I Ran Away And The Reverse Harem Started

Chapter 20 “Really?” “Just watch for a moment. I’m going to go somewhere.” “Huh? Where are you going, leaving me alone?” “Umm, bathroom. I’ll be back soon.” If it’s a bathroom, well, you can’t follow him. It’s been a while since I was reminded that male leads go to the bathroom and yawn when they’re sleepy. When I reluctantly nodded, Lucas smiled and left the boutique. Well, I guess I looked at all the clothes. And, I approached the place where Lucas’ perfumes were displayed. I heard that Holden is expanding into several businesses, but he hadn’t really gotten into the perfume business yet. In this world, perfumery was already well developed, with several high-quality brands having long-standing reputations in the capital. The fact that Daniel did not have any desire to get into the perfume business probably means that there is no room for him to get into the business. I looked at the five or six perfume bottles lined up. That was when my eye caught a perfume bottle that looked familiar. Behind me, I could hear young gentlemen in tailcoats sitting on the sofa talking. “I didn’t know, but they sell Holden’s perfume here.” “You’re right. Sir Orlé. From what I heard, I understand that the younger brother of Count Drunia manufactured the perfume.” “Hm, brother? Do you think the people who were born and raised in an orphanage are brothers?” I glanced over my shoulder at the gentlemen talking. A man called Sir Orlé called out to the clerk and told him to bring him the taster. He fluttered the paper across his thick nose and frowned. “I can see why the Count of Drunia kept his perfume in that corner. It’s crude.” The gentleman clicked his tongue. He then encouraged his companion to smell the scent as well. “I see,” he said, “it has no depth, only vivacity. It’s for the commoners.” “There’s no way commoners would come to a high-class boutique like this. Of course, they were once commoners.” “Haha, how can they imitate the aristocracy, even their sense of smell, when they’ve only just entered it? As for the clothes, they should just wear what’s recommended. Still, the brothers are good-looking, so they’ll be excellent at opening the wallets of unknowing noblewomen. Isn’t it their specialty to make money by stirring up the ladies’ hearts?” “Yes. There’s nothing easier to target than women, wallets or otherwise. Hahaha!” The two gentlemen chuckled, and the crude remarks continued. You sit in Daniel’s store and openly curse at Daniel and Lucas. Should I call this brave or ignorant… But I also knew why they were so irritated. ‘Daniel, who was a commoner, became a Count overnight, so they probably looked down on him and ignored him.’ Not to mention ignoring the spending power of women. It was no secret that Daniel and Lucas were orphans. No matter how much money Daniel made and how much recognition he received from the king, he would never be able to shake off these narrow-minded views. A lowly merchant from an orphanage. It was the clear gaze the nobles were looking at Daniel. It was when I was quietly looking at Lucas’ perfume with my back to the gentlemen. The door opened, and Lucas, wearing a hat, walked towards me. “Rosie, have you seen everything?” I quietly looked back and forth between Lucas and the gentlemen sitting on the sofa. The gentlemen didn’t seem to recognize that the person standing in front of me was the Lucas they had been criticizing. I nodded calmly. “Yes. I saw it all.” “Then shall we leave now? There is a dessert cafe I like nearby, and I think it would be nice to go there together. I’ll buy it for you, Rosie.” Lucas said, smiling brightly like the sunlight. “Yes, good.” “Then let’s go.” Lucas was about to leave the boutique first. “Wait for a sec.” I stopped Lucas and politely called the clerk. Then I pointed to the perfume in a pink glass bottle. “Please give me one of those.” “Sure. Would you like me to wrap it for you?” “Yes. Please.” Lucas looked at me with wide eyes. The gentlemen sitting on the sofa also turned to me as if they had heard my voice. Lucas asked a little surprised. “Rosie, you bought this…? If it’s perfume, there are a lot of the same ones in the mansion, you don’t have to pay for it.” Lucas, who knew full well that I had no money, really tried to stop me. But I didn’t do this without thinking. I grabbed Lucas’s hand as he tried to call the clerk back. And I held onto Lucas’ hand, which had grown bigger over the past 10 years. “No, Lucas. You make and sell it, and I have to buy it with my own money. I heard it took you several years of research and combination to make it.” “…….” “Besides, this is the first precious perfume you presented to the world. Then it is precious to me too. It’s worth paying the price.” Lucas’ eyes widened slightly, as if he had heard something unexpected. I glanced away. The gentlemen sitting on the sofa must have heard me saying ‘Lucas’ and ‘you made it yourself’, and when they made eye contact with me, they coughed loudly and stood up. “Huh, now that I think about it…” “It’s time to go back….” I can almost hear myself making excuses . ‘Now you know very well that the man in front of me is Lucas from Holden.’ How dare they say anything. I secretly smiled in remorse. ‘It’s tempting, those with a lot of money are blinded by jealousy and look at other people’s misfortunes behind their backs.’ After the gentlemen quickly left the boutique, I stood in front of the clerk, holding my wallet, cheerful and ready to pay. “Your package is ready.” “How much is it?” “It’s 3,000 billings.” “… How much?” “It’s 3,000 billing, here’s the bill.” 3,000 bilings is my maid’s hourly wage for 15 hours of work. I stood stunned for a moment, and Lucas, standing behind me, started fidgeting and stamping his feet. “Rosie, you really don’t have to pay for this! Rosie doesn’t have that much money!” “… You, you stay still, are you ignoring me?” I tried to stop Lucas, pretending not to be surprised. With great determination, I opened my wallet and handed 3,000 billings to the clerk. Fortunately, I was paid weekly, so I had money in my wallet… The clerk who took the money smiled broadly with a commercial smile. “Thank you, please come again.” The clerk handed me a perfume wrapped in dark red packaging. A heavy weight was felt in my hands. The name of the perfume is ‘R’. The scent of roses and refreshing citrus wafted over the packaging. * * * “You really didn’t need to buy it….” After leaving the boutique, we moved to a dessert cafe that Lucas was familiar with. Lucas made a sulky expression as if he wasn’t satisfied even though he ordered so many fancy desserts that there wasn’t enough room for the table. “I wanted to pay for it with my own money? You think I can’t afford this?” “That’s not it… I can give this whole box to Rosie. And I know Rosie doesn’t have much money…” “Hey! a kid shouldn’t worry about money. Who asked you to worry about my wallet?” Ugh! I raised my hand and lightly pinched Lucas’ cheek. The sulky expression was still there, but this time, Lucas seemed to have eased off a bit and turned his gaze to me. “Rosie.” “Yes?” Eyes as clear as a blue rose turned to me. Lucas grabbed my hand that was on the table and squeezed it.“Thank you.” “…….” “I’m so happy that Rosie is back.” “You’re happy that I came back?” “Of course.” Lucas stared at me blankly, like he didn’t know what to say, then blushed softly. “Do I have to tell you …… to know that?” “…….” “We used to be so poor, we could barely wash our clothes in the stream, we’d spend all day drinking water, and in the winter we could only fall asleep by clenching our teeth and hugging each other. But it’s different now.” “…….” “We have a lot of money. We can travel whenever I want. We have a villa in another country, and we can live comfortably without worrying about starving or taking medicine when sick.” “…….” “But it was just the three of us, no Rosie.” The sunlight from the window fell on Lucas’s grim face. His face was a mixture of boy and man, something I was both familiar with and unfamiliar with. Lucas said without hiding his upset. “It was nice to be able to live without worrying about money, but I was never happy. Because, Rosie wasn’t there.” “…….” “We were originally four, so how can only three of us be happy? Rosie was our family.” Lucas released the hand he was holding and intertwined his fingers with mine. And he looked at me so intensely that it seemed like he could pierce me. “… I might go crazy if Rosie disappears again.” “I’m not going to disappear, and I won’t. Where am I going to go from here?” “Still. Tell me you’re not leaving.” “…….” “Promise.” Lucas’ face slowly came next to me. The appearance seemed to be whining like a child, or it seemed to be making a heartbreaking request. Instead of making a promise I couldn’t keep, I pushed Lucas’ forehead away from my shoulder and said, “If you listen to me, I will think about it.” Then Lucas, who had been twisting my red hair with his fingers, glanced at me with a displeased look on his face. “… in the end… you treated me like a child.” “What did you just babble about?” “I hate Rosie so much.” “…….” “… It is a lie. Actually, I don’t hate you at all.” The mindless rant lasted less than a minute. Lucas looked up at me, lips pouting like a duck. “I’ve never hated you, though it sucked hiding for ten years.” “I never hated you either.” “Really?” “Yes.” “You’ve never really hated me?” “No.” “When we were young, I woke up Rosie because I couldn’t sleep. I cried and screamed because I was hungry. Didn’t that annoy you back then?” “You were young back then. You were only eight years old the last time I saw you. How can you hate a kid like that?” Ugh! I lightly pinched the tip of Lucas’ nose. Instead of getting angry and saying that I was treating him like a child again, Lucas became even more sullen and pursed his lips. “… Rosie was young at that time too. You were only 13 years old.” “Hey, does that make you hate your family?” As I chuckled, Lucas’s pouty expression gradually eased. I’m not sure, but he seemed to like my answer.