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Editor: Daed

“…….”

Was it so unfair as to make her cry like this?

I was surprised. I thought something happened to her.

“If Chloe wants, I can sleep on your lap anytime.”

After saying that, I realized it was a weird response.

I looked back at Felix as I massaged my stiff neck as if I had slept on a stone pillow.

The morning was bright, but his sigh sounded like he had been up all night. On the other hand, his gaze seemed to say that he didn’t feel sleepy at all.

Claudia said unpleasantly as if she had caught me staring at Felix.

“Orabeoni*, aren’t you going to work?”

After hearing those words, Felix stood up while closing the book that he had been reading all night,

“Now the sun has risen, my working hours are still ahead. Chloe, what about your class?”

“I only have afternoon classes today. Vice Minister, please go to work now.”

“No one will complain if the Vice Minister is a little late.”

“Abuse of power!”

“Yes. Unlike Chloe who skipped class yesterday.”

Claudia was silent for a moment until Felix continued,

“If you don’t study hard, Irene may be disappointed.”

Felix smiled softly, patting Claudia’s hair lightly.

Even though this room was a reading room, the room was so spacious that it took a long time to put the book Felix was holding in its original place.

Claudia suddenly turned and looked at me, as if asking me whether what Felix said is true.

Felix, how could you just leave like that?

For me, it didn’t matter if Claudia wanted to play and laze around with me as long as she was healthy and happy.

But I was the only person who knew what was going to happen to Claudia in the future.

I had to say this so that she would master the ability to summon the spirits without a problem in the future.

“I like people who work hard at the task they are given…”

Those words didn’t suit myself at all. Because actually, I was the type to always say, ‘You really live like trash, haha.’

to myself for motivational purposes, but then still lived as lazy as I could.

But still, although my goal was to idle away, I still lived a happy life that was like a dream.

“Rin, Rin, you know that I’m not that kind of person, right?”

Then Claudia came to me with teary eyes, as if she was sadder than before.

Ugh, I was just talking nonsense, but why did she act cute like this….It made it hard for me to answer.

“Yes, of course I know.”

“I will study hard from now on, okay? So please don’t hate me.”

She hugged me tightly like a child who longed for affection.

I patted Claudia’s back and revised the words I had spoken.

“I will never hate Chloe, nor will I be disappointed.”

“Really?”

“Yes……”

And then, I heard a noise behind me.

I turned around and I was met with the sight of the owner of this mansion, Count Chamberlain.

He looked like a father who had witnessed a love triangle between his children.

Hugo Chamberlain.

He was a middle-aged man with an elegant and dignified appearance. It seemed that he had passed down his genes to Felix and Claudia.

He was the most awkward and hardest person for me to approach.

From Hugo’s point of view, my existence wasn’t any more than a stumbling block. This led me to think that he was the difficult type to define.

‘I don’t even know why I’m here, do you guys know it?’

Today as well, Hugo looked at me with the most difficult gaze to understand in the world. If an alien came down from the sky and had a seat in my house, I wonder if they would make the same expression.

He might have wondered how Claudia’s friend, whose existence was unnoticeable before, had now made a lifetime promise with her daughter.

‘His gaze is the same as when we were in the Great Chamber ….’

Although the bond between me and Claudia went deeper than friendship, it didn’t mean that we were in an erotic romance.

And with the addition of Felix, who recently fell for me, I had been snuggling up between the two and hogging their affection. So, there was no room for the Count to intervene.

‘So does he think of me as a pebble that rolled into his territory?’

He must have found it bothersome.

As I exchanged a look with Hugo awkwardly in a heavy silence, Claudia noticed her father’s presence.

“Father? When did you come in?”

“….Long before you did.”

“Really? I didn’t know you were there. Please at least give a sign.”

“Your brother said the same thing.”

After saying that, Hugo looked at me as if saying, ‘Look what you have done to my children.’

But he had said that Felix said the same thing. So didn’t that mean that he had been here for our whole conversation, or even while I was asleep?

If that was the case…Wasn’t he a little too much?

