The Tyrant’s Leash Is Held by a Maid

“Welcome, my Puppy!”

Sonia Carter softly folded her brown eyes gently and lifted her Phoebe in a flash. Phoebe’s cheerful laughter echoed through the restaurant. Simon Carter, standing next to his wife, was also gazing at Phoebe’s rosy cheeks with delight.

“You grew taller, Phoebe.”

“Uncle, it’s been a while!”

“Aigoo~ such a bright greeting, our platypus!”

[tl/n: a platypus is an ornithorhynchus]

Sonia and Simon’s real daughter, Deborah, shook her head as if tired.

“What’s with the platypus? What’s with that nickname?”

She murmured, grumbling, but no one knew that she, too, was very fond of the scene. Deborah Carter grinned at the three of them and sat down on a chair in the dining room on the first floor of the inn. After visiting Carter’s Inn after a long time, Liana also took a seat in the chair next to Deborah. Deborah shouted, removing the cake full of strawberries from the packaging box.

“Phoebe. Come and eat the cake!”

“Cake?”

Phoebe, who was being kissed by Sonia, rolled her eyes and ran to her. Deborah, holding the plate of cake, asked with her triumphant face.

“Phoebe, who bought this?”

“Auntie Deborah!”

“Then who’s Phoebe’s favorite here?”

“…De, Auntie Deborah!”

“Right! As expected, my Phoebe knows how to live! Auntie will give you two special pieces!”

“Wooooow. Two!”

Phoebe stamped her feet with an excited face. Sonia lifted Phoebe and sat her in a chair, saying as she, too, sat,

“Liana. You lost more weight. Why don’t you live here, too? There are a lot of empty rooms.”

“The maid’s residence is nice. Phoebe also has a friend in the housekeeper’s maid’s dormitory next door.”

“Really? Phoebe, do you have any friends?”

At Sonia’s question, Phoebe nodded her head with cream on her lips. The child swallowed the cake hurriedly in an attempt to brag about her friend and opened her mouth.

“It’s Alice Morgan. I am one year old!”

“Is your friend’s name Alice?”

“Yes, we play together every day! We play bullseye, I read books, and, uh…”

“Drink milk. You’ll get sick.”

Simon pushed the milk in front of Phoebe. Holding the bottle of milk in her little hand, she gulped down her milk. Sonia, who had been watching her affectionately, turned her head to look at Liana.

“Liana. Don’t forget that the door to our house is always open if you like it.”

You can come back anytime. Liana smiled shyly at her sweet words and nodded. Sonia’s eyes were as warm as five years ago, when she accepted herself, who was like a dead body. However… Liana lowered her eyes with a slight sense of guilt. She couldn’t continue to rely on her warm heart so shamelessly. She hesitated, and she barely spoke.

“If Phoebe was a little bigger. Then I will come and live.”

“Will you do that?”

Simon looked at Liana as if to get confirmation. After contemplating for a while, she nodded firmly.

“Because Phoebe will really need her own room when she gets older. I will.”

“You can come right now.”

At Simon’s kind recommendation, Liana just smiled faintly.

“Just a little later, I’ll come a little later.”

She needed a little more money to get a room at the inn. When they find out, Simon and Sonia would offer to give them a room at a bargain price, but Liana didn’t want that. She didn’t want to be a burden to these unusually friendly people. All the more because they reminded her of Phoebe’s grandfather and grandmother, whom she had lost due to a fever. 

Phoebe’s grandfather and grandmother… The moment she remembered the gentle old couple, countless graves passed before her eyes. Liana paused her rummaging through the cake with her fork as memories of her past flashed through her mind.

How will it be like there now? It was the place she had run away from. Weeds must have grown over the graves no one took care of.

“Liana?”

Deborah looked at Liana worriedly, as she had suddenly become quiet. She shook her head as if it was nothing.

“It’s okay. I suddenly thought of the past.”

“You’re a bit strange today. Are you sick–”

Deborah could not finish her words of concern because the inn’s chime rang with a loud noise.

“Who is it? Is it a customer?”

Simon was taking out a new bottle of milk for Phoebe and rose from his seat. It was not a customer, but a familiar man who appeared when he opened the door across the restaurant of the small inn.

“Matthew! What’s up? You didn’t even call me!”

“Father, please. I didn’t come to a place where I shouldn’t come.”

A man with navy blue hair, just like Deborah, came in with a cheerful smile. He carried a bunch of boxes in his hands.

“Why is Oppa here?”

“What do you mean why am I here? Your brother is on vacation too. What’s wrong with a son coming to see his parents on his day off?”

Matthew laughed at his sister’s question, looked at Liana and greeted her brightly.

“Liana is here too! What a great coincidence!”

“Long time no see, Matthew.”

“Hahaha.” Matthew laughed kindly. But that laugh was not as natural as before. Matthew, who only moved his mouth like a ball-joint doll equipped with a smile function, creaked and walked near the table.

“What a coincidence! I didn’t know you were here!”

