“Duke.”
His purple eyes scanned the surroundings with a somber gaze. Everyone knew how low his mood was, making it difficult to approach him easily. Only the butler, who took care of the child, dared to call for the Duke.
“What about the child?”
The Duke didn’t call her ‘Gratia.’
When he, the head of the house, calls a name, it has power. The moment the Duke referred to her as ‘Gratia,’ every member of the Lucifaro family had to acknowledge and accept her.
Giladen, knowing this, wasn’t saddened by the fact that the Duke didn’t call her by name. He will need time to accept the child as well.
“She has fallen asleep. For now, she has been moved to the guest room in the mansion. We have assessed her nutritional status and basic temperament, but for anything beyond that, it seems we need to bring in a specialist.”
“What do you mean, anything beyond that?”
“I am referring to psychological issues.”
A faint sound of teeth grinding escaped the Duke’s lips.
“What does the butler think?”
“Are you asking if she is indeed Gratia?”
“And her basic temperament and current state.”
“Yes. She bears a striking resemblance to the late Duchess. I am certain she is Gratia. Also, her nutritional status is not too bad. Although she has a very small stature, she is still in the growth phase, so she should be fine.”
The Duke handed over the report he had been holding to Giladen.
He had sent his knights to scour the slums, capturing the family and all of their close associates. They were being held in the underground cells of an annex a short distance from the mansion.
Giladen had the authority to interrogate them and read the reports that were brought back. After reading the report for a while, he fell silent.
“If the contents of this report are true….”
The report crinkled in Giladen’s hand.
“It seems that Miss Gratia is in a better condition than expected. We should still consult with specialists to get a more detailed assessment, but her aversion to others and her response to unfamiliar situations are not as severe as anticipated.”
“She suffers from mutism, doesn’t want to get away from Bizan, and gets excessively startled by even small things, yet you consider her condition ‘better’?”
Giladen’s response was unexpected. Of all people, he had expected him to be the most upset and worried, but his response was surprisingly calm.
Was her condition better than they thought, given the reports of physical and emotional abuse? Typically, in cases of abuse, the person affected cannot even make eye contact with others, cowering in a corner, trembling, and unable to do anything.
The report was filled with instances of abuse that were too difficult to put into words. Just looking at the testimonies of acquaintances, one could understand the extent of it. But what would happen if the victim of abuse herself were to start speaking up?
When the family was interrogated, all they did was deny everything.
“I have never done such a thing!”
“We raised her diligently even in our impoverished environment!”
They spouted lies as easily as one could expect.
“When I showed them my brother’s necklace, they became contemplative and insisted they didn’t know it.”
“Of course they know what necklace it is.”
“He had two sons. When I questioned them separately, they casually mentioned that their father had it until recently.”
Now there was clear evidence.
The woman who disappeared after giving the necklace and the letter had been caught, but there was no longer any need to verify the child’s identity. The Duke himself felt that she was Lucifaro as soon as he saw her.
“For the time being, we should find someone suitable to care for the child.”
“But shouldn’t we visit the temple?”
“I will go. What about you? What would you like to do?”
What the Duke was asking Giladen was what he wanted for the child, how he felt about “Gratia,” and what she meant to him.
“For the time being, I would like to have some assistance with the butler’s duties. I won’t completely abandon my duties, but I want to assist Gratia and watch over her closely.”
In the Lucifaro family, there were only the Duke, the Duchess, and their twin son and daughter as direct relatives. However, there were countless other aspects of managing the mansion that needed attention. Giladen wanted to postpone those tasks for a while with the help of others.
“Very well. If there is anything else the child needs, please let me know.”
“Miss Gratia is strong, and I’m sure she’ll get better soon.”
“Strong, you say?”
“She may be mute, but she doesn’t hesitate to express herself. At first, she was anxious, but even when separated from Bizan, she moved well and slept in unfamiliar places. She is definitely a strong person.”
According to what he heard from Bizan, it seemed that they didn’t have a particularly close relationship.
It was just a strange set of circumstances. It also meant that she didn’t have a strong aversion to other people. Despite growing up in the worst conditions, it was the best outcome one could hope for.
“Are you okay, Your Grace?”
Giladen asked with concern, and the Duke let out a wry smile. It was by no means a pleasant smile.
The sudden and unexpected death of the former Duke, his brother, with the inability to find the culprit, and the inability to even locate his brother’s child. Amidst all this, the only child of his late brother returned after suffering abuse in the slums.
“Am I okay? How could I be?”
It’s been 10 years. Ten years of searching for the killer and the missing child, believing they were alive.
The culprit who killed his brother couldn’t possibly be a beggar from the slums. His brother was the commander of the Royal Magic Knights. Maybe the beggar knows something.
