“This may seem rather sudden, but…”
“……”
“The Duke said that most necessities are already in place. If there are any items you need to bring, he will have a servant move them later. For now, he emphasized that relocating to the new room is the top priority.”
By the time the servant finished speaking, the child had already sat up from his lying position. With wide eyes opened in disbelief and lips pressed tightly together, the child cleared his throat and asked.
“So… I wasn’t going to live here forever…?”
“When you first returned to the main house, I believe the butler explained that this was a temporary accommodation.”
“That…That’s true, but…”
But the problem was that he had said that nearly four months ago. The child hesitated to voice this complaint directly to the servant and instead glanced at Ellie, eyes rolling in uncertainty.
Seeing his plea for help, Ellie approached and spoke,
– Why don’t we go take a look first? If it took this long to prepare, I think Daddy must have given you a splendid room. If not…
“……”
– If you don’t like it, you can go lie down and refuse to move. You could even let the kitchen know to spice up the soup before dinner with plenty of spices.
“……?”
The child tilted his head further and further as Ellie spoke until it was practically at a 90-degree angle. He looked as if he had heard something utterly strange, but Ellie was quite serious.
She already knew that Rutus wasn’t good with spicy food. She was eager to see how well the room was prepared.
‘They must have had everything ready by now.’
She thought that if they had merely replaced some furniture and carpets, making her wait this long, Rutus deserved some payback if it didn’t meet expectations.
Of course, it was the child who would take that action, not her.
“The new quarters are not on this floor but directly below. It’s the room adjacent to the center of the second-floor hallway, so you can go straight down.”
“……”
“…If it’s difficult to move right now, I will go back and inform the Duke.”
“Uh… huh?”
Caught up in the conversation with Ellie, the child had unintentionally left the servant standing there. The servant, who had been watching the situation carefully, finally spoke cautiously.
Seeing the child hesitating, Ellie decided to step in. She reached out and poked the child’s shoulder with her finger.
– What would you like to do, Adi?
“……”
– From what the servant says, it seems that the room is right next to Dad’s—
“I, I’ll go! I want to go!”
“…Pardon?”
“Let’s go!”
Before Ellie could finish her sentence, the child jumped up from the bed and ran towards the servant.
“T-then I will guide you immediately.”
The servant, bewildered by the sudden change, quickly regained composure and nodded, leading the child away.
Following them quietly, they descended the stairs.
As they stopped in front of the door, exactly where she expected, Ellie pursed her lips slightly.
Then the door opened.
“Wow…”
-……
The child opened his eyes wide and looked around the room, while Ellie gazed in disbelief, glancing around in a daze.
‘This is… exactly the room I had prepared back then.’
The room’s appearance was slightly different from when she had seen it before going to the annex to find the child.
It wasn’t like an enormous amount of time had passed, enough to turn the room into a ruin.
Spaces that aren’t used usually show signs of age over time. That was also true of the room she had prepared for the child.
“This… I can use this room?”
“Yes.”
Yet, the room looked pristine, exactly as it had when she first showed it to Rutus, without a single sign of fading.
There was not a trace of the passage of time.
As if to answer Ellie’s thoughts, the butler spoke,
“I heard that this was the room the late Duchess had prepared for the young master. However, as quite some time had passed…”
“……”
“Even though the servants took turns maintaining it, they couldn’t preserve it perfectly. It wasn’t suitable for immediate use. Moreover, the Duke wished for the young master to inherit the room as it was, left by the madam, so—”
In summary, it took a long time because they had called craftsmen to restore the room.
So, the reason it took so long to prepare a proper room was not because Rutus had been delaying or lazy…
‘Did they really… not change anything and just restore everything as it was?’
Back then, they had scoured the entire country to find every skilled craftsman to prepare this room.
Given how much time had passed, it must have been difficult to track down and gather those same artisans again to fill the gap.
Ellie’s mouth opened in astonishment.
The servant handed something over to the child from the corner of the room.
“The Duke also instructed me to give this to the young master. And…”
“……”
“He also said, ‘Happy birthday, though it’s late.'”
The child, who received the doll small enough to fit snugly in his arms, slightly parted his lips. He continued to fidget with the stuffed rabbit as if confirming the feel of it in his hands.
