chapter 23
“…What did you say?”
“Se-Serena! What are you doing right now?!”
Her startled parents were met with Serena’s calm reply, as if giving a morning greeting.
“You said you don’t like your sister. We should let her do as she wants. Can we remove her name?”
“Of course! Hurry up and erase my name!”
Even with her firm tone, the response was immediate.
Serena then turned her gaze to Jeremy.
“Even if Father would handle it, this is my family. As the head, I ask you—please remove my sister’s name from the documents. I don’t want someone unwilling in my family.”
“Ah, no, I don’t think it’s really necessary…! Caroline! Say you misspoke! Say it was a mistake!”
Ashbel, knowing well what it’s like to separate from the family, tried to intervene for Caroline, but it was useless.
Caroline crossed her arms tightly and spun her head around, and Serena set her lips firmly, as if to say, See?
Jeremy, looking resigned, instructed his aide to rewrite the documents excluding Caroline’s name.
“This will take a little time, so in the meantime, it’s best to give her this.”
He placed a fairly luxurious box on the desk, roughly the size of an adult man’s palm.
“Go ahead, open it.”
Serena had only sought a single sheet of paper, but what came back was far more than expected.
Curious, she carefully opened the box.
Inside was a fully bloomed rose-shaped badge, gleaming golden, as if made of actual gold. There were five in total.
Serena, mesmerized by the badge slightly larger than a coin, regained her senses and asked Jeremy,
“Uncle, what is this?”
“It’s a symbol that shows one’s family affiliation. You could call it an ID badge.”
She recalled reading about it in a book. There was a special ID used only by nobles, and this seemed to be exactly that.
Depending on the family’s customs or the head’s preferences, it could be made as a necklace, earrings, or a ring—but for the Roselantis family, it was a badge.
‘I was so shocked when I first learned such IDs existed that I couldn’t even swallow my soup…’
Her father was the eldest son of a count’s family. They were his children. They bore the name Roselantis—so why didn’t they have one? Why hadn’t they been given an ID?
Serena hadn’t been the only one shocked.
As Caroline and Daisy grew older and learned more about nobles, they, too, were outraged that they didn’t have these symbols of status and often took out their frustration on Serena.
‘Even though it wasn’t that I didn’t give them the badges, they hated me for it…’
She never imagined she would receive such a meaningful object in this way.
As she held the badge, the golden rose reflected the light beautifully.
It was hers. She had her territory and her family.
Holding it in her hands, she finally felt a sense of reality.
“I’ve seen this rose shape in a book—the one with my great-grandmother’s documents.”
It had been drawn on the first page of the book. Simpler than the Roselantis family rose, but that made it all the more clearly a rose.
“Did you make this just last night?”
“I intended to, but Grandmother had already made and kept them. Conveniently, there were exactly five, and no names were engraved, so I thought it’d be perfect to add the names now.”
Serena picked up a badge and flipped it, revealing the name ‘Daisy Rosegold’ in elegant, artisan-like script.
Mesmerized, Serena handed the badge to its owner, Daisy.
“This is yours. The name is on the back. Look.”
Daisy, who had longed for this badge in her previous life, examined it with sparkling eyes, hardly believing it was hers.
“It’s really mine? This is my ID?”
“Yes, it’s yours. Don’t ever lose it, got it?”
Daisy nodded vigorously.
Excited, she ran to the mirror, holding the badge to different parts of her outfit and stomping her feet in joy.
Without saying a word, how could she be this noisy? Serena was grateful she had already kept her mouth shut—otherwise, everyone’s eardrums might have burst.
“A family badge… it’s been a while since I’ve seen one.”
While Daisy made a commotion, Ashbel picked up the badge with his name. Since he had returned it when he became independent, this was the first time in 11 years he had the family’s badge again.
“Our family badge was a silver ring, so it didn’t shine like this.”
Rianna, from a fallen noble family, checked her name and took her badge as well, marveling at its brilliance.
“It’s so pretty… looks like it’s made of gold.”
Given the wealth of the family, the badge was unlikely actually made of gold—but its brilliance was enough to give that illusion.
Rather than ruining the excitement by asking about its composition, Rianna simply examined it in the mirror, comparing it to Daisy’s placement.
Many families use fierce animals like eagles or lions as their seal, but since it was a rose, it matched any clothing, Rianna said happily.
“Ah, you’ve seen it properly. It is made of gold.”
Jeremy spoke, seemingly responding to a question.
Rianna froze, holding the badge above her chest.
“W-What did you just say…?”
Blinking, she looked at Jeremy as he calmly continued.
“I had to check the quality when engraving the names. It was made from pure gold, without impurities.”
Pure gold, commonly used in noble jewelry, was extremely expensive and precious.
Someone from a fallen noble family like Rianna had never had the chance to see it up close.
Yet here, the badges of a family whose highest rank was only a baron were made of pure gold.
“They’re this big…!”
Even if made of regular gold, they would be valuable. Five made of pure gold was incredible.
If sold, one could buy anything they wanted—and still have money left over.
Rianna’s hand trembled as she held the badge. Carefully, she tucked it to her chest and grabbed Daisy’s arm to prevent her from mishandling her badge.
“Why are you so careless? Do you know how expensive this is? Handle it carefully! If you lose it, it’ll be a disaster!”
Earlier, she had been happily checking the badge against her outfit—now Daisy stomped her feet in protest at the sudden scolding.
Ashbel laughed heartily at the noisy mother-daughter duo.
“Haha, Grandmother must have been very attached to Rosgold.”
Trying to act composed, Ashbel awkwardly tucked his own badge into his pocket.
After all, he had been living in poverty since being exiled from the family for over ten years.
Even as the eldest son of a count, ten years had reduced his family status to a distant memory.
While the family fussed, Caroline was left alone.
“What is all this about? Badge? ID? What… is that?”
Being young and poorly educated, Caroline couldn’t understand what her family was giving and receiving.
From what she gathered, it seemed that each noble family had badges to prove their status.
Still, she didn’t understand why, despite believing herself to be a Roselantis Countess, she didn’t have one—and why her parents reacted the way they did.
Glancing at Caroline, Serena gathered the remaining badge from the box.
“Ah, the badge with Caroline’s name… Since she said she doesn’t want it, I’ll take it. I’m sorry to great-grandmother, but I’ll probably sell it for money.”
