I decided not to go anywhere near the eastern hall where the banquet was being held as I wandered around the mansion.

‘The Duke had already told me not to attend the banquet anyway.’

I had no desire to attend the banquet in the first place.

Even if the Duke hadn’t come to my room first to tell me not to come to the banquet, I had no intention of going.

‘Hmph, who wants to go?’

I had just left my room after passing time there until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

‘As long as I don’t go near the eastern hall, it should be fine.’

Fortunately, the eastern hall was located near the annex, not in the main building where I was staying.

Originally, banquets were held in the main building, but luckily this time it was being held in the annex.

‘Otherwise, I’d have to be stuck in my room without being able to move.’

Well, the situation wasn’t much different this time either, but at least the Duke had allowed me to visit the garden near the main building.

I boldly made my way to the garden.

“You useless girl! If I can’t see the Duke after coming all this way here, will you take responsibility?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

I heard the sharp voice of a woman and the sobbing voice of another woman.

Hiding behind a tree and peeking out, I saw a woman who appeared to be a noble and a maid prostrated at her feet, trembling.

“You useless thing!”

The noble woman cursed and tried to kick the maid’s shoulders and head indiscriminately.

“W-wait a moment!”

Alarmed by the sight, I quickly blocked her path.

“Stop it!”

The noble woman facing me froze in her tracks.

After a moment of confusion, her arrogant gaze scanned me from head to toe.

* * *

It was not long after the banquet had started.

Considering that banquets had been held in the main building until now, this was a bit unusual.

Around the time this banquet was about to begin, the servants were busy guiding the arriving guests to the eastern hall.

“Excuse me, guest, the hall where the banquet is being held is not in that direction.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Some of them confused the main building with the venue and headed in the wrong direction, so the servants had to check around the eastern hall.

They had to guide guests who seemed likely to get lost back to the eastern hall.

Of course, it would be different for someone intentionally avoiding their gaze and leaving the hall.

A man with short brown hair and striking gray eyes slipped into the garden.

Dressed in an elegant tailcoat, he looked convincing enough to be mistaken for a lost visitor even if he accidentally encountered a servant.

Of course, the man also planned to make up an excuse about getting lost if he ran into a servant.

Before coming this far, the man had confirmed that the Duke and his aide were inside the hall.

While they would immediately recognize that he was an uninvited guest, he could easily deceive the servants to some extent.

Even if they asked to see an invitation, if he stated his identity, the servants wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Regardless, he was quite upset about the fact that he hadn’t received an invitation to this banquet.

‘That petty bastard.’

To be clear, he was supposed to receive an invitation to this banquet as well. Not just himself, but also his only son.

The problem arose after he sent a letter.

Before this banquet was held, he had sent an urgent letter to the Duke.

Although no reply came, judging by the lack of an invitation afterwards, it seemed the content of the letter was not to the Duke’s liking.

‘It’s not like I asked for anything excessive.’

While avoiding the eyes of passing servants, the man furrowed his brows.

Fortunately, he had been keeping a sharp ear out for any news regarding this Duke’s family, so he was aware of today’s banquet.

Otherwise, he might have missed it entirely, not knowing a banquet was being held today.

‘How dare they hold a banquet without inviting me?’

He forcibly swallowed the words that would be useless to utter out loud for now.

The indignation hidden deep in his chest tried to burst out, but he suppressed it firmly.

Come to think of it, what he had proposed in his letter wasn’t something to be discussed via correspondence.

That’s why the man had come to the Duke’s mansion in person. To talk about it in more detail face-to-face.

Although he had to sneak into the Duke’s mansion like this because the Duke hadn’t met with him for days after his visit to the Bayers Empire.

‘Even if I suddenly go to his office, I probably won’t be able to see him easily.’

How could he face that high-and-mighty Duke?

As he was deep in thought, his gaze fixed on one direction.

“Stop it!”

The voice of a young girl – to think he would meet that child here when he came to see the Duke.

‘Eureka.’

This was quite an unexpected harvest, wasn’t it?

* * *

‘Now you’re interfering in things that don’t concern you?’

Cynthia was punishing the maid who had guided her to the wrong place.

She bit her lip, interrupted by a child whose blood had barely dried behind her ears.

Originally, there were only young masters in the Duke’s family, and no young girls.

If it weren’t for the news she had recently heard, she would have thought this was an impertinent child and punished her just like her own maid.

The reason she didn’t immediately scold the child was because of the new information she had heard recently. That the Duke, who only had adopted sons, had found his biological daughter.

While that fact was certainly frustrating, the fortunate thing was that the Duke hadn’t brought the biological mother into the family.

Information about the biological mother was kept strictly confidential by the Duke’s family and couldn’t be known.

However, rumors always tended to leak out unexpectedly from unexpected places.

