“……My lady!”

The maid who entered the room briefly to clean the study screamed in surprise. It was because Lucy was standing in the study, which should have been empty.

“My lady?”

However, Lucy, standing in the middle of the study, did not even flinch at the maid’s cry and was staring at a certain spot in the study.

Feeling puzzled, the maid quickly approached Lucy. And soon realized something was wrong.

“Ah, my lady…… This is……”

The maid flinched. The study was filled with eight years’ worth of entry records.

Originally, a 7-year-old child wouldn’t understand what it meant, but the young lady was an exception.

The maid, as soon as she saw it, called Lucy again as if it were nothing.

“My, my lady. Um…… The madam had called for you, I forgot.”

At the mention of the madam calling, Lucy finally took her eyes off the pile of papers in the study and looked at the maid.

Reflected in her green eyes was a very large…… sense of betrayal.

The maid gulped.

It wasn’t an issue she could handle with her maid status.

However, now that the relationship between the madam and the duke had just come down from a precarious tightrope walk, she couldn’t let the young lady be disappointed in the duke like this.

“My lady, this is…… The duke was anxious……”

The maid moved her lips to try to make some excuse.

“It should be within reason.”

A fierce wind passed through the small lips.

The maid, who was bending her knees and meeting Lucy’s gaze, momentarily thought it was directed at her and her heart sank for a moment.

But soon realizing that those words were aimed at the duke, she bit her lower lip.

“Enough.”

Lucy gestured to the maid and then slipped out.

The maid stamped her feet in place.

Since last night, the young lady had been waiting for the madam since morning because the madam was in her bedroom.

She was a bit disappointed with the wait, but she also nodded at the butler’s words that the relationship between the madam and the duke had improved.

But……

It was a sentiment shared by all the servants that the young lady’s face, holding a fork, showed doubt.

They say marital fights are like cutting water with a knife, but it certainly wouldn’t come across that way to the young lady, who was a child.

It wasn’t just the servants who were cautious of the subtle atmosphere between the madam, who didn’t seem to be smiling even when she smiled, and the sulky duke.

The servants had also seen the young lady secretly sighing.

But overnight, they said the relationship between the madam and the duke had improved, yet entry records were placed in the study.

From the perspective of the young lady, who was very fond of the madam, it was a situation that could make one angry.

Hopefully, that feeling wouldn’t lead to disappointment towards the madam.

The maid moved her body slightly towards the butler as soon as the young lady left. It seemed best to inform him quickly.

*

While the physician was examining Damian’s leg, Eriel moved to the child’s room to meet Lucy.

Recalling Blake’s words, Eriel quickly sighed.

As the relationship between Damian and Eriel deteriorated, the child naturally began to be wary of her parents.

Especially Lucy, who had a precocious personality, often caught on to adults’ conversations more quickly.

Because of this, it seemed she thought that this time, it was her fault that Eriel and Damian had fought.

Eriel’s expression saddened.

Even now she’s a baby, but even when she was younger, Lucy didn’t cry much.

Even when she fell while walking, she wouldn’t cry much and would get up bravely. Rather, she would smile at the worried Eriel.

At that time, she wondered if there might be a problem with the child’s emotions, but watching Lucy grow, she realized that the child just had a nature of not crying easily.

She was precocious due to her innate personality.

But this time, because of the issue between Damian and Eriel, the child had cried alone.

Eriel’s heart ached at the thought of the child who didn’t cry in front of her and smiled, crying while holding onto her uncle behind her back.

She couldn’t figure out how to talk to such a child about the current situation.

There was no need to explain everything in detail, but as she was a smart child, some explanation would be necessary.

Eriel, who had arrived in front of Lucy’s room by now, knocked. But there was no answer.

When she didn’t hear the child’s voice, Eriel asked the maid who was following behind.

“Where’s Lucy?”

“Pardon? Um…. I heard the young lady was in her room.”

As the maid answered with a surprised face, Eriel quickly gestured.

