CHAPTER 08

“Ray! Auntie is here!”

Returning from her outing, Lorelei quickly opened the door to the annex. She had been thinking about Ray, who should have been waiting for her.

If possible, she too would have preferred not to go out at all. But today, there had been no other choice.

“I’m sorry. I’m late, aren’t I? I couldn’t pick up the parcel on time at the post office. I even bought cookies for you.”

Lorelei tilted her head. Normally, the child would come running to greet her at the entrance just from hearing her footsteps, but today there was no sign of him.

Finding it strange, Lorelei stepped inside the annex. However, Ray was not there either.

“…Ray?”

Confused, Lorelei looked around. But again, there was no response from the child.

In that instant, a chill ran through her entire body.

‘Don’t tell me… already…!’

The box of cookies slipped from her hands and fell to the floor. Like a madwoman, Lorelei rushed from room to room in the annex, opening every door she could find.

Ray was not there.

It felt as if blood was draining from her fingertips. Lorelei ran out of the annex. One of her shoes slipped off, but she didn’t care and sprinted toward the mansion.

“Lorelei?”

A startled maid ran toward her. Lorelei, running frantically with only one shoe on, looked completely unlike her usual composed self.

“Ra—Ray… Ray isn’t in the annex!”

Without even waiting for the maid’s reply, Lorelei grabbed her urgently and shouted,

“Did anyone come to the mansion? Was there someone looking for me and Ray?”

Her voice was frantic, as if she believed someone had come to take her away.

“Lorelei…! Calm down. Ray is in the Duke’s study right now.”

“The Duke’s study? Why would he be there? Huh?”

“Because the Duke called for him, so he’s there. What’s going on? Suddenly…”

Before the maid could finish explaining what had happened in the morning, Lorelei already ran toward the Duke’s study.

* * *

Without even knocking, the door to the study burst open. When the Duke looked up, Lorelei stood there pale-faced, as if she had lost her soul.

“Lorelei? What brings you to the study all of a sudden?”

The startled Duke half rose from his seat.

Until now, Lorelei had always shown herself as a perfectly composed lady—so much so that it was hard to believe she came from a small northern village.

Entering a room without permission and speaking without greeting was completely unlike her usual behavior.

“Where is Ray?”

After scanning the study anxiously, Lorelei bit her lower lip and asked.

“Ray? You’ve come here looking for Ray?”

Seeing her desperate expression, the Duke let out a light chuckle, relieved.

But to Lorelei, that smile felt completely different. Holding back tears, she shouted,

“Tell me immediately! Where is Ray? Where have you sent that child?!”

“Well, I don’t know either. The one who took him should know.”

“W-what…!”

Just as Lorelei was about to cry out in shock, the Duke spoke calmly.

“If it’s somewhere Sylvia would go, there can’t be many places. Have you checked them all before coming here?”

The Duke stood and walked toward the window. From his study, the garden was clearly visible.

“There he is. As expected, Ray is rarely anywhere other than the annex at this time, so you must have been startled.”

Under a large tree, two children were happily chatting. At his gesture, Lorelei slowly approached the window.

The moment she saw Ray with Sylvia, her legs gave way. She barely held onto the window frame to stop herself from collapsing.

“So you ran all the way here like that?”

The Duke frowned, noticing her condition. One of her shoes was gone, and her bare foot, injured from running across the garden, was bleeding.

Only then did Lorelei regain her senses and quickly hide her foot.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. I was so panicked when the child suddenly disappeared… I rushed here without thinking. I should have searched more carefully…”

“No, it’s understandable when one is that flustered. I’ll call the physician—your foot seems to be bleeding.”

At the mention of a physician, Lorelei firmly shook her head.

“No, it’s fine. It will heal quickly with some ointment. Thank you for your concern.”

Her voice had returned to its usual calm tone. At that moment, she seemed like her normal self again.

After politely bowing and leaving the study, Lorelei’s shoulders were still slumped. The Duke watched her retreating figure with a meaningful expression for a long while.

* * *

When Lorelei approached the tree in the garden, the two children were lying on the grass, looking up at the sky.

“Wow… the clouds are moving.”

It had been a long time since she last looked at the sky like this. In the quiet hospital room she once stayed in alone, she would sometimes lie in bed and stare blankly out the window when the weather was nice.

Then and now, the sky was the same. But having someone beside her made everything feel brighter somehow.

“Don’t my eye color look like the sky?”

At Sylvia’s question, Ray quietly nodded. Sylvia immediately continued,

“You’re the color of the sky too.”

“Me? No way.”

“Yes way. The color of the sky before it rains.”

A dull navy color.

At that, Ray frowned. When she didn’t respond, Sylvia turned toward him.

“What?”

“You said I’m the sky, but mine is a rain cloud?”

“Hmm? Why? It’s true. It really is. It’s exactly like a dark cloud before rain.”

Sylvia kept repeating that it was “exactly the same,” which only made Ray sulk.

“My aunt said you don’t have to say everything that’s true.”

At that, Sylvia’s eyes widened.

Now that she thought about it, maybe “rain cloud” wasn’t a very nice comparison.

“Oh… um… then I’ll find something else. Navy… navy… what is there…”

As she struggled to think, she suddenly exclaimed,

“Ah! I’ve got it! The night sky! You look like the night sky!”

“…Night sky?”

“Yes! The clear night sky full of stars. Come to think of it, your hair is the same color as the night sky too. Wow!”

Although Ray had been a little upset about being compared to a rain cloud, being compared to the night sky felt just as overwhelming in a different way.

“It’s just plain black.”

Seeing Ray’s embarrassed reaction, Sylvia finally understood something.

So even the same comparison could be praise or something unpleasant, depending on how it was said.

Excited, Sylvia jumped up and declared loudly,

“No! How can you say it has no special feature? I think black hair is the most beautiful in the world!”

Ray’s face turned as red as if it were burning. Seeing that reaction, Sylvia became even more excited, her eyes sparkling.

“It’s true! Um… in Square Illusion, I mean.”

“Square… what?”

“Oh—no, it’s just the name of a book. Anyway, there are many characters in it, and my favorite one has black hair.”

“…Really?”

“Yes! The same black as yours.”

“Then what about the eyes?”