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Chapter 9
At that moment, Chedman was in the training grounds.
The servants who saw him training shook their heads, saying he was relentless, because he acted as if nothing had happened.
Chedman liked the sword because when he swung it, his mind became empty.
But today, his head was as noisy as a marketplace.
‘Roxina….’
For some time now, his youngest sister had been very suspicious.
The sister who used to hide in her room and only watch others carefully had suddenly lifted her head and started arguing with Renzad.
He hadn’t seen Roxina often, but she definitely hadn’t had such a bold presence before.
Whenever he occasionally ran into her, she always had a gloomy atmosphere. Even when Renzad crossed the line with his words, she would just listen silently.
‘But the Roxina just now….’
She clearly refuted everything Renzad said.
She even used the word “cowardly,” something a four-year-old shouldn’t even know.
‘It’s not wrong, though.’
That didn’t mean Roxina was wrong.
Just like she said, their mother’s death was not her fault.
Chedman knew that much, which was why he had warned Renzad when he made such ridiculous claims.
Of course, there was no need to care beyond that.
‘Still… the reason Mother died… the temple….’
He had never thought of that before.
After all, the temple was always supposed to be pure and upright, and everyone believed that without doubt.
But after hearing Roxina’s words, there were far too many strange things.
‘Why didn’t Father call a priest that day?’
If it were the Heinox he knew, he would have sold the entire territory if needed to bring a priest.
But on the day their mother died, there wasn’t even a glimpse of white robes, let alone anyone from the temple, at the Tanjeeric estate.
‘Even one trainee priest would have been enough….’
Excessive bleeding and dangerously high fever—those could have been resolved quickly with just a little divine power.
But because the temple never moved, the Duchess of Tanjeeric died without receiving even such simple treatment.
Chedman had not let go of his sword even while drinking water during training, but at the thought that his mother’s death might not have been simple postpartum fever, he threw the sword to the ground.
In his view, the temple had a duty to help the Tanjeeric family.
No matter how much they were paid, the Tanjeeric family should have been their priority.
“All the donations Mother gave them…”
Priscilla Tanjeeric, the former duchess who gave birth to Chedman, Renzad, and Roxina, had donated enormous amounts of money to the temple every September while she was alive.
As a child, Chedman once asked why she gave so much, wondering if it was excessive even for faith.
Back then, Priscilla answered like this:
“If someday one of us is in danger, the temple will be the first to help us.”
Priscilla had donated enough each year to buy two mansions, all for the safety of her family.
And yet, the temple ignored that devotion.
“Bastards…”
A rough curse slipped out of Chedman’s mouth, unfitting for his innocent face.
It was because of his anger toward the temple—and his guilt toward himself.
‘I never even doubted the temple….’
If Roxina hadn’t spoken today, he might have never known.
With rising anger, Chedman picked up the sword he had thrown and swung it violently.
After hearing that Renzad and Chedman had been summoned by Heinox because of the disturbance in the kitchen, I became worried in my own way.
‘Looks like I’ve really been marked because of this….’
The real power in this household was Heinox.
He hated noise, so there was no way he liked the commotion caused by me and Renzad.
‘Damn Renzad. What is all this because of him?’
My plan to reveal the truth behind Priscilla’s death and live peacefully in this mansion had been ruined from the start.
I clenched my teeth, remembering how stubborn Renzad had been.
“Renzad… seriously, he’s no help in my life.”
“Miss…!”
Anne looked anxious, worried someone might hear.
“It’s fine. No one comes into my room except Renzad—”
Knock knock.
“Lady, are you inside?”
…Someone came.
“Who—oh, Head Maid!”
When Anne opened the door, she quickly bowed upon seeing the familiar face.
“Oh, Anne. Is the young lady inside?”
“I’m here.”
I walked over while licking cookie crumbs off my fingers, and the head maid politely bowed.
‘She’s older than me, yet she has to bow to a little kid… she really has it hard.’
Feeling a bit sorry, I looked at her sympathetically.
