Chapter -29
“So what are you going to do with that child?”
“Well. He says he wants to live with the twins.”
“Which family is he from, and whose child is he?”
As if she didn’t even want to exchange words with me, the Grand Duchess looked at the Grand Duke with a blank expression.
“Aren’t all orphans the same anyway? They don’t really have a family, and even if they did, they’re children who were abandoned.”
“…And you’re saying you’ll keep such a child in our family? A child whose birth we don’t know, who we don’t know whose blood he carries?”
“The children want it. What choice do I have?”
“Even so, I’m against it. He might carry filthy blood, for all we know.”
Her gaze turned ominous, as if she were about to separate me from the children at any moment. As if she had already sensed that they were trying to divide us, Lari gripped my arm more tightly than before.
“We could just deal with it appropriately and send him away. It looks like that child bewitched those naïve kids. The problem is that you brought him in without cutting that kind of thing off.”
“Hah. I don’t know why I have to be criticized here, Grand Duchess.”
“It’s not criticism. I’m just saying that anyone who thinks about the children wouldn’t do that.”
“That’s enough, Grand Duchess. I’ve been letting things slide as much as I can because of what I owe you, but keep your line.”
His sharp, cutting voice settled heavily over the unusually large space.
At that tone, the Grand Duchess’s face stiffened even more than before. Her expression clearly showed how indignant she felt, as if to say why she had to hear such words over a child like that.
“You are—.”
The discomfort and irritation vanished in an instant. Instead, the Grand Duchess fumbled with her words like someone who had been deeply hurt, her hands trembling.
Perhaps sensing the shift in mood, the Grand Duke let out a deep sigh.
“I spoke too harshly.”
“…I endure as much as I can for you, and I try my hardest…”
For someone who said that, she had been criticizing him quite harshly.
If I were in the twins’ position, I could probably say such things without much thought, but I was like a jellyfish floating on the sea.
Never knowing when or where I might be swept away. So I suppressed my instincts and kept my mouth tightly shut.
“…Hah. Yes. You do your best.”
“You’re the one who’s in the wrong.”
“…All right. I get it… that’s enough. I know you’re doing well… so stop.”
He, who looked completely different from the image shown to us or described in books, ended up flustered as he looked at the Grand Duchess.
‘A marriage without love. A relationship that at least maintains the formality of a married couple. But is the Grand Duke acting like that because of the twins?’
In any case, they were children he had brought back after having them outside. Or was there some other motive?
Even as he apologized to the Grand Duchess, there were fleeting, unreadable emotions in his eyes. An expressionless face filled with anger.
‘Is he just treating her well because she’s his wife? Is it really just that?’
At any rate, he seemed normal for now. I felt relieved that he wasn’t as crazy as I’d feared, but at the same time, this situation—made all the stranger because I couldn’t read his intentions—was far from pleasant.
That was when it happened. From the path behind where the Grand Duchess had come out, someone approached us. Even if I didn’t want to know, there was murmuring from behind, so my gaze naturally turned that way.
Two boys had come up to us before we knew it. Boys with unusually chubby cheeks.
Silver hair and blue eyes. They closely resembled the twins’ features. An appearance reminiscent of silver wolves. The difference was that, as if to show that they had clearly been raised with care, the clothes they wore looked quite expensive, and their hair shone as though it had been well tended.
Their skin was a bit dark, as if lightly tanned, but they looked quite healthy.
They were different from the twins, whose faces were pale from hardly seeing sunlight and whose hair and skin were a mess from lack of care.
On top of that, one of them was about a span and a half taller than the other children, while the other was about half a span taller.
Just from their appearance alone, I knew exactly who they were.
“Ron. Jeffrey.”
The taller boy looked friendly, while the one who seemed around the twins’ age wore an expression full of dissatisfaction.
When the Grand Duchess called their names in turn, the boy named Ron looked even more uncomfortable than before, while Jeffrey, the taller one, hurriedly composed his expression.
Ron. Ron Blair.
The only son born between the current Grand Duke, Casimir Blair, and the Grand Duchess. He was the child the Grand Duchess had finally borne after years of being unable to conceive, and the one she cherished most. Because of that, he was rather ill-mannered, and even in the original story, he was someone who constantly tormented the twins.
Jeffrey Blair was the only child born to the previous Grand Duke—who was the Blair Grand Duke’s older brother. The former Grand Duke, who had been in poor health, married unusually early and had a son at a young age.
