It looked like Sally and the nanny were dead set on kicking me out, she thought, flashing a wicked smile.
She walked right up to the Duke. "Greetings, Your Grace." She gave a polite little bow. "I just wanted to say hello to everyone. You always seem so busy, so I haven't been able to come and see you."
The Duke vaguely remembered her greeting him before.
"But this is my first time greeting you properly as the young lady's playmate."
The Duke looked at her thoughtfully. Perhaps he found her words quite reasonable.
"My daddy taught me that the first time you visit a friend's house, you absolutely must give a proper, polite greeting. So, could I possibly have dinner with you tonight, Your Grace?"
Simply put, she was basically just flat out asking him for a free meal. Setting aside the massive gap in their social status, it was a pretty bold move even between close friends. Aside from the Duke himself, everyone else was absolutely stunned.
The nanny rushed over, ready to drag her away. "This is exactly why we shouldn't take an uncultured commoner—"
But a loud, hearty laugh from the Duke stopped the nanny in her tracks.
"Haha, why not? There's absolutely no reason I can't treat my granddaughter's little friend to dinner. Owen, prepare dinner for us."
Vivien excitedly clenched her little fists. Yes, I did it.
Both the dinner and Rachel's very first outing were a complete success. At least, that's what she thought. But Rachel flatly refused to go.
Shocked, Vivien zipped right over to Rachel's side. "What's wrong? Why don't you want to go?"
"I just don't want to."
"Is there a specific reason you don't want to go down to the village? Please tell me. I'll do my absolute best to fix it."
"I hate it. It's too loud and messy. I really hate being around big crowds."
Hearing her answer, Vivien instantly understood. She was terrified of people staring at her, afraid that the villagers would recognize her, whisper behind her back, and curse her as a child of a traitor.
Realizing this, Vivien made a confident, solemn promise. "I can fix this for you. Just please trust me, my lady."
And just like that, they hiked all the way to the top of the hill.
A massive sycamore tree stood tall right in the middle of the grassy clearing. A gentle breeze fluttered through the girl's hair as Vivien pointed straight ahead.
"From right here under this tree, you can see the entire village. Look. Look at it."
Staring out at the sweeping view, it finally hit Rachel. She had actually stepped outside the walls of the grand mansion.
Right at that very moment, while she stood mesmerized by the sprawling village below, Vivien had already flopped right onto her back in the grass. She just started rolling back and forth on her own.
"What on earth are you doing?"
Vivien didn't even answer. Instead, she curled herself into a little ball and literally went tumbling and bouncing all the way down the grassy slope.
In that exact moment, Rachel wasn't the only one left speechless. Even the serious, stoic knights were completely dumbfounded.
She rolled a really long way down the hill before finally slowing to a stop. "Wow, that was so fun."
Even covered head to toe in grass, she was laughing so incredibly hard. Her laughter was completely wild, free, and totally infectious. Watching this unfold, it was just completely unimaginable. And it wasn't just Rachel who thought so. No noble child they had ever met would dare do something like this.
They all tried so hard to act like little adults, just quietly reading books or politely dozing off, especially in front of her grandfather. She used to act so proper and clever, but right now she was prancing around like a little fool. Then again, she just looked like an innocent, clueless kid.
What a truly strange child.
Vivien's face was beaming with a joyous smile, bright and bubbly. Rachel wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ugh, you're so dirty."
But Vivien didn't care at all. "Just dust it off like this and it's fine. Do you want to try it too, my lady? You simply have to try this while we're here. The grass is so soft and squishy. It's really fun."
Before she could even finish her sentence, Rachel flat out rejected her. "Forget it. Play by yourself."
The girl pouted. "But it's really fun."
Rachel completely ignored her, turning her gaze instead toward the scenery of the small town. Just then, Vivien sneakily sidled up right next to her. She pointed at the rooftops and started explaining.
"See that salmon-red roof? That's the fruit shop, and the one in front of it is the general store."
Rachel followed her pointing finger, looking out over the village. Suddenly, her eyes drifted back to the girl beside her. The girl's golden eyes were sparkling like precious gems, reflecting the entire panoramic view of the village.
As she stared into those radiant eyes, Vivien turned her head and offered her a bright smile.
Rachel simply couldn't understand it. She was just a commoner. How could this child shine so brilliantly?
"My lady, next time, let's go down and explore the village together, okay?"
In that exact moment, she finally understood. It was freedom. So remarkably bright and open, the complete opposite of herself. This child possessed a freedom that she could never have. The second that realization hit her, Rachel felt as though this unremarkable little girl standing in front of her was the master of her own little world.
She felt a twinge of jealousy. And maybe just a little bit of envy.
On their way down from the eastern hill, heading back to the mansion, Vivien asked with a pleased tone, "Well, my lady, strolling through the village like this wasn't too bad, right?"
Rachel didn't answer. However, her gaze was much softer than it had been earlier that day. She really is our stubbornly picky young lady.
Right then, Rachel lifted a hand and tapped the top of her own head, gesturing for Vivien to do the same. So Vivien reached up and felt her head. Her fingers brushed against a leaf that had somehow gotten stuck in her hair. It suddenly dawned on her why all those older townsmen had been laughing at her earlier.
"Why are you only telling me this now?"
Rachel just turned her gaze back out the window. "You should be grateful I told you before my grandfather saw it."
But just a second ago, did Rachel just smile? When Vivien looked closer, she was back to her usual poker face. I must have imagined it. There's no way the cold, icy Rachel would ever smile at her.
Thinking back to what Rachel had just said, a fresh wave of panic hit her. Now that they were back at the villa, the only thing waiting for her was dinner with the Duke.
At the dinner table, the deafening silence of the dining room was only broken by the clinking of silverware. She knew Rachel and the Duke didn't get along, but she thought their relationship only soured after Rachel's dark awakening. Turns out it had been terrible since she was a kid. If it was this bad, she honestly felt closer to the old gatekeeper at the villa than these two felt to each other.
A bitter, chilling breeze seemed to blow right between them. Sweating nervously, she finally broke the heavy silence.
"Thanks to Your Grace's permission today, I had a wonderful time exploring the village."
The Duke seemed quite intrigued by her words. "Is that so? Where did you go?"
"Well, since it was my lady's first time in the village, and time was a bit short, I just went up the hill out back. Once you get up there, you can see the whole village at a glance."
The Duke offered a rare compliment. "To figure out the best way to see the village in such a short amount of time — that's not bad at all."
"Well, it would be terribly rude to keep Your Grace waiting at the dinner table."
Vivien stealthily gauged the Duke's reaction. His granddaughter had rarely gone out. Wasn't he even going to ask if she had fun, or if everything went well?
She had no choice but to push the two of them together, hoping to spark some warmth in him for Rachel. She suggested, "Next time, you should come down to the village with us, Your Grace. If you have the time, of course."
But the conversation just died right there. Once again, a suffocating silence fell over the room. Rachel seemed completely used to it, quietly focusing entirely on her food.
Being closer to her family would definitely help her emotional state, and maybe even stop her from turning into a villain in the future. But to pull that off, she first needed to figure out exactly why they were so estranged.
Just then, the butler rushed into the dining room. "An inspector has arrived from the Imperial Palace."