“I’m fine. What about Dana? Are you okay? It was very scary.”
Diana rubbed her cheeks like a kitten as Lia, who looked tired, tenderly caressed her cheek.
The people of the Duke who watched them like that forgot that it was a serious situation, and they all looked surprised.
‘How can the usual picky girl be so gentle?’ The Duke’s people thought.
Only Lia, who didn’t know why, tilted her head to their reaction and made eye contact with the Duke staring at her expressionless.
Then the Duke spoke in an unexpectedly friendly tone.
“Diana, come here. We have to go home.”
The Duke held Diana, who jumped excitedly at those words, in one arm.
“I was going to scold you, but you seem to have been brave without crying, so I’ll let you off this once. But you’re going to listen to me now, right?” The Duke told Diana.
“Yes.”
Diana rolled her eyes and looked away. Then she smiled softly showing her cuteness.
Although her hair was covered in oil and her face was full of dirty water, it was still a lovely figure.
“Even if you look like a crow’s sister, no one will know it.”
Even though he recognized his daughter at a glance, when the Duke made fun of her, the knights who were watching her also listened to them.
“That’s it.”
“If you go like this, the ladies and gentlemen will be surprised”
Little Diana inflated her cheeks, unaware that she was being teased.
The Duke smiled, softly pinching Diana’s nose lightly because she looked so cute.
A smile was drawn on the lips of the knights as well. It felt as if the fatigue of the past struggling to find the young lady had gone away.
Lia stared blankly from the side and once again made eye contact with the Duke.
My heart sank for no reason. Like a child caught doing something bad.
When I looked at his indifferent gaze as if looking at an inanimate object, rather than his affectionate one as he looked at Diana, it was as if he had somehow I had been caught in secret.
Fortunately, the Duke turned to Diana instead of saying anything.
“If we go straight back like this, I think Diana will be teased for life, but I shall not hear any resentment later. We’ll have to stop by the inn on the way back. First prepare the carriage.”
‘Now it was really time to part with Diana.’
It’s not that she didn’t know, but Lia lowered her gaze as she felt slightly regretful.
It was then…
“Dad, what about Sister?”
“…if you want, she can go with us.”
At that, Lia raised her head and looked around in bewilderment.
The Duke, who was squinting at her with a frown, said, “If you’re looking for the kid earlier, you don’t have to worry. When he wakes up, I’ll send him to the same orphanage as the other kids.”
There was no change in the Duke’s expression even after those words, so Lia felt nervous.
The Duke, who saw Jack unconscious and rescued from being locked up in the attic with Diana in my previous life, took him to the Duke’s Castle without question.
So I thought he would accept him this time as well if he told him that he threw himself to save Diana.
Then the Duke’s mouth opened again, “All right, let’s talk when he wakes up. But you don’t want to go together?”
“Well, I…”
When Lia hesitated to answer, wondering what to do, the adults around her gave a sad expression as if telling her that she didn’t know the world because she was still young.
But Lia knew it too…
Needless to say, following Duke Elrad was a better choice than transferring to an orphanage.
‘Originally, I wouldn’t be able to enter an ordinary aristocratic family with my status. But if I could be hired by the Duke of Elrad…’ Lia thought hard.
It was too much of an opportunity for a lowly orphan.
However, Lia was still reluctant to answer that she would go willingly.
I vaguely thought about going with the children of the orphanage, because I had never thought of the option of following Duke Elrad.
“Sister, isn’t it worth it?”
At that time, Diana looked at Lia with an abandoned puppy look.
Tension rose among those around her as she seemed to burst into tears at any moment.
Lia, who was keeping her mouth shut, nodded her head for now.
‘Let’s calm Diana first, then make sure Jack’s seat is back on track as it should.’
I thought it would be good to think about my work afterwards.
⚝
While Duke Elrad gave instructions regarding the disposal of the orphanage, I waited for the carriage with Diana on the other side of the orphanage yard.
I was drowsy as I quickly ate the bread and soup that the knights had just given me.
Then a knight suddenly came and approached me.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he knelt down on one knee and lowered his head, raising his hand to his chest in a polite manner.
“Thank you very much for your safety, my lady. Child, I want to thank you for taking good care of her, too.”
The man spoke with desperate eyes and bowed his head once again.
“I will return to pay for the sins of not properly escorting the young lady.”
Then he cut the jewellery on his sword exactly in half.