Episode 5
In the meantime, the man had already arrived in front of the display case.
After a brief silence, the man sighed softly.
“I know you’re here. So come out yourself.”
I furrowed my brow.
“Who would listen to me?”
Idiot. Even if you underestimate the other person, even a child, you’re wasting your chance like this.
Of course, I was happy for him. The longer I stalled, the higher my chances of survival.
“I’m not trying to hurt you. I don’t want to scare you.”
Beaah. I secretly stuck out my tongue. Who would believe me?
Facing me, holding out behind the small, flimsy door, the man finally sighed a second time.
“There’s nothing I can do.”
With a rustle, he finally knelt down.
“The door’s opening!”
There was no time to think. I swung my fist, tightly clenched just as my mother had taught me, with all my might!
“Sleep, ugh!”
Snap!
A dull thud rang out. Perhaps it was an unexpected blow, as the man was thrown back, clutching his severely battered face.
“That’s a good look!”
I crawled out triumphantly and stood up with a groan.
“If you let your guard down just because the other person is a baby, that’s what’s going to happen to you! If you didn’t know, you should know from now on.”
“…Huh, what?”
The man shook his head in disbelief and removed his hand from his face. Only then did I see his face for the first time.
Black hair, thick, manly eyebrows with a slash in the middle, and beneath his black eyelashes, a deep blue like the winter sea…
“Err.”
It was a familiar face.
“Err?”
And that was incredibly so.
“How is my brother here?!”
Gasp, I blurted out without realizing it.
I quickly covered my mouth, but it was too late.
“I’m screwed!”
The Ezekiel Ricardo I knew wasn’t the type to just ignore a kid’s nonsense.
That’s the kind of person he was.
…My brother is from a previous life.
His dark blue gaze, hard to read, fixed me. Feeling as if I was being dissected, my shoulders trembled.
“Oh no… I thought you were someone I knew who lived next door, behind us, on the hill behind us, in the front yard next to that one…”
“That’s a bit surprising.”
What! There’s nothing surprising about you! You just got hit by a kid and started hallucinating!
“Rosalind, I never thought that woman would tell her daughter about her biological father.”
“So, I’m what?”
What did you just say? Dad?
“Anyway, if you can figure it out, it’ll be easier to talk.”
“What, what do you find out…?”
He wasn’t repeating himself because he didn’t understand. It was a desperate plea for him to deny it.
“…? That I’m your biological father…”
“Ugh! No!!”
No, no! That can’t be!!
The brother who despised me so much in my past life is my father in this life! That can’t be true! My mother wouldn’t do that!
“Shut up, ugh!”
Bwak!
The sound of the blow rang out, even more powerful than before. The man frowned and covered the clown he’d been hit with his hand.
“Ugh, what the…!”
He looked more shocked than hurt.
It wasn’t so much me that was different. No, in fact, I was the one who was more surprised.
I instinctively threw a powerful punch, then quickly retracted it, and belatedly tried to make an excuse.
“I didn’t mean to hit you again!”
“That doesn’t sound very believable.”
“That’s why I told you it would be best not to startle Her Highness.”
I snapped my head up at the familiar voice.
“The Marquis of Mafilda!”
“Yes, Your Highness. I’m here.”
I quickly ran and hid in the Marquis’s skirt. The Marquis of Mafilda picked me up and scolded me.
“Look. You were quite surprised, weren’t you?”
“Does the Khaled family teach you to throw a punch when you’re surprised?”
“That’s usually the case. It’s better to have strong self-defense skills.”
“Ha.”
The man who claimed to be my older brother in my past life and my father in this one. Ezequiel Richard shook his head in disbelief.
Then, glaring at the Marquis Mafilda with his blue eyes, he said:
“They don’t resemble each other at all.”
“Is that so?”
I flinched at the almost murderous tone in his voice, but the Marquis Mafilda simply calmly soothed me.
Ezequiel growled again.
“You lied.”
“I didn’t. The criteria for resemblance are inherently subjective, aren’t they?”
“So you’re saying I did well now?”
“Yes.”
The other man was, indeed, the heir to the Duke of Richard.
“Perhaps he’s a Duke now. After all, my father is old.”
Nevertheless, the Marquis Mafilda, far from being intimidated, smiled and boldly asked a question.
“If I hadn’t told Your Majesty, ‘Your Highness, the princess resembles your late aunt,’ would you have come here?”
Wait, your late aunt?
‘If my brother is the father and I’m the daughter, then wait, my dead aunt… … .’
There’s only one.
‘.. My past life?!’
Why is my past life story suddenly popping up here?!
Startled, I looked at Ezekiel, and his expression was terrifying. His gaze alone seemed like it could easily cut a person to pieces.
‘W-It’s scary.’
I guess it’s because I’ve heard stories of my past life, which I loathe so terribly. If I came here because I resembled him, then maybe he came with the intention of killing me. His gaze was so fierce that I completely forgot what I was thinking.
Before I knew it, I grabbed the hem of Marquis Mafilda’s robe. The Marquis seemed to sense my fear, wrapping me a little more warmly.
Snuggling into his familiar embrace, I glanced around. Fortunately, Ezekiel’s gaze seemed a little more relaxed than before. For some reason, his thoughts seemed even more complex…
“…I will remember this debt.”
“As you wish.”
I don’t know. At this moment, I simply felt impressed by the way the Marquis Mafilda smiled so brightly at that man.
I’d always thought he was impressive, but the Marquis Mafilda was even more impressive than I’d imagined.
The fact that he casually let me, a thirty-month-old boy, set the table just because it was time for dinner, in front of Ezekiel, who was blasting a cold wind that rivaled even the harshest snow, was proof of this.
“I think I’m going to vomit.”
Even the food and cutlery on the table were just for me.
Is this even okay? He’s not even the heir anymore, he’s just a duke. Isn’t that too much to ignore? To put it bluntly, it’s almost like ignoring him.
“Now, Your Majesty.”
Marquis Mafilda gently placed a fork in my hand. I glanced at Ezekiel. His eyes were visibly displeased.
“Well, that’s true.”
I was just too surprised earlier, but now that I think about it, I’ve received even more contemptuous looks in my past life.
And besides, I don’t really have a reason to be nice to him right now.
“There has to be some benefit to being nice.”
At this point, what good would it do to be nice to him? All I’d get from being dragged back to that hellish dukedom and living with him?
Ugh. I absolutely hate that. My shoulders trembled, I turned away firmly, and gripped my fork tightly.
“…Enjoy your meal!”
