Translator: Nabi

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Chapter 11

Min-ha stared straight into Seth’s cold, suspicious gaze. Surely, his point was right. Still, it didn’t mean that she had nothing to say.

Min-ha opened her mouth, covering Noah’s ear with her hands tighter.

“…Yes. You are right. I didn’t think about that. I should have informed you, and I apologize for that. However…”

“However?”

“Why don’t you stop treating people as kidnappers? I am still your wife. That means, I’m the older sister of Noah, right? Have you seen any normal older sister harassing her younger brother?”

“…A normal older sister?”

“Yes, normal sister.”

As Min-ha retorted each word, Seth smirked and stared at her, as if he didn’t know what to say.

At his obviously suspicious gaze, Min-ha also stared head on without losing this time as well. There was only a heavy silence enveloped between the two of them as they glanced back and forth with cold eyes.

“I can’t even stand you. Are you seriously talking about a normal family right now?”

“Are you done talking?”

Eventually, it was Seth who broke the silence first. Although the words that spouted out from his mouth were not good at all, so Min-ha unknowingly lifted her hand that covered Noah’s ear and raised her voice.

“…Fight—Don’t fight. Brother, sister-in-law.”

At that moment, Noah, who was in Min-ha’s arms, shouted, hugging her arms tightly with his crying face.

Min-ha had a surprised look on her face, and Seth also glanced at Noah with the same expression as her, and was speechless.

Then, the little boy looked up at Seth’s face and spoke his words in a slightly stuttering tone.

“Lae, Lance told me to stay back, so I did… I’m sorry, brother.”

As Noah finished his words, he bowed his head deeply. Min-ha’s heart twitched as though she saw a puppy crouching down in fear of being scolded after making a mistake.

Seth also felt the same way. He loosened his stiff expression and reached out his hand to stroke Noah’s head. He uttered in a friendly tone.

“Don’t apologize. I am not mad at you.”

“Then, you won’t be upset with your sister-in-law, will you?”

“…That’s—”

“…Brother?”

Noah, who came back to life because of Seth’s kind words, raised his head and asked. Seth was speechless and hesitated for a moment, which caused the boy to frown again at that sight.

“Sigh…”

He sighed heavily and glanced at Min-ha, who was holding Noah’s one arm. Her face crumpled at the sight, and Seth immediately avoided her gaze.

Moments later, he stretched out his arms and spoke to Noah, who was still gazing at him.

“…Okay. I will not be angry.”

“Really?”

“Okay, so let’s go. Sir Lancelot is looking for you.”

“…Lance?”

“He is very heartbroken knowing that he has lost you.”

“…Oh. All right, brother.”

With Seth’s friendly voice, Noah nodded his head obediently and let go of Min-ha’s arms, before facing his brother and stretching out his small arms.

Seth grabbed him and put Noah’s head on his shoulder.

Looking at the scene, Min-ha peered up at him unexpectedly, his gesture looked familiar as if he had hugged Noah like that more than just once or twice.

It was said that the decisive reason for him deciding to divorce Minase Persen was neglect and emotional abuse towards his younger brother. It seemed sincere that Seth cherished his younger brother.

When Min-ha’s gaze met his, Seth swiftly turned his head to meet her, and with an annoyed expression, he covered Noah’s ears with his hands.

He spoke in a growling voice.

“I’ll let it slide today because nothing happened with Noah, but from now on, please refrain from being alone with him.”

“I’ve said this before. I don’t know how I was before, though now, I have no intention of bothering Noah—whether he’s your brother or not.”

“That’s rich. You’re the one who didn’t keep the promise you made just a while ago.”

“Excuse me, but what did I promise you?”

I didn’t understand what he meant. A promise…?

Even so, it’s not right to blame Minase Persen’s evil deed for a promise she never made herself!

When she asked again out of absurdity, Seth raised one corner of his mouth and smirked.

“Even if I believe in the ridiculous excuse of you getting lost yesterday, why didn’t you come to the East Annex today?”

“…What?”

“You said you would do anything if I gave you your work. But, is it over after just pretending for a day? I’ve known for a long time that your willpower is short-lived, but I assume it’s still true.”

In the beginning, she was impressed by Seth’s sarcastic behavior, but as his words continued, Min-ha’s expression gradually faded.

That cleaning job was not a daily job, though a full-time job?! I’ve never heard of such a thing until now!

“W-wait a minute. If it’s work, are you talking about cleaning the annex? Wasn’t that only just for one day?”

“Have I ever set a deadline?”

“…Oh, my god.”

‘Come to think of it, there was no telling how long—No, then he should have told me that I was a full-time employee right from the start!’

