Chapter 299 – 299. Lily’s Determination (2)
“I want to leave this nursery school with Erwin to you two. Can you take care of the children here?”
“Of course.”
Derkin and Alice smiled and nodded, readily accepting Eunhyeon’s request.
“Lord, Master… ! I am… !”
“No?”
“…”
There is no way I would hate it.
Although she may not know her father who abandoned her and her mother without hesitation, the whereabouts of her mother, who did not want to give up on her until the end, is still a heavy burden in Lily’s mind.
Lily was not ready to respond to the sweet offer to ease the burden on her heart.
It is because of the anxiety that good things continue to happen to oneself, and that this may be too greedy.
“Lily.”
“… Yes.”
“If you’re refusing because it seems like it’s making you worry, there’s no need to do that. Rather, if you are going to owe me a debt of a new heart through this work, work harder to repay that debt. That’s it.”
Alvin had already sworn allegiance to Eunhyun through that process.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. Master…”
With her head bowed down, Eunhyun hugged and patted her thin, trembling shoulders.
After a small consolation, she shifted her gaze to the three of them and opened her mouth.
“I will be away for a long time this time, but in the meantime, I will ask you to manage this facility. Maybe Alvin, if it were you…”
In addition to Alvin, who has already received a lot of favor from many children, there are also Derkin and Alice.
“No problem.”
Alvin’s calm reply in her voice was already full of confidence.
Considering the fighting abilities of Elvin, Derkin, and Alice while being managed by the duke’s budget, there wouldn’t be many people who would do anything stupid in this orphanage.
“Are you going alone with this woman?”
“No. This time, I plan to take Erin and Emilia too.”
“Erin too?”
“I plan to look at how much you’ve grown in one year while traveling.”
“Right.”
Alvin calmly shook her head.
“Lily, we leave in a week. In the meantime, as part of the handover, please pass it on to Alvin and the two of you, and let them know what you need to pay attention to.”
In order to replace Lily’s vacancy, a person who was good at managing the nursery school, including cleaning, laundry, and meal preparation, was needed.
But even if you leave it to Alvin and Derkin for cleaning and laundry, cooking is subtle even for the two of them.
In the Village of the Moon, Alice would have been in charge of cooking, but preparing three meals a day alone with her uncomfortable eyes is a formidable task.
“Hmm, it would be okay to hire people who actually do the work here.”
“That… I just need to be…”
Lily, burdened with increasing her worthless spending in her own absence, her expression darkened, but her Eun-hyeon shook her hand and dissuaded her.
“No, from the very beginning, Lily, there was a feeling that she was left to herself too much. Let’s hire the right people this time. Alice.”
“Yes.”
“I will appoint you as the second director of this orphanage. Can you take care of it?”
“Sure.”
In the case of Derkin and Elvin, they were often away because of their adventurer work.
Her system of putting her in charge of her constant stay at her orphanage and delegating the management of her employees didn’t look too bad.
“Then I’ll ask you both.”
“Of course.”
“I get it.”
Following Alice, Eunhyeon, who also confirmed Derkin and Elvin’s intentions, nodded.
“Lily. Do you have work left?”
“Ah… Yes. After the children had finished their dinner and cleaned up, we were going to head straight to the mansion.”
Lily’s main job is to manage the nursery and dungeon houses here.
It goes without saying that switching back and forth between two locations at the same time and managing both is not an easy task.
In addition, she was recently learning how to use her magical powers from Illyana, so even though it was a very murderous schedule for a human, Lily was able to digest the schedule without a single complaint.
“I’ll clean things up for you, so you can go in.”
“Ah…”
Lily was taken aback by the courtesy of Elvin, who was sharing an empty room with Derkin and Alice.
“Oh, thank you. Alvin.”
Seeing Alvin respond with a silent nod of her head instead of an answer, Lily looked at the two couples and said hello.
“Then I’ll go in first.”
After checking the reaction of the two couples smiling and nodding, and finally saying hello to the children, Lily and Eunhyeon left the nursery school.
“You talked to Alvin.”
“With Alvin… Because there are similarities. The fact that I received help from the master, and the fact that it was made with the same pledge.”
“Yes.”
And, strangely enough, he has a personality that takes good care of children.
It’s a bit blunt, but other than that, there were many similarities between Lily and Alvin’s paths.
“Thank you. Master. To me… Thank you for giving me the opportunity to find my mother’s whereabouts…”
“I suggested it, but it’s good to prepare your mind for one thing.”
“Are you ready?”
“Be prepared for what the future would be like for a woman sold as a slave.”
“Ah…”
Lily shuddered slightly.
She herself also experienced her life as her slave for several years, and she was able to understand the meaning of Eun-hyeon’s words.
It was her warning and advice that her mother would never have lived a smooth life, and that even she should be mindful of the worst ending in life and death.
“Master… Be kind, but be cruel.”
“Sorry. But… This is the best I can do for you.”
After hearing her story about Lily’s past, Eun-hyeon thought deeply about what he could do for her, and all she could think of was to help her find her mother’s whereabouts.