Now it was time to find out.
“You can go now.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The foreboding aura around the Duke didn’t diminish as the butler left.
× × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × ×
As soon as the child opened her eyes, she looked around quickly. She was lying on a large bed, and there was a blanket behind her back. It was so soft that it felt like an angel’s robe, so she had been caressing it repeatedly, finding comfort in its softness.
As she opened her eyes again, she gently touched the blanket, feeling the softness of her fingertips, which made her feel better.
“Do you like the blanket?”
At the sound of a voice coming from somewhere, the child clutched the blanket and quickly moved to the end of the bed. When she turned her head to find the source of the sound, she saw Giladen standing at the door.
Why was he standing there? Was she going to be punished?
“Good morning, Miss Gratia.”
Giladen knocked on the door and stepped closer. Did he have a reason for knocking on the door?
After a while, some women came in carrying towels, a large basin, and a bucket of water in their hands. A small table was placed next to the bed, and a large basin was placed on top of it.
Water flowed smoothly into the basin, and the women stood in a row around it.
“We’ll start by teaching you how to wash.”
‘How to wash? I know how to wash.’
Giladen placed something in her hand and walked out of the room.
And then Rosa, the head maid, came in. The child, who had been caressing the thing in her hand, sniffed it curiously and widened her eyes.
A sweet fragrance emanated from the small bead-like object.
“I suppose this is your first time seeing soap.”
This is soap?
The soap she knew was not like this.
It was rough and had a sharp smell!
While the child’s attention was focused on the soap, Rosa quietly approached the end of the bed. To overcome any resistance and capture the child’s interest, she had already gathered a variety of toys, aromatic oils, and flowers.
It was still before breakfast, but just in case, a variety of colorful snacks were prepared.
All she had to do was pull the child out of the corner of the bed.
× × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × ×
The people wearing the same clothes were called maids. Their leader was the head maid, Rosa. The child nodded repeatedly, recalling the new things she had learned today.
Each one of them gave the child a gift.
Some gave cookies, some gave toys, and some gave scented pouches. Blind kindness, gifts without reason or expectation, brand new and beautiful objects she had never seen before—everything was a first for the child, and she couldn’t collect herself.
So, she absorbed everything they taught her like a sponge absorbs water. Any initial hesitation and fear were soon forgotten. It was because pink bubbles appeared in the soap.
“You shouldn’t put soap on the table when you eat.”
When she placed the rainbow-colored soap and the pink soap on the table, Rosa took them away. She said she would keep it in the bathroom and told her to use it every time she washed, so she looked at the bathroom the whole time she was eating.
She wanted to wash up again. Warm water was nice.
“You should hold the fork in your left hand and the knife in your right hand.”
The child couldn’t hold it properly, and the knife kept slipping. The maids repeatedly put away a knife.
“You must never pick up anything that falls on the floor.”
It seemed to be a rule here. Nobody ate like that at the child’s home.
The child diligently memorized the rules of this place, the foods that could only be eaten here, and the cookies that were given as rewards for doing well.
It wasn’t until much later that she was shocked to discover that the food changed every time.
× × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × ×
Giladen handed a large notepad and colored pencils to the child, saying she could draw or write if she had anything she wanted to say. It was the first time she had seen colored pencils, and she was even more surprised to find out that they had 64 different colors.
He asked her to draw something, so she carefully chose a color and drew a house. She drew a triangle and a rectangle beneath it, added windows, and drew her family from the slums next to it.
She wondered who these people were. They were her father, mother, and siblings, but if the people in this grand mansion were her real family, who were these people? Why had she been living with them, and why had she only now met her real family? Could she live together with her real family?
While looking at the drawing on the paper, Giladen hesitated for a moment, his lips trembling.
“I’m sorry, Miss Gratia. Forgive me for not being able to say anything yet.”
The child’s pupils moved around, trying to read Giladen’s face. Her expression made him smile bitterly.
“A little later, Madam Nea, I mean the Duchess, will take Miss Gratia to the temple. After that, you will hear everything, so please wait a little longer.”
The temple? The child’s eyes began to sparkle with excitement.
She had heard stories about the temple, too. Even people from the slums believed in gods. In fact, there were more stories about the temple than about the nobles.
She had heard someone talk about the temple before. That person had never been there, but they shared what they had heard with her.
‘A beautiful building where angels are said to come down at any moment.’
She couldn’t believe she was going there. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and nervousness. Then she remembered something important.
Nea! The Duchess’s name is Nea. It would have been nice if she knew how to write. Then she could have written it down on paper.
The child happily wiggled her legs under the chair and began to draw, filled with excitement.
This time, she would draw Nea.
