Chapter 61

Fieldram quickly started using his brain, which he wasn’t accustomed to doing.

“Come on, what do I know? I just thought our master has changed a lot since he got married.”

“He has changed. A lot.”

Wilfred gently patted the little boy’s head, smiling warmly—a smile Fieldram had never seen before.

“What was that just now?” 

“What was what?”

“No, that expression. You were staring off into space with a dazed smile, as if you were lost in your thoughts. Like someone who’s completely out of it.”

“Well, I guess I am out of it.”

His master’s frank admission felt strange and unfamiliar.

It seemed as though he had genuinely fallen so deeply that he was now completely entangled in it.

From the letter Freesia left behind, it was certain that the two had fought.

“If you keep acting like this, that nasty old hag is going to torment you.”

“You should change your tone. Madame Benoit adores Freesia so much that it’s actually a bit worrying.”

“That old woman? Who does she adore?”

She’s not someone who would dote on anyone. More likely, she’d torment them. But seeing the serious expression on the boy’s face, it didn’t seem like a lie. That only made things more confusing.

What could possibly have caused Madame Benoit, that immovable old witch, to go out in the first place?

“Could it be…”

At least as a follower of the duke, Fieldram absolutely didn’t want to think of that word. 

A word that had never existed in Crowford’s history loomed over him, and he had to find a way to bring her back as soon as possible.

“I don’t know, but I’m starving. Let’s eat.”

“Wait a minute! Not there…!”

He ignored the boy’s panicked voice and calmly jumped from the third-floor railing straight down to the first floor.

While praying his master wouldn’t chase after him, Fieldram wandered through the mansion, eventually meeting someone who might know something.

“What are you doing here?”

“Jade! Just in time! Tell me where that woman—where she could have gone!”

Even as Fieldram grabbed his collar and made demands, Jade clearly understood the situation.

“That woman? Did something happen to the madam?”

Upon reading the letter Freesia left behind, Jade was also deeply shocked.

“Whatever it is, if our master reads this letter, imagine what will happen.”

“Oh, come on, it couldn’t be that bad.”

“I’m telling you, it is!!”

Considering how much their master already doted on the boy, he was obviously deeply smitten.

If the Freesia really did run away, things would be very serious.

“It seems like something might be written in the boy’s letter…”

“I’ll buy us some time.”

Determined to prevent the duke from finding out and flying into a rage, Jade set out to come up with an excuse.

Meanwhile, Fieldram grabbed the boy, who had just finished eating, and began interrogating him about the letter’s contents.

“Where’s the letter? Where did the madam go?”

“She went to her parents’ house. She said it wouldn’t take long, so she told me to behave and wait for the duke.”

“Dammit.”

Fieldram swallowed down the words rising to his throat.

Why do adults always use the same pattern when abandoning their children?

“My mom said the same thing.”

“What?”

Even though Fieldram had waited and waited for his mother, who would never return, he couldn’t let go of his hope.

One year passed, then two years, then ten years, and only then did he realize.

She never intended to come back in the first place.

“You stay right here. Don’t go anywhere.”

If the same thing happens again, it would spell disaster for not just the duke but for everyone in the mansion.

Clutching the runaway letter addressed to the duke, Fieldram picked up his sword.

* * *

“Lady Freesia!”

“Nanny, it’s been so long!”

Freesia had finally succeeded in visiting her family home.

She’d gotten Madame Benoit’s permission under the condition that Rashita would act as her escort, but Freesia decided to play a little more mischief.

“I’ve left a letter behind, so I plan to stay a while.”

“My lady. Today, this nanny will cook you something delicious.”

“Sure! And this is Lady Rashita.”

With the unexpected visit of the second lady, who used to run the household, the servants all came out to greet her.

There were ten in total: two who doubled as gardeners and laborers, three housemaids who handled cleaning and laundry, the cook and her husband from the kitchen, two kitchen staff, the coachman, and the nanny herself.

Compared to the vast scale of Crowford, this household seemed small and humble, but most of them had worked for the Devlanc family for decades.

“Please take care of our lady, Madam.”

The nanny, in particular, seemed so kind that she might even empty her wallet if someone on the street asked for a loan.

Watching her, Rashita could somewhat guess how Freesia had grown up.

“The nanny is practically my mother. Please prepare a room for Lady Rashita.”

“Yes, I’ll have it ready right away.”

While Rose went to work, Lily busily dragged Rashita around, eager to show off her room.

Meanwhile, Freesia, who had returned home after so long, lay lightly on her bed, which had been cleaned and organized.

