🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 24
Me? Did I dare pick a fight?
Could it be that my mere existence felt like provocation to him?
“Have you ever been to the capital before?”
Ah—the capital! Back then, I did pick a fight with that scammer, sort of.
If Duke Valente was recalling the day of the title conferment ceremony, then—
“You remember? We ran into each other in the palace garden too, hehe.”
“Were you tailing me?”
└ [This father’s thought process is wild.]
└ [Honestly he might’ve actually seen child assassins before; the empire was at war until recently.]
└ [Gasp]
Gulp. Is that really why he hates children?
I had lived only in the peaceful postwar period, so I couldn’t imagine what had happened on the battlefield.
But I wasn’t some shadowy assassin stalking him.
“You’re the one who came to the orphanage first today, though…”
“Mm.”
He didn’t seem to have a rebuttal to that fair point.
Perhaps realizing there was nothing more to pursue, the duke delivered a firm verdict.
“Go back.”
“I came all this way and you want me to walk back?”
“I’ll have the carriage turn around.”
He tapped the window connected to the coachman’s seat.
The carriage slowed, then came to a stop.
“This really won’t do…”
“Is there a reason you don’t want to go back? That orphanage gets into accidents strangely often.”
“N–No! The director is nice, the kids are nice too. Only the previous teacher was a piece of tra—um, a bad person.”
“Then you have every reason to return.”
The duke opened the window to the coachman as if he didn’t care what I said.
I thought he’d just dump me on the roadside and leave, but thankfully he didn’t.
“Master. Turn the carriage around.”
Master—meaning the old coachman?
No wonder he unloaded luggage so quickly.
A duke like Valente probably wouldn’t keep just anyone at his side.
The duke closed the window and waited for the carriage to turn… but…
“Master?”
It didn’t budge. Did something happen?
The duke seemed to think the same; he stepped out and checked the coachman’s seat.
“We’re returning to the orphanage. The child boarded the wrong carriage.”
“…”
“Don’t laugh. Please communicate through writing.”
I peeked out the window to watch.
Whatever was going on, the coachman—the duke’s master—didn’t want to turn the carriage around.
Which meant the person I needed to persuade right now was—
That one!
I hopped out and approached the coachman’s seat.
“If you don’t like me sitting next to the duke, I’ll sit here beside you.”
└ [At this point just take the kid already.]
Right?! I mean, he had no reason to take me, but still—out of courtesy!
I stared up at the old coachman.
“Can I sit here…?”
He shook his head.
Even the coachman refuses?!
But it didn’t seem like he was telling me to return to the orphanage; he gestured and waved his hands as if trying to convey something.
“Is the coachman’s seat dangerous?”
“…”
“You want me to ride in the back?”
Maybe others would think I was interpreting this conveniently, but the coachman actually nodded.
“I can go with you, Your Grace!”
“…How are you communicating with my master?”
Well, I did survive off reading the atmosphere at House Torto.
A single glance meant “get lost,” a finger twitch meant “bring the documents.”
I’d spent years observing noble ladies’ secret gestures and foot taps at gatherings.
Interpreting nonverbal communication was nothing to me.
“He says Your Grace’s mind is too rigid.”
“…”
└ [Rose is definitely making that up lololol]
I’m not! …Okay, maybe I rephrased it a little.
“If you leave me behind, that’d be too cruel… is what he also said.”
…Fine, that part I made up.
Thankfully the coachman didn’t deny it.
The duke’s advantage in a one-on-one suddenly reversed into a two-on-one situation in my favor.
Duke Valente sighed in resignation.
“Fine. We’ll go to the estate first, and then I’ll decide what to do with you.”
Valente Ducal Estate
As expected of one of the empire’s few ducal estates, it was grand.
But since it was rebuilt on the very land of a duke executed near the end of the war, it was unclear whether the place had good fortune or terrible luck.
At the very least, just like Duke Valente’s formidable reputation—or infamy—the mansion exuded an overwhelming presence.
The carriage stopped before the huge mansion, and the duke stepped out first with his long legs.
