No matter how much money was offered, could it not buy the information about a close friend?

“What I want isn’t any grand information. I just want to know what the Count has been up to lately, if the royal guard is still searching for a blond boy in Yukana Dar.”

What I wanted to know was whether, as in the original work, Leidox had asked Zermi to impersonate a dead boy as Kian.

In the original, Gillian had stopped searching for Kian because they had impersonated a certain boy who had met death at a young age as Kian.

“Yes. We haven’t stopped searching for a child with blond hair and blue eyes. We are capturing both girls and boys. How about here?”

“There are no blondhaired children in Blake.”

“I see.”

If they had not yet disguised anyone as Kian, it wouldn’t be bad to show them a method.

“There’s a way to stop the king from searching for blondhaired children.”

“How?”

“As you know, there are many blond children in Yukana Dar, and many children die every day from disease. Impersonate one of them as Kian.”

Zermi grimaced, seemingly unable to fathom how that could be done.

“Are you suggesting we use a dead child?”

“Of course, I don’t feel good saying this. However, it’s the only way for the sake of other living children. All you, Zermi, have to do is carve the royal insignia you saw on the back of the dead child’s neck. And the body of that child will not be cremated, but buried carefully inside the royal palace.”

In the original, it was later told that Kian, out of gratitude, continued to keep the child’s body in the palace.

However, an uncomfortable look flickered across Zermi’s face, which had only shown a kindly smile until now.

“Isn’t it because of the prince?”

“Of course, that’s also true. To protect the prince, and to protect the other blond children.”

“I’ll deliver the message to Leidox.”

“Please also tell the Count this. Lucy’s running away will not stop. If you confine a child to prevent Lucy from running away, it will be abuse. If you want to stop Lucy from running away, it would be good to have the prince give lessons to the crown prince.”

“That’s something I can’t accept either. What does Lucy’s running away have to do with the prince?”

“Because every time Lucy runs away, the prince will safely bring her back.”

Zermi looked at me with strange eyes, scratched his face as if he remembered something.

“Leidox said you can see the future, Countess. Perhaps……”

Zermi glanced at me, scratching his nose, and spoke.

“Can you see my future as well?”

I would know if it were the original future, but now the future has changed, and I don’t know.

“I can’t see the future of everyone and everything. You might be disappointed, but I can’t see your future, Zermi.”

Zermi seemed truly disappointed. The corners of his eyes, which had been filled with expectation, fell instantly.

Zermi, who transformed the training room into all sorts of magic rooms, received quite a lot of money.

And the day Zermi left, it started snowing from the evening, and a heavy snowfall left us unable to move in the duke’s mansion for a few days. It was truly a tremendous snowfall where no carriage could pass.

I was wondering when this snowfall would stop as I watched the outside with Kian.

Durion brought a full load of firewood from outside and put it one by one in the fireplace, yawning, and seeing us, he glanced at us subtly and spoke.

“If you need anything, I’ll go out and buy it, even if I have to pull a sled.”

“No, Durion, we don’t need anything. I just wanted to show Kian outside.”

“Ah. The young master has only been able to go out once since he came here.”

Durion, perhaps concerned that Kian has only been able to go out once, thought hard and suggested with a bright face as if he had a good idea.

“Hmm… How about ice fishing then? I guarantee it will be quite fun!”

Sounds good. Kian has never fished, right?

I readily agreed to Durion’s suggestion.

“That sounds good, doesn’t it? What about you, Kian?”

“I like it too! I’ve only seen fishing in fairy tale books, I’ve never tried it.”

I should also call Sicar.

“Where’s Sicar?”

“He’s in the training room. I’ll go get him.”

“Alright. The weather is likely to be very cold outside, so let’s prepare ourselves fully!”

Ugh… I, I didn’t know it would be this cold?

I came out prepared in my own way, but no matter how warmly I was dressed, it was too cold without a hearth or even a single hot pack. I regretted shivering within less than thirty minutes of arriving at the ice fishing spot.

“Durion. Is ice fishing always this cold? Is there a hearth or something here?”

“This is our first time ice fishing, so we didn’t know it would be this cold. Haha. I apologize, ma’am. I’ll prepare a hearth right away.”

Durion quickly ran off to fetch a hearth.

Sicar sat still without much expression, but his slightly frozen hair suggested he was also feeling the cold. At this moment, Bica, who didn’t show up at all, seemed to be the most enviable.