As soon as they left the slums, the child saw the city walls, the city gates, and the guards for the first time.
Once inside the capital, her eyes widened even more, but she couldn’t help but be dragged by Bizan.
Bizan, who had initially planned to go straight to Lucifaro estate, pointed to an inn, saying that if they went looking like a beggar, no one would believe he was taking a noble child.
There, led by a kind-hearted woman, the child was thoroughly cleaned and given new clothes. They were just a simple shirt and pants that commoner boys would wear, but they were still something the child had never owned before.
“Well. There’s a reason they didn’t wash her.”
The woman scolded Bizan, wondering why such a pretty child hadn’t been bathed. Bizan chuckled.
“That guy knew. Being a noble child, he can’t just sell her off to anyone, but raising her properly in good condition would raise suspicion since she obviously doesn’t belong in the slums.”
Her father didn’t like it when the child washed near the stream. He was afraid that if she walked around so clean, it would catch the attention of the thieves who might want to kidnap her.
“Originally, I could have just told this to the gang in the slums and brought you here without any persuasion. But there’s another reason I convinced you to come nicely.”
Bizan bought a small robe for the child and helped her put it on before they started walking somewhere.
“If I mentioned it to the gang, negotiations with Lucifaro would become a headache. If we touch the pride of the noble, we’ll all be wiped out.”
The only reason why the child wasn’t dragged away was so that she could speak well to her family and ask for more money.
Bizan knew very well that the child couldn’t speak, yet he kept poking at her side, causing her to stumble for a moment.
“By the way, can you really not speak from the beginning?”
The child shook his head. It wasn’t that she couldn’t speak.
Her family would hit her whenever she cried and they didn’t like hearing her talk so she gradually stopped talking. Then, at some point, she forgot how to talk.
“Here!”
Bizan waved his hand and hailed a shabby carriage.
“When you go, make sure to explain it well. Even if you can’t speak, use gestures or actions. Just give me the thumbs up.”
Bizan winked with one eye and pushed the child into the carriage.
“To Lucifaro Estate.”
The coachman looked puzzled, but Bizan chuckled and flipped the hood of the child’s robe back.
××××××××××××××××××××××
Before they even got off the carriage, Bizan and the child froze. There were iron fences as tall as trees, and the gates that would have allowed three carriages to pass were firmly closed.
More than anything, there were many guards standing in front, armed with armor.
“W-What’s that? Normally, there are at most three or four guards….”
Bizan murmured in astonishment, and the coachman urged him on. Even the coachman had turned pale.
“What on earth did you do? Get off right now. I have nothing to do with this!”
Even without the coachman’s words, the child and Bizan had no choice but to get off the carriage.
The guards, with a menacing aura, were approaching their way. Soon, the carriage door opened wide, revealing people holding swords.
The child clung to Bizan in fear, but there was nothing he could do.
“Why have you come here?”
Bizan raised both hands and slowly stepped out of the carriage.
“I , I have come to see the Duke of Lucifaro.”
“He’s not someone anyone can meet.”
“Well, that’s…”
As Bizan’s gaze briefly shifted towards the child, the guards swiftly approached. When they reached out their hands towards the robe, the child flinched and tried to run away, but the guards were faster.
“This is…!”
At the purple eyes and black hair, the distinctive traits of the Lucifaro family, the guards murmured in disbelief.
“What that woman said was true….”
That woman? Before Bizan could ask what he meant by that woman, the guards surrounded them in an instant.
“We found Lady Gratia! Inform the Duke immediately!”
Bizan thought that it would take him a long time to convince them and they would not easily believe him, but his worries were in vain as everything went smoothly after that.
××××××××××××××××××××××
“Indeed, a child from the slums….”
Bizan stood frozen, unable to do anything, with his back straightened at a right angle. The child next to him only lightly rested her butt on the edge of the visibly precious chair, as if afraid to soil it.
Before them sat Marcin Lucifaro, the head of the Lucifaro family.
He had black hair slicked back and sharp features, with piercing purple eyes that gave off an endlessly cold aura. Standing in front of him, even a nobleman could not help but feel nervous.
Moreover, the two of them were impoverished, with no experience of facing a noble properly. They seemed like two rabbits standing stiffly in front of a lion.
“Bring it.”
At the Duke’s words, one of the men who had been standing along the wall of the room came with a small box. When the lid was opened, it revealed a high-level magical tool used to detect mana.
As it was placed near the child, the child jumped up as if she had been touched by fire. Then, she dug against Bizan’s side, folding her body as if trying to hide.
“It’s not dangerous. It’s simply a tool to confirm the presence of mana.”
The child glanced at the Duke, then lowered her head again.
The Duke looked exactly like the middle-aged man in the dream, except for one thing. He lacked warmth in his eyes and he doesn’t seem like a middle aged man.
The face was certainly the same, but the man before him was much younger and colder.
He doesn’t look frightening or trying to harm her, but she feels strangely shaky.
