Supporting Characters Also Need Some Love

CHAPTER 2: SPRING COMES TO EVERYONE (XIV)

Part 031

After she separated from him, she fell asleep again at dawn, and woke up late in the morning. As she got up and rubbed her eyes, she wondered how the maids who had brought water to wash with them also brought clothes to change into. The pretty dress with the ivory background and the mint-colored overlapping skirt was surprisingly perfect for her body. The maid wasn’t as skillful as Jenny’s, but she politely brushed her hair, pulling her hair down to her waist into a ponytail. It’s a ponytail she had not worn for a long time. Jenny, always burning with enthusiasm, didn’t do such a simple style, so it was rather fresh.

“Oh.”

She briefly admired it, but the lady-in-waiting was frightened and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry. I’ve hurt the lady’s feelings because I don’t have much experience in helping dress up.”

‘No, I’m pretty. I’m pretty everywhere, but especially my forehead is prettier.’

In a mansion without ladies it was normal she was not used in tying hair, so what was she so frightened of?

“No. It’s because my hair is neatly tied up. Put it head up.”

“Are you sure?”

The lady-in-waiting, her tears welling up before she knew it, raised her head cautiously. Ethan’s style was surprisingly disciplined.

“Then, you’ve been working hard because of me since yesterday, but I couldn’t say thank you. Thank you. Thanks to you, I rested in peace.”

The two maids who were present all trembled with moved faces, then bowed to the point of concern and guided her to the dining room.

Adrian and she ate face-to-face at a table that was too large for the two of them alone. When she brought up the topic of going to work, he insisted she should take a break from work with a determined face she had never seen before. She protested because she wanted to know about the incident as she was also involved in it, but she would not stop participating, so she would take a break today and tomorrow.

For now, she replied so and finished eating.

She slept so long that by the time she finished eating, it was already well past eleven. She was starting to get worried as she was about to return home in the duke’s carriage with Adrian. Her father and older brother must have worried a lot, right? Adrian said he sent a letter, but she couldn’t contact them and was staying out without permission.

She was going to get scolded a lot.

* * *

The carriage arrived in front of the mansion, and when she took Adrian’s hand and got off with a trembling heart, not only her three maids but also almost all of the servants came out and were waiting. Jenny, Anna, and Ruby’s faces were swollen as if they couldn’t sleep. 

And when the door opened violently as if it were going to break, her father and brother burst out, looking disheveled, just like they had seen last fall. Her father’s hair, which had always been neatly combed, was falling weakly over his forehead. A couple of shirts were unbuttoned, and the vest was not even fastened. Rootvan, who should have gone to work, was in a similar situation. As he looked down at her from the top of the stairs, his worry-filled face felt relieved, but he glared at Adrian with the kind of stern eyes she had never seen in her life. Her dad was angry, so it’s powerful. But why did he look at Adrian that way? With a face that looked like it’s about to hit a few times, uh uh?

She looked at her father striding forward with clenched fists, and at Adrian, who had the face of a martyr and closed his eyes, and jumped in front of his father. 

‘Alas, Father! He’s a duke after all.’

“Father?”

“Back off, Demian. If I just send this guy away today, he won’t be at Ethart.”

It’s not like he was going to hit Adrian, right? No, wait. Why was the Duke closing his eyes? He should say something or run away!

“Father. Father! Adrian almost died trying to save me yesterday! He just got hurt. Don’t hit him.”

“What?”

Her father, who was raising his arm, hesitated. He asked with his eyes if it was true, so she nodded her head eagerly. After thinking for a moment, her father said to Adrian with still displeased eyes.

“Come in and have a chat. You come along too! Staying out without permission, I really meant it. It’s enough to upset your father.”

Her father grumbled and turned around to enter, and Rootvan followed after staring at Adrian with wide eyes. 

She spoke in a low voice that only Adrian could hear, standing next to him.

“Please defend yourself. Don’t make me worried.”

Adrian said, ‘It would be okay if I’m hit.’ He made a face and nodded his head.

Sitting side by side with Adrian on the sofa in the living room, she ‘decorated’ the truth for the peace of her family and Adrian’s personal well-being. In that story, she got lost while out of work and met robbers, and at the moment of danger, Adrian suddenly appeared and rescued her, and she collapsed in shock, so Adrian took her to the Duke’s house, and she, who thought she would wake up in the afternoon, wake up this morning.

