I’m in a very difficult situation right now.

I’ve been hiding my callous hands for the past few days, but now, I’ve been caught by the nanny.

“What’s going on, miss!”

I didn’t get caught because I wanted to.

I deliberately avoided it for days, the nanny trying to take care of my hands with oil every night.

But my nanny was quick to notice.

As I kept avoiding her, she suddenly snatched my hand.

I laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, I’m learning swordplay these days. That’s why. Hehehe”

Nanny was so surprised that she was about to fall back.

“Why? What do you mean, swordplay? Why are you suddenly learning swordsmanship? I didn’t want you to go to the academy, but I gave you permission because you said you were going to learn magic!”

Oh, my God, I thought the nanny wouldn’t let me go back to the academy.

Then a maid came into the room like a savior.

“Miss.”

She held out the letter she was holding to me.

The sender was Felix.

I hurriedly opened the letter.

The letter contained a brief greeting saying how have I been and Lindsey and Tony wanted to see me.

As such, it was a short letter with only a few business matters.

And at the end,

[Mother wants to see you, too. Come visit the mansion if you have time.]

That was good to hear.

I turned a blind eye to the nanny and spoke to the maid.

“Pack my luggage.”

“Luggage?”

“Yes. I’m leaving for the Christian estate tomorrow.”

All right, let’s go.

“ Sister Elly.”

“ Sister.”

As soon as I got out of the carriage, Felix’s twin siblings, Lindsey and Tony, rushed at me.

I sat on the floor with my arms spread out.

The children rushed into my arms without slowing down.

‘Ugh, it hurts.’

The power of the small children was greater than I thought.

My body reeled for a moment.

I hugged them tightly in my arms in case the children got hurt, but I felt like someone was supporting my back.

It was Felix.

“Lindsey, Tony. Mother told you guys not to run, didn’t she?”

Felix said sternly, but the children didn’t listen.

The two fraternal but closely resembling twins puffed up their cheeks and made a fuss.

“But I missed Sister Elly.”

“Right, right! I missed Sister Elly!”

The tip of my nose choked for no reason.

I saw these kids last summer vacation, half a year ago.

Half a year for me and half a year for these naughty guys will be different.

There must have been a lot more going on with these curious children.

Their unexpected words made me burst into tears.

I quickly wiped my eyes with my sleeve, but Lindsey seemed to have seen it.

The child shouted, opening her blue eyes wide that resembled Felix.

“Oh Sister, are you crying?”

Tony asked, too.

“Are you really crying, sister?”

“No, I’m not,”

Even Felix said curtly.

“Why are you crying?”

Lindsey and Tony said nothing, but I was somehow moved.

So I screamed without realizing it.

“I told you I’m not crying!”

“If you aren’t crying, it’s fine. Why are you yelling? My eardrums are going to rip.”

Rubbing his ear, Felix grabbed my arm and lifted me up.

“Get up now. Your clothes will get dirty.”

The twins parroted him.

“It’s getting dirty!”

“Yes, it’s dirty!”

I stood up awkwardly.

As Felix said, I brushed off my dusty skirt and went into the mansion.

Then Aunt Jane, Felix’s mother, and my late mother’s best friend welcomed me.

The lady with platinum blonde hair and purple eyes looked young and lovely, not as a person with a son who will become an adult next year.

“Elly, come on in. I was waiting.”

She smiled gracefully enough to be a specimen of an aristocracy.

‘Can I smile like that?’

I followed her and greeted her gracefully.

“It’s been a long time, Countess Christian.”

When I greeted her intentionally following the aristocratic etiquette, Aunt Jane lowered her eyebrows slightly.

“Oh, my.”

“Countess Christian. Hehehe”

“Long time no see. Hehehe”

Tony and Lindsey, now beginning to learn manners, bowed down to my actions with a chuckle.

Felix muttered as if he had seen something he shouldn’t see.

“What are you doing?”

“Yes, Elly. Why are you greeting me like that? I’m so disappointed.”

Did I go too far?

I laughed more brightly on purpose to cover up the awkwardness.

” Hahaha..I’m an adult in a year. So I wanted to be polite.”

