The pendulum clock chimed, signaling the start of the meeting time.

Though the Duke had not yet arrived, all the vassals fell silent as if by agreement.

Soon after, the doors of the grand council chamber opened, and the vassals rose from their seats in unison.

“We greet the exalted lord of the North, Your Grace.”

It was the greeting of vassals to their master, the head of the family.
A salutation filled with vows of utmost loyalty.

The sight of all the vassals filling the grand council chamber, bowing their heads in unison, was truly magnificent.

‘The Duke’s family is really something else.’

Diane, cradled in the Duke’s arms, swallowed hard. Even a rough count of the vassals seemed to exceed thirty.

Even after entering the grand council chamber, the Duke continued to hold Diane.

The Duke strode across the chamber with large steps and only stopped when he reached the highest seat.

‘Where’s my seat, by the way?’

No matter how she looked, there were no empty seats. While Diane turned her head this way and that looking for an empty seat, the Duke simply sat down in his place.

Diane was plopped onto the Duke’s lap.

Huh? Diane was taken aback once again.

“You may raise your heads now.”

Until the Duke spoke, the vassals remained motionless, heads bowed.

As they finally raised their heads, the vassals’ gazes converged on one point.

Directly at the child sitting on the Duke’s lap.

Shock and surprise flashed in the vassals’ eyes.

His Grace has the young lady on his lap!

Unlike their reaction, Diane thought glumly,

‘Why are you suddenly acting so friendly…?’

* * *

“I assume you’ve all heard the news.”

The Duke broke the silence.

All the vassals focused their attention on the Duke’s words.

“I’ve recently found my biological daughter. Her name is Diane Crustel.”

The Duke’s hand gently stroked my head.

This was the first time the Duke had stroked my head.

Sitting on his lap and receiving his touch, I suddenly felt the urge to escape from the awkwardness.

I suddenly recalled what the Duke had said earlier.

‘Come to think of it, he told me to behave, didn’t he?’

As I was about to squirm, I forced myself to calm down.

Just endure it a little longer, just a little more.

‘The Duke probably doesn’t like this either, so he’ll let me go soon.’

It seems he’s trying to act as if I’m his real daughter in front of the vassals.

At the Duke’s gentle tone, all the vassals’ gazes turned towards me.

I realized it was now my turn to introduce myself directly.

“Hello, I’m Diane Crustel.”

After a brief silence, exclamations burst forth from all around.

“My goodness, how remarkable! I can hardly believe she’s only four years old!”

“She looks very intelligent, just like Your Grace!”

“There’s no doubt she’s Your Grace’s daughter. Black hair is such a rare color, isn’t it?”

The vassals chimed in with smiles, each adding a comment. Their intense reactions startled me a bit.

‘They didn’t react like this when he brought the twins.’

I don’t know much about when Clemens was adopted since it wasn’t in the original story.

However, it was written that when the twins were adopted, there was tremendous opposition from the vassals.

The reason for their opposition was the possibility of future conflict between Clemens and the twins.

Also, the argument that they couldn’t register another orphan of unknown origin into the family played a part.

Of course, the twins didn’t just sit still.

They shoved the vassals who pointed fingers at them into corners, and made the rest of the vassals shut their mouths as if they had glue on them.

Using their specialty, magic, of course.

In the end, the vassals who had personally experienced the twins’ abilities reluctantly accepted them, it was said.

‘Ah, is that why they’re not opposing now!’

Because the memory of that time was so intense…?

‘I don’t have that kind of power though.’

Anyway, it was better this way. If things worked out like this, it was much more advantageous for me.

‘Then I just need to find the most suspicious person.’

“Congratulations, Your Grace. She truly resembles you perfectly.”

At that moment, one of the closest vassals spoke with a smile. He had a somewhat familiar face.

‘He looks like someone I know…’

As I stared at him intently, our eyes briefly met.

“Ho ho ho! It seems the young lady has taken a liking to me!”

He burst into a hearty laugh. Then the Duke looked down at me fixedly.

‘Really?’

Though he didn’t open his mouth, he was clearly asking that with his eyes.

‘But why does it feel like he’s glaring?’

It wasn’t particularly because I liked that vassal that I was looking at him. I shook my head at the Duke and asked the vassal.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, young lady. You can ask me anything.”

“Are you perhaps Philen’s father?”

“My goodness!”

He showed a genuinely surprised expression. With his eyes wide open, he asked back.

“Did you recognize me?”

“Yes, you two look alike.”

“Ha ha ha!”

It seems I was correct. The vassal laughed heartily.

I thought he looked familiar. So Philen’s family was a vassal family.

“I am Count Otol. As you said, Philen is my second son.”

Philen was truly a character who showed unwavering loyalty to the Duke’s family until the very end. The same would be true for his family.

‘Philen is that loyal to the Duke after all.’

