Chapter 10

‘Oh, as expected… It was too much.’

Elisabeth drooped her eyes in disappointment.

Victoire opened his eyes wide as the little girl’s cheeks were filled with anxiety. He never dreamed that Elisabeth would be disappointed by his answer. He added words in a haste.

“It’s like a doll, not a person.”

Victoire said, genuinely perplexed.

He has raised a child, too. However, it was the first time he felt this way, even though he thought Damon and Dylan were handsome just like him.

Damon and Dylan don’t wear ribbons, and boys’ clothes are all similar in color and detail.

So he said, ‘Something like that.’ He could only express it up to that extent.

He simply organized his feelings.

‘People shouldn’t be like dolls.’

“Then from now on, I won’t do it in the future.”

But Elisabeth, who was even more disappointed at what Victoire added, spoke in a sullen tone.

Victoire was taken aback.

“It’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“There’s no need to not do it in the future. Because it’s cute.”

The desperate Victoire expressed his feelings again simply.

‘Even if you’re like a doll, you’ll be fine if you’re cute.’

“Hehe. That’s a relief. I chose it!”

Elisabeth proudly said.

Victoire nodded his head. As if it was telling her that she did well, Elisabeth gained confidence.

‘Actually, I was worried because it was my first time doing something like this.’

I couldn’t even dream of it when I was in the duchy of Cabezo.

‘I’m glad the reaction wasn’t that bad.’

She ran in front of Victoire.

“Are you coming back early today?”

That was impossible. Victoire has always been buried in countless things.

Because of that, he felt like this child was feeling a little lonely.

‘You ask me if I will come back early every time.’

In the past, he completely forgot the thought of the mansion while he was working. There was no expectation that anyone would wait for him.

But now he remembered this child was waiting for him even when he was working.

‘I can’t believe you’ve become attached to me so quickly. It’s a little pitiful.’

He knew the past of the abused child. It is also true that he used it.

Is it because of that? Nowadays, there was a strange feeling that he had never felt that blossomed in Victoire’s heart.

For now, VIctoire defined it as ‘sympathy.’

“I’ll try to come home soon.”

“I’ll be waiting! I won’t sleep.”

“You must sleep. That’s how you’ll grow big.”

“Alright. I’ll do as Your Grace says.”

The child was easily convinced. It’s not like he made a point, but she listened well. She was such a good child.

Victoire stroked Elisabeth’s head.

“I’ll see you in the evening, Your Grace.”

Elisabeth bowed politely and left the office.

Elisabeth left the office with such regards. Knowing that Victoire was busy every morning, she didn’t even bother.

‘I don’t mind hanging on a little longer.’

Victoire felt bummed.

Harry, an aide who had been watching the scene from the beginning, asked with a puzzled look.

“Your Grace, what kind of… acting is that?”

“Acting?”

Victoire asked back coldly. It was a return to his original brusque way of speaking.

‘You’re playing a sweet father to make the child believe in you.’

Harry reached a conclusion, believing that Victoire was ashamed of himself.

“Don’t say weird things. There’s one thing you have to do, Harry.”

“Yes.”

“Did you see the ribbon Elisabeth wore?”

“Yes?”

“If you have a ribbon similar to that, get everything.”

“Y-Yes?”

Harry tilted his head and looked at the serious face Victoire.

“Are you trying to give it to Young Lady Elisabeth as a gift?”

“No, not exactly like that. It’s because I’m curious, so stop talking and go get it.”

There’s no way Victoire himself will be wearing a ribbon just because he’s curious.

‘You can be honest with me and say that you’re just trying to give it to her as a gift.’

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

***

It didn’t take long for the news of Count Daughtry’s adoption of a child of a distant relative spread to the social circle. This is because Count Daughtry, who appears in society like a comet and subject to both scandal and envy at the same time, was the favorite topic of noblemen.

However, no one had ever seen the daughter except for the Count’s closest aides.

“At this point, I’m sure he’s going to reveal a little bit about her, but how bad is she that he’s hiding it?”

“There’s a story that she’s so pretty that he doesn’t want her to be kidnapped.”

Rumors about the youngest daughter of Count Daughtry, Elisabeth Daughtry, varied. But when it became known that Elisabeth was a poor relative’s daughter, the rumor spread to a worse side.

‘A brute girl who doesn’t even know basic manners,’ or ‘She was so stupid that even the best teachers gave up and ran away.’

Anyway, thanks to those powerful rumors, no word emerged that ‘Young Lady Elisabeth Daughtry’ looked exactly like the late ‘Princess Emilie Cabezo,’ who died not long ago.

Elisabeth never went out of the Count’s mansion nor did she meet anyone visiting the Count. Sometimes people visit the mansion for business, but Elisabeth was not introduced.

‘That’s why I keep circling inside!’

Elisabeth wandered about in the huge mansion. Like Count Daughtry, who had nothing but money, there were many rare things inside the mansion.

