The Virtually Exiled Duke’s Daughter Is Troubled When Her Fiancé in a Neighboring Country Says, "I Will Never Love You" - Episode 15

Deborah silently gazes into the mirror. The glossy red-haired woman in the mirror maintains her usual doll-like perfect features with an expressionless face.

And then, a finger was placed at the corner of her lips and pulled upwards. Deborah moved and kneaded the muscles around her mouth and cheeks herself.

(I wonder if my facial muscles are tense… I feel like I can’t keep a smile in front of people lately.)

When Deborah was in the Mammut Kingdom, she never stopped smiling from morning to night. She had been taught that a lady should always smile, even if she wasn’t having fun, but it was also largely because she was constantly being watched as the crown prince’s fiancée.

However, here, no one pressures Deborah by implicitly demanding her to “be a lady” or “act like a future princess,” nor do they try to undermine her by looking for gaps in her perfect demeanor. As days go by, her forced smile gradually fades, revealing a natural expression… in other words, her eyes change color, but her basic expression remains emotionless. However, Deborah herself is still unaware of this.

―――It might have been better for both of us if we had been aware of it.

From the perspective of the people at the Sisley Marquess’s residence, seeing Deborah’s beautifully artificial expression suddenly transform into a perfect fake smile would make anyone wary. It’s like stepping into the uncanny valley.

Actually, even now, while Deborah is squishing her face, Mrs. Lauren is looking at her suspiciously from behind, but Deborah doesn’t even notice.

However, after this day, neither she nor Mrs. Lauren could have ever imagined that Deborah would end up crying uncontrollably.

“I oppose it! Making Lady Deborah do the peeling!”

At the entrance of the kitchen, Mrs. Lauren unusually raised her voice.

“Then go home. There aren’t any other jobs here that even amateurs can do.”

Next to the slightly troubled-looking Martha, Vito waves his hand as if to say “shoo.” Hearing those words, Deborah places her hand on her cheek, tilts her head slightly, and asks Mrs. Lauren.

“Mrs. Lauren, why can’t I peel it?”

“Of course! Such work is not something Lady Deborah, the Marchioness, should be doing!”

“Because I’m just a nominal white marriage, right? I’m just a trophy wife, aren’t I?”

Mrs. Lauren tightly pursed her lips at Deborah’s retort.

“If only I could manage this mansion as the lady of the house… I don’t want a hostage meddling in my affairs, you know?”

“That is…”

“I feel guilty just sitting quietly and relying on everyone. I want to be able to help in any way I can.”

“Well, but I’ve never even peeled an onion! That’s something a chef or a real underling would do…”

Mrs. Lauren and Martha definitely saw Deborah’s gray eyes glimmer.

“Oh my! Mrs. Lauren hasn’t done that job either? I definitely want to learn it!”

“Well, but! Onions are covered in dirt, so your beautiful fingers and clothes will get dirty.”

“If it gets dirty, just wash it. Yes, if the dress gets dirty, I need to be taught how to wash it too!”

Deborah, who was showing off her signature forced smile, finally made Mrs. Lauren raise her palm to her face and surrender silently. If she said anything more, it seemed Deborah would start wanting to try this and that.

In the corner of the kitchen, Deborah was made to sit on a chair without a backrest.

That being said, it was a special treatment. There was a cushion on the chair, and my feet were wrapped in a blanket to keep them warm. Additionally, to prevent my dress from getting dirty, I was lent a maid’s apron to wear over my rolled-up sleeves.

The basket of piled onions was placed right in front of her, and Deborah blinked her eyes.

“Ask this guy. I have preparations to make.”

“Huh!? Me!?”

“Who else is there? I’m counting on you.”

The apprentice cook, Peter, looked around nervously at Vito leaving the scene, Mrs. Lauren watching from the side, and the bewildered Deborah, lowering his eyebrows in a pitiful manner for a while, but it seemed he had finally steeled himself to accept the situation.

“Um… ma’am?”

“Deborah is fine.”

Peter, having been bathed in Deborah’s beautiful smile and pleasant scent up close, turned beet red and became flustered.

“De, Deborah-sama! Uh, um, I’ll peel the onion!”

“What should I do?”

“Here, here, here it is!”

Even though he was flustered, the movements he did almost every day were ingrained in his body. Peter took an onion from the basket, quickly peeled it, placed the onion in another basket, and threw the peel into the trash can.

“Huh? What did you just do!?”

“Here, here, here it is!”

I’ll show you again. In an instant, a pure white, round onion appeared from beneath the brown, muddy skin.
However, there was a small part where the white skin was damaged and slightly spoiled.

“Ahhh, th-this kind that isn’t white is rotten and can’t be eaten!! But sometimes, if you peel just this part, it can be eaten!”

Peter said that and peeled off the damaged part, tearing it and throwing it away.

“Alright. I’ll give it a try.”

Deborah started peeling the onion by imitating what she had seen. However, it didn’t go as smoothly as it did for Peter. The skin crumbled into small pieces and stuck to the onion, making her have to peel it off repeatedly.

She brought her face close to the onion and slowly, slowly peeled it with concentration. Then, she found a spot that was painful.

(Ah, I need to take this too, right?)

Deborah leaned her face close to the onion and tried to tear off the damaged part.

“Ah!?”

Peter, who noticed it, spoke up, but it was already too late.

“……!!”

The onion’s components had gotten directly into her eyes. Deborah instinctively pressed her eyes.

“Lady Deborah! No!”

However, the components of the onion were already sticking to that hand. The situation worsened further.

(Painful… my eyes hurt!! What? Poison!?)

Deborah desperately held back her overflowing tears. Her pride as a former duke’s daughter wouldn’t allow her to cry in public. However, the onion continued to mercilessly attack Deborah’s nose and eyes, as if it didn’t care about her pride at all. Peter and Mrs. Lauren surrounded Deborah, only flustered and at a loss.

“Oh, I knew it would turn out like this.”

Vito, who came to check on the situation, said. His face wore the usual scowl, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes and voice.

“When you crush or cut an onion, it gets to your eyes. Maybe I tore off a rotten part or something.”

“Eh… sniff, yes, is that so…?”

“It must be quite a difficult task for a noble lady who knows nothing, right? You can stop now.”

“Lady Deborah, as the head chef says, let’s call it a day!”

“Y-y-yeah, that’s right, let’s just stop already!”

“!!”

Deborah, told by the three, instinctively squeezed the onion she was holding tightly.

“I-I’ll do my best! I-I’ll do it until the end!”

Deborah showed her tear-streaked face to the three of them and insisted in a nasal voice. Her own determination not to abandon her work won out over the pride of being a former duke’s daughter.