I Ran Away And The Reverse Harem Started

Chapter 46 I stood, cleverly blocking Marie’s view, and dared Lucas to not kiss me. He stuck his lips out like a duck, but after a few more punches from me, he nodded reluctantly, looking like he’d chewed something. I gritted my teeth, feeling my back tingle as if I had been hit by a rock. “Then about firing me…” “Oh my, it’s a joke from the youngest master.” “A joke.” Lucas grumbled. “Who says it’s a joke? It’s not…” “Then I guess we’ll just have to take it as a joke from now on whenever the subject of my firing comes out of the youngest master mouth.” At Marie’s words, brought the two people met their gazes sharply again. It felt like a flash of lightning occurred between a man and a woman of the same age. But when I poked him in the side again, Lucas stiffened and spoke up. “… Yeah, it’s a joke, It’s a joke! By the way, you don’t look like any maid I’ve ever seen before. Who are you?” Marie bow to him politely, only after Lucas withdrew his words about firing her up. “Hello. I’m Marie. I’m from Weixing Town, and I’m new here.” When she said she was new, several expressions flashed across Lucas’s face for a brief moment. “Aha, not Rosie… but you, the new maid that this maid says she’s been paying attention to lately.” Lucas quickly picked up my name, fearing that he would get hit in the side by me again. Fortunately, Marie didn’t notice. “Yeah, well. Miss Rosieta has been very helpful.” Marie looked up at me for a moment, her eyes gentle, unlike the way they had been with Lucas. God, those bunny eyes. On the other hand, Lucas’ face was distorted. So, you must be the one who’s getting all of Rosieta’s attention. Lucas crossed his arms and glared at Marie again. Marie stiffened beside me and glared at Lucas. “Both of you, stop….” It seems like Lucas was glaring at her out of jealousy, but Marie just returned the glare instinctively… They’re not making a very good first impression on each other.  * * * In the end, Lucas returned to the mansion with plenty of leftover green grapes. Unlike when he came with a smile on his face, he returned to the mansion with a slumped shoulder and a sullen expression on his face. ‘I can’t help it. I can’t pretend to be friendly, even in front of Marie’ As I sighed heavily, Marie next to me turned to look at me. “Why?” “Huh?” “Because you sighed.” Marie, who had been exchanging fierce glances with her master, looked up at me like a gentle sheep. I looked at the child, smiled, and patted her head. “No, that’s why you came looking for me, to ask me to eat with you?” Marie had come to find me in the garden because it was time for dinner. I looked at the evening sun setting over the ridge and then back at Marie. In that short period of time, Marie seemed to have opened her heart to me quite a bit. When I burst out laughing at the feeling of having a younger sibling, Marie averted her gaze and raised her glasses as if she were embarrassed. “Yeah, well. Sometimes there’s no soup if you don’t get there early, I’m afraid Miss Rosieta will be late.” It was no big deal, Marie added nonchalantly. Even her awkwardness only made her look cute to me. Come to think of it, today was the day Mika was on dinner duty. After helping Angie, Mika and Angie always greet me first. I always had to greet them brightly first before they accept me. ‘This might be a pretty good job.’ Sure, there’s Miriam and Angela, but at least I have more friends in the dorm. I walked arm-in-arm with Marie and entered the room. As soon as we opened the wooden door, we were greeted by a savory, delicious smell. “Tonight’s dinner is gratin. That sounds delicious.” The maids, who had finished work early, were sitting down to eat. As Marie and I washed our hands and got ready for dinner, Mika approached. “I’ll scoop the gratin for you.” My eyes widened as I looked at her. This was Mika, who had never spoken to me before except to greet me. She scooped out Marie’s portion, then brought a new bowl and scooped out my share of gratin. That only made me more surprised. “I-I can’t eat this much.” “What are you talking about? You’ve been working hard all day, you deserve to eat this much.” “Uhm, but.” At that time, Angie, who had finished eating and got up, approached me. “You can have this when you’re done with dinner, Rosietta.” “What?” Angie secretly put something in my hand so that no one could see. When I looked closely, I saw that there was pickled fruit in a glass jar neatly tied with a ribbon. “These are pickled oranges I made. Eat them whenever you want something sweet.” “What? You made this yourself?” “It’s not that hard.” Angie smiled as if she was embarrassed. When I looked at her as if asking why she was giving this to me, Marie, who was standing next to me, said with a sullen face that she didn’t know that either. “I guess it’s a gift in return for