There was no way that could be true.

Rosette had become so healthy that there was no trace of her time at the orphanage. Of course, her hair was also glossy now.

But a mangy foal?

However, Rosette was still too shy to question a boy she was meeting for the first time. She fiddled with the ends of her hair that Joanne had neatly braided and mumbled.

“That’s not true…”

“What’s not true? You said we’re the same age, but you’re shorter.”

“That’s!”

There was nothing she could really refute. Rosette was still slightly shorter than her peers.

“But I’ve grown a lot.”

“What? Then how short were you before? Didn’t you eat well before going to Adrian?”

“No. I ate well before too.”

The nameless child snickered. The mocking tone was evident, so Rosette quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, who are you?”

“Me?”

The boy’s face scrunched up strangely.

“You don’t know me?”

“I don’t.”

“You don’t know me, Anthony Huxley?”

Ah, so this boy’s name is Anthony. But so what?

While pondering blankly, Rosette realized something and her eyes widened.

‘If it’s Huxley, wasn’t he the one who followed Elisha around saying he liked her?’

In the past, the Huxley viscounty had proposed marriage to Elisha. However, Duke Dallas neither accepted nor rejected it, just kept postponing.

‘Duke Dallas’s ultimate goal was to make Elisha the empress.’

In any case, just the thought that the Anthony boy in front of her had a connection to Elisha made her body stiffen.

‘No. It has nothing to do with me now!’

Regardless of past events, the current Rosette didn’t know Anthony. So she gathered courage and said,

“Is it not possible to not know? Do people have to know you?”

“W-what?”

“You didn’t know my name either.”

“This, really…!”

Anthony suddenly pushed Rosette’s shoulder. Rosette lost her balance for a moment and fell on her bottom.

Not just Anthony, but even the watching children burst into laughter. No one offered to help Rosette up.

It was just as Rosette was bravely getting up on her own to retort to Anthony.

[Beep!]

What? Who’s bullying our Rosette!

Pipi, who had been looking around for a moment, sensed something was wrong and flew over.

[Beep!]

Hey, you little runt! Want to taste my beak?

Seeing Pipi, Anthony burst into laughter.

“Puhahaha, what is this bird? You bring something like this around?”

“It’s, it’s my familiar!”

Even children who didn’t study magic generally knew about familiars.

Rosette didn’t want to brag about summoning a familiar, but she couldn’t stand to see Pipi being disrespected.

‘If they know Pipi is a familiar, at least they won’t disrespect him.’

Pipi seemed to understand this and puffed out his chest on Rosette’s shoulder.

[Beep!]

Ahem. I am Rosette’s familiar, Pipi.

However, Anthony had an unexpected reaction.

“What? A familiar? This thing?”

Then he laughed even louder than before.

“Puhahaha! It’s as pathetic as you are!”

[Beep…]

Pipi felt dejected.

If only I were a scary animal like Silver. I don’t have sharp teeth or claws. Even my wings are too small compared to other birds.

Rosette tickled Pipi’s chin.

‘Even though you don’t have sharp teeth or claws, to me you’re a better familiar than any other.’

When she said that inwardly, Pipi, understanding her thoughts, brightened up.

[Beep?]

Really? Better than Silver?

‘Yes, much better than Silver.’

Pleased with that answer, Pipi chirped a clear song.

Anthony was still laughing until then. As if that wasn’t enough, he started calling his friends.

“Hey! Come over here and look at this! I thought familiars were supposed to be amazing, but I guess not.”

Five or six children surrounded Rosette and observed her and Pipi. Pipi puffed up his feathers as much as possible to look bigger and chattered away.

Rosette, who had unconsciously shrunk from the children’s teasing, recalled Isabel’s words once again.

−Your name is Rosette Adrian.

−Just remember that. Then you’ll be able to get through today safely.

At first, for a very brief moment, she thought it meant not to tarnish the Adrian name like Duke Dallas.

But Rosette quickly dismissed that thought. Isabel wasn’t the type of person to mean it that way.

Then why did Isabel remind Rosette of a name she already knew well?

It was because.

‘It meant there are people protecting me.’

It meant to do as you please because Adrian is behind you. If there’s a problem, Adrian will protect you.

In fact, it didn’t make sense for the children to disrespect Rosette in the first place.

However, to the children, Rosette being from a commoner background seemed more significant than her being an Adrian.

That’s why they were teasing her like this.

If she got scared and backed down here, they would look down on her even more.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Rosette straightened her shoulders proudly and glared at Anthony.

“Don’t disrespect my familiar.”

“What?”

“Pipi may be small, but he’s much smarter and more capable than you think.”

Anthony flinched for a moment, then shouted again.

“Lies. What can that thing do?”

“You know what? Pipi can even breathe fire.”

“What?”

Anthony was momentarily flustered. Seeing this, Pipi opened his beak as wide as possible.

[Beeeep!]

But nothing came out of the small mouth. One second, two seconds, three seconds. Silence fell.

But realizing that nothing was coming out after all, Anthony smirked and pressed Rosette’s forehead.

“Hey, squirt. Where do you get off lying?”

