“Melody!”
Joseph came resisting, staggering, finally freed from prison.
His legs gave out several times, causing him to fall. He was overwhelmed with joy to see his little sister again and hugged her tightly, crying.
“Melody, sniffle, Melody.”
“Big brother?”
Melody, wrapping her arms tightly around Joseph’s neck, began to cry along with him.
“Why are you crying, big brother?”
“Just… I’m so happy to see you again, my Melody.”
“big brother, I’m so happy to see you too!”
Joseph then held her by the shoulders and carefully looked her over from top to bottom.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Did any scary men do anything to you?”
“I’m not hurt! The scary men were frightening, but I’m okay!”
Melody answered cheerfully, unaware of the anxiety her brother had suffered.
“That’s good. Really, I’m so glad…”
Joseph sobbed again. At a signal from Duke Adrian, the maids gently pulled Melody away from Joseph.
“Come now, young lady. Shall we go have a snack together?”
“Really? Are there lots of yummy things?”
“Of course.”
“But what about Brother?”
“He’ll be along soon. You go ahead and eat first.”
“Okay! Brother, I’m going ahead!”
Melody waved to Joseph and followed the maids out of the room.
Duke Adrian spoke softly to Joseph, who was still shedding tears.
“Don’t worry too much. Just like she said, Melody actually did quite well.”
“But how…? She was definitely taken as a hostage.”
“It seems Melody has considerable talent for magic. They were probably planning to raise her as a mage and use her. That’s likely why she was kept alive even after everything went to ruin.”
Joseph blinked, not fully understanding at first, then clenched his fists as the realization hit him.
“They were planning to use Melody too, just like they used me. And I didn’t even know…!”
“Still, it turned out for the best. Thanks to that, Melody is safe.”
“……”
“As I said earlier, Melody will be staying with the House of Adrian. If you behave well, we plan to sponsor her and raise her as a magician. Celine has already agreed to teach her.”
Magic wasn’t something just anyone could learn — especially not commoners. Even those with talent often couldn’t receive proper training and let their gifts go to waste.
But being taught directly by a mage from the House of Adrian? That was a tremendous honor.
Joseph, still dazed, finally understood what the duke was saying and dropped to his knees before him.
“Thank you, Your Grace. Truly, thank you.”
“This time, you should thank Rosette. It was her decision.”
“The young lady…”
Joseph stood up abruptly.
“May I go see her?”
“Alright.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll come back later to formally thank you again.”
Still a bit unsteady on his feet, Joseph turned and ran inside. Duke Adrian watched him go before heading to his office.
He was ready to bring everything to a close.
Melody’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the fancy snacks she had never seen before.
“Can I really eat these?”
Joanne answered with a smile.
“Of course.”
Even so, Melody hesitated—so Rosette, who was sitting across from her, placed a checkered cookie in the girl’s hand.
It was the same gesture Lucas had once done for Rosette when she had hesitated in front of a grand breakfast.
Melody hesitated for a moment, then took a bite of the cookie—and her eyes lit up. Rosette asked her cautiously,
“Is it good?”
“Mmhmm.”
That was the spark—Melody began munching away at the snacks enthusiastically. Following her lead, Rosette nibbled at a treat too, then worked up the courage to continue the conversation.
“How old are you?”
“Me? I’m eight! You?”
“I’m eight too.”
“Then we’re friends?”
“Friends?”
Rosette blinked, confused.
“We’re the same age, so we’re friends. Why? Don’t you want to be?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. It was just… the word “friend” felt a little unfamiliar.
Of course, she’d had friends her age at the orphanage too.
But somehow, the word “friend” when used for those kids felt different than when it was used for Melody and herself.
Not bad at all.
In fact, it felt kind of nice. Rosette felt a soft bubbling warmth in her chest and tapped her feet lightly in excitement.
“Since we’re both going to learn magic from Sister Celine, let’s get along, okay?”
“Okay!”
Joanne, who had been listening to the girls’ cheerful chatter, hesitated for a moment.
Strictly speaking, Rosette—being a noble from a ducal family—and Melody, a commoner, couldn’t be friends.
But since Rosette liked her, Joanne decided to let it be for now.
If Melody becomes a magician later, she might be granted knighthood or a noble title. It would be nice if they really could become friends…
That was her hopeful thought.
Just then, a quiet knock came at the door, and Joseph Osser stepped inside.
“Big brother!”
Melody jumped down from the sofa and ran over. Joseph lifted her up high.
“Big brother, try this! It’s super tasty!”
“Were you having snacks, my Melody?”
“Yup!”
“But I have something to talk about with the young lady. Can you hop down for a minute?”
“Okay!”
