Lady Cinderella - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Lady Cinderella, Episode 12

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The breakfast at the Grand Duke’s Residence could not be compared to the one at the Lloyd Count Family’s household. Yet above all else, Ella nearly teared up at the scent of freshly baked bread, a fragrance she hadn’t breathed in for ages.
Back home, she had always been given little more than yesterday’s leftover scraps of bread and a thin soup. Here, there were fruits that looked freshly picked, fresh milk, honey as clear as amber, and marmalade. The bread was still warm, rich with the flavor of golden butter. There was an omelet stuffed generously with cheese and vegetables, along with colorful salads. Even with the savory aromas alone filling her up, Ella resolutely cleared every dish that had been set before her.
“How on earth does so much food fit into such a thin body? It’s truly astonishing.”
Olga pitied her so openly, but Ella had decided from the start to set her pride aside. She finished her meal with graceful poise and didn’t forget to thank the head cook. Watching Ella enter the Duke’s arms in shabby clothes, the servants who had speculated whether her title as a lady of the Count’s house was even true quickly fell silent. No matter how pitifully she had lived, a noble was still a noble.
After the lavish meal, the two soon moved to Calaile’s study to begin their serious conversation. With two cups of fragrant tea set out, Calaile stood by the window, holding his cup.
“Isn’t the aroma pleasant? It’s one of the spoils I acquired in this last battle.”
At the Duke’s invitation, Ella took a sip of the warm tea. She had expected it to taste unfamiliar, but the gentle, crisp flavor that softly enveloped her palate was undeniably a tea she knew well.
‘This is definitely Minette Tea…’
The origin of this tea, which Ella herself was quite fond of, was not the Gordon Great Plains but Minette Mountain, located far south of the Empire. During the First Minette War, the Empire and Minette maintained a tenuous exchange, but one year from now, in the Second Minette War, the Grand Duke would win a great victory. After that war, the full-scale circulation of Minette Tea within the Empire had begun.
“Isn’t this from Minette Mountain?”
“No, it’s from Gordon, as I said.”
At his stern reaction, Ella tilted her head. She would stake her beloved hobby on it: no tea is produced on the Gordon Great Plains. Besides, she had drunk this very flavor dozens of times herself, so there was no way she could be mistaken.
“I’m fairly sure it’s Minette Tea. This is the tea His Majesty is so fond of that he’s even contemplated going to war over it.”
“How would you know that?”
Perhaps she had let her guard down in the gentle mood of the morning. The tea she had sipped threatened to come back up, and Ella cleared her throat abruptly. The Duke, who only moments ago had worn the face of a tender lover, now looked down at her with a cold, piercing gaze.
“That’s…”
“You’re right. Minette Tea is extremely rare. So rare that His Majesty wishes, someday, to wage a war just to obtain it.”
Since everyone had known this before the regression, Ella couldn’t tell which facts were classified and which were common knowledge. Her careless remark had struck exactly where it hurt, leaving her momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond.
“Even at the front lines, you knew a considerable amount of information that even the others there hadn’t yet grasped. Yet you’ve never once left the capital. And you’ve never had contact with any suspicious individuals, either.”
Unable to reveal her true identity carelessly, Ella was increasingly cornered. The Duke still stood far off by the window, gazing outside as he spoke as though tossing out words. Those words crawled toward her and seemed to wrap around her throat, squeezing endlessly.
‘I can’t reveal all my cards yet.’
Not knowing what to say, her hands began to tremble, and she forced them down. Somehow, things had been going too smoothly. Ella took a deep breath to compose herself and looked straight at the Duke.
Even if she had admired him from afar for a long time, to him, Ella was nothing more than a stranger he had never even met. They say that even half a truth can be used to create a fact. In other words, even half a lie would be more than enough to deceive someone. Ella hid her fear and smiled brightly.
“You may not believe me, but I’m already in the same boat as you, Your Grace. So if I cannot be of use to you, I’ll gladly leave this Grand Duke’s Residence.”
“You’d leave?”
“After all, what we made was a deal.”

