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Chapter 3
Leponea lifted her head, which had been bowed.
“Your Grace!”
The knight holding Leponea saluted stiffly, his body rigid.
“I heard a commotion earlier.”
His face wasn’t clearly visible because he was standing with his back to the sun. But perhaps because he was much taller than the knight, an oppressive aura made her flinch.
“What is that?”
“We received a report of a child wandering without a guardian. We were on our way to take her to the orphanage.”
Duke.
The knight definitely called him ‘Your Grace’.
The person in this empire who would be called Duke…
When she met his frozen, cool blue eyes, she unconsciously held her breath.
His seemingly soft silver hair fluttered. It was clearly the same color as Leponea’s, but unlike her own dirty hair, it was like brilliant moonlight.
The upright guardian who protects peace and safety.
It was Duke Craitan.
As an aura user, his appearance didn’t age, making it hard to believe he was the father of two sons and a lost daughter; he looked incredibly young.
‘So this knight was from the Craitan Ducal household.’
Leponea stared intently at the uniform of the knight holding her. The blue uniform was clothing only knights of the Craitan Ducal household could wear within the empire.
‘I should have recognized it from the start.’
It wasn’t that her memory had worsened just because she became a child; she had been so flustered she failed to even check this.
“A child?”
Duke Craitan turned his gaze towards Leponea, who was being held in the knight’s arms.
Their eyes met. In that moment, his eyes, which had seemed unshakable no matter what, wavered for the first time.
“…Laila?”
Duke Craitan muttered in a hollow voice.
‘Laila? What’s that?’
Leponea wrinkled the area around her eyes. Simultaneously, he approached Leponea with a foolish expression. He had been scary even when she was an adult; meeting him as a five-year-old was even more frightening.
“Your name?”
The Duke asked somewhat urgently.
“Le, Leponea.”
Overwhelmed by his intensity, Leponea unknowingly answered with her real name.
“Age?”
“Five years old.”
“Parents?”
Leponea shook her head vigorously. Duke Craitan gestured to the knight as if telling him to explain in detail.
“Ah. When I asked earlier, she said she didn’t have any. Um… It seems she was abandoned. It appears she really was living alone in an unowned house.”
It’s my house.
“Abandoned?”
Duke Craitan looked at Leponea with a furrowed brow. Intimidated by his menacing aura, Leponea subtly lowered her gaze.
“…You were on your way to take the child to the orphanage?”
“Yes.”
“And after that?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking what happens after you take her to the orphanage.”
“Uh… First, we verify her identity and parents…”
“The child stated her name and clearly said she was abandoned, didn’t she? What next?”
“W-well, uh, she would stay at the orphanage, and when someone wishing to adopt or a sponsor comes, she would go with them.”
“Is that so?”
As soon as the words were spoken, the Duke reached out towards Leponea in the knight’s arms.
‘Huh?’
A large hand slipped under her armpits and lifted her up unceremoniously.
‘Hmm?’
Leponea blinked and looked at the Duke who had picked her up.
Just then. Suddenly, a viscous, formless energy of a deep color poured out from Duke Craitan’s body towards Leponea.
“Ah!”
She cried out in surprise. But it didn’t hurt.
‘Is this… aura?’
As if gauging something, Duke Craitan wrinkled the area around his eyes and poured out his aura.
‘Could it be… he’s sensed I’m a criminal!’
Leponea swallowed dryly.
“…No? But something, hmm.”
Fortunately, it seemed she wasn’t discovered, as Duke Craitan withdrew his aura.
The knight, who had been watching in confusion from the side, called out to Duke Craitan.
“Y-Your Grace?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Pardon?”
“I said there’s no need to take her to the orphanage.”
Their eyes met. An inexplicable, strange emotion swirled in the Duke’s blue eyes.
“This child, I will take her.”
“Pardon?”
“Excuse me?”
What kind of situation is this all of a sudden?
The sound of the carriage wheels broke the quiet silence.
‘What in the world is this situation?’
Leponea hugged her drawn-up knees tightly and glared at the Duke sitting across from her with wary eyes.
Duke Craitan.
For some unknown reason, he was sitting right across from her.
‘Where is he taking me?’
The Duke, noticing Leponea’s glaring gaze, turned his head from looking outside the carriage.
His glowing blue eyes felt cold, as if they could freeze a person just by looking. Leponea, gripping her tense hands tightly, asked with forced bravado.
“Where go?”
Despite her resolute expression, a child’s fluffy, high-pitched voice came out.
The Duke rested his chin on his hand, stared at Leponea with a languid gaze, and then opened his lips.
“You said you were five, right?”
The Duke stroked his chin.
“You’re small.”
At the sudden comment about her size, Leponea’s brow furrowed. She had been smaller than her peers even at the orphanage, so she couldn’t deny it.
“…They say if you’re small when you’re young, you grow more later as an adult.”
Of course, even as an adult, she wasn’t taller than others.
“Is that so? You’ll have to work hard then.”
The Duke laughed lightly.