“Why are you here?”
But the next words made me stop feeling sorry.
“The Duke has summoned you.”
“Ah…”
‘It’s finally come.’
After calling Chedman and Renzad, I thought maybe he would let me off since I wasn’t called—but of course, that wasn’t happening.
Even if I wasn’t the cause, I was still involved in the disturbance.
“Miss?”
The head maid’s gentle face looked like a grim reaper to me at that moment.
“I don’t wanna go…”
Even if it made sense for me to be called—
“I still don’t wanna go…”
With a miserable expression and a heart that refused to cooperate with reason, I followed the head maid.
‘Feels like I’m a monkey being dragged around….’
The long hallway felt unusually short today.
The servants who knew about the incident looked at me with pity.
‘You don’t have to look at me like that… I already know my situation….’
The head maid walked so fast that I soon arrived in front of Heinox’s office.
“My lord, I have brought the young lady.”
“Send her in.”
“Lady, please go in.”
The head maid then stood quietly by the wall, as if her job was done.
“Ha…”
I took a deep breath and opened the office door.
The first thing I saw was—
“You’re here.”
Heinox, smiling.
“H-hello…”
‘Oh no….’
I instinctively bowed and darted my eyes around.
‘Why is he smiling… that’s scary.’
I took a deep breath to calm my pounding heart.
‘Even if you enter a tiger’s den, stay calm.’
I didn’t even do anything wrong.
I’ll just apologize for the noise and walk out confidently!
I flared my tiny nostrils and lifted my head.
But when I looked again, Heinox had already returned to his usual cold expression.
As I quickly lowered my gaze and fidgeted with my fingers, Heinox let out a deep sigh.
“Sit down first.”
“Yes…”
The sofa was still too high for me, but I couldn’t complain like usual.
Even if I had stood up against insults toward the late duchess, it was still true that I caused a disturbance.
‘I wish the sofa were even higher.’
If it were so high that I couldn’t climb it at all, I could have pretended to struggle and give up.
‘Then he might’ve told me to go back and talk later….’
But now, pretending I couldn’t climb it was impossible.
I had already climbed it several times, and Heinox wasn’t foolish enough to fall for such tricks.
I blamed my past self for trying too hard before and grabbed the seat tightly.
Heinox quietly watched me struggle with my short legs to climb onto the sofa, then spoke.
“Roxina.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know why I called you?”
“Yes…”
“What for?”
“I-I did something wrong…”
“….”
Even though I answered quietly, there was no response.
‘He must be more angry than I thought.’
Since I couldn’t see his face, all kinds of thoughts filled my head.
‘He called me to scold me, right? Because of the noise? Or maybe because I talked back to my older brother?’
Heinox was generally indifferent to everyone, but he was still the head of the family.
He strictly controlled his household and valued the clear line between master and servant.
‘In the original story, he was the perfect example of a cold master.’
This estate, running under his rules, was part of what built the family’s prestige.
‘And I just turned that upside down.’
Thinking that, I realized maybe getting close to the servants wasn’t entirely a good thing.
‘He’s not going to hit me… right?’
I carefully glanced at him.
‘Or… punishment?’
My shoulders trembled at the thought.
‘No way!’
I still had so much to do.
Learn the imperial language from Dical, eat Puichi’s apple pie, take walks with Anne…
Later, visit the temple, uncover secrets, and find the mine to help the Tanjeeric family.
That was all in the future, but for now, I needed to fix things with Renzad and Chedman.
Sweat began to form as I grew anxious.
But showing fear would only make things worse.
Heinox was extremely perceptive—any slight change in expression would be noticed immediately.
So I lowered my head even more to hide my tension.
After a long silence, Heinox spoke with a deep sigh.
“Lift your head, Roxina.”
“Yes… yes…”
‘Phew….’
Thankfully, he didn’t look very angry.
If anything, he looked… conflicted.
As if he had a lot on his mind.
“I didn’t call you here because you did something wrong.”
