“Sophia! Come catch me! Hurry!”
“Coming!”
‘They get along so well.’
Considering Sophia’s mental age, it made sense that she would get along well with Liazell.
Since Sophia wasn’t given any tasks while Philome was reviewing reports, she had free time to play with Liazell, which made Philome feel happy.
“Hmm? Miss?”
At Sophia’s call, Liazell, who had been running ahead, turned her head.
As their eyes met, Philome smiled and waved.
“Philome!”
Liazell also smiled brightly and waved back.
Philome leaned against the window frame and asked, “Were you having fun?”
“Yes!”
“Aren’t you hungry? Shall we go have dinner?”
“Yes, please!”
Liazell nodded eagerly, her eyes sparkling.
After playing all day, there was no way she wouldn’t be hungry.
“Come in. Let’s go to the dining room.”
After quickly finishing the remaining reports, Philome left her office and spotted Liazell walking towards her, not far away.
“Philome! Are you done with work?”
Liazell dashed over and grabbed Philome’s hand.
“Yep. All done. What did you do today?”
Holding hands affectionately, the two headed toward the dining room, chatting as they walked.
“I played tag with Sophia and took a walk in the garden. Oh, we also did some coloring and studying.”
“Wow, you did all that in just one day? That’s amazing!”
At Philome’s praise, Liazell shyly smiled.
Philome gently brushed Liazell’s messy hair aside with her hand. Liazell accepted Philome’s touch with calmness.
Although she no longer felt pain, receiving Philome’s gentle touch still felt wonderful. It was a touch filled with affection, like that of Bear and Emma.
In fact, Liazell had immediately recognized that Philome was Kaien’s fiancée when she first met her, as she overheard in conversations between Bear and Emma.
‘The Duke is engaged. I hope it won’t affect our lady.’
‘Bear, don’t worry. The Duke wouldn’t have such poor judgment. He must have found a suitable match.’
‘But I can’t shake the feeling of unease. What if, what if the Duke’s fiancée learns about our lady…?’
Both were concerned about Liazell.
Liazell trusts her uncle, who visits her from time to time, but she wasn’t completely free of anxiety. She wasn’t healthy. She might die before becoming an adult. She couldn’t understand why her uncle would consider her as a successor.
So when Philome and Kaien came to visit together, she felt puzzled and anxious. She had no idea what they would say.
Despite her worries, she hoped her uncle wouldn’t abandon her, so Liazell intended to tell Philome directly that she had never desired the position of successor.
And Philome—
‘Liazell, you won’t be in pain anymore.’
She kept that promise.
After that, the pain that had tormented Liazell without pause disappeared like cotton candy touching water.
Though it hadn’t been even a month since she met Philome, Liazell genuinely liked her. Really.
Sometimes, she marveled at how it was possible to like someone so much in such a short time. To Liazell, Philome was a precious and grateful person who had taken away her terrible suffering.
Liazell closed her eyes and then opened them, feeling her touch.
She was so happy with her current life. Contrary to Bear’s concerns, no problems had arisen since she came to the Duke’s household.
There were no servants who ignored Liazell, so Bear and Emma were starting to relax their worries. Everyone was satisfied with the peaceful life in the Duke’s residence.
But there was one thing.
“Oh dear.”
There was an unexpected rival.
“Are you trying to exclude me?”
That rival was her uncle, Kaien.
“Duke, you showed up just in time.”
Even though it wasn’t a scheduled meeting, Philome’s eyes widened in surprise at his timely arrival.
“Well, I had this,” Kaien said, tapping his ear.
“I overheard your conversation, and it seems I was completely left out.”
Philome suddenly felt awkward, remembering how loudly she had been talking with Liazell.
“So I had no choice but to come find you,” Kaien said as he approached.
Liazell tightened her grip on Philome’s hand.
At that, Kaien’s eyes narrowed.
When Liazell saw Kaien, she quickly stuck out her tongue and clung even closer to Philome.
“Hah.”
Kaien was taken aback.
He never imagined that his rival would be his own niece. Perhaps because Liazell had a good sense of being a transcendent being, she started to see Kaien as a competitor.
Kaien, in turn, felt a sense of jealousy toward his much younger niece, making it a tie.
“I couldn’t possibly forget the Duke. I was just about to send someone.”
“Really?”
Philome smiled brightly and avoided answering.
Kaien tried to quietly stand next to Philome, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.
‘What are you doing?’
As Philome communicated with her gaze, Kaien shrugged as if to say, “What’s the big deal?”
Philome quickly glanced at Liazell.
In the end, Kaien had to go to Liazell’s side and hold her hand alongside Philome.
As Liazell found herself holding only Kaien’s hand, she felt happy and began to skip along lightly.
‘She must be feeling good holding Kaien’s hand.’
Unaware that she was misinterpreting the situation, Philome felt a sense of pride as she looked at the two of them.
Individually, they didn’t seem to resemble each other much, but together, perhaps because of their similar hair color, it was easy to feel that their features were alike.
If Kaien was a cat, Liazell was a puppy. However, the unique silver hair gave them a similar vibe.
Seeing the two of them holding hands side by side felt like a refreshing cleansing of the eyes and heart.
Mealtime was cheerful.
Liazell, sitting across from Philome, ate eagerly to earn compliments. However, Kaien, having lived a decade or so longer than Liazell, acted differently. He cut the food into bite-sized pieces for Liazell, distracting her attention.
In the end, both were eagerly looking after each other to monopolize Philome’s praise.
This continued even when they moved on to dessert.
The tension ended only after Liazell, having lost her battle against drowsiness for the fifteenth time, stumbled out of the room.
“Now, finally, it’s just the two of us left.”
It was true that spending most of his time at home had increased her moments with Philome. However, Liazell had been with them almost every moment.
Because of this, the only time Philome could spend alone with him was only nighttime.
Kaien whispered slowly. Perhaps it was because of a few buttons that had come undone leisurely, or maybe it was the darkness settling outside, but his words somehow sounded strangely alluring.
Philome cleared her throat and, after averting her gaze from Kaien, spoke.
“Do you really want to compete with a child like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
At first, Philome was uncertain, but she had been convinced since a few days ago.
Kaien and Liazell maintained an awkward yet ambiguous relationship, but strangely enough, they kept competing. Not for anything else, but to hear compliments about themselves.
She definitely thought it was a delusion.
She found it hard to believe that Kaien would compete with a much younger child just to hear praise about himself.
“Why do you keep trying to compete with Liazell?”
“It’s because you’re only paying attention to Liazell. Does that mean I’m no longer needed?”
Kaien furrowed his brows and put on a pitiful expression.
“What do you mean by that?”
She couldn’t understand how his thoughts led in that direction.
“Hmm?”
Kaien leaned closer to Philome, who was deeply sunk into the backrest. He lightly tapped her hand that was holding the teacup.
“Forget that and hold my hand properly.”
Philome set down her teacup and turned her hand over to show him her palm.
There was a clear purpose to their nightly meetings.
Kaien would soon be staying in the North for three months. Although he would return occasionally, she thought it would be best to maintain consistent contact before then, so they were meeting every day.
Kaien’s fingertips swept up her palm like a snake, intertwining their fingers.
It was due to Kaien’s belief that the feeling of their fingers deeply entwined was more effective than just holding hands.
