007: Preface ~ A New Start with a Daughter ①

January 14, 2021 - 4 minutes read - 818 words

Three days after Allen employed the villainous daughter

“Well, is it over?” Charlotte

“Great!” Allen

Allen and Charlotte are in the living room that looks as beautiful as a palace. The hellish trash that was there a few days ago has disappeared. The floor is visible and no dust can be seen. Soft sunlight shines through the spotless windows to show the time of day.

“No, this is an amazing job. I wouldn’t have thought you were Duke’s daughter.” Allen

“I had to help out at home…” Charlotte

Charlotte smiles bitterly at the last part. During the three days of recuperation, her complexion went from ghost white to a healthy pink. She’s wearing ordinary clothes for a village girl, a pastel blouse and a long skirt. She has a rag in her hand from cleaning, nothing like you would expect from a noble.

Allen guesses she was treated more like a servant than a daughter before that happened, but doesn’t want to press the issue. If Charlotte wants to talk about it, he’ll listen, but he doesn’t want to force her into talking.

“I just cleaned the surfaces, didn’t Allen dispose of the trash with magic?” Charlotte

“Well…” Allen

Allen had magically incinerated the trash, with just a bit of ash left behind, so Charlotte hadn’t needed to put in major effort.

“You helped me clean the house, does it make sense for you to stick around?” Allen

“Of course” Charlotte

Allen listens to her response while nodding.

“As you observed, it’s easy for me to fall into messiness. I have a hard time mustering up the effort to remove it when it’s just me living here. If you hadn’t come, I’d have lived in that garbage mountain for the rest of my life.” Allen

“You don’t need to act proud about it…” Charlotte

Charlotte looks a bit tense, but satisfied. Allen grabs her fist in his enthusiasm.

“For the time being, what should I work on next?” Charlotte

“Oh, right.” Allen

Allen considers her statement for a while, it seems he’s not sure…

“Today, I think you’re done.” Allen

“Eh?” Charlotte

“Please let me relax until dinner” Allen

Ignoring Charlotte’s confusion, Allen lies down on his treasured sofa.

“You can grab a book from the study or play in the garden. Do whatever you want.” Allen

“What if I was a thief?” Charlotte

“I’ll be fine, I’m don’t have much money around the house at the moment.” Allen

Yesterday, Allen had gone to purchase clothes and daily necessities in the nearby city. He was self-conscious buying women’s clothes, but he was already pretty notorious, so it wasn’t that bad. He had asked a clerk to choose the clothes from the list he received from Charlotte. Because of the shopping trip, Allen is low on liquid assets. Charlotte started to feel uneasy at the idea.

“Sorr, I’m sorry… because of me…” Charlotte

“It’s an initial investment, there’s nothing bad about it. Don’t worry.” Allen

He waves his hand and pull a thick bundle of papers out of his pocket. It looks like he’ll be reviewing a research paper this afternoon. One of Allen’s hobbies is editing other magician’s research papers and then sending them back anonymously. His contributions are known under the moniker of “The Red Pen Devil” in the academic circles. He is feared for his unerring correction that have brought shame to the highest researchers.

“So, I’ll be working for a while. Don’t bother me.” Allen

“Yes, I understand.” Charlotte

After Charlotte nods, Allen starts to examine the dissertation. Allen thinks that Charlotte will probably not stay here long, so there isn’t a reason to get too close. Once she’s gotten enough money to move along, she’ll disappear from the mansion. Allen doesn’t like to leave people in trouble, but he’s not good at socializing. Charlotte sees Allen as gracious now, but she should soon get tired of dealing with Allen. Allen thinks about leaving some money in an easy to steal location if Charlotte starts to detest him. Allen continues reviewing the paper while thinking on such things.

Eventually, Allen looks up and notices that it’s pretty dark. The light shining through the windows is dyed in a dark red color.

“Oops, this is past time…” Allen

As he gets up from the sofa, Allen freezes. Charlotte is sitting on the living room floor, staring at the floor. The appearance of a girl staring at the floor is a little strange.

“Hey, Charlotte… What are you doing?” Allen

“Oh, Allen” Charlotte

When Allen calls out, Charlotte looks over to his face. It’s the same innocent smile, but there seems to be some inner turmoil.

“Well, you said I was free…” Charlotte

Allen cocks his head to the side in confusion.

“So I was counting the grains on the floorboards!” Charlotte

“wood grain on the floorboards…” Allen

It was Allen who was shocked at this point.