The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 23

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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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The Eldest Daughter Walks the Path of Flowers Episode 23

Exhausted, Radis simply had to do as the maids suggested—changing from her sweat-soaked clothes into fluffy dry ones, drinking lemon water, and then holding a cup of warm milk with honey.

Then a maid with a cute ribbon would place a wet cloth on her forehead with a happy expression.

When Allen came to visit again, he was shocked to find about ten maids surrounding Radis’s bed with their chins propped on their hands.

“What are you doing around a patient? Everyone out!”

“We were just nursing her!”

“What kind of nursing requires twelve people?”

Allen drove the maids away like an angry buffalo.

The maids scattered like a flock of sparrows, squealing.

Allen apologized to Radis.

“I’m sorry you had to experience such a bizarre situation.”

“Bizarre? It’s fine. They all seem to enjoy nursing.”

With her face flushed red from fever, Radis thought.

‘I guess they don’t hate me. That’s a relief.’

Thinking that made her smile.

Watching such a Radis, Allen sighed inwardly.

‘Calling another woman a beautiful boy—women are truly incomprehensible creatures!’

To Allen, Radis was just a pretty girl, though her hair was quite short.

Her features were slightly sharp, so she might look boyish, he supposed.

But apparently women saw something different.

The estate’s maids were strangely making a fuss, calling this girl handsome, prince-like, a shadowy beautiful boy, or like the protagonist of the currently popular romance novel 【Knight Angela】.

Without knowing the real situation.

Allen looked at Radis with pitying eyes and said.

“I’ll arrange for a quiet maid to take care of you exclusively.”

“Exclusive care… I’m really fine. It’s just a cold.”

“You don’t need to feel burdened in this condition. Miss Radis, you just need to focus on recovery.”

With Allen saying this much, she couldn’t refuse any longer.

Radis erased her troubled expression and forced a smile.

“Allen.”

“Yes, Miss Radis.”

“Thank you so much for worrying about me.”

Closing the door behind him, Allen dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief.

“Poor thing…”

In fact, it was Allen who had investigated Radis on Eve Russel’s orders.

Though he was ostensibly the butler of the Russel estate, his true identity was a member of the estate’s secret intelligence organization ‘Acroates’.

‘That old gardener at the Tilrod estate sure talked a lot.’

Once he made contact with the Tilrod estate’s employees, investigating Radis wasn’t difficult.

Especially Old Man Roto, the Tilrod estate’s gardener, seemed to have quite a lot of pent-up grievances.

‘It’s really unbearable. They pay wages like tiny crumbs while piling on so much work. There’s a rotten cottage that’s been abandoned for hundreds of years, far from the estate, and they blame me when its door breaks? And why do they throw a fit saying it’s my responsibility when it’s been years since I told the madam about that rotten door breaking, and they forgot about it until now? They’ve worked this old man to the bone and now want him gone because it’s unsightly to have him taking up space. That household has such a vicious nature.’

With one glass of strong rum, Old Man Roto started lamenting his situation and then began talking freely.

‘I’ve watched the young ladies and masters grow up since they were children. The madam and master treated Miss Radis with strangely harsh coldness.’

The old gardener raised his gnarled hands and said.

‘They say when you bite all ten fingers, none hurt more than others? That’s a lie. There are fingers for wearing rings, and fingers that ache like neuralgia and need constant harsh beating to feel better. Poor Miss Radis was exactly that finger that got beaten.’

For a handful of silver coins, Old Man Roto told the entire story of David Tilrod’s academy admission cancellation incident.

He added that the young lady who had been obedient to the vicious madam all this time seemed to finally be starting to rebel, which was pitiful but also refreshing.

Having heard such stories, Allen thought Radis would be a more rebellious or venomous girl.

However, the Radis he actually saw was just a pitiful girl who had been abused by her parents.

Even though she was the daughter of a semi-noble family, just looking at the belongings she brought, one could guess the treatment she received from the Tilrod family.

For a girl her age to only have worn-out men’s clothes.

Moreover, she seemed to have never received proper treatment, to the point where she found it difficult to entrust her bag to someone.

‘Thank you so much for worrying about me.’

Allen could read the sincerity in Radis’s words.

Worrying about a sick person was natural, but that child seemed so grateful for it.

Allen blew his nose into his handkerchief and stomped off somewhere.

“I’m really sorry about yesterday.”

That evening, Eve Russel appeared unexpectedly.

He was even carrying a bouquet of bright red roses, apparently prepared as a get-well gift, which didn’t suit him at all.

Radis, whose fever had gone down considerably after taking herbal medicine and sleeping well, got up to greet him.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t your fault, Lord. Rather, I made a big mistake…”

“This first.”

When Eve Russel gestured, servants came in carrying a large chest.

When the puzzled Radis approached, a servant opened the chest lid to show what was inside.

Inside were fabrics.

“What is this?”

“Things Mrs. Merriel sent as an apology.”

Eve Russel closed the chest lid himself with an annoyed expression.

“I have nothing to say about yesterday’s incident. I can only apologize. I hadn’t explained about you to my wife yet, and it caused a strange misunderstanding. Never mind the details—I told my wife that I’ve decided to become your guardian.”

Eve Russel stepped closer.

Unlike his gloomy appearance, a pleasant fragrance wafted over.

It was a mature, sweet-bitter scent like burning sugar.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. It was my mistake and my fault.”

It was really strange.

She had definitely been hurt by Meriel’s words, but with Eve Russel’s single apology, the knot in her heart seemed to melt away.

Looking back, Radis was also at fault.

If she had quietly waited for Eve Russel’s summons, she wouldn’t have encountered Meriel, but she had anxiously gone looking for him herself and caused Meriel’s misunderstanding.

“No. I was the one who went looking for you first…”

“I’ve firmly told Mrs. Merriel not to come to the estate until she properly apologizes to you. There won’t be such unpleasant incidents in the future.”

In the future.

‘Does he want me to stay here?’

Radis looked up at Eve Russel.

He always covered half his face with disheveled hair and wore only black clothes like an ominous crow, giving only a fierce and eccentric impression, but after meeting him several times, she was beginning to think he was quite a decent person.

For someone in the position of a lord to give such a sincere apology to Radis, who had nothing.

Radis asked.

“Why… are you doing so much for me?”

At her words, Eve Russel said affectionately.

“We made a contract, didn’t we? My little stepping stone.”

Radis doubted her ears.

“Step… what did you say?”

“As long as Prince Olivier takes a liking to you, this much trouble is nothing.”

She could see Eve Russel’s lips curl up in a rather despicable smile.

“I’m going to become a duke. I can do anything for that. Someone like Prince Olivier who puts up iron walls—once you get past those walls, there’s nothing to worry about. I need to get over that wall. You might play a key stepping stone role in that, so of course I should treat you well, right?”

At his words, Radis’s mouth fell open.

She felt so foolish for having been restless, wondering if she was deceiving Lord Russel, whom she had considered somewhat lacking but very kind.

‘Lord Russel isn’t a fool—he’s determined to try this gamble even if it means investing this much. So… to this person, I’m a cherry farm.’

Radis almost burst out laughing.

‘Well, that’s what gambling is. Just because a cherry farm fails doesn’t make it the cherries’ fault, right?’

Radis could finally shake off the guilt she had harbored toward Lord Russel.

She chuckled softly.

“You’re right. Gambling chips are precious.”

“Now we’re finally understanding each other.”

Eve Russel chuckled softly and extended her hand.

Radis took that hand and said.

“Please take good care of me, Marquess!”

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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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