Chapter 1
Prologue
“Who brought this scruffy child here, and for what purpose?”
Even in front of the Emperor, the confident Duke Windrich scanned me with sharp eyes from top to bottom.
Because I was young, I felt a bit intimidated, but I found that hard to swallow.
My skin tingled, and it felt like my legs were losing strength.
But still, it was fine.
Tears welled up at the fact that I was meeting Duke Windrich again. No, Uncle Ricardo.
As I sniffled, Ralph Solveit, who brought me to Duke Windrich’s residence, explained.
“This child is the rumoured physician.”
“Rumored? Surely not?”
“Yes. It’s the very same physician who cured Lady Cornell’s illness.”
Ricardo chuckled.
But it was brief. His demeanor grew even more severe.
“Are you asking me to believe that now? Are you out of your mind?”
Ralph flinched but continued his explanation.
“At first, I didn’t believe it either, but Lord and Lady Cornell testified that this child directly cured the illness. The testimonies of the servants at Cornell Manor were consistent. It was unbelievable, but we had no choice but to believe.”
“You can fabricate testimonies as much as you want.”
Ricardo still seemed skeptical.
‘Of course. To you, right now, I’m just a 10-year-old child who doesn’t know anything about the world.’
But it was true that I had cured Lady Cornell’s illness, which no other physician could. And I came here to cure Lady Windrich, who suffered from the same illness.
This incident was the catalyst for me to change everything that would happen in the future.
I planned to prevent any misfortune that might befall on the Windrich family and find my father who had disappeared.
To do that, I needed to earn Ricardo’s trust and seek his help.
“I know it’s hard to believe. But I did cure Lady Cornell.”
As I spoke, Ricardo’s eyes, which had been observing me indifferently, flashed like a predator. He warned in a more severe tone than before.
“Kid, I really dislike liars. I’ll let it slide this time because you’re young, but if you lie again, I’ll be very upset.”
I already knew that Ricardo was lenient with children.
If I were an adult, I would have been thrown into the dungeon immediately.
“But even if you scare me, I can’t hide the truth. No matter how much you threaten me, I will say what I have to say.”
“What…?”
“I came here to cure the Duchess, and I can indeed treat her.”
Ricardo sighed softly.
“Hey, kid.”
“I’ve been bothered by this since earlier. My name is not ‘kid,’ it’s Iris Swan!”
As I spoke firmly, a glint appeared in Ricardo’s eyes. I continued, addressing him with admiration.
“And you can call me Rishi! Originally, only my father called me Rishi, but you’re special, so you can call me that too, Duke.”
Ricardo clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“For now, I have let you fool me like that. But kid, the game ends here.”
Well, since I’m not a kid…
Internally grumbling, I spoke confidently.
“Do you really think I came all this way just to play around with the Duke? The neighborhood I used to live in is far away from here. Do you think I came all this way just for jokes?”
“…”
“But if you’re still not convinced, okay. Shall we change the topic?”
I smiled brightly at him.
“I came here to make a deal with the Duke.”
“A deal?”
“Yes!”
I boldly puffed out my chest.
“If I cure the Duchess’s illness, then please take me as your daughter-in-law, Duke!”
My audacious declaration stunned everyone in the room.
“A daughter-in-law?”
“Yes! I heard you have a son around my age. Please let me marry Windrich’s heir!”
I looked at the Ricardo, who showed signs of surprise for the first time.
“I’ll do my best from now on, Father.”
My name is Iris Swan.
To explain why a commoner like me, not even a noble, would do such an absurd thing, I’d have to start by explaining what happened in my past life.
That’s right. I’m a regressor who returned to being ten years old a month ago.
About years ago, when I was ten years old, my beloved father disappeared.
“Rishi, Father has to go somewhere urgently. I’ll be back soon. Can you stay alone? Mrs. Emma will take care of you.”
“Father, where are you going? I want to go, too.”
“Rishi, it’s a place where you can’t go. Father will go quickly and come back. Is that okay?”
“Okay.”
At that time, my father seemed unusually anxious and tense.
Did he sence something strange?
I couldn’t bring myself to stop my father.
However, I deeply regretted not clinging to my father at that time until my death.
“I’ll bring back your favorite toy when I come back. Promise.”
“Yes, promise!”
Because my father, who promised with his little finger and left the house, never came back.
I wanted to find my father, but there was nothing I, as a child, could do.
Moreover, nobody, including me, knew where my father had gone, so it was impossible to find any trace of him.
What happened to my father? Why can’t he come back even though he wants to?
What if something bad happened to my father?
I cried every day as if there would be no end to the swelling in my eyes. If it hadn’t been for Aunt Emma, who took care of me like her own granddaughter, I might have just cried and cried until I died.
The people in the neighborhood said that my father had abandoned me.
“It’s not easy for a man to raise a child alone, is it?”
“Since he is handsome, so he must have gone to start a new life.”
“Tsk tsk, it’s just pitiful for the child.”
Aunt Emma scolded those people with a long broomstick.
“You don’t know? If you dare to make a rude remark in front of the child again, you’ll regret it. That day, both you and I will die, got it?”
Then she gave me a sweet hot chocolate to comfort me.
“Iris, your father will definitely come back. He can’t live without you, his rabbit-like daughter.”
I agreed with Aunt Emma’s words.
Father wasn’t someone who would abandon me.
But even after a month passed, after a year passed, and even after more than two years, Father didn’t come back.
Around that time, Aunt Emma, who had been taking care of me like family, passed away. It was because of a chronic illness that had been bothering her for a long time.
Alone, I had to find a way to survive. There was no one to cry with me when I felt lonely and sad.
If I were to call it lucky, I was able to get a job as a maid at the residence of Lord Cornell, who governed our region.
Then, one day, a sorcerer who visited the Lord’s mansion discovered me.
“Little miss, what’s your name?”
“Y-yes? My name?”
“Yes. I was curious about the name of such a pretty girl.”
“Um, my name is Iris Swan.”
After that, the situation progressed so rapidly that I couldn’t properly remember what had happened.
When I came to my senses, I found myself standing in front of a stern-looking man from head to toe.
He was none other than Ricardo, the Duke of Windrich.
“Why did you bring this scrawny child here? Looking at those arms, she probably can’t even hold a broom properly. What do you expect her to do?”
Back then and even now, he consistently ignored me.
