Ranson kept pondering as he returned home. Duke Rumpus was the type of person who would directly say if he had the siblings with him.

However, she gave a vague answer and even used force to change the subject.

‘I should go to Teravita right now.’

As he reached that conclusion, he felt a sense of urgency. He decided to quickly return home and pack only the essentials.

As he got off at 12 Helinga Street and walked through the residential area, someone poked their head out of a window and said,

“Hey, isn’t that the young painter living up ahead?”

The old man was smoking, as smoke was billowing from his mouth.

“My wife says someone came to your house.”

It felt like his heart dropped. Ranson’s steps quickened twice as fast.

“Hey, young man!”

Hearing someone calling him, he looked up to see a lady looking down from a second-floor window and saying,

“Looks like you’re just getting back from somewhere?”

“Ah, yes. I had some business to attend to.”

“Your siblings couldn’t get in because the house door was locked.”

“My… siblings?”

It wasn’t a visit from people sent by Duke Rumpus. The lady leaned out a bit more and shouted,

“Go to Rick’s place. He said he’d look after them until you returned.”

“Thank you!”

Ranson couldn’t make sense of what was happening. His siblings, who should have been in the old house in Teravita, came here?

‘I did give them the address to change where to send letters, but…’

Could they have come all this way just because of that?

Ranson ran straight to the neighboring house. Laughter was flowing from inside the lit house.

He took a few deep breaths after breathing heavily. Then he shook the ring on the door to knock.

“Who is… Oh my, Ranson. Come in.”

“Hello, Rick. I heard my siblings were here.”

“Brother!”

The Ritamonna siblings, who were huddled together in the living room, jumped up when they saw Ranson. Rimon and Rina’s hands were full of raspberries.

“Hohoho, I couldn’t leave the little ones on the street, so I looked after them for a while.”

Rick said with a pleased smile. Ranson stroked the heads of Rimon and Rina, who were hugging him cheerfully, and replied,

“Thank you. For taking care of my siblings…”

“What did I do? I could tell right away. Ranson and Rita look so alike, don’t they?”

First, he needed to find out what was going on. Ranson bowed his head sincerely and said,

“I’ll repay you soon.”

“Oh, no need. It was nice to have the house lively again after so long.”

She lived alone after marrying off all her grown children. That’s why she often suggested bringing them over, saying they were like her youngest child.

At Ranson’s words to go home, Rita gathered her siblings. Rimon and Rina followed, holding the raspberries Rick had given them, and said,

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“The bread was delicious, ma’am.”

Rick waved goodbye with a motherly smile, telling them to come play again.

The four people who entered the house hugged each other without anyone saying anything.

“I was worried we wouldn’t find you,”

Rita said, rubbing her face against Ranson’s chest.

“I missed you. The smell of our brother.”

“Hey, what are you doing!”

Rimon buried his nose in Ranson’s side and sniffed. Rina looked disgusted at her twin brother.

“How did you get here?”

Ranson asked Rita, who was fidgeting with her fingers after peeling off the siblings clinging to him.

“We came following the address you wrote. The abbess arranged the train tickets.”

“Brother, don’t scold sister. We had good reasons.”

At Rimon’s words, Ranson asked,

“What reasons? Did something happen in Teravita?”

Rita hesitated to speak. Ranson urged her to answer with his eyes.

“No, we just missed you and…”

“This isn’t a distance you can just come because you missed it.”

Worry poured out without him realizing. At the eldest brother’s raised voice, Rina said tearfully,

“Uncle Jack tried to take sister away.”

Rimon glanced nervously and patted Rina’s shoulder. But the young girl continued speaking regardless.

“Saying she’s grown well and he could make her his bride…”

Ranson clenched his fist. It was shocking because not once in their exchanged letters had they mentioned anything like this.

He thought all the villagers cared for and cherished his siblings.

Was that a naive thought?

“So we told the abbess about Uncle Jack, and she suggested staying at the convent until the uncle returned to the mine, but…”

“But what?”

Rita said with tears in her eyes,

“I just… missed you so much. I wanted to be with you.”

Seeing his sister standing straight, shedding tears without any change in expression, Ranson felt like his heart was being torn apart.

“…I’m sorry.”

How much must she have agonized before deciding to come here with her young siblings?

Ranson caressed Rita’s hands, full of small wounds. If they hadn’t followed him out of the mansion, they would have lived receiving noble treatment even if discriminated against.

