I stared at the man. What on earth were you thinking when you said that?

As he climbed the stairs, he just matched my mother’s pace and didn’t seem to be struggling at all.

The arms holding me down were still strong and his breathing was calm.

“No, the mansion is nice. Who wouldn’t love this kind of place? It’s you whom I dislike.”

Unfortunately for Mom, this house, and the Duke of Chelsiers were part of a bundle. If you want one, you must have the other.

Duke Chelsiers responded without raising an eyebrow.

“I’m glad it suits your noble taste, Your Highness.”

Mom was fed up.

“You did this on purpose since earlier. I know you hate that title. Can’t you stop? I’ve been dethroned anyway.”

The servants pushed the huge  door hard. It slid open without the usual squeak or sound.

That was why the man’s low voice was heard even more clearly.

“No.”

My mother’s steps, which were about to enter the  door, stopped.

“Your Highness remained the granddaughter of Richula III, the cousin of His Majesty the current Emperor, and a legitimate member of the imperial family. You were not dethroned.”

Mom turned around and looked at the man, looking like she couldn’t understand.

“How… no, no. Let’s go in and talk. Put the children to  bed and tell me.”

Then she hurriedly walked again.

My mother’s figure from behind actually looked like running away. Although she seemed to not notice.

How could my mother remain a member of the imperial family, and what had happened in the meantime?

What on earth did Duke Chelsiers do exactly to protect my mother’s identity?

Because once she knew, she couldn’t help but hesitate before running away from him.

However, the man who followed my mother was not so obedient.

“I asked to pardon you in exchange for erasing my name from the list of contributors in public record.”

The man’s voice was calm.

Just like that voice, he was still holding me firmly. He didn’t waver at all.

“You’re crazy.”

The  door closed and my mother turned around sharply.

The employee who was guiding my mother had a perplexed look on his face, but my mother cried out loud as if chewing the food and spitting it out.

“Who asked you to do that!”

“No one asked for that. It’s my decision.”

“How can you be so confident …?”

When the employees’ faces went beyond embarrassment and turned pale with fear, my mother forced her mouth shut.

I didn’t say anything because I was particularly concerned about them. Then my eyes met with my mother’s.

“Claire, go up and sleep with Eciel. Mom will come to you soon.”

I spoke after pondering.

“Mom, promise that you won’t say anything you’ll regret later.”

The artificial smile disappeared from my mother’s face.

I sighed lightly. The words came out somewhat haphazardly.

“I thought I was strange until now. I was curious why I was so different from other children, even from Eciel, who was my own twin.”

“…”

Needless to say, I conjured the wind.

In the wide, enclosed space where the windows and  doors were tightly shut, the air currents turned, sweeping away people’s hair, collars, and feet.

The fierce and agile momentum swung around the people once and then naturally subsided.

Mom pronounced my name in a shallow moan.

“Claire…”

“I’ve never told you this before. I was already a weird kid to begin with, so I didn’t want to make it any harder for Mom.”

“…”

“I don’t want Mom to worry, be in pain, or be hurt. But if you keep talking to him like this, you may say something that you’ll regret.”

“Claire, Mom is…”

Mom couldn’t speak for a moment as I looked at her calmly.

My mother was proud to the point of being selfish, but at the same time, she was a person who always accumulated a mountain of worry and pain inside her mind.

Among my mother’s many worries, the biggest one was me.

By the time Eciel could barely say ‘mama,’ I was already talking in complete sentences and having a conversation.

‘When I was a little older than that…’

At that time, my world was already complete, and I wasn’t like any other child, even to the point of inhuman.

Mom must have been in pain.

More than the difficulties faced by a young woman wandering around with her two daughters without a husband, there was also me at that time.

My mom never expressed that in front of me.

However, after she put Eciel and I to sleep, I often heard muffled sobbing.

At that time, I could not understand Eciel, my mother, or the people around me.

The nanny said that I was creepy because I neither laughed nor cried, so she ordered me to be thrown away at a facility run by the temple.

My mother cried because of me every night, but when she heard those words, she went on a rampage and fired the nanny.

Eciel was completely different from me, but she tried to include me in anything.

Very slowly, I learned empathy, social skills, and emotional connection. And all that learning came solely from Mom and Eciel’s affection.

