Lephonia slowly lifted her head, which had been bowed.
“I pay my respects to Your Grace, the Duke!”
The knight holding her straightened immediately, saluting with a stiff, formal posture.
“It seems things have been rather noisy for a while.”
The man stood with the sunlight at his back, casting his face in shadow.
Even so, it was clear, he towered over the knight, and the sheer pressure of his presence made Lephonia instinctively flinch.
“What is that?”
“We received a report of a child wandering without a guardian, so I was on my way to take her to the orphanage.”
The Duke.
The knight had clearly called him ‘Your Grace, the Duke.’
In this empire, the only person who would be called a Duke…
As her eyes met his—cool, icy blue and utterly unreadable—Lephonia unconsciously held her breath.
His silvery hair fluttered gently in the wind, soft in appearance yet striking.
It was the same color as Lephonia’s, but unlike her tangled mess, his shimmered like moonlight.
A guardian of order, protector of peace and safety.
The Duke of Craytan.
As an aura wielder, he had hardly aged.
He looked remarkably young—so much so, it was hard to believe he was the father of two sons and this lost daughter.
‘So this man is a knight of Duke Craytan.’
Lephonia stared at the uniform worn by the knight holding her. The blue uniform was exclusive to knights of the Craytan’s duchy within the empire.
‘I should have recognized it from the start.’
It wasn’t like her memory had deteriorated just because she became a child, but she was too flustered to confirm even such an obvious detail.
“A child?”
Duke Craytan turned his gaze toward Lephonia, who was in his arms.
Their eyes met. In that moment, the eyes that seemed like they would never waver under any circumstance trembled for the first time.
“…Lyla?”
Duke Craytan muttered in a hollow voice.
‘Lyla? What’s that?’
Lephonia frowned. At the same time, he approached her with a dazed expression. She had feared him even as an adult, but meeting him again as a five-year-old made it even scarier.
“What’s your name?”
The Duke asked, his voice tinged with urgency.
“Le, Lephonia.”
Overwhelmed by his intensity, Lephonia answered clearly without realizing it.
“How old are you?”
“Five years old.”
“Parents?”
Lephonia shook her head vigorously.
Duke Craytan gave the knight a brief, pointed look, silently instructing him to explain more clearly.
“Ah. When I asked, she claimed she had no family. That, um… She said she was abandoned. It seems she’s been living alone in a house with no owner.”
That’s her house.
“Abandoned?”
Duke Craytan furrowed his brow as he looked at Lephonia. Intimidated by his fierce expression, Lephonia quietly lowered her gaze.
“…You were taking the child to an orphanage?”
“Yes.”
“And after that?”
“Pardon?”
“What happens after you take her to the orphanage?”
“Uh… First, we verify her identity and check for her parents.”
“The child gave her name and clearly stated she was abandoned. What happens then?”
“Um, well… she would stay at the orphanage until someone comes to adopt or sponsor her.”
“Is that so?”
Before the knight could finish speaking, the Duke suddenly reached out his arms toward Lephonia, who was still in the knight’s embrace.
‘Uh?’
His large hands slid under both her armpits and effortlessly lifted her into the air.
‘Huuh?’
Lephonia blinked and looked up at the duke who was holding her.
It was then. Suddenly, a dense, colorless aura surged from Duke Craytan’s body, sweeping over Lephonia.
“Ahk!”
She screamed in surprise. But it didn’t hurt.
‘Is this… aura?’
As if trying to gauge something, Duke Craytan narrowed his eyes and released more aura.
‘Did he sense that I’m a criminal!’
Lephonia gulped dryly.
“…Maybe not. But somehow, hmm.”
Fortunately, she wasn’t caught as Duke Craytan withdrew his aura.
The knight watching in confusion from the side called out to Duke Craytan.
“Du-Duke?”
“There’s no need for that.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s no need to take her to the orphanage.”
Their eyes met. A strange and unreadable emotion swirled in the duke’s blue eyes.
“I’ll take the child.”
“What?”
“Pardon?”
What on earth is happening all of a sudden?
* * *
The sound of a carriage rolling broke the heavy silence.
‘What’s going on right now?’
Lephonia clutched her knees tightly, her gaze fixed nervously on the man sitting across from her.
The Duke of Craytan.
For some reason, he was sitting directly across from her.
‘Where is he taking me?’
Noticing Lephonia’s cautious gaze, the Duke, who had been looking out the window, turned his head.
His blue eyes, cold and unyielding, seemed to freeze anyone who dared meet them. Overwhelmed by his presence, Lephonia clenched her hands tightly and, with a timid voice, asked,
“Where am I going?”
Her childlike, hesitant tone stood in stark contrast to the stiffness of her expression.
The Duke glanced at her calmly before finally speaking.
“You said you were five.”
The Duke stroked his chin.
“Small.”
His blunt remark made Lephonia frown. In truth, she couldn’t deny that she had always been smaller than average, even back at the orphanage.
“…They say if you’re small as a child, you grow taller after becoming an adult.”
Of course, even after becoming an adult, she wasn’t bigger than others.
“Really? You must try harder.”
The Duke smiled lightly.
‘Still, it’s better than being ignored.’
Lephonia looked at the Duke with eyes full of vigilance.
“Your name is Lephonia?”
