Chapter 6
Call Me Dad
“Riche is quite a fitting name too.”
In response to the butler’s words, Jed also praised the name wholeheartedly.
Thuariche Rodwick.
Agnes, now with the name Riche, felt her heart solidify with white-hot anger.
“Is this really my name?”
Her mind became a mess.
Why did Duke Rodwick give her this name? Perhaps he realized she was from the Lethiom and wanted to confine her to this mansion. There couldn’t be a better excuse than family affairs for whatever scheme he planned.
Even when she stayed at her uncle’s house, the neighbors never interfered with Agnes’s affairs. They considered it a family matter and didn’t want to meddle.
“I hate it.”
Once again, she felt as though she could hear the voice of Duke Gerwer echoing in her ears.
It was at that moment when fear was about to swallow Riche whole.
“Have you read the name?”
A stern voice rang out. Startled, Riche turned around.
A man entered the butler’s room, with black hair and red eyes. Handsome like a statue but with an impassive face, it was Blake.
“Yes, I have read it,” the butler nodded.
Jed, meeting eyes with Blake, had many things to say but remained silent.
He couldn’t possibly ask, “Are you really giving him the Rodwick surname?!” Not in front of the child.
Riche felt tears welling up in this situation but held them back, watching Blake approach.
“You’ve cleaned up nicely.”
Blake lightly tapped Riche’s head.
Come to think of it, it was the first time Riche had met Blake since taking a bath.
Though there was an awkward atmosphere, Riche felt compelled to ask Blake.
“Why did you give me this name?”
Blake’s silver, round eyes looked up at Riche.
“Your Grace, I have a question.”
“….”
It took courage to speak up, but Blake didn’t answer while placing his hand on his head.
Riche truly wanted to cry, but gathered courage once again.
“Your Grace.”
“You may ask your question.”
“Why am I called Lodwick…?”
The ears of the butler and Jed perked up at those words.
They were also curious about why Blake, who gave Lodwick’s surname to the child.
“Hmm.”
But Blake was equally surprised by the current situation.
Though his expression remained stoic and he didn’t show signs of being flustered.
“Tears?”
The child’s eyes looking at himself seemed to shake as if they were about to cry.
“Do you not like the name Lodwick?”
He was the child who casually discussed his uncle’s death in the carriage.
Now, he shouldn’t be afraid of an assassin’s family.
But Blake couldn’t understand the reason.
In the Locke Empire, becoming a noble from a commoner was a tremendous privilege. No one would refuse it.
There were various reasons such as the enormous taxes imposed during the process, or the pride of the high-nosed nobles.
Blake didn’t pay attention when he decided to give the child a name.
After all, such opportunities didn’t come often, and the child must have known that.
Blake truly didn’t know English, so he asked the child.
“Do you dislike the name?”
“…. Sniff.”
That was when a sniffle came from Riche.
About two minutes passed as Blake was lost in thought.
Seeing him silent, Riche couldn’t hold back his tears, imagining his future as a purification tool.
Sniff. Sniff.
Riche covered his mouth with his hand.
“Are you alright?”
Jed hurriedly patted his back, but the sniffles didn’t stop.
When the thought of distress occurred to him, Riche felt a strangely comforting breath.
“My Lord…!”
Jed was the first to notice. He urgently warned Blake with an anxious voice.
Following Jed’s gaze, Riche realized that Blake was using his ability on him.
Lodwick’s ability to control the breath of other beings.
‘Why?’
Riche was confused.
As abilities are used, a dark energy akin to a curse accumulates in the body. The reason why most ability users die young, before the age of 40, was because of this energy. Only Lethium could cleanse it, but they were born only once every hundred years.
That’s why Blake’s current actions were even more incomprehensible.
To use his ability just to stop a mere child’s sniffles.
Perhaps he knew that I am Lethium.
“Those fools can’t even recognize you. Only I, with my discerning eyes, can recognize Lethium. My Agnes.”
Blake’s energy surged. The accumulating dark energy gnawed at vitality.
Riche raised his head towards Blake.
‘Don’t do it.’
It meant not to use his ability, but to Blake, it seemed like an answer to the question from a while ago.
“You mean you don’t dislike the name?”
“That, that’s…”
Riche, whose sniffles had stopped, opened his mouth.
He needed to add more, but his words didn’t come out properly.
‘I’m scared.’
What if I say I don’t like it here and he uses his ability? This time, he might stop my breathing.
Riche nodded tearfully.
“I-I like it.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Blake hugged Riche with a satisfied expression.
Then he met Riche’s gaze within his embrace.
“From now on, call me Dad.”
***
After spending the late morning with the child, and overseeing the knights’ morning training, noon had already arrived.
“Really?”
It was Jed who, following Blake into the study, spoke as soon as the door closed.
With little time alone, it was only now that he brought up the topic.
Blake noticed the meaning behind Jed’s abrupt words, but without responding, he sat at his desk and picked up some documents.
There were quite a few documents awaiting his approval on the desk.
“You’re really taking the child in as your daughter?”
“Is there a problem?”
“N-no, none.”
Jed, meeting Blake’s sharp gaze, stuttered and clapped his hands.
In fact, there were. And quite a lot.
It’s not common for commoners to become nobles, but even rarer than that was adopting a child from a duke’s family.
Usually, when nobles adopted children, it was for succession purposes.
In the Locke Empire, the four duke families each had the position of the head of the family filled by a person born with abilities.
For centuries, ability users were always born, and the position of the head of the family never remained vacant.
