I slung the bag containing the divine animal tightly over my shoulder and peeked through the crack in the door.

‘Good, no one’s around!’

I quickly exited the room and scurried down the stairs at the end of the hallway.

‘If I go this way, I can get to the annex directly through the back door.’

There were still many people walking around the duke’s residence. I hurried my steps to prepare for any unexpected situations, causing the bag to shake.

I pouted at the silver snake’s complaint.

‘If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t have come along.’

I didn’t want to bring this silver snake from the beginning.

When I was about to leave the room, the silver snake kept pestering me, asking where I was going and insisting on coming along, so I had no choice but to bring it.

‘I should have snuck out secretly.’

However, it was no easy task to sneak out unnoticed from the silver snake’s view as it hid under the bed.

I arrived at the east annex, letting the silver snake’s grumbling go in one ear and out the other.

‘This must be it.’

Finding the study on the first floor was really easy. As soon as I opened the largest door on the first floor, rows of bookshelves immediately caught my eye.

“Wow…”

I stood there for a while, forgetting to close the door, tilting my head back to slowly take in the tall bookshelves.

‘There are so many books.’

Each bookshelf was incredibly tall. They seemed to be much taller than an average adult’s height. Yet, every single shelf was packed tightly with books.

I quickly pulled out a book that I had placed next to the silver snake in my bag.

“No.”

I firmly pressed my palm on the silver snake’s head as it tried to sneak a peek outside.

After taking out the book, I hoisted the bag back onto my shoulder and carefully held the book with both hands.

‘There should be a shelf with the next volume.’

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a series of numbers and letters at the bottom of the book’s cover.

I decided to look for the bookshelf with those numbers.

‘Usually, books of the same kind are organized together.’

I slowly moved forward, checking the numbers on the books.

‘Not here either… Should I try the next shelf over?’

Maybe because I was still quite short, I couldn’t see the books on the upper shelves no matter how much I craned my neck.

It would be better if the books were within reach. If they were out of reach, I’d have to use a ladder, which was a bit scary since it meant climbing to high places.

‘If worse comes to worst, I’ll ask the silver snake for help.’

I stopped in front of where I thought this book originally belonged. There was an empty space where one book should have been.

And next to it, I found a book titled “Legendary Animals, The Second Tale of Dragons.”

‘Found it!’

I reached out to grab the book in one go, but there was a problem. It was far too high for someone of my height to reach.

‘I might be able to reach it if I stand on my tiptoes.’

I approached and tried standing on my tiptoes. Fortunately, my fingertips touched the book.

I put my bag down behind me and approached the bookshelf again, rising on my tiptoes. But while I could touch the book, it wasn’t enough to grab it.

I sighed and glared up at the bookshelf, tilting my head back.

‘I think I can do it…’

The fact that I could almost, but not quite, grab it made me even more determined. I rose as high as I could on both tiptoes and stretched my hand up as far as possible.

‘Just a little more, just a little more!’

As I carefully pulled the book forward with my index finger, it started to move bit by bit. Just when I thought I could pull it out a little more…

The book, having lost its balance, suddenly dropped downward.

‘Ah!’

It’s going to hit me! With that thought, I squeezed my eyes shut. At the same time, I heard someone else’s voice from the side.

“Be careful!”

I heard the sound of impact, but there was no pain. Thud. The sound of the book falling to the floor was heard.

Feeling a sudden unease, I slowly opened my eyes to see a blonde boy covering my head with his entire body.

“Are you okay?”

C-Clemens?!

* * *

“I didn’t mean to do it…”

Diane fidgeted uneasily, her tiny hands gently touching Clemens’ hand.

Clemens looked at the wound on the back of his hand without much concern.

‘It’s nothing really.’

Although it might look different to Diane’s eyes, to him it was just a minor bruise.

Clemens casually dusted off his hand.

Then he picked up the book that had fallen to the floor and handed it to Diane.

“Here, this is what you were trying to get, right?”

It was then that he sensed something was off. Diane didn’t even think about taking the book and just murmured blankly.

“Because of me…”

“I’m fine, you must have been really surprised.”

Until then, Clemens had thought the child was just shocked from seeing the injury.

He thought that since she was still young, it was understandable, and if he comforted her a bit, she’d be fine soon.

With that in mind, he bent his knees to meet the child’s eyes.

“Diane?”

As their eyes met, Diane suddenly startled and stepped back. She anxiously examined Clemens’ hands and scrutinized his expression.

“Are you angry? You’re angry, right?”

“No, I’m not…”

“I really didn’t do it on purpose. I really didn’t know. I’ll, I’ll put medicine on it…”

“Diane!”