Of course, since the Duke he was loyal to turned out to be a villain, Philen ended up becoming a bad character who committed and covered up all sorts of evil deeds, but in any case, there was no need to doubt his loyalty.

“Young lady, I had the pleasure of meeting you briefly before.”

Another vassal approached me and spoke. It was Count Ripe, whom I had seen before.

“Yes.”

I didn’t like his sly smile.
But I couldn’t openly show my dislike, so I gave a moderate response.

‘Because of that person, Yan got scolded by the Duke.’

He was a very annoying person. At that moment, the Duke spoke in a chilling voice.

“Count Ripe, I see you still haven’t broken that nasty habit of yours.”

“Ha ha, the young lady is just so adorable and cute. I simply couldn’t resist.”

“Next time, you’d better resist well. If not, I’ll personally cut off those useless hands of yours.”

For a moment, I felt a chill run down my spine.

The sensation disappeared quickly, but it seemed all the other vassals felt it too.

All the vassals’ bodies suddenly stiffened.

‘What was that? What just happened?’

While I was bewildered, an awkward silence descended.

Regardless, Count Ripe still maintained a relaxed attitude.

“It seems Your Grace truly cares a lot for the young lady. I suppose it’s the power of blood ties.”

Hmm, those words somehow seemed meaningful.

Glancing up, I saw a slight smile on the Duke’s lips.

Seeing that smile, I couldn’t help but feel goosebumps all over my body.

‘Wow, he really looks like he’s going to kill someone.’

The Duke’s eyes weren’t smiling at all. It was a chilling smile.

Sensing his ominous aura, the other vassals tactfully kept their mouths shut. Only Count Ripe was still laughing heartily.

He seemed to be on very bad terms with the Duke. But this alone wasn’t enough to think he was the culprit.

‘The Duke is originally not on good terms with other vassals anyway.’

Although only one vassal actually took action to kill the Duke, it’s not like the other vassals liked him either.

“Your Grace, while it’s clear that the young lady resembles you a lot,”

Count Ripe said with a subtle smile.

“Shouldn’t we still conduct a paternity test certified by the temple?”

At those words, all the vassals’ mouths shut at once. Even I, hearing those words, was considerably taken aback.

Of course, it’s not that I was hurt by those words.

‘Shouldn’t that not be said in front of me?’

Even if I might look like a clueless 4-year-old child on the outside, to say that in front of a child is a bit…

And it seemed the Duke’s patience had finally run out after hearing those words.

“Count Ripe.”

‘Oh no… this is really bad.’

I looked back and forth between the Duke and the Count in alarm.

As if deliberately trying to irritate the Duke, Count Ripe just kept grinning.

‘This is really going to end badly!’

Of course, whatever happened to that Count was none of my business.

But at least I hoped nothing involving bloodshed would happen in front of me.

It was then. A vassal who had been quietly observing the situation stepped forward.

“Count Ripe.”

“What is it, Count Schusted?”

“This is in front of the young lady. Don’t act rashly.”

“Well, this content might be too difficult for the young lady to understand. It’s not interesting either.”

Count Ripe looked at me with a sly smile.

“In that case, why don’t we send the young lady back to her room? If you allow, I’ll instruct my servant to take her.”

At the Count’s words, a young man who appeared to be his servant approached me.

The Duke put me down on the floor.

“There is someone to look after the child outside the grand council chamber. Just take the child to the entrance.”

“Understood.”

The servant who came close to me extended one hand towards me.

‘…Huh?’

The scent of his strong cologne stimulated my nose.

Smelling that cologne, I realized I no longer needed to stay in the council chamber.

I quickly ran over and grabbed his other hand.

I looked up at his face with a bright smile, as if I knew nothing.

The servant frowned for a moment, then smoothed his expression.

“Shall we go?”

The Count’s servant politely guided me.

* * *

As the Duke had said, Sophia was waiting for me outside the council chamber.

“Sophia!”

As I happily approached her, Sophia greeted me with a bright smile.

“Young lady, shall we go to your room together?”

As soon as we returned to the room, I flopped right onto the bed.

“Are you going to sleep now? It’s almost snack time, and today’s snack is fruit pudding.”

Fruit pudding! Regular pudding was already rich and sweet, but fruit pudding was refreshing and even more filling.

At Sophia’s words, I almost opened my eyes wide. However, thinking of my plan, I calmed myself down.

‘Pudding isn’t important right now.’

I yawned widely as if to show off and rubbed my eyes.

“I’m sleepy.”

“You must be more tired since you woke up early today.”

Sophia covered me with a blanket as if she had no choice. I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly.

After a while, the lights went out. Only after hearing the door close carefully did I open my eyes wide.

‘I need to go out and come back quickly.’

It wouldn’t take long to go out and come back anyway.

Besides, the taste of pudding eaten after successfully completing the task would be even sweeter.

Hehehe, I left the room leisurely.

Why so relaxed, you ask?

Well, that’s because,

‘I found the culprit.’

A smirk spread across my face.