The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 99

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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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Chapter 99

Joseph answered arrogantly, feeling unnecessarily proud.

“What is it, Princess Raskail? I thought you had no interest in me.”

At the same time, Gideon, who had climbed up to the central watchtower to oversee the hunting competition, was leaning against the railing and looking down at Lillieta smiling at the Grand Duke.

She handed the Grand Duke a handkerchief and said something. While smiling so beautifully it was infuriating.

The surroundings became noisy and the Grand Duke’s face turned idiotic, then he turned bright red and started spouting nonsense with exaggerated gestures. His inability to compose himself was disgusting.

Gideon already knew what she would say to the Grand Duke today and what she would give him.

He also knew that giving a handkerchief at a hunting competition had no more meaning than dancing one song together at a ball.

Such things only carried meaning between people whose hearts were connected, and Lillieta had no interest in Joseph whatsoever.

Even though he knew all these facts well, his inevitably twisted feelings spread to his expression. He removed his hands from the railing, put them in his pockets, and muttered.

“…This is more maddening than I thought.”

* * *

The Raskail Family’s barracks felt enormous, like a small house.

Hanna, who had been busy decorating the barracks and helping with the young lady’s preparations, crouched in a corner behind the barracks once the opening ceremony began and she became idle.

She carefully took out what she had kept in the pocket inside her apron. A small golden revolver.

“Hanna, among silver, gold, black, bronze, and white, which do you like?”

It was a question Lillieta had casually asked a few days ago. Since it was while she was brushing Lillieta’s sparkling golden hair, Hanna had answered as if enchanted.

“Oh, I like gold.”

The young lady had smiled so beautifully it was enchanting at that answer, and the next day she gave Hanna this revolver as a gift.

“It’s for practice, so the chamber is blocked. First get used to the gun with this. I’ll give you bullets once your basic stance becomes perfect.”

That day, Lillieta personally taught Hanna how to hold a revolver, how to maintain it, and the basic shooting stance. Hanna learned all of it feeling like it wasn’t real at all.

‘…It still feels like I’m dreaming.’

The young lady had guided her hands to hold the revolver, personally corrected her stance, and taught her to shoot.

Hanna looked down at the small golden revolver with enchanted eyes and touched it hesitantly. The cold, smooth texture of the metal finally made it feel real.

‘Oh no, a smudge! That won’t do!’

She had touched it with hands dirty from work, leaving marks on the pretty barrel.

Hanna hurriedly took out her handkerchief and polished the revolver until it squeaked. Her grinning face was reflected in the mirror-like clear golden surface.

‘What should I do, I love it so much.’

Her mood, which had been heavy ever since Ethan became strange, felt light as air in this moment.

When she thought of him, especially when she remembered him looking at the young lady’s back in the reception room, she still felt a squeezing sensation in her chest.

But looking at the golden revolver the young lady had given her as a gift made everything feel okay.

‘Right, what does it matter!’

The young lady she served was consistently the best, and she always felt proud of being a maid of the Raskail family.

Today too, she had seen people’s jaws drop from all directions as soon as the young lady, whom she had carefully dressed, left the barracks. How proud she had felt.

Her work was enjoyable and rewarding, her relationships with fellow maids were good. Her salary was generous so she was steadily saving, and the young lady had even fulfilled her desire for shooting, which she had thought was beyond her reach.

‘Not having family is sometimes regrettable, but…’

Instead, being alone meant she didn’t have relatives who clung to her asking for money since she was a Raskail servant, or parents and siblings who caused trouble by getting into debt and creating problems, which other maids often had.

So Hanna thought not having family wasn’t so bad either. She had entered Raskail Castle from a young age and lived with many servants, so she had never felt particularly lonely.

‘Still, someday I’d like to marry someone, have children, and create my own family.’

Until recently, she used to imagine Ethan as that someone, but thinking about it, did it necessarily have to be Ethan? She could live happily with someone else too.

‘Then as I age, I’ll get promoted to head maid or become a nanny… and take care of the young lady’s children too. If my child could become a playmate for the young lady’s child, I couldn’t ask for more.’

That was Hanna’s ambition.

Honestly, she was very happy and satisfied with her current life.