Seeing his siblings who only looked to him and depended on him, he felt complicated.

If he became the Duke of Teravita as a pawn in Duke Rumpus’s game, even if he couldn’t remove the illegitimate child label, they could live decently.

He could give Rimon and Rina proper education, and arrange a proper marriage partner for Rita, not someone like Jack.

‘I have no choice.’

Ranson stared at Rita, who had now grown into a proper young lady, for a long time before opening his mouth.

“There’s an empty room upstairs. Put your luggage there and come. Let’s go eat.”

“Brother, we have bread and raspberries…”

“Read the room, you idiot!”

Rina hit the back of Rimon’s head. Seeing the siblings bickering as if about to fight, he couldn’t help but smile.

Rita picked up the luggage bag she had put on the floor and said,

“Brother, I need to wash up, so it might take a little time.”

Ranson nodded, seeing the tear stains on her cheeks.

A few days later.

Askal heard unexpected news from a knight who came to the mansion’s office.

“…So that sculptor is indeed the illegitimate child of the Duke of Teravita.”

“Has the fact-checking been completed?”

“Yes.”

He was the knight assigned to escort Schmidt when she went to the port to see off the merchant ship. He followed Anna and Ranson when he saw them being captured by thugs, and thanks to that, he was able to eavesdrop on the conversation between Duke Rumpus and Ranson.

“However, I couldn’t find out for certain why he’s in Artenbach. If I had to guess, he might have come here to earn a living because he wasn’t receiving proper support from Teravita.”

Askal recalled the statue in the mansion garden. He suspected Ranson might have come here because there’s no better place than Artenbach to earn money in the art field.

“For now, keep watching. Report immediately if he does anything that could harm the young lady or if there’s any suspicious movement.”

“Yes.”

After the knight left.

Left alone, Askal stared at the documents with a serious face before closing them. He couldn’t focus on reading the letters at all.

‘Why did he approach the young lady while hiding his identity?’

Not knowing that Schmidt approached Ranson first, not the other way around, he was suspecting on his own.

As he recalled every little thing and confirmed Ranson as a rival.

Knock knock.

Someone came to the office. Askal cleared his throat, feeling unnecessarily embarrassed.

“Askal, do you have a moment?”

It was Schmidt who appeared opening the door. He stood up and approached her.

“Is something the matter?”

“I have something to discuss.”

“Have a seat first.”

At Askal’s suggestion, Schmidt naturally sat on the sofa and waited for him to sit opposite her. Then she carefully opened her mouth.

“I wanted to talk about Ranson for a moment.”

Askal’s eyebrows twitched.

“I got an urgent message to meet during the day, so I went to Black Swan, and Ranson had brought his siblings.”

“Hmm.”

“Then he asked me if I could let his siblings stay at the Artenbach mansion for the time being.”

“They’re staying here?”

“Yes. He said the Artenbach mansion is the safest place right now.”

Askal secretly sighed as he looked at Schmidt, who was showing guilt on her face.

“He told me his real name, saying Duke Rumpus is after his siblings.”

“Hmm.”

“Did you know, Askal?”

Meeting her eyes, Askal couldn’t bring himself to lie.

“I only found out recently too.”

“I see. Then this will go faster.”

Schmidt revealed the fact that Duke Rumpus was trying to make Ranson the Duke of Teravita. This was also information he already knew.

“So, I was wondering if it would be alright to bring Ranson’s siblings to Artenbach?”

“Is that what you want?”

At Askal’s question, Schmidt nodded.

“If that’s what the young lady wants, then do it.”

“Really?”

Although he didn’t like having the siblings of an internal rival close to Schmidt, he wanted to grant whatever she wished for.

“Yes. However, I’d like to meet him once. His siblings too.”

“Of course, that’s only natural.”

Schmidt smiled brightly, saying it was a relief. He smiled the same way.

Silence fell in the office. As Schmidt seemed about to reluctantly get up, having finished her business, Askal hastily opened his mouth.

“Oh right, Viscount Tirel said he finished drafting the marriage declaration and plans to coordinate the schedule with the cardinal.”

“Ah, I see. Then shall we discuss a good date before going on the subjugation?”

She sat back down just as she was about to stand up. Askal deliberately hid his pleasure as he took out a notepad and pen from the desk drawer.