Obsessed with Regressors

“It’s a famous performance these days, but you probably haven’t seen it.
The music is so amazing.”

Whether Lauren reacted or not, Lord Sekei was talking about how nice the seats at his theater were.
She looked at it and Lauren thought it was strange.
When she first dreamed of her future, which had been so vivid that her teeth trembled, it was already blurred.
Was Lord Sekei this young? He was much older in her dreams.
And he was an even more disgusting man.
However, Lord Sekei in front of her now was just a pathetic and sighing man.
Why was she so afraid of this man in her dreams? Maybe it was really just a dream.
It was when she was preoccupied with such thoughts.

“Oh my, Lauren!”

Julia, who had greeted her earlier, welcomed her as if she were meeting her for the first time today.
She came up to Lauren, who was bewildered, and made a fuss about her.

“I didn’t know you were here,” she said.
“Is Lord Masterson here?”

“Uh? Yes.”

Quickly, Lauren knew what Julia was doing.
She’s trying to get her out of there.
This happened often in the academy as well.
To get their friends away from uninterested men and nagging teachers, Ida, Julia, and Lauren would deliberately make a fuss and talk to each other.

Lauren quickly made a fuss in line with Julia.

“I didn’t know you were here either.
Who are you with? Your father?”

“No, my father is on duty today.”

“Working?”

If you’re a noble, you couldn’t work.
So Julia was working class.
Lord Sekei, his eyes shining as Julia seemed to be working-class.
Being a working-class person and coming to an aristocratic ball like this was the case with Lauren.
If you and your family were not nobles, but you had nobles among your distant relatives or acquaintances.
If so, either one.
The house was very rich, or the aristocrats had fantasies.

Lord Sekei thought that Julia would be the latter.
To say she was rich was not an option because Julia’s clothes were plain.
This kind of kid wasn’t bad.
He thought he should invite her to his own box seat as well.
But the next moment, Julia smiled broadly and said.

“Yes.
He entered the palace today.”

“This, entering the palace?”

Lauren said to the bewildered Lord.

“Oh, this is my friend Julia Escalee.
Sir Roan Escalee is her father.”

Roan Escalee was pretty famous, although he never met him.
He was a bit of a hardheaded knight, he heard.
No, he’s not just a knight, he’s a knight commander.
Lord Sekei’s face hardened when he realized that the girl in front of him was the daughter of a knight commander.
He paused and smiled.

“Yeah, that’s right.
I’ll step aside so the two of you can talk for a while.”

That’s great.
Lauren widened her eyes at the sight of Lord Sekei running away at the name of Escalee.
It was a moment when Ida’s grumbling that only useless guys approached her, and Julia’s grumbling that no men approached her were all understandable.
At the same time, Lauren felt a little sad and envious of Julia.

“Thank you, Julia.
Thanks for buying me some time.”

Anyway, Rust will come after her, but she could still not deal with that annoying man for a while.
Lauren knew this wasn’t the answer.
Anyway, her guardian, Lord Masterson, was in financial trouble, and the easiest way to solve it was to sell Lauren.
Even if she could avoid it right now, Rust would do the same thing again.
After all, the only option for her right now was to run away from Lord Masterson’s eyes.
Lauren started thinking about how to escape again in her head.
This time she has to keep it a secret even from Julia.

“Lauren.”

At that time, Rust approached faster than expected.
He approached Lauren with a disapproving look and grabbed her arm.

“Where has Lord Sekei gone?”

She was sick of him.
The voice was peaceful, but Rust’s grip on Lauren’s arm was strong.
She said, trying to shake off Rust’s hand.

“I don’t know.
I’m not Lord Sekei’s mother.”

Rust’s face contorted at Lauren’s hostile reply.
He said, pulling her forcibly.

“Don’t talk back.
What did I tell you to do?”

He told her to make Chi (Lord Sekei) feel better.
He said that if there was anything he wanted, she would do it.
That, he said, was the way she returned her favor to the Masterson family.
But Lauren knew what doing that transformed her life in.
No, she knew, she thought.
she said again trying to get her arm away from Roost.

“Sir Masterson.
Just because you’re my uncle doesn’t mean you own me.”

At Lauren’s point, Rust’s face turned red.
Cheeky.
A child who, until a few months ago, had been docile with just one dress, suddenly became arrogant.

