Can I really find what Mom and Kyren hid in this sprawling library with no hint at all?
Ria shot to her feet.
But she had no idea what she was even supposed to look for.
“Can’t you give me just a little hint?”
When she turned around, Kyren had already vanished as quickly as he’d appeared.
He was always like that, but he’d never felt so unkind as he did now.
He hid something?
Ria stopped reading and began searching all around the library.
She was poking about like it was a treasure hunt when Marian returned.
“I believe the elders are looking for you?”
Ria’s heart started to pound for some reason.
Marian led her to the Duke’s office.
The first things that caught Ria’s eye were the bookcases stuffed with books and papers. Then the neat, dark wallpaper, and the faint scent of paper and ink.
The elders of the house sat at the table in the center of the office, waiting for her.
Ria creaked forward awkwardly to the table.
“We called you because we have something to ask.”
At Duke Ignis’s ice-cold voice, Ria hiccuped before she knew it.
“Father. You’re scaring the little one.”
Cassius scratched the back of his head, sounding displeased.
Eleanor smiled gently and gave Ria’s hand a soft pat.
“Ria. We’re coordinating the schedule to get a bloodline test done as soon as possible, but it may take a bit of time. Before that, we wanted to hear a little of your story. Could you tell us how you lived before you came to us, and how you got that pendant from Layla?”
Ria nodded, but a thousand thoughts were spinning in her head.
If she said she’d been living at the Marquess’ Estate, would they send her back?
Ria didn’t want to go back.
But she couldn’t lie, either.
She couldn’t bring herself to speak. She didn’t know where to begin or what to say.
The elders didn’t rush her.
And that, too, became one of the reasons Ria wanted to stay at the Ducal Estate.
“I…”
At last, she steeled herself, clenched her small fists tight on her knees, and opened her mouth.
Just then, a knock sounded at the office door.
Duke Ignis’s brows knit at once.
“What is it?”
It was the butler, Lancel.
“Your Grace. Someone has come in haste from the Marquess Peregrine’s Estate.”
“Peregrine?”
Tenevris and Peregrine had never had any connection or dealings until now. They ran into each other occasionally at court sessions, but as a young noble, the Marquess was in no position to speak with the Duke as an equal.
Clicking his tongue low, the Duke pictured the indecisive-looking Marquess’s vacant face he’d pass by now and then.
Then he noticed.
How much the small child sitting before him was trembling, fists clenched tight.
‘Hmm…’
Duke Ignis was a logical man.
He analyzed any matter with an objective eye and made the most reasonable judgment.
For someone who’d always handled everything logically and systematically, the right answer now required no contemplation.
Peregrine, who had no ties here, suddenly approaching Tenevris—and a child who started trembling the instant she heard that name.
There was nothing to think about.
The story was all too obvious, wasn’t it?
‘She’s from House Peregrine.’
Setting aside how the child had Layla’s pendant, the fact that she’d come from Peregrine was beyond doubt.
The most reasonable action was to summon the person Peregrine sent and ask about the child’s identity.
++
Ria sat curled up in a corner of the garden, hugging her knees.
As the sunlight slid slowly into the western sky, a long shadow stretched at her feet.
I think I’m doomed…
She buried her face in her knees and tried to shake off what had just happened.
A short while ago, in the office.
When she heard someone had come from Peregrine, Ria froze like ice before she realized it.
She’d been just about to say she’d come from Peregrine herself, but the instant she heard the name, she couldn’t stop her fingertips from shaking.
What if it’s a face I know.
What if they try to drag me back right now.
Ria tried to act like nothing was wrong, but her stiff facial muscles wouldn’t obey her.
“Tell them to go back.”
Until Duke Ignis gave a response she hadn’t expected.
“Say that we have a full schedule today and cannot make time. Tell them to make a formal appointment and visit another day.”
It was an unmistakable refusal.
Holding her breath, Ria listened to the butler’s footsteps recede.
When she could no longer hear anything, Duke Ignis’s stern expression turned to her.
“Continue with what you were going to say.”
“I…”
Ria realized there was no point in hiding it any longer.
“I’m from House Peregrine. As you’ve just now realized.”
“Whaaat?!”
Apparently there was one person who hadn’t realized it at all.
Eleanor gently closed Cassius’s gaping mouth.
The corner of Duke Ignis’s lips tipped up, just a little.
