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∼Chapter 4∼
The Duke’s lowered voice was frightening, but eating any more was truly impossible.
I was already having trouble breathing, going huff, huff as it was.
What should I do……?
It was just when I was stuck, unable to do anything, that—
“D-Duke.”
The maid who had been standing there as though she didn’t even exist until now stepped forward and knelt.
“May I dare to say something?”
Her expression was solemn.
It was an atmosphere I had seen somewhere before.
It reminded me of those historical dramas, when a loyal subject, filled with patriotic devotion, would give advice to a tyrant.
What on earth was she planning to say?
“The youngest young lady’s stomach is small. It is different from the young masters’. If she eats any more, she will have a stomachache.”
Huh?
The words she spoke as though she were prepared to die sounded strangely serious.
Duke Phaeraton silently looked down at the maid for a moment.
There was nothing I could read from his cold expression.
Then, at last, his perfectly shaped lips moved slowly.
“And you?”
“I-I am Anna.”
Oh.
So her name was Anna.
I saw her face every single day, yet I only learned her name now.
I had thought about asking her name several times, but she always seemed to put up an invisible wall before I could even speak, so I had given up.
After all, I had been ignored so much at Marquis Tarenka’s residence that giving up had become second nature to me.
Anna spoke while trembling, but the Duke merely turned his head indifferently.
“You will be this child’s personal maid from now on.”
Leaving only those words behind, he—
Anna flinched, lifted her head to look at the Duke, and then bowed deeply.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
As I stared at her, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
If he was assigning me a personal maid, then perhaps……
“Um, can I keep staying here?”
“Don’t say unnecessary things.”
A cold answer came back.
But I understood that he had no intention of throwing me out.
Right. From the Duke’s perspective, it would be rather difficult to throw out a child who was, at least on paper, his daughter.
He had left me with relatives.
That much was understandable.
But after bringing back a child who had been abused by those relatives, throwing her out again would be an entirely different matter.
And he’s a nobleman, so reputation and honor probably matter to him, too.
Even if he didn’t like me, he probably wouldn’t send me somewhere else.
Mm-hmm. Good.
My safety was secured.
I should have thought about this sooner. Was I just too scared all this time?
Well, I had spent almost my entire life in this world being told that my existence was unwanted.
It couldn’t be helped.
“Are you really unable to eat any more?”
The Duke asked sharply.
Afraid that he might tell me to eat more, I quickly nodded.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
And then silence descended.
Hmm.
Feeling awkward, I rolled my eyes around while pretending to be as calm as possible.
The Duke continued staring at me without taking his eyes off me even once.
At least before, I had been eating. But now, just sitting there under that stare while doing absolutely nothing was extremely uncomfortable.
I fidgeted with both hands for no reason.
He looks like he’s wondering how to dispose of this rat.
Someone save me.
“Duke.”
Perhaps someone had heard my silent plea.
With a knock, the Duke’s adjutant opened the door and entered.
Thanks to him, I was finally able to escape the Duke’s fierce gaze.
Whew. Seriously, I thought he was going to drill holes through my cheeks.
“I apologize. Because you returned home so suddenly today, there was a message from the Imperial Palace……”
The Duke glared at the adjutant with a face as cold as frost, then eventually rose from his seat with a faint sigh.
So that was why he had come home early.
Apparently, he had returned in a hurry because of something unexpected.
Before leaving the dining room, the Duke looked back at me.
“Don’t do anything pointless. Stay put.”
Hmph. Do you have any idea how clean the windows I wiped are now?
How dare he call my noble labor pointless?
Of course, I only thought that in my head. Like a good child, I nodded and said,
“Okaaay.”
What could a tenant possibly say to their landlord?
Life is hard.
I trudged along, clutching my stuffed belly.
There was no need to go out of my way for someone who didn’t think of me as his daughter.
I had learned that lesson enough times in my previous life.
If I’m going to keep living here, at least I don’t have to worry about my safety.
Food appeared at mealtimes, warm water was available whenever I wanted it—what could possibly be so difficult?
Putting aside my life at Marquis Tarenka’s residence, even compared to my previous life, this was practically paradise.
“Um, youngest young lady.”
Anna, who I had thought would leave immediately after bringing me to my room, hesitated before speaking to me as though she had finally made up her mind.
“Do you understand now? His Grace has no intention of sending you away.”
“Yes.”
I had realized that throwing me out could cause problems for the reputation of House Phaeraton.
“You don’t need to do chores like mopping or sweeping here.”
“Yes.”
“You are still much too young, and you are also His Grace’s only daughter.”
Huh?
“So please relax and think only happy thoughts.”
Relax?
I thought I had hidden it perfectly, but apparently even Anna could tell how anxious I was.
When I said nothing, the other maids cautiously began speaking as well.
At first, they had seemed like they wanted to stop Anna from talking.
“You kept having nightmares while groaning in pain with such a small body……”
“If you’re in pain, please tell us. Don’t endure it alone. The treatment on your calves must have been difficult, too……”
Huh?
