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.

most peaceful time of Laritte’s life, despite her sore feet

bothered lugging her wares down to the

around the house. If

to her villa. She was greeted by a burning candle illuminating

was the result of

large and spacious, Laritte had already given up on the second floor early on in her stay. While the first floor was inhabitable, she couldn’t say the same about the rest of the house.

and skillfully checked around the house before

quickly,” Laritte murmured as she opened a window to ventilate the villa.

meant that she would finally be able to put to use

fireplace and decided to make herself

a rusty but still functional pot, she removed all the blood

thought of how many potatoes were sacrificed to buy this piece of meat. After  peeling the potatoes and carrots, Laritte took out

most important thing in beef stew

the bay leaves and the pepper, she remembered what the market lady had told her.

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

and

knock sounded at

surprised her heart nearly stopped. She

was an old habit she couldn’t

time, they must have believed she already died

she was still breathing.

hair for a good amount of time. Today, her hair was as shiny as a gland of

Laritte’s arms? She finally gained enough weight to be considered human. Thinking of the Brumayers erased her

out how well she’d been living, he might take away her house. Laritte placed her dishcloth on the table as she agonized over the situation.

to mess up my hair?”

Laritte noticed something.

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

approached the door with trepidation, pressing her ear against the crack of the door. There wasn’t a single sound to be heard, but her

sparrow lost consciousness after hitting itself against the door?”

it! She didn’t know whether or not she could help the

front of her was…

tall that even if she were to lift her head,

man was covered in a mixture of fresh