Aunt Jane didn’t hide her disappointment.

“You don’t have to do that. You’re like my daughter, what Countess? Don’t ever do that.”

“Yes. Aunt Jane. How have you been?”

“Sure. I’ve always been fine. How have you been?”

“Yes. I’ve been well, too.”

Aunt Jane dragged me by the arm.

“Oh, by the way, look at my mind. Let’s not do this here. Let’s hurry up and go up. I’ve got a lot of refreshments for you.”

“Wow. I’m looking forward to it.”

Aunt Jane loved desserts.

For such an aunt, Count Christian hired one of the best patissiers in the kingdom, and the dessert at Christian was more delicious than in any cafe in the kingdom.

So, whenever I come here, my face gets round because of the constant dessert.

We headed to the living room.

As I ate refreshments, Aunt Jane and I talked about the things that happened in the past half-year.

Felix sat in another chair reading a book, and Tony and Lindsey played with toys, eating desserts next to Aunt Jane.

“So, how did you spend your Maxmas holiday?”

Aunt asked carefully since she knows my situation well.

She must have been very worried.

But I was able to answer confidently this time.

“I had a great time.”

“Oh my.”

The lady opened her eyes wide as if she was surprised, and soon folded and laughed.

“Well, that’s a relief. What have you been up to so much fun?”

‘Um, memories of that day were made with the little boy and Felix.’

But I couldn’t talk about the little boy, so I left him out.

“I spent it with Felix.”

“Oh, really? Isn’t it boring to be with Felix?”

“No, it was fun. We went out to the city together, watched the performance, ate together, and..”

It was a little strange talking like this. Taking out the little boy from the conversation made it feel like I had a date with Felix.

Aunt Jane also smiled significantly as if she felt what I felt.

It was a “mother smile” commonly referred to among children these days.

“Oh, that must have been fun.”

Perhaps Aunt Jane was deeply mistaken.

I made a hasty excuse.

“It’s not just the two of us, there was another one!”

“Another one? Who is it?”

“That’s..”

Felix, who was reading, replied on behalf of me, who was not very good at lying.

“You won’t know even if she said?”

His feisty tone was the same even to his parents.

“How can you be so sure? This mom knows more about you than you think.”

“I have surprisingly many secrets that my mother doesn’t know either.”

The two continued the great war of nerves with their words.

I was the one who was stuck in the middle?

I shouted hastily, interrupting the two.

“Cedric!”

Their eyes turned to me.

Aunt Jane had an excited look, while Felix had a somewhat unhappy look.

“Who is Cedric? I’ve never heard of him before.”

I quickly took the initiative before Felix said something.

It was because he tried to open his mouth with a very unhappy face of disapproval.

I don’t know what’s going to come out of that mouth, so I thought I should stop it.

“No wonder you don’t know. He’s not in the magic department, he’s in the swordsmanship department.”

“Oh, how did you get to know the swordsmanship department kid?”

“I’m learning swordplay from Cedric.”

I proudly showed my callus palm to Aunt Jane.

But contrary to my intentions, she let out a small sigh.

” Oh..I can’t believe you have calluses on your hands.”

“Ah..”

Come to think of it, the nanny also felt sorry to see my hands like this.

It seemed to be because the idea that women’s hands should be beautiful without a scratch is prevalent in aristocratic families.

As I told Cedric before, I didn’t really care.

“It’s okay. There was no one to look at it anyway..”

Aunt Jane seemed to have felt sorry in another sense.

She hurriedly denied her words.

“Oh, my God, Elly. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just sad to think that you must have had it hard practicing swordplay. You must have overworked yourself to the point of getting calluses.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Felix magically treated me once in a while.”

“Why did he do such a commendable thing? And why once in a while, why didn’t he do it every day.”

“Because there was no need for that”

Aunt Felix simply dismissed what Felix said.

Aunt Jane looked at Felix with a smirk, clenched my hands, and said.

“And Elly, you don’t have to try to look good to someone. You’ll meet someone who will like you the way you are.”

“Auntie..”

“You deserve it.”

Tears welled up in my eyes hearing her words.