“I’ll be inside, quickly check where Lucy is.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As the maid hurried off to find the child, Eriel entered Lucy’s room.

Eriel, sitting on the sofa placed in the center of the child’s neatly organized room, was organizing in her head how to bring up the topic of Damian to Lucy when…

“Huh…?”

A small notebook was visible under the table placed in front of the sofa. Even just looking at the cover of the notebook, Eriel could tell it belonged to her brother, Blake.

Eriel frowned slightly as she picked up the notebook.

“Jarvis…?”

Eriel looked through the contents of the notebook with surprise.

It was a detailed analysis of the gloves of Jarvis, the glove artisan working at the tailor shop.

Eriel’s eyes became busy. Why… under Lucy’s table…

“Mom!”

Hearing the child’s voice from behind, Eriel quickly placed the notebook back under the table. Then she stood up from the sofa and turned around.

Lucy, who had slowly walked in from the door, approached Eriel.

“Lucy, where did you go?”

When Eriel asked with a gentle smile, Lucy buried herself in Eriel’s skirt and looked up.

“I went to the bathroom and then briefly to the butler. He said Dad was being examined by the doctor, so I thought I’d come play with Mom! But Mom was in Lucy’s room?”

Eriel lifted Lucy up with both arms.

“You went upstairs? I came straight down from the bedroom too, I guess our Lucy and I crossed paths while you were going to the bathroom.”

“I guess so. Oh, Mom. Is Dad’s leg okay? I asked the maid, and she said Dad came in injured last night.”

Lucy asked Eriel with a worried face.

Eriel smiled as she stroked the child’s soft cheek.

“You’re… worried about Dad?”

At Eriel’s sadly furrowed eyebrows and yet smiling face, Lucy quickly wrapped her arms around Eriel’s neck.

“Of course. I’m worried about Dad. Have you and Dad made up now?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Since you’ve made up, we can all have dinner together tonight! Right?”

“Yes! Shall we have dinner together in the garden with Mom, Dad, and Lucy?”

“Yes, yes! It’ll be really delicious if we eat in the garden!”

Lucy smiled brightly. Eriel rubbed her nose against the child’s nose bridge as she faced such a smile.

“Lucy, our Lucy. Mom really loves you.”

Lucy, trapped in Eriel’s arms, hugged Eriel even tighter.

“Yes… Me too. I love you too, Mom.”

Eriel resolved as she heard the child’s voice whispering love in her ear.

She decided that after putting the child down for a nap, she must check the notebook once more.

It’s unlikely that Blake voluntarily gave the contents to Lucy. He must have had some conversation with the child.

Eriel took a deep breath as she recalled how Blake, despite not liking Damian, strangely liked Lucy.

She gently patted the back of the child in her arms, but Eriel’s expression had already hardened.

I need to meet Blake once.

Her brother already didn’t like Damian much, and now Lucy had cried and brought up such a story…

Knowing Blake’s nature, he wouldn’t have made a free deal even with a 7-year-old niece. She couldn’t imagine what they might have exchanged.

Eriel recalled what Blake had said just before leaving the mansion.

‘Just run away, you two. I’ll help.’

It would be better if they had exchanged money…

The more Eriel thought about Blake, the deeper her worries grew. She was afraid that Lucy might be connected to something dangerous.

“Oh, Mom!”

Lucy, who had been resting her face on Eriel’s chest, suddenly lifted her face.

“Yes?”

“About the family trip we were supposed to go on. Even if we can’t go because Dad hurt his leg, can’t just you and I go? I really want to visit the Alento estate…”

Lucy bit her lower lip. Eriel stopped such action with her finger and answered.

“Alento estate? Ah, our Lucy has never been outside before. You’ve only been to the mansion or the imperial palace, right?”

“Yes, yes. I want to go on a trip outside the empire too. They say it’s so beautiful when it snows there in winter! Have you been there, Mom?”

“No, Mom hasn’t been to the Alento estate either. Shall we ask Dad?”

“Yes!”