“Sabrina, lower your skirt.”

“Huh?”

“Your skirt, I said lower it.”

“Oh, okay…”

“What’s that person’s name?”

“Who? The teacher?”

“Yes.”

“…Laura Wilson.”

While answering hesitantly, Sabrina couldn’t lower her skirt and kept it tightly gripped in her hand.

“Miss Laura Wilson.”

At my call, Laura’s face contorted horribly. Even though I was a bastard child, I had been given the name Pennel. Thus, there was nothing wrong with my etiquette.

“Yes… speak.”

“Surely the Wilson family is an old and esteemed baronial house.”

“That’s correct.”

“I am too dismayed to dare speak of this matter. Though learning is important, there is a clear order in this country.”

Count Pennel hardly ever stays at home.

“The division of ranks is clearly defined by law, yet a baron’s child dares to lay hands on a count’s child.”

“That, that was unavoidable for the sake of learning.”

“Learning? Are you saying that learning a few arithmetic problems is more important than the grand duchy’s sacred laws?”

Countess Pennel remains confined to her room.

“If this matter were to become known in noble society, I believe the perpetrator knows better than anyone that it wouldn’t end with mere gossip among ladies.”

Viscount Justin has no interest in his younger siblings’ well-being.

“Isn’t that right?”

In this mansion where the owners are present but neglectful, there was no reason not to have a mere 10-year-old girl under one’s control.

The teacher did not agree with me until the end, but unable to answer my logical argument, she stormed out of the room.

After Laura left, Sabrina slumped down in her place.

“Phew… That was really scary. I’m afraid of Laura, but are you okay?”

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t scared at all, but it wasn’t enough to make me terribly frightened.

“Why didn’t you tell your mother about this?”

“Mother…?”

When no more words came, I glanced at Sabrina and saw her hands trembling. Reflexively, I approached and held her hands, and tear-filled eyes looked up at me.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t tell Mother.”

“But why…?”

“If I do, if I do, Mother might… Mother might… l-like last time…”

Last time? Suddenly, I remembered when the Countess had attempted suicide two years ago. The atmosphere in the mansion had been gloomy for days, to the extent that the news had reached even the west wing, the furthest corner of the estate. Fortunately, her life was saved, but seeing Countess Pennel became even more difficult after that.

Knowing I wasn’t in a position to comfort anyone, I still hugged Sabrina tightly.

“It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not my fault?”

“That’s right.”

“If only I had studied better then, no, if only my hair was golden instead of silver, Mother wouldn’t have done that.”

“Who said such a thing? Don’t listen to a single word that person says from now on, just believe what I say. You know how smart I am, right? You called me a genius yourself.”

“Y-yes.”

Sabrina’s back, which touched my hand, felt surprisingly small.

Sabrina, whom I thought had a hobby of tripping people on the street and throwing them to the ground by grabbing their hair for no reason, now docilely let herself be held and nodded her head obediently.

To think there would come a day when this child, who was always a span taller than me and a constant source of fear, would seem so pitiful.

“So don’t think like that. None of it is your fault.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

It’s not your fault that your hair is silver, nor is it my fault that I was born to a woman not married to Count Pennel.

If we must blame someone… it would be Count Pennel’s fault.

I returned to my room right away and began writing a letter.

If only Countess Pennel had even cast a disliking glance at me, I would have gathered the courage to visit her. But her eyes were always empty when looking at me. Like looking at a pebble rolling on the ground.

Hah, a sigh escaped involuntarily.

“This isn’t why I learned to write.”

After carefully writing the letter until sunset, I headed to the Countess’s room. Not having the courage to meet her, I planned to slip the letter through the door crack.

The third floor, which I was visiting for the first time, exuded a chilly atmosphere from the end of the corridor. The windows were spotlessly clean, and the world visible through them was warm, but this corridor alone seemed detached from the world, surrounded by a deathly silence.

As I approached the Countess’s room, passing maids glanced at me, but didn’t particularly try to stop me.

If the Countess becomes angry after reading this letter, it won’t end with just a few beatings. But I had to do it. Because I told Sabrina it wasn’t her fault.

However, having mustered great courage to visit the Countess, I encountered an unexpected person first.

“Jonathan?”

When I called out, the child sitting on the floor slightly raised his head.