Though it was clear that it had been well cared for, it was an old object, with signs of wear from years of use—a stuffed rabbit doll.
Considering it was a gift from the head of the Empire’s Dukedom, it seemed rather shabby… but…
– He kept that all this time? Without throwing it away?
Ellie, recognizing the toy, couldn’t help but feel astonished.
It was something from a long time ago, when Ellie and Rutus were slightly older than the child is now.
[[Hey, why are you always reading books over there? Don’t you get bored?]
[It’s none of your business. Stop bothering me and go away.]
[I came here to read too, you know? Besides, this is my house. I don’t want to leave; I’ll stay right here!]
[……]
[Hey, wait! Hold on! I didn’t mean for you to leave! Don’t go!]
It was a day when Ellie had unintentionally provoked Rutus into almost starting a fight, even though she had no intention of doing so.
She had only been wandering around, wanting to play with him, without considering Rutus’s situation.
Looking back now, she thought he might have been hurt by it.
[This is your house, but if you don’t want to leave, what am I supposed to do? Does it mean you want me to leave? As if I’m here because I want to be.]
[Yeah, you’re right. I said the wrong thing. I’m sorry. I apologize.]
[……]
[So, we’re friends now, right?]
[…What?]
[Here, a present! To commemorate us becoming friends. My mom made this doll for me. I had to beg for it, so you’d better take good care of it.]
She had pushed the gift onto him, declaring their newfound friendship, even though it wasn’t her most tactful moment.
Though it might have seemed reckless at the time, given Rutus’s personality, it was probably the only way they could have become friends.
In hindsight, she thought it wasn’t such a bad approach.
From then on, every time Ellie visited Rutus’s room, she would see the doll sitting by the window.
After graduating from the academy, Rutus returned to Ratcliffe to inherit his title, and at some point, Ellie lost track of the doll’s whereabouts.
‘Even after we got married…’
She hadn’t seen it, so she assumed it had been discarded.
After all, he was too old to play with dolls.
Even Ellie, who had given the doll, had forgotten about it over time.
-……
But to think he had kept it all this time.
“It’s… it’s cute… smells nice.”
The child mumbled, rubbing the doll against his flushed cheek.
With the restored room and the doll that had clearly been cherished, Ellie suddenly felt her breath catch.
She pressed her hand to her forehead and bit her lip.
‘…Ah.’
She now recalled that Rutus was not the type of person to easily open up to others or act warmly.
She had forgotten, likely because that never applied to her.
But now, she remembered.
Rutus was never someone you could easily describe as thoughtful or deeply considerate, even in passing.
“But… is this really connected to Daddy’s room?”
“Yes. Originally, the size of this bedroom was about two-thirds of what it is now, with a drawing room in between. That wall was removed to expand the space.”
“Wow…”
“So, if you open the door beside the bed, it will lead directly to the Duke’s quarters.”
“Ooooh…”
The child, who had been touring the room, sat down on the bed, eyes sparkling as he listened to the servant’s explanation.
Watching him, Ellie stared blankly at her own hands.
Until now, she had thought that simply giving the child things without a single explanation or excuse for neglecting him was nothing more than avoiding and running away.
-……
It cannot be said with certainty that crying and clinging to the child were the only ways to apologize.
With his unsociable personality, he made an effort to match the child’s conversation, gathered craftsmen after inquiries to restore the room, and handed over his cherished doll into the child’s hands…
Perhaps, in his own way, this was Rutus’s form of atonement.
It’s true that he used this method because he couldn’t muster the courage to speak directly.
But since Ellie wasn’t the one who deserved the apology, she had no right to criticize him for not atoning in the way she wanted.
“Where’s Daddy right now?”
“At this hour, he is likely in his study…”
“Can I go see him?”
“He didn’t forbid visits, but he tends to be rather sharp when he’s working, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Hmm… then could you thank him for the room and the doll for me?”
“Understood.”
After thinking about it, I don’t think Daddy hates me after all. At those softly spoken words, just quiet enough that the servant couldn’t hear, Ellie lowered her gaze.
The child already knew it.
She felt like a fool.
* * *
And that evening.
“……”
“……”
“I… I’m going to sleep here tonight.”
The child, clutching the stuffed rabbit doll he had received as a gift to his side, declared this as he entered Rutus’s bedroom.
* * * *
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