Lady Cinderella - Chapter 37

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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 Chapter 37

“How do I get you to believe me, hm?”
Now that the troublesome guest had left, Calaile flashed a playful grin, gripped Ella’s shoulders firmly, and suddenly nipped at her plump earlobe. The soft give of it and the touch of her earring were sweet.
“W-what are you doing!”
“Nothing. You just looked tasty.”
The investigator was gone now, so there was no longer anyone whose eyes they had to worry about, yet their touching had become a daily habit. Ella waved her hands frantically and insisted that it wasn’t something you were supposed to eat, but Calaile’s strength was simply no match for hers. Only after her earlobe had been thoroughly nibbled and she’d been kissed on the cheek did Ella finally glare at him, her face sulky, and confront him.
“You’re really sneaky, Cal.”
“Only now you figured that out? Consider yourself lucky.”
Since everyone was watching, she couldn’t bring herself to push him away, and Ella had no choice but to stay tightly held in his arms. Just then, teatime rolled around, and Olga clapped her hands with a motherly smile at the sight of the two of them so affectionate with each other.
“Today’s snack is freshly baked madeleines and a molten chocolate cake. Please eat both while they’re still warm, you two.”
“El, would you pour the tea for me?”
“Yes.”
The golden-brown madeleines glistened with a syrup glaze, and the rich molten chocolate gave off the aroma of hazelnut. Perhaps because she had grown a little more accustomed to it by now, Ella carefully poured hot water into the teapot and poured the tea with considerable skill.
“I keep telling you, if you get a stomachache from that, don’t come crying to me.”
“This one’s actually pretty good. Go on, try it.”
“Really?”
No matter how many times she steeped it, something always went wrong. Either it came out too bitter, or it didn’t draw out enough flavor, and it had been a complete mess every time. Half hoping for the best, Ella cautiously poured tea into her own cup.
“Oh?”
The tea that had always tasted so awful was, today, neither too bitter nor astringent, brewed just right. Watching Ella with wide, round eyes, Calaile patted her head as though he were pleased with her.
“See? I told you that if you kept at it, you’d get there eventually.”
She remembered when she had first learned embroidery from her mother. The needle pricked her fingers and hurt, and it was so tedious that she didn’t much like it. She had wanted nothing more than to go outside and run around, but still, in her childish heart, she wanted to stay by her mother’s side, so she endured the dull, boring embroidery and learned it diligently.
Ella’s mother, Millenia, had been frail since birth, and after giving birth, even stepping outside her room had become difficult for her. Still, on the occasional bright and sunny day, she would go out to the garden for a short while to bask in the light. Beneath that warm sunshine, her mother would stroke Ella’s hands, which had been scarred by needle pricks.
―It will surely be useful someday. Ella, let’s endure a little more and work harder, all right?
Wanting to make her mother happy, she had endured the hardship and studied embroidery with great diligence. Thanks to that, she had now developed precise, meticulous skill with the needle at a pace that astonished everyone. On top of that, the original embroidery techniques her mother had devised were so intricate that even most master artisans could not hope to imitate them. It was no wonder Kate doted on Ella so fiercely.
“You’ll be playing chess pretty well soon, too. I’ll help you from the side, so you can get good at it.”
“Thank you, Cal.”
Did she really have the right to keep standing by his side? The thought suddenly frightened her, yet she could not deny that her heart was wavering. At least until the New Year’s Ball four months from now—no, until a full year, when she could confirm that Miro would be safe. Please, let her stay by his side just a little longer. And so, little by little, Ella’s heart kept piling up excuses.

