The Kids Have Changed - Chapter 37

“…You shouldn’t smear it all over while eating,” said Madame DeJoue.

I wiped my mouth with my sleeve.

“Ah, milady! That’s very untidy…”

I cut off her words before her scolding became much longer.

“Hehehe. I won’t do it from now.”

She sighed. “…Anyway, it should be fine to approach the ex-Duchess now.”

“That’s good. I want to send her out of the country as soon as possible. Send my lawyer to the ex-Duchess. In exchange for her bail, please get her to sign a memorandum saying she will never appear in front of Carol again and get it notarized. Ah, nevermind.”

“Yes?”

I thought for a moment.

“I have several things I need to discuss with the lawyer, so please schedule a meeting with him.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“In any case, we need to get a signature from the ex-Duchess.”

“Will she keep her word…?”

“Of course not. She isn’t the type of woman to obediently get on a boat to a foreign country. The duke will take care of that part.”

“My goodness. Duke Gratoni will?!”

“Yes. Somehow, I ended up joining hands with that man.”

“…Wow.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Once we got the notarized document, the duke would use the duchy’s knights to put Sarah on a ship going abroad. She would have to stay in the duchy for a little while, but it would be a very short period of time, and the knights would guard the harbor until the ship left.

And with the power of Duke Gratoni, Sarah would be placed on a list forbidding entry back here.

Then, even Sarah wouldn’t be able to approach Carol.

I was satisfied with that.

“But… If you’ve joined forces with the duke, can’t His Excellency take care of the bail and notarization?”

“I can’t let him. I don’t want the duke to have any authority over Carol. He has to stay back in this condition for now. He’s just someone to give me what I want. That’s why I’ll pay the bail and take care of the documents, too.”

“You don’t like His Excellency.”

“Of course not.”

Wasn’t that only natural?

If things continued as they were now, I would have no reason to like that man. I just pitied him a little more than I did in the past.

“Then, I’ll continue as you ordered.”

“Thank you, Madame DeJoue.”

“Think nothing of it.”

With this, Carol’s path would be free of nightmares.

Carol just had to grow up nicely.

***

The talented Madame DeJoue set up an appointment with the lawyer right away. I was able to meet with the lawyer one day after I mentioned wanting to do so.

“Sharon, who’s that?”

Carol hung onto my arm and glared suspiciously at the lawyer.

“I told you that you shouldn’t act like that to adults, right?”

Carol continued to be on guard despite my words.

“It’s weird. I feel like I’ve seen him once before! How ominous.”

I let Carol be and politely greeted the lawyer who had travelled all the way to the duchy to see me.

“Hello. I’m Sharon von Atrina. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The lawyer smiled refreshingly under his felt hat.

Oh?

As Carol said, he seemed familiar. Before I could say anything else, the lawyer took off his hat, put it over his chest, and greeted me.

“It’s been a long time, Lady Sharon. Lady Carol. I’m your lawyer, Huran.”

Ah. Now I knew who he was.

“Oh, Huran. It’s you.”

I looked carefully at Huran’s form. Like I thought in the past, Huran looked very similar to Chan Lee. Now that he was older, he was even more similar.

That was why without realizing, my eyes became wet. To hide it, I smiled broadly and held out my hand.

“It really has been a while, Huran. I’ll have to treat you to the meal I promised you before.”

We never had the meal I promised because I had become sick.

“Anytime is fine. I feel like if Lady Sharon is treating me, I’ll be able to enjoy the meal.”

Huran grew up to be a better gentleman that I had thought. It was a shame that he was born as a commoner in this status-obsessed world.

From his side, Madame DeJoue looked over us with a pleased expression.

There was only one person unhappy with the situation. Carol stuck out her lip in a pout and pinched my forearm.

“Ouch!”

It wasn’t painful, but I had been startled. When I looked at Carol in surprise, she was looking at me like she felt refreshed.

Really, what was she so pleased about?

“What are you doing?” I said sternly.

“Feed me, too!”

“…Have I ever starved you?”

Had Carol, the daughter of a duke, ever gone hungry for a single day? Her whining was incomprehensible. I patted her head.

“You’re a good girl, right?”

“…Don’t just look at Huran. Look at me, too. Okay?”

“Okay, okay.”

She wasn’t as bad as this when I was with Julien. She was behaving like an attention-deprived child.

I stroked Carol’s head and turned to Huran.

“Since it’s lunchtime, how about we eat first?”

“All right. As you wish, Lady Sharon.”

His bright laughter was just like a recording of a long-past summer. Like the Chan Lee of my memories. I’d managed to forget all this time, but in a moment, his image came back to life.

Chan Lee, who led me around with his warm, large hand.

Chan Lee, who kissed me softly.

…Chan Lee, who whispered that he loved me.

The flood of memories felt bittersweet.

I… probably couldn’t see him again, huh?

But maybe that was for the better. We had been bound to each other, and neither of us had been able to move forward.

“Sharon?”

Carol’s prodding woke me up from my thoughts. Everyone was looking at me strangely.

“Are you sleeping while standing up now?” Madame DeJoue asked bleakly.