The duke’s families had an image of being a closed family that others couldn’t enter.
“There’s no problem, but… if you make it public, rumors will spread quickly.”
He adopted a foster daughter from such a duke’s family.
And it was the most closed-off family, the Lodwick duke’s family.
“Other duke families will be watching. The emperor might also take action.”
The empire was maintained by the balance of power between the emperor’s power and the power of the four duke families.
So, any conspicuous behavior was bound to be scrutinized.
He must have known that, as much as Blake did.
“What can those petty folks do?”
Blake chuckled lightly.
“…You knew, didn’t you? That the child would read the name.”
He pretended not to know about the process of naming based on reading letters or whatever it was. But it was clear he knew everything.
Even now.
Blake neither affirmed nor denied my question, but a slight smile crept onto his lips.
As if he were anticipating this situation.
Of course, it was like that.
Though I felt a twinge in my gut, what could I do?
Ultimately, the word of the head of the family in this house was absolute. There was no changing it, no matter how much I opposed it.
Jed asked, stroking his Adam’s apple.
“Then please tell me the reason. The reason for adopting the child as a foster daughter. If it’s because of Master, it would have been fine to just leave her as a playmate.”
Blake remained silent for a moment.
It was true that he had thought fondly of Riche, reminiscent of the child he had lost with his beloved wife.
But that reason alone was far from enough to adopt the child as a foster daughter.
Then what was the reason for continuously being concerned about a common, messy child he had met for the first time yesterday?
The main reason was because the power of an ability user reacts to Lethium, but did Blake have any way of knowing?
He defended his actions to me and Jed with plausible explanations.
“Family is a special existence. When you have a sibling, Deon will feel a sense of responsibility and act differently than before. Right now, Deon is too isolated. More than any other Lodwick.”
Seeing Blake speak so earnestly, Jed couldn’t help but cast a skeptical glance inwardly.
‘Using Master as an excuse.’
Of course, Blake’s words made sense, but…
Jed suppressed a snicker inwardly.
‘Call me Dad from now on? Not Father, but Dad?’
It had been 16 years since I came to the Lodwick mansion. Never had I imagined Blake, who had never even asked his own biological son Deon to call him Dad, saying such a thing.
I wanted to tease him, but my life was precious, so I had to hold back.
“Your Grace.”
“What is it?”
Come to think of it, if suddenly a little sister appeared, I wonder how the bad-tempered Master would react.
He wouldn’t throw a congratulatory party just because his sister was born.
Jed scratched his cheek and muttered to himself.
“…Your Grace wouldn’t harm the young lady, right…?”
The two fell silent for a moment.
Blake asked Jed.
“Did anyone tell Deon that the child was given a name today?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Then Deon probably doesn’t know yet. I’ll go and tell him, so don’t worry.”
Since Paul, the butler, was tight-lipped, rumors wouldn’t spread in the mansion.
“But Miss Riche might have told Anna.”
Jed remembered the suspicious look his sister gave him when he went to fetch the child.
Surely, when Riche returned, she would have questioned him about what Jed had been up to.
There were other maids present besides Anna in the room.
Ah, the rumor had spread.
Both of them had the same thought.
Blake set down the documents and rose from his seat.
Jed followed him out of the room.
‘He caught on at first sight.’
Jed shrugged as he watched Blake walk briskly as if nothing was amiss.
If Blake were asked if he was worried about the child, he would deny it without hesitation.
Had there ever been a time when others mattered more to Blake Lodwick than his work? His resolute attitude towards his work without any lingering feelings was quite something.
‘It shows. Our head of the family has become a doting father.’
The thought of Blake, holding Riche in his arms and beaming, sent shivers down Jed’s spine.
As they hurried through the corridor, they encountered a servant rushing towards them. Jed quickly caught him by the shoulder and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Mr. Jed! Oh, Your Grace!”
The servant, who Jed had just caught by the shoulder, spotted Blake walking down the hallway and urgently said, “Young Master has disappeared! The child you brought yesterday is nowhere to be found either!”
***
“….”
A soft, eerie cooing sound echoed. The dense forest path was dark, with no sign of the sun.
Riche walked along the forest path, gazing at the clear sky glimpsed through the dense foliage.
“There.”
She spoke, addressing the back of the black-haired figure ahead of her.
There was no response.
Sighing softly through her lips, she couldn’t help but wonder how far they were going.
About two hours ago, when Riche returned to her room, she had confessed to Anna and the maids about the name she had been given.
After that, there was an overwhelming interest from the servants, which made her feel burdened, so she hid in the closet.
But not long after, the closet door creaked open.
It was Deon.
She didn’t know how he found her, but from the angry look on his face, it seemed he had heard about her receiving the name of Lodwick.
His red eyes glared at her before he spoke.
“Come with me.”
And that’s how she ended up riding a horse with Deon to this place.
A forest near the Lodwick mansion. The horse was tied at the entrance to the forest.
‘He keeps going deeper.’
Though she didn’t feel safe with Deon, she was anxious about what he was planning to do.
If they kept going like this, she might get lost in the forest, and Deon didn’t even respond when she tried to talk to him.
‘Is this the only option?’
Riche quickened her pace and lightly grabbed Deon’s sleeve.
“Brother.”
“What?”
Deon turned his head, irritation evident in his voice as he asked why she was calling him brother.
This is how I can get you to pay attention to me.
Intentionally putting on a pitiful expression, Riche said, “My leg hurts, Brother.”
Deon’s expression contorted in surprise.
