Chapter 5
“Y-Mermaid’s Tears!”
The reason Duke Victoire was able to find me was partly because he tracked down the land where my voice had been heard—but ultimately, the reason I couldn’t escape his grasp was because of Mermaid’s Tears.
“We need to check whether Mermaid’s Tears, the heirloom, is still there!”
“Hey, kid, how do you even know it’s an heirloom—no, more importantly, what do you mean by ‘check’?”
“There’s a spy in the grand duke’s residence.”
I knew exactly who the spy was—the one who had funneled the Elphius family heirloom to Victoire.
“It’s not too late yet. That’s why we have to check right away.”
“A spy? There’s no way someone like that exists in the grand duke’s residence.”
“Do you really think so?”
I met his gaze head-on.
Seeing that his eyes didn’t waver, it seemed he genuinely trusted the people of his household. Unfortunately, there was something the grand duke had overlooked.
Victoire was a man handsome enough to captivate women’s hearts, and someone who wouldn’t hesitate to put on a mask and act if it benefited him.
“A maid named Rainy is Duke Victoire’s spy.”
I folded my fingers one by one, counting the years.
“I’m four years old right now… so Rainy must have been here for about three years. When Duke Victoire was looking for a spy, he excluded maids who had worked here for a long time.”
Rainy was the person whose eyes had met mine when Mermaid’s Tears was shattered—right before I died.
“Albert, check it.”
Albert left the room immediately.
I was nervous.
What if the information I knew was wrong? No—back then, I definitely saw Rainy, a maid of the grand duke’s residence.
If nothing had changed, then I had to be right.
Gulp. I swallowed my dry saliva over and over, staring fixedly at the door.
After a while, Albert returned to the office.
“Your Grace. The young lady is correct. I confirmed it with the head maid—she entered service three years ago.”
“Rainy is the spy. Duke Victoire tempted her so she’d swap Mermaid’s Tears with a fake.”
The grand duke’s eyebrow twitched.
“Swap it with a fake?”
He seemed intrigued. Seizing the moment, I nodded vigorously.
“Yes.”
“You’re certain?”
I nodded again, just as hard.
I had come here earlier than the time when Victoire would have found me. That meant the heirloom hadn’t been handed over yet.
The Grand Duke of Elphius looked at me with sharp eyes, then brushed his hair back.
“Who else knows this?”
“Only me.”
He tapped the armrest of his chair a few times, then stood up.
It looked like he intended to verify it himself.
“Stay here quietly. Albert, keep a close watch on her.”
“Yes. Ariel doesn’t have anywhere else to go anyway.”
I obediently clasped my hands together and smiled up at the grand duke.
The Grand Duke of Elphius sent the head maid to search Rainy’s room. Among her belongings, they found a pearl identical in appearance to Mermaid’s Tears.
“I just wanted to show it to my lover. He said he’d only borrow it for a bit and return it! That’s why I did it!”
She clung to them, claiming she’d been too afraid to actually switch it out and had only hesitated. Her record showed she went out quite often.
She said it was to meet her lover. Until the very end, she refused to reveal who that lover was.
Given how everything aligned with what Ariel had said, that lover was likely Victoire.
Even if they squeezed her for the truth, he would surely deny everything.
Rainy was dealt with quietly. As if she had never existed, she disappeared without a sound.
The Grand Duke of Elphius looked at Ariel, asleep while curled up in a chair.
Everyone knew that she was under the protection of the Sea God, but very few knew of the heirloom that served as proof of that god.
It was certainly strange that Ariel knew about the existence of a spy. Still, it was hard to immediately believe her claim that she was the Sea God’s daughter.
There were no people with blue hair—but she could have dyed it.
The grand duke recalled Ariel’s face as she struggled desperately not to cry.
If she was a child, she should have cried like one. Instead, she had clenched her teeth as if she must not cry, no matter what. That bothered him.
Even his own prickly son, Tirier, had cried incessantly when he was young.
The more he thought about it, the stranger the child seemed.
“Albert. Why is this kid sleeping here?”
“She didn’t move an inch. Perhaps because of what you said, Your Grace.”
Impossible.
“Stay here quietly. Albert, keep a close watch on her.”
It had been a passing remark as he left the office.
Yet even though quite some time had passed while he investigated the truth, she seemed to have waited for him right there.
“What a truly odd child.”
Blue hair lay scattered over the chair.
Watching her—her hair rippling like waves, her small body curled up and motionless in sleep—he bent down and took in Ariel’s face.
Her snow-white cheeks were plump, and her tightly closed lips trembled faintly.
She looked so fragile, as if she might shatter at the slightest touch. He wondered whether such a being could survive in this place.
A faint, steady breathing reached his ears. It was so quiet you wouldn’t notice it unless you listened closely.
“Your Grace. What shall we do?”
Albert asked cautiously, concern etched all over his face.
“You’re not thinking of throwing out a sleeping child, are you…?”
“And just what kind of man do you and everyone else in this residence take me for?”
“Well… someone cold, heartless, and—”
…Cold? Heartless?
Just what kind of image did I have?
The Grand Duke of Elphius stared at Ariel for a long while without saying a word.
Gasp!
My eyes flew open. Darkness surrounded me. Before I could even panic, my breath caught.
“Mm—!”
It was stifling. I couldn’t breathe!
Am I dying? Am I going to die again? I don’t want to—I’m scared of dying again…!
Fear surged as something pressed down on my body. Or maybe they’d decided I was useless and locked me away.
Terrifying thoughts raced through my mind. It felt like my breath would give out any second.
“N-No… I don’t want to die… Please save me…!”
I stretched out my arms and legs in the pitch-black space, trying to escape, but it was useless.
Whatever had trapped me wouldn’t budge, no matter how much I struggled.
“P-Please save me…! Ariel is useful… Please…!”
I’m scared. Please help me. Anyone—please help me.
I’d been happy, even if only briefly, to be alive again—was I really going to die like this, so pointlessly?
No. I don’t want that.
This time, I wanted to survive and stop what had happened before.
“…Or maybe not.”
Since I hadn’t fallen into Victoire’s hands, things were already different from before. Then wouldn’t disappearing be better for everyone?
Maybe preventing it from ever happening was better than taking revenge on Victoire.
Even if I died, no one would grieve. The only ones who knew of my existence were people in the Elphius grand ducal residence.
I was just a useless existence. Maybe vanishing like this would help everyone.
The strength drained from my struggling hands. Still—I didn’t want to die.
“I’m scared.”
My last, horrific memories began to crawl back up.
“Hic… I want to live…”
At that moment, the weight pressing down on me vanished.
At the same time, my vision brightened. Through eyes blurred with tears, a pair of blue eyes came into view.
His tall frame and broad shoulders, his golden hair—it all seemed to glow.
“…Good grief. No—wait. Are you crying?”
The Grand Duke of Elphius looked flustered.
Seeing me sobbing miserably, he hesitated, unsure of what to do, then suddenly lifted me up.
“Waaah!”
The warmth broke the dam, and the tears I’d been holding back spilled out.
“To think you’d beg for your life just because you were trapped in a blanket.”
…Huh?
Sniffling, I looked down. There, plainly visible, was a thick blanket.
“I thought you locked me up because I wasn’t needed anymore… I thought you were going to throw me away where no one would know… Hic…”
“I won’t throw you away, so stop crying.”
The grand duke lifted me into his arms.
As he gently patted my back, relief washed over me—and the tears kept falling.
