### Chapter Sixty-Five: The Two Kids in the Mansion
I caught a glimpse of Aili’s expression, my face flushed slightly as I instinctively kicked my somewhat askew shoes to the side. Turning my back to her, I opened the door while mumbling, “Didn’t have time to clean up…”
I came home last night with a mind full of concerns and a head full of thoughts. I dozed off in a daze, woke up overheated in the morning, and rushed out to buy new clothes, so I forgot to tidy up! It’s not like I’m lazy.
Creak—
As I opened the door and stepped into the mansion with Aili, I was relieved to see that it looked relatively clean and tidy. Even though I hadn’t cleaned in days, no one had been living here while I was away. Each time I left, I also made sure to lock the windows tightly, so the floor didn’t have much noticeable dust. That allowed me to salvage a bit of my dignity.
“Wow~, such a beautiful house…”
After entering, Aili blinked her big eyes, glancing left and right. Her gaze lingered on the piano in the living room for a moment as she rubbed her little hands together and hesitated before turning to me, “Sister, should I change my shoes?”
“No need.”
I said softly, carrying a bag with chicken legs into the living room and hearing Aili’s footsteps approaching behind me.
“Sister, such a big house—do you live here all by yourself?”
“Yep,” I nodded, “I’m really happy Aili could come.”
“I’m so happy you invited me! I really didn’t think I could become friends with someone like you, Sister. I was worried I’d be a bother, and I hesitated for so long!”
“Aili, don’t say that.”
“That’s just how I feel! If I don’t say it, it’s really hard on my heart.”
The little girl didn’t seem to mind at all, looking genuinely happy. She slowly walked toward the big black grand piano, which seemed to draw her in. “Sister, can you play the piano?”
“A little.”
“Wow, how amazing… You seem to know everything!”
Aili said in awe, her eyes sparkling with envy as she blinked a few times. She raised her hand and froze mid-air, “Can I… touch it?”
She turned her gaze to me, her face full of hope.
I smiled slightly, “Sure, you can even play if you want.”
“Heehee, but I can’t play.”
Once I gave my permission, Aili gingerly touched the piano lid, carefully stroking it. Her little face turned slightly pink, looking adorable. Seeing how much she liked the piano, I couldn’t help but say, “I can teach you,” but Aili shook her head.
“Sister, I came to help you tidy up the house and take care of the flowers and plants.”
“Well, that can wait until next time.”
What I had said before was just a casual excuse. I worried that Teresa’s situation would deeply affect her, so I invited her over with the hope that we could chat and maybe slowly guide her out of the shadows. I didn’t really want a maid… but the little girl was incredibly serious.
“Sister, you’re too good to me! But I can’t do anything. The only thing I can help with is doing chores. If you don’t let me help, I won’t know what excuse to use the next time I come over… look, there’s even dust on the piano lid!”
Aili waved her small hand at me, and before I could see whether there was dust, she pointed at the clothes in her other hand. “Sister, where should I put these?”
“Back in the bedroom…”
I instinctively replied, and then saw Aili’s eyes suddenly light up.
“Where’s your bedroom? Can I go see it?!”
I blinked, surprised.
“It’s upstairs.”
What’s so interesting about a bedroom…
But I still led her up to the second floor and to the door of my bedroom. Aili looked super excited, and I gently pushed open the door and stepped inside, only to freeze suddenly.
The messy bed sheets, the crumpled blanket, and a little pink bra hanging at the edge of the bed, ready to tumble onto the carpet at any moment. From the big white bed in the center of the room to the short distance of a few meters to the left where the bathroom was, I had carelessly thrown my pajamas, sleep pants, lacy underwear, and even a black feather everywhere.
Ugh…
My cheeks burned instantly.
“Aili…”
She hesitated behind me, her tone sounding a bit unnatural. It seemed like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how… At this moment, I needed to keep calm.
Aili was a girl too; it was okay for her to see this. She was still young and innocent and considerate of others’ feelings. As long as I acted like it was completely normal and casual, she likely wouldn’t say much more, and she definitely wouldn’t laugh at me. Even if she did laugh, she wouldn’t say it outright like Victoria would and hurt my feelings.