So, I didn’t want Mom to be sad anymore since she had already cried enough because of me.

I asked quietly.

“Mom, can I ask you something I was curious about today?”

Mom nodded, followed by a slightly muffled voice.

“Okay… Claire. I’m sorry. I’ll put Eciel to  bed and we’ll talk together.”

My mother hugged my younger sister and walked away, guided by the hired servant who had finally found something to do.

In the awkward silence, I was left only with the Duke of Chelsiers, who was like a brace holding me, and a few people who seemed to be high-ranking vassals or employees.

I resisted the urge to sigh again.

‘Oh, it’s awkward.’

It was really awkward. But more than this awkward atmosphere, I felt more uncomfortable when Duke Chelsiers stared at me intently.

I was sure that this person was as horribly inhumane as me when he was young.

Even now, his face didn’t look like a human.

The savior of this unanswerable situation was, of course, someone else.

“Pardon me, Your Excellency. May I introduce ourselves to the young lady?”

Until now, I only assumed that he was either an employee or a vassal. He wore round-rimmed glasses and a neat uniform.

He took a step forward and smiled. His face looked sleek, but he also seemed unrealistically compliant.

The way he naturally stretched out one hand forward and waited for me to place my hand on him made me feel like he could be trusted.

‘He must be popular.’

The duke frowned slightly, but eventually just watched as I gave him my hand.

The wise savior bowed politely and placed his forehead gently on my hand.

“Thank you, lady. My name is Viscount Luis Rezena, the counselor. I have served by His Excellency’s side since I was a child.”

The other people were the butler of this house, the duke’s bodyguard, and the head maid who guided us earlier.

He spoke like a patter and said with a friendly smile, “I will lead you to the family room so you can have a conversation comfortably.”

His smile seemed like the epitome of social skills, so I was a little impressed.

‘It’s impossible for me to have that skill even if I die and resurrect.’

Despite my admiration, Duke Chelsiers still did not let me down as he walked. I found it convenient to tour the interior of this house in this position.

‘It’s my first time entering the mansion of a great nobleman…’

At least in my eyes, it was a noble and elegantly decorated mansion.

Walls, floors, and ceilings with bright patterns and craftsmanship. Porcelain vases with gold frames, huge landscape paintings in large frames, delicate glass, gold, and silver work.

The interior of the mansion looked more like a gigantic work of art than an inhabited home.

‘The thing at the end is a sword and a gun.’

Beyond the beautiful decorations I had seen so far, a pair of long guns and a pair of swords were hanging on the wall at the end of the corridor.

The swords’ blades were sharp, and the guns were sparkling.

As soon as I saw them, I knew that you could use both pairs right away.

It was a composition that reminded one of who owned this noble mansion. It was meaningful yet harmonious, arrogant yet proud.

I looked at Duke Chelsiers again.

‘This person is the Astariol of Judgment?’

“We have arrived, miss.”

Viscount Rezena opened the  door.

The interior of the family room was equally elaborate and elegant, but I was no longer interested in decoration. The duke finally sat me down on the sofa and sat across from me.

Almost at the same time, the butler who had been introduced earlier came in, pushing a trolley filled with tea and desserts.

A piece of cake topped with pretty sugar crafts, clear fruit jelly, and soft milk pudding. There were also chocolate cookies that were still warm as if they were freshly made.

‘I would have really liked it if Eciel was awake.’

Although I felt sorry for the kitchen, which must have been busy making dessert in the middle of the night, in the end, my heart went for my younger sister first.

I asked Duke Chelsiers a favor.

“When Eciel wakes up tomorrow, can you give her something similar to this?”

It seemed like he didn’t expect me to speak first.

He nodded with a slightly surprised face. It might have been a bit funny, but thanks to his smooth face, it wasn’t.

‘Mom, maybe she was taken in by that amazing face…’

It had been three months since I turned nine. Considering my age and the average age of marriage, this man was at least in his early thirties.

‘I’m sorry about all the men in their early 30s I’ve seen so far, but they all just looked like they were in their 40s compared to him.’

No. Perhaps it was the trait called Astariol that had created such a transcendently beautiful and youthful-looking face.

According to the Bible, Astariol was a demigod who descended to earth.

When I looked at the duke with that thought in mind, he smiled briefly. It was a smile that looked more like a person than a god.