I Ran Away And The Reverse Harem Started

Chapter 15 Still, unlike a decade ago, Colin is an adult. And since he was a candidate for the male lead, it was only natural that his physique was different.At the moment when I was secretly estimating Colin’s muscles hidden under his white shirt, Colin suddenly reached out his hand to me.“What’s with the hand?”“You have to hold on. We’re going into the forest. You might fall.”As he said that, Colin gently grabbed my hand.His hand was so big, and even though my hand was not small for a woman, it disappeared into his hand.I felt a pleasant coolness in Colin’s hand.“You said you were confident that the maids wouldn’t catch you, but in the forest?”“Yeah. But it’s inside the mansion, so it won’t be that scary.”“Oh, I’m not the type of person who’s afraid of that kind of thing. I’m confident I wouldn’t blink an eye even if a ghost came out.”Colin chuckled as I put my other hand on his waist and squeezed.We walked, hand in hand, to the woods behind the manor.There was a small patch of woods behind the manor.Occasionally, rabbits or deer would wander in and be seen, but no one went deep into the forest.We entered the entrance of the forest and sat on a rock. It wasn’t too deep, but it was dark enough to avoid people’s gaze.In addition, when I sat on the rock and turned my head, I could clearly see the mansion, which was dazzlingly lit up.Should I call this a night view?The mansion seen from afar looked like a sparkling party hall or a lighthouse floating on the night sea.Was it because something unpleasant happened during the day?As I gazed at the mansion, feeling strangely dizzy, Colin handed me a slice of pie.“You haven’t had dinner, have some of this.”“Thanks, Colin.”I took a bite of the apple pie he’d stolen from me.It had cooled a bit, but that only made it taste crispier and sweeter.Apple pie was sold in the city, but the pie made by a professional chef of a noble family was different.This moist and sweet stewed apple and crispy bread dough!“Being nobles must be nice. They can eat these snacks made by skilled pastry chefs every day.”I looked at Colin absentmindedly as I was swearing at the nobles as usual.I briefly forgot that there was a semi-noble man sitting in front of me.But instead of being offended, Colin stared at my face as if he was interested.“Does Rosieta want to become a noble?”“… No, not really. I’m just jealous of the way they live without worrying about money. Eat all the delicious things you want.”“Hm.”I felt embarrassed that I had talked about money in front of my rich friend.While I was grumbling and slowly eating my apple pie, Colin said softly.“You can’t be a noblewoman, but you can be a rich woman. If you marry me.”“Cough!”For a moment, the apple pie I was eating almost came out of my throat.“I’m joking.”I looked at Colin with a bewildered face.Colin laughed with an incomprehensible expression.His laugh was as bright as stars in the dark forest. Of course, I couldn’t laugh along.“But it’s true that I have a lot of money. I’m a key executive at Holden. Not as much as Daniel, though.”“Stop joking, Colin. It’s not funny.”“Really?”Colin sat with his legs crossed and grinned.‘Was a joke this scary? It’s giving me goosebumps.’I tried hard to avoid Colin’s gaze and stuffed the rest of the pie into my mouth.A moderately sour taste lingered in my mouth. After filling my stomach, I definitely felt better, just like Colin said. They say that when you’re full, you feel better.I looked at the lights streaming out of the mansion and suddenly turned my head to look at Colin.At some point, Colin was staring at me.“Why?”“Just. Rose, I thought you were feeling better. I’m glad.”“You’ve got that to thank for, Colin. And for sharing this delicious pie.”If I’d stayed in my room alone, I’d probably have tossed and turned under the blanket all night, feeling like crap.But thanks to Colin taking me outside, I got to eat a delicious pie and sit on a mountain path, feeling the breeze.‘But aren’t I just receiving too much?’While I was pondering what I could give him, Colin called me.“Rose.”“Yes?”Colin slowly reached out and touched my hair.“Colin?”Colin spoke in a strangely subdued voice.“I probably won’t be able to ask you why you’re feeling down in the future. You’re a much more secretive child than I know.”“…….”“But I’ll wait. Until you’re willing to tell me the reason.”I realized that Colin was talking about a lot of things besides today’s work.Like why I disappeared the day the orphanage burned down.Colin carefully pursed his lips, then quietly kissed the tip of my hair.“So you have to tell me someday. Okay?”For a moment, Colin’s clear green eyes seemed to go dark. * * * The next day, I was assigned to clean the stairs of the mansion again.Sweeping the stairs was simple labor, and simple labor was an effective way to put aside the thoughts that had accumulated in my head.