Chapter 73
Marquis Blanche was in deep thought. He was torn between whether he should firmly oppose the matter for practical reasons or reluctantly allow it out of affection for his granddaughter while helping find a solution. Unable to lean toward either side, he couldn’t easily reach a conclusion. It was then that Eshe, who had been quietly pondering alongside him, cautiously spoke up.
“I think, Marquis, you won’t be able to stop this.”
At first, he wondered if she was simply siding with Charlotte because they had spent time together in Nostri, but the next words she spoke brought even greater torment to Marquis Blanche.
“Isn’t the young lady Mr. Ronan’s daughter?”
“?”
“I heard there were many complications when Mr. Ronan and Ms. Leila got married.”
Marquis Blanche, not immediately grasping the meaning, let out a heavy sigh once the implication hit him.
“I didn’t think of that.”
No wonder, he realized, he had found the situation oddly familiar when Charlotte had introduced Aria, holding her as her daughter.
“How stubborn he was about marrying Leila… There was no one in our family as obstinate as Ronan.”
“Soon, there will be one more.”
“Eshe, do you find this amusing?”
“No, not at all. My face just looks like that.”
“Judging by how desperately you’re holding back a smile, you seem to be enjoying it.”
Marquis Blanche pressed his fingers to his forehead once more. Of course—Charlotte was indeed Ronan’s daughter. She was the bloodline of his son, who had gone on monster hunts and brought back Leila, trying for months to persuade him to allow the marriage. Those who hadn’t experienced it wouldn’t understand.
For months, every time he saw his son, the topic of marriage would come up. Determined to oppose it to the death, he had insisted strongly against it. Finally, when it seemed the matter had quieted down, he felt relieved. But the next day, Leila came proposing a love elopement and asking him to stop it. Unable to let his son go to a foreign land to start a household, Marquis Blanche finally surrendered and permitted the marriage. At that time, the very word marriage had become unbearable.
“Is there any guarantee Charlotte will behave differently?”
His head spun. Returning after months, Charlotte had appeared holding a child, introducing her as her daughter. Her gaze mirrored how Ronan had introduced Leila not by name but as his wife. Like father, like daughter—the bloodline would not lie. Marquis Blanche wiped his chin with a serious expression. …Could he really oppose the adoption?
As he pondered what to do, a commotion came from beyond the door.
“?”
A dull sound, like something had fallen, came from just outside the door. Because Marquis Blanche preferred quiet, unless someone was summoned, no one usually wandered nearby—certainly not outside cleaning hours. A brief silence passed before the doorknob rattled and slowly began to turn.
Through the slightly opened door, something small, round, and white peeked out—Aria.
Aria was standing on her tiptoes, gripping the doorknob tightly with both hands. If she had been a little shorter, she might have been dangling from it. Judging by her appearance, she hadn’t changed her clothes either. Surely Charlotte had instructed the maids to dress her properly, but she seemed to have run down the corridor wearing only her socks.
At that moment, hurried footsteps approached from the hallway.
“She’s not here!”
“What if we lose the child!”
“I didn’t expect her to dash out like that either!”
“Both of you, be quiet and look quickly!”
Hearing the maids’ voices from the end of the hallway, Aria jumped like a frightened rabbit. When Eshe stepped out of the study to assess the situation, Aria looked around, eyes wide. With neither Charlotte nor Eshe nearby, the person she called for help was Marquis Blanche himself.
“Hold me!”
“!”
“Aria wants you to hold her!”
Though taken aback by the child calling for a hug, Marquis Blanche suddenly recognized a familiar expression in her.
Grandpa, hold me.
Charlotte had always been tearful and spoiled, asking him for hugs whenever Ronan wasn’t nearby. The way Aria stretched out her arms and looked up at him was just like his granddaughter’s childhood. How could he ignore a child asking for comfort? He hesitated briefly but carefully scooped Aria into his arms.
“What’s all this noise?”
“!”
“What happened?”
Eshe stopped the bustling maids, who were searching the corridor, and asked each door. The maids, who had only heard stories of the northern duke and never imagined seeing him in person, blushed and stammered at Eshe’s tall, striking presence. One maid, having quickly regained her composure, explained the cause of the commotion.
“Oh… it’s because the child the young lady brought ran off while trying to change clothes.”
