CHAPTER 22…………………………………….
“When is the Duke’s birthday?”
Butler DeVuit made a slightly surprised face.
He had been straightening a crooked picture frame, and after taking his hand off it, he stood and looked at me.
His long hair, tied in one, swayed lightly.
“May I ask why you’re suddenly curious about that?”
I chose the most convincing answer among the many I had prepared in advance.
“He’s the one who brought me in when I’d been abandoned and gave me a comfortable room. He gives me delicious food every day, too.”
DeVuit’s eyes widened, then narrowed.
Sensing my chance, I made my eyes sparkle as innocently as possible.
“I’m so grateful, I wanted to give him a present.”
Inside my drawer was a cheap brooch decorated with fake gems.
Last time I went to the South, I had bought a gift for Crimu and grabbed the brooch too.
I just tossed it into the drawer not knowing when I’d use it, but now it had a purpose.
I looked at the butler with a I bought it with my carefully saved pocket money kind of face—something only a thirteen-year-old could pull off.
“The Duke’s birthday is this week. Three days from now, so it’s coming soon.”
“Wow, that’s so soon! Thank you, DeVuit!”
I flashed him a bright smile and left immediately.
But on my way back to my room, my head was a mess.
The Duke’s birthday was coming this fast?
I almost missed the slave market and everything connected to it.
I patted my startled chest and steadied my thoughts.
I have to hurry.
There wasn’t much time left.
I pulled out the sheet of paper buried deep in my drawer—my written plan—and prepared to move on to the next stage.
Just then—
“Crimuu!”
“Noonaaa!”
Crimu came running toward me, bowed his head in greeting, and threw himself into my arms.
Soft as cotton candy, always so cute I wanted to bite him.
“Were you having fun?”
“Mhm.”
There was chocolate smeared around Crimu’s mouth.
The head maid following behind him held a napkin in her hand.
“Give it here. I’ll wipe him.”
“Yes, My Lady. I was going to do it, but he ran off like that…”
The head maid looked at Crimu with a hint of hurt as she handed me the napkin.
I carefully wiped the chocolate from his lips.
“There, all done. You look even more handsome like this, Crimu.”
I tidied his blue hair, mussed from his running, then took his hand.
“Crimu, want to play a fun game?”
“Mhm! Crimu want play too.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s play together.”
The game I planned to play with Crimu was hide-and-seek.
Britta and the head maid joined in, and after explaining the rules, I volunteered to be “it” twice.
“Isn’t it fun?”
“Yes, My Lady. How did you even know such a game?”
“I know, right? My heart was pounding worrying I’d get caught!”
Britta and the head maid looked even more excited than Crimu, like they had turned into children.
“So far we’ve only played inside my bedroom, but now we’ll expand the area.”
“How?”
“The entire second floor.”
This round, Britta—whom I pointed at—naturally became “it.”
Since Crimu was young, he would hide with the head maid.
“All right, Britta! Start now.”
At my signal, Britta covered her eyes against the wall and began counting.
The rest of us hurried out of the bedroom.
Stay calm, Maryanne.
Everything so far was going according to plan.
A game of hide-and-seek.
Britta as “it.”
And me slipping into the room at the end of the second-floor hallway.
I put a finger to my lips at every maid I passed, gesturing secrecy.
Thanks to the head maid, the servants on the second floor all knew we were “playing a game.”
And as they continued their work, I entered the last room in the hallway.
Click—the door closed, and darkness settled over the room.
The three brothers’ playroom.
Enough sunlight came through the slightly parted curtains to see inside.
Bookshelves, desks, toys filling the large room.
This was the first place Ron looked for when he returned to the mansion.
It was one of the most memorable scenes in the original novel.
After going missing and losing his memories, Ron returned home as an adult and saw the pictures inside this playroom.
Portraits.
Hundreds of portraits the duke and duchess had commissioned to search for their missing son.
Readers had been moved to tears by the scene of the second son, Ron, holding the dusty picture to his chest, trying not to cry.
Only to later curse him as a full-blown final-boss villain—“A crazy bastard is still a crazy bastard.”
Crimu’s toys should be around here…
I recalled the time I had accidentally entered this room while following Crimu.
Originally, this room had been where the first son, Shevert, and the second son, Ron, played often.
But after Ron went missing, both his bedroom and this playroom were locked tight.
Only after Crimu grew up was the room opened again.
This one was the eldest’s, he said.
I passed by a ship model Crimu didn’t play with.
Then I searched the bookshelves and desk drawers crafted for a child.
But the pictures weren’t anywhere.