I shook my head and replied, “There’s no way I could. First, let’s go to a restaurant. The cook will do his best for our guest. Right, Madame DeJoue?”

“…Certainly.”

Madame DeJoue hazily met my eyes. As she led us to the restaurant, I cleared my heart. I had to be careful. What would I do if I accidentally called Huran ‘Chan Lee’?

“Sharon. Why do you need a lawyer? Can I listen in?”

“You can’t.”

“Why not?!”

“Because you’re still a baby.”

“What do you mean?! I’m already 15 years old!”

“Then from today, you should sleep in your own bedroom.”

Carol shrunk back quickly at my words.

”…I’m still a patient.“

“You are. So I’ll let you listen to adults’ conversations later.”

“Tsk. You’re young, too!”

Seeing Carol sulk and run toward the restaurant, I sighed.

“Hey! Your dress skirt is flipped!”

“I, I know that!”

Bullshit.

***

Thankfully, the meal suited Huran’s tastes. Huran neatly cleared a plate, not forgetting to send his compliments to the chef.

Manners maketh man, was it? Then his manners made him the man the saying was about.

“Hmm. The duchy’s tea is excellent as well.”

We had moved to the parlor. Huran praised the quality of the tea, a gentleman among gentlemen.

Chan Lee was the same.

I bit my lip. I had to stop thinking these useless thoughts. I couldn’t focus because I had seen a face like Chan Lee’s for the first time in a while.

“…Lady Sharon?”

“Ah. I keep on staring. It must be because you’re handsome, Huran.”

Huran looked at my impish smile and burst into laughter.

“It feels nice to hear that from milady. Everyone acknowledges that you’re the greatest beauty of the country.”

“Oh my.”

The way he talked seemed to come right out of a drama.

“Thank you, Huran.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Huran had another sip of tea and took out some documents from a leather bag he had prepared. The immaculately tied papers’ content was also well organized.

“My older sister said that you wish to send the duchess to another country.”

“Yes, that’s right. For that, I also need to pay her bail.”

“The bail costs quite a lot. Your allowance would not be enough, which means that you need to dip into your inheritance. Furthermore, if you use such a large amount of money, your guardian, Duke Gratoni, could hear about this affair. Is that all right?”

“That’s fine.”

I didn’t need to be cautious of the duke anymore. He had already been aware of what I was doing, and he had even promised to help me.

“There isn’t a need to hide, now. But I don’t really need to show my hand. This job should be done in private… Hmm. You can impersonate Duke Gratoni if you want.”

”…Will Duke Gratoni allow that?”

“He probably won’t care as long as the other nobles don’t realize that I’m the one behind these moves.”

I wanted to live quietly. I was dipping my hand into various things for Carol and Julien’s future, but I didn’t want to enter mainstream society or politics.

That was probably because of my lingering feeling that I could return home.

It had been years, but I couldn’t let go of my damned attachment and longing.

I didn’t have family or close friends waiting for me. The only person who cared was probably Chan Lee.

But despite that, I couldn’t help but miss the familiar place where I was born. There were nights when I longed for one bite of kimchi ramen.

“I see.”

Instead of asking why, Huran nodded.

“I’ll do as you want.”

He was a considerate person. He didn’t ask questions that would trouble me.

“Please finish up the documents to send the duchess overseas as well. I want a notarized statement in exchange for her bail.”

“That shouldn’t be difficult. Should I also acquire the boat for the duchess to ride?”

“Yes. As fast as possible, please.”

When the duchess was released from the jail, she would stay at the duchy for a bit. Carol would need some time to say goodbye.

However, I wanted the duchess to leave us as soon as it was feasible. The quicker the goodbye, the better.

“I’ll look for ships departing soonest. You don’t mind the destination?”

“Yes. It’ll be good if it’s far, though.”

I absentmindedly stared at Huran as he wrote on the document with a fountain pen.

Pfft.

His handwriting was messy. I remembered that Chan Lee had nicer handwriting.

Luckily, nobody heard the laugh that I swallowed.

“I understand. I also heard that you want to purchase a workshop.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Would it be all right to ask you what your goal is?”

I drank some more tea to organize my thoughts.

As of now, I was the only person who knew Freya. The others didn’t know how she would get involved with me. That was why I couldn’t even speak to Madame DeJoue about this. I had no explanation for it.

Well, it wasn’t possible to explain the relationship between Madame DeJoue and me, either.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“I want to try running a workshop. Isn’t it the industry that’s guaranteed to make money?”

In other words, even if a family was ruined in this world, they would continue to buy dresses. That was how much dresses were worth as a symbol of prestige and wealth.

Thus, there would be no way that the workshop would go bankrupt in the future.

“If that’s your goal, would you like to purchase a workshop that has famous artisans?”

I rubbed my chin and shook my head.

“No. The artisans of such places have great pride. I want a workshop that’ll move as I want them to. I can just find talented people to work there.”

That talented person would be Freya.

”…I see.”

Huran put two bundles of documents in front of me.

“This place is close to the duchy, but it has a lot of debt. If you want to buy the store, that needs to be taken into consideration.”

Huran grabbed another document.