“It may be somewhat sudden, but……”

“……”

“Most of what you need is already prepared, I was told. For any additional items that need to be brought over, I will have the servants move them later, but for now, the priority is to move to the new room……”

By the time the servant finished speaking, the child had already sat up from their lying position.

With wide eyes as if in disbelief, the child who had been keeping their mouth tightly shut cleared their throat and asked.

“Wasn’t I supposed to just keep living here…?”

“When you first returned to your true nature, I believe the head servant explained that this was temporary accommodation.”

“Well… that’s true.”

The problem is that was said over four months ago. The child seemed unable to speak their mind in front of the servant, so they rolled their eyes and looked at Aeli.

Seeing the plea for help in the child’s eyes, Aeli approached and spoke.

−Do you want to go take a look first? After preparing for so long, I think your father must have given you a very nice room. If not…

“……”

−If you don’t like it, just go lie down. I can tell the kitchen to put lots of spices in the pre-meal soup to make it spicy.

“……?”

As Aeli continued speaking, the child’s head tilted more and more until it was bent at a 90-degree angle.

Though their expression said they’d heard some strange things, Aeli was quite sincere.

She already knew well that Lutis couldn’t handle spicy food, so she wanted to see just how properly they had prepared.

‘It should have all been ready anyway.’

She thought they deserved that much teasing if the expectations weren’t met, after making them wait so long for a room that could have been ready with just changing some furniture and carpets.

Of course, not her but the child.

“The new quarters are prepared not on this floor, but on the floor directly below. It’s the room next to the center of the second floor hallway, so you can just go down like this.”

“……”

“If… if it’s difficult for you to move right now, I’ll go back and relay that to the Duke.”

“Uh… huh?”

Unintentionally, while talking with Aeli, the child had ended up keeping the servant standing there without a response.

After observing for a moment, the servant cautiously spoke. Aeli, who had been watching the child open and close their mouth while stretching out their words, decided to help and reached out her hand.

She poked the child’s shoulder with her finger, and the child who had been fidgeting with their toes turned their head slightly.

−What do you want to do, Adi?

“……”

−From what the servant is saying, that room is probably right next to your father’s−

“I, I’ll go! I want to go!”

“…Pardon?”

“Let’s go!”

Before Aeli could finish speaking, the child jumped up on the bed and ran over to where the servant was standing.

“Then… I’ll guide you right away.”

Surprised by the sudden change, the servant soon regained composure, nodded, and led the child.

And quietly following behind, they went down the stairs.

Aeli clicked her tongue softly as the servant stopped in front of the exact door she had expected.

At last, the door opened.

“Wow……”

−…….

As the child looked around the room with wide eyes, Aeli stared blankly in disbelief, constantly darting her eyes around.

‘This is just… exactly the room I had prepared before?’

It looked a bit different from the room she had seen before going to the annex to find the child.

Though not enough time had passed for the room to become ruins.

Originally, spaces where people stay would show signs of use over time if left unused. That was true even for the child’s room that she had prepared.

“This… I get to use this?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

However, it was spotlessly clean without even a hint of fading, exactly as it had been on the day she first showed this room to Lutis.

There wasn’t even the slightest trace of the passage of time to be found.

As if answering Aeli’s thoughts, the head servant spoke.

“I heard it was a room prepared for the young master by the late Duchess. But since quite some time had passed……”

“……”

“Even though the servants took turns maintaining it, we failed to preserve it completely, and it was not suitable for immediate use. Also, since the Duke wished to pass it on to the young master exactly as the mistress had left it−”

They had called in craftsmen to restore it, which is why it took a long time, so please understand. That was the gist of it.

So the reason it took so long to provide a proper room was not because Lutis was unnecessarily delaying or being lazy, but…

‘They restored all of this without changing anything?’

At the time, it was a room created by summoning master craftsmen from all over the country.

Given the time that had passed, it must not have been easy just to find and gather those craftsmen from back then to fill the gap.

Aeli’s mouth fell open involuntarily. The servant brought something from one side of the room and handed it to the child.

“The Duke also instructed me to give this to the young master. And……”

“……”

“He said, ‘Happy belated birthday.'”

The child who received a stuffed animal small enough to fit in their arms from the servant opened their mouth slightly.