After setting Melody down, Joseph approached Rosette and knelt on one knee.
“Thank you, my lady. Thanks to you, I was able to save Melody.”
“It’s because you changed your mind.”
“Still, if it weren’t for you, the Duke wouldn’t have made it out safely, and I never would have found Melody.”
“……”
Joseph placed his right fist over his left chest—a knight’s salute.
Strictly speaking, as a squire, Joseph wasn’t allowed to make such a gesture. But Rosette said nothing and simply watched him.
“I haven’t officially received a knighthood yet, so I can’t swear a knight’s oath. But there’s one thing I can promise. From now on, I will live for you, my lady.”
“For me?”
“Yes. My life belongs to you alone. And if I am ever formally knighted, I will swear the knight’s vow to you.”
He glanced at Rosette, checking for her reaction.
Quietly, Melody crept closer and mimicked her big brother, kneeling on one knee in front of Rosette as well.
Rosette looked at the two pairs of blue eyes staring up at her, then nodded.
“Alright.”
“Thank you, my lady!”
“Thank you!”
The three of them exchanged shy, happy smiles.
None of them knew it would take only one more year for Joseph Osser to officially swear the knight’s vow to Rosette.
“No connection at all. Is this really the best offer we’ve got?”
Duke Adrian put down the report and rubbed his eyes in frustration. His aide lowered his head apologetically.
“We searched as thoroughly as possible… I’m sorry, sir.”
Viscount Charnet—the man behind this incident—had harbored resentment toward Duke Adrian for the past six months, ever since the Duke proposed a certain policy to the emperor.
It seemed that Charnet believed the proposal would pass if Duke Adrian were eliminated, and had devised this plot to remove him.
That was the explanation on the surface.
But almost no one truly believed that was all there was to it.
Duke Adrian was certain that someone was pulling the strings behind Viscount Charnet. So he mobilized all the intelligence resources of House Adrian to uncover the true mastermind behind the incident.
But nothing came to light.
“Viscount Charnet isn’t the type to plan something this meticulous. Are we supposed to believe he planted two spies in House Adrian with just his family’s intelligence network? That’s absurd.”
“I’ll look into it further.”
After the aide left, Duke Adrian opened his eyes again, which he had briefly closed in thought.
He mulled over something his eldest son, Daniel, had said not long ago.
—Father, actually, Rose said something strange a while ago.
—What did she say?
—She told me to be careful when riding in a carriage.
—A carriage?
—Yes. In the end, it was you who ended up in the carriage accident, not me, but I couldn’t ignore what she said. That’s why I’m telling you.
Daniel had added something else, too.
—His Highness Joshua said something similar…
—Prince Joshua?
—Yes. He also warned me about a carriage accident. Technically, Prince Joshua said it first, but the timing of both warnings was very close.
Both Joshua and Rosette had warned Daniel to be careful about carriages—at nearly the same time?
That was certainly unusual.
So, after parting with Daniel, Duke Adrian had gone to speak with Joseph Orser, just to be sure.
—Is it possible the real target wasn’t just me, but Daniel as well?
But Joseph’s answer had been firm: “No.” Without the slightest hesitation, he had said the unknown enemy was targeting Duke Adrian specifically.
Even if the people involved were different, the carriage accident had undeniably occurred.
Duke Adrian couldn’t ignore that. Tapping his fingers on the desk, he eventually stood up—off to visit his beloved youngest daughter.
When Duke Adrian arrived at Rosette’s room, she was still chatting with Melody.
“Rose.”
Melody, who had been chattering away, suddenly froze.
“Miss Melody, shall we go see your big brother?”
Quick-witted Joann gently led Melody out of the room.
Only Rosette and Duke Adrian remained.
What is he going to say?
Rosette tensed slightly, sensing something different in her father’s expression.
Even though everything had ended well, it was clear the Duke still had something on his mind.
Sure enough, he asked subtly, after sitting across from her:
“Rose, I heard you said something to Daniel the other day.”
“What do you mean?”
She had a pretty good idea, but pretended not to.
“They say you told Daniel to be careful when riding in a carriage.”
Rosette had always known this question would come someday. Calmly, she gave the answer she’d prepared ahead of time.
“When I was in the village, I heard a lot of stories about carriage accidents. That’s why I said it.”
“But why say that only to Daniel? Didn’t you worry about me, or Isabelle, or Lucas?”
Rosette shook her head quickly.
“I did worry.”
“Then why only him?”
The Duke looked slightly hurt as he asked.
“Because…!”
Rosette hesitated for a moment, then spread her arms wide and beamed.
“Because Daddy is the strongest Sword Master in the world!”
In other words, there was no need to worry about him.
