When Duke Craytan announced that he would adopt Lephonia, all the servants in the mansion looked shocked.
It was clear that none of them had known about the adoption until that very day.
Yet the bedroom was perfectly prepared.
Someone had been cleaning it and keeping it warm every day, as if awaiting the return of the true Lady.
“To give me this room means…”
Lephonia brushed her fingertips across the bed. It was a bedroom that had long been without an owner, yet not a single speck of dust could be found.
“It’s clear they’re raising me in place of the lost Lady… out of guilt.”
Otherwise, there was no reason to give such a luxurious room to a randomly adopted child.
Or perhaps they were trying to make me feel indebted by giving her such an enormous room.
Later, when it was time to reveal everything, they could say, “Didn’t we let you stay in such a nice room? Don’t resent us.”
‘How long can I stay here? A month? Or maybe half a year?’
Lephonia curled up in the armchair by the wall. Good things had never lasted for her, so whenever she arrived somewhere new, her first instinct was always the same, to hide.
“Hmm.”
She pulled her knees to her chest and quietly buried her face.
A body that could break down at any moment, fragile and borrowed.
It would be best to stay as long as she could… and find the heirloom.
She needs to scout the mansion while pretending to just look around, to find where the heirloom is.
Earlier, she had tried to peek into parts of the mansion on her way to the bedroom, but with her shorter legs, it was clear a single day wouldn’t be nearly enough to search it all.
Fortunately, though her body had shrunk, her mind hadn’t. Her memory remained sharp, and she hadn’t forgotten a single thing the Pope had taught her.
She knew how to manipulate people with little effort, a skill that became all the more vital in the body of a five-year-old.
‘Now that everyone believed she was just a child, she would have to act even weaker than the average five-year-old.’
People rarely guarded themselves against those who seemed utterly harmless.
‘I must not act strangely or draw suspicion. If I do, my whole plan could fall apart. I can’t let anyone catch on.’
The Craytan household was the empire’s guardian, protectors of peace and safety.
If Duke Craytan learned her true identity, he would surely execute her as a criminal.
She had lived her entire life in deception, acting at the Pope’s side as his trusted spy, so she was confident pretending to be someone else.
‘If I find the heirloom then got caught…’
Lephonia clenched her tiny fist and tightly pressed her lips together.
‘Even if it’s a critical situation, just run.’
Survival was all that mattered. In a world steeped in cruelty, living was the only goal.
And she would do anything to achieve it.
Suppressing emotions. Enduring humiliation. Whatever it took.
As Lephonia lowered her gaze.
“Where is the child?”
A voice she didn’t recognize came from behind her.
“I’m sure I told you to show her to the bedroom.”
“Pardon? She was de, definitely in the bedroom just a moment ago!”
The sharp, cold voice, like a blade, belonged to Duke Craytan. The trembling, high-pitched one, like a startled animal, belonged to the maid who had fed Lephonia sweets while washing her.
Thanks to years of memory training, Lephonia had no trouble recalling faces and voices.
“I clearly told you not to just let it slide if she acted strangely, and to report it immediately. Didn’t you hear me?”
“I’m so, sorry! Your Grace!”
The maid shrank back, choked up by the Duke’s firm and harsh words.
‘I must stay quiet and unnoticed.’
Even as the empire’s guardian, he bore the name of a cold-blooded man, devoid of tears, devoid of mercy.
“I told you clearly she was my daughter.”
Huh? Daughter?
“She bears the family name now, she is a Craytan’s child.”
Attaching the family name… a child who became the daughter of the Craytan’s family?
“Or perhaps you made a careless judgment and didn’t bother escorting the child to her room, aren’t you?.”
Wait.
Could it be… right now…
‘Are they talking about me?’
Lephonia, still curled up in the rocking chair and pretending to sleep, felt her eyelids tremble.
“No, absolutely not! I was washing the young lady and stepped out to find clothes, the ones in the room didn’t fit her.”
“You left a little girl who’s never even been here before? What if she got scared and wandered off? What if she got hurt?”
“I… I didn’t consider that possibility.”
“Someone should’ve stayed with the child. I clearly said to remain by her side so she wouldn’t feel uneasy during her bath. Did you take that as permission to look away?”
“The, the fault is mine.”
Lephonia hurriedly straightened her tense body and sprang up from the chair.
She moved so quickly that the chair toppled over with a loud crash.
Both pairs of eyes turned to her.
Without thinking, Lephonia raised her small hand.
“I… I’m here, doh.”
Ah. This foolish tongue.
She had spoken too hastily in surprise, and instantly regretted it.
Noticing the stunned expressions on both faces, Lephonia quickly averted her eyes in embarrassment.
Duke Craytan stepped toward her at once.
“Did you get hurt?”
“Ah, no. I’m fine. The chair just tipped over and broke—”
“No need to worry about things like that. They’re disposable.”
