RVF 10

Chapter 10

Plan Discovered

“I heard a strange noise.”

The child replied with clear, bright eyes.

There was something in the way they didn’t avert their gaze, as if there wasn’t a single ounce of deception.

Seeing that, Caius narrowed his eyes. The child, unfazed by his suspicious stare, continued speaking.

“So I came out, and a suspicious person went into the Duke’s room. But there was no one else around…”

Tears welled up in their large, round eyes, on the verge of spilling.

“Didn’t you think you might be in danger? How dare you be so reckless.”

“I was scared too! But the Duke was in danger, so…”

Finally, the child sniffled. The tears, like tiny drops of dew, fell, and Philen, standing nearby, wore a sympathetic expression.

“Our little one… you must have been so startled…”

Not stopping there, he even took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the child.

“Sniff… thank you, Philen.”

“No need to thank me.”

Caius narrowed his eyes and studied the child.

‘Another lie.’

Caius easily saw through the child’s lie. It was just like when, the day before yesterday, the child had claimed they were coming to give him cookies.

The child was lying to hide something.

Caius rolled his eyes.

Even if he pressed further, the cunning child would continue evading his questions in the same manner.

Moreover, when he had seen the child cry on the first day, it hadn’t bothered him. Yet somehow, now, the child’s tears irritated him.

After sending the crying child back to their room, Caius thought:

‘They’re definitely hiding something.’

But no obvious clue came to mind. At that moment, Philen murmured beside him.

“Master, we should strengthen the mansion’s security. Even if we let the other side do what they want, it would be dangerous if the little one saw such things again.”

“…Again?”

“Yes. Last time, there was even an attempt at poisoning, wasn’t there? Fortunately, the little one was in their room, so nothing happened.”

A memory he had lightly dismissed resurfaced.

“Ah…”

A thread of understanding appeared. Caius let out a dry laugh.

It was a peaceful morning, as usual. Even after staying up several nights trying and failing to escape, I forced my eyes open.

‘It’s impossible to attempt running away right now.’

Because of the assassin who had broken in the previous night, knights had been stationed throughout the mansion, and the Duke’s vigilance had increased. Trying to leave secretly under these circumstances was impossible.

For now, I decided not to attempt running away.

‘If I get caught trying, it could be worse.’

After all, the Duke had previously called me aside to interrogate me.

Luckily, I was fairly good at lying, so I managed to get through yesterday without trouble.

Judging by Philen’s reaction, my acting seemed convincing.

Unlike Philen, the Duke hadn’t flinched a bit.

That concerned me slightly, but the Duke rarely showed expressions anyway, so I let it slide.

I wriggled under the covers, planning out what to do today.

‘Save more emergency funds, eat plenty of snacks, have proper meals.’

Since I was going to stay anyway, I intended to make the time worthwhile.

But regardless of my plans, sleepiness overwhelmed me.

‘It’s all because of what I saw last night.’

I hadn’t stayed up just worrying.

Having seen the assassin break in myself, I couldn’t easily close my eyes. The scene kept replaying in my mind.

‘Haaaah…’

“Little one, it’s time to get up.”

Just then, Sophia entered. Seeing Delma follow, I burrowed deeper into the covers, lingering.

“Are you very sleepy? But you can’t stay up too late.”

“Mm.”

I sluggishly rose. When I yawned widely, Sophia chuckled beside me.

‘My eyes look puffy too.’

Having slept poorly, my eyes were crusted more than usual.

I staggered toward the bathroom behind Sophia, and suddenly noticed a huge silhouette behind her.

‘Who is that?’

I naturally assumed it was Delma—but it wasn’t. Delma wasn’t that tall.

“Sophia.”

“Yes?”

“Who’s that?”

“That’s the knight who will be assigned to guard you for the time being.”

Guard?

“Because of what happened yesterday, the Duke was very worried. He said he would assign a guard until the general recruitment period ends.”

The Duke worried about me? That sounded suspicious. And a guard, too.

‘I’m just at home.’

Still, the silhouette seemed familiar.

I yawned casually and lifted my head—then froze.

The knight’s eyes met mine as he approached and greeted me.

“Greetings. I am Yan Beiholt, assigned to be your guard from today.”

“……”

“It is an honor to serve as your protector, young lady.”