These thoughts quickly raced through my mind as I hurried over to the bed, bent down—first to pick up the little underwear and stuff it into my skirt pocket, then casually act like nothing had happened. I imagined Victoria’s composed expression, maintaining a calm face as I slowly turned around.
“There was… something urgent in the morning,” I said to Aili.
“Uh-huh! Right.”
She immediately responded, turning her head away, trying hard to hold back her laughter. “Sister Peilo, it’s unexpectedly a bit… heh… sorry, I just didn’t think you could be so careless!”
Careless…
That’s a rather gentle way of putting it.
Though gentle, it still made my face burn hotter.
Noticing my embarrassment, Aili kindly changed the subject. “Wow! It smells so good in here~ It’s your scent! The room is decorated so beautifully; it feels very cozy… just a little bit messy.”
She pinched her thumb and index finger together, trying to show me just how tiny that ‘little bit’ was. She then found an excuse for me, “It’s probably because you’re really busy, right? It’s fine! I’ll help you tidy up!”
I suddenly didn’t want to look her in the eye anymore…
So, I shifted my gaze away and poked my cheek, “That’s fine… Aili, let’s eat first—”
“It’s fine! You don’t have to worry about me; I’ll handle it~”
The little girl was quite the go-getter. Without waiting for my objection, she rolled up her sleeves and began tidying up. The bedside cabinet, dressing table, writing desk… she quickly arranged some decorative items I had never paid attention to before, ran to the fireplace to tidy up the wood, and when she brushed the stone wall above the fireplace, she held it up close to her eyes and said, “There’s dust here. Sister, where’s the cloth for wiping? And the broom?”
“In the kitchen… I’ll go get it.”
“No need! I’ll go; you can rest! I saw you bought food earlier…”
I shook my head, “We’ll eat together later.”
I couldn’t just let such a young girl do all the work while I sat in the living room and enjoyed good food…
Before Aili could stop me again, I dashed down the stairs, grabbed the cleaning tools from the kitchen, and as I was heading back to the living room, I suddenly stopped. I dashed to the coffee table, pulled out a chicken leg from the paper bag, took a huge bite, puffed my cheeks, chewed fervently a few times, then dashed back upstairs.
Mmm, that chicken leg is so delicious…
I gotta savor it later.
The next while, Aili and I began a major cleaning operation in the mansion. The little girl transformed into a different person when it came to chores; her face was serious, her little hands moved swiftly and cleanly, and she was much faster than I, the Pope Knight, ever could be.
“Sister, if you don’t clean the ceramic vase often, it’ll lose its shine~”
“Uh-huh…”
“The mirror is covered in water spots.”
“I don’t know how that happened…”
“Oh! There’s a tiny spider web here!”
“Eek! Get it down quickly…”
The last thing I wanted was insects with many legs… I definitely didn’t want one crawling onto my bed at night.
“Sister, do you have a puppy?”
“No.”
“But there’s a piece of bone dust here… did you chew on meat bones or something?”
Puh—
That might have been evidence from the night I ate deer legs…
“Not sure. But I do have a bird,” I certainly didn’t want to confess; I just casually blamed the goat cheese.
“A bird?”
“A raven, used for delivering messages.”
“Ah, no wonder there’s a black feather… but can birds eat meat bones?”
“Mine can eat anything.”
“How strange… there’s oil stains on the carpet now… hey, this is tough to wipe!”
“Aili, you’re amazing at chores!”
“Hehe, that’s because I always do these things! Cleaning the church is way more difficult… but the nuns all praise me for being capable. Do you know, recently a bunch of kids came to the church?”
“Uh… I don’t know. Are they kids like Aili?”
“Yeah, pretty much… some are from other orphanages, just like me and Lucas….” When she got to this point, the little girl’s mood seemed to lower, “Just like we were back then. But most of them lost their parents in the disaster in Royal City… the youngest is only four. They don’t understand anything and think their parents went on a long trip and will come back in a while…”
…Yeah.
How many lives has Teresa harmed, how many originally happy families has she destroyed?
d*mn the Gate of Truth…
After tidying the carpet, Aili stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead before speaking again, “The church is bustling now! The nuns can’t keep up; the Pope has me responsible for taking care of several people!”
