Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

There was an odd expression on everyone’s face around her. Even the old butler standing in the distance had that peculiar expression. Everyone here took it for granted and it was not a big of an issue when the maid addressed Duran as ‘he’. They all treated him that way.

Everyone has a strange expression on their faces, as if they had never thought that Yvor would take Duran’s side.

She asked hopefully, “What about Dew’s meal?”

And then again…

There was another maid who looked confused and perplexed.

Yvor realized that the maids had not properly cared for Dew’s meals for three days. Maybe Dew isn’t here right now, not because he didn’t want to be, but because no one had gone to call him.

She was strangely relieved, but also angry. Come to think of it, she remembered that at this point in the past, the butler had always called Duran a ‘guest’.

What kind of rule is it to call the lord’s immediate family a ‘guest’?

‘You are a guest.’

In the kingdom, it was impossible for a guest to sit at the same table with the lord unless invited. She looked at her servants one by one. Her maids, whose faces she didn’t even remember, were looking at her with worried expressions. Everyone she made eye contact with was like that.

Yvor looked down in anger, but she felt like she was lying on her stomach and swallowed her words.

“Miss, are you okay?”

The maids exchanged worried glances because it wasn’t simply herself asking, but Lord Yvor. Her employees were worried about her, and cursed at her Duran. How could this be? They didn’t know Duran that well. A stone sat in her chest.

“Be sure to call him next time.”

She will sit at the same table with her dear brother and eat the same food. She thought, as she made a promise to herself.

Her maids exchanged puzzled glances with one another, but they did not disobey her. Seeing everyone bowing their heads, Yvor became frustrated again. She hardly felt like she could eat. If she took a sip of water, it would clog her throat. She got up from her seat.

No matter how frightened she was, she had to see Duran. When she got up and headed to the door, her maids followed her.

“Miss.”

One of her maids called her. When Yvor turned around, the maid could not speak properly and bit her lip. In Serium Castle, it was impossible for the maid to speak to the lord first. The maid just stamped her feet.

“Mrs. Harris will be here soon.”

Mrs. Harris was Yvor Adela’s main tutor. She took care of the whole routine of an 18-year-old young lady. From early morning to late at night, Yvor Adela was constantly being educated. The only free time that Yvor had was when she was ruling the land and castle as the lord of Serium.

“Miss…”

Her maid called her back. As expected, it was a call that could not be ignored, and Yvor noticed the reason. RIght now she was not a queen, whose daily life was at her disposal, but a young paragon and lady.

She recalled her own daily life in the past. She would have had to go to her class right after she had breakfast. Even though Duran had come down to the Serium Castle, her class hours had not changed. She couldn’t even learn with Duran.

Why?

Perhaps it was because Mrs. Harris opposed it.

Yvor slowly rekindled her memories. Her tutor, Mrs. Harris said she could not take classes together because Duran and their ages were too different and what she would learn was different.

Yvor Adela never thought of refuting her opinion, but now she did.

“…Tell Mrs. Harris that Duran is joining me.”

She ordered her maid very simply.

She had to see her brother.

Realizing that her servant’s treatment towards Duran could be horrendous and extremely harsh because of her father’s affairs, she grabbed several people and asked a few questions. As a result, it was clear what she found out.

Regardless of his status, her servants were either subconsciously or consciously hostile to him. Most of their reasons were the same, it was for Yvor.

Yvor Adela couldn’t understand. It can’t be for her. From the moment she saw Duran for the first time, she hadn’t had a moment where she didn’t love him.

He was her beloved brother. If family means something emotional, not just blood, he was her family. Unlike her father, who didn’t write a letter other than to say he was sending a tutor; or her mother, who abandoned her and lived with her lover in Avonbury. That was her family.

‘But why don’t they know?’

It’s understandable if her servants didn’t care about her at all. In fact, in the past, she thought they neither liked her nor hated her. For her, the relationship she shared with Duran was the only relationship that was meaningful to her, so she didn’t even care about them.

‘But what do they see now?’

Most of them are loyal enough to her. Some of them, including her maid Lucy, or the butler who she saw in the morning, even seemed to care about her to an extent that she was puzzled how they could.

‘But why?’

That’s because they don’t know each other. Just as Yvor did not know them, so did they not know her. Actually, it was only natural. She didn’t speak and they didn’t talk, so she couldn’t tell. Yvor unilaterally ordered and received only unilateral reports.

This Yvor Adela learned from her parents about treating people as inanimate objects. That was her whole relationship with others.