Chapter 98

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Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
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[Hello, Director. It’s me, Evi! I’m sorry for sending a letter after such a long time. I was going to send them more often, but I kept falling asleep because I was tired every day…

But it couldn’t be helped! Irene’s house has sooooo many fun things!

As I told you in my previous letter, I am staying at Irene’s house now.

Everyone here is kind to me. No one here dislikes me for being a child of the orphanage.

Every morning, Amber, Vicky, and Cindy bring me new clothes.

They said they’re all clothes Irene wore when she was young. When I asked, they said that people from the South grow tall quickly, so they often can’t wear their childhood clothes for long.

And since they said there won’t be any more young children born in the Terence family, they said I can have them all.

There are no holes and nothing is torn, so they all seem like new clothes.

When I said all the clothes were clean, Irene said it was because the skills of the Terence family’s maids were good.

Even if they are rich, it seems everyone uses things sparingly like at our orphanage.

Since I received so many, I’ll send the rest along except for the ones I’ll wear.

Please share them with the friends too.

But Irene must have been similar to me when she was young! The arm length, neck, and legs all fit me perfectly when I wear them! It’s really amazing, isn’t it?

These days, I always wear the hairpin Madame Crebel gave me as a gift together with her.

When we went to the market together, a lady passing by called me and Irene pretty young ladies. It felt really good!

I’ll be here for one more week. Since one week has passed, I’ll be here for one more week, then I’ll go to Lord Arcel’s mansion. After that, I’ll go to Ruska’s mansion. Then I’ll come back to Irene’s house again.

I also received letters from Lord Arcel and Ruska.

They said they are waiting for the day I’ll come to play and to have fun together. When she saw that letter, Irene took me to a room for drawing pictures. (Irene’s house has a room for drawing, a room for reading books, a room for listening to music, and even a separate room for changing clothes! Isn’t it amazing!)

And we drew pictures together with colored pencils that have 180 colors. While doing that, she said Arcel and Ruska won’t have things like this in their houses.

So she told me to draw a lot here.

So I drew pictures excitedly, and Irene praised me, saying I drew a really wonderful raccoon. It was a dog, though…

Then Irene said 7-year-olds aren’t supposed to be able to draw well. She said she only became good at drawing when she was 10, and that I’ll be good at everything when I’m 10.

When I’m 10, I’ll draw a lot of pictures and give them all to you, Director. And…]

“Oh, I’ve used up all the paper.”

Evi, who had been writing the letter while moving her hands relentlessly, looked up when she saw the letters reaching the end of the paper.

The paper was packed with letters. After thinking for a moment with the pen in her hand, Evi drew a few more lines over the parts she had just crossed out.

It was a part where she had written something that she thought would make the Director feel sad if she saw it.

After drawing lines over it several more times to completely erase that part, Evi opened the desk drawer.

Inside, the drawer was full of stationery that had a pleasant scent. When she held the paper close to her face, she could smell the good fragrance.

‘The Director will feel good when she receives this paper too.’

She thought she should write to tell the friends to all smell it too.

Evi picked up the pen again and quickly continued writing the letter.

Since it was her seventh day staying at Irene’s house, the letter didn’t seem to end when she tried to write down everything that had happened in the meantime.

‘There’s too much to write in a letter!’

From the moment she opened her eyes until the moment she lay back down with Irene in bed and turned on the mana stone, there was never a moment to be bored all day.

During the day, they had once been so excited while playing that they both developed a fever and slumped down.

On that day, the maids said they both had to take a nap in different beds.

“We know very well that if you are together, you won’t sleep because you’ll be chattering again!”

Usually, they were very kind maids, but at that time, they stood in the way with scary faces, saying it was absolutely not allowed.

Thanks to that, she was able to sleep really soundly.

When Evi finally finished the letter, a knock was heard at the door.

“Come in.”

“Miss Evi!”

The person who entered was Amber, the oldest among the three maids.

“It’s lunchtime. Since the young lady Irene’s guest has left, she will be coming soon. Let’s go down together.”

After saying that, Amber reached out her hand.

When Evi grabbed her hand firmly, Amber quietly said, “It was worth winning at rock-paper-scissors…!” and trembled while clenching her other hand into a fist.

‘She called me Miss.’

When she first heard those words, she felt so embarrassed. Her face turned red and she said they didn’t have to call her that, but the maids called Evi ‘Miss Evi’ until the end.

“If you wear such pretty clothes, you are a miss.”