She looked at me, her tone and expression brimming with little-girl pride.
“Aili, you can take care of others now?”
“Yep!” She nodded seriously.
“Impressive.” I praised her, curious, “They… listen to you?”
Aili was eleven, or maybe twelve? At that age, it must be difficult to get kids even younger or older to listen.
“Most of them are pretty obedient… but there are a few mischievous ones.”
She walked over to the dressing table and started wiping the mirror. Perhaps recalling something, she suddenly wore a frown.
“Boys are fine… but there’s a girl about my age who’s really mischievous; she always disappears when you’re not paying attention and then reappears in some strange place. She does weird things and says even weirder things… it’s really a headache! The nuns say they can’t deal with her, and they don’t know why she’s always like that… every time, I get scolded along with her, and it’s so annoying… she never listens to me.”
As she spoke, Aili seemed to get a bit angry, but her pouty little face made her look even cuter.
Little girls’ emotions come quickly and go even faster. Not long after, she tossed her worries aside and chatted with me about happier things.
“A few days ago, Her Majesty the Queen sent us a ton of gifts~ clothes, mutton, deer meat, and little snacks, lots and lots of delicious food! I got quite a few beautiful dresses, and the fabric is super comfy! See this dress I’m wearing—”
She wore a knee-length yellow dress. It wasn’t particularly fancy, but you could tell it was of good quality, definitely better than what I bought for Victoria last night.
I felt a little moved inside.
Victoria… even though she’s so busy, she still remembers what she told me at the funeral ceremony… I had almost forgotten.
A moment later, when Aili started wiping the big mirror in the bedroom, she suddenly spotted the large black axe leaning against the corner of the wall.
Oh no!
At that moment, I saw the little girl’s fragile shoulders quiver slightly, and I wanted to slap myself… how could I have forgotten about this thing! d*mn it…
“This… belongs to my sister…”
Her weak little voice trembled a bit. I didn’t know how to make up for it, so I quickly walked over to block the double-edged axe with my body.
“Aili… I’m sorry! I forgot to put it away…”
“It’s okay, sister.” Aili took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, and smiled at me. “I’m not as weak as you think! Sister, I’ve grown up. I’ve been thinking a lot these days… although I’m still a bit confused about what to do, I won’t run away. That thing… ah, I forgot which book said it, but you have to face problems bravely! Sister, I’ll face it well.”
Aili shook her little fist at me, as if cheering me on. There was a spark in her bright eyes that didn’t belong to her age.
“Uh-huh…”
This kind-hearted, lovely little girl, who knows how to care for others, had indeed grown a bit since then.
After tidying up the bedroom, we took a break in the living room for a bit, finishing all ten chicken legs, then went to clean up other places. From the inner mansion all the way to the courtyard, we spent the afternoon chatting while watering the plants. By the time dusk fell, the whole estate seemed like a new place.
Standing under the honey fruit tree in the courtyard against the sunset, Aili cheerily exclaimed, “Sister, look! This tree has borne fruit!”
I looked up at the dense branches and leaves and saw a few unripe fruits hidden among them.
“Aili, do you know how long it takes for honey fruit to ripen?”
“I’m not sure… probably between 60 to 100 days? During this time, you need to fertilize it well and take care of it.”
60 to 100 days, huh…
I tilted my head and thought, “Aili, can you take care of trees?”
“A little bit… When my parents were still around, my family had an orchard in town. Every year, during the harvest season, I would help out.”
“Oh… then Aili, you can help me too.”
“Help with what?”
“In the future, come here more often to take care of the fruit trees.”
I gazed at the lush honey fruit tree before me, and Victoria’s beautiful face flashed through my mind.
“I want them to bear big, sweet fruits.”
“Sure, but… will it really not be a bother for you, Sister?”
I reached out and gently ruffled the hair of the somewhat self-conscious little girl by my side.
“It won’t be.”
Dappled sunlight and vibrant sunset hues.
The warm clouds rolled across the evening sky, and the little figure beneath the tree cast a shadow.
