I’m Just a Counselor Chapter 106

As I diligently swept the dust from the doors and windows, the villagers, seeing the door open, peeked inside, spotted me, and their eyes widened.

“Miss Vanessa, weren’t you at the duke’s castle?”

“I’m back. I’m going to live here again.”

“Aha, so you’re cleaning up. Let me see. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Miss Vanessa, where’s your boyfriend? Last time I saw him, he was a knight in the duke’s castle…”

‘Ah. That story.’

I shrugged and smiled. I hadn’t explained much when I was unpacking last time, and my neighbors still assumed my boyfriend was the knight.

 

I opened my lips to explain that he wasn’t, but someone interrupted me.

“I’m not Vanessa’s boyfriend from back then.”

 

A cheerful voice and a hand resting lightly on my shoulder.

I hurriedly turned around. Shane, head tilted slightly, was smiling.

 

“Oh, yeah, you weren’t. Then it’s Ms. Vanessa all to herself…”

 

“You don’t see me?”

“So you’re Miss Vanessa’s boyfriend?”

The neighbors clearly didn’t recognize Shane.

The smile on Shane’s face tightened slightly under the barrage of questions. Without answering, he turned to me and said sweetly,

“I told you to wait a little while, babe, because we’re going to start working together.”

“Now… what?”

I looked at Shane in disbelief at the cheeky title, but he was still smirking.

 

 

* * *

 

 

By the time I finished cleaning the house with Shane’s help, it was already evening.

 

I made a quick dinner with the ingredients Shane had bought and sat down at the table, and he grumbled as if he’d been waiting for me.

“They’re paying too much attention to you.”

“It’s a small town.”

“No. They thought I was coming in and out of here as Sherry.”

Shane set his bowl down and narrowed his eyes.

“Friendly neighbors aren’t always nice.”

 

I let out a small laugh at Shane’s grumble. ‘Now I understand his behavior.’

Thanks to Shane’s steadfastness in the face of my nervous stares, the neighbors seemed to completely believe he was my lover.

“So you pretended to be my boyfriend so they wouldn’t think twice?”

“You were the first to use it, so I took advantage.”

“But then, if anything ever happened to you, you’d have to tell me…”

“If that happens, people will know how scary your boyfriend is, right?”

Shane quipped. I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself. He chuckled after me, then muttered,

“This is the kind of thing Jeremiah can’t do…”

“Huh?”

“No. So, Vanessa, you’re not going to start looking at other mansions, are you?”

“For now.”

“Maybe if people realize you’re a noble again, they’ll stop poking their noses in.”

Shane muttered wistfully. I merely shrugged.

‘It was something that would come out one day without me having to say it, and I didn’t want to alienate people before then.’

Shane had said that friendly neighbors weren’t always a good thing, but I liked their friendliness. 

 

They’d helped me settle in here as much as the name Secret Garden had.

“Well, it’s your decision, so I can’t blame you.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“But be prepared for them to say something similar to me.”

Shane said in a playful warning tone, pointing at me with the tip of his fork. I giggled and nodded.

 

After we finished dinner, he left, saying he’d come by often.

‘Oh, and he also told me that if they ever bothered me again, he’d have to use a machete to destroy them. Shane’s a bit of a bully, too…’

 

 

* * *

 

 

The next day after Shane left, Estella came to visit, along with a group of people who brought the carriage with the luggage I had left at the Duke’s castle.

As she wandered around the cleaned house, Estella echoed Shane’s warning from yesterday.

“If they knew you were a noble, they’d stop trying to get to you!”

Estella nagged. ‘Now that I think about it, the security here isn’t great.’

“You’ve been here before, Estella.”

 

“Well, I’m going to tell my brother to mind his own business!”

Late in the afternoon, when Estella sat on the couch and refused to go back, the maid who had come with her became restless, and finally Jeremiah came to get her.

“Esti, let’s go home,” he said.

“Can’t I stay with my sister a little longer? You can sit here, too!”

“I’d love to, but… I have work to do.”

 

Jeremiah said, sounding genuinely sorry. 

 

‘For some reason, the maid seemed a little too impatient; she must have something else to do.’

I soothed Estella and helped her to her feet. As she pouted and went out to get the carriage, Jeremiah approached me.

He held something out to me, his face grave. It looked like a small flute.

 

“What is this?” I asked, bewildered, and Jeremiah replied,

“If you ever need it, blow it, and I’ll know right away where you are.”

“Is it a trick?”

“I’m giving it to you because I’m worried about you.”

‘I’m still not out of the woods yet…’

Anyway, I nodded vigorously, as if to say don’t worry, and clutched the flute tightly in my hand.

 

Jeremiah gave me a faint smile.

 

Just then, Estella, who had stuck her head out of the carriage window, called out,

“Sis, if they ever bother you again, you’re going to kick the shit out of them, do you hear me?!”

“Where does Estella learn to say such things?” Jeremiah muttered in disbelief at Estella’s comment. 

 

I chuckled as I patted him on the back, as he seemed to seriously consider his sister’s choice of words.

‘I guess I’ll have to be prepared to listen to this for a while.’

 

 

* * *

 

 

By the time things were mostly in order, and I had ticked off the things that needed to be done, it was nearing the end of February.

 

I commuted to and from the Duke’s castle, but my days were much more leisurely than before, and the time I had left felt very empty, even though it was actually much longer.

‘Maybe I should reopen the Secret Garden when I’m not at the Duke’s Castle. I feel like I have to do something. After all, there’s not much to do at the Duke’s Castle…’

As I was walking home thinking about it, I had a flash of inspiration.

 

I went to the nearest store and bought the best stationery I could find, and then I sat down at my desk and took out a fountain pen and ink.

‘I’m going to write to Julian. Even now, I wonder if Julian will be angry that it’s too late… Eh, I’m sure he’s busy too. It’s not as if being crown prince is a leisurely position.’

Quickly rationalizing that I had forgotten about Julian, I straightened the stationery and picked up a pen.

 

‘But what will I write?’

I said confidently that I would write to Julian, but when it came down to it, I didn’t have much to say.

 

I swallowed hard and scribbled the words on the stationery.

[Dear Crown Prince].

 

‘I hope that’s enough for a header?’

‘I doubt Julian will actually reply to this letter. Still, I wrote it with all my heart.’

[There has been a great deal of snow in Loasen, and it is very pretty and nice. You don’t see that in the islands, do you?]

 

‘…Does this look like a little bit of a post?’

[I haven’t bought a mansion, but I have money, so don’t even think about buying one for me.]

 

I scribbled down a square letter, explaining that I had been busy and hadn’t gotten around to writing. 

 

It felt like a diary entry as I wrote it, but… ‘Julian would weed out the nonsense on his own.’

I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and put the rambling letter in an envelope.

‘I’ll go to the post office and drop it off.’

After scribbling my name on the outside, I put the pen down, tucked the envelope under my arm, and left the house.

The clerk at the small post office in Hazel was kind enough to help me post the letter.

 

There was a hiccup along the way when the clerk realized that the destination was the Crown Prince’s palace, but she quickly returned with the air of a skilled worker and helped me post the letter safely.

‘These people might be the first to know I’m a noble…’

With one important task accomplished, I walked out of the post office with a nod and a stretch.