At the sound of her name, Lephonia flinched.
“….Uh-huh.”
Although flustered to say her name, Lephonia calmly sorted through the situation.
“Are you going to sell me?”
“Do you think so?”
The Duke answered Lephonia’s question with a question.
“…Yeah”
The orphanage director, who was known for being kind and gentle with children, secretly sold off the older ones for profit.
It wasn’t much different from the so-called holy and revered Pope.
What difference would there be with the sharp-eyed Duke of Craytan?
Even if she somehow managed to jump out of the carriage, how far could her five-year-old body go before she was caught?
That’s the limit of being five years old.
It would be faster to persuade the Duke of Craytan here.
“Even if you sold me, you wouldn’t get much.”
Lephonia, who was kneeling, clenched her fists and spoke with a fierce tone.
“Who would pay a good price for me? Look at me, I’m too scrawny to even work properly. At this rate, I wouldn’t even make it to the auction house. I don’t even look healthy, so even the perverts who crave children’s blood wouldn’t be interested.”
As Lephonia spoke so bluntly, the Duke’s face tightened.
It seemed she didn’t like hearing that Lephonia wasn’t worth anything.
“Do you even know what an auction is?”
“It’s where you buy and sell things.”
Lephonia answered immediately.
“You know and yet you still talk about auctions… Ha, no. Never mind. You sure know a lot for your age.”
“I heard the knight call you ‘Dyuke’ earlier. I think Dyuke doesn’t know, so I was sayin’ it..”
After speaking at length, her pronunciation faltered. With the tongue of a five-year-old, it felt so embarrassing.
“Who told you that kind of thing?”
“I heard it here and there. I’m not lying, it’s true. You can go check for yourself. I wouldn’t sell for much.”
“Am I supposed to thank you for telling me that? Thanks, I guess.”
As the Duke sarcastically thanked her, a murderous glint flickered in his eyes, causing her expression to darken.
Her lips trembled with fear, yet Lephonia forced herself to keep speaking.
“Just hire me as a maid.”
“A maid?”
“I’m good at work.”
That was Lephonia’s first plan. To get hired as a maid under the Duke of Craytan, then steal the Duke’s heirloom.
It wasn’t part of the original plan, and she hadn’t even checked the heirloom yet, but now, it seemed, was her chance.
“I’m good at cleaning and sweeping. I’m even better at organizing.”
There wasn’t a single chore she hadn’t learned, cleaning, sweeping, tidying. Lephonia was full of confidence.
“Didn’t you just say you looked too weak to do anything properly?”
“I said I looked that way, but I didn’t say I actually was. You may not be able to tell at first glance, but talented people often go unnoticed. I’m giving you a chance, Duke. A rare talent like me… Ah.”
As she spoke boldly, a large hand grabbed her wrist and silenced her. The Duke of Craytan gently examined Lephonia’s wrist.
Beneath the thin wrist, hidden by her sleeve, a faint burn scar was revealed.
“Even if you were a rare talent, I don’t think you’re suited for maid work.”
“…I can eat little and still work. I don’t cost much to feed, and I’m cheap to keep.”
“Ha.”
Duke Craytan carefully released her wrist and let out a sigh.
Was she wrong? This was Lephonia’s best plan for now.
Without missing a beat, Lephonia began again to explain her value.
“I heal quickly when I get hurt. Even if I break something or get bruised, I recover fast. Even if I drop something heavy and get hurt, I’ll heal soon—”
“That’s enough.”
Duke Craytan firmly cut her off.
“I thought you were mistaken, I never intended to sell you, let alone hire you as a maid.”
“……Huh?”
Lephonia blinked. At the same time, the carriage came to a stop, having reached its destination.
As soon as the Duke Craytan stood up, the carriage door opened as if someone had been waiting.
‘Where is this place?’
Startled, Lephonia peeked out the door.
“Gasp!”
She took a sharp breath. Outside the carriage, many servants were respectfully greeting the Duke.
Behind them stood an enormous mansion, large enough to be called a castle.
‘This place……’
Lephonia’s pupils trembled.
‘It’s the Duchy of Craytan!’
Why am I here?
She had meant to infiltrate… But if this is what infiltration looks like, then so be it.
Through the open carriage door, she heard the servants greeting again.
“Welcome back Your Grace, The Duke of Craytan.”
Duke Craytan.
Hearing the title directly made her body tremble. Lephonia stood frozen in place, her small frame stiff as a statue, unable to move.
‘Did he bring me here because he suspected who I am?’
That was the most likely possibility in this situation. Otherwise, there was no way the Duke would bring an outsider into the mansion under strict guard.
‘I didn’t even realize I was being lured in.’
Lephonia ruffled her hair with her small hand. With so many knights from the Duchy of Craytan stationed in the mansion, there was no way she could escape now.
Then how could she survive?
“What’re you doing?”
As Lephonia frantically searched for a way out, a large hand appeared before her eyes.
It was the hand of Duke Craytan.
Lephonia blinked and looked at the outstretched hand.
What did he want her to do with this hand?
It seemed to mean, ‘Confess obediently’, isn’t it?
“Ha.”
A sigh escaped from the Duke as he looked down at the genuinely troubled Lephonia.
Then, he gently took her small hand.
“Come here.”
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