Yan smiled gently at me. Sophia, standing nearby, chuckled and added:

“Come to think of it, you were the knight who escorted the little one on the first day, right? Lucky you, little one.”

“……”

I entered the bathroom silently and closed the door gently.

“Oh my, why is that?”

Caius had a faint smile on his lips while working. Seeing that, Philen was startled.

“Y-You’ve finally made up your mind?”

Caius’s brows furrowed sharply at Philen’s words. His previously smiling expression turned cold and full of icy intent.

“About what?”

“To finally deal with that one who acts without understanding…!”

Caius’s gaze at Philen chilled.

Philen, realizing he had misjudged the situation, asked cautiously:

“Then why are you in such a good mood?”

“Me?”

“Yes, Master.”

Philen tilted his head, sensing the conversation wasn’t normal.

“You must have misseen.”

Caius replied bluntly.

Philen was perceptive. She knew Caius didn’t want to continue the conversation.

But she also couldn’t ignore what she had clearly seen with her own eyes.

“No, I’m certain Master just smiled like this.”

Philen deliberately lifted the corners of her mouth to demonstrate.

Technically, it wasn’t a full smile—just a slight curve—but to Philen, it was as if Caius had beamed.

Caius narrowed his eyes and lifted his head. Silence filled the room.

Quickly, Philen snatched the approved documents in a rush.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

Before Caius could respond, Philen fled, slamming the door shut.

Caius’s disapproving gaze lingered on the door. He seemed to be deciding whether to call the insolent one back.

If he hadn’t been buried in work, he probably would have.

Instead, he sighed shortly and returned to reviewing the documents.

A few minutes later, a subtle smile crept across his lips.

‘Well, that was somewhat amusing.’

He hadn’t expected it—but that sound must have been the child.

A few days ago, while handling the assassin who had attempted poisoning, he had heard tiny footsteps outside the door.

At the time, they seemed insignificant and were ignored.

Even if he had known those footsteps weren’t Philen or the servants, he wouldn’t have immediately suspected a four-year-old child.

A normal four-year-old would have cried or panicked after witnessing such a scene.

But this child hadn’t.

Feigning ignorance, pretending not to notice, the child deceived everyone in the mansion.

Once Caius understood the child’s intent, everything fell into place like a puzzle: wandering the mansion by day, meeting at the front gate each morning…

‘They must have been trying to run away.’

The child probably thought the place was dangerous and wanted to leave.

Brought here to be used conveniently, the child not following instructions was a minor nuisance.

Even if warned, a child who would obey might never have attempted to leave.

But since this child was clever, direct threats might have worked—but Caius wasn’t keen on that.

He decided to warn the child another way.

The guard assigned to Diane today served that exact purpose.

‘Let’s see how my daughter reacts.’

A smile spread across Caius’s lips. His face clearly showed enjoyment.

‘You terrible villain Duke!’

The tower of blocks I had built collapsed completely. Delma, surprised, approached.

“Little one, aren’t you enjoying the blocks? Shall we play with the puzzle instead?”

“…No, it’s fun.”

I muttered with a completely unamused expression.

Delma tilted her head but sat beside me to help rebuild the blocks.

I chose block play to force myself to focus and calm down—but it didn’t work. My mind was still boiling with anger.

‘You wicked villain! Among villains, the Duke is the worst!’

“Oh, little one. If you push the blocks like that, they’ll collapse again soon.”

Delma’s words as I stacked the blocks carefully. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

Still, the Duke was undeniably the villain here.

‘He did it on purpose, deliberately!’

While stacking blocks, that was all I could think about: why the Duke had assigned a guard.

‘He figured it out, without a doubt.’

It had been suspicious from yesterday. He should have known when he let me go quietly. The Duke had surely discovered my attempted escape.

He even assigned a guard to show me he knew.

Sophia and Delma said it was because the Duke cared, but I knew better.

‘He’s monitoring me.’

After all, he had brought me here because he needed me.

Until I was no longer useful, he would keep me under his control.

Since I had no plans to leave for now, it wasn’t a major problem.

But I had another pressing issue.

‘On any other day, this wouldn’t happen!’

I normally woke up before Sophia or Delma. My face might puff slightly in the morning, but never this much.

I always went straight to wash up!

So why was Yan there?

‘Ugh, everything’s ruined.’

I couldn’t hide my gloom and buried my face in my hands.