VDHI 04

The Duke gently pulled Leponya closer, slipped his hands under both of her arms, and lifted her up high again just like before.

‘Eek.’

She had been slung over someone’s shoulder like baggage before, but this was the first time she had ever been lifted into the air like this. Startled, Leponya instinctively grabbed tightly onto Duke Krytan’s wrists.

“…Oh.”

The Duke gave a short reaction and lifted Leponya even higher into the air.

For a five-year-old, her small body rose up lightly.

“Is it fun?”

Leponya, who had been glaring at him warily the whole time, made a flustered expression.

“P-put me down!”

How old was she for this kind of game…? Besides, there were too many people watching.

Feeling heat rush to her face, Leponya squeezed her eyes shut.

At the same time, she heard a soft snort of laughter. Slowly opening the eyes she had tightly shut, she looked at him.

“Now you finally look like a proper five-year-old.”

The Duke gazed at Leponya with a satisfied expression.

Behind him, the butler approached.

Their eyes met. The moment the butler saw Leponya’s face, he flinched in shock and froze in place as though nailed to the floor.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

The butler, pale as a sheet, cautiously asked,

“Your Grace, this little guest is—”

“Leponya.”

The Duke called her name while looking at Leponya, who shone brilliantly under the sunlight.

Unable to tell whether he was calling for her or introducing her name to the butler, Leponya pressed her lips tightly together.

As if he had never expected an answer in the first place, the Duke calmly continued.

“Leponya Krytan.”

“…!!”

At those words, not only the butler but also the servants standing with lowered heads—

And even Leponya herself, who was still being held up in the air—

All widened their eyes in shock.

“Starting today, she will become my daughter.”

His low voice echoed loudly through the spacious mansion.

‘Does this mean I’m becoming a duchess?’

A daughter? She had thought she would be lucky if she wasn’t kidnapped or sold off, and had considered it fortunate enough just to get hired as a maid.

But a daughter?

Without realizing it, Leponya looked toward the servants. The place where she should originally have belonged.

The flustered butler tried to stop the Duke.

“Your Grace. You’re being too emotional right now and making an impulsive decision—”

“I had more than enough time to think carefully on the way here.”

“Even so, adoption requires procedures.”

“You mean confirming whether the adopter’s identity is guaranteed? Is there anyone in this Empire with more guaranteed credentials than mine? Financial ability to raise a child? I doubt there’s anyone in this Empire more capable than me.”

“But still, this isn’t like purchasing an object, so perhaps you should think about it a little more…”

The butler was right. Even buying an object wasn’t done this abruptly.

When Leponya nodded as though agreeing, the Duke’s face hardened as he glared at the butler.

“So taking time to think is considered careful, but making a quick choice is impulsive? The moment I saw this child, I felt it. If I send her to an orphanage while saying I’ll think it over slowly, I know I’ll regret it.”

The butler let out a deep sigh.

“But you should hear the little guest’s opinion too.”

“Then, Leponya. I’ll give you a choice.”

Leponya’s loose hair brushed against the Duke’s cheek. Their eye colors were different, but because their hair colors were similar, the thought suddenly crossed her mind that they might truly look like family.

“As you heard earlier, you were originally supposed to go to an orphanage. If there’s no guardian who can immediately take custody of you after verifying your identity and parents, then you’ll stay in an orphanage.”

It was a process Leponya knew all too well.

“And then you’ll have to smile prettily whenever sponsors or potential adopters come, trying your best to make a good impression.”

“……”

“But I have no intention of sending you somewhere like that. None of that is necessary. I intend to adopt you myself.”

Why? He didn’t even know who she was, yet after only a moment of thought he was trying to adopt her as casually as buying an object?

“On the other hand, if you dislike being here, I’ll send you straight to the orphanage.”

What about finding his lost youngest daughter?

The words caught at the base of her tongue, but she swallowed them without saying anything.

It had already been twenty years since the Krytan young lady had been attacked and disappeared. If she were alive, she would be twenty years old by now. So if the Duke had truly been thinking of adoption, it would make more sense to adopt someone around the same age as his lost daughter.

Yet here he was, saying he would adopt Leponya, whom he had suddenly met on the street. Without knowing who she was or where she came from.

‘Ah. Is this some kind of adoption game?’

An adoption game. The kind nobles commonly played.

When they were bored or needed a child to handle tasks within the family, they would simply adopt any child.

Since they could discard them once they grew tired of them or no longer had use for them, nobles didn’t consider it something worth agonizing over.

Or they could place them on the marriage market and sell them off to a good family.

While living in orphanages, Leponya had seen children easily adopted, then abandoned again, or sold off under the excuse of marriage.

Now she understood.