“Don’t call me squirt.”

That’s a nickname only elder brother Lucas can use. And sometimes Prince Joshua.

“Oh my, how scary. Did you think I’d say ‘I’m sorry’ if you said that?”

“Pipi.”

Receiving Rosette’s signal, Pipi let out another cry with all his might.

[Beeeeeep!]

“So about that fire…”

It was at that moment when Anthony was sneering. Fire spewed from Pipi’s mouth.

The fireball that came from Pipi’s body grew larger than Pipi himself and grazed past Anthony’s face.

“Eek!”

Anthony’s curly reddish-brown hair was singed black. It even smoked.

Anthony, turning pale, stumbled backwards.

“H-h-h-how?”

“I told you. Pipi can breathe fire.”

[Beep!]

Pipi, who was surprised at first, now became triumphant.

“He can do other things too. Want to see?”

“No! It’s fine!”

Anthony hurriedly ran back to where his friends were.

The children’s gazes towards Rosette had changed a bit from before. They were still not friendly, that much was the same.

‘Making friends is out of the question.’

But she wasn’t sad. For Rosette, protecting Adrian was more important than making friends.

‘And I have Pipi.’

Rosette stroked Pipi, who was rejoicing, ‘I drove them away!’

Of course, the fireball Pipi spewed was actually created by Rosette’s magic. Thanks to growing her mana core over the past few months, she could now use this level of magic.

In fact, Pipi didn’t originally have such abilities.

‘Dad said not to use magic until my body grows bigger, but.’

This much should be okay, right?

No, I think I’ll get scolded if I’m caught.

Rosette whispered softly to Pipi.

“Today’s incident is a secret from Dad.”

[Beep.]

“What’s a secret?”

“Eek!”

Startled by the sudden voice, Rosette cried out and turned around.

Joshua was standing a couple of steps away. His bangs, which usually covered his forehead, were swept back and fixed in place.

“Y-you startled me.”

Rosette clutched her pounding heart.

“When did you get here?”

“Let’s see. From when you said that bird could breathe fire?”

Then he had seen almost everything. Rosette asked with a sinking feeling.

“Are you going to tell Dad everything?”

“Well. It depends on what you do.”

“Ugh. But what brings you here?”

“It’s a party held by Her Imperial Majesty, so I came. I also heard you were coming. Looks like you made quite a hot debut. Literally hot.”

Rosette groaned. Joshua chuckled and nodded towards the table.

“Go sit down. Her Imperial Majesty will be here soon.”

“Yes.”

Rosette watched Joshua giving instructions to the servants before sitting down in a random seat.

Joshua sat down a little later in a specially prepared elaborate chair.

Soon, the children also started taking their seats one by one. They all filled in the seats farthest from Rosette first.

Even with only the seat next to Rosette left, the children who couldn’t sit looked upset.

By this point, Rosette felt like she had become an unwelcome guest.

‘Did I cause trouble?’

As she was starting to regret not being a little more patient even if she was angry, it happened.

“What’s this, are you all scared?”

A girl with flaming red hair stood up abruptly. Then the blonde-haired girl next to her also stood up carefully.

“How timid. Let’s go over there, Teresa. Is that okay?”

“Yes. If Clara is fine with it, I am too.”

The two children sat down on either side of Rosette as if to make a point.

Clara, the red-haired girl, rested her chin on her hand and stared at Rosette.

“Hello?”

“Umm? Hello.”

“I’m Clara Zeller. The second daughter of the Zeller count family. I have an older sister. This is my friend Teresa.”

“Hello? I’m Teresa Southern. I’m the youngest. I have two older brothers above me.”

Zeller and Southern. These were surnames she hadn’t heard before. That meant they weren’t families entangled with the Dallas family in the past.

She felt an inexplicable fondness for them.

“Hello, I’m…”

“We know. Rosette Adrian. That idiot Anthony introduced you earlier.”

Clara grinned. Her mischievous expression somewhat resembled Lucas.

“Your familiar was really cool. Breathing fire. Just like a dragon from a fairy tale.”

Teresa whispered calmly. Rosette felt a slight guilt for deceiving these kind children.

After pondering, she whispered softly enough for only the two children to hear.

“Actually, Pipi can’t breathe fire.”

“What?”

“But he breathed fire earlier?”

Rosette’s voice became even quieter.

“That was me.”

Will they dislike me for being a liar? I thought we could become friends.

As Rosette was feeling dejected, Clara exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow, that’s even cooler.”

“Huh?”

“It means you can already use such magic. Right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I’ve always wanted a magician friend.”

Teresa quietly agreed.

“Me too.”

“Really?”

“Yes! The Zeller family has been a knight family for generations.”

“Our Southern family is a scholar family.”

“Umm. Our Adrian is…”

“We know! A great knight family!”

Clara grinned.

“That’s why it’s even more fascinating. A magician in Adrian! Surely the Duke must have brought you in because you have amazing talent?”

It was true, but it was embarrassing to admit it directly.

“N-not really.”

“What do you mean not really!”

Clara laughed heartily. It was a pleasant laugh.