Rebecca asked, looking down at my pack of snacks with her eyes wide open.
“Come on, aren’t you going to eat the snacks?”
“I’m not going to eat. I will call you when I’m hungry. Grind walnuts and almonds finely and bring them to me with milk. Protein shakes are essential to prevent muscle loss.”
“Yes, yes. Come on, wait a minute…”
After waiting a moment for Rebecca to write it down quickly, I continued.
“At 5:30, I will eat a simple salad and go out for exercise. Make it with lettuce, tomato, and chicken breast. Do not season, boil or cut into bite-size pieces. Don’t make the sauce either.”
“Yes!”
‘Did I feel something different from before?’
Rebecca started to get excited as her eyes lit up.
She smiled once because she looked as cute as her sister, and then I spoke again with a serious expression.
“And I have to exercise, but before that…”
Rubette’s room was full of colorful dresses, tight corsets, and even the nightwear she wore to sleep. There was no proper sportswear in her room.
You can’t run 10 laps around the playground in a dress, though.
“Make an appointment with the tailor for dinner.”
~*~
I asked Rebecca to call the tailor, and I headed straight to the Duke’s room.
My father’s room, which was buried at the far end of the third floor of the mansion, was a gloom itself.
A faint chill lingered from the hallway, and the huge, tightly closed door didn’t seem to open no matter how hard I knocked.
“Lady? What are you doing?”
And as expected, Rob, the old butler, who was sitting by the door, greeted me.
“What happened? I’m here to see my father.”
“…?”
The secretly abused Rubettria Diorus came to see the Duke? It has never happened before, and it shouldn’t happen ever again.
Rob rolled his eyes with a mix of bewilderment and disappointment, then quietly spoke.
“Isn’t Madam absent right now? When the eldest wife comes back, you should see her at that time.”
The eldest wife of this family is Molga Diorus, the duchess.
She had strictly cut off communication between my father and I in case I would say anything nonsense, so it was difficult for me to even see my father’s face without going through the silence.
However, as Rob said, Molga is away from the mansion.
In other words, it is a rare and precious opportunity.
I crossed my arms and said.
“It’s a little strange. That a daughter can’t come to see her father at will in the same house. It’s weird that a mere butler would say this and that to the princess without any fuss.”
“…Yes? What did you say?”
Rob closed his eyes with a suspicious look doubting on his ears.
“You’re old and your ears have become deaf. I understand, but that’s your situation, and you shouldn’t dare make the master lady say the same thing twice.”
I smiled and tapped Rob’s shoulder and added.
“You have to protect the basic virtues of the employee so that you can continue to earn and live in this house, right?”
“Miss? What now…”
“Open the door. How many times do you have to make me say it?”
It was only then that Rob began to tremble as if he were angry.
It was ridiculous for an employee to dare to get angry at the master, but sadly, it was quite natural until yesterday. This was the arrogant attitude of the old butler toward the owner.
‘Just like an old raccoon. Not only would he pretend not to know that Rubette’s being abused, but instead of Molga, he would come forward and monitor her so much that she wouldn’t meet her dad or brother.’
Butler Rob.
“I have heard that the young lady has been suicidal and has gone a little crazy, but it is serious. I also know that you slapped Master Ricky in the face.”
“…”
“When the eldest wife returns, she will properly educate you again on your manners, so please be quiet and keep yourself in your room until then.”
Rob, who returned with a relaxed look in the meantime, laughed at me, slightly raising his one-sided glasses.
Eldest wife, etiquette education… This choice of words was clearly intended to scare me.
The kind of ‘education’ that undermines Molga’s rude talk, gossip, and self-esteem was a time of mental abuse that Rubette hated pathologically.
“It’s a relief that you know that I’m a little distracted.”
“…?”
Without hesitation, I walked past Rob and stretched my foot over the door.
“Hey, what are you doing right now…!”
Surprised, Rob floundered and tried to kick me from the door. I smiled at the old raccoon, who was struggling with wide eyes.
“I’ll deliver it to my father personally. Now that the old butler is deaf, I think it will be difficult for you to work for us anymore.”
“Wh-what…”
Rob, who became contemplative, looked at the tightly closed door with nervous eyes.
Squeak!
Soon, the heavy door slowly opened and the chilly air leaked out.
Through the slightly open door gap, I could see a man with a very gloomy expression.
“What is it…”
Tall and pale skin. Gold eyes that have lost their focus. He doesn’t seem to have any dark circles and emotions that come down to his chin.
It was my father, Duke Leonard Diorus.
He looked down at me, an unexpected visitor, with indifferent eyes.
“Dad, I came because I had something to tell you.”
“…What.”
“Sir! It’s not a big deal! It seems she has something she needs, but I can provide it for her, so I will do it. Sorry for making a fuss.”
“No, father. I have something to tell you in person.”
“…”
“Your Highness! No! That…”
Rob’s voice rose as if he was embarrassed, and my father, who hated the noise, immediately frowned. Rob asked as father’s face became distorted, with his mouth closed.
“…Come on in.”
Soon, my father tilted the door further with a tired look.
I smiled at Rob, who was embarrassed, and went into the room and slammed the door in front of him.
“I can’t see anything.”
When the light that leaked through the open door disappeared, the room was literally dark.
As I was trying to adapt to the darkness, I soon heard my father’s slow steps and the room became a little brighter. The candle on the table next to the sofa was shaped like a dog.
With his chin hanging down on the sofa like wet cotton, Dad looked at me.
‘It’s really serious…’
I knew it, but it was surprising to face him in person.
At the age of 36 this year, he was a very handsome man who resembled me with burning detection and mysterious gold eyes.
If it weren’t for his dark circles, gloomy expressions, or the smell of alcohol stabbing my nose, I might have shed tears and praised his brilliant beauty at the first moment I met him.
But…
Even his shirt was not properly buttoned.
‘You’re a total nuisance!’
As the room brightened, I could see the multitude of liquor bottles rolling over the table, and I stuck my tongue out.
“Ugh…”
Instead of answering, I dismissed the appreciation of the first meeting with a sigh, and immediately approached the curtain window.
Left and right.
When I opened the heavy blackout curtain, light poured out through the wide window.
“Let’s ventilate.”
When the window was opened with strength, fresh air flooded into the stuffy room.
And when I looked back, my dad was frowning with his eyes covered like a vampire who was in pain from the sun.
“…”
I might wonder if I come out of nowhere and do something that I don’t know about.…
Perhaps it was annoying to ask, but my dad didn’t point out anything, and he rummaged through the front pocket of his shirt with a slow touch.
The one thing that came out… was a cigarette pack. He immediately took out one and lit one up to put it in his mouth.
‘Hey, a dad who smokes in front of his underage daughter. Is that normal?’
I was speechless because I was surprised.
Even though I was not sure where to point out, I couldn’t just get angry because I knew why my father had become like this.
‘He died at the age of 39 while living on alcohol and cigarettes while missing his deceased wife.’
He’s 36 years old now.
‘I don’t know if it was a liver problem or a lung problem, but I’m running out of time. Let’s stop him from drinking and smoking first.’
“Light out the cigarette.”
“What?”
Is it the characteristics of these people in the family to make me say things twice?
Covering my nose and mouth, showing an unpleasant expression without filtering, I told him one more time.
“Turn off the cigarette. Can’t you see that your daughter is in front of you? Do you want me to inhale all this smoke?”
Only then did I turn to my father’s eyes, which were out of focus.
Blinking, he looked at me with a dissatisfied expression and the cigarette in his hand.
Soon, with a slightly embarrassed face, Dad rubbed the cigarette against the ashtray on the table.