This Goblin Won't Give Up!

Chapter 22

-3 Years Later-

"Miss Illya? Miss Illya, where are you?" one of the maids yelled, looking for me in the garden.

Three years had passed since I arrived here as the Duke's great-granddaughter, and I was finally four years old. Time moved fast since I arrived here, and before I knew it, I was walking around with ease.

"Miss Illya, there you are," my personal maid Lena said, peaking her head above the bushes.

"Hehehe~! You found me!" I yelled happily, jumping to my feet. Yes, that's right, I can talk in complete sentences now! Growing up was the best. Though everyone now and then, I did lisp some of my words. But still, it was great that I could finally talk with other people.

Today, Lena and I are playing hide and seek. I love playing hide and seek as it allows me to roam around the mansion and discover new places. Plus, it was really the only thing that I could do. I tried to read books, but without understanding the written language, the only ones that I could enjoy were picture books. And to be honest, they weren't that entertaining. The maids loved playing dress up with me, and while I didn't mind it, it was obvious that they were having more fun than me.

"Come along, Miss, it's time for lunch. Sola and Tully are waiting for you." Lena said, gently holding out her hand for me to grab.

"I want macarons and cake~!" I yelled out triumphantly, messing up the pronunciation of macaroons, before grabbing Lena's hand.

"As you wish, Miss Illya, but try not to overeat this time," Lena said, leading me to the others.

To be honest, I'm surprised that I can live like this after everything that happened three years ago. Losing my family and then gaining a new one. Not to mention becoming the heir of a Duke. Everything had happened so fast that it was hard for me to process back then. I'm just glad that I can live peacefully like this. Even Damien had stayed quiet all this time. I thought that he might cause more problems for me. I haven't seen him once in these past three years. The king, on the other hand, stops down once every few months. He's much friendlier to me now than at the beginning. I still don't know how I should feel about him trying to kill me before, but at least for now, everything is fine.

Everyone in the mansion pampers me and treats me like a princess. At first, it was a bit embarrassing, and I couldn't help but hate the dresses they put me in, but in time I grew to like them. I mean, what's so wrong with being cute? So what if I had memories of my past life? I'm now just a goblin girl, or as everyone else believes, an elf girl.

Besides my great-grandfather, Sara, Sola, and Tully, the only one else besides the king who knew the truth was Lena. She was supposedly my grandmother's maid before me. At first, Lena was quite shocked when she learned about the truth, but after spending some time with me, she really started taking a liking to me.

"Illya, you're here!" Sola and Tully stood happily next to the table, wearing their maid uniforms. They were now ten years old. Sola looked like she was eighteen, and Tully looked like she was thirteen. Goblins live for twenty-five years at the most, so they age much faster than humans. Though compared to other girls, they were quite small, only reaching five feet tall, but for a goblin that was quite tall. The mansion was confused at first with how fast they grew, but thankfully, Sara convinced them that their heights were stunted due to malnutrition.

"Sola! Tully!" I ran straight into their arms, hugging them tightly. "I missed you!" These days, they have been busy training to become proper maids, so the time that we had to spend together was getting less and less. I was always excited whenever I got the chance to see them,

"And we missed you," they said, hugging me tighter. To be honest, I never wanted them to work as maids, but they were the ones that had insisted.

"Hmm, no hug for me?"