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chapter 15
As the surrounding gazes gathered in one place, the head of someone familiar naturally turned in this direction as well.
When I recalled the past, all I felt was anger and betrayal—but actually facing him now made my mind go completely blank.
“Kn-Knight, please. Let’s go. Quickly.”
“Ah, pardon us. This child is under our protection, so we’ll be taking her with us now.”
At my urging, the guard who had once helped label me a fraud immediately bowed and hastened his steps away.
└[Huh?? You met your father and you’re just leaving??]
└[At least tell him the name of the orphanage, please]
└[What if the scammer hears and comes back for revenge ㄷㄷ]
Once some distance opened between us, my head—white with panic—finally began to calm down.
When I glanced back, the scammer was being dragged away by a knight, Duke Valent had already been surrounded by imperial nobles, and Count Torto was nowhere to be seen, likely having moved elsewhere.
This is enough for today.
The fairies kept telling me to find Father, but avoiding Count Torto and finding Duke Clark—that was the goal of this trip to the capital.
└[Won’t Father come to the orphanage later?]
└[I thought this was going to be a sudden adoption lol]
└[Our bunny-like Edin is waiting at the orphanage..]
Even the comment fairies began postponing things for later among themselves, so I returned to what I needed to do.
Inside the carriage returning to the orphanage.
“……”
A suffocating atmosphere, and the director’s piercing gaze.
Dukes, counts—I had met high-ranking nobles one after another today, but realistically, the hardest person for me to deal with was the orphanage director……
All that trust I built by properly hosting our sponsors, gone just like that……
Of course, it wasn’t like I treated the nobles well for the director’s sake, but still.
Because Duke Clark’s aide was sitting beside us, the director hesitated for a long while before finally tightening her jaw and speaking.
“We’ll need to hear the details once we’re back in my office, won’t we?”
“Yes…….”
└[Hey, Director, don’t get in the way of our heroine doing great things]
└[Ugh… just hurry up and get engaged to Leon and become the duke’s daughter-in-law]
Just a moment ago they were saying Duke Valent was her real father. Have some of these fairies changed their minds already?
└[If you give us illustrations of the dads, we’ll pick one]
So fathers have archetypes too, not just male leads?
Trying to ignore the director’s stare, I listened closely to the comment fairies, and before I knew it, the orphanage was near.
When we arrived, the atmosphere changed before the director even had time to scold me.
“Well, DNA tests aside, his face is exactly like the duke’s when he was young……”
Duke Clark’s aide clutched his forehead the moment he saw Leon.
With even the necklace presented as evidence, it would be harder not to believe.
Bringing the duke’s people here seemed to be everything I could do.
“Young master. We will attend to you now.”
The aide and the two guards who had followed us immediately bowed to Leon.
At the sound of metal clashing between scabbards and armor, the orphanage children who had been peeking through the windows shrieked and scattered in fear.
And Leon was frightened too.
“Rose. Who are these people?”
…Right. He’d always been this sensitive.
Leon clutched my hand with an anxious expression, as if even the familiarity he’d built had vanished.
“I told you, didn’t I? That I’d bring someone who could scold those men you talked about, if I met them.”
“…That person is him?”
“Not him—there’s someone even higher up……”
“Yes! Duke Clark is waiting in the capital. We’ll escort you immediately—!”
As the aide reached out his hand, Leon hid even further behind me.
“I don’t want to. I don’t want to follow weird people.”
“They aren’t weird people……,” the aide muttered, shoulders drooping—having been upgraded from that person to this person to now weird person.
Even if he was only five, Leon was still a young duke. If he refused, the aide had no authority to force him.
“Th-then, perhaps Miss Rose could come along…….”
“Rose. Don’t go.”
Leon had completely shut himself off.
If this continued, we’d only stay at a standoff.
“He’s anxious. Maybe if he meets the duke in person, he’ll believe it?”
“That makes sense. He looks exactly like him……. I’ll send someone right away to escort the duke here.”
The aide sent one of the two guards back to the capital where the duke was.
If I really were a scammer, I’d probably have been ordered to be cut down on the spot—along with the director.
Thankfully, it turned into a peaceful mission instead……
└[Now Leon’s dad is going to regret being mean and start doting on his daughter-in-law]
└[Ah noㅠㅠ I don’t like him—he gave off bad vibes from the moment he looked down on orphans]
└[I’m here for Leon, not the father-in-law]
While the comment fairies debated whether Duke Clark’s personality was redeemable,
I stayed by Leon’s side, trying to calm his anxiety.
Duke Clark arrived in Zeltan, where our orphanage was located, early the next morning.
“You are……”
Even the man who had been full of distrust when he only saw the necklace seemed to lose his words upon seeing his son’s face.
The aide broke the silence with excited chatter.
“I spoke with the young master last night, and Miss Rose was right. Every detail lines up perfectly. His appearance goes without saying.”
“…Hmm. What is your name?”
“…Leon.”
Seeing someone with hair the exact same color as his own, Leon seemed to instinctively lower his guard.
Duke Clark’s expression was no longer cold as it had been yesterday, but tender—or perhaps sorrowful.
“Leon…… Diena said that if she ever had a child, she wanted to name him that.”
└[No seriously, give us more of the dad’s backstory]
└[This father keeps tempting me]
└[Can the imperial-faction dad prepare an even stronger story?]
A moving reunion between father and son—enough to sway even the comment fairies who had written him off.
The duke lowered himself and gently wrapped an arm around Leon’s shoulders. Leon was awkward, but he stayed quietly in his embrace.
“Let’s go home. From now on, I’ll hold you in Diena’s stead.”
└[What about Rose?]
└[Hurry up and praise the heroine!!!!!!!]
If only shouting in my head reached the duke……
But Leon, like the comment fairies, looked for me too.
“Rose?”
“Huh, me?”
Duke Clark followed Leon’s gaze and looked at me.
“Do you want to bring that child along as well?”
“Yes. Rose is coming with us.”
I wasn’t sure when let’s go together if possible turned into a decided plan, but—
Going to a place full of strangers would obviously make him anxious. Given how sensitive Leon was to changes, it was natural he’d want to take a friend.
But……
“Hmm. Did that child ask you to take her along?”
Duke Clark’s gaze changed again.
Back to the same dismissive look he had when we first met in the capital.
└[lol just go]
└[Old men who aren’t fans of the heroine can get lost]
└[You’re really going to miss this chance?]
└[It’s fine, there are other dads]
The comment fairies noisily split into two sides—go, or don’t go.
Honestly, leaving the orphanage would be the easiest way to avoid Count Torto.
I knew opportunities like this wouldn’t come often.
“Leon, I—.”
But after a lot of thought, I had already decided.
“I won’t go.”
At my words, Duke Clark’s eyebrow twitched.
It didn’t seem negative. His gaze held less contempt than before.
I suppose it’s strange to refuse when someone offers to take you to a rich household.
If I really were a five-year-old child, would I have refused here?
Unaware of the duke’s reaction, Leon slipped out of his arms and grabbed mine.
“Why? I don’t want that. Rose has to come too.”
“I think I still have things to do here.”
Yes. I’d thought about it over and over. But following Duke Clark was far too uncertain.
He was someone who had once tested the waters to side with the aristocratic faction—there was no telling when he might cross paths with Count Torto.
He might see a commoner playing with his son as a nuisance and send her away somewhere.
And if that place was the Torto estate, it’d be like walking into a swamp on my own.
And more importantly—
Leon won’t be caught in the fire anymore, but the other kids will.
