Late night.

After putting Jediel to sleep, Veronia went down to the kitchen but instead of making herbal tea, she headed straight to the bedroom. Onyx was waiting.

“Thank you so much for today.”

“I just helped because it was something I could do.”

As always, Onyx shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly in response to the words of gratitude.

“If it weren’t for you, I might have had to face that person directly. Of course, he wouldn’t have recognized my changed appearance.”

“Is that person perhaps Jediel’s biological father?”

Onyx asked bluntly. It was necessary to know such matters clearly.

Veronia was momentarily flustered by the sudden question, but soon nodded and answered.

“… Yes, that’s right.”

“I thought as much.”

Onyx slowly rubbed his chin with his arms crossed. It was a habit of his that emerged when he was flustered and couldn’t immediately continue speaking.

Though he had guessed it, when the affirmative answer came, he was at a loss for words. To think Jediel’s biological father was the Duke of Drea! The most respected man in the Empire!

‘I thought I heard that the Imperial Princess and her fiancé weren’t as close as the rumors suggested, was that incorrect information?’

Feeling inexplicably irritated, Onyx asked again in a dry tone.

“What do you plan to do from now on?”

“Should we move our residence after all? I think I was too complacent. I thought it would be better to hide among the masses in a big city, but I guess I was wrong.”

“…”

“I thought it would be fine since the living spheres of nobles and commoners are completely different… but that was a mistaken idea too.”

Veronia poured out words of self-reproach. Hoo, a deep sigh filled with anguish flowed from her lips.

Onyx stared blankly at Veronia. There was the face of a mother worried about her child’s safety.

“It’s not good to move hastily. It’s obvious that would only arouse suspicion.”

“Then what should we do? Just stay like this?”

“That’s right. We should act as if nothing’s wrong. That’s the best course of action. But you should avoid meeting the Duke of Drea.”

“…”

Again.

When the name ‘Drea’ came up, Veronia’s eyes trembled slightly.

Seeing her react to that name every time made Onyx feel a bit strange. He felt a baseless pain somewhere in his chest.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but it wasn’t a particularly good feeling.

“Nia, I think it would be difficult for you to maintain your composure if you met the Duke of Drea.”

“You’re right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Killian was in the portrait room on the fifth floor again today.

He recalled Jediel when they met again, looking at the old portrait hanging above the fireplace.

‘Oh? It’s the mister I saw yesterday! The candy mister, right? The handsome mister!’

The cute face that recognized him first and smiled brightly was vivid.

‘I’m glad to see you too, mister! Oh! My name is Jediel. What’s yours?’

He even told his name before being asked. He was a confident and clever child.

‘Just like elder brother Aaron…’

The more he looked, the more he found it amazing how many similarities there were to elder brother Aaron.

“Elder brother… Who could that child be? Why do I keep thinking about him? Why… do I keep wanting to see him…”

As if he were a long-lost dear person I’ve been searching for. Killian downed the whiskey in his glass in one gulp after letting out a lament.

A burning sensation flowed down his esophagus, but instead his mind seemed to become clearer.

‘That man…’

Suddenly, the man next to Jediel came to mind. Jediel had clearly said he lived with his great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and mother…

‘Then that man doesn’t seem to be a family member… Who could he be?’

A distant relative? Or a neighbor? Maybe a friend of his mother or a lover! Killian continued his train of thought.

‘But he looks familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen him somewhere before…’

He was a man with such a strong impression that it would be difficult to mistake him for someone else. But strangely, I couldn’t remember where I had seen him at all.

“Where did I see that man…?”

Deep wrinkles formed between Killian’s brows as he tried to recall his memory.

Early morning, Killian’s office.

“Have you arrived, Your Excellency?”

“Yes.”

Aide Windler greeted Killian. He seemed to be in high spirits, probably due to leaving the palace early yesterday.

Windler said with a grin.

“The weather is so nice today! Not a single cloud in the clear sky. I feel like something good is bound to happen!”

In contrast to Windler’s excited tone, a dry voice flowed from Killian’s mouth.

“Plan a project that can be closely linked with the kindergarten affiliated to the Imperial Ordinary Academy.”

“What? Su-suddenly? The Imperial… where?”

