After dinner, Larisa, who was walking down the hallway holding William’s hand, suddenly asked:

“Will William become a duke?”

“Huh?”

William stopped and looked down at Larisa. She was staring at him with big round eyes.

“So you’re not running away anymore?”

“Ah…”

William knew Larisa was quick-witted, but he felt as if he had somehow broken his promise to her. He was flustered.

“Should I not become a duke?”

Larisa’s eyes narrowed.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Well…”

William scratched his head. It seemed like he had decided to become a duke on his own, even though he and Larisa had planned to open a store together.

“If you want to, then do it.”

Larisa said this with her lips already pouting. William crouched down in front of her to meet her eyes and said:

“I don’t know if I want to be a duke. But they say you can do a lot of things if you become one.”

William honestly confessed.

“So I’m tempted. When I think about what I could do if I became a duke…”

“If you want to, then do it, dummy. I’ll run away by myself.”

Larisa said, sounding upset. Meanwhile, William became curious.

“Wait, I understand my case, but why are you trying to run away?”

“I don’t want to marry you.”

Although he thought it was an obvious statement, William was still shocked.

“I want to be rich, but I don’t want to be a noble.”

Larisa delivered her ultimatum to William, who had frozen like a stone.

“I won’t sleep with you anymore.”

Larisa shook off William’s hand and walked alone to her room.

*

William thought it felt empty when a once-obedient child suddenly became distant.

“Did you two have a fight?”

Siod, who noticed the oddly changed atmosphere, asked. In contrast to the hesitant William, Larisa cheerfully replied:

“No!”

“Is that so?”

It wasn’t that they fought; she just realized anew that there was no one in the world she could trust. Larisa smiled brightly and urged Siod:

“Teacher, what are we studying today?”

Larisa no longer ran to hug William when he came to visit on weekends. She didn’t come to William’s room at night saying she was scared to sleep alone.

“Shall we learn table manners today?”

“Yes, I’d like that!”

William watched with a bewildered expression as Larisa practiced table manners diligently with a toy dining set.

‘She said she didn’t want to be a noble, but she’s working hard on etiquette.’

What could be going on in that small head of hers? Come to think of it, Larisa had never once said she disliked anything in front of adults.

Was she really happy when she said she liked everything?

Meanwhile, Larisa’s mind was also in turmoil.

‘I thought he was on my side!’

Now that she thought William might become a duke, he didn’t feel as close as before.

Before, she could easily approach William because he seemed lonely, but now William had become the precious only son of Guinevere Rodante, out of reach in a high place.

After the lesson ended, Larisa trudged back to her room. She lay alone on the bed that was too high and big for her small body, and thought:

‘How should I live?’

Larisa was alone in this world. She had been alone since her mother passed away, but she had momentarily forgotten because William treated her so kindly.

Come to think of it, she didn’t know why she had felt so close to him. Larisa, who grew up in the slums, had never easily relied on or placed expectations on others.

But here, she had opened her heart too easily to the lonely-looking William. As Larisa was shaking her head in confusion, Daisy, who had come out of the bathroom, said:

“Young lady, it’s time for your bath.”

Since becoming a maid, Daisy had been faithfully carrying out her duties every day.

Preparing and assisting with baths was one of those duties, and she also considered it her job to raise Larisa to be a fine noble lady.

Larisa asked with a gloomy face:

“Sister, why do we have to bathe every day?”

“Oh my! Noble ladies bathe every day.”

“But I’m not a noble.”

Larisa was tired of it all. Born in the slums, Larisa had bathed for the first time after coming here. Since Daisy became her maid, she had been bathing every day.

“I don’t want to bathe today…”

“But today we have lavender flowers?”

“I don’t like lavender flowers.”

“Oh dear, what shall we do? I prepared them with such care.”

Daisy put on a very pitiful expression. The kind-hearted Larisa usually listened well when she said this.

This time too, Larisa sighed heavily and reluctantly got into the bath.

While lathering up Larisa’s pink hair, Daisy asked:

“Why are you so gloomy today?”

“Because it’s hard.”

“…Are the lessons very difficult?”

“No.”

Though still young, Larisa couldn’t fully grasp her own emotions, but the mere thought of her life changing filled her with vague fear.

She wasn’t confident she could do well on her own. Especially becoming a proper noble – she had even less confidence in that.

“Sister Daisy, William will become a splendid duke, right?”

“Of course. He’ll become a very fine person.”