I looked at the maids in surprise.
Didn’t these people find me bothersome?
I thought they only took care of me because it was their job, and that they didn’t care about me at all.
Until now, they would quietly appear, do exactly what they needed to do, and disappear.
Even when I tried talking to them, they answered with short replies, so I eventually stopped talking altogether.
But now—
“Were you worried about me?”
“Of course we were!”
Anna shouted loudly with an oddly emotional expression, then seemed to realize what she had done and blushed.
“Ahem. Of course we were concerned, young lady.”
“I thought you didn’t like me.”
“Why would you think that……?”
“You never talked to me, and even when I spoke to you, it seemed like you didn’t want to answer.”
“We would never dare……”
The maids looked at me with somewhat complicated expressions before quietly asking,
“Would you like to talk with us, youngest young lady?”
“Yes.”
I looked up at them and nodded repeatedly.
A faint smile appeared on the maids’ faces.
“You really are different from the other members of the ducal families, youngest young lady.”
“That’s right. You’re almost like an ordinary child.”
At the words spoken with soft laughter, Anna looked horrified.
“Nancy……!”
Nancy.
So her name was Nancy.
Anna and Nancy.
As I repeated their names in my head, Nancy’s face suddenly went pale.
“I-I’m sorry, young lady. I spoke out of turn……”
Well, I had been reincarnated, so technically I wasn’t an ordinary child.
But was that really something she needed to apologize for?
“It’s okay. I like being ordinary.”
I meant it.
I had always wanted to be ordinary.
An ordinary child.
An ordinary student.
An ordinary office worker.
That was how I wanted to live.
“You’re so kind……”
Nancy looked at me with such deep emotion that I laughed awkwardly.
It felt strange seeing someone who had acted as though she had no emotions become so easily moved.
But I didn’t dislike it.
It was as though the maids, who had seemed like still objects until now, had suddenly come alive.
This was the first time since coming here that I had experienced the liveliness of other people.
Without realizing it, I smiled.
After the maids left, I quietly crossed the room and stood in front of the mirror.
His only daughter.
The words I had heard earlier echoed in my heart.
……Family.
Family.
Could you really call people family simply because they lived under the same roof?
I didn’t know.
I had never had a family even once.
But—
“It’s obvious you’re the child your frivolous mother had outside the marriage.”
“That’s why Duke Phaeraton abandoned you. You don’t even have demonic power, do you?”
“Be grateful that I took in a disgrace to the family.”
A mother I had never even seen before.
I had desperately tried to believe that my mother wasn’t that kind of person, but throughout this life, I had grown up hearing words like those over and over again.
Right. If I really am Duke Phaeraton’s ‘biological daughter,’ as Anna said, then I don’t need to be anxious.
No matter what, he wouldn’t throw me out.
But what if I wasn’t the Duke’s biological child?
If I were the illegitimate child born because my mother had cheated on him, wouldn’t I be thrown out the moment it was revealed?
There was no way keeping the product of an affair would not cause problems for his reputation.
I bit my lip tightly and stared at my reflection.
There wasn’t a single thing Duke Phaeraton and I had in common.
The Duke had a face as sharp as a forged sword.
My face, on the other hand, was soft and gentle-looking.
The Duke’s eyes were as red as blood.
Mine were a blue like Paraiba.
And my hair, too…….
Unlike the Duke’s jet-black hair, mine was an extremely delicate shade of pink, like flower petals on a spring day.
There’s nothing about me that resembles him.
And on top of that, I had no demonic power.
I didn’t know much about it, but there had to be a reason Marquis Tarenka kept bringing up demonic power whenever he treated me like an illegitimate child.
Demonic power must run in House Phaeraton.
I had even heard that I would be given an ability when I reincarnated, yet I didn’t even possess the demonic power that supposedly every member of the ducal family had.
More and more pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, proving that I wasn’t the Duke’s biological child.
If I really was born because my biological mother had an affair…….
Would he really stop at throwing me out?
Wouldn’t he kill me out of betrayal?
My romance-fantasy radar was telling me this:
Duke Phaeraton had the attributes of a tyrant, a mastermind, and a villain.
Ugh. If I want to survive, then I’ll have to make an effort on my end somehow.
Like a real daughter.
At the very least, I had to make sure he wouldn’t kill me because of the affection he had developed from raising me.
I knew exactly what to do in a situation like this.
I mean, I’ve read thousands of romance-fantasy novels!
My reflection in the mirror was wearing a mischievous, slightly sinister grin.
I clenched my two potato-sized fists and stared at the enormous door before taking a deep breath.
Huff, huff.
All right, I can do this!
I had made up my mind with my eyes shining, but as I stared at the enormous door that seemed to radiate pressure, my courage slowly tucked its tail between its legs.
They said this was the Duke’s study, but who knew even the door would be this intimidating?
—Let’s stop making excuses.
Actually, I knew.
I knew exactly why I had been pacing in front of the door for several minutes without going inside.
Knowing I might be rejected, knowing he might dislike me, and still being the one to approach him first required an enormous amount of courage.
