Find the One Who Abandoned Me - Chapter 15

They abandoned me, knowing nothing, in the largest room of the annex with expensive things.

“Madam, the butler has arrived.”

“Come in.”

“Greetings, Madam Calliope. You summoned me.”

The butler, with bright gray hair and a neatly trimmed beard, entered through the door opened by the maid and bowed deeply. Calliope stared silently at the top of his head for several seconds, not giving him permission to raise it. After more than ten seconds, just as Susan was looking puzzled, she answered as if she had forgotten.

“Ah, raise your head. It’s nothing much, but I want to move all my belongings from my room in the annex.”

The butler, straightening up at her words, frowned slightly.

“I received the message, but…”

Calliope spread her hand wide, looked down at her nails, and snapped in a deliberately sensitive tone.

“If you received the message, shouldn’t you have come to me right away to let me know? To ask if it’s okay to move now, if there’s anything lacking in the room. Especially now, only a day after I entered the family. Does the butler not intend to look after me unless I ask the maid to request it?”

“I apologize, Madam. My inadequacy has caused you discomfort.”

The butler, Hansen, bowed again with a calm tone and apologized. Calliope slowly sighed and scanned his neat suit with her eyes.

Hansen wasn’t the type to deliberately harass or make things difficult for others, but as a butler working for the Marquis family, he had a high level of pride. His loyalty was also strong, and he followed her father’s words more faithfully than anyone else. As a result, he also despised those who lacked the qualities of a noble.

“I hope you won’t bother me in the future. If I don’t have any schedule today, I plan to spend time in the study. Is there anything else you want to say to me?”

A slight look of embarrassment flickered across Hansen’s face, which was finely wrinkled. There probably was. She openly scoffed at his expression.

“There is a dinner with the family this evening.”

Calliope glanced at the clock. It was ten in the morning, after waking up, washing, changing clothes, and having a light tea time. It was too late to receive the morning report, and the butler would know that well enough. It would be excusable if it was a suddenly delivered matter.

“When was it decided?”

“…It was scheduled before you arrived, Madam.”

“Butler, I know you’re busy serving the Marquis family of the kingdom. I also know that unless it’s Father, the butler doesn’t need to report directly to me. But I don’t feel good about the fact that the butler, who knows the situation well, didn’t take any action and left me abandoned. Did Father give you separate instructions to treat me like this?”

“I have no excuse.”

“I don’t intend to scold you severely today. I hope you’ll be careful in the future. In the future, have Susan or Sir Jack Beacomber deliver family event information.”

“Understood. Shall I move the items prepared in the annex right away?”

“That would be good. I need a dress to wear for the dinner. Where is Father?”

“The Marquis is in his office after finishing breakfast. He has a lunch appointment, so it would be best to see him now, but shall I let him know in advance?”

“No, I’ll go myself.”

Calliope rose from her seat and called Susan. Susan quickly stood by her side.

“I hope you won’t call me for things like this next time.”

“I will be careful.”

“Go ahead. I need to go see Father too.”

The butler bowed deeply again and left Calliope’s room. After closing the door as quietly as possible, the butler lightly pulled at the shirt collar that was constricting his neck.

To be honest, it would be a lie to say that he didn’t look down on the madam who had lived like a commoner. He thought she wouldn’t even have etiquette, let alone awareness as a noble. Hansen glanced back at the closed door.

“She looks like the former madam, but her personality is completely different.”

She didn’t resemble the Marquis either. The Marquis was strict but had a dull side, but that madam was like a sharply honed needle. Hansen thought about the former Marchioness, Ihiel, for the first time in a long time.

She was a madam from a humble family, but her actions were full of dignity, and she knew how to care for and be generous to her inferiors as a noble. He had trusted the Marquis’s choice, but the foolish old men who had entrenched themselves in the family drove her out.

“It’s a relief that the current madam has chased most of them out.”

Of course, there were still some who clung on like leeches and wouldn’t fall off. The butler, who had been standing there blankly for a moment, soon shook his head and left the spot. It would be better to move the luggage quickly so as not to offend the madam again.