taking over for dinner last time.” “Oh, that’s right. You heard the story.” Angie covered her mouth and pretended to be surprised. I smiled at Mika and Angie out of embarrassment. “You can just cover for me next time. Do you mind if I take this?” “It’s my sincerity. And you said it yourself, you can only help me if I return it back.” “Ah.” “Thanks to you, I realized how selfish and foolish I was. This is like the price you pay for making me realize.” What a price. I don’t think I’ve done anything that great, but… I stared at the pickled orange pulp in the clean jar. Maybe, I wondered, it was like the pudding Lynne used to make me whenever she felt sorry for me.Angie smiled brightly. “Please continue to take good care of me, Rosieta. Let’s get along.” “Ah yes…” I nodded quickly, feeling a little embarrassed. For some reason, both my cheeks were hot. “I guess I should take back what I said about Miss Rosieta being a pushover.” Marie, who was looking at me and Angie alternately, whispered. Her tone was a mixture of mockery and mild surprise. At least Mika and Angie know how to be grateful. I twisted my body in shame as I never thought I would receive a gift like this. Mika and Angie grinned around us. “You know, I have a complaint.” In an air of embarrassment, Marie, who had been standing next to me, narrowed her eyes and looked from Mika to Angie. “It’s good that you two are repaying the favor to Miss Rosieta. But this isn’t fair.” “Hmm? what?” Mika looked at Marie with her arms crossed. “I like that you three are getting along, that’s nice.” Mari looked around at the three of us, who were in the midst of a polite conversation. “My only complaint, Miss Mika, is why you’re spoiling her with gratin that comes out of the maid’s quarters budget. If you playing favorites between me and Rosieta like this, my competitive spirit will kick in. I have the right to receive more.” “Oh my god.” Mika, who had been listening to the story with her chin raised, sighed at the completely unexpected words. Marie didn’t stop there, she held out the gratin bowl she had received. Only then did I see the difference between the generous gratin I received and the gratin Marie received. Mika was surprised by Marie’s words and then laughed. “I was wondering what you were going to say… Yes, you’re right. The young one is quite bold!” “I hear that a lot. For that reason, please give me more too.” “Can a girl with the size of a little hamster eat more than this?” “I will grow bigger after eating it, so just give it to me.” Mika snorted as she looked at Marie, who was an inch shorter than me, but Marie didn’t back down. She still held out her bowl of gratin and glared at Mika. Mika smirked, thinking she’d gotten the better of the little girl. In the end, Marie got twice as much as she had earlier. “I’m going to see if you can’t eat it all.” “Sure.” Marie replied dryly and returned to the table. Later, Angie and I exchanged glances and then burst out laughing.   * * *  “So, I realized once again that the only same-gender friend I’ve had in my entire life is that girl, Lynne. But not anymore.” A small grove of trees behind the mansion. The wind blew through the trees, rustling the branches gently. I looked at the sunlight streaming through the leaves and spoke. “You know that cookie you brought back from the square today, the one you gave me on your way home?” “Yes?” “So I called Marie over and the four of us ate them together. She said it was a famous pastry shop at the crossroads!” Colin, who was sitting diagonally on the rock with his legs crossed, looked at me and smiled softly. He rested his chin and nodded. “For some reason, Rose seemed to be in a good mood today.” I blinked rapidly and looked at Colin. “Really? Me?” “At least to me.” Colin created a very small gap with his thumb and index finger. It means that my excitement is evident as far as the space between his fingers. Oh my, I didn’t want to be seen floating around in place. I felt embarrassed later and scratched my forehead. But if you think about it, it was natural. I was already huddled over Angie’s pickled oranges, clutching them dearly as I spoke. And now I’d grabbed a busy Colin and was bragging about my new friend. “That’s why you called me, so you could feed me pickles too.” “That’s one thing, and have you been craving something lately…” It was a leisurely weekend afternoon as usual, and most of the maids rested at their dorms or went out to the square to spend their leisure time. The coachmen tied up their horses and went home early. Lucas went to the flower farm to find ingredients for perfume, and Daniel was busy as always. This meant that Colin was the only one to brag about the fact that I had helped Angie and she had returned the favor. Besides, it was Colin’s birthday party in three weeks, so I thought I’d sneakily ask him what he wanted.