‘There was even one statue standing indifferently in the garden that came from a treasure ship that sank 500 years ago.’

Even if I stole that statue right now, I could live comfortably the rest of my life.

‘It’s a problem because I can’t steal that heavy thing.’

But there must be a treasure somewhere in this house that fits in the tiny hand of a 12-year-old girl!

The little thief wannabe diligently explored the mansion today. Elisabeth’s sharp eyes, which had been honed out by her hardships in life as a princess, searched the mansion for something worth the money.

“Huh?”

Elisabeth’s foot caught a piece of paper while she was walking in the garden. Elisabeth picked up the paper.

“Chanson monastery, a place that safely entrusts a child with nowhere to go?”

It was a monastery blurb.

“Why the hell is this thing here?”

Elisabeth tilted her head.

Another piece of paper fluttered over Elisabeth’s head on her way back to the mansion.

“Perfect place for children with secrets to hide, the Forest Academy?”

This time, it was an academy promotional statement. Elisabeth looked up. There was nothing.

“Something’s weird.”

That’s not the end of it.

Inside the room, above the bed were plentiful of promotional statements about foster mothers and nuns who cared for children who had nowhere to go.

“This, don’t tell me…”

There was only one person who would do this.

The one who told me to piss off whenever I saw him.

‘I’m going to get back at you.’

I’m glad that I’m bored.

Elisabeth’s eyes gleamed.

***

Near the high walls of the Count’s mansion, there were plenty of mysteriously large trees. Looking out there, I could believe there was a botanical garden built by wizards.

But there was only one tree in that garden. It was impossible to imagine the inside of the mansion when looking from the outside, while inside the mansion was designed to give a panoramic view of the garden. If there are many trees, they block the view.

Underneath the tree, Dylan sat while leaning back. He was reading under the shade of a tree.

It was a book that I read countless times because of Victoire’s pressure. Since I was young, I have been reading so many books that I was sick of it and threw up.

‘Why did I suddenly want to read this damn book.’

A girl came into Dylan’s mind as he turned the pages.

‘Maybe it’s because of that little kid?’

Elisabeth Daughtry.

She was a girl who might change their fate.

‘But I don’t want to make her a sacrificial lamb.’

The thought of seeing Elisabeth’s blood made me feel dirty.

‘She’s also small.’

Maybe he’s too young to understand, as Victoire and Damon said. The pain of those whose families were destroyed and have lost them.

Nevertheless, what is clear now was that Victoire was out of his mind. No, it’s not just now. From the moment we first met, Victoire was not normal.

The strange man who came to visit the young Dylan looked a lot like Dylan. Dylan knew at first sight that he was his father. It was so nice that he wanted to laugh out loud. He might have cried if he had given him a warm hug.

But his father’s eyes, which he had seen for the first time ever since he was born, were not directed towards Dylan. He glanced at Dylan and turned his head right away.

The whole mind of Victoire was only in the recovery and revenge of the family. Despite the fact that his youngest son that he had never seen ever since he was a baby was in front of his eyes, Victoire did not give a single look at his son.

Dylan could not feel any affection, or even human feelings, from him.

The first words that Victoire said to the young Dylan were not that he was sorry or that he missed him. It was a story about the family.

About why we were living like this. Therefore, we must succeed in revenge with our lives at risk.

It was too harsh for a young boy who was so excited to meet his father.

‘I thought he was no ordinary person ever since he said he was going to wash my identity and get revenge.’

Dylan thought with a cynical face.

Tuk.

Something flew onto Dylan’s head and hit him while he was thinking.

“Huh?”

Dylan frowned, knitting his brows. Something fell nearby again before he could even recognize the identity of what just brushed his head.

“What the, this one.”

Dylan’s gray eyes widened as he unintentionally picked up what had fallen on the ground.

“This is…!”

***

Elisabeth flew a butterfly-shaped piece of paper out of the balcony.  All the signs Dylan had brought became great butterflies and flew freely in the sky.

‘It’s more fun than I thought?’

“What are you doing?”

At that moment, the visit was accompanied with a loud crash. Elisabeth turned her head, her shoulders shivered.

Dylan stood there panting.

‘I was expecting it but it’s a little scary.’

Dylan clenched his teeth when he saw paper butterflies lying on the floor.

“I will clean it up later. And the ones I’ve flown out there.”

Elisabeth said calmly. Dylan’s eyes grew more ferocious.

“That’s not the problem.”

“Ah! Can I not do this?”

Elisabeth asked naively. Though it was entirely on purpose, the attitude seemed to have made Dylan more angry. Dylan facepalmed his face in disbelief.

“Have you read it?”

“Elisabeth, who has never learned, does not know how to read.”

“Don’t lie to me! You’re a princess….!”

“It’s Elisabeth. Elisabeth Daughtry.”

“….”

“Dylan’s younger sister. Am I not?”