RIYP 05

By then, the man had already arrived in front of the cabinet.

“…”

“…”

After a brief silence, the man let out a small sigh.

“…I know you’re in there. So come out on your own.”

I twitched my eyebrows.

‘Like I’m going to listen to you.’

Idiot. Even if he was underestimating me because I was a child, wasting his chance like this was foolish.

Of course, it worked out well for me. The more time dragged on, the better my chances of surviving became.

“I’m not here to hurt you. I don’t want to frighten you either.”

Bleeeh. I secretly stuck out my tongue. As if anyone would believe that.

Faced with me stubbornly holding out behind the thin little cabinet door, the man finally let out a second sigh.

“…It can’t be helped.”

Rustle.

At last, he knelt down.

‘The door’s opening!’

There was no time to think. Just as Mother had taught me, I swung the tightly clenched fist I’d prepared with all my strength!

“Wa—ugh!”

THUD!

A dull impact rang out. Apparently caught completely off guard, the man staggered backward while clutching his face where I’d hit him.

“Serves you right!”

I crawled out proudly and pushed myself to my feet with exaggerated confidence.

“If you let your guard down just because your opponent’s a baby, this is what happens! If you didn’t know before, you better remember it now!”

“…Ha, what?”

The man shook his head as if dumbfounded and lowered the hand covering his face.

Only then did I finally see his face clearly.

Black hair. Thick, masculine brows, one marked with a scar slicing through the middle. Beneath dark lashes were deep blue eyes like a winter sea—

‘Huh?’

That face was familiar.

‘Wait… what?!’

Very familiar.

“…What is Oppa doing here?!”

Gasp—I shouted it without realizing.

I hurriedly covered my mouth, but it was already too late.

‘Crap!’

The Ezekiel Ricard I knew wasn’t the sort of person who’d let even childish nonsense slide.

That was the kind of man he was.

…My older brother from my previous life.

His deep blue gaze fixed on me, impossible to read. I felt as though I were being dissected piece by piece, and my shoulders flinched involuntarily.

“N-no… I mean, I thought you were someone from next door, or the house behind ours, or maybe the mountain behind us, or the yard next to ours…”

“This is rather surprising.”

What is?! There’s nothing for you to be surprised about! You just got punched by a child and started hearing things!

“I never imagined Rosalind—that woman—would tell her daughter about her real father.”

“…What?”

What did this man just say? Real father?

‘Real father means… Dad?’

Ezekiel Ricard was my father?

Looking at me, whose eyes had widened as far as they possibly could, he spoke.

“Well, if you can recognize me, that makes this conversation easier.”

“R-recognize what…?”

I wasn’t asking because I didn’t understand.

I was desperately begging him to deny it.

“…That I’m your biological father.”

“WAAAAH! NO!!”

I was so horrified that the mature composure I’d barely been maintaining completely shattered. Unable to suppress my instincts anymore, I burst into loud sobs exactly like a three-year-old and shook my head wildly.

“There’s no way! This is a dream, a dream!”

My older brother from my previous life, who had despised me so much, was my father in this life?! How could Mother possibly be with a man like him?!

“Quiet down—ugh!”

SMACK!

An even louder impact echoed through the room. Grimacing, the man pressed a hand against the cheekbone I’d hit earlier.

“Ghk—what in the world…?!”

He looked more bewildered than hurt.

Honestly, I wasn’t much different. No—in fact, I was even more shocked than he was.

Quickly retracting the fist I’d instinctively thrown, I hurriedly tried to explain myself.

“I-I wasn’t trying to hit you again?!”

“That doesn’t sound very convincing.”

“I did say it would be better not to startle Her Highness.”

At the familiar voice, I instantly lifted my head.

“Marchioness Mafilda!”

“Yes, Your Highness. I’m here.”

I immediately ran over and hid behind the marchioness’s skirts. Lifting me into her arms, she lightly scolded him.

“See? You frightened her terribly.”

“Does the Caledro Grand Duchy teach people to throw punches whenever they’re startled?”

“For the most part, yes. It’s better to have strong self-defense instincts.”

“…Ha.”

My older brother from my previous life—the man claiming to be my father in this life—Ezekiel Ricard shook his head as if utterly absurded.

Then he glared at Marchioness Mafilda with icy blue eyes and said,

“She doesn’t resemble her at all.”

“Is that so?”

I flinched at the killing intent practically dripping from his voice, but Marchioness Mafilda remained perfectly calm, simply cuddling and soothing me.

Ezekiel growled again.

“So you lied.”

“I did not. Standards of resemblance are subjective, after all.”

“So you think what you did was right?”

“Yes.”

The other party was none other than the heir of House Ricard.

‘Or maybe he’s already the duke by now. Father was quite old.’

And yet, rather than showing fear, Marchioness Mafilda merely smiled and boldly replied:

“If I hadn’t told you that Her Highness resembled your late aunt, would you have come all this way?”

Wait. His late aunt?

‘If Oppa is my father, and I’m his daughter, then the dead aunt would be…’

There was only one possibility.

‘…Me from my previous life?!’

Why was my past-life self suddenly being brought up here?!

Startled, I looked at Ezekiel, and his expression was terrifying. It felt as though he could slice someone apart with his gaze alone.

‘S-scary.’

Maybe it was because they’d mentioned my past-life self, the one he’d hated so intensely. Maybe he’d even come here intending to kill me if I resembled her. His glare was so vicious I nearly forgot everything I’d been thinking up until now.

Without realizing it, I clutched tightly at Marchioness Mafilda’s clothes. Perhaps noticing my fear, she wrapped me more warmly in her embrace.

Nestling into the familiar comfort, I cautiously peeked out again. Thankfully, Ezekiel’s gaze seemed somewhat calmer than before.

Though for some reason, he also looked far more conflicted.

“…I’ll remember this debt.”

“As you wish.”

I didn’t know anymore. At this moment, all I could think was how incredible Marchioness Mafilda was, smiling so calmly in front of a man like that.

I’d always thought Marchioness Mafilda was amazing, but she turned out to be even more extraordinary than I’d imagined.

The proof was that, right in front of Ezekiel—who radiated enough cold hostility and killing intent to rival a northern blizzard—she casually ordered a meal prepared simply because I, a thirty-month-old child, needed to eat.

‘This feels like I’m going to get indigestion.’

There was even only one set of food and utensils on the table.

Is this really okay? Isn’t he not even the heir anymore but the actual duke now? Isn’t this way too disrespectful? Honestly, you could call it outright disregard.

“Here, Your Highness.”

Marchioness Mafilda gently placed a fork in my hand. I sneaked a glance toward Ezekiel.

His eyes clearly showed displeasure.

‘Well…’

Earlier I’d just been too shocked, but thinking about it now, I’d endured even more contemptuous looks from him in my previous life.

And besides, it wasn’t like I had any reason to get on his good side now.

‘There should at least be some benefit to it.’

Even if I did get on his good side, the best outcome would probably just be getting dragged back to that hellish ducal household to live there again.

Ughhh. Absolutely not. I shuddered hard, firmly turned away from him, and gripped the fork resolutely.

“…Thank you for the meal!”