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I Hid the Duke’s Daughter (Web Novel) - Chapter 10: Reunion
Chapter 10: Reunion
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
“…I see.”
Evelyn had a pondering look on her face.
Though Bianca wasn’t an unfriendly child, that didn’t mean she would happily approve of someone else so easily.
This was the first time Bianca seemed to like someone like this right away.
“Could you wait a little while Mommy goes to change her clothes?”
“Okay!”
Bianca quietly sat in a chair, playing with the lace on her skirt.
Evelyn first went through the clothes in her closet. She’d been searching for some time, but there didn’t seem to be any clothes that seemed appropriate enough to enter the hotel.
Eventually, she settled on a simple navy blue dress.
After tying a ribbon around her neck, she smiled faintly.
‘How long has it been since I’ve worn a dress like this…’
Though she always made sure to dress Bianca in nice clothes, she never really bothered to care about her own attire.
Because she was too busy making ends meet.
After hestitating for a bit, Evelyn tied her hair in a half-up-half-down hairstyle instead of her usual bun.
Evelyn pushed in a cheap-looking hairpin adorned with glass beads into her hair, and Bianca opened her eyes as she saw her mother.
“Wow, Mommy, you aren’t putting your hair up today?”
“Mmhm…does it look weird?”
She looked at her daughter with a wry face. Bianca shook her head fiercely and grinned widely.
“No, you look like a princess!”
“Thank you, Bibi.”
Evelyn’s cheeks blushed.
Even though it was a compliment from a child, her heart felt like it had been tickled.
She grabbed a basket of cookies and gestured to her daughter.
The mother and daughter held hands as they walked out of the house.
Dantel Hotel was located in the center of town, about a 30 minutes walk from the mother and daughter’s house.
It was the only hotel in Annette Town, so the guards standing in front of the hotel wore stern expressions on their faces as they took their jobs seriously.
In front of the hotel, Evelyn, who was about to enter, stopped walking.
Because the guard in front of her was someone she knew all too well.
“Oh my, Ms. Martinise?”
A snobbish voice entered her ears.
The guard, Kevin, was staring at Evelyn.
“….Mr. Jones.”
“What business bring you here?”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed and Evelyn’s shoulders stiffened slightly.
His eyes roamed her from top to bottom like a snake’s.
A tense Bianca gripped her mother’s arm.
“I could ask the same for you, Mr. Jones…”
As Evelyn asked, she stopped talking and bit her lips.
Now that she thought about it, Kevin said that he was currently working at Dantel Hotel.
I didn’t care so much when he talked about himself to me, but I remember overhearing that…
‘We just had to meet in front of the hotel like this.’
And now, Kevin, dressed up in the hotel uniform, was in front of her eyes.
She raised her head straight and met his gaze.
“What I’m here for is regarding my personal life, and I have no reason to talk to you about it, Mr. Jones.”
She spoke to him modestly, like always.
Her face was always bare, without any makeup, and her black hair tied up in a tight bun without any hair sticking out.
It was an oddly ascetic impression, all the way up to the usual white apron.
But today, she had on a different look.
‘Who could she be going to meet, for her to be dressed up?’
Today, she dressed up in a neat blue dress and put on light makeup.
The long hair was elegantly styled.
Even the cheap glass pin that held her hairdo shined like a princess’s jewel.
‘Exactly what kind of guy is she trying to impress!’
Kevin looked at the dressed up Evelyn and felt upset.
He felt a tremendous discomfort inside, as if he found his lover going on a date with another man.
He sarcastically spoke.
“Ah, is that so? And so I’m no big deal, and the person you’re meeting today is someone incredible?”
“What do you mean?”
“Whenever I visited, you have never once dressed up like this for me!”
“Well, I’m not sure why I have to be hearing this from you, Mr. Jones.”
Evelyn replied calmly, shielding her daughter behind her back. She didn’t have a hint of dishevelment.
“Is it not my freedom to decide where and with who I meet and what I wear.”
“How can you say those words!”