‘A daughter of a prostitute, wasn’t it?’

Although her mind was still in turmoil with anger and her fingertips were trembling with irritation, Cynthia took a deep breath.

A child without proper upbringing would be easy to handle.

Finally, taking in the child’s black hair that was the spitting image of the Duke’s, she took a step towards the child and bent down.

“Oh my, hello there?”

Her gentle tone showed no trace of the vicious manner in which she had been interrogating her maid just moments ago.

“I’ve heard the news. That His Grace has found his biological daughter. You must be the young lady, right? I had no idea you would be such a cute little one.”

Startled by Cynthia’s sudden change in attitude, the child stepped back hesitantly.

“By the way, why are you here alone, young lady? Don’t tell me you always go around by yourself like this?”

The child didn’t deny it. Seeing this, Cynthia pondered quietly.

She always had a maid accompanying her to attend to her needs.

For her, born as the only daughter of a noble count’s family, her hands were not meant for carrying things or opening doors.

All those trivial and menial tasks were the job of her maids.

The only things she held with her own hands were forks and knives during meals, or occasionally a fan to cover her mouth.

To Cynthia, who found this natural, the sight of a child walking alone seemed rather strange.

Soon, Cynthia drew a reasonable conclusion within the bounds of her common sense.

‘The Duke doesn’t care for the child.’

That’s why he hadn’t assigned even one maid to attend to the child.

This kind of thing happened from time to time.

Cases where parents reclaim their biological child but show little interest in them.

They might take them in because they’re blood relatives, but the child’s upbringing was clearly different from that of nobles.

Moreover, it was that Duke. The one who even selected his children based on their abilities.

There was no way such a Duke would be satisfied with this child just because she was his biological daughter.

“Little one, would you please step aside? I was in the middle of educating my maid.”

Cynthia spoke lightly to the child.

Originally, when meeting someone of different status for the first time, etiquette dictated that the person of lower status should introduce themselves first, followed by the person of higher status.

However, the young lady before her was only 4 years old.

Moreover, although she was called a young lady, she was a child who had entered the family late, not born into the Duke’s household. Though she was the Duke’s biological daughter, she was a child who didn’t seem to be of any interest to the Duke.

Cynthia didn’t feel the need to observe etiquette with such a child.

“If I step aside, you’ll hit the maid.”

“It’s not hitting, it’s educating her. Little one.”

“I saw everything. You were about to kick her head and shoulders.”

“…Ah, little one.”

She called the child with a sigh. Bending down to meet the child’s gaze, Sophia spoke quietly.

“You may not know this since you haven’t been part of the Duke’s family for long, but it’s not polite to interfere in another family’s education.”

With a deep sigh, her gaze swept up and down, briefly revealing contempt.

It was an attitude that seemed to look down on the other person, but it was the demeanor of someone accustomed to such an attitude from birth.

Most children faced with such an adult would naturally be intimidated and run away with their tails between their legs.

As Cynthia pressed forward aggressively, the child slowly lowered her hands that had been stretched out to both sides.

Her head, which had been held high and stiff, lost its strength and dropped slightly.

‘Yes, that’s how it should be.’

Cynthia was satisfied seeing this reaction.

However, even if she was a child who had grown up without proper upbringing, she was still currently part of the Duke’s family.

Though she thought about intimidating her a bit more, Cynthia softened her tone.

“I understand that you feel for such a maid because of the environment you grew up in. However, the maid’s etiquette education is clearly one of my responsibilities,”

“But I’m curious about something.”

The child suddenly raised her head and interrupted. Cynthia’s lips tightened at this action.

“Yes, go ahead and ask. Little one.”

“Why do you call me ‘little one’?”

The question was asked with such innocence, as if she truly didn’t know.

Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Cynthia momentarily couldn’t find words to respond.

“Only Sophia and Delma call me ‘little one’, even the knights call me ‘miss’.”

Calling the young lady ‘little one’ – it was a term she had used unconsciously without realizing it.

She did realize it midway through speaking. The fact that she was calling the young lady ‘little one’.

However, Cynthia couldn’t find a reason to change the way she addressed her.

Although she knew in her mind that she was a young lady, she didn’t appear that way on the outside.

Cynthia thought it was enough to use honorifics for such an insignificant child.

After all, that child probably wouldn’t know such basic etiquette anyway.

Even if she happened to know and it reached the Duke’s ears, she could simply deny it.

While Cynthia was unable to continue speaking, Diane spoke in a calm tone.

“So who are you to call me ‘little one’?”

At that moment, Cynthia came to her senses. Opening and closing her mouth, she blurted out without much thought.

“Ah, young lady. I must have done it by mistake, without realizing…”

“Oh, it was a mistake.”

The child calmly asked again.

“Then not telling me your name was also a mistake, right?”