Chapter 29
***
Claude, a trustworthy adult? He’s only fifteen, after all.
He smiled and turned around to go down the stairs.
lody, feeling sowhat uneasy, followed him.
Fortunately, he didn’t stop her. Instead, he lent her a coat, saying, “It’s a bit inconvenient to wander around in that outfit.”
As the thick jacket was draped over her nightgown, her cold shoulders and arms ward up.
And since it was a fine garnt, it felt incredibly soft to the touch.
While fiddling with the sleeve of the jacket, lody realized…
The clothes he was wearing were too formal for ho. They were also quite fancy.
lody now understood why he was awake at such a late hour.
He must have returned late from attending a party in place of the Duke.
Well, Claude Baldwin is a trustworthy son who has earned the confidence of many vassals.
Even though he’s only fifteen, he might consider himself an adult because of these facts.
He first went to Butler Higgins to talk about slightly changing the patrol timings and intervals.
Then, he asked the night-working servants and soldiers to reinforce the patrols on the second floor.
To them, Claude was the young master, so they would pay extra attention to the second floor than usual. After hearing this, they wouldn’t dare face Claude if anything happened.
“See, Miss lody? If you speak honestly, anyone would help like this.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s not sothing to thank
for. It involves my cute sister.”
Even in this mont, he expressed a peculiar possessiveness towards his sister, answering cheerily.
It seems he’s grown fonder of Loretta than when they first t.
Well, considering Loretta’s charm, it’s hardly surprising.
“If you’re a bit relieved, let’s go back to sleep now. It’s not the ti for a child to wander around.”
“…But you just ca in too.”
“Hm? Did I just hear you treating
like a child?”
lody thought, ‘You’re a child too if we go by actual age…’ but she never voiced it.
She feared the consequences.
“Yo-you’re a great adult, Sir. Attending parties at this hour!”
“It’s good that you know.”
Of course, lody thought, ‘Insisting you’re an adult is actually a trait of a child,’ but she didn’t say that either.
She hated becoming a nuisance.
“I should reward a good child. Co here, I’ll make sure you fall asleep within 10 minutes.”
lody involuntarily took a couple of steps back.
Make her fall asleep within 10 minutes? Unless he was planning to knock her out, that seed impossible.
“No need to refuse. I was going to sleep anyway.”
He grabbed lody’s wrist and led her sowhere.
Where could he be taking her?
lody, following a few steps behind Claude, realized sothing odd.
“I was going to sleep anyway.”
…Did he an he would put her to sleep?
Wait, hold on.
No matter how improbable, this developnt is too much. Suddenly the young master is putting
to sleep…!
And lody’s thoughts were a complete misunderstanding.
The place where Claude took lody was not sowhere strange, but the kitchen.
There was always sothing to eat here, and lody had co a few tis for snacks.
Of course, there was no food or people at this ti.
“Sit down.”
He placed a small stool next to the table and offered her a seat.
After neatly folding his shirt sleeves, he skillfully went back and forth to the pantry, fetching what he needed.
“Do you co here often?”
“Not really. It’s been 378 days since I last did. But everything here is organized according to a specific system, so it’s not difficult to find what you want even if you don’t co often.”
He ward so white milk and added sweet vanilla syrup, pouring it into a thick glass.
“If you drink this slowly and then go under the covers, you’ll really fall asleep within 10 minutes. When your stomach is warm, it feels good.”
He drank the milk first, as if showing an example. lody watched him for a mont and then followed suit.
Indeed, it had felt a bit chilly on this autumn night.
Drinking sothing warm, soft, and sweet made her stiff body pleasantly relax, right down to her cold toes.
The milk was quickly finished.
“Does it feel a bit disappointing?”
lody nodded as she looked at the empty glass. It seed like she could have drunk a few more sips.
“You drank just the right amount. Well done.”
He took the empty glass from lody’s hand and gestured with his chin towards the corridor.
As if to say it was ti to go.
“Go straight to your room and cover yourself with the blanket up to your lips. If you do that, you’ll definitely fall asleep within 10 minutes.”
lody didn’t completely believe his words but had nothing else to say, so she nodded.