‘Well, it’s better than being completely ignored.’
Leponea glanced at the Duke with eyes full of wariness.
“Your name is Leponea?”
Leponea flinched at being called by her name.
“…Yeah.”
She was flustered for having given her real name in the moment, but Leponea calmly assessed the situation.
“You plan sell me?”
“Do I seem like I would?”
The Duke answered her question with a question.
“…Dunno.”
The orphanage director, who had a reputation for being kind and good with children, was secretly selling off children who had reached a certain age for profit.
The holy and sacred Pope wasn’t much different.
So what difference would the upright Duke Craitan make?
Even if she succeeded in jumping from the moving carriage, with this five-year-old body, she would be caught before getting far.
That was the limitation of being five.
So persuading Duke Craitan here was faster.
“Me not worth much if sell.”
Leponea, hugging her knees tightly, muttered as if warning him.
“Who pay big money for me? Look like can’t even do work properly ’cause so skinny, so current me probably can’t even get ‘uction. Don’t even look healthy, so perverts who buy child blood probably not interested either.”
As Leponea’s words flowed without hindrance, the Duke’s face also hardened.
He seemed displeased to hear she wasn’t valuable.
“Do you know what an auction is?”
“Buying and selling stuff.”
Leponea answered immediately.
“You know that and still talk about the auction block… Ha, no. Never mind that. You know such things well?”
“Heard knight call you ‘Duke’. Thought Duke might not know, so telling you.”
After speaking at length, her pronunciation became slurred. A five-year-old’s tongue is truly shameful.
“Who told you such things?”
“Heard here and there. Not lie, is true. Can check yourself if want. Not get much money even if sell me.”
“Should I say thank you for telling me? Thank you.”
The face of Duke Craitan saying thank you was sharp, tinged with menace.
Her mouth felt stiff with fear, but she had to keep talking.
“Just hire me as maid.”
“Maid?”
“I work good.”
This was Leponea’s original plan. Get employed as a maid in the Craitan Ducal household and steal the heirloom.
It was slightly different from the plan, and she hadn’t confirmed the heirloom yet, but this was an opportunity nonetheless.
“Good at cleaning, good at laundry. Even better at organizing.”
There was nothing she hadn’t learned, from noble etiquette to cleaning, laundry, and organizing. Leponea was confident in all of it.
“Didn’t you just say yourself that you look so skinny you probably can’t even do work properly?”
“Just look like that, didn’t say actually am like that. ‘Cause look sickly, people don’t recognize talented person, but giving Duke a chance. Talented person like me… Ah.”
Mid-sentence, a large hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her words. Duke Craitan slightly rolled up Leponea’s sleeve.
The thin, bony wrist hidden under the loose sleeve was revealed.
“Doesn’t seem like you have the right build for a maid’s work, for a ‘talented person’.”
“…’Cause young, can work even with little food. Food cost not high, salary low, so cost-performance good.”
“Hah.”
Duke Craitan, who had carefully released her wrist, let out a sigh.
Was she wrong? This was the best plan she had right now.
Leponea, gritting her teeth, explained her value again.
“‘Cause young, bones break less, and if break, heal fast. Even if bone break from lifting heavy thing, heal fast, so can make me do anyth-”
“Enough.”
Duke Craitan cut her off firmly.
“You seem to be mistaken. I have no intention of selling you off, much less hiring you as a maid.”
“……Huh?”
Leponea blinked. Simultaneously, the carriage stopped, as if they had arrived at their destination.
As the Duke stood up, the carriage door opened as if someone had been waiting.
‘Where is this?’
A surprised Leponea peeked outside the carriage.
“Gasp!”
And she took a sharp, surprised breath. Outside the carriage, she saw numerous servants bowing their heads in greeting towards the Duke.
Behind them was a mansion so huge it could rightly be called a castle.
‘This place is……’
Leponea’s pupils shook.
‘It’s the Craitan Ducal Residence!’
Why am I here?
I was planning to infiltrate it… but if this is infiltration, then it’s infiltration, I guess.
From beyond the open carriage door, the voices of the servants greeting them could be heard.
“Welcome back, Duke Craitan.”
Duke Craitan.
Hearing the name directly with her own ears made her body tremble. Right now, Leponea was like standing alone, unarmed, in the heart of enemy territory.
‘Could it be he figured out who I am and brought me here to capture me?’
That seemed the most likely possibility given the situation. Otherwise, the Duke wouldn’t bring an outsider to his residence, known for its strict security.
‘To think I was brought to enemy territory without even knowing.’
Leponea clutched her small head with her hands. There would be many knights of the Craitan family in the residence, so escape was impossible.
Then how do I survive?
“What are you doing?”
As Leponea was racking her small brain, a large hand reached out before her eyes.
It was Duke Craitan’s hand.
Leponea blinked and looked at the offered hand.
What am I supposed to do with this hand?
Does it mean I should confess obediently?
“Hah.”
The Duke’s sigh fell over Leponea, who was thinking seriously.
Then, he gently took her small hand.
“Come here.”
