Chapter 278

Chapter Sixty-Five The Two in the Mansion

I noticed Ellie’s expression, and my face slightly heated up. I subconsciously kicked aside the slanted shoes, turned my back to her, opened the door, and mumbled, “Didn’t have time to clean…”

Last night, I went home with a lot on my mind, thinking about many things. I fell asleep drowsily and woke up early due to the heat. I was in a hurry to buy new clothes, so I forgot to tidy up… It wasn’t because I was messy.

Creak—

As we pushed open the door and entered the mansion, thankfully it still looked relatively clean inside. Although it hadn’t been cleaned for several days, no one lived here while I was away, and every time I left, I made sure to lock the windows tight. Therefore, there wasn’t much obvious dust on the floor, which somewhat salvaged my dignity.

“Wow~, what a beautiful house…”

After entering, Ellie blinked her big eyes, looking around from here to there. Her gaze paused briefly at the piano in the living room. She rubbed her little hands in front of her, hesitantly turning her head to look at me, “Sister, do I need to change my shoes?”

“No.”

I replied softly, carrying the bag and walking into the living room, placing the paper bag with chicken legs on the coffee table. I heard Ellie’s footsteps behind me as she followed.

“Sister, such a big house, do you live here alone?”

“Mm-hm.” I nodded, “I’m very happy that Ellie can come.”

“Sister, I’m also very happy that you invited me… I’m just… I never thought I could become friends with someone like you. Before, I was worried about being a bother, so I hesitated for a long time.”

“Ellie, don’t say that.”

“This is how I really feel, if I don’t say it, I’ll be very sad.”

The little girl didn’t seem to mind; she appeared genuinely happy. She slowly approached the large black grand piano, seemingly very attracted to it: “Sister, can you play the piano?”

“A bit.”

“How amazing… It feels like Sister knows everything.”

Ellie sighed in admiration, her slightly envious eyes blinking a few times. She stretched out her hand in mid-air, suddenly stopping: “Can I touch it?”

She turned to look at me, her face filled with anticipation.

I smiled slightly, “Sure, you can touch it or even play it.”

“Hehe, I don’t know how.”

With my permission, Ellie gently touched the lid of the piano, carefully stroking it. Her young face slightly flushed, looking very adorable. Seeing that she seemed to enjoy the piano, I couldn’t help but say, “I can teach you,” but Ellie shook her head.

“Sister, I came today to help you tidy up the house and take care of the flowers and plants.”

“Um, you can do that next time too.”

What I said before was just a casual excuse. I was worried that the matter with Teresa might deeply affect her, so I invited her over to talk and perhaps gradually help her overcome her shadow, not really wanting a maid… But the little girl took it very seriously.

“Sister, you’re too kind to me. I don’t have anything to repay you, and the only thing I can do is help with chores. If you don’t let me do this, I won’t know what excuse to use next time… Look, there’s dust on the lid of the piano.”

Ellie laughed and waved her little hand at me. Before I could see if there was actually any dust, she immediately pointed to the clothes in her other hand: “Sister, where should I put these?”

“Put them back in the bedroom…”

I answered instinctively, then saw Ellie’s eyes suddenly brighten.

“Sister, where’s your bedroom? Can I go see it!”

I blinked my eyes.

“It’s upstairs.”

What’s there to see in the bedroom…

But I still led her upstairs to the bedroom door. Ellie looked excited, and I lightly pushed open the door and stepped in, only to suddenly freeze.

The bed sheets were in disarray, the blanket crumpled into a ball, and a small pink bra hanging off the edge of the bed, almost falling onto the carpet. From the center of the white king-size bed to the washroom on the left, there were scattered pajamas, pajama pants, lace-trimmed undergarments, and a black feather.

Uh…

My cheeks instantly heated up.

“Sister…”

Behind me, Ellie called out hesitantly, her tone sounding a bit unnatural, as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know how… At this moment, I needed to stay calm.

