/
Enoch was stunned for a moment, trying to grasp this absurd situation.
Lilith, who was looking around the exhibition room, suddenly visited the illegitimate child of the Marquis, who was his purpose today.
‘They kept it completely hidden…but he got caught by a seven-year-old kid?’
It was crazy, but it wasn’t bad. No, it actually made things easier.
“Hehe, Daddy!”
The drawing room, where everyone was so shocked that they couldn’t speak.
Lilith, the culprit of the disaster, ran to Enoch with an innocent face.
“Marquis house is so big? There are a lot of rooms too. I was walking around and met him!”
“Is that so?”
Enoch looked at Cheshire slowly.
The boy, who couldn’t even open his right eye, which was so swollen, was very vigilant.
It looked like he hadn’t eaten well because his body was thinner than he had ever seen it before, and his lips were cracked as if he had been beaten recently.
‘Damn it…’
Enoch barely swallowed his anger by biting his molars tightly.
“Where did you meet him?”
“The room in the basement! But the Marquis doesn’t seem to clean the basement. His room is dark and smelly and there are rats—ugh. It was.”
“Ah, is that so?”
The Marquis and Marchioness couldn’t even open their mouths and just trembled.
The words of a young Lilith, who knew nothing, sounded like a death sentence.
The Marquis finally came to his senses and barely opened his mouth, but—.
“I, Duke…S, so that’s… that child is…”
“It looks like you.”
Enoch’s sharp voice quickly shut him up.
Soon after, Enoch bent his knee to meet Cheshire’s eye level.
And then very carefully—.
He looked at the child’s face and muttered in a meaningful voice.
“It’s very similar. Marquis and.”
A child who was raised like an animal in the basement.
A face resembling a Marquis to the point that it is hard to get away with it.
According to social standards, illegitimate children are shameful, so the Marquis had been hiding this child, who was his bloodline, from anyone.
It’s an unforgivable situation.
Of course—.
He couldn’t be charged with abusing a child.
What the Marquis is afraid of is his image that will be hurt if the child’s existence is known outside the world. That was all.
And Enoch knew that very well.
“Marquis.”
Then Enoch got up.
“Let’s talk alone.”
“I need to talk to you alone.”
* * *
Dad wanted the children to be alone, so he separated Cheshire from the demons of the house and went to talk with the Marquis.
‘I’m sure Dad will take care of the mess, right?’
I opened the lid of the tube-shaped ointment I had while waiting for my Dad.
‘I was wondering why Richell gave me the ointment.’
The ointment was in the rolled note Richell gave me.
I squeezed the ointment on my index finger and looked up, and Cheshire next to me was staring at me.
“Put your head down. Your lips are chapped.”
“…It’s all right. It doesn’t hurt much.”
“Have you planned it?”
“….”
Cheshire was silent.
It must be positive, right? Cheshire, fortunately, didn’t refuse when I carefully took his hand.
“Thank you for taking me with you, not throwing me away earlier….”
“….”
“You can avoid it, but why have you always been hit till now?”
“….”
“Do you not want to talk to me?”
“If I avoid it.”
“Ung?”
“What’s different if I avoid it? It only makes him more angry. But even if I run away, I have nowhere to go. If I don’t want to starve to death outside, I’ll have to endure it inside the house while being beaten.”
Cheshire laughed and muttered as if my question were funny.
“Ah…”
That’s true.
No matter how talented he is, Cheshire is only eleven years old. Besides, he has no status.
Of course, surviving without a guardian in this deep-rooted empire would have been difficult.
“Right. I’m sorry. I said something so stupid.”
I apologized for asking such a question and continued to apply the ointment on Cheshire’s lips.
“Your father was the Duke of Rubinstein?”
“Ung? That’s right. You know him?”
“I heard Jonathan say he’d be close with our father soon.”
“What do you mean? They must be have a big dream, hug. Did they think my dad was crazy for being friends with a man who beat a child?”
I closed the lid of the ointment and said.
“My dad came here because I wanted to see the art. And I’m not here because of the art….”
“….”
“Because of you.”
“….”
“I’m here to save you. My friend told me you were here. It’s Richell, do you know her?”
When being asked, Cheshire was surprised for a moment and then nodded.
Then he asked.
“But why did you want to find me? Do you know me?’
“What? Don’t you know me? We met last time. Are you pretending you don’t know while remembering everything?”
“….”
“You know, Cheshire… I’ve been thinking about you ever since. I want to see you again.”
“…Why?”
“Um, just because? Anyone can like it for no reason. I like you.”
Cheshire stared at me and soon said.
“I understand.”
“About what?”
“Then you will use me as your toy, right? Then is it true that your house feeds and gives me a place to sleep?”
“…What?”
When I looked at him with an absurd expression, Cheshire tilted his head as if he was wrong.
“W, what do you mean? How can a person be a toy— I’ll be friends with you!”
—And my Dad will put him on my family register, so we’ll be brother and sister later, right?
I swallowed the last word. Cheshire wondered.
“You said you were the Duke’s daughter. How can you and I be friends?”
“You can do it.”
