“No.”

Despite anticipating it, Eriel bit her lip at Damian’s overly firm attitude.

“…Bruno often goes on trips and hunting with Derek.”

“So?”

“You haven’t even had a meal together with our Lucy until yesterday, let alone travel.”

Damian, with his gaze fixed entirely on the book, did not respond to Eriel’s latter remark.

Eriel, who had been standing stubbornly, was about to speak up once more but seeing Damian’s concentrated face, she gave up.

…I boldly promised Lucy, but what should I do now?

Eriel walked out into the hallway with slumped shoulders.

*

In the end, Eriel, unable to tell Lucy, welcomed Bruno’s family to the Duke’s residence as planned.

Bruno and Damian quickly disappeared to the back of the garden, leaving only the ladies with the children.

Jessica and Eriel, having brought out tea and refreshments, engaged in brief small talk about recent events.

That’s when it happened.

Along with a loud bang, the sound of quite a few footsteps could be heard.

Even inside the playroom, the commotion outside was noticeable, and Eriel and Jessica’s heads immediately turned towards the door.

Just as Eriel was about to gesture, a maid approached Eriel and Jessica and whispered.

“It seems Lord Bruno has fallen from his horse.”

As soon as she heard this, Eriel’s eyes widened and she abruptly stood up.

“Duchess.”

Jessica also stood up quickly, then glanced at the children playing in the middle of the playroom.

“I’m worried that if both the Duchess and I leave at the same time, it might startle the children. Since it’s my husband Bruno, I’ll go check on him. Would you mind staying with the children, Duchess?”

Seeing tears seemingly welling up in Jessica’s eyes, Eriel quickly nodded.

This wasn’t the first time news of Bruno falling from his horse had come.

Recently, he had fallen and injured his leg, and now another fall.

Jessica must have been very shocked. Derek would likely feel the same when he hears about this.

“Don’t worry about the children, please go.”

Eriel quickly nodded and called for a maid.

She immediately ordered the maid to guide Jessica to Bruno.

Eriel, watching the door Jessica had left through with anxious eyes, quickly checked on the children.

Fortunately, the children were more focused on playing with each other than on the noise outside.

Lucy and Derek were staring intently at each other’s marbles.

After a few minutes, the commotion outside seemed to have settled down somewhat, and the children were still focused on their marbles.

Just as Eriel was gesturing to a maid to whisper instructions to check on the situation outside,

Crack!

With a sharp shattering sound, a glass marble broke into pieces.

Judging from the shattered pieces in front of Lucy’s feet, it seemed to be Lucy’s glass marble that had broken.

Eriel quickly approached Lucy and checked her hands.

“Lucy, are you alright?”

“Ah… yes…”

Eriel comforted Lucy, who seemed frozen in shock, gave her a gentle smile, and quickly checked Derek’s hands as well.

Fortunately, Derek didn’t seem to be hurt either.

“Are you alright too, Derek?”

“Yes. I’m fine. But…”

Derek’s furrowed brow turned towards Lucy.

“You broke one of the glass marbles because of you.”

A voice as sharp as the breaking sound came from Derek.

Eriel raised her head in surprise at Derek’s reproachful words.

“Derek, you must have been very worried about Lucy.”

Given their last meeting, it would be difficult for Derek to say kind words from his perspective, as he might have been hurt by Lucy.

Eriel gently corrected Derek’s expression to guide the child towards a better way of speaking.

“Worried? No. I was more worried about the glass marble than Lucy. I wish she’d stop breaking glass marbles with her clumsy hands.”

Eriel tilted her head at Derek’s words as he raised his chin arrogantly.

It was understandable that he wasn’t worried about Lucy, but the latter part was a bit puzzling.

It wasn’t Derek’s glass marble, but Lucy’s, so why was he worried?

“You’re worried about the glass marble? Why? You must really like glass marbles, Derek.”

“It’s mine.”

“Oh my. I see. I thought it was Lucy’s, but it seems it was Derek’s glass marble. Big aunt will give you another glass marble as a gift. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s mine…”

Lucy tilted her head and grabbed Eriel’s hand.

As Eriel met the child’s eyes and asked what she meant, Lucy pointed to the table.

“Elder Brother Derek’s glass marbles haven’t even been taken out yet. They’re still in the pouch on the table over there.”