“But I don’t want to go back there. Please let me stay here.”
Duke Ignis narrowed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
Her own voice, asking the Duke a question back, sounded foolish in Ria’s ears.
“Why do you want to remain at the Ducal Estate? The Marquessal House is also one of the Empire’s long-standing high noble families.”
Not that it could compare to the Ducal House.
Ria had to choose carefully.
Would they think she chased power because the Ducal House outranked the Marquessal House?
Should she honestly tell them what happened to her there?
But if she spoke plainly here, she feared how the Duke would judge her.
If they decided she was lying just to stay, or that she was the kind of child who could so easily turn her back on the house that raised her, there was no way the Ducal House would accept her—just the thought sent a chill down Ria’s spine.
If she bad-mouthed the Marquessal House now, they might think she was the sort of child who could bad-mouth the Ducal House somewhere else.
“…Because it’s tasty.”
“What?”
“Because the Ducal House’s chocolate pie tastes better!”
Ria covered her face with her two small hands.
Her whole face was burning.
But this was better.
Being a child who mindlessly chased sweetness was far preferable to becoming a child who easily betrayed the house that raised her.
Marian must have already known Ria was in the garden, because when it was time to eat, she found her like clockwork and guided her to the dining room.
Ria sat in the same seat as yesterday and stared blankly at the twenty chocolate pies laid out before her.
A moment later, Cassius entered the dining room. He strode straight over to Ria, glanced once at the chocolate pies in front of her, then once at the Duke seated at the head, and burst into loud laughter.
Then he spoke in a booming voice.
“Ria, the Temple visit is set.”
Ria tensed slightly at his words and looked up at him. Cassius met her eyes with an understanding smile as he took his seat.
“We managed to schedule it as soon as two days from now. All because we’re on good terms with the priest who handles scheduling, so we didn’t have to get into any unnecessary physical ‘discussion,’ hahaha.”
There was something a little odd tacked on at the end there…
Ria decided to pretend she’d misheard and nodded.
She was a bit nervous, but thanks to Cassius’s tone, the Temple visit felt like no big deal, a light matter.
“Little one, don’t worry about it. It’s just a formal procedure. All right?”
As if handling a delicate shard of glass, Cassius gently patted Ria’s hand.
++
Late at night, the corridors of the Ducal Estate were quiet.
Cassius strolled through the mansion with light steps. In his hand was a large box that looked anything but light.
Inside were the dresses Layla had worn as a child.
Cassius headed slowly for Ria’s room.
They were Layla’s, so they were as good as Ria’s.
When he knocked quietly, Marian appeared at once. Ria seemed to be getting ready for bed, her pajamas on and her springy mop of curls hanging long.
“Young Duke…?”
Ria looked bewildered at Cassius’s sudden visit.
He smiled gently and held out the box.
“These are dresses your mother, Layla, wore when she was little. We’ll call a tailor soon to make you new dresses, but I wanted to give you these first.”
Ria slowly reached out and lifted the lid.
The dresses inside had been kept in excellent condition. Even with time, the lace trims looked neither tacky nor overdone—just beautiful and delicate.
“Thank you. They’re really pretty. I’ve… never had clothes this nice before…”
She gaped without thinking, in awe.
Mom’s clothes…
Imagining her young mother in these dresses suddenly made the fact that Mom had been a Princess sink in.
At her words, Cassius chuckled and nodded.
“These were Layla’s favorites when she was young. I thought they’d suit you. I’m sure they will.”
Ria unfolded a dress and nodded slowly.
Cassius gently ruffled her hair.
“Don’t worry too much. Remember that House Tenevris will always be by your side from now on.”
They hadn’t even done a bloodline test, yet from the first moment he’d met her, Cassius had always stood on Ria’s side—as if it were only natural she was his niece.
At his kind words, Ria nodded again and smiled.
After a brief silence, Cassius spoke quietly.
“I heard someone told you Anella isn’t my biological daughter?”
Startled, Ria looked up at him.
Cassius gave a small, wry laugh, mussed her hair, and went on evenly.
A peculiar unease crept into her chest.
“That’s right. Anella is a child Father brought from the Temple. Maybe because her platinum hair is the same as Layla’s, she kept catching his eye.”
Ria’s heart dropped with a thump.
Her mother’s hair color was a bright brown, the same as Ria’s.