However, the former Grand Duchess died in childbirth, and the former Grand Duke also passed away at an early age before he could even watch his child grow. Thus, as soon as Casimir became Grand Duke, he took the child in.
A being who belonged nowhere, who thought of himself as flotsam. Afraid of being hated and cast out, he treated everyone—both the twins and others—well on the surface, but the inferiority complex he had carried since childhood manifested more negatively as he grew older, eventually becoming one of the people who caused the most trouble after the twins reached adulthood.
“Hello. You are—no, who are you all?”
Unlike Jeffrey, who greeted us with a smile, Ron stared at us with an extremely uncomfortable expression.
The Grand Duchess poked her son in the side.
“You should greet them quickly like your brother, Ron.”
“…Why do you keep picking up beggar trash from everywhere? I already don’t like that girl, so what are those things?”
No matter how much he disliked someone, that level of hostility was honestly unexpected.
Even an animal that had suddenly had its food taken away wouldn’t immediately display such murderous malice. You don’t know what kind of person the other is, after all.
But Ron was different.
A primal hostility toward the twins. Ron revealed that instinctive emotion without the slightest attempt to hide it.
“What do you mean, ‘those things’? They’re your siblings. So you should greet them, right?”
Perhaps used to seeing him like this, the Grand Duchess patted Ron’s shoulder, trying to strip emotion from her voice as much as possible.
“Ah, I hate it all. Kick them out.”
“Ron.”
“You don’t even know who those things are. Isn’t it just bringing in a bunch of beggar brats?”
At that point, you’d think either the Grand Duchess or the Grand Duke would stop him, but as expected, neither of them said anything to Ron. Even the Grand Duke, who had brought the twins in. It was always like this. Even in the novel, I’d disliked the Grand Duke because whenever the children needed him, he was absent like a bystander.
He could easily be a madman or a bad person to others, but he didn’t want to be a bad person to his family—especially to his children.
“Ron.”
Ironically, it was the Grand Duchess who looked quite troubled.
“What did I say that was wrong?”
“Our young master couldn’t possibly be wrong. But you mustn’t express your feelings like that.”
Whether this was supposed to be discipline or not, the Grand Duchess was placating Ron with words that hardly even qualified as guidance.
‘No wonder he turned out like that, being raised that way.’
A curse almost slipped out. No matter how precious and doted on he was, I couldn’t believe she’d raise him like that.
“Anyway. Are you really letting those things stay? You’re really letting in those beggar brats?”
“W-well, yes. They’re children Father brought, saying they’re members of the Grand Ducal family.”
“How do you know he wasn’t tricked into bringing them?”
“If he was tricked, then the one who got tricked is the idiot.”
That was when it happened. In a situation where no one could stop the rampage, someone poured cold water on it. Naturally, everyone present turned their gaze toward where the words had come from.
It was Rohen. With his fingers interlaced behind his head, Rohen walked forward unhurriedly, as if Ron’s words didn’t matter to him at all. At his unexpected action, no one could easily open their mouth.
Confusion and bewilderment. It seemed everyone was thinking something similar, as most of them looked at Rohen with the same expression.
“What. Did I say something wrong?”
It wasn’t wrong, but it felt like it wasn’t his place to say it. Those thoughts flowed through people’s eyes as emotion. But Rohen wasn’t the least bit flustered.
“W-what?”
Amid the stammering, the one who finally spoke was Ron.
“Why are you so shocked? There’s nothing wrong with what I said, right? If he was tricked into bringing them, doesn’t that mean the one who was tricked is a fool?”
“…So you’re saying you’re fake?”
“Ah. Are you thinking that because you’re stupid? I didn’t think you’d take it that way.”
At Rohen’s words, Ron’s face flushed red, as if it might burst at any moment. But as though Ron’s state didn’t matter at all, Rohen shifted his gaze to the Grand Duke behind him.
“So where do we go?”
“…What do you mean, where?”
“You said I’m your son. That’s why you brought me here, right? To live here?”
“That’s right.”
Ironically, it was the Grand Duke who looked flustered. Normally someone who neither showed emotion nor easily became embarrassed, he cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly.
“Then show us the way.”
“Very well.”
As if trying to hide his feelings, he took the lead. As Rohen was about to follow him, he grabbed my arm.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“Why. Is there anything more to say here?”
“No, there isn’t.”
There wasn’t—but Ron looked like he still had plenty to say. He still couldn’t take his eyes off us.
