Arianthe seemed fascinated by the shaking of her tooth, and whenever she found a moment, she would playfully touch it with her fingers. If caught by Maiana’s eyes, she would quickly lower her hand and hide it behind her, only to shake her tooth again when she thought no one was looking.

‘So cute…’

For children, the shaking of a tooth was a significant event, especially if it was their first baby tooth falling out! In her past life, the children at the daycare run by her mother often went through this. Children around the age of six or seven, just starting to lose their baby teeth, would run to her, not only the teachers but even her, someone they had only seen a few times, eager to show that their tooth was shaking.

Each time, she had to exert all her strength as the daughter of the headmistress to cheer the children on. The image of the children happily running and laughing as they played still lingered in her mind, passing by as if seen in a scene from a movie.

‘It feels like yesterday, but it’s strange. It feels like memories are slowly fading away. Maybe because it’s something from the past. Is knowing about past lives supposed to feel this eerie?’

She muttered to herself, but there was no one who could answer such a question.

Arianthe, for some reason, was sitting quietly, playing with a doll. Perhaps because Maiana had been making new doll clothes for her every other day, she seemed to have fallen deeply in love with the doll play she had rarely engaged in before. She changed the clothes, pretended to feed it an adorable toy tea set, and…

Watching her in that state, she was undoubtedly a seven-year-old child. However, Maiana always felt a sense of emptiness somewhere in her chest.

‘Even for the Lady, she needs friends of the same age, even if it’s just for show.’

She had been thinking that for quite some time. Arianthe had a spacious mansion, a forest, and a lakeside, but Maiana was her only playmate. Although she was gradually getting closer to Vainty these days…

Even so, children of that age need friends of a similar age to play with.

‘There are several noble families within the Marquisate, but don’t they have children there? Besides, it seems that the Marquis doesn’t even hold those common tea parties… When he was in the Poet’s Guild, he was so busy entertaining guests every day that he seemed to have no time to spare.’

However, in the next moment, she realized that there was nothing strange about the Marquis not holding tea parties and similar events. Usually, hosting small parties or creating salons for socializing were the responsibilities of the hostess.

There was no one in this house to take care of such minor social gatherings. Cediloi, who was busy traveling back and forth to the capital, couldn’t afford to pay such meticulous attention to that.

‘I should talk to the Marquis about this issue when he returns.’

Making a mental note, Maiana snapped the thread and stood up.

At that moment, a large grandfather clock in the corridor struck six with its chimes.

Arianthe either didn’t hear the sound, or she was so engrossed in pulling the doll’s hair that she seemed to be almost tearing it apart…

Maiana put down the sewing fabric and stood up.

“Lady, you need to go down for your meal.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Still, you have to have your meal on time.”

“Can’t I just do this and not eat?”
As if pleading, Arianthe looked up at Maiana, swinging her legs. Stopping whatever she was doing when it was mealtime was an important task. It was right to say that she shouldn’t develop such habits, but…

Maiana chuckled, releasing a short sigh. “Alright. I’ll give you exactly 5 minutes. I’ll go downstairs and prepare dinner, so come down with Vainty after 5 minutes.”

“Got it!”

Turning around, Maiana’s shoulders drooped exaggeratedly.

I really have a problem, she thought. Whenever Arianthe looked at her and asked for something, she could never say, ‘No!’ firmly.

‘This won’t do. I have to be firm. I should definitely say “No” firmly from tomorrow.’

Sitting in the living room, she relayed a message to Vainty to bring Arianthe down to the dining room in 5 minutes, then went downstairs immediately.

A strange smell wafted from the kitchen. It was an unfamiliar, somewhat exotic scent she had never smelled before. It wasn’t unpleasant or overpowering, but it was definitely not the usual smell she was accustomed to.

Maiana entered the kitchen with a suspicious look on her face. As the steam and warm temperature from cooking mingled, the scent became even more intense.

“Cook.”

Sweat was dripping profusely from the cook’s forehead as he covered something in a large iron pan. Maiana raised her voice.

“Cook!”

The cook turned to her, his red face flushed with heat.

“What is it? Why again?”

“I was curious about what the Lady would eat today.”