Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 11

In the chilling atmosphere, I felt gazes more intense and fervent than ever.

The pupils of the vassals, maids, and dressmakers all trembled as if experiencing an earthquake.

I glanced upward.

Duke Paeraton was staring intently at the vassal who had questioned me.

I rolled my eyes to look at that vassal, and he was streaming with what looked like a mixture of sweat and tears.

He seemed to be muttering something, but I couldn’t hear him well.

I thought I vaguely heard words like, “Wife, son, I can’t even say goodbye…”

Next to him, another man comforted him, saying, “I’ll take care of your son until he grows up.”

“Ah, Miss, please think again. Didn’t you say you liked His Grace?”

Another vassal asked with a desperate look.

Hmm, no choice, I guess.

“Uh-huh, I like Daddy. This much…”

I once again gestured with my index finger and thumb to show a bean-sized gap.

The vassals’ lips turned blue at the confirmation.

I glanced up at the Duke, and our eyes immediately met.

No emotion could be read in his crimson eyes.

I didn’t avoid his gaze and stared back, smiling brightly.

“Everything but one!”

My clear voice echoed in the quiet room.

“Everything in the universe combined, minus just this much!”

I spread my arms wide.

“That’s how much I like Daddy!”

How about that? This is K-drip [Korean slang for ‘showing off’ or ‘flexing’]!

Korean drip!

“Ugh.”

“Kuh-heuk…”

“Heo-eok, heok…!”

Groans erupted from here and there.

People clutched their hearts due to acute atrial fibrillation [irregular heartbeat] or suffered from shortness of breath.

The surroundings were in chaos, but Duke Paeraton himself showed no reaction.

He was just looking at me.

‘Did I, did I overdo it…?’

Belated embarrassment washed over me.

Unable to avoid his gaze, I just dripped with sweat when the Duke opened his mouth.

“I didn’t hear you well.”

Huh?

“I said, I didn’t hear you well.”

‘D-Does he mean to say it again?’

Looking at the Duke’s extremely expressionless face, it didn’t seem like it at all, but…

I hesitated, wondering, and opened my mouth.

“I, I like Daddy as much as everything in the world, minus just this much…?”

He turned his head away from me without any reaction.

‘Was that not it?’

I just said embarrassing things again for nothing.

Cheh, as I pouted, the Duke asked the vassals.

“Did you hear what my daughter said?”

“We did!”

“The youngest lady truly loves Your Grace!”

“To be loved so much by your daughter, I’m curious about your secret!”

The corner of the Duke’s mouth lifted arrogantly.

He seemed to be in a good mood from the flattery.

‘What, Duke… how childish…’

I stared at the Duke with a slightly dazed and blurry gaze.

At that moment, the Duke’s face turned towards me.

“…But why did you subtract that much?”

Huk.

It was a surprise question.

‘What should I do? I don’t have any more drips after this.’

Because both the speaker and the listener are too busy unfolding their hands and feet from cringing.

‘To think I’d survive and get asked this question.’

The world of romance fantasy, it’s not easy!

“Because I’ll like you even more in the future.”

I opened my mouth, thinking I had to say something.

“If I’m with Daddy. If I spend time with Daddy.”

Yes, if you don’t abandon me and let me continue living here.

“If we keep, keep being together, I’ll definitely like Daddy more!”

At my words, the vassal nodded with a limp face.

“So that’s why you subtracted that much.”

“Yes!”

“To think she’s so thoughtful at such a young age.”

“How can she be so wonderful…!”

“As expected… Song-i.”

But why has the designer been calling me Song-i since earlier?

Ignoring the fuss around me, I looked at the Duke.

He had no reaction. No, rather, he was looking at me with an even stiffer face than before.

‘I even endured the embarrassment for a special drip.’

Cheh.

I pouted.

* * *

After a flurry of activity, Yutra, who had finished taking measurements, frowned.

‘The measurements are different from the last order?’

She didn’t bother to ask.

It would be like pointing out that the measurements sent by the Duke’s family were wrong.

‘But the dress I made before was made to that size, so it would have been too big… Then she couldn’t have worn it?’

I really wanted to see her wearing it, but it was a shame.

‘All the dresses I brought today were also made to the size they sent before, so this is awkward.’

Yutra bowed her head to the Duke.

“The dresses I brought will be a little big for the young lady. But there won’t be any problem with trying them on.”

The clothes she was showing off now were all Yutra’s ambitious works, special and amazing.

‘As such, selling just one would be worth more than a month’s sales!’

Yutra waited for her to try them on, wearing a deep smile.

But no matter how much time passed, Duke Paeraton didn’t put his daughter down.

Eventually, she had no choice but to speak first.

“Um, Your Grace, to try on the dresses, you need to put the young lady down…”

“Why is a fitting necessary?”

A low voice cut her off.

“Yes? To choose what you like…”

Of course, a fitting is necessary.

