One hour before Clemens and Diane encountered each other in the hallway.

The news of Clemens’ earlier-than-expected arrival was also conveyed to Cailius.

“Father!”

Clemens’ eyes formed a beautiful arc as he met his father after a long time.

His gently curved eyes and upturned corners of his mouth seemed to show the excitement of a child who had finally returned home.

“Oh, Philen is here too?”

“Yes, young master. It’s been a while. For the record, being here since dawn was not my choice.”

Philen, who had been at work since early dawn, answered with a groan.

Seeing this, Clemens giggled.

“Father, have you been well all this time?”

Clemens, sitting in a chair and swinging his feet back and forth, looked no different from other children his age.

Seeing his son like this, Cailius spoke with seeming indifference.

“You came earlier than expected.”

“Yes, I saw your letter, Father. But truthfully, I was preparing to come to the mansion even before that. I missed you so much.”

“More likely you were curious about the child I brought.”

At his words, Clemens let out a short laugh.

“That too. It was unexpected. I thought the twins would be the last.”

It hadn’t been long since the news about Diane had been conveyed to Clemens and the twins.

Considering the schedule of departing after the news was delivered, they thought he would arrive four days later, but he suddenly arrived today.

“You must have heard the news from elsewhere.”

“My roommate. He’s more interested in my family than I am. As soon as the news about our family was in the gossip papers, he came and told me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, he’s quite a busybody.”

Even in a boarding academy, it was rare to assign commoners and nobles to the same room.

Especially in the case of high-ranking nobles or royalty.

In other words, Clemens’ roommate was also the son of a family no less distinguished than his own.

Cailius briefly thought about who his son’s roommate might be.

He easily recalled one individual. Cailius gave a short sneer.

“Like father, like son.”

After their brief conversation, an awkward silence lingered.

Philen smiled awkwardly. When Clemens was smiling brightly like this, he and Cailius looked like a father and son who bore no resemblance to each other.

Clemens was a boy with bright blonde hair and a radiant smile that contrasted sharply with Cailius.

Even apart from his appearance, Clemens’ usual demeanor of being kind and gentle to everyone was truly incompatible with Cailius.

However, Philen knew.

How seamlessly that boy’s expression blended with the Duke’s when he wiped away that angelic smile.

After the conversation ended, the smile that had been on Clemens’ face vanished in an instant.

The boy’s face without a smile looked closer to that of a cold, lifeless doll.

The boy’s suddenly chilly demeanor was surprisingly similar to Cailius.

‘The vassals should see him like this.’

The reason they opposed Clemens was that he was an adopted child who didn’t share a drop of blood with the Duke.

But if they saw him like this, they would realize how much the two resembled each other, to the point where birth didn’t even come to mind.

Clemens, who had revealed his true self in front of his father, finally let out a comfortable breath.

As if he had been waiting only for this moment when he didn’t need to put on a fake smile.

For Clemens, Cailius was like the only shelter.

Cailius, also knowing this feeling, chose to quietly wait until the child spoke again.

The father and son greeted and welcomed each other in their own ways for a while.

It was when the steaming tea placed in front of them was gradually cooling.

Clemens slightly turned his head to look at Cailius, just as his father would do.

“So, Father.”

Clemens put down the now cold tea and asked.

“Did the vassals come to their senses?”

Philen swallowed dryly at the chilly tone of the heir apparent, so different from before.

Cailius slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

He answered in an indifferent tone.

“The same. If they were ones who could understand, they would have done so long ago.”

“That’s a pity. If possible, I wanted to take all of them to the end.”

“Even if we replace them, there are plenty of families that can play that role. It might be a good idea to find them in advance.”

This wasn’t the kind of conversation a son who had just returned from the academy should have with his father, Philen thought quietly to himself.

“Father, where is my new sibling?”

“She’s probably still sleeping. She doesn’t know you’ve arrived.”

At this point, Clemens noticed that Cailius’ expression changed subtly.

If his guess was correct, it seemed that his father had quite a fondness for his new sibling.

‘That’s a bit unexpected.’

In fact, the reason Clemens came home earlier than planned wasn’t just because of the new sibling.

When his exams ended early due to his excellent grades, he had some time left, so he set out on the journey and ended up arriving much earlier than expected.

But seeing his father’s expression like this made him a bit interested.

‘I wonder what kind of child she is.’

To understand someone, one must first break down their defenses.

Clemens first said he wanted to have breakfast together with his sibling.

Originally, if you have a meal together in a meeting to build friendship or negotiate, the chances of success double.

On top of that, he had already asked Cailius beforehand to find out what his sibling liked the most.

Knowing that chocolate cookies were the four-year-old sibling’s favorite, it was only a matter of time before he could win the child’s heart.

