

Big eyes, rosy cheeks, and small hands and feet.

Though Jace had never been interested in dolls, watching Mirinai made him understand the hobby of collecting them.

While it was annoying to see her hesitate whenever Wilhelmina’s name came up, after spending ten days together, his fondness for Mirinai had grown greater than for his subordinates at the Academy.

The way she would ask questions with a curious face when he taught her some trivial knowledge, or the thoughtfulness of wrapping leftover sweets in her handkerchief to share what she had been eating, was enough to melt the rough edges of this thunderbolt’s heart.

‘Should I take her to the main house? I just need to pay her more money.’

Most servants below the rank of personal attendants would move from mansion to mansion depending on their wages.

Though she probably received more than other families since she was a page boy for the ducal house, if Jace set his mind to it, supplementing one person’s wages would be nothing.

‘They said nannies don’t follow you around once you become an upperclassman, so I could keep her as my personal servant.’

Jace was already getting excited at the thought of living with Mirinai. Though not at the level of the ducal house, the Baron Milo family was also the wealthiest in the surrounding area.

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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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