“Hey. Really. Hah…”

Derek looked at Lucy pointing to his pouch and frowned as if she didn’t even know that.

“Yours is mine too.”

“Why is my thing yours, Elder Brother Derek?”

Derek sighed at Lucy’s question and took a step closer to her.

“Because you can’t be the heir, right? Then I’m the only one left in the Genova family, which means everything here will soon be mine.”

The child’s confident words were full of self-assurance.

There’s no way the child came up with such thoughts on their own; it must surely be Jessica’s doing.

Eriel bent her knees to meet the child’s eyes for a moment. Then she smiled gently.

“Derek, have you said such things elsewhere?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“I see. This is big aunt’s thought, but I don’t think you should say such things carelessly anywhere else.”

“Why?”

The child asked with pure curiosity.

“Even if Derek becomes the heir someday, that glass marble will always be Lucy’s possession.”

Not sure how to correct this properly, but for now, it seemed necessary to clearly explain Lucy’s ownership of her belongings.

Derek frowned as if displeased and pointed to the necklace around Eriel’s neck.

“Then, even if I become the heir, will this remain big aunt’s possession forever?”

Eriel touched her necklace and flinched.

The necklace Eriel was wearing today was an item left by the previous Duchess. …It wasn’t Eriel’s personal possession.

Of course, she had many personal possessions due to the money provided for maintaining the Duchess’s dignity, but…

“No, if Derek becomes the heir, then it will belong to Derek’s wife at that time.”

Eriel smiled brightly, not mentioning anything about personal possessions.

“My wife? Not my mother’s?”

Derek asked, seemingly surprised, and Eriel nodded.

“Yes. If Derek becomes the heir, it will naturally belong to Derek’s wife.”

Derek’s eyes sparkled brightly.

“Since my wife is my private property, doesn’t that mean her belongings are also mine?”

“…It could be seen that way.”

“By any chance, big aunt… can you not tell my mother about what we talked about today?”

Eriel’s lips curled into a long smile at the child’s easily discernible desire.

Although her eyes weren’t smiling at all, she playfully pressed her index finger to her lips and made a shushing gesture.

The child, quickly influenced by Eriel’s apparent behavior, also put his finger on his lips.

The way they winked at each other as if they had created a secret between them was unmistakably childlike.

“Alright. Then shall we make a secret promise with Lucy too?”

Lucy also nodded at Eriel’s words.

Even if Jessica somehow finds out about this in the future, she won’t be able to say anything to Eriel.

Eriel swallowed her inner thoughts and straightened her bent knees.

…She had only thought he was short-sighted and oblivious.

She never imagined they would be conspiring like this under the name of family.

As she took a step forward, a bad thought flashed through Eriel’s mind.

Usually, when one falls from a horse while hunting, they get seriously injured…

Yet somehow, Bruno always gets injured just enough, and each time, Damian went to war.

Eriel bit the inside of her cheek and showed a bright smile.

“Lady Jessica is taking quite long. Lucy and Derek, keep playing together. Derek, big aunt will go check for a moment.”

“Yes!”

Derek waved at Eriel with a bright smile.

It seemed that just sharing a secret had formed a bit of a bond with the child.

Even Derek’s gesture of reaching out to Lucy became gentler.

“I’ll play with Elder Brother Derek. Mother, please go!”

“Alright. Now let’s play with my glass marbles.”

Eriel looked at the children, nodded to the maid, and left the room.

Eriel stood with her back against the door that closed with a thud. For the first time, a chilly air emanated from Eriel’s face.

“Where are Damian and Bruno?”

“They, they are together in the Duke’s study, Your Grace.”

“And Jessica?”

“Lady Jessica is also in the study with them.”

“Wasn’t the physician called to the reception room? It seemed his leg was quite injured.”

“Well, it seems his leg isn’t swollen or anything, so it’s not a serious injury. However, the physician said he shouldn’t walk for a while.”

“Then why are the three of them in the study?”

The maid’s head lowered more and more at Eriel’s words.

Experiencing Eriel’s chilly aura for the first time, the maid’s voice began to tremble more and more.

Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, it made the maid feel as if she had committed a grave mistake.

“They said they had something to discuss related to his leg injury. However, I’m not sure exactly what they’re talking about.”

Eriel nodded calmly and moved her steps.

At the end of Eriel’s footsteps heading towards the study, a cold air dripped.