Chapter 5: 5

“What if I’m not the daughter of the person named Rosalyn? What if she has a real daughter?”

Cordelia had thought of the real Saintess. Her beauty was so shining that it was enough for her to be called a Saintess with just that alone and she even had a personality akin to an angel. That was why everyone loved the girl that they called Saintess.

“And what if that real daughter was nicer and prettier than me? I have a bad personality. The madame said that I was a bloody bastard.”

“That’s good then. I don’t need a good child.”

“I’m not joking. She said that I was like a revolting horse in a rut.”

“You… Do you even know what that means?”

“Oh. Uhm… doesn’t it mean that I couldn’t stay still?”

There were many words that she had heard without knowing they’re exact meaning. When the Duke saw Cordelia roll her eyes away in embarrassment as she tried to brush it off in a vague reply, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“That’s not a good word. I won’t let you hear or use that.”

“But…”

“You don’t have to tell me those to prove that you’re a bad child. I don’t need to know more. I already know that you’re as nice as whoever she is since you told me these things comfortably.”

“Th, that. I have to tell ahjussi those first.”

She looked back and saw the back alley where she had seen him first. She who had lived a year in a place where honorifics were deemed as something strange felt her ears redden in shame.

“You might not be the Saintess but you must definitely be Rosalyn’s daughter. So don’t use that little brain of yours to get out of this situation. I can hear it rolling from all the way up here.”

“Ahjussi, have you been watching me since I was born? How can you be sure that I was her daughter?”

“That’s because I have never been wrong, ever.”

There was no logic in his words just like ants having tears but he was so confident that it was the truth that she couldn’t say anything at all.

She had been thoroughly defeated.

Cordelia stared blankly at the Duke. Her expression screamed ‘What’s going on?’ while the Duke only smirked at her confidently.

“But if you’re not Rosalyn’s daughter…”

“……”

“Then it was my fault for looking at the wrong person. You’re not the one who should take responsibility for it. From the moment I decided to take you away, you are now my responsibility until the end.”

He continued calmly.

“I may look like a scary adult but I’m not such an irresponsible adult that I would pass the blame to a child that’s as small as a bean.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened as she looked at Duke Valencia. When their eyes met, she could see a soft smile hanging on the corners of his mouth. He only smiled slightly but his cold expression had already changed.

She shook her head quickly when he caught her staring at his face.

Turn, turn!

The Duke looked at Cordelia strangely when he saw her turn her head fast enough to blow away her hair.

“What are you doing?”

 “I’m trying to find my reason and rationality. I need to have a calm and neutral mind right now.”

“…Do you know what that means too?”

It was quite a difficult choice of words for an eight year old child.

Maybe because of the shame from the slang words that she had used earlier, Cordelia couldn’t help but shake her head this time. She was just using the words that she had heard and picked up somewhere. An eight year old who could not eat and learn properly would not have known the exact meaning of those words. She had just used those words because it sounded good.

“Ahjussi, if I follow you, will you become my dad?”

“If I adopt you then I will.”

“But ahjussi, are you my real dad?”

Cordelia pretended not to know even though she knew that he was not her real father. She saw the expression of Duke Valencia cloud over. He looked like he had swallowed something distasteful. However, his expression had already turned back to his original one after a blink of an eye.

‘Did I see it wrong?’

Duke Valencia, who received Cordelia’s enthusiastic and highly anticipating gaze, replied with a bit of hesitation.

“That… I’m not.”

“You said that you’ve been looking for me for 5 years. Why are you looking for me if you’re not my real dad?”

“Your father is currently missing. I’m just doing what Rosalyn, your mother who’s not in this world anymore, asked me to do.”

“What is my mom and ahjussi’s relationship?”

“…We’re friends. We were very good friends.”

There it was again. Duke Valencia who answered her with ‘friend’ looked troubled once more.

[I will kneel in front of you just don’t go to him. I will even willingly crawl under you like a dog.]

[Tell that bastard that you love me and not him. Even until your last breath, I am still the one who will do your final request.]

‘If he’s saying it like that now, then it looks like he’s still in love with her until now.’

It was both his first love and unrequited love. And it was also a love that could neve be continued. Duke Valencia, who had defined their relationship as ‘friends’, felt a sharp pain in his chest. It felt like he had a dagger stabbed straight through his heart.

“Have I passed the adoption test?”

She knew that he was asking her if she had any more questions so she asked him comfortably. He must have felt burdened by Cordelia’s prying questions but he still answered her sincerely. If she had asked Madame Pamela these questions, she definitely would have a big bump on her head by now.

‘The real Saintess has not shown up yet. I’ll grasp his hands this time because it’s an opportunity that came my way.’

He had told her that he would give her a new room with a fluffy and large bed, warm food, dolls, new clothes and even the attention that could be given to the real Saintess.

Cordelia knew that it was a bad idea to be associated with the four duchies and the Saintess. However, the fact still stood that she was a child who needed a guardian. And although she knew the future from the book that she had read, she was still just an eight year old child who had become a bit more mature because of the contents of the book that popped up in her head.

He had whispered to her gently that he would give her everything that he wanted so she did not have the heart to resist him cold heartedly. She wriggled her fingers in thought before finally deciding.