It was almost like an instinctive aversion to someone he had never met before.
“Hey. Mute…. No, let go of me.”
Bizan tried to gently shake the child to separate her from him, but the child didn’t budge. Helplessly, Bizan took the bead and placed them in the child’s hand.
“Just like last time. Make it glow purple.”
Despite Bizan’s urging, the child simply closed her eyes tightly. With one arm extended, he placed the bead in her hand.
“Just do it like last time. Give it a try. Please.”
The atmosphere in the reception room where Bizan and the child were seated was becoming increasingly cold. Bizan’s face turned pale, and his body began to tremble. Just then, a knock was heard.
“The Duchess is here.”
At the mention of the Duchess, the child opened her eyes, which had been closed the entire time.
“Is this the child?”
She was a woman with long brown hair flowing down her back and gentle eyes on her fair face.
Bizan swallowed hard. There was something strange about the Duchess.
The rumors he’d heard were about finding Lucifaro’s lost daughter, but from the Duchess’ demeanor, she didn’t seem to be her biological daughter. Could it be that she was a child of a mistress or something of that sort?
If that were the case, it would be a serious problem.
The child’s gaze remained fixed on the Duchess. Her eyes were just as affectionate as in the dream, but they appeared much younger than before.
『Our beloved youngest daughter.』
She remembered the voice and face that had cried in her dream.
『Please… just look at your, mom.』
She had clearly called herself her “Mom.” With the same face and the same voice.
For a moment, the image of her mother in the slums came to mind. The mother who always looked at her with disgust.
『We will meet soon. We are your real family, and we will love you more than anyone else.』
The child looked at the bead in her hand.
Bizan told her to make it shine.
Was that the only way she could be here? The child hadn’t learned much, but she was not completely oblivious either. She had grown up in a home where she was mistreated and abused.
“Huh? Huh?”
With Bizan’s surprised voice, the bead began to emit light. A brilliant purple radiance emanated from the bead, filling the reception room.
××××××××××××××××××××××
“Why don’t we step outside for a moment?”
As the Duchess extended her hand, the child cautiously took hold of it.
It was fortunate that her hand wasn’t dirty like in the dream. If it had been, she would have soiled her fair and delicate hand.
Bizan grabbed the hem of her robe as if to ask for help, but she didn’t even look back.
Her gaze was solely fixed on the Duchess.
“There should be no falsehoods in what we are about to discuss.”
Setting aside the deep and commanding voice of the Duke, the doors to the reception room closed. The child moved along with the Duchess, taking slow steps.
“By the way, how old are you? If you’re Gratia, you should be ten years old this year, but you don’t look like it at all.”
The child knew that she was much smaller in stature than her peers because she couldn’t eat well and had trouble sleeping. Still, she was indeed ten years old.
She heard it clearly every passing year.
『I raised you for five years.』
『I’ve been raising you for six years, and you still don’t know anything?』
『It’s been seven years already. I’m sick of it!』
Of course, she heard it again this year. So she was definitely ten years old.
She wanted to raise both hands to show that she was ten years old, but her one hand was holding the Duchess’ hand.
‘I don’t want to let go.’
So she raised her other hand, spread her five fingers, and shook it twice as if stamping a seal.
“Oh my… This is strange. The former Duke was tall, you know. So was the late Duchess.”
The former Duke? The late Duchess? What did their height have to do with her?
As the child tilted her head in confusion, she felt a gentle touch on her head. It was the first time someone had ever stroked her head, so the child’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Gratia, the former Duke is your father and the current Duke’s older brother.”
Father? Former Duke? But the Duchess said she was her mother…
Not knowing exactly what a Duke was, the child’s head became muddled, so she just nodded.
Living in a shack with her father and mother, she hadn’t received any basic education, let alone any knowledge of nobility.
She had only heard bits and pieces about nobles from her older siblings and the people passing by their house. It was fortunate that she had been taught numbers when they ordered her to run an errand.
“Are you hungry?”
The child glanced at the Duchess and wanted to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat. Nothing came out.
Whenever she looked at her, her heart would start pounding.
The child’s mother in the shack had never once referred to herself as her mother. She simply followed her older siblings and called her that. It was the same with her father.
Whenever she tried to address them as father or mother, she was met with furious glares. They had never claimed that they weren’t her parents, so she didn’t think they weren’t.
But the Duchess referred to her as her youngest daughter and called herself her mother.
Then what about her father and mother in the shack?
“Um… Can you tell me what your name is?”
The Duchess asked gently, as if assuming that the child had a name. Not having a name to give, the child shook their head.
“You don’t want to tell me your name?”
Startled, the child quickly shook her head again.
“Well… You can’t possibly mean you don’t have a name, right?”
Seeing the child nod vigorously up and down, the Duchess covered her mouth. Even her surprised expression was beautiful..
Will she look like this person?
“Then why won’t you let me hear your voice?”
This time, there was no way to explain through gestures or body language.
