Chapter 3

* * *

“What a pitiful young girl. Should I take her in?”

Marianne had draped herself across the sofa and was twirling her hair. “The temple is overflowing with orphaned children. What if I keep her by my side and raise her to be my attendant priest?”

“The child is not a pet, Aunt Marianne,” Jade reminded her curtly.

“Who said she was? In any case, the temple offers food and shelter, not to mention an education.”

Kallen appeared to be deeply absorbed in his thoughts. One hand clenched around the red blossom, bruising its petals. “Absolutely not, Marianne. To stay at the temple, she must become a nun.”

“In that case, are you planning to offer her residence here?”

Jade scoffed at his aunt’s question. “I’m concerned if we recruit her as a maid, rumors will spread that House Lewelton has kidnapped a young child.”

Finally, Kallen looked up from the flower and opened his mouth to speak. “Jade’s right. What should we do, then? Raise her? We can allow her free rein of the manor.”

“Please don’t speak in jest, Father,” Jade pleaded with a scowl. “I’m not amused.”

“But I wasn’t joking.”

“I’m sorry?” Jade gasped.

At the same time, Marianne said, “What?”

They both gaped at the duke’s words.

“It would turn out all right, wouldn’t it?” Kallen continued. “It makes sense, as does her desire to be more than a beggar. I have sympathy for her situation.”

“Why are you acting so… human? It doesn’t suit you,” Jade said dismissively, knowing his father’s personality all too well.

“But isn’t she cute?”

“Please, Father. You’re going to hire her as a maid simply because she’s cute?”

Kallen was capricious by nature, but today his impulses were more baffling than normal.

“No, not as a maid,” he said.

Marianne and Jade were at a loss for words, and the room fell into silence.

“Then as what?” The latter eventually inquired.

Kallen smirked. He tucked the crushed bloom into his pocket in lieu of an answer. Her bringing me this flower was quite unexpected, he thought. Finally, a fascinating clue.

* * *

Time continued to pass.

Have they all run off? Why isn’t anybody coming? Don’t tell me they forgot about me.

Ouch, my legs hurt. Nobody had given me permission to sit on the sofa, so I stood as I waited, and my legs began to ache. After a long time, the door opened.

“Come with me,” Kallen said, beckoning me with a hand.

I walked toward him hesitantly.

“Firstly, the help-wanted ad you saw was posted six months ago. We’ve already hired three maids since then.”

“Oh…”

A six-month-old advertisement? I was a fool. I fought to swallow down my tears. What had I been expecting?

But Kallen hadn’t finished speaking. “You mentioned you’d be willing to work for any wage, correct?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Would you be prepared to do what was required of you for five gold coins per week?”

Five gold coins? How much is that? Let’s see… As soon as I calculated the total, I felt dizzy. It was an astoundingly handsome sum. I’d never even seen a gold coin before.

“Yes,” I answered. “Anything apart from murder, of course.”

Marianne and Jade grinned, though I couldn’t fathom why.

“Then I have a new proposal for you,” Kallen stated.

What sort of proposal? To kill me, perhaps? I suddenly remembered that in the novel, the Dark Hero Kallen’s passion was collecting taxidermy mounts.

“Wh-what proposal?” I asked.

“Stay with us. In this manor. Your weekly allowance will be five gold coins.”

“What would I do here?”

“Hard to say,” Kallen mused. “I’m not sure how a little girl like you would prefer to spend their time, for our family has never raised a daughter before. Marianne grew up in the countryside, you see.”

“P-pardon?” I stuttered.

“What I mean to say is, how would you feel if I adopted you?”

I was too stunned to fully comprehend what he’d said, such that my next question came across as embarrassingly naïve. “What is an adopted maid?”

I’ll never forget Marianne’s ensuing burst of laughter. Of course, I knew what an adoption was—the memories of my past life brought with them a wealth of knowledge.

But I don’t get it. Why could they possibly want to adopt me? Given my bewilderment, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had misunderstood.