“So that’s why they were searching for her. She needs treatment, but we have no idea where she went…”
The maid held a first-aid kit. Only then did Eshe understand why Aria had come all the way to the study. It seemed the memory of being nearly kidnapped and harmed made her wary of strangers, especially when multiple people were trying to dress her and tend to her wounds.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Huh?”
“You all tell the young lady that Aria is in the Marquis’s study.”
The maid hesitated but handed over the first-aid kit and headed straight to Charlotte’s room.
When Eshe returned to the study, Aria clung tightly to Marquis Blanche’s arms, showing no intention of letting go. Perhaps because of the resemblance between Blanche and Charlotte, she felt a clear sense of security. When the Marquis asked what happened, Eshe placed the first-aid kit on the table instead of answering.
“It seems Aria is afraid of being in the same space as strangers because of her previous kidnapping. She ran away when the maids tried to dress her and treat her wounds.”
After roughly understanding the situation, Marquis Blanche patted Aria’s back.
“You don’t like strangers, do you?”
Aria nodded not once but twice. She looked up at him and nodded two more times. With such a strong aversion, he had no intention of sending her away. He placed her on his lap and opened the first-aid kit.
“Let’s see… where does it hurt?”
“My hands, knees, and head hurt too.”
“Let’s start with your hands.”
One of the required subjects at the Knight Academy included first aid. He never imagined he’d have to use it to treat a child brought for adoption by his granddaughter. Moreover, Aria’s hands were so small that the wounds were hard to see. Squinting to inspect them, he noticed a wound on her wrist as her sleeve slipped down.
It was clearly tied with rope. Marquis Blanche frowned as he examined the fresh, vivid mark on her tender skin. It wasn’t a standard restraint method—it was crudely bound purely for captivity.
“Did it hurt?” he asked. Aria lowered her eyes.
“…When the Kenniths kidnapped me, they tied me up with a rope.”
Eshe quietly added this, and the Marquis clicked his tongue and took out some ointment.
“These wretches… to do such a thing to a child…”
“Grandpa, it hurts a lot here.”
“All right, roll up your sleeve.”
Even though he had retired long ago, his youthful experience had not vanished. Marquis Blanche skillfully applied ointment and wrapped a bandage around her wrist. He avoided tying it too tightly, working slowly to prevent discomfort for the young child.
“Does it feel uncomfortable or hurt?”
“No, it doesn’t!”
“Why are you smiling so much then?”
Aria fiddled with her bandaged wrist for a while before bursting into a clear, bright laugh.
Her eyes curved into crescents, and her pale cheeks flushed. Her fair, translucent skin made the blush particularly vivid. Each time she met his eyes, she laughed like a little bird being tickled. Marquis Blanche found it fascinating that, despite fleeing from strangers, she wasn’t wary of him at all.
Though he hadn’t actively played with her, Aria entertained herself, enjoyed a few gentle pats, and eventually began to doze off.
Once relaxed, fatigue from running such a long way seemed to hit all at once. Aria rubbed her sleepy eyes and yawned softly. Her body swayed and eventually lost balance, leaning backward. Eshe caught her just before she fell off the Marquis’s lap. She fell asleep as if no one could wake her.
“She falls asleep just like Charlotte too.”
Where had she brought such a child resembling his own daughter? Marquis Blanche quietly watched the sleeping Aria. Indeed… she looked a lot like Charlotte, making her undeniably cute. When smiling, she was incredibly charming; when on the verge of tears, her blue eyes shimmered like waves, compelling him to hold her. She didn’t throw tantrums or run recklessly despite her age.
She seemed far from an abandoned child—quiet and well-mannered. On the surface, there were only good points to see. But that didn’t mean he would allow her adoption. On the contrary, the more beautiful she was, the more he worried she should be sent to a proper family.
“Grandfather.”
With a gentle knock, Charlotte peeked through the slightly opened door.
“The maids said Aria is here…”
Eshe, stroking Aria’s head, quietly suppressed a smile. It was the same as when Aria had peeked through the door herself. Charlotte glanced around before seeing Aria asleep in Eshe’s arms and hesitated slightly.
“She’ll wake up. Come in quietly.”
It seemed Charlotte, rather than asking after his well-being, had blurted out the adoption matter first. When she hesitated, the Marquis gestured for her to enter.
“Why are you standing there? Come in.”
Only then did Charlotte quietly enter, closing the door softly and sitting carefully in a chair. Marquis Blanche, with a troubled expression, began to carefully choose his words, unsure where to start.
