Leaving the mansion where Leonhart stayed, they headed for the residence of Duchess Lukella and conversed.

What could there be to discuss between them?

The topic again was Cien Mirmode. Their faces were very bright as they spoke about Cien.

From what Cien liked, to what he ate, and even reaching the realm of fanaticism, their legs did not hurt even after a long walk.

When they had walked for several tens of minutes and reached the outskirts of the mansion where the Duchess was staying, they encountered Duchess Lukella who was out for a walk.

Acid tensed up at the unexpected situation. The Duchess spoke to Leonhart with a cold face.

“What were you talking so joyfully about?”

“Ah… No.”

Duchess Lukella looked at the stiff Leonhart and shook her head.

Indeed, I clearly know that his lips rise when he talks about Cien but return to a neutral expression when discussing anything else.

She feigned ignorance and spoke.

“If Honeybread is the one you are talking about, I’ll arrange for the three of us to meet soon. We also have to do some private lessons.”

Leonhart immediately replied.

“Alright.”

He tried to hide his excitement, but a smile had already formed at the corners of his mouth.

“Then we can have at least five lessons before Axel Mirmode arrives.”

Duchess Lukella, who normally would be busy overseeing the household in anticipation of Axel’s return, had just cleared her schedule for Cien. She felt proud of her ability to adjust her own schedule.

Just then, someone cheerfully intervened from behind.

“How about me? Can I join too?”

That someone was Delpia Mirmode. The Duchess glared at Delpia.

“What nonsense. Delpia, why are you even in this mansion?”

Come to think of it, why was Delpia at Duchess Lukella’s mansion? Weren’t they on bad terms?

For a moment, question marks formed in both Acid’s and Leonhart’s minds.

Delpia theatrically sighed and responded.

“My baby master seems to have forgotten about me; I wasn’t even invited to the mansion. That awful Matthias even ignores my letters.”

Duchess Lukella still looked uninterested. She casually gestured to Delpia.

“Whether you see our Honeybread or not is none of my concern. You are an uninvited guest.”

“Ah, I want to see our cute one. I want to teach too, okay?”

Delpia sighed as if she had contracted a chronic illness. Leonhart looked at her and thought.

How pitiful. I, being a genius of the night, can see her often. If I had time to go to the night’s house, I would meet her right away.

Up until now, all I thought about Delpia was that she was a dangerous individual.

However, seeing her desperately look for Honeybread, who she referred to as her baby master, made me feel sorry for her.

Moreover, I felt a strange sense of superiority over Delpia.

But when I considered…

“Acid, that guy, lives in the same house as Honeybread, doesn’t he?”

…Looking at Acid broke that sense of superiority.

“I wish I lived in the same house as Honeybread. Then maybe some of that genius would rub off on me.”

Acid, who was living in the same house, just blinked his eyes and observed the tussle between Duchess Lukella and Delpia over Cien.

In this way, without Cien knowing, the competition for the affection of Honeybread, baby master, and Cien continued.

Now, it’s just the Captain, Dad, and me left.

The brownhaired boy had been taken to the field by Deadly Sister for “education,” so he wouldn’t be a concern for a while.

I gripped my dad’s sleeve tightly and whispered.

“Daddy.”

“Hmm?”

“You know, someone is talking about me!”

My ears felt a bit itchy.
I clenched my fist in annoyance, wondering who was talking about me. My dad chuckled at my expression.

“Sien, you look scary with that face.”

I nodded slightly, a faint smile forming on my lips.

“Anni is good!”

Having a long conversation with my dad, a thought occurred to me.

There was one more person here besides my dad and me.

It was the Captain I had brought to introduce to my dad.

“Captain is good too! Can we park him in the room next to Acid?”

“Sure, if Sien wants, I’ll arrange a room.”

I decided to try a little harder to introduce the Captain to my dad.

“So, Dad, should we also sponsor the Captain’s orphanage? Even a small amount is fine.”

Of course, I will earn that sponsorship money myself and pay it back to my dad. He needs funds as an heir, especially since we’ve just inherited a small territory and every penny counts.

However, my dad, either unaware of this fact or just happy to sponsor, just smiled warmly at me.

“Mmhmm, sure.”

Surely my dad agreed because he’s a good person. I nuzzled my face into his chest, mumbling.

“It would be nice to find the Captain’s mom, too. I’ll find the witch too, but… the Captain’s mom is a Gypsy in the Merci region. She could be a shaman. Or not.”

“I’ll look into it. I was going to do a background check anyway…”

“Hmm?”

When my dad awkwardly chuckled at my tilting my head at his words, he said,

“As Sien’s friend, I should meet his mother to know what kind of person she is.”