Chapter 06

As I used my secret techniques, I try to ignore my mental embarrassment and continue with my cute act.

He seems to be stunned by my cuteness.

Growl!!

My stomach growled loudly.

Oh my, how embarrassing it was. It was more embarrassing than acting like a cute child when you are an old woman inside.

"Pfft, so my little lady is hungry, right?" He said while holding his laughter.

I feel like I will die from the embarrassment right now. Although I was able to lower his defences, I swear that I won't do it again.

"Here." He suddenly gives me something.

I look at the bowl and spoon that he offered to me.

"I am sorry but I could only give you what I cook for my practice." He said with a guilty face.

I'm really surprised at how normal he is (as a human in this mansion).

"It's alright. Thank you um…, what should I call you?" I nodded at his kindness and try to thank him but I realized I didn't know who he was.

"Right, I'm Winslow Aquarea. I'm a chef apprentice who just started working here. Nice to know you, my lady." He said with a smile.

While eating the soup that he cooks for his practice, I think that not everyone in this house is a psycho.… Well most of them are. I just thinking about what would happen if Renneshia had someone who was at least normal like him by her side. But that was something that I'll never find out.

I don't know why but I feel a bit warm and nostalgic from this cold soup. I slowly ate the soup.

He told me that he made it this evening. At first, he wants to heat it to make it warm, but I decline his goodwill because I know he will have a hard time tomorrow if the head chefs find out about it.

Even though the soup has gotten cold, it is still delicious for my current self. Living in this place for two years as Renneshia was my memory as I remembered what happened to Renneshia. Besides this soup's taste is similar to cold cream soup but it lacks the seasonings.

As I eat the cold soup, I watched Winslow who was busy washing dishes.

"I'm sorry for adding more work." I feel guilty for adding more work for him.

"Don't worry about it, my lady. What do you think about that soup taste? Do you have any opinions?" He just happily asked me.

"Why do you ask me this question?" I don't know what to say but how come he asked a two-year-old child about it? So I just answered it with another question.

"I'm sorry if I act rude or ask a strange thing to you. But my lady seems to be smarter than the other so I think you will have an idea for improving the taste of this soup..." As he remembered my age, his face turned red and his voice got smaller and smaller.

Wow, he's really cute!

Wait! If I think about how old my previous life am inside this two-year-old Renneshia body, didn't it means that I am a shotacon!?

No, no, no it's not the time to think about something like that. I shook my head. At this time I should say something that would make him keep this secret.

"Haa..., alright, alright. I will help you but please don't let anyone know about it. I need to hide my talent to survive in this house. If they found out about it, they would try to kill me." I try to create some guilt conscience in him.

"...Is that because you are an illegitimate child?" Winslow's expression hardened when he heard my words.

"That's right. They never thought of me as a human. The maids and servants in this mansion always bully me. They didn't even try to remind me of dinner time after the tutor punished me and hit me for being stupid today. That was why I sneak into the kitchen at this time." I just told him part of the treatment that I got in this house.

Hearing my story, Winslow's face turned pale.

"I never thought that they would be doing something like that." His voice is trembling.

"It's alright. Thank you, brother Winslow." I try to ease his feelings with my smile. I started to call him my brother as he was much older than Renneshia. It's good to give a polite and nice image to him.

"I am sorry." But it turns out to be the opposite effect. He looks like he almost cries.

"You don't have to be sorry for me because you didn't do anything wrong. If you want to help me, please hide the fact that I'm smarter than my peers. It's the only way to save my mother and me. So please don't let anyone know about it." I panicked and said it.

He seems to regain his calm after listening to my reasoning.

"Alright, it would be our secret. If you need any help, you can find me here." He said while caressing my head.

Oh, brother Winslow! You are the only one who is normal in this psycho house.

Although he seems to think of me as someone he knows, his kindness is genuine. I pity every kind-hearted normal person in this house like my mother and Winslow.

While looking at the surroundings, I quietly return to my room. After arrived at my room, I decided to sleep.

What a tiring day.

***

BANG!!!

A loud sound of the door being kicked back someone waking me up.

It's just around four in the morning. I want to say something like 'Let me sleep for one more hour.' But I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"How could you still sleep? Do you know how important is today?" A maid come closer while scolding me and drag me to the well in the garden.

Splash.

I was splashed by cold water.

I think I'm starting to be immune to this kind of treatment. This feels like experiencing a third-rate drama main character.

Maybe I can use this experience to write a story. How about something like 'Cinderella'? If I write it down, it won't become plagiarism, right? But my conscience told me that I need to change it and not copy-paste it. As I thought about writing a story, the maid continues with her scolding.

"Did you forget that you should clean your clothes and room today? Here, take this." She hands me a bucket of water and rags.

I look at the bucket and then look at the maid's smug face.

"Fufun~ You are touched by my kindness, right? You can thank me." She said it with a proud face.

"..." I think she hit her head somewhere.

Maybe she accidentally slipped and hit his head on the door of my room earlier. Or is she some extra-terrestrial creature with a similar shape as a human? Although I hate it, I still need to do it. Right, I need to act like an idiot docile child.

"Thank you very much for your kindness," I said in a monotone voice.

"Umu, I am glad that you understand. Now go and clean your room before breakfast. You won't get any food if you have not finished it." She said and leave me alone with my wet body, the bucket and rags.

Brrr...my wet body trembled as the wind blows.

I quickly push the bucket to my room because it's impossible to carry the bucket normally. Finally, I can reach my room. That needs a lot of effort with my weak and small body.

I took something to dry myself as I arrived at my room. Then I searched for a change of clothes, luckily I can find one in the drawer. I look at rags like clothes. It is something that I used when I still live with my mother.

Even the slave that works in this house is having better clothes than mine.

I feel really surprised how I started to think something indifferent things like 'Oh, so they did it to the two years old me (Renneshia).' Or did I get immune to how psycho they are after less than two days experience the madness of their abusive behaviours?

Is this what they call enlightenment or maybe the saltfish condition that I read about in some novels?

While thinking about such things, I started to clean my room. Luckily my room is small. I finally finished cleaning my room after more than one hour.

When I want to go to the kitchen to get my breakfast,

"Hey, you filthy things, why have you not thrown the dirty water and returned the bucket and rags to where it is supposed to be?" The head maid stop me and started scolding me.

I could only listen to her scolding with my head down. From the third-person perspective, I would like a child that got caught for their wrongdoings by their parents. I want to know how could the Viscount household hired all of these psycho servants.

As I found a mystery about this household servant's requirements criteria, the head maid finished her scolding.

I sighed at the bucket of dirt water and dirty rags. Because I can't complain about their treatments, I decided to do the same thing as before. I started to push the bucket and I also bought my dirty clothes.

As I arrived near the wells, I felt troubled by how should I take the water.

"Renne!" a woman called me.