Ah, was there a bright sunbeam shining from somewhere?

Jonathan, now 5 years old, was like a cute puppy with chubby cheeks. A golden puppy at that. His eyes sparkled like they had stars embedded in them, and his calves below his shorts were so short and adorable.

How could he be so different from Justin when they both have blonde hair and blue eyes?

“Who are you?” the puppy asked.

“Ah, I’m…”

How should I introduce myself? It was only natural that he didn’t remember me, as we had only briefly crossed paths about two years ago.

“My name is Lienne, Lienne Lowy Pennel.”

“You’re a Pennel too?”

Yes, unfortunately.

Looking around, I saw a maid who seemed to be the nanny dozing off by the window.

“What are you doing here?”

In front of your mother’s tightly closed room?

Seeing toys scattered here and there, it didn’t seem like he was just staying for a short while.

“Me? I’m waiting for Mom…”

Ah, at a loss for words, I bit my lip for a moment. How long had this tiny child been waiting for his mother? In front of a door that showed no signs of opening, hoping for warmth that might someday be felt.

Just then, the nanny woke up and approached us.

“What are you doing here?”

It was natural for the maid’s eyes to fill with wariness at the sudden appearance of the bastard from the west wing. I straightened my body and slightly raised my head. As I stood confidently, the nanny’s attitude softened a bit.

“I have permission from Count Pennel to go anywhere in this house. You can go and check with the head butler if you like.”

She didn’t completely let her guard down. She seemed unsure whether that ‘anywhere’ included the Countess’s room.

“Don’t worry about Jonathan and go. I won’t do anything in front of the Countess’s room.”

“Th-then I’ll be back shortly.”

Not knowing how to react to this unexpected situation, she hurriedly set off to meet the head butler.

“Jonathan, shall I wait for Mom with you?”

“Really?”

His already sparkling eyes shone even brighter with joy. Who on earth did this child take after to be so pretty?

“Yes.”

“Then will you play with me too?”

“What game were you playing?”

“I, knight game.”

“Then we need a villain too. But let’s play quietly. Mother might be sleeping. Let’s go over there.”

The child took my outstretched hand without any hesitation. My heart fluttered at how small his hand felt in mine.

From that day on, I was always with Sabrina and Jonathan. And we usually played near where Ricardo was drawing.

I didn’t forget to write a letter to the Countess every single day.

The reason I could continue to muster the courage to send letters was because the tutor who had beaten Sabrina was fired from the mansion the very next day. Although I didn’t receive a reply from the Countess, the letters I slipped under the door were never returned either.

The content wasn’t anything special. I just wrote about trivial things happening in the Pennel household.

What Sabrina did well today, what Jonathan liked to eat, which maid had quit, things like that.

When flowers bloomed in the garden, I drew them. When the moon in the sky resembled an eyebrow, I drew that too.

After about a year had passed like this, maids were assigned to the east wing as well. It was said to be by the Countess’s order.

Although the situation had improved a lot, I didn’t neglect protecting Ricardo from Justin.

Of course, what I could do was limited. It wasn’t easy to protect Ricardo from that art-loving pervert.

Justin was the son Count Pennel had first with his second wife. This meant that if Justin became the head of the Pennel family, the Countess’s future would also be uncertain.

Still, at some point, Ricardo seemed to have noticed why I was collecting and hiding his drawings.

On days when Justin returned to the mansion with Count Pennel, he didn’t draw pictures and was never alone.

But no matter how careful Ricardo was, he couldn’t avoid all times. Even with Sabrina and Jonathan helping, we got beaten a lot by Justin because of Ricardo.

On nights when I was groaning in pain after being thoroughly beaten by him, Ricardo always stayed by my side. Even though he was hurting from being beaten too, he never once made a sound of pain.

They were difficult days, but time flowed on without stopping. And we all endured that time together.

It wasn’t noticeable when surrounded by civilization, but the seasons in the desert continued to change little by little.

Jonathan’s once-short calves grew longer, and Sabrina was no longer taller than me.

Another two years passed like that.

And Ricardo… Well, what’s there to say? He would later be called the absolute beauty of the empire.

As he grew more and more beautiful, it became increasingly difficult to protect him, and around that time, things started happening that felt beyond my control.