They should be here somewhere.
A cloud must have covered the sun; the room grew darker.
I searched more desperately.
Voices echoed from beyond the door.
Britta and Crimu’s voices.
They had found the head maid and Crimu, and now the whole group was coming to find me.
No, not now—there’s no time…!
Hearing their approaching footsteps, I scanned the floor quickly.
Ron had collapsed somewhere around here.
That’s how it had been described in the original novel.
Ron curled up in the sunlight.
Ron holding the dusty picture.
“…!”
Found it.
At the end of a shelf lying on the floor, I pulled out something white.
The texture told me it was paper.
Dozens of portraits of the second son, Ron.
Just then—
“Found you!”
With a click, the door opened and bright light flooded the playroom.
Crimu and Britta came toward me with smiles just as bright as the light.
“I didn’t think you’d be hiding in here!”
“Nuuuna, found yooou!”
It was close—barely in time.
I slipped one drawing into the hidden pocket inside my dress.
Spreading my skirt to hide the motion, I welcomed Crimu.
“You found me well!”
“Yeees! I win!”
Britta was technically “it,” but Crimu felt like he’d found me himself and was thrilled.
And I, too, was thrilled—I had obtained the drawing.
I had to find the second son.
For that, I needed the Duke’s permission.
A thirteen-year-old like me couldn’t go out alone.
“You want to go to Rozerta?”
The Duke’s crimson eyes—made redder by the morning sun—glinted.
The men of the Kerace family always had beautiful, rose-colored eyes.
Momentarily dazed by their beauty, I regained focus and answered:
“Kautz told me that if I stay indoors every day, nothing will change. He said going to places with unique energies is good training.”
Rozerta was the region with the slave market.
Where the second son, Ron, was presumed to be.
I used the wizard Kautz as an excuse to go.
If I said it was for magical training, he couldn’t refuse… probably.
Once the Duke gave permission, I’d go with Kautz and—
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“Yes—huh? …Yes?”
I answered “yes” three times in shock.
The Duke was coming?!
Of course, even in the original story, the Duke visited the slave market every year on his birthday.
But I couldn’t remember why.
Still, I didn’t expect him to say he would go with me.
“You’re really going?”
“Yes. It’s a place crawling with rough men. I don’t know what sort of ‘energy’ you’re talking about…”
Gulp.
I avoided the Duke’s red eyes, swallowing hard.
“I can’t send you alone to a place like that.”
“But Kautz will be with me, and knights too…”
I couldn’t finish before he continued:
“Shevert will come as well. It would be good for you two to grow closer.”
NO! Absolutely not!
I screamed internally, but the Duke was firm once he said something.
Uaaagh!
There was no choice.
Fine, let him come. Whatever.
He could watch me rescue the second son right in front of him.
What could possibly go wrong?
Having decided, I pulled out the brooch.
Sunlight caught the cheap gem and made it sparkle.
“….”
For a moment, the Duke—sitting perfectly straight—flinched ever so slightly.
Was it my imagination? No.
His throat bobbed.
It felt like he already knew something.
Did the butler tell him?
I remembered how I’d asked DeVuit about the Duke’s birthday to figure out the slave market timing.
Well, the butler was the Duke’s man…
But why look so tense?
The Duke gulped again and glanced between me and the brooch.
I quickly held it out.
“Happy early birthday, Your Grace.”
“…”
Slowly, the Duke lowered his long lashes and stared at the brooch in his hand.
Then he lifted his cold red eyes and looked at me—staring for a long time.
I felt nervous for no reason.
Was it too much?
It did look terribly cheap.
Should I take it back?
But the Duke was already gripping it tightly.
Almost hard enough to break it.
“I picked it out carefully. I wondered what would suit you. I hope you like it. Hehe.”
I showed the cutest smile Maryanne was known for—dimples and all.
Thankfully, the Duke said nothing.
Just wore a complicated, unreadable expression before dismissing me.
As I opened the door to leave, I thought:
That brooch doesn’t have long to live.
He’d probably smash it on the floor.
Or throw it out the window.
While saying What kind of cheap trash is this?
Whatever. My mission was done.
I’d given him a birthday present.
Now I had a reason to go to the slave market.
A few days later—
Me, Kautz, and in the end the Duke and Shevert as well had all prepared to depart.
Rozerta was far enough that we needed a long carriage ride.
Fortunately, I rode in a separate carriage from them.
If not, I probably would’ve suffocated and begged to get out after an hour or two.
The carriage rumbled gently, then suddenly began shaking enough to make noise.
“We must have arrived in Rozerta.”
