Theon, wearing his sword, was heading somewhere again—by the looks of it, probably to the training grounds.
Ciel was definitely watching Theon.
“Young Master Calypso! If there’s a horse in front of you, you can’t just ride past it like that!”
“It’s because Sister Ciel walks like a turtle!”
Even when Calypso dashed past Ciel and got scolded by the teacher, Ciel’s head kept following Theon like a magnet, tracking the direction he was walking in.
‘Why…? Oh, Theon’s waving at me!’
Theon, having noticed me, waved his hand vigorously in my direction. I raised both my arms and waved back, but Ciel only half-heartedly raised one arm before awkwardly dropping it again.
Then she turned around to look at me.
I made awkward eye contact with Ciel.
What was that all about…?
Suddenly, a sharp hunch hit me.
‘No way…!’
Is Ciel… crushing on Theon?!
It wasn’t an impossible idea. I remembered how the crown prince Theon was very popular in my other memories.
Back then, Ciel was already married, so it wasn’t a situation where she could show interest in him. But if she had met Theon before marriage… she might have liked him.
Because Theon is—
‘Kind and handsome!’
On top of that, he’s smart and athletic. He basically checks all the boxes for being the kind of guy popular among girls his age.
‘…Should I try to find out for sure?’
I couldn’t help being curious.
After horseback riding class, I waited for Ciel to come out.
Calypso and the twins pitied me as they left me clinging to the fence, and even the riding instructor, his voice trembling, came over to speak with me.
“I’m okay! I’m just checking out the riding grounds~”
“I apologize… I will do my best to persuade the Count.”
“Huh…?”
I ended up getting an apology I didn’t expect.
Just then, Ciel came out of the riding arena. I quickly said goodbye to the instructor and chased after Ciel, who was heading back to the education hall.
“Sister Ciel! Let’s walk together!”
“Oh, Berry.”
Ciel’s eyes widened briefly at my unexpected approach, but she soon smiled kindly.
Her golden hair, cascading down to her waist, shimmered in the light. If the twins looked like angels, then Ciel resembled a princess.
“I heard from Calypso earlier. You couldn’t ride because of your height, right? You look so cute today too… It’s such a shame.”
Of course. That was just like Ciel—kind to everyone.
Even in my other memories, Ciel had always been kind and gentle. She was sincere in everything she did, and everyone liked her for that.
After graduating from the academy, Ciel helped with the family affairs for a while and then married a Marquess’s son at the age of 22.
‘To think that someone like Ciel is the eldest daughter of Uncle Hevant… It’s still hard to believe.’
I smiled cheerfully and said to her.
“It’s okay! Watching you ride gave me secondhand satisfaction. I bet I’ll be that good in a few years too!”
“Of course. Berry, you’ll do great.”
“Wow!”
There’s nothing more effective for making friends as a kid than exaggerated reactions. I clapped and gave her a thumbs-up at the right moments as I played along with Ciel’s words.
And just like that, Ciel quickly dropped her guard.
Before I knew it, I had my arm linked with hers.
‘Was Ciel always this affectionate?’
Though Ciel was kind, in my other life we weren’t particularly close. She would step in when Calypso and the twins picked on me—but that was about it.
But now here we were, arm-in-arm!
Until we reached the education building, Ciel continued to treat me warmly, sharing little stories here and there.
“My father’s been struggling a bit. The new medicine he developed hasn’t been well received.”
Updates about Uncle Hevant…
“You’ve never met Kane, right? My older brother? He’s good at everything.”
…and stories about her older brother Kane, Uncle Hevant’s eldest son who’s currently at the academy.
By this point, I figured I could ask her about Theon and actually get an honest answer.
“Ooh! Then, have you ever met Theon, Sister Ciel?”
“Theon?”
“Yeah~ My dad’s disciple! He’s my friend. The handsome one with black hair!”
Hearing my description, Ciel let out a small, ‘Ahh.’
“So that boy’s name was Theon.”
Wait—what?
Her reaction wasn’t what I expected.
I thought she might blush or show some sign of affection toward him… but instead, she frowned.
“He’s arrogant.”
“…Theon is?”
My Theon? Arrogant?! I flinched for a moment but held back, trusting Ciel wouldn’t say something like that lightly.
But then—
“Berry, don’t get too close to him.”
“Huh…?”
Ciel smiled sweetly at me and added warmly.