“What is this scrawny little rat?”
The words the Duke had said when he first saw me kept coming back to me.
Ugh.
Not only did I have to act like nothing was wrong in a situation like this, I had to act affectionate, too.
The heroines in romance-fantasy novels had so much courage!
Only now did I truly realize how incredible those heroines who survived under countless tyrant fathers were.
Whew. Let’s just count to ten. Just ten, and then I’ll go in.
I placed a hand over my pounding heart and had only counted to four when—
The massive door silently opened.
Startled, I instinctively took a step backward, and the Duke’s aide spoke from through the opening.
“Youngest young lady, His Grace says you may enter.”
How did he know I was standing outside?
The aide opened the door wide as if telling me to hurry inside, so I swallowed nervously and stepped into the study.
The study was even larger than I had imagined, and there were even more people inside than I had expected.
But all those people existed merely as background scenery.
To my eyes, there was only Duke Phaeraton.
An overwhelming presence.
Sitting leisurely on the sofa, he looked less like a person and more like a languid beast.
A very dangerous and cruel one.
The Duke’s red eyes stared coldly at me.
I soothed my heart, which kept trying to shrink into itself, and smiled brightly.
“Daddy!”
I toddled over and threw my arms around his leg.
“I missed you.”
I looked up at the Duke with a cheeky grin.
They say no one can spit on a smiling face. Smile, smile.
You have to see each other often to grow attached. I can’t chicken out.
I desperately endured the Duke’s intimidating gaze when—
“……Ghk.”
Somewhere, a sound like someone choking on their breath rang out.
I turned my head and saw some man clutching his collar with a face that looked as though he was about to faint.
No, if anyone was going to be scared, shouldn’t it be me? Why was he the one freaking out?
And it wasn’t just that man.
Everyone in the study had frozen expressions.
Faces that looked like they would shatter into pieces if someone merely tapped them.
It was as though they had just witnessed someone touch a ticking time bomb—
D-Did I get this wrong?
The arms wrapped tightly around the Duke’s leg slowly loosened.
Usually, shouldn’t he look at me fondly, call me cute, ask if I missed Daddy, and praise me?
You have to have experienced being spoiled to know how to act spoiled, and you have to have been loved to know what love feels like.
Even in my previous life, I had been an orphan, so acting spoiled toward adults was incredibly awkward for me.
Perhaps he was annoyed by the little thing rustling around at his feet, because the Duke didn’t kick me away……
He simply picked me up.
Ah, you scared me.
Why did he keep picking me up like a dog?
“You missed me?”
The Duke rested his chin crookedly against one hand and asked slowly.
His tone sounded threatening, and his dark red eyes gleamed ominously.
I desperately calmed my trembling body and only nodded.
All the sweet words I had planned to say disappeared into my stomach, and my mouth became mute as if I had swallowed honey.
“……You were uncomfortable with me.”
I’m still extremely uncomfortable, actually.
No, more importantly, he knew I was uncomfortable?!
And this was the person who had stared at me so frighteningly while I was eating?
Could it be that he was deliberately staring at me so I would get indigestion?
“No, I’m not uncomfortable.”
Unlike the stream of complaints in my head, I vigorously shook my head.
“It’s because you’re unfamiliar to me.”
The Duke raised one eyebrow.
“I haven’t been able to see Daddy all this time.”
“…….”
“So I want to stay together now.”
I stretched both hands toward his face, which had moved slightly away from me.
“You have to stay really, really close so you won’t feel unfamiliar anymore!”
Yes, yes. You grow attached when you stay close.
And once he develops affection from raising me, even if he finds out I’m not his biological daughter, he won’t kill me.
Exactly.
“…….”
The Duke said nothing.
Was his arm getting tired?
The hand holding me trembled.
As a result, I tilted sideways in midair too, and my two hands, which had been stretched straight toward the Duke’s face—
“Gasp……!”
Poked the Duke right in the cheek.
Sounds of people choking on their breath erupted from all around me at once.
It sounded like a choir.
Could those men really make no facial expression other than the look of people who were about to leave this world?
I looked toward the men behind the sofa and took a deep breath.
Stay calm.
There was no way I had just done something cute to the Duke’s cheek.
The sensation of my palm fitting snugly against something was far too soft to be skin.
I must have touched the Duke’s clothes.
He’s wearing silk, Your Grace.
It was strangely warm for clothing, almost like human body heat.
No, it couldn’t be.
Please……
I cautiously lowered my gaze.
The Duke was looking at me with an icy, expressionless face.
A charismatic face that made my heart tremble simply by looking at it.
But that face was slightly different from usual.
Because my tiny little palm was pressed right into the Duke’s cheek.
Well, well.
For a married man and a father, Your Grace certainly has nice skin.
It’s as soft as a baby’s.
Sweat began to trickle down my face.
And then—
Words appeared before my eyes.
[Condition fulfilled.]
[Identity verification in progress…… Contractee of . Verification complete.]
[Awakening Trait <Rush & Cash>.]
W-What……?!