Rootvan, who sat across from her, and her father, who sat in the highest position of the table, listened to her story with suspicion, and Adrian stood next to her and added, ‘She is right.’ and nodded his head vigorously.

After hearing the story, her father ran through her and asked if she was okay, and then he cleared his throat and apologized to Adrian.

“I was rude to the Duke without knowing that he helped my daughter.”

Adrian smiled softly and tried to answer, but the still grumpy Rootvan interrupted.

“Even so, shouldn’t you have brought her to the Count’s mansion? Why did you take a fainting child to the Duke’s?”

She was covered in blood. So Adrian did it to protect her father from heart disease. What should she say? Due to the flow of the story, she was supposed to be fainting, so it was a part she couldn’t get involved in.

She looked at Adrian with anxious eyes, but suddenly Adrian lowered his head with a shy expression.

“I wanted to have dinner with Damian.”

‘What?’

“I used this as an excuse to get closer to Damian, and I caused concern for both of you. I’m really sorry. I was going to have dinner with her when she woke up, but I think you were more shocked than I thought.”

The three Etharts, including her, looked at Adrian with puzzled faces.

“Damian slept comfortably in the Duke’s guest room without being disturbed by anyone. I swear on my honor.”

Yes, she slept very well. Her father and Rootvan said nothing with embarrassed faces.

She laughed desperately.

“Ahahaha. I must have been a bit tired lately. Hahahaha.”

When she laughed, Adrian looked at her almost reflexively and smiled softly. But, that was not the best timing. Her father, who was watching them intently, made a bombshell remark.

“If you want to have dinner with our Demi, you can join us at the Count’s house.”

“Father?”

“Father!”

Rootvan and she called for their father at the same time.

“Is that all right?”

“I don’t know if it will suit your taste, but if you give me an interlock in advance, we will always welcome you.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Count Ethart.”

The sudden change of attitude shocked Lootvan, and Adrian smiled brightly. She didn’t understand, but Adrian, who was in good spirits with her father, looked happy, and as soon as she returned to the room, she was sweating again to soothe the maids who were clinging to her with tears.

Jenny whimpered and asked if she would like to take a bath, so she agreed. In the bathroom, Jenny, who was helping undress from behind, suddenly asked in a dry voice without an accent.

“Didn’t you say that the band of robbers didn’t even touch the hem of your skirt?”

“Well, I’m safe.”

“Then did Duke Bigor hold the lady by the shoulder?”

“Uh… yes. I think he did. Huh?”

“Why?”

* * *

She didn’t really go to work the next day. However, when she said that she felt like she had to go out today, all the members of the mansion got angry. And Jenny got angry every time she saw her shoulder.

“I have to do this *** really.”

“Jenny.”

“Yes. I understand, ma’am. It’s because I’m upset that I said that.”

It’s just a little bit red in the shape of a hand, but it’s bloody bruises and whatnot.

“The Duke was cut by his sword while trying to save me. Then it can’t be helped.”

“No, then, in that situation, do you let the lady get hurt? Are you talking to me or are you talking to yourself?”

While grumbling endlessly, Jenny took care of her from one to ten without leaving her side. Then she cried twice in the middle. It was very difficult to come back alive after almost drowning last fall, but this time she felt sorry for causing concern again.

In the afternoon, she said he would give her a massage and melted her whole body. Her talented lady-in-waiting was the best.

The day goes like that, and the next morning Adrian’s carriage arrived as usual.

Her father came out to see her off and shook Adrian’s hand with a meaningful look in his eyes. Judging by the resigned expression of Rootvan from behind, the two of them seemed to have been talking about something all night again.

Even when he came to pick her up, Adrian didn’t like her going to work. He was afraid to carry her into the carriage, so he rode gallantly alone. All along the way, he kept asking her if she was really okay.

In the other hand, she was worried about him. Jenny glared at him with such a killing intent that she was afraid he would get a bleeding head wound.

When they arrived at the commander’s office, Cale couldn’t help but smile as he asked how she was doing with a worried face.