Chapter 7
“Mom always wore it around her neck. She never showed it to anyone else, only to me. She gave it to me that day.”
If she handed it over to Leon in such a desperate situation—just before hiding him in the wardrobe—then it had to be something very important.
Something recognizable only to certain people, maybe even a token to help someone find him.
“Can I take a quick look?”
“Mm-hmm.”
If Leon had been even a little older, he probably wouldn’t have handed such a valuable item over so easily.
It seemed Leon now trusted me completely.
I stood up and held the pendant up to the moonlight shining through the window.
‘There aren’t any letters.’
If there had been a name engraved, Leon would probably already know who to look for.
What was carved into the pendant wasn’t writing—it was a symbol.
‘W-Wait.’
I… think I’ve seen this before?
The comment fairies, who’d been unusually quiet while I whispered with Leon, suddenly became noisy again.
└[No way, no way]
└[Huh?? Are we really going there with the plot?]
‘Is this it? The cliché the comment fairies were talking about?!’
I looked at Leon with wide, shocked eyes.
His gray eyes, exposed as his bangs shifted slightly while he looked up at me, faintly resembled someone embedded deep in my memory.
‘This is insane. He’s really a duke’s bloodline.’
After sending the real Leon back to his room, I returned to my bed and lay down, but the shocking truth kept me awake.
The crest engraved on the pendant Leon had—
It was the emblem of the Clarke Duchy, one of the noble houses of the Develoah Empire.
‘Not just the general family emblem, either. This one’s only used by direct descendants!’
How do I know this? Because in my previous life, Count Torto had gone to great lengths to form an alliance with Duke Clarke.
Count Torto, who led the noble faction, lacked strong family ties compared to the imperial loyalists and had desperately tried to recruit Duke Clarke.
‘The duke wasn’t firmly with the imperial faction. If anything, he was neutral?’
Though he didn’t outright refuse a side, he did exchange letters with Count Torto on a few occasions.
And since he never entrusted sensitive documents to his aides, I had been the one to personally deliver them—so I’d seen that crest myself.
There was another reason I remembered him so clearly.
‘His name often came up in society gossip too.’
Even long after inheriting his title, Duke Clarke never married and had no heir.
Naturally, the noble ladies couldn’t stop speculating.
—Do you think Duke Clarke just has no intention of marrying? I heard he turned down a meeting with Lady Nayette recently.
—Oh my. She must have been heartbroken. It must have taken a lot of courage to approach him.
A duke, unmarried, and one of the few left in the empire. Of course, he didn’t conform to the usual expectations of a “marriageable age.”
Though his features were sharp, his demeanor was always composed, which drew many a lady’s eye.
—He shows so little interest in women… Could he have a lover already?
—But then, why wouldn’t he marry her?
—If I may speculate, that necklace he always wears…
The necklace.
Duke Clarke would sometimes wear a strange, multicolored pendant that didn’t match the rest of his refined attire.
For a man known to own only the finest and most expensive of items, the sight of that old, worn necklace naturally stood out—and sparked many rumors.
—If he treasures it that much, it must’ve belonged to someone special.
They said it was a memento, a keepsake of a lover who died before they could wed. As rumors traveled from mouth to mouth, the story grew.
The tale of a devoted man who mourned a lost love stirred the hearts of many noblewomen.
‘Could Leon’s necklace be a match?’
Unlike the duke’s necklace, which was darkened and discolored, the one Leon had retained a smooth, silver sheen.
It wasn’t made of material that would tarnish easily.
└[Maybe it got scorched in a fire?]
…I had just arrived at that same conclusion.
A duke with no heir. A blackened pendant. The orphanage fire in the future.
All these scattered puzzle pieces were beginning to form a complete picture.
‘Then Leon must’ve been in that fire too?!’
The pendant must’ve ended up in Duke Clarke’s hands through some means after the fire.
And he kept it, mourning the lover and son he believed he’d lost.
└[That backstory alone could make a full-blown romance fantasy novel.]
The same comment fairies who called Count Torto “that damn count” were now respectfully calling the duke “Father.”
Yeah. The duke was just that kind of man.
‘And his son is right here!’
Clichés really are terrifying.
How did the comment fairies know all this?
└[Feels good to have read so many books]
└[This is why people should read more]
Apparently, fairy books are packed with deep lore.
Either way, the once-distant orphanage fire suddenly felt very real again.
‘It hasn’t happened yet…’
I had thought about it before.
If avoiding Count Torto was my only goal, I could’ve come back to just before he showed up. Why return to this point?
What if this time wasn’t chosen at random, but because I had something I needed to do now?
‘Leon’s family history… the orphanage fire…’
Right now, I might be able to change everything.
And maybe that’s the real path to living as “Rose.”
While my goal for this second life was becoming clearer, it also felt more overwhelming.
‘…Isn’t this too heavy a responsibility for a five-year-old?’
Well, not your average five-year-old—I do have memories of the future.
└[Don’t forget us comment fairies~]
…And there’s this strange voice constantly egging me on.
I’d already died once in a fire. Could I really overcome it?
I don’t have any special holy powers or anything.
└[Foreshadowing]
└[Saintess route confirmed]
└[Is she actually the real Saintess?]
└[This is a full-blown cliché medley]
A new cliché again? After imperial princess and duke’s daughter, now I’m a saintess?
‘I only saw the saintess once, and that was from a distance—she hardly ever leaves the temple.’
└[That one’s a fake]
…How blasphemous can you get?
While the comment fairies nailed Leon’s secret identity, they were still throwing out nonsense. I was regaining some trust in them, but not fully.
So, by a fifty-fifty chance… I decided to ignore that sacrilegious comment.
Only one night had passed, but my worries had multiplied.
‘I can’t avoid the fire just by skipping the adoption.’
It’s not just the other kids in danger when the orphanage burns down.
I was right there in the blaze too—my hair practically singed.
And once the orphanage is gone, the greedy director, now jobless, will start wandering around… and eventually drag Count Torto back here!
“Hoo…”
Sighing heavily under the weight of it all, I felt someone grab my hand.
“Rose.”
Sharing a secret with someone—especially a child—is a serious matter.
It meant recognizing that person as an ally.
Maybe that’s why, after opening up yesterday, Leon treated me with warmth today, unlike the frosty distance of the day before.
“Leon. Did you sleep well? No more bad dreams?”
“Yeah. I’m okay. What about you, Rose?”
“Me? Well…”
I did have a nightmare about falling into a sea of flames—maybe Leon’s dreams rubbed off on me.
Still, I was just glad that the usually tight-lipped Leon was now able to hold a normal conversation.
“Hey! Why’s a boy clinging to a girl first thing in the morning? Why don’t you just move into the girls’ room?!”
“……”
“Ugh! So frustrating!”
Hmm. So he talks depending on who’s around.
Once again, Jeff stormed off, grumbling, after getting ignored by Leon. Wonder when he’ll realize that talking to Leon only leads to more silence.
Leon acted like Jeff didn’t exist—his gaze was fixed only on me.
“When I leave this place…”
“Huh?”
Last night, I told Leon I’d help him however I could.
After learning he’d died here in my previous life, how could I just ignore it?
Apparently, those words gave him hope.
“When that time comes, will you come with me?”
“Hmm. I do plan to leave here eventually…”
“Then let’s go together. You and me.”
└[Was that a proposal?!]
└[So I reincarnated and became the daughter-in-law of a duke?]