Min-ha, who was unintentionally accused of being absent without notice, was embarrassed and lamented.

Witnessing the strange sight, Seth tilted his head involuntarily at Min-ha’s unusual exclamation as he gazed at her blank face before tightening his grip around Noah.

“Anyway, start working properly tomorrow. If you refuse the alimony, shouldn’t you at least have enough money to live on when you are kicked out?”

“…I know that fact very well, you don’t have to point it out.”

“Well, from now on, I hope that I will never lose Noah in places out of my sight, or you miss out on the scheduled tasks, then.”

After saying just what he had to say, she stared at Seth’s back as he walked towards the door with a sullen expression. What happened was so ridiculous that she almost wanted to disappear.

Noah’s matter aside, what’s up with that vicious employer-like tone!

Just because his face was handsome and he had a good physique—Min-ha raised her fist toward the door where he left, imagining that his head was the size of a rat’s claw.

“….!”

Suddenly, Noah, who turned his head behind Seth’s back, poked his head up and waved his tiny hand to Min-ha.

It was ‘bye-bye’ in the language of the world she lived in.

The way the little boy waved his hand gently with his fern-like hand was so adorable that Min-ha faced him with a bright smile and waved her hand. Before he left her sight, she didn’t forget to mouth her words so as not to be heard by Seth.

‘See you next time, Noah.’

Fortunately, Noah grinned as if he understood. Regardless, the brief conversation had to come to an end as Seth walked out of the room without hesitation, then shutting the door violently.

‘I, I—Well, he has a temper…’

Min-ha raised her fist once more towards the door that had just been closed. As she lost her strength, she flopped down on the chair again.

Then, she glanced at the table full of leftovers from Noah.

When I was with Noah a while ago, I was very hungry and everything tasted delicious, but now, my appetite has dropped…

Knock, knock.

As she was cleaning out the messy plates and tableware in front of her, Min-ha could hear a small knock at the door.

‘…What? Did the Duke come to say something again?’

Min-ha did not take her eyes off the table for no reason and answered half-heartedly.

“Come on in.”

However, it was Ella who unexpectedly opened the door and entered. Min-ha raised her head and said to the maid approaching her.

“What’s going on, Ella?”

In response to her question, Ella approached her with a somewhat timid face, bowed her back deeply before starting her words.

“…I apologized. The Master was so stubborn that I couldn’t stop him.”

“No. It’s okay. That man, no, the Duke doesn’t just get mad at me for only a day or two. Don’t worry.”

“…Aren’t you going to punish me?”

“What punishment? It’s not Ella’s fault. Don’t worry about it.”

“…Ah, thank you.”

Min-ha simply waved her hand at Ella’s apology, Min-ha waved her hand. Getting angry would be a bad idea. Besides, Ella had no reason to apologize to herself. Meanwhile, something suddenly came to her mind. It was about the ‘work’ Seth mentioned earlier.

So, she walked over to the table and grabbed Ella’s wrist, who was helping her organize the plates, and asked. “Ella. I have a question.”

“Please ask, madam.”

“Cleaning the East Annex… How long do I have to do it?”

“Oh, well… I’m not certain. I haven’t heard anything from the Master regarding the period.”

“What? In the end, it was up to that man to do what he wanted…”

“Madam?”

“Oh, then… I heard that the cleaning crew received five hundred rupees? With that money, how many pieces of cloth and needles can I buy?”

In fact, I have been curious about it for a long time and it was something I should know as a worker, but I couldn’t confirm it because of various things that have been going on.

Min-ha swallowed her dry saliva after uttering the question with a nervous expression. Ella continued her words with a perplexed face.

“Maybe… enough to fill that one basket?”

“Oh, my god! That’s a lot of money!”

Min-ha ripped off her hair as she was frustrated. It was a pity to think that she wasted a lot of money because she had misunderstood his words in a situation where she was missing a penny right away from not going to work today.

Still, it didn’t mean she regretted spending time with cute Noah today, though in the current situation where everyone is hostile to and hating her, isn’t money what she needed the most now?

Besides, when Min-ha recalled the face of the handsome Seth Persen, who was talking about it for three days, the feeling of regret was doubled.

“…You’ll see. From tomorrow onwards, I will go to work tenaciously.”

He thought it would end in three days, so he set such a ridiculous daily rate—but let’s see!

And so, Min-ha decided she would go to work every day to the East Annex, thinking that she might see Seth there—to the point that she didn’t even notice the dark figure that had been in one corner of her room the whole time, went out through the open door, holding something.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Rate the novel on Novel Updates.

Join our discord to receive the latest update as soon as possible!