Episode 2: Nasia von Iter
The man from Baron Levoir’s household trembled. But even with a shaking voice, he still had the gall to spout nonsense — he must have been born with a liver the size of a barrel.
“The House of Iter… has accepted the marriage proposal.”
He held up a document bearing the seals of both families. The duke brushed his bangs back with a gloved hand. His golden hair parted, revealing a very irritated face. My eyes widened. His sharply defined jaw looked as though someone had chiseled it with care — more than enough to draw anyone’s eyes. Even from my short height, staring up from way down below didn’t change that fact. Wow. Personality aside, he was uselessly handsome.
“House Levoir hasn’t forgotten the prank it played on House Iter. And you… Lady Levoir.”
Surprisingly, the duke knew how to address even a five-year-old as Lady. Snapped back from spacing out while staring at his jawline, I finally came to my senses.
“……”
His gaze fell to my neck. Then to my wrist holding the bouquet. The bruises—the marks from being grabbed and dragged—were mostly concealed by makeup, but there was no way someone with sharp eyes wouldn’t notice. The duke spoke while staring at the handiwork of the Baroness of Levoir.
“…May I?”
The question fell from above my head. I nodded without thinking. His presence made it oddly hard to look away. He met my eyes and reached toward me. Up close, a scent washed over me. I hadn’t smelled it often even in my previous life, but I knew it for certain.
The scent of the sea.
His skin looked slightly tanned — perhaps from long exposure to the sun — and his hand was rough, like someone who worked on the ocean. My tiny hand looked pathetic in comparison.
“……”
Up close, he could see everything more clearly—
The blue bruises on my wrist, the marks on my neck and elsewhere.
They were trivial pains compared to the squeezing agony around my heart, so I had ignored them. But having someone else look at them felt strange. Instinctively, I pulled my hand back.
“……”
The duke turned his gaze to the knight from House Levoir.
“I’m curious what kind of family Levoir really is.”
At his words, the knight puffed up again.
“If you send back the carriage now, the bride becomes a lady who has been rejected at the altar.”
His voice trembled—clearly, this wasn’t an idea he came up with. He was probably instructed to use that line if the Duke of Iter refused the marriage.
“…Rejected?”
The duke looked utterly dumbfounded. I could see it clearly, his sculpted face cracking with disbelief. I tilted my head slightly.
Maybe he wasn’t complete garbage?
“……”
That rough hand—clearly trained from wielding a sword—came back into view. The Duke turned to me again. My reflection appeared in his eyes.
“I will accept Lady Levoir into House Iter.”
…What?
So we really are getting married? I guess garbage is garbage after all—
I opened my mouth to protest, but—
“If the lady wishes, she will be accepted as my adopted daughter.”
…Not wife?
Adopted daughter?
Why?
…Well, not that I hate it.
I froze. In my previous life, I had learned that no one does something for nothing. Raytan, my former comrade—the one who called himself a hero slayer—pretended to fight the evil dragon with me purely for justice, only to shove me into molten lava the moment the dragon died, just to take all the glory.
“……”
People don’t help others without wanting something.
Still… anything was better than going back to House Levoir. If I refused now, I’d have nowhere to go. If only I could use magic, I’d kick these people away and walk off on my own… But until my body recovered, it wouldn’t hurt to stay.
“……”
Had I stayed silent too long? The atmosphere was thick with awkward silence. My lips were dry from not speaking.
“I’ll do it.”
Adopted daughter, wife, whatever — anything was better than Levoir.
“I don’t mind being a maid.”
My childlike voice trembled without permission. No, that was just because my physical condition was bad. My chest tightened painfully, my vision narrowed, and my body pitched forward.
Really? Was I collapsing just from talking?
Because I passed out, I didn’t see the duke’s expression at that moment.
Soft.
That was the first thought I had when I woke up. Something soft supported my back like a pile of feather pillows. When I shifted, the duvet wrapped around me.
“Ah…”
At my small movement, the room erupted in activity.
“The young lady is awake!”
“Go notify Delphiro!”
What—? I thought no one was here.
I opened my eyes and forgot how to think.
“Wow…”
The room was enormous. The lavish gold-decorated ceiling reminded me of my previous life. Not my room from back then—
but the room I had once been allowed into in the imperial palace.
While I stared blankly, I met the eyes of several maids. They bowed deeply.
[From this point on, Lady Nasia de Levoir will be treated as Lady Nasia von Iter within this household.]
That single sentence was enough. Everyone treated me politely.
Then someone poked her head through the maids.
“Do you know where you are?”
My heart throbbed sharply in fright.
“…The Iter estate.”
My voice was dazed. My mind was still foggy.
“I am Azelta, the maid assigned to serve you.”
She bowed her head.
“Yes. Please take care of me.”
She blinked in surprise.
“You don’t have to speak formally to someone like me.”
“Ah.”
I’d forgotten. In my past life at the magic tower, mutual respect was standard. I had been reborn in this world for five years—
yet at the Levoir manor, no servant ever spoke to me. They thought my illness was contagious. That silence made me overly polite.
“Okay.”
I nodded reflexively, then shook my head.