“Then please promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“If you find out that I’m not the real Saintess or that I’m not Rosalyn’s daughter, please don’t kill me.”

“…What in the world…”

Duke Valencia looked at Cordelia in shock when he heard her words.

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“If ahjussi does not promise under his own name then I won’t budge at all.”

Cordelia’s blue eyes sparkled with firm determination but the hands that were holding her ragdoll were turning pale in trepidation. She looked like she was scared that she wouldn’t be able to run away now.

Duke Valencia immediately noticed her state.

She is still a child now…

‘But she’s afraid that I will kill her right away.’

He did not think that he looked threatening to Cordelia. He did not even bother to think about the men who had used curse words to refer to Cordelia. He also did not realize that his bloody appearance was already threatening enough. He was not able to think that far.

Duke Valencia, who did not know that there was something wrong with him from the very beginning, reached out to the small being that was scared but pretended not to be in front of him.

“Alexandro Von Valencia. That’s my name. I swear under the name of Valencia that I won’t kill you.”

A noble swearing under their name and their family meant that they were risking their everything. It was especially true for the four dukes who’s name and family held a different weight compared to the other nobles. The promise that was made under their name was like a pledge that could never be broken.

Cordelia looked at the big hands that were in front of her. There was blood on it that might have belonged to someone else.

“I… have no name. I’ll tell you my name once I think of it.”

She said so as she tried to grab the Duke’s hands.

‘Huh? What’s this?!’

The Duke pulled his hands away, under such serious circumstances, no one should have done that but…

“This is a bit embarrassing.”

“H, huh?”

W, what is it? Are there any problems?

He looked at Cordelia, who was in a fluster trying to find a place where her hands should go. He even deliberately used a somber tone to talk to her.

“I can’t believe that you don’t have a name. We need to have a full name for the adoption.”

“Then, I can’t be adopted?”

“Right.”

Cordelia’s head bowed sadly. She did not even realize that her tone was filled with disappointment and sadness.

“But that doesn’t mean that there’s no way at all.”

“W, what is it?”

“If you don’t have a name, then you can just think of one right now. If it’s alright with you, I would like to give you a name as a gift to celebrate you becoming my daughter…”

“I don’t like the name Cordelia.”

Before Duke Valencia could finish his words, Cordelia had already interjected.

I really hate the name Cordelia.

If the real Saintess appeared then she would be called as the fake Cordelia again. She did not want that at all.

Duke Valencia accepted her terms obediently.

‘I thought that he would insist that I’m Cordelia.’

He thought that since she hated it, he wouldn’t insist on the name Cordelia. In that way, he was able to see Cordelia’s sparkling eyes grow round and wide.

“Heok! Ahjussi, your hands are bleeding!”

It was only then that she realized that the blood on the ragdoll must have been from the Duke and not the Humphrey workers. Cordelia, who belatedly realized the injury on the back of the hand of the Duke, jumped up in surprise.

“I don’t have any more clothes to use! What do I do?!”

Cordelia tried to move towards where the Humphrey workers were laying prone at. However, before she could even do so, a strong force dragged her back. At the same time, her body floated and her eyes were covered.

‘Huh? Oh? What?’

It was Duke Valencia. He tried to hide from Cordelia what had happened and where the Humphrey workers were. Without noticing his intentions at all, Cordelia fell down on the Duke’s arms.

“You smell like roses.”

‘Huh? Like roses? But I can only smell the scent of cigarettes and blood?’

In fact, the abandoned warehouse was filled with the scent of cigarettes especially since the Humphrey workers had just smoked earlier. However, Duke Valencia looked like he was chasing the smell of something that has long been gone.

“Rosalia.”

“I’d like your name to be Rosalia.”

Duke Valencia pulled his hand that was covering Cordelia’s hands. His red eyes, which were far more extraordinary than the roses that Cordelia used to sell, were filled with her image.

“…Pretty. Heop.”

“You must have liked the name.” 

Rosalia. Of course, the name was also pretty. However, when Cordelia said pretty she was not referring to the name but the eyes of Duke Valencia. But she couldn’t bear to tell the truth to Duke Valencia who thought that she called the name ‘Rosalia’ pretty.

She believed that if she said those words then everything would disappear like an illusion. Even the promise that he would not kill her. So Cordelia just laughed at it. Madame Pamela had told them before that no one could spit on a smiling face. So if things went wrong, they had to stand up first and if standing up failed then they should laugh.

[If you smile and pretend not to know anything then you’ll be able to escape and move on.]

So she smiled as wide as she could as she recalled the madame telling her that it would be especially effective since she was a child.

“Yeah! I like it…” 

But Cordelia, no, Rosalia couldn’t finish her words.

Plop━ Plop━ Plop━

‘N, no way!’ 

Contrary to Rosalia’s plea, the gold coins that she had secretly hid in her inner pockets fell one by one like rain dropping from the sky.

Plop━

Roll, roll, roll━

“Huh… that…” 

‘I’m doomed.’ 

Only the sound of the gold coins that she had stolen from the Duke rolling around rang loudly in the abandoned warehouse.

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