Chapter 26
“You’re the one more nervous.”
Normally, Rohen would have teased me for smiling like that, but he couldn’t even loosen up for quite a while.
Cute. Like a child. Both Rohen and Lari really are just ordinary kids their age. I want to protect these children’s happiness. That thought came to me around then. No matter what that ill-fated Grand Duke might say, since I’d decided to go to the ducal house, I would do it properly.
So I stared straight at the Grand Duke.
Sitting in a fairly relaxed posture, the Grand Duke pretended not to care while sneaking glances back and forth at the twins. I hated him to death—the man who had tried to burn down the orphanage, the man who had called me a toy—but the twins weren’t like that.
‘If I’m going to do it, then should I do it properly?’
As those thoughts settled in, an inexplicable confidence rose up. The instinctive bristling that always made me shrink whenever I looked at the Grand Duke finally calmed down.
Still, courage didn’t come easily. I hesitated for a long time, wondering whether or not to speak, and only after riding in the carriage for quite a while did I finally open my mouth.
“Then I have a condition, if I’m going to follow you.”
Perhaps because it was completely unexpected, his brow creased sharply. A sense of hostility surfaced, as if to say, How dare someone like you even speak of conditions to me.
My body flinched instinctively, but I clenched my trembling hands tightly and pretended nothing was wrong.
“I must have misheard.”
“No, you didn’t. You heard right.”
“You dare set conditions with me?”
Because of the carriage’s rocking, like a steady rhythm of music, the two children who had dozed off stirred slightly.
“Yes.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I do. You’re His Grace the Grand Duke.”
The corner of his mouth twisted upward. Even without him saying anything, I could feel what kind of mood he was in, what he thought of me.
“And you know your position?”
“You think of me as baggage you’re taking along because the twins want it.”
“You’re not a fool, for a child.”
His tightly crossed arms relaxed. At the very least, he’d dropped the minimum defensive posture of refusing to listen at all.
‘If I’ve gotten this far, I’ve done half the job.’
Sweat trickled down my back. In the novel, the Grand Duke was described as a man without blood or tears. He was merciless even to his own people, and because of that, he carried every kind of unpleasant epithet imaginable.
A mad dog. The empire’s only problem. One loved by God yet cursed at the same time. A monster.
Some said he had lost all human emotion and wasn’t even fit to hold the title of Grand Duke. Others whispered rumors that he might have killed the previous Grand Duke—his own brother—who had died young from a weak constitution.
Casimir Blair. The twins’ father was a man who listened to such words without batting an eye.
Until I saw him in person, I’d thought those were just exaggerated rumors, overblown even in the novel—but the real man was worse, not better.
‘Ah, my hands are shaking.’
Every time his gaze landed on me, it felt as if I were being scorched by fire, so hot it made my head spin. Then, as if he were done appraising me, he let out a short laugh.
“Am I that frightening? Most people can’t even speak to me properly. Or are you just stupid enough to spout such nonsense?”
“I’m not stupid. I’m quite good at knowing my place.”
“Interesting.”
Not perfect, but his hostility had thinned compared to before. It was clearly different from his earlier stance of refusing to listen outright.
“A child who knows her place dares to make conditions with me?”
“I think I’m in a position to do so. The children follow me more than anyone.”
“So you intend to bargain using my children?”
The moment the topic turned to the children, his entire demeanor sharpened, as if bristling with thorns.
“If I were bargaining with them, I’d be asking for something huge. After all, the children follow me.”
“So what is it you want? You’re nothing more than a toy for my children. A toy they’ll tire of at any time. I find myself curious—what does such a toy want?”
Wow. I really want to hit him just once. Even if that really is the reason he’s taking me, that man is barely human.
He has a trashy mindset beyond redemption. Still, if I wanted to get what I wanted, persuading him was necessary.
“Why can’t you speak? Is it hard to say? Money to live comfortably for the rest of your life, perhaps? Or being adopted into a good family? If you want, I can give you those.”
Lari, who had been listening while shaking her small head side to side, turned her head with an uncomfortable expression.
“Well… even if a child had enough money to live on for life, they’d just be taken advantage of. And even if you’re adopted into a ‘good’ family, there’s no way to know if they’re really good people.”
“Oh? Then?”
“Please entrust everything about the children to me.”
Perhaps because it was so far beyond his expectations, his lips trembled slightly.
“Entrust them? Do you think you’re something special?”
“At the orphanage, I was the twins’ guardian.”
My voice shook as I spoke, and it even felt as if my vision were going dark. I wondered if what I was doing was really right. Maybe the right thing would be to live with the twins at the ducal house, then leave with some money once the children lost interest in me.
But if I left the children entirely in that Grand Duke’s hands, it felt as though everything I’d done until now would be for nothing.
‘If nothing else, I can’t leave the children’s education to that man.’
Steeling myself again, I looked him straight in the eye.
“What exactly does ‘entrusting’ entail?”
“It’s not like I’m planning to do anything grand. Just… whenever you try to do something with the children, let me interfere in every little thing.”
“…Is that all?”
“Yes!”
I could see his pupils trembling.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“…You don’t want to be adopted into the ducal house, or… live like ordinary children…?”
“I absolutely don’t want to be adopted into the ducal house. I don’t know what ‘ordinary children’ even means, but I just want to stay with them.”
He rolled his eyes, scanning the inside of the carriage for a while, and only after a long pause did he speak again.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Even if you change your mind later.”
“That will never happen.”
“……”
“Is that really so difficult?”
By then, the twins had fully woken up and leaned forward, as if applying silent pressure on the Grand Duke.
“It’s not difficult, but…”
“Of course, I know I’m nothing special. I’m an orphan, and it’s ridiculous for someone like me to associate with children of the ducal house. I should probably be grateful just that you’re taking me along.”
“……”
“But please. I want to stay with Rohen and Lari. Even if it’s only until the day you mentioned… until the two children get tired of me.”
A few weeks, or months. At most, a few years. In the original story, the children lost interest in things quickly anyway. I wasn’t naïve enough not to know that right now, they were only fascinated by me.
That was why I looked at the Grand Duke all the more desperately.
“…Is that really all you want?”
“Yes.”
“…That makes it even more suspicious.”
Just then, Rohen finally relaxed his stiff mouth and managed to speak.
“What she wants is what we want too. So do it.”
“Yeah! Do it! What big sister wants! Uh, so… it sounds really hard! But still, do it, Dad!”
The Grand Duke, whose expression had already softened when Rohen spoke, melted for just a moment—like ice cream—at Lari calling him “Dad.”
Then, as if regaining his composure, he hardened his expression again.
“Fine. I can do that much.”
“Really?”
“But in return, I’ll set a condition too.”
“A condition?”
“That’s unfair! She’s just asking you to do it, it’s not even that hard—why set a condition?”
Rohen snapped irritably before I could even finish speaking.
“Whether it’s hard or easy depends on how you think of it.”
What could it be? A faint sense of unease crept over me.
“What do you think is the hardest thing to obtain in this world, orphan girl?”
I was grateful he didn’t call me a toy, but ‘orphan girl’ wasn’t exactly pleasant either. Anger flared up inside me, but I soothed myself, thinking it was still better than being called a toy.
“Well… I’m not sure.”
“Money, fame, things like that—but I think the hardest thing is winning someone’s heart. Even now, that’s the most difficult thing for me.”
“Ah…”
“So what you’re going to do is make my son, who’s standing beside you, call me ‘Dad.’”