“….”
“Do you hate it?”
“No.”
Cheshire didn’t seem to believe me.
He seemed to think it was just an interest that a noble girl showed to her peers for a while.
‘Phew, as expected, his heart is closed. It’s like a wild cat….’
Looking at his expression, Cheshire was an iron wall among the iron walls. Prejudice against my Dad and me, who are aristocrats, also seemed to remain.
‘Well, I can’t help it. This is a problem that time will solve.’
If I treat him well, Cheshire will soon find out.
That there are not only bad people like his father and brother in the world.
“Lilith.”
“Oh, Dad!”
Dad came into the room as if he had finished talking to the Marquis.
Dad came close, looked at Cheshire’s condition silently, and said with a sigh and smile.
“Let’s go home now.”
*****
“He must be an illegitimate child. The child’s disposition will be obvious since it caught my eye.”
The existence of a hidden illegitimate child was revealed to the outside world.
Trying to stop the rumor, the child will definitely be dealt with in the near future.
“You may have seen it, but my daughter… She seems to like him pretty much. So shall I take him with me?”
“Y, yes? No. Duke—”
“Well, it was unlucky for me, but it would be a relief for the Marquis. I don’t really want to expose someone else’s scandal. I’m not interested.”
“….”
“If you want to deal with things as quietly as possible, my proposal won’t be bad.”
The Marquis couldn’t refuse Enoch’s offer to make Cheshire his daughter’s playmate.
He didn’t want to pretend to be someone like Enoch—.
Since he had already found out about the existence of an illegitimate child, there was enough justification to threaten him.
“Well, then—”
The Marquis said after much contemplation.
“If the princess gets tired of him or he becomes useless… Please take good care of the child so that nonsense doesn’t leak out.”
“….”
“The Duke must know how important reputation is for aristocrats like us— please take care of it.”
…It’s disgusting.
Enoch almost uttered the words.
He couldn’t understand it at all.
How can he say that he wants to kill his own blood?
“…I’ll do that.”
Enoch, who was angry as he recalled his conversation with the marquis, soon relaxed his expression as he looked at the two children sitting opposite him.
“Eat this, too.”
“….”
“This too!”
Plates were piled up like mountains, and Cheshire frantically put food into his mouth like a starved beast for a few days.
Next to him, Lilith was diligently transferring the food from her plate.
‘How much did he starve a child who eats so well?’
Cheshire immediately replied when asked what he wanted to do after coming out of the Marquis.
“I’m hungry.”
That’s what he said.
He was on the way to finding a restaurant without going far.
“Eat slowly. You’re going to have an upset stomach.”
“….”
Cheshire, who was staring at the glass of water Lilith held out, quickly took it and drank it.
Although the child was very vigilant, he seemed to gradually adjust to the caress of things from the side.
Enoch said with a smile.
“Princess, hurry up and eat too.”
“Ung, I’m eating, too. Here you go. Try this, too.”
Lilith dipped a small sausage into a fork and handed it over, but this time he just opened his mouth and ate it.
“Hehe.”
“….”
Lilith smiled as if she liked Cheshire very much.
‘It’s a relief.’
Thinking like that, Enoch was relieved.
He was worried about Lilith, who had to enter the  training center soon, but it wouldn’t be bad to send her with Cheshire.
‘It said this child’s mother doesn’t have power.’
If it’s a mix of people with power and powerless people, Cheshire’s rank is probably the lowest, 6th rank, Diez—.
Or, at best, it would have been the 5th rank, Noveno.
‘Well, even if it’s low, if there is a rank, he’ll be treated much more like a human being.’
Whatever Cheshire wants to do later, wherever he wants to go.
In this country, where rank is everything, a badge of ability was essential to receive even human treatment.
“You said you’re Cheshire, right?”
When Enoch asked, Cheshire raised his head.
His wary eyes were sharp.
“Hmm, what do you want to do after you finish eating?”
“….”
“Uncle’s house is big and nice…there are a lot of rooms.”
“….”
“Do you not want to talk?”
“…No.”
He couldn’t blindly ask Cheshire, who was on high alert, to go with him, so he chose his words, and the child seemed to be hesitant about what he was thinking.
‘Is there any place he wants to go? Perhaps his mother? I heard she abandoned her child…’
Enoch asked, rubbing his forehead in agony.
“Do you know where your mother is?”
“….”
Hmm, is this not it?
Cheshire’s expression hardened as to whether his mother wanted to see him.
“Mister.”
“Y, yeah.”
Soon, Cheshire put down the tableware that he was holding and opened his mouth.
“I don’t have a mother. I don’t know where she is and I don’t want to know it.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Cheshire, who had been hesitating to speak for a long time while biting his lips, opened his eyes and mouth as if he had decided.
“Mister daughter’s servant, if you order me, I’ll do well. You’ve brought me out because of your daughter. I’ll do everything she tells me to do. If she asks me to play, I’ll play and run errands for her. So I’ll…”
What is that child saying?
Cheshire added, staring blankly at Enoch, who opened his mouth.
“…just give me food and a place to sleep.”