When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

Now, food and shelter were settled. It would have been quite embarrassing if Laritte ran into Rose and the Count after she’d thrown herself at them like a maniac. But Laritte would never regret what she did that day.

To reach the nearest village, Laritte would have to walk along a one-way road on her tiny feet. She considered disassembling her furniture and returned to her spot beside the fireplace.

Before she’d even realized, the potatoes were emitting a strong aroma, announcing that they were ready to be eaten. Laritte used a skewer to grab one of her cooked potatoes.

“Ack, hot.”

While waiting for the potatoes to cool, Laritte cut the steaming potatoes in half. She watched as the soft inside dribbled out of the golden, baked skin.

After starving all day long, her parched mouth finally felt sweet relief. The well-seasoned potatoes kept Laritte occupied for quite a while.

Coming back to her senses, Laritte realized that the potatoes she had prepared for tomorrow were no more.

“When have I ever eaten this much?”

While living with her birth mother, Laritte considered herself lucky to even eat one meal a day. But usually, those meals her mother fed her were bad and left her sick and throwing up for the rest of the day.

“I’m fed up with this disgusting leech!”

Laritte’s mother screamed those words the day before she disappeared and abandoned her to the Brumayers.

She’d been abandoned when she was eight years old.

Although she didn’t have the Brumayers’ signature red hair or freckles, the Count had still recognized her as one of them. The younger Laritte believed they were good people who accepted her.

But they weren’t good people. They took her in simply because the nobility had a means of identifying illegitimate children and their fathers.

But at least, from the moment Laritte entered the Brumayer household to when she left, she had never gone hungry.

On special days or when Rose was feeling generous, she’d get to sit at the table. However, most of the time, she ate alone in her small, secluded room. Sometimes, if the Countess was in a bad mood, Laritte’s meals were their wasted food. She had stolen food from the kitchen once as well, avoiding eye contact with the servants.

But it hadn’t been all that easy. The servants were no strangers to seeing Laritte with a stomach ache, but helping her was inconvenient for them, and so she would be ignored.

Laritte ate with the Brumayers only because those meals were her only chance to be served fresh meat. She would have no other opportunities to eat anything as nice.

Laritte patted her stomach, too full from eating today’s and tomorrow’s potatoes, and got up to go find water. It was her first relaxing and full meal in a long time.

last few weeks had been the most peaceful time of Laritte’s life, despite her sore

her wares down to the village, and felt the same way about

to grow around the house. If the soil doesn’t freeze,

opened the door to her villa. She was greeted

the result of her constant cleaning.

already given up on the second floor early on in her stay. While

skillfully checked around the house before preparing for

she

meant that she would finally be able to put to use the firewood she’ds been

tossed some firewood into the fireplace and decided to make herself some stew to celebrate

functional pot, she removed all the blood from meat she recently

were sacrificed to buy this piece of meat. After  peeling the potatoes and

the most important thing in beef stew was the spices.

out the bay leaves and the pepper, she remembered what the market lady

If you add this, it’ll taste real good. Ya gotta stir-fry the

lady’s advice and plucked some of the leaves.

A knock sounded

one besides Laritte ever came to this house. She was so surprised her heart nearly stopped. She wiped her hands clean and ran to the living

an old habit she couldn’t let

someone from the Brumayers, right? At this time, they must have believed she already died and sent someone

she was

silver hair for a good amount of

Laritte’s arms? She finally gained enough weight to be considered human. Thinking of the Brumayers erased her current healthy image of herself, bringing back memories of her once

might take away her house. Laritte placed her dishcloth on the table as she

need to mess up my hair?”

Laritte noticed something.

additional sounds coming from the front door. Perhaps it was just a mountain animal passing

door. There wasn’t a single sound to

after hitting itself against the door?”

know whether or not she could help the bird though, because she really just owned potatoes. Cautiously,

her

‘big and tall.’ So tall that even if she

man was covered