Chapter 4
The Duke pulled Lephonia gently toward him, then slid his hands under her arms and hoisted her up into the air just as he had before.
‘Ugh.’
She had been slung over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes before, but she had never been held in this "flying" position. Startled, Lephonia instinctively gripped the Duke’s wrists.
“……Oh.”
With a brief reaction, the Duke lifted her even higher into the air.
The small body of a five-year-old girl rose lightly toward the ceiling.
“Is it fun?”
Lephonia, who had been glaring at him with eyes full of wariness the entire time, wore a look of bewilderment.
“Pu, put me down!”
How old does he think I am, playing games like this… Besides, there are too many people watching.
Feeling the heat rush to her face, Lephonia squeezed her eyes shut.
At the same time, she heard a soft, wheezing sound of suppressed laughter. Lephonia slowly opened her tightly shut eyes.
“Now you finally look like a five-year-old.”
The Duke stared at Lephonia with a satisfied expression.
The butler approached from behind the Duke.
Their eyes met. Lephonia saw the butler flinch, freezing in place as if nailed to the floor the moment he saw her face.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
The butler, his face deathly pale, glanced around cautiously before asking.
“Duke, this little guest is—”
“Lephonia.”
The Duke called her name while looking at Lephonia, who was shining brilliantly in the sunlight.
Lephonia pressed her lips together, unsure if he was calling her or introducing her name to the butler.
Perhaps he never intended to wait for an answer, as the Duke continued calmly.
“Lephonia Kreitan.”
“……!!”
At those words, the butler, the servants who had been bowing their heads, and even Lephonia, who was being dangled in the air, all widened their eyes in shock.
“She is the child who will be my daughter starting today.”
His low voice echoed loudly throughout the spacious mansion.
‘Does this mean I’m going to become a Lady?’
A daughter. She had thought she would be lucky if she wasn’t dragged away or sold off, and grateful if she could just get a job as a maid.
But a daughter?
Lephonia looked at the servants involuntarily. The position she was supposed to occupy.
The flustered butler tried to stop the Duke.
“Duke. You are letting your emotions get the better of you, making such an impulsive choice—”
“I thought about it carefully enough on the way here.”
“But there are procedures for adoption.”
“You mean that thing where you verify if the adoption agency is reliable? Is there anyone in this Empire with a more certain reputation than me? The financial means to raise a child? I don’t think there is anyone in this Empire better suited for that than me, either.”
“Even so, this isn’t like purchasing an object, so please think a little more……”
The butler was right. Even buying an object wouldn’t be decided so abruptly.
Just as Lephonia nodded in agreement, the Duke’s face hardened as he glared at the butler.
“If I take time to think, it’s being prudent, but if I choose quickly, it’s impulsive? I had a feeling the moment I saw this child, and if I sent her to the poorhouse to ‘think about it slowly,’ I would definitely regret it.”
The butler let out a deep sigh.
“But you should at least hear the little guest’s opinion.”
“Then, Lephonia. I will give you the choice.”
Lephonia’s loose hair brushed against the Duke’s cheek. Though their eye colors were different, their hair colors were similar, and she suddenly thought that they might actually look like a real family.
“As you heard earlier, you were originally supposed to go to the poorhouse. If there is no guardian to take you in after your identity and parents are verified, you would end up living in a poorhouse.”
It was a process Lephonia knew all too well.
“And you would have to smile prettily and try hard to please every guest who comes looking for a foster child or an adoption.”
“…….”
“But I have no intention of sending you to a place like that. Forget all of that; I intend to adopt you.”
Why? He was going to adopt a child he didn’t even know, just like buying an object, after only a moment’s hesitation?
“Conversely, if you say you don’t want to be here, I will send you to the poorhouse immediately.”
What about finding your lost youngest daughter?
She swallowed the words that were stuck at the root of her tongue, unable to spit them out.
It had been twenty years since the Lady of Kreitan was attacked and disappeared. If the Lady were alive, she would be twenty years old. So if the Duke were thinking of adoption, it would make more sense to adopt a twenty-year-old, the same age as his lost daughter.
Yet he was saying he would adopt Lephonia, whom he had met on the street, as his daughter. Without knowing who she was or where she came from.
‘Ah. Is this an Adoption Game?’
The Adoption Game. It was a common pastime for nobles.
If they were bored or needed a child to handle chores within the family, they would adopt any child they found.
Since they could just disown the child when they got tired of them or when their purpose was served, it wasn’t a matter that required deep thought for nobles.
Or, they could just put them on the marriage market and sell them off to a good family.
When she was at the poorhouse, she had seen children who were easily adopted only to be disowned later, or sold off under the guise of marriage.
Now she understood.
‘He intends to use me as a substitute for his lost daughter.’
Adopting a child of the same gender as a child who was lost or died young, and treating them well to alleviate their own guilt.
