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Lephonia watched as Pretes held out a palm filled with chocolates and candies. There is such a thing as too much sweetness; the sheer volume of it made the scent feel cloying.
She had assumed he was looking for a fight when he suddenly chased all the maids away.
Instead, he had abruptly snatched away the figs and honey-soaked apples she was enjoying, only to offer her these chocolates and candies in their place.
He then told her to eat them quickly while he kept watch.
"Give me back my figs and honey-soaked apples."
"What? Not the chocolate and candy?"
Pretes shouted in disbelief, his head snapping toward her.
"Do you have any idea what these are? Have you never had chocolate or candy before? Well, I suppose Father is so obsessed with health that he’d never give you anything like this. ...Hey, try one. Once you taste these, you won't even look for your figs and apples anymore."
"I know what they are. Birdie gave me some before."
"You've had them? And you still want the figs and apples?"
"They're tasty when you have one, but if you eat too much, you get sick of them."
Lephonia picked out exactly one piece from the pile of candies.
"You're the first five-year-old I've ever seen who can exercise restraint in front of chocolate and candy. ...When I was your age, I used to sneak chocolate behind Father's back until I got a stomachache."
"Was that why you gave them to me? To give me a stomachache?"
"Hey. A measly amount of chocolate like this won't give you a stomachache. You'd have to eat it for hours to get sick."
...I think I’m starting to understand why the second son hasn't graduated from the academy yet.
"I'm still a patient."
Five-year-old Lephonia said with a sharp, businesslike expression.
"Patients need to eat healthy. If the doctor catches me eating nothing but chocolate and candy, there will be hell to pay."
"That's why I said I'd keep watch for you, didn't I?"
"Why should I trust you?"
"What?"
Pretes faltered. In that moment, Lephonia, who had retrieved the figs and honey-soaked apples he’d taken, poked one with a fork and said nonchalantly,
"You're not on my side anyway."
She didn't call him "you" like she did yesterday, but she didn't use his name either. And she certainly didn't want to call him "brother."
Of course, before she became a child, Lephonia was twenty and Pretes was twenty-three, so he was technically her older brother.
'If I call him brother, it feels like I’ve truly stolen this Lady’s position, and I hate that feeling.'
After all, Lephonia was merely a substitute—at most for a few years, at least for a few months.
"You think I'm a con artist, don't you?"
Lephonia said calmly as she popped a honey-soaked apple into her mouth.
"You came here to kick me out, right?"
There was no need to beat around the bush.
With one apple slice in each cheek, Lephonia mumbled as she asked.
'Having food in both cheeks seems to give my tongue more leverage and opens my mouth wider, which makes my pronunciation clearer.'
I should practice my pronunciation like this every time I have a snack.
Lephonia chewed the apple with a rhythmic *nom-nom-nom*, lost in her strange thoughts.
"What exactly are you? How can you talk to me like this knowing that?"
As if he were swapping out his facial expressions, Pretes's eyes turned cold.
"Lephonia Kreitan. I told you yesterday."
Lephonia muttered her name indifferently. Perhaps because she had introduced herself so many times, the surname Kreitan attached to her name began to feel quite natural.
"...Little one. You don't seem to realize how heavy that name is."
Pretes muttered coldly.
*Clatter.*
With a hardened face, Pretes dumped the chocolates and candies from his palm onto the table. It looked as if he were throwing them away, or perhaps like a sandcastle collapsing.
"Fine, you're right."
Pretes sat opposite her, resting his chin on his hand.
"In that case, I’d like you to leave the mansion quietly so as not to cause a scene."
Lephonia quietly chewed her apple, *nom-nom-nom*.
"If you promise to leave willingly, I will sponsor you until you come of age. I’ll provide a safe, clean home, and if you want, I’ll even send you to the academy. I’ll make sure you don't live in want until you're an adult."
"Talk about that once you've graduated yourself."
Five-year-old Lephonia pointedly remarked to the adult Pretes.
Pretes's face crumpled.
"That’s because I haven't graduated yet, not because I couldn't! I could graduate right away in this next exam."
"Oh."
Lephonia nodded.
"That’s a decent offer for you, isn't it? So, when will you leav—"
"But I have no intention of leaving."
Lephonia cut him off flatly. At the news that she had no intention of leaving, Pretes's face darkened.
"Why? It's warm and nice here right now."
"Who said I'm not leaving because of the weather? You talk about leaving a house as if you're talking about going for a walk."
Lephonia shook her head in disbelief, cut a fig, and put it in her mouth.
The soft, pulpy flesh of the fig burst in her mouth. As the mushy fruit melted away, sweetness filled her palate.
*Mm.* Fruit really is best when it's this fresh.
"You’d be better off taking my offer while I’m still willing to sponsor you, little one. What will you do if I kick you out right now?"
Pretes threatened her with a menacing tone. If Lephonia were truly five, she might have agonized over such a good offer.
'Is he planning to change his tune once he gets me out?'
But Lephonia was not five.
'I just need to find the heirloom and leave; then I can live freely however I want. I don't need any sponsorships.'
Lephonia studied Pretes.
'He's different from the rumors.'
They said he was a selfish, temperamental brat whom everyone walked on eggshells around. There were even rumors that when he was in a bad mood, he would beat people to the brink of death just for making eye contact.
"You won't be able to kick me out, though."
"What? Ha, you're quite confident, little one."
Pretes sneered.
