CH 27

Lillian was so shocked that she jumped up in her place and then hesitated to sit down on the marble floor. Was it because of the shaking a moment ago, or because she was so surprised? Her heart was pounding as if it would burst.

Her chest tightened with each quick beat of her heart, and Lillian’s round eyes blinked widely.

And so, Lillian faced the owner of the voice.

Thump, thump.

Between the loud beats of her heart, she heard the voice she had just heard.

“I see. You are the child of this house.”

A white-haired boy was smiling widely without any wrinkles.

The moment she faced that smile, Lillian’s nervousness completely fell away.

The reason was simple.

“… Swan.”

The boy’s smile resembled Swan’s.

***

The carriage rocked back and forth.

“Isaac, children like dolls, don’t they?”

“I’ve told you eight times already that they love them as much as candy.”

Isaac, the knight with shimmering hair, was already annoyed at the mere mention of the letter ‘d’ in the word ‘doll.’

The reason, of course, was his cynical, shrewd, and trustworthy master.

Since Cedric had decided to buy the little girl a doll, he had been in that state all along.

“But there might be a child who doesn’t like candy.”

“From what I’ve seen, there isn’t.”

“Judging everything based on subjective experience is prone to logical errors.”

“…”

Isaac closed his mouth. Sometimes his master had a bit of bad luck. But since Isaac was a sympathetic person – he relied on subjective judgment – he decided to be a little more forgiving of his master.

“Well, I guess he has reason to be anxious.”

Cedric was always a perfect human being. Was there ever a time when he was immature? He showed skill and restraint in everything, to the extent that one might wonder about such a question. Since Isaac had been with Cedric since he was young, his perfection was a long-standing matter.

But then a presence appeared that he didn’t know how to handle.

That presence was a child.

‘Of course, who has perfect parents from the beginning?’

Usually, parents have time to raise their children from a young age and become familiar with them, and learn how to raise them with their grandparents or spouse.

Unfortunately, Cedric had neither the opportunity nor someone to teach him that. Just a month ago, he was more familiar with holding a sword than holding someone’s hand.

So, it’s no wonder that dealing with a child is awkward and difficult for him.

In short, Cedric is struggling with his first experience of immaturity.

Thinking about it, my owner, who used to lack humanity, seems to have gained some humanity. Isaac let out a light sigh and opened his mouth again.

“Anyway, I’m sure you’ll like it. Didn’t you clear out all the doll workshops just in case? There must be at least one that matches his taste.”

“I hope so. Next time, I’ll have to find out about his taste in advance. I didn’t think it through this time.”

“Oh, are you going to ask him directly?”

“What are you talking about? Of course, I’ll have Mary draw a picture. That way, we can find out what colors and things he likes. A picture is the best way to reflect one’s inner self.”

“…”

Isaac closed his mouth again.

“It’s a logical thing to do, but…”

Isn’t it usually a feeling of investigating a child?

It’s like secretly investigating about her.

Isaac thought about mentioning this but decided against it.

After thinking about it, he realized that it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

The reason was simple.

They were on their way to investigate Lily’s background.

After passing through the poorly organized forest path a few times, the building exterior soon came into view.

It was a building that could be considered a small school.

“We’ve arrived.”

It was the Maryfield daycare center where Lillian had stayed.

***

“Visiting us so suddenly like this, if you had given us a heads-up, we would have prepared more thoroughly. The children weren’t ready…”

“No, that’s fine. I didn’t come to adopt a child today.”

At Cedric’s concise response, the director of Maryfield Nursery, Winston, quietly wiped the sweat from his palm on his pants. In front of him was a giant figure that he couldn’t even dare to imagine, so it was only natural for him to react that way.

The Duke of Maynard suddenly visits the nursery without any notice!

‘Did he sense something? Or did Lillian let something slip?’

If it was revealed that he was secretly raising a Maynard Lady, his life would be over.

Thanks to that, Winston was imagining all the worst-case scenarios he could think of in his head.

As Cedric, who had suddenly appeared, looked around the nursery without saying a word, Winston’s delusions plunged deeper into chaos.

Perhaps Lilian had already been exposed as a fake and had shifted the blame onto him. When he reached that thought, Winston internally cursed and flew into a rage.

‘F**k. F**k! If only Swan were alive!’

Since Swan’s death, nothing had gone right.

Even the doyenne of the charity industry, Mrs. Kennis, whom he had met just the day before, had been strange.

— Is there anything you’re hiding from me, Winston?

— H-Hiding something? What could it be?

— That’s right. You must not turn a blind eye to the grace you’ve been given. We all live to repay what we’ve been given.

It was still the same as saying something floating around like a god, but it was probably because of his mood that his voice sounded strangely like a warning. Or was he saying something he knew?

Although he was still talking nonsense, it seemed like his voice had a strange warning tone. Was it because of his mood, or was he saying something that he knew?

Even at the nursery school, only a few knew that Lillian had escaped with Maynard’s seal on the pendant and entered the Maynard duchy. In the first place, Mrs. Kenneth didn’t even know that Maynard’s pendant was in the Mayfield Orphanage, so it couldn’t be that she knew something.

As I felt relieved, at the same time, as if I was rebelling, my anger soared.

‘Damn it, I’m a noble too. What’s so different about me and those guys?’

I didn’t want to look at Mrs. Kenneth, who warned the senile old man, and Cedric, who looked younger than me and was condescending as a duke.

‘If Swan were still alive, we could have put an end to this miserable life. Damn it!’

Everything was messed up because of Lillian, that miserable woman.

She seemed quiet when Swan was alive, but as soon as Swan died, she hit him in the back of the head!

If he had known that Lillian had entered Maynard, he would have taken action immediately, but he never thought that Lillian would steal the pendant.

‘That insolent woman needs to be taken care of before she opens her mouth to Maynard’s duchy.’

And if Lillian disappeared, he was going to work on Cedric again.

―Actually, the pendant was from our nursery school, and the real daughter is another child, but Lillian ran away with it.

Exactly!

For that purpose, Winston had already hired people with the money he had taken from Mrs. Kennis. They might start moving as soon as today.

“At this time, with the Marquess of Maynard conveniently absent, things will be even smoother.”

After something bad had happened, it was time for something good to happen.

“Shall we take a look at the other side too? Come this way.”

Winston’s business smile shone even more ominously.

***

After looking around Maryfield Orphanage, Cedric and Isaac headed toward the carriage.

“Still, it looks clean on the outside. The director doesn’t seem like a bad person, either.”

“Is this a decent size for an orphanage?”

“Well, you could say that. There are many places much smaller than this that operate solely on the financial support given by the royal family. The number of children is also much smaller…”

Isaac’s words trailed off.

It was because he noticed someone approaching them.

The boy, who seemed too old to be a child and too young to be an adult, glanced at Cedric with a guarded expression and suddenly asked, “Do you happen to know Lillian?”