try begging
"I hope the picky princess likes the food."
The moment breakfast was put on the table, the man in my head would inevitably babble like this. There was nothing else to say in rebuttal, Ellie really was a princess.
As soon as Ellie sat down, she poked at the fried egg that was cut in half and placed on a buttered, pan-fried brioche with a fork. A fried egg for breakfast had to have a soft-boiled yolk. The yolk should not run, nor should it be soft-boiled.
"Pass?"
When Grace asked, Ellie nodded seriously, picked up the brioche with both hands, and took a big bite.
This was a child who would eat the things I liked so eagerly and not even bother to fiddle with the things I disliked.
"Let's try putting this on bread and eating it too."
"nah."
When I told her to try some finely chopped, crispy stir-fried shiitake mushrooms, Ellie frowned.
"It's fried in butter, which is Ellie's favorite."
"Still, Caesar."
"Just one bite."
If you force her to eat bread, she won't even eat it, so I just had to persuade her verbally. These days, she listens well when I persuade her verbally, but she has no problem eating. Ellie even covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head.
"Eat whatever is given to you."
What the man said rose to the top of my chin.
Who does this look like?
Grace has been a good eater since she was little. The man is also picky, but he is not a picky eater. Why is this child like this?
Her picky eating habits were not limited to inside or outside the house. She didn't eat the lunch and snacks provided by the daycare center, so I packed a croissant sandwich and a bite-sized piece of fruit in a metal lunch box with a pretty picture of a fairy tale, and I also packed a lunch for Grace. Then, while I was washing the dishes, the child who was hanging around next to me asked.
"Will Ellie help you?"
"Really? Then should Ellie clean the table?"
"Okay."
Ellie has been saying "Help me" and "I can do it" a lot lately. I started to clean up and get ready to go out with the child following me around the small house. It was the time when I sat Ellie down in front of the dressing table and combed her hair.
[The royal family broke with tradition and enrolled Princess Elizabeth in kindergarten to receive formal education...]
Ellie shouted as she listened to the radio news.
"Mom! I look like a princess."
"That's right, Ellie is a princess."
Grace smiled wistfully, kissing her silky blond hair. Then, suddenly, she looked at the child in the mirror and her own face. The child resembled her. In the sense that she resembled someone she shouldn't resemble.
She didn't erase her smile even as she looked at the face that resembled that man.
No matter who she resembles, this child is my princess. My daughter is not a forbidden being who should never have been born. She is not a monster, nor a byproduct of hatred and schemes.
So neither do I.
Finally, Grace looked straight into my turquoise eyes, smiled, and hugged her daughter.
"Mom and Ellie are both the most precious people in the world."
"Then let's do the princess's hair."
"Uh... what about the princess's hair?"
"Because it's so yoroke, yoroke... ."
In the end, I said the wrong thing and had to take out my hair dryer and curling iron on a busy morning to curl my hair into a ball.
"It's all done."
"What about yogurt?"
The child pointed to my forehead with his finger and asked.
"Yogo?"
When Grace didn't understand, the child brought her a storybook. Only when she saw the princess on the cover did she realize what her daughter wanted.
"crown?"
Ellie nodded vigorously.
"There isn't any...."
"Ugh... ."
"I'll wear a ribbon today and buy a crown with my mom at the department store on Sunday."
"Okay."
In the end, we compromised by tying a large, sky-blue ribbon, the same color as the dress, like a crown. The child jumped down from the chair, stood in front of a full-length mirror, admired herself, and then, following the manners she had learned at daycare, spread out her skirt, put her left foot back, and bent her knees. There was no separate doll.
"It's pretty."
Yeah, isn't it pretty?
It's so pretty that it makes you exclaim in admiration, that guy probably doesn't know. He must be quite upset.
No, I wouldn't be upset. I wouldn't know how lovely it is.
º º º
"At 3 o'clock this afternoon, there is an interview scheduled with the magazine company at the main building of the mansion..."