“If you stay so well-behaved, you are a miss.”

“I told you, if you’re this cute, you’re a miss!”

In the end, Evi lost.

‘But it feels good.’

At first she was shy, but now she laughs every time she hears it.

When she entered the dining room, Irene, who had arrived first and was sitting down, waved her hand.

“They said today’s lunch is fried chicken, which Evi likes!”

“Wow!”

At Irene’s words, Evi hopped up and down excitedly before sitting in her seat.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yes. Southern fried chicken is really delicious!”

One might think that frying chicken in oil is the same everywhere, but Southern fried chicken was truly a different dish.

The crunchy batter was delicious, but the sweet and spicy sauce brushed on the outside was a wondrous taste that one wouldn’t get tired of even if they ate it all day.

While Evi was looking forward to the dish that would soon come out, she saw that fatigue was lingering on Irene’s face, despite her sitting upright.

“Were you very tired today?”

“Hmm? Ahh… five people barged in all at once and kept talking about the autumn banquet, so my ears hurt a bit.”

“Autumn banquet?”

“Yes. Soon, autumn banquets will be held here and there. You saw the book with the Gifted Center’s rules, right?”

Nod, nod.

Evi nodded and recalled what she remembered.

The autumn banquet was the largest among the three official Gifted Center events.

If it were other places’ events, the New Year’s Festival would be the largest, but the Gifted Center is on winter break during that period.

For that reason, the autumn banquet, a festival during the period when students are staying, was the largest and most flamboyant at the Gifted Center.

‘And it said the guardian attends together at this time.’

She learned later that many people try to become guardians in order to attend the banquet at this time.

“It will be truly incredible this year since His Majesty the Emperor will also come.”

Irene held her forehead as if she could already imagine that commotion.

“Will His Majesty come?”

Even so, would the Emperor move just to look after her at a Gifted Center event?

When Evi muttered with a worried face, Irene gave her a scolding as if she were worrying about nothing.

“If he doesn’t come, that would be more of a problem. Didn’t you see the letter that came? He asked if you would like to visit the villa for a week during the break.”

Irene recalled the Emperor’s letter that had arrived on the second day after they came home.

It was written in kind-sounding words, but the content could be summarized simply.

‘He was asking for one week out of the three weeks I had.’

If it had been a letter sent by someone else, it wouldn’t have been a problem to even forget the fact that a letter had arrived, saying, “Oh my, what kind of nonsense is this? My hand slipped and the letter caught fire? Hohoho!”

But she couldn’t do that with the Emperor.

No matter how great the Terence family was, they knew very well who the ruler of the land they lived on was.

He was an Emperor who wore a soft expression when looking at Evi now.

But he was also a person who had had no hesitation in massacring thousands of enemies and their retainers after the succession war ended.

The one who rose to the throne after shedding the most blood among the successive Emperors of the Empire.

That fact must not be forgotten.

“That’s right. I think that villa will be fun.”

Without knowing the feelings of Irene, who had had one week snatched away all of a sudden, Evi laughed as if she were looking forward to it.

“Come to think of it, who is Irene’s guardian?”

“My guardian? It’s Margrave Derschina Carmin. She’s someone with the nickname ‘Tiger of the South.’ Do you know her?”

Nod, nod.

Evi nodded vigorously.

Derschina Carmin is a Margrave well over sixty years old, with her territory near the Dering Strait in the South, which is called the Sea of Savages.

It is a place where four kingdoms face each other across the sea, and it was also a place where disputes between nations constantly arose in the past.

It was the same during the succession war. Taking advantage of the Empire’s confusion, the four kingdoms attempted an invasion across the Sea of Savages.

However, they were unable to set a single foot on the Empire’s territory.

It was because the Margrave had literally crushed them at the Sea of Savages.

A woman who did not intervene in the succession war but was more sincere than anyone else in protecting the Empire.

After the tiger she had raised herself since she was young passed away, she directly removed its hide and made a shoulder decoration to always have with her, which led to her nickname becoming the Tiger of the South.

To think that such a valiant woman was Irene’s guardian.

“Then will she also come?”

“Yes. She said that as she’s gotten older, she’s been drawn to flamboyant things lately, so she’ll come to the autumn banquet as well as coming to the capital for shopping. When the Margrave comes, let’s go meet her together, Evi.”

“Wow!”

Evi clapped her hands in excitement at the news that she would be able to personally meet a hero who seemed like someone from an old story.

It would surely be a very enjoyable autumn banquet.