Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 12

☆ Episode 12 ☆

The absurd quest made me momentarily forget my current situation.

Please uproot this sweet potato!

Blast them with refreshing cider!

– Condition: Feed Clottie cider

– Reward: 2000 Cash Gacha Ticket

– Quest Failure Penalty: Reincarnator Buff Removed

Hmm, what is this?

‘Why does this quest window smell like my familiar past life?’

I definitely remember leaving a similar comment in my previous life.

As a web novel reader, my soul, stirred by the quest, cried out.

‘Yes, that’s right! We have to destroy all the sweet potatoes! Cider! Cider!’

[Quest Accepted.]

“Seeing you can’t say anything, I guess you’ve realized it now.”

Clottie, misunderstanding my silence as confirmation, smiled triumphantly.

“Even if you didn’t want to come, you did well to come. As expected, I have to teach you everything–”

“Hey.”

Clottie’s smiling face hardened.

“A-are you talking to me right now?”

“Then who else is here besides you?”

“You, how dare you……!”

Clottie turned pale and trembled as if she had heard the most insulting thing in the world.

“Is something wrong with your head? Have you forgotten who I am?”

Clottie glared at me with fierce eyes. Her face was distorted beyond recognition.

‘I’ve never seen her make that expression before.’

I leaned back against the armrest, pretending to be relaxed.

‘Give me strength! Cider bomber main character unnies [older sisters]!’

I smiled like the main character *unnies* and said, and Clottie let out a hollow laugh.

“What’s wrong with you? Did you eat something wrong?”

“Eat something wrong? I’m doing too well.”

Clottie paused and looked at me.

Her green eyes slowly scanned me from top to bottom.

She soon twisted one side of her mouth into a smirk, as if she understood.

“Ah? The Duke’s family treated you well and gave you nice clothes, so you can’t grasp your place?”

Clothes? Why are you suddenly talking about clothes?

“My uncle is just showing you kindness out of pity. You shouldn’t mistake kindness for a right. It’s not yours.”

Listening to her lecturing, I slowly understood.

‘What, so she’s been picking a fight with me since she saw me wearing better clothes than her?’

How absurd.

“You’re just being pitied, so don’t get the wrong idea. Everyone will hate you if you act so arrogant.”

“When have I ever acted arrogant?”

“You don’t even know? Haa, my dad was right.”

Clottie shook her head and sighed deeply.

“He said you’re the type of kid who thinks you deserve special treatment. That’s why you should only get food when you work.”

Clottie’s expression was confident.

“But my dad’s education didn’t work.”

As if she was saying the right thing, as if she was teaching me, who was lacking.

“Do you want to be hated and kicked out by my uncle?”

She’s packaging abuse as education, and there’s not a shadow on her face.

Clottie saw everything.

She saw me not being able to eat properly.

She saw me being kicked outside in the winter without a coat.

She saw me drop the statue that was twice my height while cleaning it.

She saw me unable to lie straight because of the welts on my calves from being hit by the Marquis.

She saw it all.

And she would whisper to me.

“Oh my, how pitiful. I want to give you the snacks I have left, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch in life. I can’t help it. It’s your fault, right? Cheer up.”

With a very proud face. Completely intoxicated by her own kind encouragement.

My hands gripping the armrest involuntarily tightened.

“……You’re right, I might get kicked out of the Duke’s family.”

Clottie smiled triumphantly at my words.

“Okay, if you understand–”

“But I don’t think I’ll get kicked out because of what I said to you.”

I looked straight at Clottie.

And I smiled the superior smile that she always gave me.

“I’m being arrogant? Who dares to say that to whom?”

I sat back deeply and called Clottie with an arrogant face.

“Tarenka Marquis’s daughter.”

Clottie, who was about to say something, stopped.

“How dare you call me, a Paeraton Duchess, arrogant?”

A cold silence fell in the room.

Clottie, who had turned pale, couldn’t open her mouth for a while.

‘Keu, web novel experience!’

I can’t believe I’m saying these lines.

Resentment and injustice filled Clottie’s big eyes.

It seems very unfair that I, who am far inferior to her, am above her in status.

“Y-you…….”

“You? You should call me ‘Duchess.’ Didn’t you even learn that much etiquette? Shouldn’t you look back at yourself before pointing out other people’s etiquette?”

Clottie pursed her lips.

She’d rather die than call me ‘Duchess.’

It’s a little childish to use status like this, but she started it first.

If I just keep my mouth shut because I don’t want to be the same person, only sweet potatoes will pile up.

‘I feel like the quest should be completed by now.’

I glanced around.

But there was no sign of a notification window appearing.

‘Should I kick Clottie out of here?’

Thinking that, I looked at Clottie and our eyes met.

She glared at me and started pouring out words with a tearful face.

“My family has shown you so much grace, and you really don’t know how grateful you should be? I knew you were always like that, but I didn’t know it was this bad!”

“Grace?”

“Yes! My dad fed you, gave you a place to sleep, and took care of you after you were abandoned!”

I was speechless.

She knows how I lived, but does she really think that way?

My mind went cold.

“You didn’t throw away the hardened bread that you wouldn’t even give to the maids and gave it to me. You also gave me the leftover meat that was about to go bad as if you were getting rid of it. I had to eat even that with gratitude. Because you didn’t even give it to me regularly.”

I couldn’t eat, rest, or sleep properly.

I always had to be careful and live curled up in a corner.

How is that taking care of someone?

“That was abuse.”

“Abuse! How dare you insult my family? If it weren’t for us, you would have starved to death on the streets! Even if you’re uneducated, you should know that much–”

“You’re right.”

“What?”

“I’m uneducated.”

Clottie’s expression turned strange.

I continued without caring.