"Since you're so sure, you must have something to rely on? You even used the word 'con artist' yourself earlier. Did the person who sent you here tell you never to leave?"
Pretes narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp as if he were certain of his theory.
"I already explained the reason earlier, did you forget already?"
"What? What reason?"
Pretes asked, radiating killing intent. Lephonia blinked her eyes cutely.
"I'm still a patient."
Realizing his mistake, Pretes's sharp gaze softened in an instant.
Right. I knew he would react this way if I said that.
Even Pretes, who carried such vicious rumors, seemed unable to treat a five-year-old child harshly.
"Are you trying to kick out a five-year-old patient?"
"Ha. When you put it like that, I sound like a total piece of trash. No, that's not it. I just forgot... ha."
Pretes ran a hand through his hair, his face contorted. With no rebuttal, his blue eyes darted around.
She had been injured in the Kreitan mansion, and since the culprit might be one of the vassals, he probably felt a sense of responsibility even if he felt she needed to leave.
'It's a good thing he feels indebted to me.'
Isn't debt the weakest of all human emotions?
'He's a softer person than I thought.'
Lephonia finished her honey-soaked apple with a deadpan expression.
"Hey, kid."
Watching her, Pretes spoke up again.
"Why don't you call me brother?"
Lephonia tilted her head.
"Are you my brother?"
"What?"
"You're not my brother. You don't even think of me as the Lady."
Lephonia was calm. It was as if she had accepted her position, understanding that everyone except the Duke of Kreitan did not consider her family.
She answered as if it were only natural.
"So how could I dare to address you, the second son of the Kreitan family, so casually?"
Using his name felt too intimate, and the title of "brother" didn't fit since they weren't family.
"You're going back to the academy anyway, aren't you? You haven't graduated yet."
"Hey, kid. That graduation talk... ha, I really will graduate in this next exam. I'll graduate at the top of my class, just you watch."
"We'll see."
"What? Do you think I can't graduate because I'm stupid? I told you, I just haven't done it yet...!"
"That's not it. You don't know if I'll still be here when you graduate. I could suddenly have an accident and die, or leave, or be disowned."
"What? Hey, what kind of talk is—"
"The future is unknown. I never imagined I'd be in such a nice mansion, wearing nice clothes, eating fresh fruit, and being called a Lady."
At most, she had only planned to infiltrate as a maid; who would have thought she'd become a Lady?
"So, because you don't know what the future holds, you're not going to call me anything at all while you're here?"
"Calling you by your name feels too intimate, and I don't want to use that other title."
Pretes furrowed his brows. He was clearly talking to a five-year-old, but he felt an inexplicable wall. There was no emotion in the words the five-year-old spoke.
It was as if her dreams and hopes had already faded, worn thin by time. All that remained was a crumpled, old sense of helplessness and resignation.
To think that was all a five-year-old could feel.
"...Was I this numb, too? I don't think I was quite like this."
"Hm? What was that?"
"Nothing."
Pretes shook his head.
"Still, you need something to call me. Like you said, we don't know what the future holds."
"Then... what should I call you?"
"If my name is too intimate and you don't like 'brother,' then just come up with something and call me that. ...Hey, the sunlight is blinding over here."
Pretes gestured to the maid who had been standing quietly beside Lephonia. The startled maid hurriedly opened a parasol and approached Pretes.
"What are you doing? Not me."
Pretes pointed his chin toward Lephonia. Only then did the maid notice the sunlight beating down on Lephonia's arm and hurriedly shielded her with the parasol.
"Don't you know there was a fire in her bedroom? She might have burns, so you need to block the sunlight properly."
"I, I apologize."
"If you can't do your job properly, just hand in your resignation and quit."
Pretes leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, looking annoyed.
'I guess the rumors about his bad personality aren't just rumors.'
Lephonia felt relieved that she was in the body of a five-year-old and thought hard.
"Hmm. Then, Senior?"
"...What?"
Pretes, who had been leaning back, sat up in disbelief.
"Hey. Is that what you call family?"
"We're not family, so why do you keep saying that? You told me I have no family here."
"...You really have an answer for everything."
"And didn't you say you were planning to kick me out? Why are you so obsessed with what I call you?"
Pretes faltered.
"...I suppose so."
The strength left his voice. Lephonia, who was eating a fig, glanced at him.
"Am I going crazy like Father? Or maybe your face just reminds me too much of someone."
"My face?"
Lephonia rubbed and smoothed her face, and Pretes simply laughed. Then, as if nothing had happened, he spoke with renewed energy.
"Anyway, I'm not your senior, am I? Huh?"
"...Didn't you say earlier that you'd sponsor me and let me attend the academy if I wanted? Then 'senior' isn't exactly wrong, is it?"
Stumped by the five-year-old's logical rebuttal, Pretes was left speechless.
"I even tell the juniors at the academy not to call me that because it's cringey, you know?"
"Hmm. So, you don't like it?"
Lephonia asked, gauging his reaction.
Seeing a five-year-old trying to read the room made Pretes feel foul for a moment. He closed his eyes and leaned back into his chair, as if he had given up on everything.
"Ha, just call me whatever you want. Senior, junior... what does it even matter?"
"Okay, Senior."
Lephonia smiled and finished the remaining apple preserves.
Even though he had nothing to say and nothing to do, Pretes did not leave Lephonia's side, remaining there with his eyes closed.
Until Lephonia had finished eating all of the apple preserves and figs.
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