Eyes the color of violets gazed at each other.

“……”

“……?”

“……”

“……Father?”

“You’re using magic.”

“W-well, Mother’s baby, so……”

The child averted their gaze slightly as they spoke. It was a reaction that suggested they felt somewhat guilty about something.

In this situation, many noble men would doubt their wife’s fidelity, but……

‘For that to be the case, those two should look a bit more alike.’

Aeli could confidently assert her innocence. That couldn’t be faked even with magic.

The child was well past the age of believing babies were made by just holding hands.

Unless she had miraculously conceived life alone through divine blessing, it was an established fact that it takes two to tango.

And in Aeli’s memory, there had only been one person she had tangoed with in her life.

“……”

“First,”

Lutis, who had been by Aeli’s side for most of her life, couldn’t have been unaware of this.

As the child stared up at him blankly, Lutis paused before speaking.

“……First, stop that.”

“But!”

“I’ll bring you paper and ink. So stop it.”

This was possible because there were only three people in the study – the child, Lutis, and the servant. Four if you counted Aeli, the ghost.

“……Really?”

“Yes.”

Lutis must have also known the need to keep this situation under wraps to prevent rumors from spreading.

Given the circumstances, it was better to keep the subject close at hand.

It would be easier to monitor and deal with unexpected situations that way.

As if he had made these calculations in an instant, Lutis rose from the couch he was sitting on and placed paper and ink in front of the child, saying:

“However, unnecessary contact is forbidden. Even if bound by contract, you can’t just stay in the mansion as a guest. Your status will be that of a servant, but I’ll choose your duties myself.”

“……”

“Going out is only allowed with permission. Otherwise, you’ll stay as a live-in servant. Any actions harmful to the master are strictly prohibited.”

“……That all seems a bit too much, except for the last part.”

“Originally, considering that the perpetrator of the embezzlement wasn’t you and the misappropriated assets were intact, I was being lenient. Now I’m also taking into account that you were injured while protecting your former master.”

“……”

“If you still don’t like it, there’s no choice but to proceed with the trial as originally planned-”

“T-this seems good!”

The child, who had been timidly objecting to Lutis’s uncompromising statements, quickly backed down.

In truth, this was Lutis’s own way of stepping back a bit for the child’s sake.

Although the servant had witnessed the child using magic, keeping them close and under surveillance wasn’t necessarily the most secure way to silence them.

‘It’s not like there are only one or two nobles who treat commoners’ lives like pebbles on the road.’

By their standards, destroying evidence meant making it as if nothing had happened from the start.

If the witness disappeared, it would be as if nothing had occurred – there could be no clearer way of cleaning up.

However, the Lutis that Aeli knew wasn’t the type to take human life so lightly, so he must have been considering the servant’s various circumstances and accommodating the child’s wishes, as he had just said.

“So…… can I do it?”

“Yes.”

“No, not you, Father……”

“……Ah.”

The servant’s eyes widened at the child who glanced at them while trailing off, and quickly bowed deeply.

“……Thank you for your mercy, young master.”

“Mm…… thank…… you…… don’t…… have to……”

The child mumbled, stretching out their words, as they diligently wrote down the conditions Lutis had stipulated on the paper.

After adding a clause to keep silent about everything that had happened in the study so far, that is.

The child blinked for a moment and then placed their hand over the paper. A golden light, different from before, seeped into the paper.

“Oh, right.”

Eventually, the writing on the paper glowed golden before rising into the air and thinning like a thread.

The child turned their head as if they had just remembered something and opened their mouth.

“But I…… This is my first time doing this.”

“……What?”

“No, I can still do it well!”

Considering that the backlash of a failed spell would fall entirely on the caster, it was an astonishing statement.

A panicked Lutis quickly reached out to stop them.

“Wait……!”

But the golden thread-like light enveloping the servant’s body was faster.

It was a reaction no different from Aeli’s just moments ago.

Several days passed after that.

The child had assigned the servant the position of librarian in the study. It seemed they had tried to give a job with less walking or physical labor, but considering the volume of books in the study, it was by no means an easy task.

‘They looked busy……’

Even though the child was the only one using the library, just fetching the books they asked for and reorganizing them was a lot of work.

Given that such a large space had to be cleaned daily, it was bound to be busy.

Separate from that, Aeli felt strange about the servant who was getting along quite well with the child, contrary to her worries of the past few days.

‘I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about this.’

If you think about it, or rather without even thinking about it, it was an ill-fated relationship.

But perhaps they could have gotten along peacefully like this without such a tragedy.

When she made such assumptions, she had no idea what expression she should make.