They kept touching it as if checking the sensation of the cotton lump in their hands.

A rabbit doll that showed signs of being well-maintained, but couldn’t hide the fact that it was an old object with visible wear.

It was quite shabby for a gift given by the head of an imperial ducal family, but…

−He still had that all this time? …Without throwing it away?

Aeli, who knew what that doll was, couldn’t help but be surprised.

It was something they had since quite long ago, when Aeli and Lutis were a bit older than the child.

[There’s a break in the story here, indicating a flashback or memory] [Hey, why do you always just read there? Aren’t you bored?] […It’s none of your business. Don’t bother me and go away.] [I came to read too, you know? And this is my house. I don’t want to leave, I’m staying here!] […..] [Hey, hey! Wait a minute! I didn’t mean for you to leave! Don’t go!]

It was a day when they almost got into a fight because she provoked Lutis without really intending to read. It wasn’t said deliberately, but…

She just wanted to play together and was hanging around, but spoke without considering Lutis’s situation.

Thinking about it now, he must have been hurt at that time.

[If you don’t want to leave your house, what else can I say but to leave? You think I want to be here…!] [Mmm, that’s right. I said it wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll apologize.] […..] [So we’re friends now, right?] […What?] [Here, a gift! I’ll give this to you to commemorate becoming friends. It’s a doll my mom made for me. I begged a lot to get it, so you have to treasure it.]

And then she unilaterally handed over the gift, saying they were friends from now on.

Even she thought it was quite reckless then and now, but given Lutis’s personality at the time, it probably wouldn’t have been easy to get close if she hadn’t approached like that, so she thought it wasn’t a bad start.

After that, whenever she visited Lutis’s room, she could always see the doll placed by the window.

After graduating from the academy, she returned to Ratliff to inherit her title, and at some point stopped looking for the doll’s whereabouts.

‘Even after getting married…’

Since it wasn’t seen at all, she thought he had thrown it away at some point. They were already past the age of playing with dolls.

That’s why even Aeli, who had given the gift, had forgotten about it at some point.

−…….

She never expected he would have kept it all this time.

“Cu-cute… Smells nice.”

The child mumbled, rubbing their flushed cheeks against the doll.

The room perfectly restored to its original state and the doll that had clearly been cherished.

Feeling suddenly breathless, Aeli propped her head with her hand on her forehead and bit her lip.

‘…Ah.’

She just now remembered that Lutis wasn’t the type to easily approach and act affectionately towards others.

Except for very long ago, it didn’t apply to her.

She had forgotten. In fact, she couldn’t even jokingly say he was sensitive or considerate.

“But you know… Is Dad’s room nearby?”

“Yes. Originally, this bedroom was about two-thirds its current size, with a reception room in between, but that part was opened up and expanded.”

“Wow……”

“So if you open the door next to the bed and enter, it directly connects to the Duke’s bedroom.”

“Ooooh……”

The child, who had sat on the bed at some point while exploring the room, brightened their eyes as they listened to the servant’s explanation.

Watching this, Aeli blankly looked down at her own hands.

She had thought that just putting things in the child’s hands without any explanation or excuse for neglecting them all this time was merely avoiding and running away.

−…….

Crying and clinging wasn’t the only way to apologize.

For someone with an aloof personality, struggling to match the child’s conversation, searching for craftsmen to restore the room, and placing a cherished doll in their hands was…

Probably Lutis’s own way of atoning.

It’s true that he used these methods because he couldn’t muster the courage to speak directly.

But unless the person who should receive the apology was Aeli herself, she had no right to criticize him for not atoning in the way she wanted.

“Where is Dad now?”

“At this hour, he’s probably in his office……”

“Can I go?”

“There were no instructions prohibiting visits, but… he tends to get irritable during work, so I don’t recommend it.”

“Mmm… then please tell Dad thank you for the room and the doll.”

“Understood.”

I thought about it, and I don’t think Dad hates me after all. Aeli lowered her gaze at the words that came so quietly the servant couldn’t hear.

The child already knew that.

She felt like a fool.

[This is the timeline separator]

And that evening.

“……”

“……”

“I… I’m going to sleep here tonight.”

“……”

The child who came to Lutis’s bedroom with the gifted rabbit doll tucked under their arm declared.