Episode 6
“Hey, what are you doing, Annette? Your mother’s sick, so let’s just go back to the room for today—”
“Mom!”
Like a cute kid, I grabbed the mug with both hands and walked up to the duchess. Luckily, she seemed conscious.
“Mom, please drink this. You’ll feel better soon.”
When I offered the cup, Duke Aubrey grabbed my shoulder with a sudden jerk.
“You!!”
His thunderous voice made my shoulders stiffen automatically.
“What do you think you’re doing right now?!”
He shouted with a stern face, the sound echoing around the room.
I’d never seen him raise his voice like that before, so I stopped breathing for a second and then forced a small smile.
He froze for a moment.
“It’s okay, Father. I’m like you — I’m a genius!”
“Anette… cough. Here, give it to me, my daughter.”
At the cough and the voice behind me I spun around.
“Yes, Mother. Here you go.”
“Rosana….”
“My child gave this to me first— how could I refuse?”
The duchess, with a gentle expression, said that firmly.
She then, without a second thought, lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip.
“Huh, that’s sweet. Sweet… and a little bitter.”
“See? It tastes good, right? I’ll head back now. Get well soon, Mom.”
“Yes, you must get better. We’ll go out together and go shopping too.”
“Yes.”
I bowed politely even to the annoyed Duke Aubrey, then turned and left the room.
Thud.
As soon as the door closed, I leaned my back on it and took a deep breath.
My fingertips were trembling.
“You!!”
“What are you doing right now?!”
I clenched my fists.
‘It’s okay.’
This isn’t a mad scientist’s lab. Even if I mess up a bit, they won’t experiment on me here.
‘It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m not hurt.’
This place is peaceful, and little mistakes don’t get punished with pain.
After standing still for a while, I slowly looked up and saw Mary and Gold watching me with surprised faces.
‘Oh no…’
I’d messed up.
I forced a smile like a clueless child and pressed a finger to my lips.
“Actually, it’s my first time being scolded by an adult.”
That was a lie.
I’d been scolded at the orphanage and in the mad scientist’s lab plenty of times.
“This is a secret, okay?”
I whispered it with a smile, then took Mary and Gold and went back to my room.
“Why were you so harsh with the daughter we finally found?”
“…I just got angry for a moment because she tried to feed her something weird.”
“But the child thought of me and brought it. Even if she’s not used to seeing me after so long, don’t be so cold from now on. That’s a bad habit of yours.”
“…Alright.”
Rosana asked quietly, and Shakol Aubrey answered in a small voice.
“…Rosana, your coughing’s stopped. Are you feeling okay?”
Rosana’s eyes widened at his words.
“Huh…? It’s true — breathing’s not hard, and I’m not coughing. I feel warm, not cold.”
She rubbed herself as if she couldn’t quite believe it.
‘Does this stuff actually work?’
Shakol frowned.
He’d told people Rosana was ill, but hadn’t named what kind of disease. It was supposed to be incurable.
‘I’ve never seen a medicine that works like this.’
How did they get something like this so fast?
‘Just a coincidence?’
No — the kid had called herself a genius, like she knew something.
Shakol narrowed his eyes and flicked a finger haughtily.
“Pedro.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring Mary and Gold — the ones who prepared that drink for Anette.”
“Yes, sir.”
Shakol sat on the edge of the bed and slowly took Rosana’s hand.
“Rest while you feel comfortable, Rosana.”
“Okay. Tell Anette… to be sure to apologize….”
“…I will.”
As expected, Rosana, who’d pushed herself quite hard, fell asleep quickly.
Shakol smoothed her hair slowly.
“Anisha…”
He gazed at Rosana asleep, his expression sinking into a soft seriousness.
He decided to adopt Anisha the moment he saw her picture.
Rosana’s health was getting worse by the day.
Maybe it was harsh to say it in front of a child, but he wanted to save his wife. Restoring both mind and body was the first priority.
Aside from being somewhat frail, Rosana had been healthy. She’d gotten sick suddenly about ten years earlier — the same time a child had been stolen. That event marked the start of her decline.
About twenty years ago, the Empire had been shaken by anti-noble uprisings.
The root cause was the previous emperor’s terrible misrule.
He was a tyrant who loved extravagance, debauchery, and even war. He conscripted people and raised taxes, squeezing money out of nobles and pushing them to raise taxes on their own tenants to make up the shortfall.
From that terrible rule and endless war, people lost their children, parents, and families. They finally snapped.
If they saw a noble, they threw stones. The nobles — even if they drew swords — found that the people had nothing left to fear. Attacking a lord sometimes just made the mob angrier, and they even stormed houses.
Uprisings broke out everywhere and then turned into ruthless reprisals.
One of the crimes born of that revenge was “stealing children” — taking a child from nobles because you lost your own.
As noble children disappeared, the Aubrey household tightened security and carefully selected staff near the children.
But still, they couldn’t protect them all.
Yes. Shakol Aubrey couldn’t protect his daughter.
Someone he had trusted long had become vengeful after losing their own child. During that chaos, a noble marquis’s only son was kidnapped and found torn apart. The marquis’s grief and rage led to a coup with nobles taking up arms — a bloody, desperate uprising with even the crown prince involved.
When the tyrant fell, and things started to get back to order, some missing children returned — but not everyone.
His daughter didn’t return; neither did the son of the Argo family, rulers of the blue territory. The Argo family later found their boy, but Shakol found his child burned black, her house token still around her neck.
He couldn’t tell anyone. Especially not his wife, who still hoped the child would come back.
So I brought her anyway.’
A green-haired girl, about the same age as his daughter.
“Nice to meet you, Your Grace. I’m Anisha.”
At the first meeting, he’d believed she’d come back alive and grown.
If his child had grown up, she would have smiled like that and spoken like that.
“Sob… you’re really my mother, right? You’re my mother… right…?”
Crying, cringing with unfamiliarity — if you find a child and reunite them with their parents, that’s the kind of thing you expect to happen.
“I can hardly believe it — I feel like a dream to meet my parents. Thank you for not giving up.”
So he was surprised to hear those words from the girl.
He had to remember: the child was fake.
He could not let himself forget that.
Rosana, busy with postpartum recovery, might not remember Anette’s eyes, but Anette’s irises were a faint violet, like his.
‘Those eye colors don’t change unless something is done in an experiment.’
He shook his head lightly.
Knock knock.
A polite knock at the door.
“Enter.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is that tea?”
“Oh, it’s dried Lychee petals ground and mixed with sugar. The young lady said it would be good for the duchess…”
“She told you to do that?”
“Yes.”
Mary bowed her head as she answered.
If she’d given instructions that specific, it didn’t feel like she’d acted without understanding.
‘Is it some folk remedy?’
He might have been a little too sensitive.
“How’s the girl?”
“She’s back in her room, resting.”
“Is that so.”
Just then Mary made a small sound — she’d noticed something odd.
“Ah! The miss seemed frightened. She said it was her first time being scolded…”
Shakol’s eyes flickered.
“Tch, this is annoying. Nothing to be done.”
He muttered and then covered Rosana properly with the blanket and stood.
“You.”
“Yes, sir.”
“…What do kids like?”
As he left the room in that grumpy tone, the chapter ended.