“We’re family, remember? But he’s just… an outsider.”
I blinked. The Ciel I knew wasn’t the type to draw lines between people like that. That was exactly why everyone liked her…
‘No way…’
Could it be?
Suddenly, the arm I had linked with Ciel’s began to feel awkward.
***
I had to find out what happened between Theon and Ciel.
After class, when I returned to the Stone House, I saw Theon and Jeffrey sitting across from each other on the living room sofa, reading the newspaper. Jeffrey had his forehead pressed down on the paper on the table.
“I’m home~!”
“Sister Berry?!”
“Berry, you’re back?”
Jeffrey lifted his head immediately, and Theon greeted me with a warm smile.
‘He’s not arrogant at all.’
I just couldn’t understand Ciel. Theon was like a ray of warm sunlight on a perfect laundry-drying day.
“Sister Berry~! Save meee— Brother Theon says that if I start something, I have to finish it!”
Jeffrey reached out to me like he was suffering. I went over and looked at the newspaper spread across the table. There was an illustration of a man and woman exchanging money and apples.
“Ooh! Jeffrey, you’re looking at an economics illustration? That’s awesome~!”
“R-Really? You think it’s cool?”
“Yep~!”
“Heh. Then maybe I’ll look at a bit more.”
His tail wagged as he sat up proudly.
As expected, positive reinforcement is the best motivator. It’s all about building that drive to learn.
But more importantly, I had a mission right now.
I sat down next to Theon.
“Theon, Theon.”
“……..”
But Theon just looked at me silently. Was there something on his mind?
“Do you want to say something? You can go first if you’d like.”
“No, it’s fine. What is it, Berry?”
He shook his head. Then Jeffrey, eyes still glued to the illustration, chimed in.
“Brother Theon was reading the economics article too.”
“Ooh~ You read those too, Theon? Cool, right? But actually, Theon—so…”
“…Yeah?”
“I was the only one who heard it.”
Jeffrey giggled again, but I couldn’t understand what he meant, so I just continued asking questions.
I asked Theon if he had met Ciel recently, and Theon said he had. He explained it was last weekend when he was returning to Stone House after morning training.
“Suddenly, she called me over and asked me to pick up a handkerchief that had fallen to the ground.”
“Sister Ciel?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, that woman?”
Jeffrey chimed in knowingly at Theon’s words. Since it was after morning training, Jeffrey must have been there too.
“You saw her, Jeffrey?”
“Yeah, that weird woman! Theon didn’t even drop the handkerchief, but she still asked him to pick it up! And there was a maid standing right next to her!”
Jeffrey spoke indignantly. Theon nodded in agreement. Hmm, an eyewitness account with details.
“So? Did Theon pick up the handkerchief? What did Ciel say afterward?”
“Huh? Theon didn’t pick it up.”
“What?”
This slightly lowered my trust in the eyewitness account. While I didn’t know Ciel’s intentions, the fact that she had asked Theon for help remained unchanged. I had assumed Theon would have picked up the handkerchief.
I looked at Theon with disbelief.
“I didn’t pick it up.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Because there was no reason to.”
Perhaps feeling accused, Theon trailed off at the end of his sentence.
“Sister Berry, let me finish! So, Brother Theon just kept walking, and I followed him. Then guess what happened!”
Jeffrey spoke excitedly, almost angry, in a way that reminded me of Anne.
“How arrogant for someone of such low status!”
“Ugh!”
I was disheartened by Jeffrey’s words. The Ciel he was describing was not the Ciel I knew.
“…Berry, why do you look like that? Should he have picked it up?”
“No.”
Theon asked worriedly, but I shook my head firmly. Ciel was the one relative I thought I could trust. I had always believed she wouldn’t be like the others.
“Berry, didn’t I tell you there’s no such thing as ‘never’?”
It felt like I could hear my grandfather laughing at me. Ugh.
***
Yossel walked unsteadily into his own office.
Over the past few days, he had become visibly gaunt. Yesterday, when Marian visited Emerald House to discuss business, she had clicked her tongue at the sight of Yossel before leaving.
“Well, as expected. Just hand over 30% of the boutique’s shares as collateral. If necessary, you can transfer the management rights as well. I’ll grow the business for you.”
Clunk. Clunk. … Click.
The safe under the desk opened.
“… Sniff.”
Yossel swallowed his sobs as he stared at the empty safe.
