IELNDMH - Chapter 14 < My Taste Have Changed >
I Ended Up Living Up Next Door With My Ex-Husband
Cedric starts the conversation by mentioning my tastes.
Not only do I hate lilies, it's Rebecca's old taste, but still...
Is it okay to expect that Cedric's antipathy has diminished a bit?
Feeling slightly better, I moved a little closer to Cedric.
"It's okay. My tastes have changed a lot over the years."
"... Have your tastes changed?"
It was at that time, that Cedric's eyes turned to blonde Adrian. In the distance, a carriage carrying Bianca could be seen running towards the Mansion of Light.
"Ah, the carriage is coming in!"
I shouted, holding onto Cedric's arm without realizing it. Then, Cedric's eyes, which had always been focused on Adrian, suddenly followed my hand. Then it felt like he was staring at my face, but I didn't have time to pay attention to his gaze at that time.
'You really came! Our Blanca is here!'
My stomach was noisy due to my pounding heart and internal cheering. Meanwhile, the carriage had already stopped in front of the main gate. The moment the driver finally slowly opened the door of the stopped carriage. Something popped out of the door.
Short legs in opaque white tights and tiny red Mary Jane shoes that fit her feet.
'Those short, chubby legs are definitely!:
Soon the little lady made a cute noise and jumped down the shallow ledge of the carriage.
"Yes!"
It was Princess Bianca, a woman with a fatal charm who kept me waiting all day. Just as I was secretly clutching my chest, Bianca's mouth opened wide as she suddenly found Cedric.
"Uh? Your Highness!"
Bianca waved her dainty little hands high in the sky. In the child's other hand, she was holding a cute rabbit doll and a blue ribbon was tied to one side of her straight black hair.
Thanks to her cheerful smile, her white, plump cheeks rose even more prominently. At the same time, her child's big blue eyes sparkled even more brilliantly. When I saw that angelic smile, I had no choice but to cover my mouth.
'Aww, even her voice is cute... so cute!'
There isn't a single corner that isn't cute.
As I continued to admire Bianca's appearance, the child began running towards Cedric. But as the distance got closer, Bianca's complexion slowly began to turn pale. It was immediately after she found me standing next to Cedric.
"Her Highness..?"
When Bianca hesitated, unable to get any closer, Cedric let out a low sigh and approached the child first.
"You had a hard time coming here, Bianca."
He smiled slightly as he gently stroked Bianca's small head.
"Did you hear in advance that Her Highness would also come to meet you today?"
This is my first time seeing Cedric's friendly side. However, Bianca held his hand tightly, as if she was more familiar with the sight.
"But, I really didn't expect you to come out..."
Bianca kept looking at me while answering Cedric.
'You're afraid of me, as I expected.'
I took a step closer with a smile on my face, trying to lighten the mood.
"Our lovely Princess Bianca, did you have a safe journey?"
At the same time, surprised moans came out from all over the place.
"Cute...?"
".... Our Princess?"
Bianca and Cedric also had shocked expressions.
"Well, I......?"
Bianca opened her already large eyes even wider and shook her shoulders.
"Yes, Princess Bianca. You weren't hungry on the way there?"
When I asked in a more kind tone, moans and groans poured out again from those around me.
Reaching the limit of my patience, I glared at those around me and gave them a warning look.
'Oh my goodness. Let's do it in moderation, not even in the audience, right? Write it!'
Only then did the employees quickly close their mouths, avoiding my eyes.
I turned my head back to Bianca and smiled even more softly. I could tell just by looking at the maids' faces that they turned pale whenever I smiled, but Rebecca did not have a very good-natured appearance.
'But I never want to bring that kind of fear to Blanca!'
I raised the corners of my mouth with all my might. But for some reason, tears began to well up in Bianca's eyes.
"Her Highness Grand Duchess.... Ooh, smile..."
Her dainty hand, holding the hem of her nanny's dress, was shaking.
"Oh, nanny, I'm so scared....place...."
It was then.
Boom, boom.
Two horns the size of strawberries rose from Bianca's small head.
'Uh? That was on Mina's head...'
Is it because it was my second encounter with the horn?
Bianca's cute horns weren't that surprising.
No, rather, I felt happy at first.
'Horns on that little head... You're so cute!"
However, the employees began to look upset with unusual expressions. In response, Bianca smoothed her own hair with a white face, as if she had sensed something about her.
As soon as she noticed that her horns had sprouted, her dainty chin began to tremble violently.
"Uh, horns came out..... In front of Her Highness the Grand Duchess, the horns, uh.... Ugh......!
" At that moment, I had no choice but to freeze like a stone.
'Ooh, she's crying...?'
How dare I make our Princess cry?
Looking at her nanny in great confusion, she tried her best to hide Bianca behind her back with a look of horror on her face.
"Your Highness suddenly laughed, and Princess Bianca was horrified... Oh no! It looks like you were a little surprised! So please don't misunderstand, Your Highness!"
All of the employees looked afraid that something would happen at any moment. They soon surrounded me from a distance and started circling around me. Like an indigenous tribe wary of an excited wild lion.