Kevin shouted with resentment.
Evelyn’s amber eyes sank.
She’s paying a visit to the person who found and saved her child, why wouldn’t she dress as neatly as possible?
Also, Kevin and Evelyn weren’t even in some special relationship, so she wasn’t obliged to give him a reason.
“Yeah, I was so good to you!”
“But I have never asked, nor have I ever wanted, for you to treat me well?”
At her indifferent reply, Kevin’s face flushed bright red.
At that moment, Bianca murmured in a trembling voice.
“Mommy, that mister is scary…”
She clung to Evelyn’s body, and at her words Evelyn’s face hardened.
She could tolerate anything, but she wouldn’t tolerate it if her child was afraid.
“I apologize, mr. Jones, but I don’t believe you have the authority to butt in to my personal business. Please step aside.”
“I won’t. I still have things to say.”
“My child is frightened. Why don’t we talk at a better time?”
At her answer, Kevin grinded his teeth.
He then spoke in an irritating tone.
“Shouldn’t it be time for you to stop acting like this and come to me?”
“What are you…?”
“Until when are you going to put on airs and play hard to get?”
Evelyn faced him indifferently.
“I’ll return those words to you. Until when are you going to keep acting in such a rude manner?”
“Rude? That’s not something for you to say, you’re the one who looked down on me until now!”
The man had now thrown aside manners and courtesy to the wind as he raised his voice.
Evelyn tilted her head.
“Looked down?”
“Honestly, other than your pretty face, so what! You’re old, plus you have those leftovers tagging along with you…!”
Kevin pointed as he glared at Bianca.
The child flinched and shrank as she received the brunt of Kevin’s anger.
“Mo-Mommy…”
“But I even had thoughts to take care of and raise Bianca like she was my child!”
Kevin cried out in a roar.
Evelyn felt like something snap inside her.
“Do you think you’re a princess who can reject someone like me? I’m the only one who was generous enough to keep courting you!”
In that instant, it seemed as though blue sparks appeared in her amber eyes.
Just now, what?
Her exasperation burned hotter until it was a white flame of anger.
Bianca didn’t deserve to hear such horrible words.
“So why do you act so hard to get?!”
“Right now, Mr…!”
She was so angry she couldn’t even get her words out.
Seeing Evelyn unable to talk, Kevin shamelessly sneered.
“Alright, if you want to speak politely.”
Kevin took in a deep breath. Evelyn bit her lips so hard they looked like they would bleed at any moment.
“Ms. Martinise, do you have any thoughts of dati-”
Instead of an answer, a sharp burst of sound rang out.
– Slap!
Evelyn used all the strength she had to slap Kevin’s cheek.
In a few moments, his cheek turned red, showing how strongly she must have hit him.
Instead of expressing pain, Kevin looked at her in shock for only a few moments.
Then he began to tremble as his temper flared.
“This bitch, did you just hit me!?”
Kevin glared at Evelyn, but even at his intense gaze, Evelyn didn’t flinch a bit.
Instead, she looked at him with blindingly angry eyes.
“Apologize.”
“What?!”
“That you got angry at her and called her leftovers. Apologize.”
As he looked at her, Kevin flinched.
He’d known Evelyn for years now, but he’d never seen such a look on her face.
The Evelyn he’d always known was nowhere in sight.
He felt as if the sharp air was cutting into his skin, and desperately trying to get his way, Kevin deliberately raised his voice.
“Why do I need to apologize? You’re just a single mother, do you not understand what position you’re in!”
Kevin maliciously grabbed onto her wrist.
At the pain, Evelyn let out a small groan.
At that moment.
“Let go of that hand.”
Like a well-hidden blade, a sharp voice sounded behind Evelyn.
And right then, her world stopped as if frozen.
When she heard that voice, she felt like she had returned to seven years ago.
Forgetting about Kevin, Evelyn gulped.
All her worries converged and her chest pounded.
Islay.
Unable to muster up the courage to look behind her, she closed her eyes.
What kind of expression must Islay have on now.