While listening to Pierce's report from the passenger seat, his eyes, which had been cloudy, suddenly came into focus. Leon's gaze was on a child walking down the street, holding the hand of a young woman. The child, who looked to be about two or three years old, happened to be blond.
Leon briefly checked the child's face as the car passed by, and today again he reviewed the information he had memorized in his head.
Born on May 21st. So now two and a half years old. Old enough to go to daycare like that kid. Blonde like that kid.
But that child is not my child.
According to valuable information obtained from a maid who had seen Grace up close when she was a newborn, Grace and her baby were girls.
A girl. A girl with deep blue eyes. They might have turned turquoise like Grace.
She is now two and a half years old, already old enough to talk and run around. Maybe she is holding Grace's hand like that right now and going to daycare.
Where on earth?
Leon, who couldn't take his eyes off the children passing by outside the car window on his way to headquarters, suddenly remembered the last line of the letter Grace had left behind.
I hope you suffer forever in hell.
The sun rose again. But in his mountain hell, the sun did not rise again.
º º º
"A princess doesn't run around recklessly."
As soon as the daycare came into view in the distance, Ellie, who had been running so fast that her lunch bag clanked, stopped dead in her tracks at her mother's words. She didn't know what she meant by "reckless," but she seemed to understand everything else.
"Oh, right. Ellie is a princess."
The child began to walk slowly towards Grace again. Although I may have thought that my steps were elegant and princess-like, to Grace, they were baby steps.
The mother and daughter began walking again, holding hands. Ellie, who had been fiddling with the fake wedding ring on Grace's left ring finger like a toy, raised her head and asked.
"But why doesn't Mom wear a ribbon?"
"Mom, you have to wear a hat."
"Cheese...."
"But you're wearing sky blue, just like Ellie."
Grace even dyed her hair blonde because her daughter kept shouting, "Just like Mom and Ellie!" And as if that wasn't enough, she was told to wear a big ribbon in her hair to work this morning, which made her sweat profusely.
"Good morning."
"Yes, good morning."
I greeted the parents I met at the entrance of the daycare center and went inside the building. I went to Ellie's classroom, took off her coat, hung it on the wall, and changed her shoes, when the daycare teacher approached me.
"Hello, Ellie. You're wearing a really big ribbon today. I can tell it's Ellie from afar."
"But Mom doesn't do it."
When Ellie complained to the teacher in a tone of annoyance, Grace couldn't help but laugh.
"Our princess, have fun today, listen well to the teacher, and see you later."
"No, Dae-ae. Don't go, Mom. Let's play with Ellie. Huh?"
Today, too, Ellie clung to Grace with big, sparkling eyes. It was sad whenever this happened, but I had already heard from the teachers that once Grace left, she would play nicely as if nothing had happened.
"Let's play with Mom in the evening."
Grace bent her knees to be eye level with the child.
"Ellie, I love you. Kiss."
Ellie pouted her lips and pretended to cry, but soon gave up, knowing it wouldn't work. Her small hands cupped Grace's cheeks. Soon, their candy-sweet lips were glued together and then pulled apart.
"I love you, Mom."
"hmm...."
When she got bored while waiting for the train on her way to work, she naturally looked toward the newsstand next to the station. Today, too, Grace's eyes sharpened as she looked through the newspapers and magazines on the newsstand.
When she got bored while waiting for the train on her way to work, she naturally looked toward the newsstand next to the station. Today, too, Grace's eyes sharpened as she looked through the newspapers and magazines on the newsstand.
[Count Winston and Archduchess Aldrich's wedding is imminent!]
What do you know?
I glanced at the tram that was starting to approach from the end of the road. But it didn't take long before I glanced at the stall again. On the front page of a tabloid, the man and the princess were pictured side by side with a thin diagonal line between them.
By the way, today was the day I had to bring in a new magazine, wasn't it?
So this is business. Grace quickly picked out two magazines and a tabloid from the newsstand and boarded the just-arrived tram.