“Father, then I’ll see you at mealtime.”

* * *

Returning to his room, Clemens read his favorite book while waiting for the appointed time to arrive.

When there were about 10 minutes left, Clemens closed the book and left the room.

It was truly a coincidence that he encountered a little girl in a bright yellow dress in the hallway.

Seeing Sophia and Delma attending to the child, he could tell without asking that this child was the sibling his father had brought.

Even the hairpin cutely pinned in her hair was yellow with polka dots.

Seeing that the hairpin matched the color of her clothes, it seemed she had dressed up to meet him.

She stiffened slightly upon seeing him, like a startled chick.

Clemens unconsciously covered his mouth with one hand.

‘…She’s small.’

The child his father had brought was smaller than he expected.

He had thought there might be something special about the child who was to play the role of his father’s daughter, but apart from her black hair, she didn’t seem to resemble his father much.

As he carefully examined the child, he noticed her tense expression.

That was probably because, unlike other children, she immediately showed wariness towards him.

‘Is she scared?’

Clemens knew that he closely resembled his father in temperament.

And he also knew that others didn’t think so. After all, Clemens never revealed that temperament he shared with his father.

While his powerful father might not care, Clemens knew well that there was nothing to gain from having such an attitude when he was still young and without power.

The reason Clemens always smiled and was kind to everyone was simply because of that.

So from Clemens’ perspective, this child was the first to be scared just by seeing him.

‘She’s a bit different from other children.’

He was a little surprised, but that was all.

Clemens didn’t mind. Rather, seeing the child who was scared of him, he smiled even more gently.

Anyway, now that he had seen his sibling, he felt he could understand his father’s feelings a little.

‘…She’s a bit pitiful too.’

So she was openly wary of him, but how should he put it? It wasn’t particularly bothersome.

It was like a small chick flapping its wings, trying to run away from him.

‘You can’t run away.’

After all, he and his father needed this child.

Clemens willingly extended his hand first to his sibling who was being shy.

“Are you going to the dining room? Let’s go together.”

The child hesitated and didn’t easily extend her hand.

Only when Delma gently pushed the child’s back from behind did she slowly move her steps, as if she had no choice.

She stood beside him like that, but didn’t give her hand and stubbornly said,

“I can walk by myself.”

This was fine too. Children this age usually insist they can do everything by themselves.

The twins were exactly that age when they first came to the Duke’s household.

Clemens casually withdrew the hand he had extended.

“Alright, shall we go then?”

“Yes.”

Clemens slowed his pace. It was to walk slowly to match the child’s steps.

“I’ve heard about you, Diane Crustel. It’s the new name Father gave you, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Father gave you a pretty name. I’m Clemens.”

“Mm, I know that too.”

She was said to be 4 years old, but she could converse quite well. Automatically, Clemens was reminded of when the twins first arrived.

Of course, she couldn’t be compared to the twins who had run around the house wildly.

‘Is this why that guy bragged so much about his sister?’

The ‘that guy’ Clemens recalled was his roommate.

His roommate had a younger sister. Whenever he was at his wit’s end because of the mischievous twins, his roommate would brag about his sister so much.

‘My sister loves it most when I read her storybooks. But the funny thing is, she falls asleep right away when I read to her.’

He vividly remembered his annoying face as he bragged about how cute it was when she fell asleep with her head on his lap.

In fact, Clemens had once taken the twins to a bookstore after hearing that.

And the fact that the twins had played a prank and burned all the books as soon as they entered the bookstore was a secret he could never tell his roommate.

Now he’s done listening to that guy’s bragging. Whatever the reason for bringing the child, he now had a younger sister of a similar age.

‘Well, I need to get close to her first.’

Children of this age group usually come around right away if you treat them with a smile.

Clemens briefly stopped walking and bent his knees to match the child’s eye level.

The child’s eyes widened as she looked at him.

Question marks seemed to pop up all over her face, wondering what he was doing.

Clemens had to hold back the laughter that was about to escape.

‘I’ll have to teach her later.’

Having emotions immediately show on one’s face could be disadvantageous later when entering high society.

‘Well, that’s something to teach gradually.’

For now, it was time to get close.

Clemens pulled out a cookie studded with chocolate chips that he had hidden in his pocket and presented it with a flourish.

“Here, this is for you.”

Then the child’s face was clouded with perplexity.

As Clemens felt puzzled, Delma exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh my, you must have prepared this for the young miss.”

Diane hesitated. Seeing this, Clemens felt uncharacteristically impatient.

The child’s subsequent answer was a little, no, quite unexpected.

“N-no.”

Clemens’ lips, which had been gently curved, stiffened slightly.

To him, Diane answered again, as if driving in a wedge.

“I don’t want to eat it.”