Seeing Diane mumbling anxiously while darting her eyes around, Clemens quickly grasped her shoulders.

“I’m fine, really. So don’t worry.”

“Ah, okay…”

As the startled Diane’s gaze met his, Clemens instantly read the emotion that flashed across her face.

Seeing that, he belatedly realized one rather unpleasant fact.

‘…It wasn’t just shyness.’

* * *

After taking Diane back to her room, Clemens returned to his own room alone and fell into thought.

Meeting Diane in the study earlier had been a coincidence.

While he always came to read books at this time, he didn’t expect Diane to visit the study as well.

The first emotions he felt upon seeing Diane in the study were surprise and joy.

‘I guess she can read too.’

Seeing Diane examining book titles and slowly moving along on her own, it seemed she was looking for a specific book.

He briefly considered offering help, but the reason he quietly followed her was simple:

The sight of a child even younger than the twins intently examining books one by one was just too adorable.

‘The twins won’t even set foot in the study.’

For them, reading books or studying was like poison.

Momentarily recalling his mischievous siblings, Clemens shook his head and continued to follow Diane stealthily.

Then, when he saw the book about to fall on Diane’s head, he rushed over.

‘She’s especially small.’

As a result, he got a tiny scratch on the back of his hand, but it was nothing.

What was more shocking was Diane’s reaction.

‘Did she think I would be furious?’

He recalled Diane’s expression as she looked at him earlier. He was the one who got hurt, but she was the one trembling.

‘Was my expression that scary then…?’

But no matter how he thought about it, his expression at that time shouldn’t have been much different from usual.

He might have had a serious expression for a moment due to the child’s near-accident, but if he was going to get angry about that, he wouldn’t have rushed over in the first place.

He had even thought it was fortunate that she wasn’t hurt.

‘She was afraid of me.’

Clemens’ expression became unusually serious.

No matter how much he thought about it on his own, he couldn’t find an answer. Clemens eventually left his room and headed to the living room.

‘Why is she afraid of me?’

Clemens plopped down on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees and supporting his chin with both hands.

His brows furrowed deeply.

And Philen, who had been sitting in the living room first, humbly accepted that his break was over upon seeing Clemens’ serious face.

“Um, young master…?”

“Hm?”

“Did something happen?”

At Philen’s words, Clemens relaxed his expression.

“No, nothing.”

Though he answered that way, Clemens let out a deep sigh at the end.

In fact, Clemens hadn’t even noticed that Philen was sitting in the living room until he spoke up.

‘Anyone can see that something happened.’

The usual gentle smile that could easily win anyone’s heart was nowhere to be seen.

Clemens’ current expression was similar to the one he only showed in front of Cailius.

Thanks to this, Philen felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Just then, Cailius came down to the living room.

“My lord, you came down here? Without calling for me?”

As Philen half-rose from his seat, Cailius’ gaze turned askew.

“How could I call you when you weren’t in your room?”

“Ah ha ha…”

Philen hurriedly stood up from his seat.

Come to think of it, it seemed that going to work would be more comfortable than sitting between the young master in his current state and the lord.

Cailius watched Philen rush out of the mansion and then his gaze fell on Clemens.

“Clemens, why do you look like that?”

Receiving the same question in succession, Clemens finally realized that his expression must indeed be serious.

Clemens finally composed his expression. He couldn’t stop the sigh that naturally came out, though.

“It’s nothing, Father.”

“Is that so?”

Cailius sat down across from Clemens, casually replying. Despite his busy schedule, he didn’t leave right away.

Clemens understood his intent well. It was probably a silent comfort, saying that he could open up about his worries anytime he wanted to.

After a moment of silence, Clemens spoke.

“It’s about Diane, Father.”

“What about her?”

“I think she’s afraid of me.”

At first, he thought it was simply because she was shy around strangers. He assumed she was intimidated because he was a stranger to her.

But after seeing Diane’s behavior today and recalling what he saw on the first day, his thoughts changed.

Diane wasn’t simply being shy around strangers.

But it wasn’t that she disliked him either.

If she disliked him, she wouldn’t have been so cautious and careful around him.

‘Why is she afraid of me?’

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t recall doing anything that would make Diane afraid of him.

It was difficult. He had never experienced difficulties in human relationships until now.

Clemens sighed heavily and asked.

“Come to think of it, Father, you must know more about Diane than I do.”

“…”

“Why do you think she’s afraid of me? Do you know the reason?”

Clemens looked at Cailius with hopeful eyes. Cailius paused for a moment.

“I don’t know either.”

“?”

“She’s afraid of me too.”

“Ah…”

He thought his father would have gotten close to her by now, but it seems they were in a similar situation.