Chapter 75 - She's my daughter
Translator: Yonnee
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Dazed for a moment, I couldn't answer right away.
What did I hear just now?
"It's alright, Rin. This mom of yours can understand everything. When I was young, I also used to admire the nobles living in the capital."
I'm very sure that there's a stupid look on my face right now. However, Mom wasn't looking at me because she was looking into the air, perhaps reminiscing on the past.
"I stayed in the capital for some time before I met your father. Back then, my late grandmother from my mother's side was in the capital. I used to go there a lot to visit my cousins, just hanging out all day long..."
While Mom was looking back on the past, I immediately corrected the misunderstanding she was under.
"No, Mom. I don't have feelings for the Duke."
"Fufu. You have a long way to go before you can deceive your mother, my dear daughter."
"......"
"When I first went to the capital, Rin, I'm telling you, there was a gentleman I had crossed paths with. Then, I thought that all the nobles living in the capital were polite and nice like him."
I was incredibly conflicted, but at the same time, I was also curious about Mom's past. What was she like when she was younger? Was she as strong and courageous as she was now?
In the end, my desire to deny her misunderstanding faded as I unknowingly and gradually fell into the story that Mom was telling.
"I think that's when my first love started. But after a while, my grandmother passed away, and my mother had no choice but to go back to our hometown. Then, I met your father. Heavens, really. I didn't think that your father was a noble."
As though she was immersed in the past now, Mom turned her head slightly as a smile tugged up the corners of her lips. Her soft coral hair fluttered gently in the wind, and her green eyes looked at me tenderly.
I resemble Mom a lot. From the hair color and even the eye color.
Once I get older, wouldn't I look just like her? I couldn't help but think that.
The two of us, mother and daughter, stared at each other quietly.
As Mom looked at me, she opened her lips to speak again.
"I'll like whoever you like, Rin. But, my daughter."
"...Yes, Mom?"
"If possible, can't you live near me?"
"......"
I myself recalled the past as well. At this, my curved eyes that carried joy until just now soon drooped downwards.
Mom must not be completely over the fire from the past yet.
I felt remorseful towards her. I reached up to her shoulders and hugged her tightly. Just yesterday, I didn't know that her shoulders were this small.
With my embrace, Mom seemed a little surprised, but I told her,
"Mom, I like you, too. I also want to live with Mom for a long, long time."
"Fufu, I know you'd feel the same way."
I hugged her tightly for a moment, but I then went back to the original topic.
"But you're still not right about one thing, Mom."
"About what?"
"When did I ever fall in love with the Duke? It's not like that at all, so..."
"Goodness, Rin. Love isn't a bad thing. There's no reason for you to hide it."
"No, I really don't have feelings for him."
Even though I was strongly denying it, Mom continued to look as if she didn't believe me. Rather, she stared at me with narrowed as though she was extensively gauging me.
"Then, why do you keep looking for the duke like that?"
"...Me?"
"Yes. Whenever the Duke isn't there, you always check the door, as if you're waiting for the moment he'd come in."
"......"
I couldn't answer.
Obviously, I did that because I was avoiding him, not waiting for him.
But then again, I couldn't ignore Mom's words. I didn't know the extent of her care and attention for me as she watched me.
"Well, let's finish our stroll and go back inside."
"...Yes."
* * *
Helen looked down at her daughter's hand, which was holding her own tightly.
Even though she knew that she was no longer a child, Helen couldn't easily let go of her daughter's hand, which was covered in the glove that she couldn't take off even though it was hot.
Her daughter's right hand was the clear indicator of Helen's sin, and she was to atone for the rest of her life.
In all truth, she had already noticed that the duke also had feelings for her daughter. And besides that, she also noticed that her daughter had been conscious of the duke ever since the first day of his visit to their abode.
But how could she explain it.
The expression 'fell in love' didn't seem to be enough.
Was it better to say that they were two people who were bound to cross paths?
This peculiar relationship eventually became certain to Helen back when the duke had visited her. In the drawing room, where Helen, Irene and the duke were sitting, he had looked at Irene as if he knew who she was from the very beginning-with such a pleading look in his eyes.
And on the day that the duke left the estate, the duke had looked at her daughter as though he was going to come back for her later because she was originally his.
It's not as if Helen didn't like the duke. Rather, she was quite fond of him.
But the problem was that he was the household head of a great noble house, and he wouldn't be able to take action all by himself.
As a great noble house inevitably had vassals and branch families, like one whole organism, they would certainly be opposed to Irene entering that household.
Besides that, she was a young lady with scars upon her body. She would be treated with contempt as though she was a sinner.
Helen would not let her daughter be insulted like that.
Never.