“Welcome back, Your Grace.”
“Yes.”
A butler-looking man accepted the duke’s coat.
The carriage, clearly not designed for children, was rather tall, but I still managed to step down on my own without anyone’s help.
└ [She escapes alone… gets off alone…]
Self-reliance is a virtue!
And of course, when stepping down, I couldn’t skip this:
“Disembarking!”
└ [?]
└ [That’s… not how you disembark.]
└ [Ma’am, what do you mean the protagonist ‘disembarks’ like that LMAO]
└ [Everyone’s confused at the disembark call]
└ [Bookmarks: MC has disembarked]
└ [Never seen such a cheerful disembark before]
As expected, the fairies reacted strongly to the act of disembarking.
└ [The MC has unlocked the Exhibitionism Skill.]
└ [I’m going to say “Disembarking!” when I get off the subway now]
└ [A world where everyone calls out their disembark]
└ [Disembarking is good, right?]
Since the duke had personally told me to follow him to the estate, I confidently walked after him toward the entrance.
“…?”
The middle-aged butler finally noticed the tiny creature moving at floor level and grabbed my shoulder.
“U-Um, Your Grace? This child is…?”
“Ah.”
Excuse me, did you forget to take me inside?
“Let her in for now. I’ll handle it.”
“H-Handle, sir…?”
“He means he’ll decide how she’ll be treated.”
I translated the duke’s dangerous wording into something gentler, and the butler relaxed.
└ [She’s doing two-way interpretation lol]
└ [Five years old but vocabulary of a diplomat]
└ [Just get hired as a translator]
└ [Regressed and became the duke’s translator?]
So after daughter-in-law, now they want me to be a translator?
Honestly, that’s more realistic anyway.
└ [They said earlier he has a young master too]
└ [Translator → Daughter-in-law arc incoming?]
These fairies refuse to give up on the daughter-in-law route.
Once entry permission was given, the estate staff treated me as a guest.
The problem was, if I didn’t earn anything here, I’d end up returning to the orphanage with nothing but polite hospitality.
The duke led me to his office.
I sat on the reception sofa, reading the atmosphere.
└ [We need the father’s visual description please]
…That’s what you think is important right now?
These are definitely superficial-appearance-obsessed illustration fairies.
The duke, who had been gazing out the window, turned and looked at me again.
Seen against the backlight, Duke Valente looked—
H-honestly pretty intimidating.
Not just because of my bias; he really was huge, as a former Imperial Knight Commander.
And from a child’s eye level, even more enormous.
He was like someone who put a tailored suit over full plate armor.
└ [Chest armor? 100/100]
└ [Ex-Knight Commander Dad]
Whatever criteria the fairies had, he apparently satisfied them.
The duke explained, as if trying to persuade me—or maybe discourage me—about the nature of the place.
“This is not an orphanage or an educational facility. This is where knights who did not return to their hometowns after the war—or had nowhere to return—gather.”
“I also have nowhere to return to…”
“You have the orphanage.”
“But that isn’t a home, and someday I’ll have to move out.”
…Though talking about independence at age five was a bit absurd.
“I wasn’t placed there by choice. I was left there because I had nowhere to go…”
My voice wavered pitifully.
The duke wasn’t cruel enough to ignore that completely, though he stayed firm.
“The knights here fulfill their duties as knights. We have no reason to feed and shelter someone who doesn’t need to be here.”
Which, if flipped around… meant—
If I proved myself useful, I wouldn’t have to leave?
└ [Here it is. <Utility Proof Mode>]
└ [These romance novel dads—pretend to be strict but end up obsessed later]
└ [What do you mean usefulness?? The heroine’s cuteness IS usefulness]
└ [Childcare arc almost unlocked]
The fairies grew loud again, but for me, this was a ray of hope.
Proving my usefulness?
I’d done nothing but that at House Torto.
“If you give me some time, I’ll find a reason why I should stay here.”
But before he could add harsh conditions—
“…But could you please be a little generous with the time?”
After all, it’s my first time proving my usefulness as a five-year-old.
