VDHI 05

When Duke Kreitan declared earlier that he would adopt Lephonia, every servant in the mansion had looked shocked.

Which meant no one in the estate had known about the adoption beforehand.

And yet this bedroom was perfect.

It was clearly a room that had been cleaned every day, kept warm, and carefully maintained while waiting for the real young lady to return.

“The fact that he gave this room to me means…”

Lephonia ran a finger across the shelf. Though the room had stood empty without an owner, there was not a speck of dust anywhere.

“It obviously means he plans to raise me in place of that lost daughter and ease his guilt.”

Otherwise, there was no way they would give such a fine room to some randomly adopted child.

Or perhaps it was a strategy to burden her with gratitude by giving her such an extravagant room.

So that when they cast her out later, they could say they had already treated her generously enough.

‘How long will I be able to stay here? A month? Or maybe half a year?’

Lephonia curled herself into the rocking chair before the fireplace. Since nothing good had ever happened whenever she drew attention to herself, she had developed a habit of hiding whenever she arrived somewhere new.

“Hm.”

Hugging her knees, Lephonia quietly rested her face against them.

She was someone who could be thrown out at any moment. It would be nice if she could stay as long as possible while searching for the heirloom, but that probably would not happen.

‘Before that, I need to explore the estate and figure out where the heirloom is.’

She had briefly looked around the mansion on the way to the bedroom earlier, but perhaps because her legs were so short now, it felt like even an entire day would not be enough to search everything.

Fortunately, even though her body had become younger, her memory remained intact, so she had not forgotten any of the training the Pope had given her.

Knowing how to strike a person’s vital points without using much strength was useful information in the body of a five-year-old.

‘But right now, it’s better to act like a weak five-year-old than a five-year-old who knows people’s weak points.’

People did not stay wary of those who looked weaker than themselves.

‘If I attract suspicion by acting strangely, the plan will fall apart. They can never find out who I am.’

The Kreitan family were the guardians of the Empire’s peace and safety.

The moment they discovered her identity, Duke Kreitan would execute Lephonia on the spot as a criminal.

She had spent every day acting while living as the Pope’s spy, so she was confident she could handle that much.

‘If I get caught while searching for the heirloom…’

Lephonia clenched her tiny fist tightly and pressed her lips together with determination.

‘Then I’ll stab someone’s weak point and run away.’

As long as she survived, that was enough. In this world overflowing with malice, survival was her only goal.

For that purpose, she could do anything.

Kill her emotions, ignore terrible things.

Just as Lephonia lowered her gaze—

“Where is the child?”

An unfamiliar voice came from behind her.

“I distinctly remember ordering someone to guide her to the bedroom.”

“Huh? S-She was definitely in the bedroom just a moment ago!”

The rough, grainy voice like sandpaper belonged to Duke Kreitan, while the trembling herbivore-like voice belonged to the maid who had slipped candy into Lephonia’s mouth while washing her.

Thanks to the memory training repeated since childhood, remembering people’s faces and voices was not difficult for her.

“I clearly ordered the butler to make it known that I would not overlook anyone treating her poorly. Did you not hear that?”

“I-I’m sorry, Duke!”

The maid’s voice trembled tearfully under the Duke’s cold and rigid tone.

‘I need to stay close while making absolutely sure I don’t get caught.’

Even though he was the Empire’s guardian, the title calling him a cold-blooded man without tears or mercy suited him perfectly.

“I clearly said she is my daughter.”

Huh? Daughter?

“She has taken the family name. She is now the young lady of House Kreitan.”

A child who had taken the family name… the young lady of House Kreitan?

“Surely you did not decide on your own not to guide the child to her room.”

Wait.

Don’t tell me he’s talking about…

‘Me?’

Lephonia’s eyes shook as she listened secretly while curled up in the rocking chair.

“Absolutely not! We bathed the young lady, but there were no suitable clothes for her, so we went to look for something she could wear.”

“And you left a five-year-old child who arrived here for the first time today all alone? What if she got scared, wandered out, and became lost or hurt?”

“I-I didn’t think that far ahead.”

“At least one person should have stayed beside her. I said I would step out so she would not feel uncomfortable while bathing. Did that sound like permission to take your eyes off her?”

“I-It was my fault.”

Lephonia straightened from where she had been crouching and hurriedly stood up from the chair.

Because she rose too quickly, the chair tipped backward with a loud crash.

Both of their gazes snapped toward her. Without realizing it, Lephonia raised her short hand.

“I-I’m right hewe.”

Ah. This stupid tongue.

Startled, she had spoken too quickly, and her pronunciation became twisted.

Watching the two stunned faces, Lephonia squeezed her eyes shut in humiliation.

Duke Kreitan hurried over to her.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“N-No. I’m okay, but the chair fell over and bwoke—”

“That thing is just a consumable. There’s no need to worry about it.”