“Let’s stop thinking about complicated things and focus on making money. I’m going to leave this place anyway! Do you think I’ll rot here for a hundred days?”I grumbled to myself as I cleaned the stairs.I was destined to become an innkeeper, and the male leads were destined to have passionate love affairs with the female lead. I didn’t want to be the maids of this house for long, and I had a home to return to.I’m an extra, after all, so who cares if I’m the only one who feels weird. I just want to make some money and eat fancy apple pie!I stopped sweeping the stairs in anger and looked up at the top of the stairs.‘Come to think of it, Deborah said she was going to stay the night yesterday. Is she still at the mansion?’Actually, the original doesn’t specifically mention what events Deborah and Daniel had before their political marriage.First of all, the novel itself was short, only one volume, and partly because the tension between Deborah and Daniel after the arranged marriage was more important.‘Before the political marriage, she must have stayed at Daniel’s mansion for a few days because of the king. Was she forced to do that because of the pressure?’However, political marriage was really not far off. Daniel had a political marriage with Deborah at this age.At least according to the original, it also meant that they had to have an engagement ceremony and get married within this year.‘I won’t be able to see the wedding ceremony or anything like that, right?’I looked into space with a trembling face.Somehow I didn’t feel very good. That blunt and grumpy Daniel was getting married.Even though I knew the original story well, I felt strange because I saw Daniel’s personality with my own eyes.Have you ever seen a brat who you thought would never take anyone with him get married first?“He’ll have to grow up when he gets married.”I was clicking my tongue and organizing my cleaning supplies when I heard someone walking behind me.I turned my head and saw Angela standing there.“What is it?”I was quite surprised when I saw her, and I felt uneasy as I remembered last night.This maid named Angela hadn’t been seen since she told Miriam my secret yesterday. And now she suddenly appeared in front of me.I furrowed my brows again, wondering what Angela and Miriam had been talking about.As I turned around and tried to go down the stairs, Angela grabbed me urgently.“Now, wait a minute! The saint called you.”“What?”The words that came out of Angela’s mouth were a little unexpected.The saint called me? Deborah?I looked at Angela, my frowning eyebrows relaxed.She lowered her head slightly, unable to even make eye contact with me.“… Yes, the saintess wants to see you and asked you to come to her room. I just wanted to tell you….”“Okay. I’ll go. Okay?”I looked at Angela as if she had more to say.Angela kept fidgeting and squirming in front of me.“That’s…”“What is it?”Angela lowered her eyebrows. She squirmed as if she was checking my mood, and barely managed to squeeze out her voice.I thought she was going to say something that would just rip me off.“… I’m really sorry about yesterday. I wanted to say that.”What… is this?I opened my eyes slightly wide and looked at Angela.She was about the same height as me, and about the same age. She bowed her head to me with a red face.“What happened yesterday wasn’t my intention. I just happened to go up the mountain and casually mentioned what I saw, but I really didn’t know Miriam would do it! And I didn’t know she would tell you all about it in front of the kids…”“…….”“I-I’m sorry. You’re really angry, aren’t you?”“Yeah. Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”Angela clamped her mouth shut when I answered right back, her face turning red with shame.“I went back to the mansion in the middle of the night and gave you the ring, but you forgot about it and told Miriam about it, right?”“…….”“Actually, I’m more angry at you than Miriam. There’s a limit to how much you can fool someone.”It was true that I hated Angela and Miriam.Angela leaked my weaknesses to people, whether intentionally or not, and Miriam openly revealed my flaws.But honestly, I didn’t know Angela would come to apologize to me so quickly.‘Besides, I thought it was Miriam…’As I stared at Angela, and she drew her eyebrows together.“Th-the truth is, I did find you a little annoying. You were the only new maid who had a single room right after you got here. Definitely I thought you’d do something.”“…….”“But I didn’t know Miriam would tell everyone that story… I didn’t know you were going through such a hard time. If I had known, I would never have told her.”“…….”“I’m really sorry, Rosieta. Okay?”