Discomfort began to appear on Deborah’s face as she saw her older brother walking, moving his right arm and right leg at the same time like a stiff doll.

‘Yeah sure. Just a coincidence.’

He knew Liana was coming, and he even wore his recently bought shoes. Simon tactlessly asked him in an odd voice.

“I heard you’re busy this week because you had an appointment.”

“It was canceled.”

“Didn’t you say it was your friend’s grandfather’s funeral?”

“Oh… It’s been postponed. A month later.”

“A funeral?”

Honey, Is that possible? Is he alive? Sonia shook her head at Simon, who asked with his eyes and a serious face. It was clear that the husband, who was as tactless as the head cook, still did not know of his son’s unrequited love. Matthew put the box down with a creaking body movement and looked at Phoebe.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, so I brought some presents. Phoebe, do you like dolls?”

‘What the-! You said you had no idea that Liana and Phoebe were here. You said it was a coincidence!’ Deborah looked pathetically at Matthew, who was talking nonsense. But she didn’t bother to point out the contradiction. It was because Phoebe’s eyes started to shine like stars in the night sky at the word that made her heart flutter just by hearing it.

“A doll?”

Seeing the child’s shining eyes, Matthew finally smiled unnaturally.

“That’s right. A doll shop close to where I work had a sale. Open it.”

Phoebe hurriedly unwrapped the ribbon of the box with excited hands. Inside the large box was a rabbit doll the size of Phoebe’s torso.

“Woaah! Rabbit doll!”

“Do you like it?”

Phoebe showed an action instead of answering.  She was holding a white rabbit doll with soft fur in her hands like bracken and hugging it so hard that it could be suffocated. If it was a living rabbit, not a doll, it was a life-threatening action. Liana burst into laughter at the sight of Phoebe holding it so tightly that the rabbit’s neck was strangled.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Nngh! I reee~ally like it! I really really really like it!”

“There are a lot of dolls in the room.”

“There’s no rabbit dolls!”

It was true. There were puppy dolls and teddy bears, but no rabbit dolls. Adults and children are alike; they always want something new. Phoebe enjoyed the new doll by rubbing her cheek against its soft head. Liana was looking at her niece who fell in love with the doll and turned to Matthew.

“Thank you, Matthew. You’re always giving things to us, what can I do for you?”

“N- not at all. Phoebe is also like a niece to me. Just accept it in good faith.”

The attitude that had just become natural began to be awkward again. Deborah looked at her brother’s face, exactly like her own, with an expression of pity and sadness. Her brother, Matthew Carter was two years older than her and had been in love with Liana for five years already. Although he should have gotten used to it by now. Matthew still would squeak and freeze like a teenage boy in front of his unrequited love. How annoying it was to see him stand next to her friend, blushing like a strawberry, and doing nothing. Deborah’s face, expressing her disgust with her brother having reached its peak, was wrinkled. 

‘He’d rather confess and get rejected, but he wouldn’t confess to Liana… It’s not that I don’t understand why he couldn’t confess, but…’ The appearance of her brother talking to her friend while flinching without being able to confess caused extreme displeasure. Deborah shook her head and touched the small box.

“But what about this box? Is it mine?”

“Ah. This.”

Matthew was engaged in an awkward conversation with his crush and opened the box at Deborah’s question. What came out of a box that looked quite luxurious was a hairpin with a blue ribbon.

“Um, this is…”

As soon as Matthew began to stutter, Sonia quickly grabbed the ribbon.

“It’s pretty. Did you buy this for Phoebe too?”

“That, Lia- what?”

Deborah intuitively recognized her brother’s bewildered reaction. That’s the gift he intended to give to Liana.

‘It can’t be! I can’t just let it happen!’ Excited at the thought of messing with her brother, Deborah urged her mother with an exaggerated voice.

“Oh my! I guess so! It’s so cute. Put it on now, Mom!”

“Yeah, then!”

Sonia untied Phoebe’s hair that had been braided into a ponytail. She combed it quickly and tied it up in a ponytail with the blue ribbon.

“Oh my gosh. You look like a princess!”

“That’s right Phoebe! You are really cute!”

Sonia and Deborah made a fuss and applauded behind Phoebe. Simon, who was next to her, also circled the child and praised her.

“Yeah, you look like a princess! Matthew has good eyes just like me!”

The fuss they made was understandable. It was because the ribbon matched Phoebe’s curly hair like a painting. The vivid blue ribbon made of velvet contrasted with the warm wheat hair, making it even more lovely.

“Auntie, am I really pretty?”

“Ngh! Too cute. Come here, Phoebe. Let me give you a kiss on the cheek!”

Phoebe’s mood skyrocketed as she received her aunt’s kiss. The child looked at her wonderful uncle with twinkling eyes.

“Thank you, Uncle! I like Uncle Matthew the most!”

Matthew looked at Liana who was smiling, then looked at Phoebe, and then looked at Liana again.

 “Ha- haha. Right! Phoebe likes it, and Uncle likes it too!”

‘That’s good’ Seeing her brother’s crying face, Deborah smirked inside.