It had looked incredibly soft and expensive. Perhaps for wealthy nobles, something like this was insignificant.

“It should be about time you’re hungry, so I came to ask if you’d like to eat with me.”

Food? The moment she imagined noble meals, saliva pooled in her mouth.

But she had to endure.

Earlier in the carriage, she had emphasized how little she cost to feed. If she suddenly admitted she was hungry before even a full day had passed, he would surely think she was not cost-effective.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you eat today?”

If she wanted to stay in this mansion even a little longer, she had to avoid becoming a nuisance as much as possible.

‘This much is easy.’

She remembered the children who had once been adopted by nobles, only to be sent back because they were troublesome and required too much care.

“Half an apple after waking up.”

“……”

“And I told you I don’t cost much to feed. Really. You don’t have to take care of me.”

She would stay as quiet and unnoticed as possible, so please just do not throw her out too quickly.

“Were you full?”

“Yeah.”

“You always ate like that?”

“Yeah.”

Duke Kreitan absentmindedly touched the frayed edge of Lephonia’s sleeve and muttered,

“Then this is a serious problem…”

The muttering tone sounded ominous.

‘Did I make some kind of mistake?’

Lephonia rapidly reviewed the conversation in her head. Did he hate apples? Or was it because she said she ate right after waking up?

“I hate eating alone.”

“…Huh?”

“So I came to ask you to eat with me, but this is troubling.”

Lephonia’s eyes trembled.

There had been priests like that in the residence the Pope prepared for her too. Adults who claimed they were lonely and could not even eat by themselves.

‘To think Duke Kreitan is like that too.’

The Empire’s guardian, yet a fool who could not even eat alone.

“You’re really not hungry?”

Would she remain a cost-effective child, or become the child who comforted the lonely Duke by eating beside him?

Even thinking long-term, the first option still seemed better.

“The food will be delicious.”

Lephonia’s shoulders twitched.

“The mansion’s chef likes cooking, so they always make too much. It’s such a waste to throw it away every time. Sigh.”

“I-I’ll eat with you.”

At the Duke’s sigh, Lephonia answered instantly. Every time someone sighed, bad things always followed, so she reacted instinctively.

“Shall we, then?”

Duke Kreitan immediately accepted and lifted Lephonia into his arms.

“Ah!”

Held against the chest of the gigantic Duke Kreitan, Lephonia cried out in shock.

“I-I can walk by myself!”

“You don’t even know where the dining hall is. What if you get lost?”

Still holding her, Duke Kreitan walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway.

Her legs did not hurt, and the higher view let her see much more, which was nice, but…

‘Is this right? I’m twenty years old. Is it really okay for me to be carried like this? Even when I was actually five, I walked all the way beyond the mountains and rivers to do laundry.’

Lephonia’s soft cheeks flushed red. This was the first time in her life someone had held her like this.

“If you don’t hold on properly, you’ll fall.”

Startled, Lephonia tightly grabbed the Duke’s collar. He was so tall that falling really did seem dangerous.

For some reason, she felt a strange sense of defeat.

‘Does he want to play family?’

She thought adopting her and giving her a bedroom would be the end of it. But for a man called cold-blooded to openly carry a child through the mansion like this and even invite her to eat together…

Letting out a quiet breath, instead of trying to escape Duke Kreitan’s arms, Lephonia carefully observed the mansion.

In case she ever had to flee, she memorized the locations of the windows that could open, the paintings hanging along every corridor, and constructed a map of the mansion in her mind.

After struggling so desperately just to survive, observing structures and memorizing layouts had become second nature to her.

“There are two older brothers waiting for you as well, though they are not currently at the estate, Lephonia.”

“…B-Brothers?”

Come to think of it, House Kreitan did have two sons.

‘You’re telling me I suddenly have older brothers?’

And not just one, but two.

“The eldest, Havelian, is temporarily teaching cadets at the military academy, while the second, Pellens, is still attending the Academy. Normally he should have graduated three years ago, but…”

“The Academy?”

Lephonia tilted her head. According to the information she had investigated about House Kreitan, the second son, Pellens, should already have been old enough to graduate from the Academy.

Besides, both sons could use aura, so their grades should have easily been high enough to graduate. Then why was he still there?

“They rarely return to the estate anyway, so there is no need for you to worry much about them.”

For Lephonia, that was actually a good thing. The more eyes there were in the mansion, the harder it would be to locate the heirloom, steal it, and escape.

A real five-year-old might have been happy to suddenly gain a family, but not her.

An adoption decided far too easily the moment they saw her face.

See? Even now, there was still no proper explanation or reason.

At most, they would probably raise her for a year or two before annulling the adoption.

‘It’s okay. There’s no reason to feel bad about it. I don’t plan on staying here until then anyway.’

‘Steal it quickly and run away!’

The first day after her adoption.

Lephonia dreamed a grand dream.