The duchess, sensing that something was wrong, led the child back to the drawing-room. There was urgency in her steps.
The butler, who was standing in front of the door, looked at her with a puzzled expression, but he silently knocked before informing the Duke of the Duchess’ presence.
As the door opened, the duchess and the child entered. The Duke and the slightly startled Bizan turned to face her.
“The child doesn’t speak. Does she shy away from strangers?”
Her expression hardened, already anticipating something.
But to the Duke, the child was the only living blood left by his deceased brother, so she wanted to be careful with the child.
“That’s….”
Bizan wanted to tightly close his eyes.
Damn it. How did I end up like this? But if that mute child is from Lucifaro, he’d be well rewarded.
“She used to speak, but at some point, she stopped. The house where the child lived was abusive and….”
While the Duchess and the child were out, he was telling the Duke how difficult it had been for her to come here. He hadn’t even brought up how the child lived yet. He didn’t want to tell them abruptly.
Bizan shuddered with nervousness. He felt like he was in the middle of a blizzard.
××××××××××××××××××××××
The child was led out of the drawing room by a middle-aged man.
She had been driven out because it was best for her not to hear, but the Duchess insisted on staying to hear the end.
“I am Giladen, the butler of the Lucifaro Duchy.”
As expected, she didn’t like unfamiliar people.
When the child subtly tried to pull away her hand, Giladen willingly let go. Worried that the child might feel bad, Giladen made eye contact, and smiled kindly.
“This place is different from there, Miss Gratia.”
Gratia. Was that her name?
Even in her dream, there was a man who called her that. The unfamiliar sound of her own name brought about strange sensations. Her nose tickled, her stomach twisted, and her toes itched.
Was it because she hadn’t properly washed?
“If you don’t want it, no one can lay a hand on you.”
From Giladen, a scent similar to that of the Duchess emanated. It was a warm feeling, like a flower that bloomed coincidentally in the cracks of the wooden floor.
“So if someone tries to harm you against your will, don’t hesitate to run away. This time, we will never lose Miss Gratia.”
His wrinkled features seemed to twist sadly. What was contained in his eyes was so deep that the child couldn’t comprehend it.
××××××××××××××××××××××
“To be honest, I knew it as soon as I saw you. I still vividly remember when you were a newborn, Miss Gratia.”
A week ago, a masked woman came to the Lucifaro mansion.
She didn’t enter but handed over a necklace and a brief letter to the guards before disappearing suddenly. The necklace belonged to the previous Duchess, and the letter contained a short message.
It was stated that a man and the missing Gratia would appear a week later. She asked to treat the man properly and send him off. Since hearing that news, Giladen has not been able to sleep properly.
Today, too, he had been looking out at the main entrance beyond the window all day.
‘I now understand why I, who failed to protect the master and the young miss, was still alive.’
There will come a time when this little child will understand the regret and loss that Giladen feels. For now, she simply looked at him with innocent eyes, but Giladen was grateful for that alone.
‘I still remember the day the former Duke passed away.’
He will never forget the day he searched everywhere for the little miss on the mountain where the previous Duke’s body was discovered.
“I can arrange a simple refreshment if you’d like.”
Giladen always walked a step behind the master, but today he walked a step ahead for the young miss. He turned back to make sure she was following, observing her cautious footsteps, and proceeded slowly, leaving the weighty stories that the young miss wouldn’t be able to handle.
××××××××××××××××××××××
After observing for a while, and receiving permission to have multiple servings, the child eagerly picked up the cookies and bread on the plate with both hands and started eating. Giladen, alarmed by her fast eating speed, handed her a glass of juice.
Do nobles always eat and live like this? Since entering the mansion, everything has been a whole new world. The nameless cookies and bread were sweet and melted in her mouth.
“Did you miss a meal?”
Giladen asked cautiously, and the child held up two fingers.
“Two meals?”
When the child shook her head, Giladen’s face froze.
While this was happening, the child’s mouth and hands didn’t stop moving.
“You can’t…. mean two days?”
When the child nodded, Giladen suddenly turned away and lowered his head.
It seemed like he was holding something back. She wondered if she had done something wrong.
As she quietly put down the cookie she was eating, a graceful woman approached the child. Other people also approached and began clearing the cookies and items from the table, confirming that she had indeed done something wrong.
The woman briefly placed her hand on Giladen’s shoulder, offering comfort, and smiled at the child.
