I was heading towards Herald’s office as confidently as I could. Of course, I made sure to tell the servants I met along the way that I was going to see Herald.
“Hello, miss. Are you off to a fun place? You look happy.”
“Yes! I’m going to meet the Duke!”
If anything happens inside, you guys better come get me… I don’t even know what kind of courage I had when I visited the office before without any kind of plan.
Finally, last night, I came up with something to propose to Herald. The truth is, I didn’t know much about him, and I didn’t have much information about this world, so I had been worrying about it for a long time.
What I was sure of about my mom and Herald was two things: they still had lingering feelings for each other, and neither was good at expressing their emotions.
To be honest, with Herald openly showing his obsession and lingering feelings for my mom, that was understandable. But my mom, judging by how upset she was when she saw the newspaper not too long ago… she clearly hadn’t completely let go of her feelings for him either.
If Herald, who is almost the perpetrator in this situation, has trouble expressing his feelings, then their relationship will remain the same until the moment my neck is chopped off.
Of course, I would do anything to avoid my neck being cut off.
So, I’ve decided to help them both, sleeves rolled up. In exchange, give me my pocket money. This was the proposal I was going to make to Herald.
Even if it doesn’t work out, I can always save up the pocket money I get from Herald and run away with my mom.
“Phew, heh…”
Compared to the huge mansion, my legs were far too short.
Since I had to move my legs two or three times faster than an adult’s, by the time I reached Herald’s office, I was already quite tired.
Gasping for breath, I looked around. As expected… The knights who usually guarded the office seemed to be gone for their morning training. This was also information from Finn.
I let out a sigh of relief without realizing it. Silvestan, who had been kind to me with a big smile, I could overlook. But the blonde knight who kept staring at me with a sullen expression was still uncomfortable.
“Hah, huff… Ahem!”
Before knocking, I caught my breath and cleared my throat.
Knock.
“…”
Was I knocking too lightly?
Knock knock.
“…”
I knocked again with a little more force, but still, there was no answer from inside.
What’s going on? Is he not there? But Finn said Herald would be busy with work in the office…
Knock knock knock.
“…”
Once again, I knocked several times with more force, but still, no response.
Has he gone deaf? Could it be that the reason he doesn’t listen to others is because his hearing is bad…?
Thud, thud, thud!
By this point, I started banging on the door with both my hands and feet.
“Duke! Duke!!!”
With a loud shout, all my words were mangled in my pronunciation.
Bang! Boom! Thud!
What had started as a careful knock turned into loud noise.
After a while of banging on the door, suddenly, it flung open with a loud creak. “Ughhh!”
I had been leaning against the door while banging, and my body tipped forward.
I ended up smacking my face into something hard.
I didn’t fall, but the pain from smashing my face was pretty severe.
“Ow!”
“…”
“Ouch…”
“Phew.”
From above, I heard a sound like someone sighing in disbelief. Holding my throbbing nose, I slowly looked up.
Herald was looking down at me with his eyes glinting sharply. It seemed like my face had collided with his firm thigh. I thought I’d hit the wall, but it was just his thigh—so stiff that I was sure I hit a wall.
I shrank back instinctively at his fierce expression.
“Oh, hello, Duke…”
With a voice barely above a whisper, I managed to greet him, but his narrowed eyes seemed to squint even more.
“Is breaking doors your hobby?”
“No? Not at all…”
“But…”
What… was he expecting an answer to this?
“Hmm, for a little kid, you’ve got quite the strength. There’s a dent here.”
So, he wasn’t really asking for an answer. But… a dent?
I quickly pressed my face closer to the part of the door where I had been knocking. Just like he said, the area I had been pounding had slightly caved inward.
“W-why is this…?”
My voice cracked from the shock.
“100 francs.”
“W-what…?”
“The price of the door.”
100 francs?! Our monthly living expenses were 80 francs, and now this guy is asking for 100 francs for a door?
It seemed like I was about to get scammed instead.
“N-no… that’s a lie…”
“It’s not a lie.”
“I-I don’t have money…”
I almost said that I didn’t have money when I suddenly remembered the house that had flown off with my piggy bank inside.
“D-Damn!”
“…Damn?”
Herald squinted and asked in response to my sudden outburst.
“The Duke burned my piggy bank!”
“Piggy bank…?”
“It wasn’t a piggy bank, it was a piiiiggy!”
“…You mean a pig?”
“Yes!”
I mimicked the snorting sound by lifting my nose with my finger, and at last, Herald seemed to understand and relaxed his furrowed brows.
I’ll definitely practice saying “pig” properly when I get back.
“By the way, a piggy bank… You were saving money?”
“Yes! I saved 100 francs!”
“…What?”
Herald’s eyes widened in disbelief.
It was natural that he wouldn’t believe me. In reality, my piggy bank only had 10 francs, a tenth of the 100 francs.
But with the house now gone, Herald had no way of checking.
So, I decided to just go with it.
Since the claim about the door price being 100 francs seemed like a total lie…
“…”
“…”
I gave Herald a more brazen stare.
He met my gaze and, after a moment, sighed and walked over to the sofa.
“So, what’s the business you came for?”
His tone was as businesslike as could be, with no trace of affection.
Despite the fact that we had never really interacted before, he treated me like a complete stranger, even though I was his daughter, with his genes in me.
And now, he was completely ignoring the issue of my piggy bank.
If he was going to act like this, I’d treat him as a means to get the money I needed to live comfortably with my mom.
“I have something to say.”
“Just get to the point.”
As I sat on the sofa across from him, he crossed his long legs and tilted his chin.
That posture of his was so obnoxious that I muttered some curses under my breath and slowly got to the point.
“You like my mom a lot, don’t you, Duke?”
“…”
Herald’s mouth slowly stiffened at my question.
His face looked rather scary, but I continued talking without hesitation.
“And you’ve done a lot of things wrong to her, haven’t you?”
“…Hmm…”
Herald mumbled, his gaze shifting to the side.
“Don’t you want to make up with her?”
“…”
At my last question, his golden eyes slowly returned to look at me.
“If you want to make up, you need to listen to me!”
Heh heh, I’ve thrown the bait. Now, if the Duke bites, I’ll…
“Make up? Make up, you say?”
“Yes!”
I nodded vigorously, and Herald let out a laugh that sounded like air escaping from a balloon.
“We’ve never fought, so there’s no need to make up.”
“But why does my mom hate you so much?”
“What? Hate…! No, your mom doesn’t hate me, it’s just…”
Herald’s words faltered as he became defensive. Well, of course, he couldn’t outright say that she hated him.
After all, my mom had shown a very hostile attitude when the house had been blown away.
“I think my mom really hates you, Duke!”
The Duke was the only one who had made my mom, who never got angry, burst into such rage.
I wasn’t sure if my mom truly hated him, but honestly, it didn’t matter. The Duke would never ask my mom if she hated him.
“Ha, little one, how would you know?”
“I’m my mom’s daughter!”
“…”
“Really! My mom hates you, Duke! I know!”
Come on, come on, please bite.