“Kallen means that you will become his adopted daughter, my dear. You will be served by maids instead.” Marianne’s lively laughter rang in my ears.

He wants me to be his daughter?

She looked at me with an amused smile before turning to her brother. “Oh, what a silly brother I have,” she sang. “This is what comes of asking someone to be your daughter while also making them a monetary offer. You caused her to entirely misunderstand.”

“Be quiet, Marianne,” the duke said.

Someone suddenly knocked on the door, and my shoulders hitched at the unexpected noise.

“Beg your pardon, Your Grace.” A lanky young man with brown hair entered the room.

“Ah, Sion,” Kallen greeted him.

The man appeared to be the butler, but he was much younger than I would have expected. “Someone from the royal family has been waiting to meet with you.”

“Then tell them to wait longer.”

“But it’s the prince, Your Grace.”

“And what of it? I am in the middle of a conversation. Leave us now,” Kallen ordered indifferently, giving the butler not so much as a second glance. His attitude shocked me.

Is it all right to treat a royal family member so unkindly? House Lewelton must be quite formidable.

Kallen looked into my eyes, then touched his gloved hand to the crown of my head.

“It wouldn’t be right to make you work,” he said. “You’re much too small.”

I’ll grow bigger before you know it, I thought, but swallowed such words.

“But if I let you go, you will simply return to life on the streets, which doesn’t sit well with me. If you agree to live with us in this house, then… You are to become my one and only daughter.” His Grace’s words were gentle but authoritative.

The protagonist of this novel was definitely a psychopath, right? A wave of thoughts rushed through my mind, so fleetingly that I barely had time to register them. Fear, worry, excitement, wonder.

I can’t believe my luck. Being offered the place of a duke’s adopted daughter was a blessing—a lottery jackpot—a bolt of lightning that I could have never expected to strike.

“What’s wrong? Not fond of the idea?” Kallen’s voice softened, a hint of sweetness in the words.

I wanted to cling like a bear cub to the honey in his tone. I squeezed my eyes shut to gather my wits about me, then opened them. My answer didn’t require much thought.

“It’s not that at all,” I assured him.

“Then what?” Kallen asked.

“I…” I took a deep breath. “Yes, I would like to be your daughter.”

My heart instantly skipped a beat. At that moment, I became certain of something. If a person’s life was a clock, and their fate was the clock’s hands, then at this moment, every hand, needle, and gear in my life had perfectly aligned. I realized I had never mentioned my name, but Kallen rang the bell before I could speak.

“Sion,” he called to the butler.

The handsome man from before entered the room once more.

“Bathe this child thoroughly. I want her to shine.”

“That’s it?” Marianne asked with wide eyes. “Do you even know her name, Kallen?”

“I haven’t the faintest clue, but I see no reason to keep the name she used while living on the streets. We will give her a new one.”

W-wait, but my mother named me!

“I have a name,” I blurted out, panicked. “A real one, not a false one. It’s Lae!” I declared, feeling my cheeks grow slightly hot.

Kallen, who had been prepared to leave, paused. I stared at his broad back with bated breath. He slowly turned his head.

“Your mother must have given birth to you on a Monday,” he said.

I nodded in surprise. How did he know that?

“‘Lae’ means ‘Monday’ in the ancient tongue,” he explained. There was a faint smile on his face.

The butler then turned to Marianne. “My lady, there’s a visitor from the temple for you as well.”

“Already? What a shame.” Marianne let out a long sigh, stood up from her seat, and approached me. “I’m Marianne. I work at the temple, so I’m awarded not even a moment’s peace. However, given we have a new member in the family, I’ll return shortly. See you again soon, all right?”

“Yes, madam.”

“Madam?” Marianne’s hand flew to her chest. “I suppose we can save forms of address for another day. Goodbye, Mr. Handsome.” She smiled seductively at the butler and walked away.

Jade was the last to stand. His deceptively doll-like face held a ferocious glare, and he wasted no time in storming out of the room.

“Follow me,” the butler whispered.

This is unbelievable. My heart was still pounding, threatening to break free from my chest.