Ellie is also a girl; seeing these things isn’t a big deal. She’s young and innocent, and would consider others’ feelings when speaking. As long as I act as if nothing happened and remain composed, she probably wouldn’t say much, let alone mock me. Even if she mocked me, she wouldn’t do it directly like Victoria, hurting me.

These thoughts quickly flashed through my mind. I quickly walked towards the bed, bent down—first picking up the small underwear and stuffing it into my skirt pocket, then pretending nothing had happened, covering up my embarrassment, imagining Victoria’s demeanor, maintaining a calm expression, and slowly turned around.

“In the morning… there was an urgent matter.” I told Ellie.

“Mm-hm! Yes.”

She responded immediately, then turned her head away, trying hard to hold back her laughter, “Peylo Sister, it’s unexpectedly a bit… pfft… sorry, I just didn’t expect Sister to be so careless.”

Careless…

It’s a rather gentle word.

Although it’s gentle, it still made my face even hotter.

Perhaps sensing my embarrassment, Ellie kindly changed the subject, “Wow! The room smells nice~ It smells like Sister… The decoration is also very pretty, it feels very warm… Just a little bit messy.”

She pinched her thumb and index finger together, trying to indicate how slight the mess was, then found a reason for me, “Probably because Sister is busy? No problem, I can help clean up.”

Suddenly, I didn’t want to meet her eyes anymore…

So I shifted my gaze to the side, scratching my cheek, “No need… Ellie, let’s eat first—”

“It’s okay! Sister, you don’t need to worry, I can do it myself~”

The little girl was the type who acted immediately. Without waiting, she rolled up her sleeves and started helping me clean up. The bedside cabinet, dressing table, desk… She quickly arranged some decorations I had never paid attention to before, then went to gather the firewood in the fireplace, raised her hand to touch the green stone wall above it, and examined it closely, “There’s dust. Sister, where are the cleaning cloths and the broom?”

“In the kitchen… I’ll get them.”

“No need. I’ll do it, Sister, you rest! I saw you bought something to eat earlier…”

I shook my head, “We’ll eat together later.”

I couldn’t let a little girl do all the work while I sat in the living room eating delicious food… That wouldn’t do.

Without waiting for Ellie to object again, I ran downstairs, grabbed the cleaning tools from the kitchen, and stopped suddenly when I returned to the living room. I hurried to the coffee table, pulled out a chicken leg from the paper bag, took a big bite, chewed vigorously with a full mouth, and then ran upstairs again.

The chicken leg smelled so good…

I’ll enjoy it properly later.

In the following hours, Ellie and I began the major cleanup of the mansion.

The girl worked on these tasks as if she had transformed into someone else. Her face was serious, her small hands moving quickly and efficiently, much faster than even a Papal Knight like me could manage.

“Sister. If you don’t clean the earthenware vase frequently, it will lose its luster,” she said.

“Mm…”

“There’s water stains on the mirror.”

“I don’t know how that happened…”

“Hey, there’s a tiny spider web here!”

“Oh! Quickly, let’s break it…”

I hated bugs with too many legs… I didn’t want them crawling onto my bed at night.

“Sister, do you keep a little dog?”

“No.”

“But there’s a piece of bone here… Did you eat a meat bone here?”

*Pfft—*

It might be evidence left from that night when we ate deer legs…

“I’m not sure. But I have a bird.”

The fear of admitting it made me lie, attributing it to goat cheese.

“A bird?”

“It’s a raven for delivering messages.”

“Oh, no wonder it has black feathers… But do birds eat meat bones?”

“My bird eats anything.”

“How strange… The oil stain has spread onto the carpet… Phew, it’s hard to clean.”

“Alice, you’re really good at housework.”

“Hehe, because I always do these things! Cleaning the church is much harder… but the nuns praise me for being capable. Sister, did you know that the church recently received many more children?”

“Uh… I didn’t know. Are they like Alice?”

“Mm, similar… Some were transferred from other places, just like Lucas and I were… ” The little girl’s mood dropped, “Just like we were. But most lost their parents in the disaster in the capital… The youngest is only four. They don’t understand and always think their parents are away and will return soon…”

Yes…

How many lives has Teresa destroyed, and how many happy families has she ruined?

