Um, that wasn’t what I meant! How did he come to that conclusion? Plus, I wasn’t a devil!

I opened my mouth to explain one more time, but Daddy stretched his hand out to stop me. “Your feet—”

“Ow...!”

“—are burned,” he said.

I winced silently in pain.

“Did you need to speak to me that urgently?” I felt myself suddenly dangling in the air. Daddy held me up by the waist, gravely studying my feet. Suddenly I realized I was barefoot. No wonder the top of my feet stung.

“Heal.”

“Yes, my lord.”

At Daddy’s one-word command, the glasses-man knelt and carefully inspected my feet. Running around the backstreets had made them a lot dirtier than usual. I tried to hide them out of embarrassment, but they were immediately caught by the glasses-man, who gently wrapped his hands around them and seemed to sing an incantation in a language I couldn’t understand. Amazingly, once the black light that enveloped my feet as he chanted disappeared, I didn’t feel any more pain. “Wow...”

Oops. In a situation like this, I had to thank them quickly to leave the impression that I was a polite and well-behaved child. I hastily pulled my attention away from admiring my painless feet.

“Tank’oo!” (Thank you!)

Both hands on the belly button! And bend at the waist. I wasn’t sure whether I should thank the man who’d directly healed me, or if I should try to cozy up to my daddy who had all the authority, so I just bowed somewhere toward the middle of the two, so low that my nose nearly touched the floor.

“I didn’t know I’d live long enough to be thanked by a female devil.” The glasses-man cleared his throat, then slowly backed away. “Then I’ll take my leave, my lord, seeing as you have things to discuss with the lady.”

Even as the glasses-man awkwardly left the room, Dad kept his gaze trained on me as if he was seeing something very strange. The door swung shut. A heavy silence weighed between us, the kind that hung around people who weren’t close.

It’s okay. I practiced a lot. I can do this. Slow and steady this time! I was going to sell information, and get money for child support too. I took a deep breath and clenched my hands tightly.

“You shooden go to da pahty today.” (You shouldn’t go to the party today.)

“Why is that?” Thankfully, Daddy didn’t just brush off what I had to say. Instead, he calmly asked why.

I bit my lip, then let it go. I had to say it like I wasn’t involved in any way. I also couldn’t forget to ask him to pay for the information I was giving him. Although of course I wasn’t planning to ask for a lot, since I still felt guilty about hurting Abel in my dream...

“I came awl da way heeyuh to tehw you dis.” (I came all the way here to tell you this.)

If Daddy refused to pay child support, I’d at least have to get good money for the information I was giving him. It was the only way I could survive.

“It was weally hawd to ekayp. So...” (It was really hard to escape. So...)

“So you’re asking for money?”

I was a little shocked that Daddy hit the nail right on the head, but I didn’t start this conversation just to back down now. I proposed a deal. “Infomashun fee.” (Information fee.)

“You want payment for the information.”

“And chide suppoh’...” (And child support…)

“All right.” Daddy rubbed his chin with his smooth fingers, as if he found this entire situation interesting.

My face brightened at his quick acceptance. It had been a good move to buy his interest first with a small tip-off. But I hadn’t told him the really important bits yet—exactly who was attempting to kill, and who would be killed.

I continued to speak, a little pitifully, but precisely as I could. “Haff ob da dow’ paymen’ upfwon’...” (Half of the down payment upfront...)

“You want half of the down payment upfront.” The small smile on his lips deepened. Did he think I was being too bold?

To be frank, I was only acting this way because I felt safe to. There was no way he’d kill his own daughter just because she annoyed him, right? And I was sure he couldn’t deny the similarities between us when we were practically copies of each other.

“All right.” After a moment of thought, Daddy’s serious eyes met mine. “And what do you want that would make up half of the down payment?”

The down payment was the money you got up front, and I wanted to get half of that right now. That way, if anything happened that meant I couldn’t get the rest of the money, I could still run away with what I already had!

“Someting smaw, shiny, an’ ekpensib!” (Something small, shiny, and expensive!) You know, things that you can sell at the pawnshop!

Daddy huffed out a laugh and stripped off his suit jacket, revealing a crisp white shirt that stretched tightly across his chest. He undid his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves before offering me both cufflinks. “They’re quite valuable.”

“Wow.”

“Would these be enough for half of the down payment?”

Were those gemstones? I tilted my head and studied the black stones embedded in the cuff links. That was silver around them, but what was in the middle? One of the places I’d worked at in my third dream was a jewelry store. Thanks to that, I’d seen every kind of gem there was, but I couldn’t tell what these were. Not obsidian, and not black pearls, either…

Hmm, whatever they are, they won’t be cheap if they belong to the grand duke. I’m sure I can sell them. I carefully tightened my hands around the cuff links and looked at my daddy, hiding my hands behind my back just in case he changed his mind. It was now my turn to tell him what I knew.

“Abehw, deyuh twyin’ to kih Abehw. The cuwpwi’ is da— Cown’ Evewan!” (Abel, they’re trying to kill Abel. The culprit is the— Count Evelan!)

Oops, I almost called him the good-for-nothing count. Cutting myself off just in time, I tentatively turned my gaze toward my daddy. What I saw raised goosebumps on my skin. His scarlet eyes, so calm just moments before, were now flashing dangerously. I involuntarily scooted backward, though I couldn’t go far since I was on top of the desk.

“Poijon, dey seddeh wuh gowing to pwoijon him.” (Poison, they said they were going to poison him.)

“It seems the neraphim’s pet rat has finally lost its mind.”

“Um.” I briefly wondered whether I should tell him exactly how Abel died, but just thinking about it made me shiver. “Chide, dey seddey wuh gowing to use a chide. Shooden dwink what dey gib him. Abehw… Abehw died.” (Child, they said they were going to use a child. Shouldn’t drink what they give him. Abel… Abel died.)

What on earth had been in that drink? It would have been nice if I knew, but I hadn’t seen that far in my dream.

Still, the information I gave Daddy must’ve been enough, because he held out a hand to stop me from saying any more. “Go wash up first. I understand what you mean.”

“Mmkay.”

“We’ll discuss the child support and the fact that you’re my daughter afterward. And don’t ever hurt yourself again to come to me.”

My spirits sank at the low but clear warning. That had been my attempt at pulling out the big guns to gain his sympathy, but it seemed it hadn’t worked at all. Was he angry that I’d touched him with my dirty hands? He must’ve been, since Daddy was so clean. I was such a dummy. I need him to like me so that I can get more child support.

It was at that moment that Daddy suddenly placed his hand on my head and awkwardly stroked it. I jumped in surprise and leaped down from the table to look wildly around.

“What’s the matter?” Daddy asked, but I couldn’t reply.

Just in time, I spotted something I could use and scurried over to the sofa. Dragging back the blanket I was nestled under before, I held it out to my daddy. “Dis.” (This.)

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“You hab to wipe. I’m duhty.” (You have to wipe. I’m dirty.)

Understanding dawned in his questioning gaze, but other than that, he didn’t show any reaction to what I’d said.

It made me a little anxious. I was a mess right now. Maybe he didn’t know that? What if he found out later and got angry that he’d touched something so dirty? What if he got so mad that he kicked me out? That would be awful. I hadn’t even told him how much child support I wanted yet!