For so reason, he even said sothing like ‘That’s right,’ as if praising her.
lody then stood up from the stool to return to her room.
“Oh, right.”
But she rembered sothing and pulled up the long sleeves, trying to take off the coat he had lent her.
It seed like sothing she should return.
However, he suddenly approached and fastened the front of the coat, effectively trapping lody inside it, as if telling her not to even think about taking it off.
“Keep it on.”
Was he worried that lody might be cold?
Indeed, the young master was a true gentleman of the Ducal house.
“If you give it to the maid in charge of laundry tomorrow, it will be convenient for .”
…No, it was just about getting his laundry done.
“Oh right, there’s a bit of a drink stain on the right sleeve. Please tell them to make sure it doesn’t leave a mark.”
Including that additional request.
“Co to my room on ti tomorrow. There’s still a lot of records that you need to transcribe for .”
He even neatly booked the next day’s tornt with his ticulousness. Indeed, this man was a devil.
“Hm?”
As lody looked at him with a face full of dissatisfaction, he handed her a small lantern that emitted a faint light and smiled.
“Stop staring. It’s embarrassing.”
lody was so astonished by his lack of embarrassnt that she simply turned around and started walking.
She could hear him chuckling softly behind her. Ah, he really was annoying.
Grumbling, lody returned to her room on the first floor.
She thought about sleeping in Loretta’s room but decided against it, fearing the rustling noise might disturb the child’s sleep.
A yawn escaped her as she grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open.
She didn’t want to admit it, but maybe the sweet milk Claude had prepared was doing its job.
‘I think I can sleep comfortably.’
With that thought, she opened the door fully.
A foul odor hit lody’s nostrils.
It was a sll that should never be in her always-clean room.
This ant soone had deliberately created this situation.
lody lifted the small lantern to her eye level.
Nothing significant had changed in her room. Nothing was out of place.
But when the light shone on the dresser…
“…!”
She was so shocked that she staggered on the spot.
If asked what were the most precious ‘things’ to lody now, she would na three: a white lace hat, a green ribbon, and a pen nib.
These three items symbolized the significant changes in her life.
That’s why she always kept them in sight and never neglected their care.
Anyone in this mansion would know how much she valued these three items.
And maybe… that was the problem.
Should she have hidden what she loved and told no one about them?
lody approached the dresser with trembling steps.
The source of the stench was on top of it.
The light revealed the hat and ribbon, soaked in so black filth.
Their original colors were almost unrecognizable, and there were even cut marks as if soone had used scissors on them.
‘Is this… soone’s way of lashing out?’
This realization brought an oddly calm feeling.
After all, she was used to being the target of soone’s outburst.
‘So, I won’t be hurt.’
lody put down the lantern and carefully picked up the ribbon and hat.
The rotten-slling, unidentified liquid dribbled down her hand, onto her wrist, and then onto Claude’s coat she was wearing.
***
The next day arrived.
It just so happened to be the day when so vassals were returning to the duke’s territories.
From early morning, the sound of servants loading carriages was noisy around the mansion.
“Your Grace, thank you for your hospitality during this ti.”
“We will implent your orders as soon as we return and submit a report.”
“Are you leaving right away?”
The Duke’s question was almost an order to depart imdiately.
But the vassals hesitated, looking at each other as if they still had matters to discuss with the Duke.
“Um…”
The eldest among them cautiously stepped forward.
“Your Grace, it seems the Elders are quite worried.”
Once one spoke up, others added their bits.
“Surely, Your Grace wouldn’t make decisions unilaterally?”
“Hosting guests of mismatched status might invite ridicule towards the Ducal family.”
At one vassal’s words, the Duke gazed at him and asked,
“Who says so?”
“Pardon?”
The vassal, startled, raised his head, only to be t by the Duke’s intimidating aura.
“I asked who dares to make a laughingstock of this Baldwin Ducal house.”
“Th-that would be the… nobles… in the capital.”
The vassal couldn’t finish his sentence, as an elder close to the Duke signaled him to stop.
“Nobles in the capital? Bring them to
next ti. I will gladly listen to what they mock.”
Of course, no noble would dare say such things in front of the Duke, so the vassal who brought it up couldn’t respond.
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