Unaware of Aeli’s feelings, the child was on their way to the library today as well, saying they liked it.

-Does Adi like that servant that much?

“Hmm…… not exactly, but……”

-Hm?

“He’s like an elder brother. He plays with me well, protects me, and doesn’t hate me even though I made him unable to understand.”

The servant, who had to stay alone in the study all day until bedtime since no one else could enter except the child, must be lonely. That’s why the child said they visited the study every day.

Aeli had seen for herself that he played well with the child. The part about protection seemed to refer to when the child was still a baby, as Lutis had mentioned.

‘He does have a good personality…… that’s true.’

No matter how great the difference in status, it was still an employer-employee relationship.

In the process, he had been injured and left with a permanent disability, but there was no sign of negative feelings towards the child.

To say it was an act would be an understatement, as the look in his eyes when he saw the child was genuinely pleased.

-I think Adi likes that servant quite a bit.

“……Me?”

-Yes. You call Mari just Mari, but you always call him ‘elder brother’. And it seemed like you knew his name when I saw you last time. Don’t you think?

“That’s……”

The child repeatedly mumbled as if they had a lot to say. As Aeli blinked her eyes at the child’s expression, which seemed too serious for a five-year-old, it happened.

Bang.

“Have you arrived, young master?”

“Yeah. Today, I want to read a fairy tale book.”

The child said as they opened the door to the study and entered.

At that, the servant with pinkish-red hair bowed and went somewhere to fetch a book. Along with the words that he would be back soon, so please wait a moment.

“……”

-Adi?

The child was about to sit in what seemed to be their designated seat, walking with small steps, but stopped.

After hesitating for a while, they suddenly moved towards the most secluded area among the rows of bookshelves. It was where the window seat was located.

As Aeli called out to the child, unable to hide her curiosity, the child rubbed their eyes with one hand and answered.

“Today, I want to sit somewhere else. I want to take a nap……”

-Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to go back to your room for a nap?

“Mm…… I like the sun’s warmth here the best.”

With those words, the child climbed onto the window seat, leaned back, and half-lay down, blinking slowly. It was a face clearly covered in drowsiness.

Just as the child was about to fall asleep after lying like that for a while.

“Young master, I’ve selected a few popular fairy tales from the capital-”

The servant who came looking for the child with an armful of books stopped in his tracks when he saw the child who was on the verge of sleep.

Aeli clicked her tongue softly at the sight of the books, which seemed to number at least five.

It was surprising that he had brought so many in such a short time.

‘The books all look quite thick and heavy.’

Seeing him come here without a cane on that leg, she thought he must have quite strong muscles.

The child, sensing the servant’s presence, slowly straightened up.

“Yeah…… I’ll read a little and then sleep before I go.”

“Then I’ll bring you a blanket.”

“……You don’t have to.”

“It’s autumn now, so it might be chilly for sleeping even with the sunlight. Winter is coming soon, and if you catch a cold, you might suffer for a while.”

At the servant’s words, the child hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Before the servant turned around, the child opened their mouth to ask.

“By the way.”

“Yes.”

“……Don’t you hate me? Because of me, you couldn’t become a knight.”

The servant paused and opened his light pink eyes wide at the child’s words. It meant how did they know he had wanted to become a knight.

“Ah, um…… Your way of speaking seems different from others. ……Similar to the guards. Also, you’re very strong……”

“If you can deduce this much from that, young master, you’ll surely grow up to be a very smart adult. You’re already so perceptive, the future of the empire looks bright.”

Despite hearing the servant’s words, the child’s face remained uneasy as they cautiously observed.

The servant added:

“Originally, from around the age of thirteen, my dream was to become a knight. But my father, who was the head servant, opposed it, so I had put aside becoming a knight for a while and was learning to be a servant.”

“Mm……”

“I heard that even if you hold a sword from the time you can walk, it’s difficult to obtain a knight’s title. I might have failed even if my body had been fine.”

“……”

“It wasn’t your fault, young master. Although I couldn’t become a knight, if I had run away leaving a helpless baby behind just to live for myself, I wouldn’t have been able to face myself even if I had achieved my dream.”

“……”

“At least I don’t regret that choice. I acted according to my beliefs and protected what I needed to, so I’m satisfied with that. I’m rather grateful that you’ve grown up well, young master.”

Then I’ll go get the blanket for a moment, the servant said with a faint smile.

In the end, the child couldn’t easily fall asleep for a long time even after the servant brought the blanket.

That evening.

“I think I’ll need to visit the territory soon.”

Lutis spoke up in the middle of dinner.