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Chapter 40

Servants of Irene’s age hated her.

She couldn’t remember when it started. Was it the day she was often caught meeting Otis in the greenhouse after tea time? Or, the day Henrietta gave her the job of a nanny for Otis and Rodion?

One thing was for sure, the day that she was nearly punished for dirtying her apron…

— Don’t do that to Irene, butler. It was just an apron. I was just joking around.

​​The fact is that the bullying began the day Otis defended her, and she was able to avoid disciplinary action. They were jealous of the affection she received from the Young Masters and the Madam.

Of course, Irene understood that they could do that with a young mind because initially, their relationship wasn’t that bad from the beginning.

Although it was the implicit principle of Lavrenti that servants must not be friendly with each other, how can a relationship not arise in a place where people gather?

Besides, they were at the age where it was common to make friends. They also shared sandwiches with her and would often hang out.

So, it wasn’t like they hated Irene. They just couldn’t stand her.

Irene, who used to eat bread with callused hands together with them, was now sitting next to the handsome and noble Young Masters. After all, you could feel someone has a sense of inferiority with just a brief glance.

So, Irene ignored their bullying at first.

‘It’s a bit difficult to fight with all your might against the children…’

Half of them will die, and the other half will leave Lavrenti, anyway. And, the rest were to bow their heads in front of her in the end. In addition, she isn’t someone who would dwell on this sort of thing.

However, the biggest reason was…

‘Even if I fight, no one will stand by me.’

It was the fact that there was no one on her side in this mansion.

There was no way that the feud between the young servants could not be noticed by the adult servants. Though they closed their eyes and covered their ears because Lavrenti’s implicit principle was not to engage with each other.

And, they must have been jealous of Irene in their hearts.

So, she didn’t want to lose her strength in this fight.

At first, she would just take off the button because it was too bothersome to deal with, or because the other person seemed really urgent. But, gradually, the types of quarrels became more diversified, and Irene gradually grew irritable.

Eventually, one day, she said she would not give the button, and from that day on, it became a daily routine for Irene to get picked on physically. Of course, if you were to be hit on the head, all you had to do was to push back and kick.

It was like a cat scratch compared to what she had experienced over her six lives.

Nevertheless…

‘If they keep doing this, it’s annoying…’

Irene shrugged and looked indifferently at her hands as they were touching the dirt floor, and frowned.

On top of it, sarcastic voices poured out.

“The Young Masters are carrying you on their back and showing favoritism, but you can’t even waste a button?”

“She’s cheap like that. Your friend is going to get punished because they don’t have a button, but you’re really selfish.”

“I didn’t see you this way, though I’m disappointed. Really.”

The voices that sounded to be truly disappointed, pretended to be betrayed by a friend they trusted, and the voices that were hurt were a spectacle.

Irene sighed and raised her body up.

“Don’t say anymore and just leave. Before I rub my palms to the Young Masters to dismiss you.”

“What?”

“Every time you say that I’m on top of the Young Master’s back. I don’t know what I would do if I really told the Young Master about you guys.”

After seeing this a few times, the puppies sure made a lot of noises, really…

As Irene frowned and glared at them coldly, some flinched and stepped back in surprise.

‘What is this?’

They always thought of her as a quiet and unresponsive child. Because of that, it even seemed a little threatening for Irene to come out like that. Nonetheless, some were rather open to Irene’s threat.

“Ha, you know you can’t even talk because you’re afraid of the owners.”

“Do you think you will continue to be favored by the Young Masters?”

“It doesn’t matter if you keep talking like that. You didn’t mean to do that, anyway.”

Hearing their words, Irene touched her forehead and frowned, before sighing and swiping her face slightly.

“And, let’s just face it. I’m not just being liked by the owners, I’m good at work Because I am better than all of you combined, the Young Masters like me. You guys don’t even have a clue. Even if I don’t tell them, you might get fired if a new employee comes in.”

“This, this is really…!”

As she continued her words, the faces of the boys who were standing in front of her grew red and purplish. At that moment, Boris, the boy she hadn’t heard, rushed towards her, contorting his freckled face.

However, Irene was not to be succumbed to.

She grabbed the hand that was aiming for her neck and twisted it, and used her power as she ran, knocking Boris down.

“Eeugh—”

Boris, who had fallen out of sight in front of the other children, got up again with his face more reddish than a little while ago and charged towards Irene again.

The result was a crushing defeat.

Irene, who kicked Boris’s shin with the tip of her shoe, opened her mouth as she stared at the other boys behind him indifferently.

“I hope you’ll now notice how nice I’ve been to you.”

‘…Or, do you want to go further?’ At the added words, the boys all contemplated.

“Oh, no!”

“Sorry, Irene!”

“I, I—something urgent happened …!”

In the end, they grabbed Boris and ran away quickly. Nonetheless, even in the midst of running away, they could not erase Irene’s face that was displeased from their minds.

Irene, who was left alone, grew a little bitter.

‘We will never have a sandwich together again.’

Well, there was a time when they were close enough to call each other friends. Regardless, she wasn’t someone who dwelled on such things.

After all, this is Knox. This is Lavrenti.

A place where people die easily, and people become heartless as easily as that. Having repeated her life in such a place seven times, Irene felt like a glass jar on a pole that could easily be broken at any time.

It was not new for things to happen, and it was not too bad to let things go.

It was not strange when things break.

Hence, Irene felt a little awkward with her rough hand, rather than her irreversible friendship. Because at that time, it was still early in the morning, when all the servants would be called up to check their clothes and to inform them of their daily routine.

It meant that she hadn’t woken up Rodion yet.

The difficult part was how she woke Rodion up.

Holding Rodion’s hand until he wakes up…

‘My hand is scraped. Can I hold his hand with a hand like this…?’

Thinking so, Irene took a deep breath, glancing down at her rough hands with her bare skin showing. She thought she should think about it after washing her hands first.

Fortunately, there was no law that lets a man die
[ T/N: An idiom, meaning people are bound to come up with a way to survive no matter how difficult their situation may be. ]

Irene succeeded in borrowing one of his gloves from the friendly footman after an inquiry.

‘It’s pretty big, though.’

It wasn’t too bad, except for the fact that the glove about the length of her finger joint was fluttering at the tip of each finger. Well, at least, it would be better than holding Rodion’s hand with a sinful hand.

‘It’ll come off soon after the Youngest Master wakes up, anyway.’

Regardless, it was unlikely that Rodion, who was groggy in the morning, would ask why she was wearing gloves.

And so, Irene carefully opened the door to Rodion’s bedroom and entered with a light heart.

The room was dark and cozy, perfect for sleeping as she could hear a regular breathing sound.

She stepped over to the side of the bed without making a sound, and very slowly, sat down on the bed. Then, as if she knew what was coming next, she took the hand of Rodion, who was sleeping on the side of the door.

After that, she sat idly for five to ten minutes, Rodion, who was still sleepy, would wriggle over and cling onto her.

Even though he is the same age as Boris, who attacked her a while ago, why is he so much more adorable and cuter?

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