"Well, in childhood, there are times when the demonic form appears due to emotional changes!"
"Yes, of course! Because when she's young, she doesn't have enough strength to control her magic power!"
"She will get better when she grows up, Your Highness! So, please calm down a little...!"
All eyes turned to Mina in an instant. The eyes are as if looking at the only savior.
Mina seemed to have sensed their earnest wish and slowly approached me, spreading her hands like a skilled wild animal trainer.
"Your Highness, my dear. Should we stop getting excited and take a slow, deep breath?"
"....."
"Okay, inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale......!"
".... What are you doing now?"
Slap!
Mina retreated ten steps away at the speed of light. And she looked as if she had almost stepped on a landmine before sheaving a sigh of relief. With Mina leaving like that, there was no one left around me.
Syuuuuuu...
A chilling wind blew past me, blowing my remaining hair into a mess.
***
Inside the reception room of the Grand Palace, Mansion of Light.
It was too quiet to be considered a place where the whole family had gathered for the first time in a long time. Beside Cedric, who was drinking tea politely, Bianca kept watching me and twitching the ears of the rabbit doll.
'Poor you. You keep looking at me. If I talk to her, will Bianca burst into tears again?'
It was a time when I couldn't even open my mouth and just drank tea.
"Uh.... Your Highness...."
Bianca's small shoulders, who had called me, were still very slumped.
"Yes, Bianca. Why?"
I asked back in the most friendly voice possible, but Bianca's shoulders shook, as was her habit.
"Ah, earlier... I was really sorry..."
Bianca closed and opened her eyes with force as if she were afraid that tears might leak out without her knowledge. Her big, watery eyes doubled her cuteness.
"Your Highness was smiling with a good heart, but I ended up crying like a fool again..."
"...."
"Well, I was wrong, Your Highness! I won't cry as foolishly as often as I used to! So... I would really appreciate it if you didn't hate me... It seems...."
She looked too timid for an eight-year-old.
'This child, even when she first met Lady Lobelia, she was always desperate not to be hated.'
There was no smooth corner in that little child's short life. Bianca faced the death of her parents less than a year after coming into the world. She later escaped to the capital after receiving harsh treatment from her step-sister-in-law Rebecca, but even in the capital's aristocratic society, Bianca, a mixed-race demon, was always an outsider. She is literally not welcome either in the place where she was born and raised or in her place of refuge.
'She feels like an island. A remote island floating alone with nowhere to stay....'
I recalled Bianca's words in the original and looked pitifully at the child in front of me.
'She's such a kind and pretty child.'
Then, I looked at Bianca wiggling the rabbit doll and slowly shook my head,
"You're wrong, Princess Bianca."
"Yes? I-I did something wrong again...."
"Bianca was acting stupid."
Bianca blinked her eyes with a puzzled expression at my words.
"Considering what I've done so far, it's a natural reaction. So don't say that again."
She looked at me blankly for a moment with a shocked expression on her face. Bianca seemed startled by the fact that I had been making eye contact with her for such a long time, and she quickly lowered her head.
I looked at Bianca blankly and then I opened my mouth again.
"And it is also incorrect to say that it was Princess Bianca who was at fault. It is not Princess Bianca who has made many mistakes so far."
"...?"
"It was me."
Bianca's blue eyes slowly opened wide. She looked at me with surprised eyes, as did Cedric next to me At their natural reaction, I slightly raised my eyebrows and stood up. And then I slowly lowered my head towards Blanca.
"Princess Bianca, during this time.... I was truly sorry."
The inside of the reception room froze in shock for an instant. Of course, Rebecca's past actions were not my fault. But this is a knot that only I, possessed by Rebecca, can untie.
Moreover, if my sincere apology could relieve the pain in that little child's heart just a little, I would be satisfied with that alone.
How long did the silence last?
As if she suddenly came to her senses, Princess Bianca hurriedly started to stop me.
"Your Highness! Don't do this! You bow your head to a weak child like me!...
What a poor child. It's not surprising.
I lifted my head again and looked at Bianca, gently shaking my head.
"Princess Bianca is a kind person who tried to embrace me as her family, even though I was lacking as an adult and as a person."
"..."
"It was me who was lacking, not the princess."
"Well, that..."
"Princess Bianca deserves to be loved, no, you deserve to be loved."
".... Yes?"
In the slowly blinking round eyes, increasingly strong waves began to stir. I hope so for a while.
Bianca hastily lowered her head and bit her lip. Just as I promised myself earlier, it seemed like I was trying my best to hold back the tears that were coming out. The tip of my nose wrinkled in sadness, but I tried to keep my expression to continue speaking.
"I promise. I will never again do the same thing to the Princess as I did before. Besides, I will now be staying in the dark mansion."
"..."
"So, Princess Bianca."
At my call, Bianca slowly raised her head again and looked at me. Before I knew it, her child's round eyes were filled with water again. As I looked at such a child, I said what I had always wanted to say at least once after learning about Bianca's sad inner thoughts in the original work.
"No longer feel lonely like an island, but now take root firmly in the arms of your family.... Please grow up happily."
Soon, her thick teardrops fell down on Bianca's rabbit doll.
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