Would he be looking at her in disdain, that she had used his love to extort money and took off?
Or would he be looking at her with pity, that she was such a shabby girl who needed money?
She shuddered as her fears overwhelmed her.
“Duke N-Neidhart?!”
Kevin’s shout sounded in her ears.
Snapping back into focus, Evelyn looked over at Kevin, whose face had paled as he looked at the duke anxiously.
‘Dang, out of all times…!’
Though he was only a guard at Dantel Hotel, Kevin could recognize the duke. How could he not.
Even when the Duke was resting in the hotel, the manager would constantly remind and warn the workers about their guest.
Do not bother the duke.
Kevin bent his waist in a deep bow.
“I sincerely apologize for causing such a fuss. I’ll quickly drag out this woman who doesn’t know anything, so please-”
As Kevin shouted and tried to drag Evelyn towards himself.
But then Islay moved his elegant hand to grab onto Kevin’s hand in a vice-like grip.
Kevin looked at the duke, his face in shock and pain.
“Uhh, ahh, pl, please let g-”
“Exactly who are you going to drag out?”
Islay asked sharply.
And then Evelyn felt her wrist loosen from Kevin’s grip.
“Why, why are you being like this! I was just-”
Kevin desperately looked up at Islay as he asked, but Islay only looked in disgust at the other’s crumpled face.
Islay grinded his teeth, his eyes glinting with rage.
‘This isn’t enough punishment for the way he treated her, how dare he harass and humiliate her in front of me.’
His eyes blazed in outrage.
That he hadn’t known that she was being treated this way, that he had been unable to protect her…Islay felt like he couldn’t hold down his wrath.
As he continued to grip Kevin’s wrist, the other’s eyes showed that he was feeling an overwhelming amount of pain.
After some time, Islay turned his hand.
“Ah!”
With a sharp exclamation, Kevin fell onto the ground.
Islay walked, step by step, to the man.
Kevin looked up at Islay, frightened.
The black eyes were chilled, holding no warmth.
“Your, your Highness?”
Kevin trembled as he asked.
Islay looked down at Kevin and only became more upset.
For him, Evelyn was more precious that his life.
How funny that this trembling man who was lowering himself to speak to him had just humiliated the apple of his eye.
…For Evelyn to have had to endure such humiliation from a man with such servile behavior.
‘My mommy is great, she even owns a coffeehouse, but these ajusshis keep trying to talk to Mommy while she works. I don’t like it!’
Bianca’s voice flashed in his head.
Islay turned to look at Bianca who was standing behind Evelyn, who grew anxious that he might see her daughter’s hair color.
‘I don’t think it’s always a good thing that my mom is popular with those ajusshis.’
‘Why do you think so?’
‘Their eyes looking at Mommy are weird, and, sometimes, they even try to hold Mommy’s hand, you know?’
He couldn’t have ever imagined that the ‘Mommy’ Bianca had been talking about was Evelyn.
He couldn’t have ever linked Bianca’s complaints to Evelyn, and he would never have imagined that their reunion would have looked like this. With Evelyn being humiliated in such a way.
“Looks like the manager of the hotel will need to ‘take care’ of some people.”
As the words sounded, Kevin looked up as he felt a pressure coming from the duke.
Duke Neidhart was someone who stood at the top of the empire, and Kevin was only a guard at a small town hotel.
With one word from the duke, he would lose his job, and he would end up quietly disappearing.
That was the kind of incredible ability the duke possessed.
Terrified, Kevin hurried to subserviently bow.
“I sincerely apologize, Your Highness the Duke, please, have mercy!”
At Kevin’s trembling voice, Islay lowered his gaze and spoke in a cold voice.
“I wonder if you should be apologizing to me.”
His black eyes moved to look at Evelyn, who flinched, her shoulders stiffening.
Because upon seeing Islay for the first time in seven years, Evelyn could see that his eyes contained indescribable emotions.
He continued to speak in a low voice.
“Shouldn’t you apologize to my lover first.”