5. A One-in-a-Million Chance

A few days after Hazel left, a document arrived at the Grand Duke’s Residence confirming that Calaile had been officially recognized as Ella’s guardian. But Ella had no time to focus on that now.
“I lost.”
“But you held out pretty well this time.”
Calaile, who had been nothing but gentle until now, became the strictest teacher of all once lessons began. Ella had read books on chess in advance, but once she was in an actual game, her mind went completely blank about what to do.
“I guess I should have just kept advancing there.”
“Gather your allies and scatter the enemy’s forces. If you charge ahead alone like that, you might as well be inviting me to devour you.”
His sharp advice really stung. On top of that, throughout the lesson, Calaile had attached a single condition.
―Every time you lose, you have to kiss my cheek first.
When Ella protested that it was a ridiculous condition, Calaile brushed it off with a rather smug smile.
“If you win, it’s no problem, right?”
Whether he was trying to stir up her competitive spirit or simply indulge his own motives, she couldn’t tell. Even as Ella, stubborn and fired up, threw everything she had into the fight, she kept losing. This round, too, she had held onto hope that she might win if she played well, but she had been too hasty, and the queen in front of her was captured, and she lost before she knew it.
“Would it have been better to move the knight there instead?”
“If you had, I would have pushed out from here like this and devoured you again.”
“It’s really hard, isn’t it?”
“It’s all right. You’re doing well.”
Going over the game once more, Ella carefully examined where exactly she had lost. Of course, she had no intention of winning against the Emperor if they ever played. But if she showed a pitiful level of skill, she might be harmed on the spot, along with Calaile, not just herself. So at the very least, she had to show that she had tried her hardest.
“What about here? Would it have been better to dig into this spot instead?”
“That might have worked, too.”
Only moments ago she had been gloomy, but the moment chess and the Emperor came up, Ella’s eyes lit up again as if nothing had happened, and she began to concentrate. He liked seeing her so lively, but at the same time, it irritated him somewhat, so he deliberately tossed out a sour remark.
“Are you having that much fun?”
“Of course. Do they really move the soldiers like this on an actual battlefield?”
“Something like that.”
Ella, who had only learned about the world through books, did not know the true horror of war. Calaile still cannot forget the day he cut down an enemy soldier for the first time.
I didn’t particularly want to know. But he was both the Emperor’s vassal and the king of a duchy. To bear the weight of the crown on his shoulders, he had to become an adult at an early age.
“Speaking of which, have there been any other updates from Gordon Great Plains?”
“Nothing in particular. The newly stationed Humel is a seasoned general, so he should be able to hold the line well enough without me having to go out there.”
“I’m so glad!”
Hearing that he wouldn’t have to return to the battlefield, Ella clapped her hands in delight. She felt a little guilty for having twisted his fate, but at the very least, she was relieved that he no longer had to wander dangerous battlefields, cheating death again and again.
“That pleased you that much?”
“Of course. If you don’t go to war again, we can keep being together like this….”
It was a truth that slipped out before she could stop it. Ella covered her mouth without thinking. She had tried not to show it, but somehow the atmosphere kept turning this way, and her heart fluttered so much she didn’t know what to do with herself.
“You should finish what you’re saying. Come here.”
She had lost the match, so she had to pay the price of defeat. Part of her wanted to win, but another part was growing more and more used to kissing him. Calaile even gave a faint smile as he gently toyed with Ella’s flushed cheek.
“You haven’t forgotten that you have to go first, have you?”
“Ugh….”
“Go on.”
With a sly grin, Calaile tapped his cheek lightly, and Ella had no choice but to lean in carefully and press her lips to his.
“Good girl.”
For a man who could be such a strict teacher, he now wore the most tender expression of a lover in the world. Though they weren’t truly lovers, Ella felt both happy and uneasy, wondering whether it was really all right to go this far just because they were engaged.
“Isn’t this a bit much?”
“What is?”
“I’m still young.”
Her mind was twenty-three, but her body was still eighteen, which made for a convenient excuse. If she let this go on, she feared she might end up doing even more than this, so Ella tried to carefully draw a line.
“Isn’t it a bit odd to say you’re young yourself?”
From Calaile’s point of view, Ella had already grown into everything she needed to be, and political marriages were often arranged at even younger ages. He had been gritting his teeth and holding back the urge to simply make it a fait accompli, but now that she was starting to pull away herself, even he was beginning to feel a little irritated.
“But between us….”
“How things go between us depends on you, El.”
His honeyed voice tickled Ella’s ear. Gently nipping her soft earlobe, Calaile pulled her tightly into his embrace, as if he had made up his mind.
“Cal, you’re too close.”
“You like me, don’t you? You don’t dislike me, do you?”
When you throw out an extreme choice, people naturally get flustered. Calaile’s way of speaking was truly sly. Ella thought, so he’s not an easy man after all, and primly chose a third option.
“I don’t like men who are frivolous.”
“So? Do you like me or not?”
“That depends on what you do, Cal.”
Ella’s skill in turning his own question right back at him left Calaile speechless. Indeed, the woman who had caught his eye was not to be underestimated. If he kept treating her as a child and let his guard down, he would surely be left embarrassed, so he readily raised both hands in surrender and admitted defeat.
“Very well. Since my beloved Lady has commanded it, I shall keep my manners in check.”
“Where on earth did you learn such embarrassing things to say?”
“Hmm, I wonder.”
For an instant, Calaile’s expression twisted slightly. It was only a fleeting moment. Soon he returned to his cheerful grin and offered Ella a cookie.
“Want one?”
The first thing that crossed her mind was that she had stepped on something she should never have touched, a nerve he did not want exposed. Perhaps only Ella had been unaware of it, and Calaile had once had a lover from his past that she knew nothing about. She didn’t particularly want to ask. After all, it was his private life, and she, who was not even his true fiancée, had no right to demand an answer.
“Yes, I’ll have one.”
“Open your mouth.”
Through the small gap of Ella’s lips, the cookie he had picked up slipped in. If there had been another lover, then he might have been whispering sweet words to her, just as he had to that woman.
‘I don’t want that.’
Ella’s rabbit-like front teeth promptly sank into the finger holding the cookie. Caught off guard, Calaile was startled by the sudden bite and stared at her.
“El?”
Leaving a neat row of tooth marks on his finger, Ella jumped to her feet with a face full of pique. Something burned inside her. If those large hands had caressed another woman’s hand, if those soft lips had whispered love to another woman. Just thinking about it made her furious.

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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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