Before leaving, Calliope had Susan redo her hair. Although there wasn’t much to decorate with since the luggage hadn’t been moved to this room yet, simply combing the spiderweb-like thin white hair neatly created a strange atmosphere. Calliope quietly stared at her face in the mirror before getting up and heading out of the room.

In the eyes of the servants bowing to her, only ambiguous emotions that were difficult to read at once flickered. They were their master, but they weren’t sure how to treat her yet. Calliope, with a cold expression, passed them without giving them a glance.

“Marquis, Madam Calliope has arrived.”

Susan, the temporary maid, knocked on her behalf and announced her visit. The door opened with a voice of acceptance from inside. He was wearing different clothes than yesterday and sitting at his desk with the same face. The stacked documents were so high that they reached below her chin.

“I came because I have a request.”

“Speak.”

The servants standing next to each of them had subtly distorted faces at Calliope’s bold omission of greetings and getting straight to the point, and the Marquis’s response as if it were natural.

“I want to get used to the family quickly. I want you to find etiquette teachers and other instructors as soon as possible.”

“I’m already looking into it.”

“I want to choose the teachers.”

Illan finally looked up from the documents and looked at Calliope.

“What do you know?”

“Why don’t you answer after looking at the people I recommend?”

Illan stared at his daughter for a few seconds before answering indifferently.

“I will.”

It was a strange conversation. Calliope’s tone was very calm and dry, but the content was very presumptuous to say in front of her father, the Marquis, and the Marquis seemed to ignore her, but he did not refuse her request.

“Paper.”

When Calliope approached his desk and gestured to Illan’s servant, he handed over a blank piece of paper and a pen with a dazed look. She wrote down a list of names without hesitation. The light but fluent handwriting was that of someone who had lived as a noble for a long time. But Illan focused on the names she wrote down rather than her handwriting.

“I know it will be difficult. But I hope you will try.”

“I will try to reflect it as much as possible.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you again at dinner.”

The second meeting between father and daughter ended so simply. Calliope turned around and left the office as if she had no regrets, and Illan simply looked back at the documents without holding her back.

The servants who watched the scene all had one impression. The new madam, who looked exactly like the former madam, was like a replica of the Marquis. If Calliope knew, she would have scoffed and burst into hollow laughter.

Calliope went straight to the study. She didn’t want to encounter the Marquis family, who would now legally be her family, early on, and she also needed time to quietly organize her thoughts. The reason why she went to see her father as soon as she opened her eyes and brought up the teachers who would be assigned to her first was.

‘I can’t just let Ditron Anastas do his thing.’

The past Calliope, who didn’t know anything, accepted the teachers her father assigned without question, but later found out that half of them were people Ditron had intervened and planted. He had manipulated things so that Illan wouldn’t notice, so Calliope didn’t notice until after time had passed.

“To go to that much trouble just to harass a child, he’s definitely not a great man.”

She was severely scolded throughout the classes, and she was even beaten. Calliope, who didn’t know how the children of other noble families were educated, believed that this was how it was supposed to be and tried to follow the teachers’ classes. She believed that it was all her fault for being inadequate. That was the reason why she stayed up all night studying.

Calliope suddenly became interested in a swordsmanship theory book that caught her eye and spent time in the study reading it. She had told Susan to bring tea and rest until she called her, so only Calliope and a pretty teacup were in the quiet study with good sunlight.

She felt a sense of stability in the quiet space that smelled of paper. This was the same smell that the person she missed had.

But soon, a creaking sound broke the silence. The person who opened the door and appeared was Jack.

“Madam, you were here.”

After seeing his bright face, she glanced at the clock and it was already one o’clock, the time she had promised him.

“Time has already passed like this.”

“I was spinning around for a long time because you weren’t in your room.”

“Why didn’t you ask the passing servants?”

“I remembered after spinning around about three times.”

You’re still not fully awake. Calliope sighed and put the swordsmanship theory book she had finished reading on the table. Jack, who approached her, glanced at the book and said in a disapproving tone.

“Are you interested in swordsmanship?”

“Yeah. Jack isn’t interested in swordsmanship, is he?”

“How did you know?”

Because I’ve already experienced you in the past. Calliope didn’t answer and just gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the table. Jack didn’t refuse the simple expression of intent and quickly sat down in the chair.

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