My Contract Husband Resembles the Male Protagonist - Chapter 17
“?”
Who?
Me?
“What’s with that clueless expression? Couldn’t you hear? Bow your head immediately!”
He was yelling at me.
“Who do you think you are to barge into someone else’s house and talk nonsense?”
“Benji, stop it. She might not know. You shouldn’t insult someone in front of everyone.”
At that moment, the woman named Adelaine intervened.
“Oh, miss. I apologize. I was hasty in my judgment.”
“As expected of Lady Adelaine!”
Their playful behavior left me bewildered.
“I’m sorry. Our butler acted too quickly and made a mistake. Is it okay?”
There was an assumption that I would naturally understand.
Adelaine, who grabbed my hand casually, smiled.
“It’s not okay. Apologize.”
“What?”
Adelaine paused.
“Miss Adelaine, what kind of disrespectful talk is that?”
“I’m surprised at the vulgarity. Is that the woman with Dale? If he’s been kidnapped, we should be helping him shake the carrot.*”
(TN: In Hangul, the sentence literally translates to this. “당근 흔들어야죠” is a joke in Korean culture where “shake the carrot” refers to a signal someone should make if they’re being forced into something.)
Adelaine, glancing around, chuckled. She smiled, lowering her eyes.
“Instead, I’ll apologize. I’m sorry.”
“…..”
“Did I upset you? I must have hurt your feelings.”
Adelaine blinked her innocent eyes rapidly.
“That’s kind of strange?”
Adelaine’s eyes narrowed sadly as the chatter grew louder.
She fidgeted with her hands and looked at me.
“Well, actually, I heard that we have new neighbors, so I stopped by to invite them to a get-together, and this happened.”
Neighbor?
Strictly speaking, Adelaine Kiedland wasn’t a neighbor.
Kiedland Estate unfolded beyond the boundary line in the distance.
“Oh. Miss Anne is an outsider, so she might not know?”
Adelaine closed her mouth, smiling gently.
“Oh…”
I had never been in society, and it had been so long that I momentarily forgot.
Among the various stories Emma, my personal maid, shared with me, one was about social circles.
The so-called ‘blaming’ technique.
“You must not know because you’re an outsider,” was an attempt to ostracize me.
Adelaine flipped her angelic golden hair to the back.
“Grunwald and Kiedland have a very close relationship between their territories. We interact frequently, and I love the nature of Grunwald so much that I stay in the Lord’s manor.”
“Miss Adelaine and Lord Grumbalt are relatives. You could say that she’s almost his granddaughter.”
Adelaine’s servant, Banzie or Panda, chimed in from the side.
“Miss Anne is an outsider, but she will be living here from now on…?”
I thought I heard the sound of grinding teeth.
Did I hear it wrong?
“So, Anne will be my li…?”
Adelaine closed her mouth, ran her lips, and then smiled again.
“I’d like to invite Anne to a tea party. I know it won’t be easy for an outsider to adapt, but I’ll help. Because you’re an outsider.”
Adelaine laughed softly.
She definitely seemed like a pretty and kind noble heiress.
But at the end of each sentence, the word ‘outsider’ followed.
“Adelaine Kiedland.”
Kiedland, Kiedland.
I observed her silently, pondering.
“Could it be too much to ask?”
I snapped out of my thoughts at Adelaine’s words.
Her followers behind her were laughing.
“Adelaine’s perfect manners are incomparable.”
“She won’t accept the invitation just because she’s invited, right?”
AdelaineKiedland. This woman said she currently lives in the Lord’s manor.
“If my invitation to Miss Anne is too burdensome, I can be reached at…….”
“I’ll go.”
I nodded willingly.
“Oh, really?”
Adelaine opened her eyes in delight and smiled.
Her green eyes sparkled.
“Thank you for the invitation. I feel like I have a lot to learn.”
I smiled, coldly accepting the invitation.
Then I made sure she knew.
“Our Dale is also an outsider.”
“…..”
***
Adelaine stepped down from the carriage, stomping her feet in frustration.
“Aaaah! So annoying!!”
Bang!
A loud noise came from the carriage wheel crushed by her stomping.
Adelaine jumped up, holding her swollen foot.
“I’m annoyed! I’m so annoyed I could die!”
“Lady!”
“Is that the woman Dale chose? Did I see it wrong? Is that Dale?!”
Anger replaced the smile on Adelaine’s face.
The calmness from earlier vanished, leaving only a woman screaming like a monster.
Adelaine bit her nails.
“Dale must be crazy!”
“Lady, please calm down.”
“I’ll calm down on my own, so shut up!”
Adelaine lost count of the minutes.
“Our Dale? Hah, calling him ours?”
“Unnie!”
A woman approached Adelaine, her eyes wide.
She was skinny, with brown hair.
She looked like she was in her twenties or a teenager, so it was hard to tell.
“H-h-how was it?”