Damn the Gate of Truth…

After cleaning the carpet, Alice stood up, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She continued, “The church is bustling now! The nuns can’t handle everything, and the Bishop has asked me to take care of several people!”

She looked at me with the pride of a little girl.

“Alice, you can take care of others?”

“Mm!” She nodded seriously.

“Amazing.” I praised her, then felt curious, “Will they listen to you?”

Alice is only eleven or twelve… This age, making same-aged or older kids listen is quite difficult.

“Most are obedient… but there are a few troublemakers.”

She walked to the dressing table and began cleaning the mirror. Something seemed to come to mind, and she suddenly looked worried.

“Boys are fine… There’s a girl around my age who’s particularly mischievous. She disappears and reappears in odd places. She does strange things and says strange words… It’s very troublesome! The nuns can’t handle her, and they don’t know why she acts that way… Every time, I get scolded along with her, which is annoying… She doesn’t listen to me.”

As Alice spoke, she got a bit angry, but her cute pout made her look endearing.

A child’s emotions come and go quickly. Soon, she forgot her troubles and chattered happily about other things.

“Recently, the Queen sent us many gifts! Clothes, mutton, venison, and little snacks—so many delicious things! I got some pretty dresses, and the fabric feels so comfortable! Look at this dress I’m wearing—”

She wore a light yellow knee-length dress. It wasn’t extravagant, but it was clearly of good quality, far better than the one I bought for Victoria last night.

I felt a slight warmth.

Victoria… Even though she was so busy, she hadn’t forgotten what she said to me during the funeral ceremony… I almost forgot myself.

After a moment, when Alice went to clean the large mirror in the bedroom, she saw the black giant axe leaning against the corner.

Oh no…

At this moment, I saw the girl’s slender shoulders trembling slightly. I wanted to slap myself… How could I forget about this thing! Damn it…

“This… is with you, sister…”

Her weak voice trembled. I didn’t know how to make up for it, so I quickly walked over and shielded the double-bladed giant axe behind me.

“Alice… I’m sorry, I forgot to put it away…”

“Sister, it’s okay.” The little girl took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and smiled at me, “I’m not as weak as you think! Sister, I’ve grown up. These days, I’ve thought a lot… Though I’m still confused and unsure what to do, I won’t run away. That’s right, I remember something from a book saying one must face problems bravely! Sister, I’ll face it.”

Alice clenched her little fist and shook it at me, as if she were cheering me up. In her bright eyes, there was a light beyond her years.

“Mm…”

This kind and lovely girl, who knew how to be good to others, indeed grew up a little after that.

After tidying up the bedroom, we rested in the living room for a while, finishing ten chicken legs together before continuing to clean other areas. From the inner rooms to the courtyard, throughout the afternoon, we chatted and cleaned, watering plants. As twilight fell, the entire estate seemed refreshed.

We stood under the honey tree in the courtyard, and Alice called out happily, “Sister, look! This tree has fruit!”

I tilted my head and looked through the dense branches, seeing a few green fruits hidden among them.

“Alice, do you know how long it takes for honey fruit to mature?”

“I’m not entirely sure… Around 60 to 100 days? During this time, you need to fertilize and care for it carefully.”

Sixty to a hundred days…

I tilted my head in thought, “Alice, can you take care of trees?”

“A little… When my parents were still alive, we had an orchard in town. Every harvest season, I would help out.”

“Oh… Then Alice, help me too.”

“What?”

“In the future, come here often and take care of the trees.”

I looked at the lush honey tree before me, and Victoria’s beautiful face flashed in my mind.

“I want it to bear big and sweet fruit.”

“That’s great, but… Will it really not be a bother for you?”

I reached out and gently rubbed the head of the usually shy little girl beside me.

“It won’t.”

The light and shadow flickered, and the evening glow was splendid.

The sky’s yellow clouds drifted by, and the shadows under the tree flickered faintly.