How can you choose a dress that costs more than a middle-class family’s living expenses for three months without even trying it on?

Duke Paeraton said to the bewildered Yutra.

“I’ll buy them all.”

Yes? What did you say?

Even Yutra, who was used to dealing with all sorts of nobles, couldn’t maintain her composure this time.

Her mouth dropped open.

“Since you took the measurements, you can alter them accordingly. I’ll buy all the clothes you brought today.”

Yutra quickly closed her mouth at the smoothly flowing words.

‘It’s a bonanza!’

A living gold mine was shining brightly in front of her.

Suppressing her cheekbones, which were soaring towards the sky, she bowed her head.

“I understand, Your Grace.”

* * *

‘They look expensive at a glance, and you’re saying you’ll buy them all? Are you serious?’

I looked at Duke Paeraton in bewilderment.

Even if I changed clothes twice a day, I wouldn’t be able to wear them all before the season changed!

“But there’s a condition.”

The Duke scanned the clothes hanging and then looked at me. Specifically, at my hands.

“Make the cuffs fit snugly on the wrists or make them short altogether.”

“Yes?”

“So my daughter can’t pull the sleeves of her clothes over her hands.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

The designer answered, but she looked like she didn’t know why he was making such a request.

But I know.

“Is that all you’ve polished? You need to shine it!”

“Like this, like this, when I was polishing shoes, my uncle, sob, told that man that this card was proof of investment. He said that to the other grandfather and the red-haired man too! Sob, it’s real…”

The day I first met Duke Paeraton, when I was cleaning Clatie’s shoes smeared with cream.

When I reenacted how Marquis Tarenka had ordered me to do it.

I wiped the shoes with my sleeve.

So he made that condition.

So that I would never pull up my sleeves again.

So that I wouldn’t kneel down and wipe someone’s shoes.

“…”

Something hot welled up from within.

Maybe.

‘Even though the Duke isn’t my real dad, maybe he’s not such a bad person.’

I raised my head.

His face, looking at me, was still expressionless and stiff.

But that face didn’t look as scary as before.

* * *

“It seems we’ve arrived at the Duke’s residence.”

At the words of her close maid, Rien, Clatie drew back the curtain and looked out the window.

Her face was full of displeasure.

She had said she would go to see her cousin at Marquis Tarenka’s words, but she was annoyed when she actually went out.

The carriage had just passed through the main gate and was entering the grounds of the Paeraton Duke’s residence.

Clatie widened her eyes.

“T-This is the Paeraton Duke’s residence?”

The endlessly 펼쳐진 [unfolding/spreading] garden was adorned with all sorts of rare and exotic plants.

She had expected it to be desolate in winter, but instead of green leaves, lights created by magic hung from the branches, twinkling.

And glass flowers shining like colorful jewels.

“Oh my…”

It was so beautiful. It was like being in a dreamlike fantasy.

The carriage, which had been going for a while, passed in front of the mansion.

Clatie frowned.

“Why aren’t they stopping in front of the mansion? Surely they don’t expect me to walk from the carriage storage to the mansion.”

That question was soon resolved.

Soon, another building appeared.

“The one we saw earlier must have been a 별채 [separate residence/annex]. It looked like the main building of a decent noble family, but that was a 별채…”

Clatie’s eyes sparkled like stars.

‘There’s a rumor that if you piled up the gold of the Paeraton Duke’s family, it would be taller than a magic tower. That wasn’t entirely a lie!’

Her heart fluttered as she stood before the splendid and antique mansion.

Her annoyance had long since flown away.

Every direction she looked was as beautiful as a fantasy.

“How is it?”

Clatie, who got out of the carriage, twirled around and asked Rien.

“Doesn’t such a beautiful place suit a beautiful me well?”

“So much so that I want to call a painter right now to capture the young lady’s 모습 [image/figure].”

“Aicham, Rien too.”

Clatie laughed.

At that moment, the mansion door opened and a butler came out.

Seeing his young age, he seemed to be a regular butler, not the head butler.

‘Surely the head butler should be greeting me?’

“Young Lady Tarenka, I have not heard that you would be visiting.”

“Oh my, does one need permission to come see a cousin?”

Clatie said primly and passed the butler, entering the mansion.

The butler looked at her with a troubled face.

He couldn’t arbitrarily kick out Clatie, who was the Duke’s niece and the 공녀’s [Duke’s daughter] cousin.

“From now on, please be sure to follow the formal visitation procedures. Otherwise, you will not be allowed into the mansion.”

But Clatie wasn’t listening to him.

‘Wow… it’s so 멋져 [cool/stylish]!’

The interior of the mansion was even more splendid than the garden.

‘Surely the chandelier is made of diamonds?’

Not only that.

The floor was covered with artisan rugs, and the reliefs on the walls were all gold and jewels.

But there was something that caught her eye even more than the brilliant and luxurious mansion.