Even if the whereabouts and the ending go to the worst.
Eun-hyeon hoped that a lump in her heart would end as Lily searched for her mother’s whereabouts.
It was a kind but cruel courtesy to accept that fact and move on.
Slowing her gait, she adjusted her position so that she was walking alongside Lily, who was walking behind her, and took Lily’s hand.
“At least… When I find my mother’s whereabouts, I’ll be by your side.”
Lily’s unsteady trembling hand squeezed her eun-hyeon’s hand tightly, trying to force her to stop trembling.
“Yes…”
She turned her head and pretended not to see, trying to see a single tear streaming down her face, with her head down.
Afterwards, Eun-hyeon, who held his hand and entered the dungeon house, released his hand and let Lily go.
“Then I’ll go straight to work.”
“Okay.”
Leaving behind Lily, who nodded her head and went to do her job as a maid, Eun-hyeon immediately moved on.
I have already told Illyana and Eleanor about the future schedule.
Illyana said she would be confined to her own laboratory in her basement for the time being as she researched her new magic.
In Eleanor’s case, she was entrusted with the daunting task of ‘managing and mediating the temple’ that was being built in the duchy.
This was also in line with the request of Agnes, who was officiating at Illyana and Eleanor’s wedding last year.
Alex readily agreed to the requirement that he create a space in the temple where he could live while officiating.
He officiated her younger sister’s wedding, and there is no reason not to accept her request, which is comparable to that of a senior.
In addition, it has enough elements to benefit politically and economically, as it is a place frequented by Agnes, who has a high position in the sacred kingdom of Erenia.
Since it was not as large as the Temple of Vesta in the capital, there was no high-ranking priest with the title of bishop, so there was no one more suitable than Eleanor as a mediator between the high-ranking priest who was running the small-scale temple and the duke’s family.
Because of the current magic research, the temple and the mediation of the duke’s family, Illyana and Eleanor, who are very busy, could not follow Eun-hyeon on this trip.
“Well, in Illyana’s case, she doesn’t really like going out, so she didn’t expect much.”
If it wasn’t for the name of Sylvia’s grave and honeymoon, her last trip would never have followed.
Eun-hyeon moved her steps and went to the girl’s room to tell Erin about her upcoming schedule.
The moment she arrives at Erin’s door and is about to knock.
-Ha… Hyunah…
Eunhyeon’s hand, which was about to knock, stopped at the girl’s moans coming from inside her room.
“… What?”
She wondered if she had heard it wrong, and Eun-hyeon, who she thought was an hallucination, made her whole body rigid and put on a blank expression.
– Ah, ah! If you touch me like that… ! No baby!
The girl’s high-pitched voice was loud enough to hit Eun-hyeon’s ears beyond her door.
[This is…]
Realizing what she was doing, Belldandi also looked down at Eunhyun, blushing slightly.
‘… This is my mistake.’
While constructing her home, she realized that, mindful of her relationship with her then-lover, Illyana, she only installed her soundproofing in her own room, not caring about her other rooms.
She had no intention of neglecting her other rooms, but it was her own mistake for not considering this situation and not paying attention to her soundproofing.
‘No, anyway…’
-Hyunah…
It was easy to imagine what was going on in her room, the girl’s voice anxiously seeking her as she continued to chant her own name.
‘… Erin and me?’
Eunhyeon pondered for a long time on how to draw a conclusion about this fact she faced.
Illyana doesn’t want to come out of the underground workshop, and Eleanor still hasn’t come home due to temple work.
Erin, left alone in her house, seemed not to realize that Eunhyeon and Lily had entered the house.
If she realized it, no matter how much it was her own room, there was no way she would let out such a defenseless and loud cry.
“Whoa…”
Taking a small deep breath, Eun-hyeon desperately calmed her confused mind and maintained her hard-earned composure.
She pretended not to hear and pretended not to see as she knocked on Erin’s door.
Smart
“Erin, it’s me. May I come in?”
– Hee!?
Eunhyeon, who had fully anticipated Erin’s reaction beyond her visit, quietly waited for Erin’s answer.
Soon, he closed his eyes.
‘Because I’ve been in the opposite position for some reason. It’s complicated.’
[What is complicated?]
‘There was a time when she was alone in her room doing the same thing as Erin now. Then her mother caught me.’
It reminded me of myself in my teenage years, when I turned off the computer with the video playing and hurriedly put on my panties and pants and pretended not to do anything.
Seeing her mother’s reaction as she calmly carried out the piles of laundry without saying anything, teenage Eun-hyeon was relieved that her self-consolation had not gone unnoticed.
‘When she grew up, it turned out that she pretended not to know her mother.’
No, I can’t know
[…]
Seeing Belldandi’s expression looking at her very pitifully, Eunhyeon felt embarrassed and smiled wryly.
It is rather cute that the actions of Eun-hyeon in her teenage years at that time, and the actions of Erin now, are rather cute.
Just one thing on my mind…
‘It’s that he was doing that while thinking of me…’
