I Picked Up the Trash Others Threw Away - Chapter 5.2
Chapter 5.2
I walked with anticipation on the way home, imagining the various routes in this novel that I couldn’t achieve.
I took a small fruit knife from the kitchen, wondering if there were any criminals aiming for a woman walking down a narrow alley late at night, but fortunately, there wasn’t anyone like that.
Although a maid was in charge of the kitchen, she wouldn’t make a fuss just because a knife was missing, would she?
I was going to carry this as a self-defense item to preserve my life from now on. It was a good thing that my dress was ample; I could hold a knife around my thigh and it wouldn’t show at all.
In these harsh times, it was not unusual for a woman to carry a knife for self-defense.
‘Will Trish really do as I say?’
Though I did push it stubbornly, I was a little suspicious that the commonly acknowledged trashy man had accepted my offer more obediently than I expected.
I told him to spread rumors in the gambling house, but that wasn’t enough. I needed to do something too.
***
The Delphonie mansion, always quiet whether I disappeared or not, looked exceptionally poor today. Whether it was the wooden door that made a screeching noise because it wasn’t oiled, or the corridor’s worn-out wooden floor, everything felt more disorderly.
It was amazing that we weren’t nicknamed ‘the Fallen Nobles’.
Although the family owned land, all the farmers who lived there left because the land was not well cultivated, and since there was no one to collect taxes, the family barely survived by selling that land little by little.
It wasn’t a luxury, but it was obvious that the family was somehow holding on to the verge of the capital in order to maintain its dignity as aristocrats. The moment the baron left the capital and moved his residence to the province, he wouldn’t be able to reestablish himself in the social world.
Since everyone was already asleep at this hour anyway, I entered the house quietly and was about to go up to my room when the old wooden floor made a squeaking noise.
Surprised, I looked back and heard an unwelcome voice in the darkness.
“Audrey, where have you been at this hour?”
“… Mother?”
The culprit that surprised me was Baroness Delphonie, my mother who rarely came home because she was busy playing around with other men.
Although she was past middle age and her eyes were wrinkled, her impressive beauty showed how experienced she was.
Her indigo hair like the night sky, and her deep eyes that seemed to tell a story were also golden yellow like mine.
I wondered if my father really was my father when I saw how prominent his cheekbones were and how haggard he was, but it seems that I got all the genes from this side.
Even in the dark, I could see her shiny face, full of makeup.
Judging from the fact that she was wearing an outfit to go out rather than an indoor one, it looked like she had just come in or was about to go out again.
“It’s better to go out and have fun than to be stuck in a corner of the house on such a lengthy day, but do you perhaps have a man?”
“N-no!”
“I’m not in a position to say anything, but if you’re going to meet someone, don’t get caught. It will be a big problem if your father finds out.”
Honestly, I was nervous because I thought she was going to say something, but to my surprise, the baroness didn’t scold me.
“I just had some business to take care of. What about you, Mother?”
“I just came in. I’m tired. I’m going to rest at home for a few days.”
“Did you tell Father?”
“Well, does he need to know? He doesn’t care if I come in or go out.”
Baroness Delphonie snorted and shrugged.
Were they not divorcing despite not being on good terms because they had a daughter, or was it because they were worried about rumors?
Here, divorce was thought to be worse than cheating, so having a few lovers might be overlooked.
Maybe Baron Delphonie also had a mistress he was hiding.
‘It’s a totally dysfunctional family.’
As I was about to walk towards my room again, since I had already met the baroness anyway, I decided to ask something I had been curious about.
“Mother, can you teach me how to seduce a man?”
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