“I am Rosa, the headmaid. If you suddenly eat like this, you might upset your stomach, so I will bring you something light to eat. I’m worried about Miss Gratia getting sick, so please don’t think about anything bad.”
Rosa reassured the child and left the room, promising to prepare more delicious food. After a moment of silence, Giladen turned around as if nothing had happened.
“I’m worried that Miss Gratia will think poorly of me, since I can’t control my emotions as well as I should at this age. If you need anything else, please let me know.”
Giladen carefully asked if the child’s clothes were comfortable and if she had any questions or concerns. Since there was nothing else she needed, she continued to shake her head, which seemed to slightly dampen his spirits.
At that moment, someone skillfully opened the door to where the child was. The voices of people outside conversing with the visitor could be heard.
“Darzen, Diana. It is impolite to abruptly open the door when there is a guest inside.”
“I need to see the person inside!”
“That’s right, I definitely saw a girl with black hair entering the mansion!”
There was a small murmur of voices and eventually the door was flung open.
“Look! She has black hair and purple eyes!”
“Who is that child? Why can’t you tell me?”
Startled by the commotion, the child looked over and saw identical twins standing there. They were much taller than her but seemed to be only a year or two older, at most.
And their faces looked similar to the ones she saw in her dream… They looked similar, but back then they were adults, now they are very young. Much younger than before.
Were they a year or two older than her?
The round face and coy eyes stared back at her. Both of them had a beautiful appearance, like dolls.
“You’ve been making serious faces all week! Why can’t you just tell us?”
“That’s right, who is she? If she has black hair and purple eyes, she must be from Lucifaro, right?”
As soon as the little twins entered, they started clamoring with excitement. The child gradually hid her body in the chair, as her petite size allowed her to be obscured even by the backrest of the adult-sized chair.
When her eyes peeked out from the top of the backrest, the girl among the twins started jumping around, pointing her finger.
“We know everything too! We heard it when we went to visit Count Bianze last time! Jurgen told us everything about adults!”
The others tried to intervene and stop the girl, but it wasn’t easy. It was unclear whether it was her natural temperament or if she was just very angry.
“She’s a bastard, right? That’s right, isn’t it? Father had an affair?”
The child didn’t fully understand what a bastard was, but she knew what it meant to have an affair.
But she was told that the Duchess was her mother. Does that mean the Duchess is a mistress?
She was accepting the incorrect knowledge, trying to fit it into a strange context, when Giladen suddenly blocked her path.
“Miss Diana!”
Startled by the unexpected shout, the child’s head dropped down like a turtle retreating into its shell.
She realized that the girl of the twins was Diana, so the boy must be Darzen. People in the slums usually give their children simple names, but these two had pretty names.
As the surroundings fell silent and Diana’s voice could no longer be heard, Giladen’s voice reached her ears.
“It is wrong to speak carelessly about others without knowing them well.”
“B, but the knights were gathered outside, and Mother and Father were really angry… So I thought mom and dad had a fight….”
“Never before have I been as disappointed in Miss Diana as I am today.”
Why was Giladen so angry? And now, Diana’s sobbing could be heard.
“G-Giladen has never been angry with me before. How can this be?”
“Miss Diana.”
“It’s all because of her, isn’t it? It’s because of her that Giladen got angry with me!”
The child was becoming curious about what was happening. When she tilted her head slightly to the side, she saw Diana crying. Then suddenly, their eyes met.
Diana’s angry eyes glared fiercely at the child.
“You are our enemy from now on!!!”
Diana shouted, as if declaring war, and Darzen joined in.
“Yes! Get out of Lucifaro right away!”
The twins stormed out of the room before Giladen could say anything, like a villain on their way out, promising to come back.
They told the child to leave, but they were the ones who left. It was a whirlwind of chaotic entrances and exits.
“Are you feeling upset?”
The child shook her head at Giladen’s question. Instead, her heart was pounding, just like when she met the Duchess.
Like in the dream, she had met the Duke and the Duchess, and now she had met the twins.
『Your sister and brother might bother you a lot. They might make you sad.』
『But please wait a little longer. There will come a time when they will love you more than anyone else.』
Even though her voice couldn’t come out, she tried to move her tongue to pronounce the words ‘Sister’ and ‘Brother’.
The child was confident in waiting more than anything else.. In the small storage room, she had always waited for her father to get drunk and fall asleep quickly, and for her brothers’ anger to dissipate.
The image of Diana and Darzen, who had smiled affectionately at her, kept coming to her mind.
No matter how long it will take she felt she could keep waiting.
She was beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t just a dream.