“What did Orabeoni say?”

“He put a finger to his lips and said ‘Shh’, in case I woke someone up. What an impolite gesture…….”

Hugo complained that Felix had given him a command through a gesture.

Well, unlike his noble appearance, his speech was rather rough.

When he said those words in front of me, I could feel cold sweat flowing down the back of my neck.

I had been considered as a strange girl, and now it would be even more strange.

Hugo was depicted as the father of the heroine who suffered from a daughter complex. However, he didn’t know how to be close to his daughter, so he was jealous and treated me like that.

“Umm…Daughter-in–wait.”

“……..”

“Lady Amber.”

Look at that. That vague way of addressing me.

“Yes, please speak.”

“Let’s talk in private for a minute.”

It seemed like Hugo asked for an unexpected interview. I was nervous because it was the first time we talked since I had been here.

Claudia narrowed her eyes warily.

“Why do you want to talk to Rin?”

“I just want to talk to her.”

Claudia, who previously wanted to play with me, doggedly asked with a disappointed expression,

“How long will you talk to her?”

“Well, how do we know that before we start the conversation?”

“That’s how much my time to play with Rin is gone!”

“Oh, come on. I won’t take her for a long time, so please lend me your precious friend.”

Was it okay to treat her father like that? Suddenly, I felt sorry for him.

While looking at Claudia and squeezing her hem, I said,

“Chloe, you have to listen to your father.”

“Okaaaay….”

Hugo was dumbfounded at Claudia who answered me without any hesitation.

“Please don’t say anything that could hurt Rin.”

As soon as Claudia left the library, Hugo shook his head and sighed.

Somehow, I couldn’t help but apologize.

“Umm, I’m really sorry.”

“For what?”

“Because I stole your precious daughter…..?”

Wait, it was strange. Why did I feel like I was a husband who was living in his wife’s house?

Actually, there wasn’t much of a difference.

“And now, the rumors about Claudia are not very good.”

Because of me, Claudia was ostracized by society. Even the party invitations that she used to receive every day were decreasing day by day.

Claudia herself said that she was tired of being invited to a celebration or tea party, but she was glad that she was doing well.

She also complained, shuddering that she would meet the heroes if she ever went out. It was a relief that she wouldn’t meet them now.

‘This is going against the original story ……’

This novel was a harem, of course she had to take turns meeting the heroes one by one.

But now, she didn’t have to meet them because she didn’t leave the mansion.

Anyway, while I was glad she liked it, I still felt sorry. The flower of the society that everyone looked up to quickly became a laughingstock.

Hugo looked at me as if I was talking nonsense. He said,

“Lady, that’s not something you have to apologize for.”

What? It was another unexpected answer from him.

I thought he would think of me as a useless, unemployed girl who had manipulated his precious daughter.

Shouldn’t he have said, ‘You want to take my daughter with you? Over my dead body!’ ?

I was so nervous, I thought it would be a tense conversation because he had a daughter complex.

“On the contrary, I’m grateful to you. Thanks to you, she’s brightened like that.”

“…..What?”

“As long as she’s happy, then it’s enough. I don’t care what anyone else says.”

I heard something similar to what I heard from Felix. I was puzzled at first, but then it clicked.

‘Ah….Right. He has a daughter complex.’

Even if Claudia tried to take a different path from others, her father wouldn’t oppose her decision. Despite his concerns, he respected her daughter’s choice and wished her happiness.

No wonder Hugo just walked by me without saying anything.

Come to think of it, the people around Claudia, even her family, everyone became the “Claudia’s Happiness Order”.

‘Which is probably why the heroes wanted to destroy the Chamberlains all at once.’

If anything was different from the original novel, it would be that I was included now in the story.

‘Then why did you call me separately?’

As I looked at him in wonder, he said with a worried voice,

“His Majesty is looking for Claudia.”

My face hardened at once after hearing that the Crown Prince, Lucas, was looking for Claudia.

*Orabeoni(오라버니)= a term for younger female calling an elder male in same generation with respective manner.