‘He plans to use me as a substitute for his lost daughter.’

Adopting a child of the same gender as a child they had lost or who died young, treating them well to ease their guilt.

It was common in noble society.

Once the child reached adulthood, they would either be cast aside or sent far away where nobody would notice them.

‘A common story.’

Otherwise, there was no reason to adopt a child he had just met on the street.

‘If I become the young lady of the Krytan family…’

It would become much easier to move around this huge mansion and search for the family heirloom.

Leponya swallowed dryly. Quite a bit of time had passed without her answering, yet the Duke did not pressure her.

‘He must think he can play this adoption game with me. I’ll tear that arrogant idea apart.’

If he intended to use her as a substitute, then she would use him as well.

“Okay.”

Suppressing her confusion, Leponya smiled. It wasn’t difficult. She had learned how from a young age.

“I’ll become the Duke’s daughter.”

Around them, people sucked in sharp breaths.

“Butler.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Prepare the adoption documents for the child… no, for the young lady. And if there’s anything else necessary, prepare that as well.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

In the end, she had truly been called a young lady. Leponya felt both cheeks heat up and buried her face in her tiny hands.

The Duke, who had been holding her up in the air, finally set her down on the floor. At the same moment, the servants bowed in perfect unison.

“We greet the young lady.”

While carrying out missions, she had once pretended to be a noble using fake identities, but this was the first time she had ever been treated like a true noble lady by the servants of an aristocratic household.

‘This was the right choice… right?’

As though unaccustomed to such treatment, Leponya’s eyes darted around nervously.

It was the day she officially became the young lady of House Krytan.

The Duke suggested they eat first since she must be hungry, but Leponya refused.

The mansion was too grand and enormous, too spotless and fragrant. Just standing inside it made her shrink into herself.

So more than anything, she wanted to wash this filthy appearance first.

“I don’t wanna eat while smelling bad. I wanna wash first.”

“Who told you that you smell?”

“No one. Do people really need to say it out loud? You can tell just by looking.”

“I can’t.”

The Duke tilted his head with an indifferent expression, acting as though there was nothing wrong with Leponya’s appearance.

“I-I wanna see where I’ll sleep too. I’m staying here starting today, right?”

What if the Duke changed his mind in the meantime? Since he had made the decision so easily, he could easily take it back too.

To avoid being thrown out, she first needed to secure a space for herself in this mansion.

“…Or not?”

Leponya swallowed dryly and looked up at the Duke nervously.

When their eyes met, the Duke reached out and stroked her hair.

“Why are you so nervous asking something so obvious? Of course you’re sleeping here starting today.”

The Duke ordered the maids to wash Leponya and show her to her bedroom.

Just as she had wished, Leponya soaked herself in a warm bath before heading toward the bedroom where she would stay.

She had tried to wash alone, but the maids made such a fuss insisting on helping that it nearly exhausted her.

Her body might be five years old, but her mental age certainly wasn’t.

She tried hard to refuse, but the maids soothed her like one would calm a child, even slipping sweet candy into her mouth, and in the end she gave up and bathed feeling completely stripped bare.

The maids flinched when they saw the scars and wounds covering Leponya’s body, but they didn’t show it outwardly.

Because Leponya herself didn’t care at all.

Afterward, since there were no clothes prepared for a child, she ended up putting her old clothes back on, and the maids looked terribly apologetic, as though they had committed a sin.

‘Nobles change clothes every day…’

Leponya buried her nose in her clothes and sniffed them.

At the orphanage and poorhouse, she had naturally worn a single outfit for over a month before, and even while staying in the residence provided by the Pope, she only had a few outfits to rotate through, so she had worn them for days at a time. It didn’t bother her.

‘Maybe because I just washed, but the clothes don’t smell.’

Taking her hands away from her clothes, Leponya looked around the bedroom she had been guided to. The maids who had shown her the room withdrew, saying they would check whether there were any clothes left from when the young masters were younger, since they were bothered by Leponya’s shabby outfit.

Left alone, Leponya was finally able to inspect the room comfortably.

‘This bedroom…’

A bedroom filled with the warm scent of sunlight thanks to the excellent lighting. Beside the large fireplace, dry firewood was stacked generously, and behind it stood an animal-shaped rocking horse perfect for a five-year-old Leponya to ride.

The craftsman-made rocking horse had clearly been carefully sanded smooth and painted. The carpet spread across the floor was soft enough that a child wouldn’t get hurt even if they fell while running around, and the bookshelf filled with picture books and fairy tales was unusually low.

And despite supposedly being prepared for a five-year-old Leponya, the bed was incredibly wide.

A bedroom tailored perfectly for a child.

‘……This must be the room they prepared for the daughter they lost.’