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 feet from trekking to the nearby

wares down to the village, and

with her newly purchased vegetable seeds, planning to grow around the house. If the soil doesn’t freeze, these seedsy might grow some roots. Laritte decided to give it a try as a

felt like she’d aged wonderfully when she opened the door to her villa. She was greeted by a burning

of her constant cleaning.

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.

around the house before preparing for

approaching quickly,” Laritte murmured as she

would finally be able to

and decided to make herself some stew to celebrate the

rusty but still functional pot, she removed all the blood from meat she

sacrificed to buy this piece of meat. After  peeling the

believed that the most important thing in beef

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

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

the lady’s advice and

sounded at

to this house. She was so surprised her heart nearly stopped. She

it was an old habit she couldn’t let go.

have believed

she

good amount of time. Today, her

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

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

to mess up

noticed

no additional sounds coming from the front door. Perhaps it was just a mountain animal

wasn’t a single sound to be heard, but her thoughts did not calm in

sparrow lost consciousness after hitting itself against the

She didn’t know whether or not she could help the bird though, because she really just owned potatoes. Cautiously, she opened the door.

in front of her

man was ‘big and tall.’ So tall that even if she were to lift her

man was covered in a mixture of fresh