“I don’t like splendid dukes.”

Daisy said in a perplexed voice:

“Oh my, why are you like this today?”

“I don’t like you speaking formally to me either.”

Though Daisy wanted to indulge all of Larisa’s whims, this was something she couldn’t do. Daisy said in a firm voice:

“Young lady, I can’t speak informally to the person I serve.”

“Hmph.”

Larisa tried to hold back her tears, but she couldn’t. She missed her mother. In the end, Daisy had to hurry and finish the bath because Larisa was crying loudly.

Larisa eventually fell asleep, exhausted from crying. The next morning, after struggling late into the night to console the child, Daisy went to find William after much deliberation.

“Um, young master…”

“What’s the matter?”

William asked in surprise when he saw Daisy, Larisa’s maid, with a serious expression.

“Well, I’m not sure if I should say this, but it seems the young lady has been finding the lessons very difficult lately…”

“She said it was hard?”

“Yes. She cried a lot last night.”

“She cried?”

William asked with wide eyes. Larisa was a brave child who didn’t cry over trivial matters. For Larisa to cry, it must have been something very serious.

“I understand. I’ll talk to the professor about it.”

“Thank you so much!”

William went to see Siod before class time and informed him of this. Siod also wore a serious expression upon hearing that Larisa had cried.

“She seemed to be keeping up well with the lessons.”

“Still, shouldn’t we let her rest today?”

“Let’s do that.”

The two of them pondered how to cheer up Larisa today. And when Larisa came for class time, Siod said:

“Larisa, shall we go eat something delicious today?”

“Pardon?”

“What would you like to eat?”

“…”

Siod was slightly taken aback by Larisa’s lack of response. Larisa never refused food.

“Well, how about the place where we had cake last time? It was delicious, wasn’t it?”

“Are we studying tea time today?”

“No!”

Siod exclaimed in surprise and picked Larisa up.

“I just want to play with Lara today. Or should we go somewhere fun?”

Larisa didn’t smile even at Siod’s kind smile.

“But I want to study?”

Siod was flustered. Cold sweat ran down his back. A crisis had arrived. Suddenly, Guinevere’s voice echoed in his head.

‘Do your best to ensure that the girl named Larisa lives happily for a long time…’

No. If Guinevere found out about this, the oath might be broken. Of course, Guinevere’s standard of happiness would be very different from his own, but Siod didn’t want to leave any risk factors.

At that moment, William suggested:

“Lara, remember we said we’d go on a trip together before? Shall we go today?”

“A trip?”

“Yes. You went with Mother before, right? You said we should go together next time. Let’s go today.”

Larisa smiled brightly and replied:

“No, I want to study.”

“Lara…”

Since Larisa was so adamant, Siod had no choice but to start the lesson. William had to stay in the corner, unable to do anything.

After listening to Larisa’s piano performance, Siod inwardly sighed.

‘She practiced… a lot.’

In the past, he would have showered her with praise without hesitation, but now he couldn’t tell if he should praise her or not.

‘Come to think of it, of course it would be hard for a 7-year-old child to work this hard.’

When Siod didn’t praise her as usual, Larisa looked up at him anxiously. Siod reflexively smiled when their eyes met.

But still, words of praise didn’t come out.

‘If I praise her now and move on, she’ll keep working this hard and struggle in the future.’

Siod faced the greatest challenge of his life. It was a dilemma. As he was desperately trying to figure out what to say, Larisa asked:

“Should I play it again?”

“What?”

“…”

“Ah, well. The performance was so perfect that teacher was surprised.”

“Wow, really?”

He ended up praising her… Seeing Larisa clap happily, Siod felt relieved on one hand, but on the other hand, he inwardly sighed, wondering if this was okay.

Larisa was a child who worked too hard. Because the child did it silently without showing it, they had overlooked it.

“Lara, wasn’t it hard practicing?”

“It was fun.”

“Teacher thinks mastering one song a week might be too much. Shall we practice just one song a month?”

“Why?”

Larisa’s expression turned gloomy.

“Well…”

“I want to catch up to Julie quickly.”

‘Julie? Who’s Julie… Ah.’

Juliana Dimor, the daughter of a fallen noble family who was attending school. He had heard that she had been getting along well with Larisa recently.

It seemed she felt some sense of competition with that child.

‘How can I tell Larisa to enjoy studying without feeling burdened?’

Siod began to ponder the kind of worry that all parents, past and future, would typically have.