“…They’ll come to get me soon enough.”

She had intentionally left behind a letter full of provocations, hoping to make him angry enough to come after her.

Pulling out a notebook tucked beside her well-worn favorite book, Freesia fell into thought.

Most of the people who helped the protagonist in the original story were killed by Fieldram or Rashita, who were under the duke’s orders. Rashita, in particular, followed the duke’s commands without hesitation, whether it was to kill an adult or a child.

The protagonist nearly died at Rashita’s hands several times in the original.

For a moment, Freesia had suspected that Luca might be the protagonist, but since the prestigious Bailey family vouched for his safety, that couldn’t be it.

Perhaps the story’s divergence from the original plot began when the protagonist didn’t come to the mansion.

“Come to think of it, I heard they were planning to increase donations this time.”

Since the exact timeline wasn’t specified, it might not have happened yet.

Although Freesia was at her family home, Madame Benoit had still given her a pile of budget documents to review, saying that work must be done properly.

As she reviewed the new orphanage budget, Freesia noticed a few strange details.

“Is this his personal wealth?”

Aside from the fortune allocated to the family, this massive donation was to be made entirely in Wilfred’s name. The peculiar part was the origin of this money.

In addition to the monthly patent fees he received from other places, enormous sums had been steadily flowing in from the Mustrang Publishing House under the name of royalties for several years.

“There really are cases like this everywhere, aren’t there?”

She had seen similar cases in her past life.

The first company she had worked for was a terribly corrupt one, where the CEO had put not only his wife but even distant cousins on the payroll, syphoning off funds meant for ghost employees. To think that even a wealthy duke would stoop to such tricks.

It’s truly disappointing, though it seems most of the expenditures go toward donations like this one.

But that doesn’t mean a bad deed turns into a good one.

“Could this be the secret the princess mentioned?”

Not everything could be purely bright and positive, but still—if he’s doing something wrong, she has to stop him.

With her mind tangled in complicated thoughts, Freesia set a firm goal.

“First, I need to find the protagonist.”

The one who had barely escaped the clutches of the townspeople who wanted her dead, the one who had distrusted and resented everything, the one who was always mentioned as the reason for her transformation.

Judging by the context, it was certainly the Duchess of Cromford.

‘So that person is me…’

She would need to face him to help him or do anything, but for now, his whereabouts remained unknown. When he was by her side, she couldn’t even have such thoughts.

“Are you working here too?”

Startled by Rashita’s sudden visit, Freesia set down the papers in her hand.

“Madame Benoit assigned me this task. I have to do it properly.”

As Rashita inspected the mansion carefully, she brought up the most uncomfortable question.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never met the late Count and Countess.”

“They’re at the estate.”

A great man with such an illustrious past that he wasn’t even invited to his daughter’s wedding.

Thankfully, the Crowford family didn’t make an issue of it, but since this was Rashita, she couldn’t let it slide.

“Just because you grow older doesn’t mean you become an adult.”

“That’s true enough, I suppose.”

Everyone in the capital knew, but Freesia’s parents in the Devlanc estate didn’t even know who her husband was.

“My father is a kind man. He was so kind that he believed the whole world shared his heart.”

He was, in many ways, like a flower sheltered in a greenhouse. Having grown up as the pampered son of the fairly affluent Devlanc family, he was utterly oblivious to the ways of the world.

At a time when the new nobility was on the rise, Devlanc had almost lost its title after a disastrous decision to co-sign for an old friend.

“It was a situation that required a rational response, but my mother spent her days praying and almost took it out on young Lily. It’s a memory I’d rather not recall.”

“And that’s when Rose came back.”

“If not for that, my sister would still be serving in the Order.”

No one could question her qualifications as the family head, but the future Rose had dreamed of was entirely different from her current life.

Rose’s dream was to become the youngest female knight commander.

Her talents and character were more than enough, but after that incident, Rose resigned from the Order without hesitation and returned home to single-handedly rebuild the crumbling Devlanc estate.

“At that time, Rose was just about my current age.”

Now, both Rose and Freesia had one wish.

“I just want our Lily to be happy. No matter who she meets, I want her to find someone truly good and to live her life receiving love, just being happy.”

Though unexpected marriage had disrupted many plans, what truly mattered remained unchanged.

“If the Duke heard you say that just now, he’d be quite hurt.”

“I’m always grateful. I will repay his kindness in one way or another.”

“And after you’ve repaid him, then what?”

Freesia opened her lips several times before forcing a bitter smile.

“Who knows.”

Standing on a stage made of fragile glass, Freesia barely managed to smile.