Chapter 46

Later, memories were sparsely cut off like she was drunk.

Navia was sleeping, but when it was dinner time, she received food that was easy to digest. Then, she took medicine.

After taking all the bitter medicine, sweet honey water flowed into her mouth.

The sweetness lifted her mood again.

“The medicine is a little strong, so it will be hard to wake up.”

Minerva’s voice spread widely in her ears. She couldn’t even remember clearly if she thanked her.

Navia had never been relaxed during her stay at Agnes.

She didn’t know what would happen if she let her guard down for even a second.

It was a place full of hyenas who didn’t bother hiding their hostility towards her.

But that didn’t mean that this place was a safe place.

Nevertheless, strangely, she was able to sleep deeper than usual.

As if a baby bird was sleeping in the wings of its mother bird.

Blink.

Navia stared at the black canopy for a long time with a blank gaze.

It was still difficult to tell where she was with her drunken sleepy eyes.

‘Ah. This is Eseled’s mansion.’

It wasn’t Agnes’ guest room of the Emerald room on the third floor, it was Eseled’s.

With that fact, Navia unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

‘I’ve been sleeping all day.’

The dawn of morning was reflected in her eyes.

‘Has it been two days?’

Navia calmly shook off her sleep, recalling what she had to do.

Lark said he didn’t need money, but there was no way he didn’t not need it.

‘At least the vassals wouldn’t think so.’

It was just as important to win the favor of the appointed vassals as it was to Lark.

‘Then first…’

“Do I have to be hired here?”

Since the foster daughter was out of the water, it would be better to set a direction towards becoming a housekeeper.

(T/N: She’s saying becoming a foster daughter isn’t an option.)

Navia began to look for water before thinking of her full-fledged activities.

Delaying hunger with water was a long habit of hers.

Then she saw it.

A wooden basket full of chocolate chip cookies.

She was so sleepy yesterday that she couldn’t eat a bite of the snacks. Actually, she wasn’t even thinking about them.

It was because she was already so satisfied from the nutritious meal of stew with solid ingredients.

Those chocolate cookies were definitely for her.

Navia hesitated and carefully picked up a cookie.

They prepared it with all their heart, so let’s try one.

A small piece separated, and soon, the cookie snapped.

Chew, chew.

Gulp.

“……”

Navia was speechless.

‘What is this taste?”

It was sweet. Apple juice was also very sweet, but this was sweeter than that.

And she tasted a flavor that couldn’t be tasted from anything else.

It was bitter at some parts, but it left a soft, strong, and deep taste.

Ah, that’s right. It’s aristocratic.

This taste was more noble than anything else.

So it was a taste that she had never been allowed to taste.

She didn’t know chocolate was this delicious.

So this is why one becomes happy when eating.

It was fascinating. Such a fascinating taste.

Navia also didn’t realize that she was scurrying the cookies away.

Then, she belatedly realized that there was only one cookie left in the basket.

On top of that, why were her hands so dark?

Her palms, stained with a color the same color as chocolate, was very embarassing.

Navia was very embarrassed by her poor self-control and calmed herself down.

‘It’s okay. I can just wash my hands.’

However, there was nothing to wash her hands with in the room.

‘What do I do?’

Should I go outside and get a towel or something?

‘…let’s go out for now.’

Navia came down from her bed with a slight frigid movement.

It was because the anesthesia wore off and she felt a tingling pain throughout her body.

Navia approached the door and opened it with a clenched fist.

Click.

As she left the black room, a darker passage was seen. Yesterday, she was too out of her mind to properly check her surroundings, but when she looked properly, it was quite overwhelming.

‘Just like the owner of this mansion.’

Navia thought the mansion was too quiet.

Operating a huge mansion required an enormous amount of servants.

No matter how little the number of servants was employed and used, it’s difficult for it to be this quiet.

It was also strange that there was no guard in front of the main gate yesterday.

What’s more, was it because it was a pity that Count Romanov was in charge as the general manager of the mansion?

It was all about breaking Navia’s mind.

She remembered what Nikan said while showing off one day.

“How can a family so poor to even hire a servant be called a duke? In that case, it would be better for Eseled to return the title.”

‘I think it’s definitely difficult to finance, but strangely, the Duke didn’t seem interested in money.’