She was still depressed because of Ethan, but she had a vague belief that time would pass and this too would become a thing of the past that she could forget. After all, he had been too handsome from the start, making her feel burdened.

‘…So this is good as it is.’

She thought of her mother, Joanna.

The words she had whispered while embracing young Hanna in her final moments.

“Hanna, never look for your father. Don’t even be curious about him.”

“You have no father. That, that wasn’t your father but something like a demon that brings misfortune or an unexpected disaster. If that thing learns of your existence, you will never be able to live peacefully.”

“The Raskail family will be a safe haven for you. So live peacefully and happily here, okay? You understand, right? Please live only happily, my beloved daughter…”

That was her mother’s last words.

‘I don’t want to know about any father.’

Hanna wasn’t smart, but she wasn’t stupid either.

Her mother’s background, hometown, circumstances, last words. She hadn’t understood well as a child, but as she aged and matured, she could somewhat guess the situation.

What kind of being her father might be. How it had treated her mother. Why her mother had to flee to Raskail while pregnant with her.

‘I’m not curious about who that person is, and I want to live my whole life without knowing. I just want to maintain this current life. But…’

Hanna recalled the moment she had banged her head and cried in front of Lillieta. She remembered her own sin that she had completely forgotten for 10 years.

That chilling night when someone had controlled her body to kidnap the young lady.

“That something that controlled you to kidnap me 10 years ago. The identity of that culprit, or the reason they could control you, might be related to your bloodline.”

Indeed, her mother was right. Hanna had no father. That was a demon that brought misfortune or an unexpected disaster. A disaster that would ruin her life.

‘If such a thing is trying to approach… if I can’t avoid it by continuing to pretend not to know, I should at least know its identity.’

“Once we verify your bloodline, your identity will be revealed. If you want, you could reclaim that identity.”

What the young lady had said.

That she could reclaim her identity if she wanted meant that if she didn’t want to, she could live forever without reclaiming it, couldn’t it?

‘Even if we verify it, I’ll just live as I am. I, I… don’t want to get involved with disaster-like things. I want to live normally. I like how things are now.’

Hanna trembled slightly in fear. Then she finally decided.

‘I’ll tell the young lady that she can do the bloodline verification if she needs it. But that I have absolutely no intention of reclaiming my identity.’

She caressed the shiny golden revolver with her eyes and put it back in the pocket inside her apron.

“What, Hanna was here! I’ve been looking for you for a while!”

A maid suddenly appeared behind the barracks and said with a fuss.

“Someone came looking for you. He says he’s a servant of the Napaloua family, a warmly handsome man!”

“For me? Why?”

“He saw you working earlier and says he really wants to tell you something! He was being very shy!”

The maid laughed as if it was amusing. Hanna followed her while asking in bewilderment.

“Sh, shy?”

“His face was all red! What will you do, you have Ethan! You’ll have to refuse him properly!”

“No, there’s nothing like that.”

Hanna shook her head bitterly at the maid who was chattering excitedly. The maid asked in confusion.

“Huh? Why? Did you fight with Ethan?”

“…”

Hanna was about to answer but closed her mouth. She could see Ethan right there.

He with light brown hair was organizing luggage in front of the barracks. Beyond him, she could see an unfamiliar servant fidgeting nervously.

Hanna quietly asked the maid beside her.

“Is that the person?”

“That’s right! But really, what happened with Ethan? Won’t you tell me?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Hanna lifted her chin and walked past Ethan toward the unfamiliar servant. She let his greeting go in one ear and out the other as she thought about Ethan, who would be behind her.

‘Is Ethan watching?’

If she was with another man, wouldn’t he feel a little jealous or regretful?

Hanna still didn’t understand why Ethan had been so coldly telling her to abandon her expectations. She hadn’t properly understood what he said in the corridor in front of the reception room because she was too frightened and had no idea what he was talking about.

‘I hope Ethan regrets it, even a little.’

So when the man who claimed to be a Napaloua Family servant asked if she had time to take a walk together, Hanna immediately accepted.

“Sure, let’s take a walk together.”

She deliberately nodded her head loudly, conscious of Ethan behind her, and took the man’s outstretched hand. Then she followed him toward the forest.

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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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