A deal. Ella was not foolish enough to ask him to trust her outright. She had long known that a clumsy lie would never work on someone like him.
Precisely because she understood the Duke’s situation better than anyone, she deliberately stepped back. At the very least, she didn’t want to be a burden to the person she cared for.
“Are you serious?”
“I am.”
Of course, it stung. Ella was desperate, and she needed his help badly. Still, the reason she had sought out Duke Wellington first was simply because she hoped he wouldn’t be hated by the Emperor for the spoils incident and end up wandering the battlefields.
This time, it was Calaile who was thrown off balance. Faced with her attitude, as if she would gladly leave if she couldn’t be of help, the Duke could hardly get his bearings. Just moments ago, she had seemed desperate to be taken away from this place, yet now that she had gotten out, she didn’t hesitate to say he could send her away at any time, as long as his predictions proved wrong.
If she had begged pitifully, he would have grown suspicious. But that boundless composure of hers somehow lingered in his mind. He wasn’t fond of the word “deal,” yet every point she had laid out so meticulously had so far turned out in his favor.
Even the bait she had dangled, the Minette Tea, in case he might slip up, she had dodged with precision. Watching Ella, whose true intentions remained unreadable, Calaile savored another sip of the refreshing tea.
“A deal, is it.”
“Your Grace, it’s not as if you have much reason to be smiling, either.”
The Emperor might bare his blade at any moment, and both the Crown Prince’s faction and the Third Prince’s faction were wary of Duke Wellington, who walked his own path. In such a situation, if he were to have the spoils taken from him, as she said, he would be punished without a chance to resist and sent right back to the battlefield.
He had wandered the battlefields for a full two years and had only just returned. Most of the remnants had been wiped out, but it was unreasonable to expect the front to run as smoothly without him as it did with him there. He knew his own limits. Still, why wasn’t he angry at this audacious girl, who was prodding so cruelly at precisely that weak spot? He had yet to understand what this feeling was.
“And?”
“Make use of the information I have. In return, I gain the most powerful card I could ever choose: the Grand Duke Wellington.”
“So what exactly do you plan to do, using me as a card?”
At the word “card,” Ella openly declared her intention to make use of him. Calaile set his teacup down on the windowsill and smiled coldly. Despite it being only early summer, a strange chill seemed to linger around him. For a moment, she had let her guard down, having seen what appeared to be a careless side of him. Just as the newspapers had portrayed, he was indeed a seasoned and rational Grand Duke.
She knew she would not easily earn his trust, but how bleak it was that she had to speak of such things in front of someone she had longed for alone for years.
“I just want to live in peace.”
“In peace?”
“Yes. I want to live quietly, alone, free from anyone’s interference. Once I turn twenty, my trust fund will become mine, so I can stand on my own without your help. Until then, please simply be my guardian.”
“A guardian. Well, I suppose an engagement is the easiest form to keep up appearances in the eyes of the world.”
And since the Emperor, wary of Calaile, might even ruin the family members who tormented Ella, it was an added benefit. Perhaps aware of this as well, Ella said nothing and merely nodded. The validity of this time-limited engagement would last until she could receive her trust fund, which was a little over one year and six months away. During that period, Ella could receive the Duke’s protection under the name of his fiancée.
“I know I seem suspicious. On the day I turn twenty, I’ll tell you everything honestly. Until then, please trust me and don’t ask me anything.”
“Don’t ask you anything?”
“Yes. I’ll give you honest answers to all your questions on the day this engagement ends.”
Just as time was the opportunity given to Ella, time was also what she needed now. Since their relationship had only just begun, Ella had yet to achieve any results or outcomes. Judging by his still half-convinced attitude, it seemed her predictions had not yet all come true.
“They won’t be so easy to overturn.”
This was a gamble that would decide her entire life, but she didn’t feel as though she would lose easily. At the very least, the Grand Duke had accepted Ella’s proposal of a sham engagement with surprising grace, and even openly put on a display of affection in front of others, firmly securing her standing.
“And if I say no?”
“Then I’ll have to go back to that house, I suppose.”
If she stood at his side and offered counsel, the calculation went, then Grand Duke Wellington himself might escape, even a little, from the Emperor’s senseless fault-finding. There was something to gain for both of them, but this matter would change more than just her own fate.
‘What if this man doesn’t want that?’
As she waited for a reply that never came, Ella too had come to realize a great deal. It had been foolish of her to try to change her fate through another person’s strength. The thought of her maternal grandmother brought a sudden swell of emotion, and tears pooled in her eyes. Miracles don’t happen twice. She knew this was her last chance, but she had not the slightest intention of forcibly twisting Grand Duke Wellington’s fate, either.
‘He really must hate that house.’
Seeing Ella look as though she might burst into tears at any moment, Calaile clicked his tongue. She had blurted out state secrets in a rush, which is why he had brought her here at once, and because he hadn’t wanted to sit through a long-winded explanation, he’d even gone so far as to pretend to be in love. Having brought her this far, she now said he could discard her if she was no use to him, and though her words said as much, her face looked moments away from tears.
“If I had planned to discard you, I wouldn’t have brought you here in the first place.”
Somehow, he couldn’t stop looking at her, and it felt rather like having a crybaby younger sister, so he set down his empty teacup and dropped down beside Ella with a plop. Her eyes widened the moment he drew so close, and she shrank back a step, clutching her teacup in both hands.
“Does that mean…”
“Being my fiancée won’t be easy, so you’d better brace yourself. Once word gets out, the palace’s gossip-mongers will be in an absolute uproar.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll protect you, Your Grace.”
Ella, who wasn’t even half his size, had been going on since yesterday about becoming his shield and protecting him, nonsensical as it sounded, and Calaile couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Who’s protecting whom, exactly?”
Ella had vanished without warning, and he would have to see how her family handled her return, but for now, all of that could wait. She still looked exhausted, so for the moment she had to be sent back to her bedchamber.
“That’s enough for today. If you need anything, just tell Olga.”
“Thank you.”
Calaile gave the bell a single shake and sent Ella back to Olga. So that the weary lady could rest well and lack for nothing during her stay, the Grand Duke had ordered them to attend to her with every ounce of sincerity, and at that command Olga and the other maids all knelt before Ella. Watching them wait on her as though she were already the mistress of the house, Kevin frowned.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Seeing the stiff expression on his right-hand man’s face, Calaile was certain he would hear nothing pleasant. With a shrug, he headed for his study. Outside the mansion, the procession of goods meant for the Grand Duke’s fiancée was crowding the grounds. Ever since the unexpected guest had arrived overnight, the household had been in an uproar all along.
“Even after hearing all that, you still trust that woman?”
“Of course I do.”

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