He said, gripping Lauren’s arm even tighter.

“What am I going to do? I’m just asking you to please Lord Sekei.
Just laughs next to him and sometimes watches performances together.”

She didn’t know what’s so distasteful about this scolding.
Rust said in frustration at Lauren’s sudden rebellion.
Then, Julia, who was worse than she was, intervened.

“Lauren is sick.”

Only then did Rust realize that Julia was by their side.
He asked Lauren, still clutching Lauren’s arm.

“Julia, do you like performances too? Even though my friend puts on a good performance in a good place, he says he doesn’t like it.
Do you understand?”

Girls this age would love to see a show in the theater.
Rust believed so.
Of course, he wasn’t wrong.
Julia was begging her father because she wanted to see a recent famous performance.
But the show wasn’t more important than her friends.
She looked straight at Rust and said.

“No matter how interesting the performance is, I don’t want to see it if the person who shows it isn’t good.”

Rust then realized that Lauren had told Julia.
He didn’t know what she was talking about.

He turned his head to Lauren.
Then he squeezed her arm tighter and sighed softly.

“You, you’re not going around talking all over the place, are you?”

“It hurts!”

Lauren began to struggle to free herself from Lord Masterson’s grasp.
Then, the savior Julia had been waiting for appeared.

“What are you doing?”

Surprised, Eugenie’s voice exploded much louder than she expected.
Thanks to this, the eyes of the people around them turned to Eugenie, Lauren, and Rust.

“Can’t you let go of that hand?”

Eugenie shouted again, and this time, everyone’s eyes turned to Sir Masterson’s hand holding Lauren’s arm.
He was startled by the people’s gaze and quickly let go of his hand.
Then she showed Eugenie the palm of her hand and said,

“Oh, it’s a misunderstanding.”

“How could it be a misunderstanding to bully someone younger than you?”

Eugenie shouted as she quickly pulled Lauren, who had been freed from Rust’s grasp, behind herself and hid it.
It didn’t matter that Lauren was a little taller than he was.
If that man were to lay his hand on Lauren again, he would have to knock Eugenie down.

“Now, wait a minute.
I am Rust Masterson.
I am Lauren’s uncle and guardian.”

Only then did Eugenie know that the man was Lord Masterson.
And it must be false, she thought, that he was in financial trouble.
Rust’s attire was quite fancy.
Not only did he use luxurious fabrics, but he also had a few shiny buttons.
Moreover, it could be seen that his sleeves and collar are also embroidered with gold thread.
It’s splendid for someone suffering from financial difficulties.
If Elliott were to come to this place now, Rust might look like a Duke.

“You mean you’re a guardian and you’re bullying your nephew?”

This time she deliberately spoke a little louder.
Upon hearing Eugenie’s voice, the people around her gathered in twos and threes and began to whisper.

“Oh no, that’s a misunderstanding.”

“Don’t come closer.”

Eugenie quickly held out her hand.
She didn’t know what excuse he’s trying to make, but she’s not going to allow him to come close to Lauren.

At her attitude, Rust stopped a step away.
And he spoke to convince Eugenie.

“I was just educating Lauren.
It’s different from what you think.”

“I would very much like to know what education is.”

Eugenie’s words made Rust speechless.
What education was? He looked at people and said gibberish.

“That, so, what is that, that, to listen carefully to the adults…”

“It must have been a very important lesson to hold her so hard that you bruise her arm in a place like this.
I also want to learn that lesson, so could you elaborate?”

The surroundings became quiet.
People began to wonder what kind of education Rust was trying to teach.
His face turned bright red.

“What is he doing?”

“Lord Masterson was educating a girl sponsored by him.”

“Here?”

Why? People’s faces were distorted.
A guardian could educate a child sponsored by them.
However, all parents and tutors educated their sponsored children at home, just as they educated their children.
Even Lauren looked to be in her late teens.
It’s not very nice to see a child of that age in a place where there were many eyes.

“What the hell did she do wrong?”

Now people’s curiosity turned to what Lauren had done wrong.
If she was very rude to people, it’s understandable to some extent.

Then, Julia intervened.

“Tell me honestly.
You are scolding her because she doesn’t want to see the performance alone with Sir Sekei.”