Chapter 53
How to Capture Your Child’s Heart, The Child Who Says No, How to Persuade!, Challenge! Becoming a Good Teacher—and so on.
A whole shelf was packed with parenting books.
On top of that, recalling the title of the book Theron had been reading in the maze before falling asleep made Abelline’s thoughts even more tangled.
“…….”
“Milady?”
Theron spoke, noticing Abelline sitting there blankly.
“Oh, sorry.”
Abelline quickly pulled her wandering thoughts back and stuffed them away.
“I just needed a moment to think.”
She had come to collect some documents, but her mental state had been completely ruffled, so she took a sip of the tea in front of her.
“You’re rather trusting, aren’t you?”
The moment Abelline set down her cup, Theron spoke. His tone was slightly reproachful.
“What makes you think I’d do anything to your tea?”
Hearing this, Abelline quickly spat the tea she had just sipped back into the cup.
“Did you put something in it?” she asked, sounding almost accusatory.
“No.”
Theron shook his head.
Abelline felt a little foolish at the absurdly calm answer.
‘What am I supposed to do with that?’
He had scolded her for being trusting, but then hadn’t done anything at all. She had just wasted good tea.
“Then… why did you say that?”
“I was giving practical advice.”
Theron, sitting across from her, gave a slight lift of his lips as he looked at her.
“I possess magic secretly, without the royal family knowing, and you’re the only outsider aware of it. And now you’ve come to my mansion alone. There’s no better opportunity to… eliminate you.”
Hearing his explanation, Abelline instantly understood why he had said that, and a shiver ran down her spine.
Come to think of it, Theron hadn’t touched any of the refreshments in front of him.
‘Could it be a trap?’
She had seen scenes like this in books before: someone ingratiates themselves, serves food or drink, then later reveals, “I poisoned your tea,” and laughs darkly. Soon, the unsuspecting character who drank the tea lets out a pained sound and collapses.
Was Theron the final mastermind from some novel? Was she just a supporting character, quietly eliminated so no one would notice?
‘No.’
Abelline shook her head.
She met Theron’s blue eyes, which had been observing her reactions the whole time.
“But you don’t intend to harm me, do you, Duke?”
“How can you be so sure?”
An intrigued look appeared on Theron’s face. He seemed surprised by her reaction.
“Well…”
A few days ago, Theron had said something in her presence that came to mind:
—It’s easier for me to protect you that way.
Of course, he had brought her out of the Crown Prince’s garden because the prince’s magical stone was planted there. But if he had intended to harm her from the start, he wouldn’t have pretended to court her or acted like a suitor.
‘Besides…’
Abelline met Theron’s gaze again.
“I trust you, Duke.”
She felt a strange confidence that he wouldn’t hurt her.
She didn’t know why she believed it so firmly.
But thinking of how he had always appeared to help her in times of trouble, she wanted to trust him.
That he wouldn’t harm her. Even if it was purely her own wish.
“…You trust me?”
Theron, who had been relaxed, now showed a crack in his expression.
His usual gentle smile faded, replaced by a strange face she had never seen before.
A blank face with no emotion.
Yet somehow, it felt natural—as if this were Theron’s true face.
“Yes. I trust you.”
Although Abelline flinched at the unfamiliar expression, she didn’t waver and nodded again.
“What reason…”
Her usually polite tone dropped, and her words trailed off.
Seeing Theron so affected, Abelline felt flustered herself. She worried about what he might do if she spoke too honestly.
‘I need to change the subject.’
Hastily, she spoke again.
“The reason is—!”
Raising her voice, she jumped up and gestured toward the bookshelf, trying to divert his attention.
“These books!”
Theron looked puzzled.
“Because you’re diligently reading parenting books, Duke.”
Abelline steadied her trembling hand and pointed.
“You even fell asleep reading one called something like The Terrible Five-Year-Old on the bench earlier.”
Theron flinched slightly at her words, seeming embarrassed that she had discovered his secret reading.
‘Good. That worked.’
She felt a small relief at having stopped him from “turning dark.”
But before she could fully exhale, Theron spoke again.
“So what does that prove?”
Ah, no. His dark mood wasn’t fully gone.
‘It wasn’t fully prevented—just slowed down.’
‘I need to say something, quickly.’
Something that would resonate.
“Well…”
“Well?”
“You’re reading parenting books because of me!”
Abelline squeezed her eyes shut and pounded her chest with her palms.
“….”
A suffocating silence filled the room. It seemed to tell her that she had overstepped.
But she pressed on.
“You’re preparing for when I become Chloe, aren’t you?”
She was certain of it. Based on Theron’s past behavior when she had confronted him as Chloe, he must have read parenting books then as well.
—Soft, gentle speech works with children…
—Ah, match their eye level and be kind.
He had even muttered in confusion when she didn’t respond as expected.
If he had any practical application for the books, it would most likely be in front of her, as Chloe.
“Haha…”
Theron broke the silence with laughter.
‘It worked.’
Abelline waited until he stopped laughing. Standing awkwardly hadn’t mattered; if she could navigate this crisis successfully, a little awkwardness was tolerable.
“An interesting hypothesis,” Theron finally said.
His usual polite tone returned, along with his gentle smile.
‘Phew.’
She had truly stopped Theron from “turning dark.”
While she marveled at her own quick thinking, Theron spoke again.
“Shall we tour the mansion?”
“Huh?”
That was actually what Abelline had planned to say.
She had wanted to thank him, but her real goal was to find the documents. Touring the mansion would let her locate where they might be—and now Theron had offered first.
“Sure.”
There was no reason to refuse such a good opportunity.
Theron rose from his seat and approached her.
“Shall we go?”
“Uh… yes.”
He extended his hand, seemingly to escort her, and Abelline instinctively placed her hand in his.
“Then, let’s go.”
She had already been standing, so she didn’t need to exert extra effort to rise from her chair.
Following Theron out of the drawing room, Abelline noticed that Barom—the butler she had been mimicking earlier—was nowhere in sight.
Nor were there any of the usual servants around.
‘Now that I think about it, there weren’t any servants when we came in, either.’
Then how was this massive mansion managed?
Abelline’s own house was only half the size of Theron’s, yet even hers required quite a number of staff.
“By magic,” Theron said suddenly, as if reading her thoughts.
“You can read my mind?”
Startled, Abelline jumped. Theron’s smile deepened, amused by her reaction.
“I would hope so, but your expressions give you away, Milady.”
“Ah.”
Having lived mostly in her own mansion, she had never properly learned social graces or a poker face like other nobles.
“Anyway, managing such a huge mansion with magic… that’s incredible.”
“It’s not difficult,” Theron said, shrugging as if it were nothing.
‘How much magic does he even have?’
If he could manage all of this and still have enough for anything else, even combining all nine of the royal family’s magical stones wouldn’t compare.
“So, it’s just you and Barom living here?”