It looked expensive, but to a wealthy noble, it was probably nothing.
“It’s about time for a meal, so I came to ask you to join me.”
A meal? Just the thought of a noble’s table made her mouth go dry.
But she had to endure it.
She had just insisted in the carriage that she didn’t eat much. If not even a day had passed and she said she was hungry, he’d think she wasn’t well-trained.
“I’m fine.”
“Not hungry?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you eat today?”
For her to stay a little longer in this house, she had to avoid drawing annoying attention.
This much is easy.
She remembered the other children—those who had been taken in by nobles, only to return broken. They had asked for too much, pushed too far, until they were deemed unworthy and cast out.
“Half an apple when I wake up.”
“……”
“Told you, no need to waste money feeding me. Am I right? You don’t have to bother with me at all.”
Remain silent, as if invisible, hoping they wouldn’t send her away too soon.
“Are you full?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you always eat like that?”
“Yeah.”
Duke Craytan gently touched the worn edge of Lephonia’s shirt, seemingly without any particular intent.
“That’s a big deal, then…”
His murmur sounded oddly suspicious.
Did I say something wrong?
Lephonia hurried to explain. Maybe he didn’t like apples? Or was it because she ate as soon as she woke up?
“It’s just… I hate eating alone.”
“…Huh?”
“So I wanted to eat together, but I guess it’s hard now.”
Lephonia’s pupils trembled slightly.
Even in the far corners of the places the Pope had sent her, there were priests like that. Grown adults who couldn’t bear to eat alone because they felt lonely.
So the Duke of Craytan is that kind of person too.
The empire’s guardian, just a fool who couldn’t even handle a meal on his own.
“Are you really not hungry?”
Would she remain the quiet child who cost little to feed, or become the one who soothed the lonely Duke by staying at his side?
Still, thinking long-term… the first option was probably safer.
“I bet it tastes good.”
Lephonia’s shoulders twitched.
“The chef at my mansion enjoys cooking, so he always makes too much. We end up throwing a lot away. Fyuh.”
“Let’s eat together. Together.”
Lephonia responded immediately to Duke Craytan’s sigh. Every time someone sighed like that, it usually meant something unpleasant was coming, so she answered on instinct.
“Really?”
Duke Craytan casually picked up Lephonia and held her in his arms.
“Argh!”
Lephonia cried out in surprise as she was suddenly embraced by the large, mountain-like Duke of Craytan.
“I, I can walk on my own!”
“What if you get lost when you don’t even know where the dining hall is?”
Still holding Lephonia, the Duke walked out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
My legs aren’t even hurt… but being up high and seeing more is kind of nice.
‘Is this really okay? I’m twenty years old. Should I be letting someone carry me like this?
Even when I was five, I used to run through mountains and rivers all on my own.’
Lephonia’s fair cheeks turned red. It was the first time she’d ever been held like this by someone.
“If you don’t hold on properly, you’ll fall.”
Startled, Lephonia clung tightly to the Duke’s clothes. He was so tall that if she really fell, she might get seriously hurt.
She feels a strange sense of defeat.
‘Is he playing house with me?’
She thought it was over once she was dressed and had left the bedroom. But this cold-blooded man was now carrying a child around in his arms through hhismansion, and even suggested they eat together.
Lephonia let out a shallow breath and, instead of trying to escape from the Duke of Craytan, she observed the mansion carefully.
Just in case she needed to escape, she memorized the positions of the windows that could be opened, the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and sketched the structure of the mansion in her mind.
After doing this repeatedly to survive, it had become second nature to look at a location’s layout and mentally map it.
“They aren’t here right now, Lephonia, but you actually have two older bro.”
“…O-Older bro?”
Come to think of it, Duke Craytan had said he had two sons.
‘I have older brothers now?’
And not just one, two.
“The first, Haverian, is temporarily teaching students at the military academy, and the second, Pellenz, is still at the academy. He was supposed to graduate three years ago…”
“Academy?”
Lephonia frowned slightly. When she had investigated the family of the Craytan, she found that the second son, Pellenz, was already at the age where he should have graduated from the academy.
Considering that both sons were aura wielders and didn’t require extended education, why was he still enrolled?
“They don’t come back to the mansion often, so there’s no need to worry about them.”
That was actually a relief to Lephonia. The fewer eyes on her in the mansion, the better.
It would be difficult to figure out the location of the mansion’s gate and escape in a rush.
If she were truly five years old, she might have been happy to gain a family. But not now.
The moment they saw Lephonia’s face, they accepted her so easily.
Look at that. Even now, not a single valid reason. No explanation.
At most, they’d care for me for a year or two, then cut ties, that was always how the pattern went.
It’s fine. Nothing to feel bad about. I’m not planning to stay here long anyway.
Let’s steal it and run.
On the very first day of her adoption.
Lephonia dreamed a grand dream.
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