It was common in noble society.
Once they raised them to adulthood, they would either disown them or send them off to some distant place where they wouldn’t be seen.
‘A common story.’
If that wasn’t the case, there was no reason to adopt a child he had seen on the street for the first time.
‘If I become the Lady of the Kreitan family.’
It would be much easier to roam this vast mansion and find the heirloom.
Lephonia swallowed hard. She had been thinking for quite a long time without answering, but the Duke did not rush her.
‘He seems to think he’s playing an Adoption Game with me. I’ll tear that arrogant idea to shreds.’
If he intends to use her as a substitute, she might as well use him in return.
“Fine.”
Lephonia calmed her chaotic emotions and smiled. It wasn’t difficult; she had been taught how to do it since she was young.
“I’ll be the Duke’s daughter.”
She heard the sound of people around them drawing sharp breaths.
“Butler.”
“Yes, Duke.”
“The child… no, the Lady. Prepare the adoption papers for the Lady. And if there is anything else needed, prepare that as well.”
“Yes.”
He had called her "Lady" after all. Lephonia felt her cheeks heat up and buried her face in her small palms.
The Duke, who had been holding her up in the air, set Lephonia down on the floor. At the same time, the servants bowed in perfect unison.
“Greetings to the Lady.”
She had pretended to be a noble by creating fake identities while on missions, but this was the first time she had ever been treated like a Lady by the servants of a noble house.
‘I made the right choice, didn’t I?’
Lephonia rolled her eyes, as if she were unaccustomed to such treatment.
It was the day she officially became the Lady of Kreitan.
* * *
The Duke suggested they start with a meal since she must be hungry, but Lephonia refused.
This mansion was so grand and enormous, and so clean and fragrant, that she felt intimidated just by being there.
So, she wanted to wash off this grimy appearance first.
“I don’t want to eat while I’m smelly. I want to wash up first.”
“Did someone tell you that you smell?”
“No. Does someone have to say it for me to know? You can tell just by looking.”
“I don’t think so.”
The Duke tilted his head with a dry expression. His attitude suggested that there was nothing wrong with Lephonia’s appearance.
“I, I also want to see where I’ll be sleeping. I’m sleeping here starting today, right?”
The Duke’s mind might change in the meantime. Since he decided so easily, he could just as easily retract it.
To avoid being kicked out, she had to secure her own space in this mansion first.
“…Isn’t that right?”
Lephonia swallowed hard and looked up at the Duke with a tense expression.
When their eyes met, the Duke reached out and stroked Lephonia’s hair.
“Why are you asking something so obvious with such tension? You’re sleeping here starting today.”
The Duke ordered the maids to wash Lephonia and show her to her bedroom.
As she had hoped, Lephonia plunged into a warm bathtub to wash up before heading to the bedroom where she would stay.
She had wanted to wash herself, but it was a nightmare because the maids insisted on helping her.
Her body might be five years old, but her mental age certainly wasn’t.
She tried her best to refuse, but the maids kept popping sweet candies into her mouth as if coaxing a child, so she eventually gave up and washed feeling as if she were being stripped bare.
The maids flinched when they saw the wounds and scars left on Lephonia’s body, but they didn’t show it.
Because Lephonia didn’t care at all.
After washing, since there were no children’s clothes prepared, she had to put back on the clothes she had been wearing, and the maids looked incredibly apologetic, as if they had committed a crime.
‘Because nobles change their clothes every day……’
Lephonia buried her nose in her clothes and sniffed.
When she was at the poorhouse or the orphanage, she had naturally worn the same set for over a month, and even when she stayed at the mansion provided by the Pope, she had only a few sets to rotate, so she didn’t mind wearing them for a few days.
‘Maybe it’s because I just washed, but the clothes don’t smell.’
Lephonia took her hands off her clothes and looked around the bedroom she had been guided to. The maids who had led her there seemed bothered by Lephonia’s shabby clothes and left, saying they would check if there were any clothes left over from when the young masters were young.
Left alone, Lephonia was able to look around the bedroom comfortably.
‘This bedroom is—.’
A bedroom filled with the savory scent of sunlight due to its excellent exposure. Next to the large fireplace, dry firewood was piled up generously, and behind it was an animal-shaped wooden rocking horse, perfect for a five-year-old Lephonia to ride.
The rocking horse, carved by a master craftsman, seemed to have been sanded smooth and painted. The carpet on the floor was plush, ensuring that even if a child fell while running, they wouldn’t get hurt, and the bookshelves filled with picture books and fairy tales were set at an incredibly low height.
Moreover, the bed was so large that it was hard to believe it had been prepared for a five-year-old Lephonia.
A bedroom tailored for a child.
‘……It’s a room that had been prepared for that daughter they said was lost.’
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