“No—umm, yeah.”
Azelta gave a sad smile. She kneeled elegantly—more like a knight than a maid.
“The doctor has been called. He’ll be here soon.”
Doctor? I remembered the quack who diagnosed me with an incurable illness in childhood. Was he just ignorant of magic? Or did this world simply not know magic existed?
“No need to be nervous. Here—”
She opened the top drawer of a tall dresser. Too tall for a child to reach.
“The furniture will all be replaced soon.”
When I craned my neck up, she spoke awkwardly.
“…We didn’t know Baron Levoir was that insane.”
She whispered it so quietly that only I could hear. She must have assumed House Iter expected the eldest legitimate daughter, twenty years old this year, not the illegitimate five-year-old born from a one-night fling.
I remembered my “sister,” who looked at me as though I were trash. Sure, I was born from the baron’s affair, but… that wasn’t my doing.
“Here, take this.”
My silent ranting stopped when something huge was shoved toward me.
“—!”
People really can jump when startled. Azelta paused, equally surprised.
“Are you alright?”
She helped steady me. Whatever she was holding landed on the bed with a soft thud.
“I’m fine.”
My expression probably betrayed me. Azelta turned toward the maids.
“Bring Delphi—”
“No.”
I grabbed her sleeve. Even if the doctor came, he couldn’t fix it instantly. My pain wasn’t something medicine could fix—it was tied to mana.
“I’m not in pain anymore.”
I forced a smile. It probably looked awkward on a child’s face. Azelta’s eyes softened.
“It’s fine. Really.”
I turned away, ignoring the ache in my chest. The thing she’d handed me was enormous, wrapped in paper. A stick protruded beneath it.
“And this is…?”
“The master urgently got it for you. He heard children like sweets.”
She wanted me to think well of the duke.
“…I see.”
Moving slowly eased the pain. I reached for the object, and Azelta helped unwrap it. It was wider than my face—no, my shoulders.
Chocolate gift set? Then why the stick?
Riiiiip.
Once the wrapping tore, pastel colors gleamed.
“Candy…?”
Candy?
More like a shield.
It was a giant lollipop. Large enough to reflect my own face.
Then—
“Young lady, Doctor Delphiro has arrived.”
“Gasp.”
A doctor? If he saw me clutching a candy shield, he’d scold me for sure. I hurried to hide it—
But the paper was too small, and I was even smaller.
The door opened.
We made eye contact.
“….”
“….”
He stared at the candy. Then at me.
Then he bowed deeply.
“I am Delphiro, physician of House Iter.”
I tried to hide the candy behind me. It covered not even half of me.
“H…hello.”
My voice came out tiny. The doctor blinked and asked politely:
“May I examine you, young lady?”
For a doctor, he was unexpectedly gentle. I slowly nodded, still trying to hide the candy.
“Then, excuse me.”
He approached—and paused, noticing the candy.
“You are already brave. Just like the master.”
…Brave?
He smiled awkwardly.
“Could you set down the shield for a moment?”
Ah.
So he also thinks it’s a shield.
I reluctantly set it aside.
“We were told you collapsed. Azelta said you clutched your chest.”
He handed her the stethoscope. She warmed the metal part with her hands, then slid the neckline of my indoor dress aside.
When did they change my clothes?
“Delphiro isn’t trying to hurt you.”
Why would a doctor threaten a kid? Azelta reassured me, holding my shoulder gently.
“Ah.”
Even warmed, the stethoscope was cold. I trembled as she held me.
“Hm…”
The doctor listened, eyes averted from my body. After a moment, he removed the stethoscope.
“We haven’t received word from Baron Levoir, but it appears the young lady was born… with a weak constitution.”
He chose simple words, understandable for a child.
“I know.”
“You do? Then treatment—”
“I’ve never been treated.”
“Why—”
He stopped. His gaze slid to my bruised wrist.
No child who was abused would receive medical care.
“…I see. Then I will treat you.”
He smiled reassuringly.
“You’ll be able to run around without pain soon!”
I frowned. No matter how skilled, a doctor without mana perception couldn’t treat a problem caused by mana.
“…I just want to play.”
Just give me the stamina to move. I can handle the mana myself.
He froze.
“You don’t have to give up, young lady.”
“Huh?”
His eyes burned with determination.
“I don’t know what another doctor told you, but I, Delphiro, will heal you no matter what!”
…Did he think I’d given up on life?
I glanced at Azelta. She watched me with sympathy.
No no no—!
I can explain—
Actually, I can’t.
“…O…okay.”
“I, Delphiro, will definitely do it!”
He spoke with burning conviction. Children should want things—
Reach out, demand, insist.
But this child had given up. She hid her desires. Her eyes lit up with wonder at everything, yet she suppressed herself.
The small hand that had been forced to accept everything tugged at his heart.
He would show her what she wanted to see.
Take her where she wanted to go.
“If you feel even a little pain, tell us immediately!”
His passion radiated. Azelta realized he was already captivated by this small, pitiful girl.
“Yes.”
Azelta answered. Then she glanced down at Nasia.
Azelta—officially a maid of House Iter.
But that was not her real job—