“Your father received a huge amount of alimony from the Paeraton Duke’s family, but he never ‘raised’ me even once.”

“……Alimony?”

“I couldn’t even afford basic necessities, so of course I didn’t receive any education.”

Clottie’s eyes shook violently.

“So, my dear cousin.”

I smiled brightly at Clottie, who was greatly shaken.

“Shouldn’t you show a little more of a better side since you’re more educated than me?”

“I’ve always been better than you! That’s why you’ve always been hated and I’ve always been loved!”

“Well, if you’re better than me, you should be able to think about looking back at yourself before blaming others. And I don’t really care about other people’s opinions.”

Clottie got angry and jumped up.

“Liar! That’s a lie!”

She screamed and started pointing at me.

“The Duke’s family gave you money? That can’t be! You’re an abandoned child! You’re a bastard born from your mother’s affair!”

“Can you take responsibility for that statement?”

Clottie flinched, but she shook her head with a determined face, thinking she couldn’t lose.

“Y-yes!”

“In the name of the Tarenka Marquis family?”

“Of course!”

“Really? Then let’s ask.”

Even if I really am a bastard, the fact that Clottie made such a statement is a problem in itself.

The Tarenka Marquis’s daughter insulted the Paeraton Duchess.

“A-ask, what…….”

“You said you could take responsibility.”

I grabbed the bell cord.

Only Clottie and I were in the room right now.

As soon as I heard about Clottie’s visit, I told the maids that I wanted to see her alone.

I knew how Clottie would act, and I didn’t want to show them this side of me.

“W-wait a minute!”

Clottie was horrified and reached out her hand.

But I was faster.

Clottie’s face turned pale as she saw the fully pulled cord.

Her eyes flickered anxiously between the door and me.

“Did you call, Lady?”

The door opened and my maids entered.

“Yes, about the Tarenka Marquis family’s bloodline–”

“H-heuaaang!”

A thunderous cry interrupted my words.

Surprised, I looked at Clottie, and she was forcing out tears.

Tears weren’t flowing from her eyes, but her red face looked like it would explode at any moment.

“Lady!”

Clottie’s maids jumped out from behind my maids.

I flinched when I saw Lien among them.

“What’s wrong, Lady?”

“H-heuk, hikk, Lien…….”

Clottie finally succeeded in shedding tears.

“Who made our kind Lady so upset! Who could it be!”

Lien comforted Clottie and glared at me.

I couldn’t bring myself to look Lien in the eye.

“Heuk, I was just trying to give her kind advice, hic, heup, I was trying to help……!”

Clottie trembled like a pitiful bird.

She didn’t look like the girl who had been talking rudely to me until just now.

What’s even more absurd is that Clottie is being sincere.

She wasn’t acting to gain sympathy, but she was really crying because she felt wronged.

“She told me I was arrogant, *heuk*. She told me to bow down to her……. She said we abused her!”

Clottie lifted her head from Lien’s arms and looked at me.

“Why, why are you saying such bad things? Did you hate me that much?”

Her tearful, red eyes looked truly pitiful.

“I was worried about you, I came for you.”

Lien left Clottie to another maid and jumped up.

I froze like a stone at the sight of Lien approaching me.

‘You idiot, you don’t have to be scared anymore! She can’t hit me!’

I shouted to myself, but my frozen body wouldn’t move a finger.

I didn’t want to, but the memory of being hit by Lien flashed before my eyes.

“Our Lady has been so kind and gentle to you, how dare you say such things.”

Lien deliberately came close and looked down at me. To make me feel more intimidated and scared.

‘I know. I’m not scared at all.’

I tried to calm down.

‘I’m okay now. I’m safe here. It’s different from then.’

But my young body was just trembling. My heart was pounding like crazy.

Then, a soft hand pulled me back. It was Nancy.

And Anna took her place in the gap that was created in front of me. As if to shield me from Lien.

“Your attitude towards the Duchess is truly arrogant.”

Lien seemed upset by Anna’s condescending tone, but she didn’t argue.

“……I was just asking because the Duchess was saying such absurd things. You can’t just coddle a child like that, they won’t grow up properly. You have to teach them that what they did was wrong.”

“What did our Lady do wrong? Rather, didn’t the Marquis’s daughter cause trouble for our Lady?”

“That can’t be! Our Lady is so considerate of her cousin that she even brought her a gift today. Would such a person have started a fight?”

“That’s right!”

Clottie’s maid agreed, holding out a box.

Clottie, who was watching the situation turn around, slyly intervened.

“I was thinking of you, *hic*, I even brought you a gift, so why are you being so mean?”

“……A gift?”

It was a strange feeling.

Clottie had never even given me a leftover cookie.

But a gift.

It was beyond absurd, and I felt nauseous.

At my question, the maid holding the box smirked and opened the lid.

She must have thought I was blinded by the gift.

“Here, this is a dress that our Lady carefully chose!”

The green dress rippled in the air as the maid moved it.

“You wanted this dress, right?”

Clottie said to me.

“You’ve never been able to wear clothes like this before.”

Her face, still wet with tears, was making a very benevolent expression.

“I saw you secretly looking at my dress.”

Clottie took the dress and came closer to me.

The soft fabric touched my hand.

The dress that was probably too small for Clottie to wear was wrapped around my hand.

“Aren’t you grateful?”

Clottie asked me. Giving me an old dress as if she was doing charity.

It was at that moment.

“You have a lot to say for someone who stole my daughter’s clothes.”

A cold voice cut low through the room.

It was a voice so dangerous that everyone in the room felt a chill.

As if drawn by a magnet, everyone’s eyes turned to the source of the voice.

The Duke of Paeraton was leaning against the door.

Wearing a very languid and violent smile.