Navia breathed out a sigh because she didn’t know the reason why.

People usually want money or power. Otherwise, you’d wished for people. People want to own something.

Lark didn’t seem to be interested in money or power, so was it people that he wanted?

If so, it was strange that he doesn’t go outside the mansion.

‘It’s complicated.’

Navia didn’t know what he wanted, but it was nice to be able to go around without caring about someone’s gaze.

If this was the regular Duke, instead of walking around without a maid casually, she would have tried to wash her hands from the snow piled up outside the window.

While walking down the hallway, Navia thought that the mansion, without a trace of humans, was like a haunted house.

‘No, rather than that… it’s like a coffin.’

The black and silent place somehow felt like a coffin shaped like a mansion.

She wasn’t sure why she felt that way.

Perhaps she felt an unusual feeling because she’s a regressor?

‘But why did Duke Eseled dye the mansion black?’

As far as she knew, there was a claim that the Duke’s coloring of the mansion black was the aftermath of the triggering of some sort of magic rather than for aesthetic reasons.

‘If that’s true, what magic is casted on the mansion?’

Navia also had an intuition that it would be in line with the reason why Lark doesn’t take a step out of the mansion.

What kind of secret is hidden here?

And how will the secret work out for one’s survival?

“My head hurts.”

As there were so many variables to consider, Navia sighed and pressed her temple but stopped.

‘Let’s wash my hands first.’

Each nobleman’s mansion had its own personality, but because it’s still a house, it had a similar layout.

Since Navia’s room was a bedroom, there should be a dress room or lounge nearby.

Additionally, there would be a bathroom attached to the dress rooms, so there should be a towel to dry herself with after taking a bath.

What Navia was looking for was the towel.

‘I just need to find the dress room.’

Navia paused while snooping around.

When she turned her head because she sensed someone coming up to the seconds floor, her eyes met with an old gentleman with white hair.

“Ahem.”

Perhaps the old gentleman didn’t know they would meet so he didn’t make eye contact.

Navia already knew who the opponent was.

‘It’s Count Suleiman Zenegar.’

It was the old gentleman who appeared with Creed in her last life.

Although he looked much younger than how she remembered, she was able to quickly recognize his impressive gray hair and his height that was comparable to Lark’s.

However, this was a time when she didn’t know his identity.

It would be an ambiguous situation to mention the name of a nobleman.

Navia’s hands were dirty, so instead of holding the hem of her clothes, she gathered her hands neatly and bowed.

“Hello?”

Suleiman knew well that his impression wasn’t very good.

Children were often frightened by his overbearing physique and cold expression.

But Navia greeted him with a smile.

‘Well, she’s a child who’s not scared of the Lord.’

His gaze soon began to look closely at Navia’s silver hair and red eyes.

Silver is a very rare color.

And red eyes are even more rare.

But the girl had both.

Suleiman remained silent for a moment at the strange combination.

‘If the Lord had married and saw his child, he would have had a daughter with pretty eyes like that…’

The thought made him bitter.

Suleiman deliberately came to the second floor early before Margaret started her day.

From the moment she saw Navia, Margaret was already on the child’s side because of pity, so she would have prevented him from going up.

Suleiman understood Margaret.

‘She probably remembered her late daughter.’

Was her daughter only eight years old when she died of the mana reflux disease?

Coincidentally, Navia’s also eight-years-old, so it would be impossible to pass over that such a small child was abandoned here in a state of suffering.

However, Suleiman paid more attention to the dangers rather than Navia’s unfortunate circumstances.

Navia’s too clever.

No, maybe cunning was a better word.

Far from fainting, an eight-year-old threatening the Lord?

Such a situation couldn’t exist.

‘Furthermore, insight and bold execution that seem to predict the future could never come from a child.’

Suleiman suspected that Navia might be a child raised by some kind training from Agnes.

For example, she could have been brainwashed with magic.

‘If that’s the case, it’s enough to check in person.’

He came to the child with a sense of dread as if he was talking to the commander of an enemy army.

He firmly decided that he would never be deceived by the words or situation of the child, but…

“……”

Navia was greeting him with a bright face and her hands covered with chocolate.

Hm, this was too different from what he was imagining.