“Ah…”

In the lobby, in the middle of the staircase facing the front, hung a large portrait of the current head of the family, Duke Paeraton.

Clatie couldn’t take her eyes off the portrait.

‘How can a person be born like that?’

No matter what words she used, it wasn’t enough. All the praises in the world seemed to have been made for him.

‘I didn’t know when I met him last time…’

The fear that took over her whole body made her unable to face Duke Paeraton’s face.

The overwhelming beauty before her diluted that memory.

She blankly walked up the stairs and approached the portrait.

‘If only my dad was like this…’

A sweet imagination flashed before Clatie’s eyes.

‘No. When you think about it, he’s my uncle, right?’

Even people who weren’t family couldn’t help but adore her because she was pretty.

‘Duke Paeraton and I are family, so how much more would he adore me? Of course, he’d be crazy about his niece.’

Clatie imagined herself in Duke Paeraton’s arms.

They couldn’t have looked better together.

Clatie knew the rumors about Duke Paeraton well.

A cold-blooded man of black blood.

The most terrible and worst slaughterer.

Duke Paeraton doesn’t know sadness, so when he cries, other people’s blood flows instead of tears.

‘I remember reading in a book that the more scary and fearful people are, the more lonely and isolated they are.’

‘My uncle must be hoping that a lovely angel like me will come to him.’

That’s what Dad said.

That she was the joy, happiness, and pleasure of this world.

A being that brings smiles to people’s faces.

‘Only I can soothe my uncle’s loneliness.’

Duke Paeraton, whose deep and dark loneliness disappeared and only smiled at her.

“Ha…”

She couldn’t help but exclaim just thinking about it.

Suddenly, she thought of her cousin, who had the excessive title of Paeraton 공녀 [Duke’s daughter], but ignored it.

‘After all, it’s something that child can’t do anyway.’

She was a child who couldn’t do anything right, no matter what she was told. She was always getting scolded, so she had to take care of her.

‘How can such a child soothe someone else’s loneliness?’

She doesn’t suit this beautiful mansion at all.

‘I can’t help it.’

The 모습 [image/figure] of her cousin, who would surely be miserable here alone, came to mind.

However, the 모습 [image/figure] of her cousin, whom she met again, was completely different from her expectations.

* * *

Clatie 벌컥 [abruptly/suddenly] opened the door before the butler could even announce her arrival. It was a long-standing habit.

She stopped abruptly when she saw her cousin’s 모습 [image/figure] as she entered triumphantly.

‘Wh-What…’

There was no country bumpkin shivering miserably in a room that didn’t suit her station.

There was only an owner worthy of this splendid room.

‘Was her hair originally that color?’

It used to be a dull color that I didn’t even want to touch because it was matted with sweat, oil, and dust.

‘Did she look like that?’

Her gaunt and prickly face was completely different.

Cheeks with a rosy complexion and smooth, radiant skin.

Her skinny and unsightly body had become plump like a precious child.

‘She’s a completely different person…’

The dress she was wearing was also unique.

To think she was wearing a dress that I would only receive as a gift once a year on my birthday as everyday clothes?

‘Wh-What, why? Why is she…’

Clatie looked down at her dress.

If she had to choose the one who looked shabby and unsightly here, it was herself.

Clatie gritted her teeth.

“Y-You… you’re more shameless than I thought?”

She had to teach this ignorant child.

I was dumbfounded by Clatie’s 모습 [behavior/attitude], who was 따지는 [arguing/quarreling] without even greeting me.

“Isn’t it you who’s shameless, not me?”

“Wh-What did you say?”

Clatie’s face turned bright red, as if she didn’t expect me to 반박 [retort/refute].

But this isn’t Marquis Tarenka’s residence.

“That’s right. You barge in without even saying you’re visiting. And you don’t even say hello, even though you’re an uninvited guest.”

“Uninvited guest! I came for you. Because you wanted to see me.”

“I wanted to see you?”

When I asked in disbelief, Clatie bit her lip tightly and glared at me.

“…You’re uneducated, so I, who am kind, have to understand, but you really have no manners or shame.”

Clatie sat on the sofa without me asking and continued.

“If you had any shame, you wouldn’t be so extravagant.”

“You keep talking about yourself since earlier一.”

“You’re not the Duke’s daughter.”

I stopped breathing at the words she spat out.

Clatie smiled brightly, as if she had hit the nail on the head.

“My dad said so. That your mom betrayed my uncle and had you as a bastard after cheating on him?”

“…”

“How can you shamelessly have the Paeraton name and be in the Duke’s residence with that kind of background?”

I tried to stay calm, but my hands were shaking.

It was something I always heard. It wasn’t something that would shock me now.

But those words pierced my heart more deeply than when I was at Marquis Tarenka’s residence.

Because I got to know Duke Paeraton, Daddy.

The fact that I might not be his real daughter had already become a wound to me.

It was then.

[Sudden Quest Alert!]

An alert popped up in front of my eyes.