“The kindergarten affiliated to the Imperial Ordinary Academy. I know it’s quite a successful institution, so create a plan that can be applied using it as a model.”

“Ah, yes. I understand, Your Excellency.”

Windler felt bewildered by Killian’s sudden request, but for now, he had to nod.

If he asked another stupid question, some part of his body might be cut off under Killian’s sharp gaze.

‘But you know… There should be a problem first, and then we should use the kindergarten as a model to solve it! This is like… find a problem that can be solved using the kindergarten as a model…’

Isn’t this order backwards? Windler tilted his head but quickly jotted down the contents in his notebook so as not to forget.

However, Killian had one more strange order.

“Oh, and investigate what can be done to improve the environment and enhance the convenience of the separate palace.”

“What? What do you mean by that…?”

Windler became dumbfounded once again. No matter how much he racked his brain, it was difficult to grasp the true intention of the order.

Like a riddle.

“What… aspect would you like me to focus on examining, Your Excellency?”

“Focus… I’ve heard that many new and convenient magic tools have been developed recently.”

As Killian began to elaborate, life returned to Windler’s eyes.

Ah, so that’s what it was! You wanted to talk about magic tools! Now he could roughly guess Killian’s intentions.

“Find out if there are any among them that could be utilized to improve the work environment in the separate palace. Collect opinions from other administrators as well.”

“Ah… Yes. I understand.”

Windler nodded while quickly writing down the details. And he thought to himself.

‘This time, you mean to plan a project that can be closely linked with the magic tower research institute.’

Even as he bowed politely and left the office, Windler’s thoughts continued to race.

‘But why suddenly a kindergarten? Why magic tools?’

Although Windler had been by Killian’s side for nearly 10 years, there were still times when it was difficult to follow his intentions. Especially in cases like this.

‘What wind has blown this time?’

He didn’t think it was an unreasonable order, given how much attention he paid to the quality of life of the imperial citizens.

‘Just… It looks like an all-night work session is expected today…’

The feeling that something good would happen, which he had felt when looking at the clear sky in the morning, turned out to be completely illusory.

In the bathroom, Veronia was scrubbing Jediel, who was covered in bubbles. She paused while washing his hair and stared at the child’s face.

‘Does he resemble Killian?’

No, no. Veronia shook her head. She didn’t feel much resemblance.

Rather, the golden hair and the fine jawline resembled herself.

‘The eyes and nose seem to resemble Killian a little bit…’

What about the ears? Do they resemble my ears? The eyebrows? Let’s see… While she was carefully examining various parts of the child’s face, Jediel asked, perhaps finding his mother’s gaze strange.

“Mom, what is it?”

“Ah… It’s nothing. Just. I was looking to see how much more handsome our Jediel has become.”

“That’s right! I met that mister yesterday.”

“That mister?”

“Yes. The handsome mister who picked up the candy for me at the market that time.”

It was a story she already knew from Onyx, but Veronia pretended to hear it for the first time.

“Really? But how did you recognize him? Do you remember his face? You only saw him briefly.”

“I’ve never seen such a handsome mister before, so I could remember.”

Hehe, the child grinned widely, pleased about something.

“That mister seems like a nice mister. His name is cool too. He said it was Killian.”

Ha, they even exchanged names? Veronia despaired. For a moment, her heart dried up crispy.

“But he’s still a stranger. You know you shouldn’t follow him or anything like that, right?”

“Even though we know each other’s names now?”

“Yes, you can’t.”

Veronia shook her head firmly. And she continued with a forceful voice.

“All you know about that mister is his face and name. You must never meet him alone or follow him.”

“Okay.”

Jediel nodded immediately.

Early morning, Killian’s office.

“Have you arrived, Your Excellency?”

“Yes.”

Aide Windler greeted Killian.

Having stayed up all night, Windler’s face looked dark and his dull eyes made him appear quite dispirited. Fatigue was plastered all over his face.

As soon as Killian sat at his desk, he got straight to the point.

“How’s the matter about the affiliated kindergarten I mentioned yesterday? Has there been any progress?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. Here it is.”

Windler immediately handed the documents to Killian.

It was a display of his competence as an aide.

“There’s a suggestion to designate orphanages across the empire as Imperial Orphanages for direct state management and supervision.”

“Hmm…”

Killian focused on examining the documents.