“I want to… become the biggest bread.”

“So you’re saying you want to enter the chess tournament.”

I nodded. If they refuse to let me enter the chess tournament after hearing that, what kind of stubbornness would that be? If it were up to me, I’d want to enter the youth chess tournament that Baron Kito advised against, but there are more than a couple of issues with that. Among them, Isabel’s reaction was the biggest.

…It won’t work. Let’s postpone convincing her for later. Until then, could I play chess while avoiding Isabel’s gaze?

I became lost in thought. Naturally, I stopped eating, but Yurik held out a chicken dish in front of me. The smell of the roasted dish wafting over snapped me out of my thoughts.

Before I could say anything, Yurik put the chicken dish into my mouth. The smoky flavor spread in my mouth. At the end, the slightly bitter taste made my worries suddenly fly away.

“Do you want more?”

“Yes, yes.”

When I nodded, Yurik picked up a chicken leg. I looked at the leg with the meat sticking out. I thought it would be placed in front of me just like that.

Contrary to my expectations, the chicken leg went onto the plate in front of Yurik. With skillful knife work, Yurik cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and placed them on my plate. Does it have the same meaning as a mother carving meat for her children?

“Sorry. Did I cut it too small?”

“Oh, no. It’s delicious. Thank you, Yurik.”

When I put all the meat on the plate into my mouth, Yurik smiled slightly. He seemed quite proud of this, as he repeatedly put the cut meat on my plate and stared at me several times.

“Oh, me too, me too! Can you give some to your sister!”

What?

Yune, who had been watching this, reached out her arm to the chicken dish at the far end. Yune’s short arms couldn’t reach it well. When things didn’t go as planned, Yune grunted and raised her waist.

Just as Yune was about to smile with the chicken dish barely within reach of her hand, it happened.

Yune lost her balance. Along with her upper body leaning on the table, Yurik’s flailing arms pushed the dishes to the side.

“Ah!”

“Be careful!”

There was a sharp sound of shattering. The dishes that fell to the floor were all shattered. Yune also almost fell over, but I managed to grab her arm just in time.

Under the chair, the shards of broken dishes were scattered menacingly. Everyone stopped moving and stared blankly at the shards.

“Yune!”

The Duchess Penton screamed. She stood up abruptly and checked Yune’s body. Yune’s dress was dirty, but fortunately, she was not scratched or injured by the glass.

“What on earth were you doing? What if you got hurt?!”

The Duchess turned her head and looked at the broken dishes. Seeing the pieces that had scattered quite far, she urged us not to get up. The maids, who had been standing far away, also moved hurriedly at the noisy sound.

Yune was so shocked that she couldn’t even burst into tears and was stiff. Duke Penton glared at Yune fiercely.

“Yune! What if you got hurt like your mother said?”

“I’m, I’m sor….”

Tears began to well up in Yune’s eyes. I was startled that she was about to cry again, having stopped crying not long ago. But the atmosphere was too tense for me to console Yune.

“Yune.”

In the midst of the confusion, Yurik called out to Yune.

He checked Yune’s arms and legs, which had stiffened in shock. When sauce got on Yune’s hand, he even wiped it with the handkerchief he had. Yurik meticulously wiped each of Yune’s finger joints.

“You….”

“Yune. The most important thing is that you’re not hurt. The dishes can be bought new again, right?”

“…Really?”

At Yurik’s kind words, Yune burst into loud tears again. This time, she went into her brother’s arms instead of her mother’s.

At the sound of her loud crying, the maids cleaning up the dishes and the Duke and Duchess who had been examining the situation paused for a moment.

As Yune grabbed Yurik’s clothes and grieved, the Duke and Duchess, who had been angry, said nothing.

They seemed to regret yelling at Yune just now.

“I’m sorry. You must have been very startled too, Yune….”

“Yune, I’m sorry too. I got angry without realizing it because I was afraid you might have gotten hurt. I really mean it.”

At the words of the Duchess and Duke Penton, Yune nodded slightly. But she kept hiding in Yurik’s arms and sobbing, as if she didn’t want to show her face.

Some cleaned up the glass shards, some reflected. And someone watched all of this from afar. Doing nothing. Just quietly watching.

At this moment, I was more of a nonexistent person than ever. In this Penton family, I was nothing. I was not included in the ropes tightly tied to each other.

Lize Marsen was just a guest here. That fact made me feel insignificant.

“Lize, I’m sorry. It suddenly got noisy, didn’t it?”

The Duchess spoke to me as I stood there in a daze.

“…No. It’s okay.”

It really was okay. This incident really didn’t cause me any discomfort.

However, a somewhat empty feeling lingered in my heart.

* * *

When the meal was over, the sky that had clearly been bright during the day had turned pitch black. As I stepped outside the mansion, receiving farewells from the Penton family, I saw Bitty shivering.

“Young Lady! You finally came out!”

“You were waiting here all this time? I’m sure I told the Penton maid to take you to a warm place.”

“I would have felt bad going in. But I was going to go in right away if something happened to you, Young Lady! I really mean it!”

Like a guard dog.

“Young Lady, we’re going back now, right?”

“Yes, let’s go back quickly.”

Isabel, who had gone to the beach, would also be returning soon. I headed towards the Marsen mansion with Bitty. I walked while embracing my chest with my arms against the biting wind. The mansion, where the lights had not yet been turned on, began to come into view.

No one has returned yet.

As I entered the mansion, a cold chill lingered, unlike the warm Penton mansion.

To raise the temperature in the cold mansion, Bitty immediately went to the fireplace and lit a bonfire. I sat in front of it and thawed my stiff body. In the meantime, the maids who had been resting in the room came out and prepared dinner.

With the sound of chopping, it finally felt like a house where people lived.

Some time passed. Silke’s muffled voice could be heard from the front door.

“It was really fun!”

“I never knew the winter sea was so beautiful!”

The door of the mansion opened. Once again, a biting wind came in through the door. My lips trembled. Silke and Swell must have felt the same, as they rushed to the bonfire as soon as they saw it.

Felicia, who was taking off her outer clothing, also sat next to me. Before I knew it, the seats in front of the bonfire were packed.

“Hey Lize, would you mind giving up that seat to me?”

I turned my head and looked at Bernard behind me. He was still shivering without taking off his outer clothing. The bridge of his nose was bright red, and his lips were pale. He looked like he would freeze to death soon if I didn’t give up my seat.

In the end, I got up to give my seat to Bernard.

“Lize.”

As I was about to go to my room, Isabel called me.

“Yes, Mother.”

“What did you do alone today?”

As expected. I knew she would ask.

“I played with the horses in the stable.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Although my shoes got dirty because of that.”

I lied with my dirty shoes as evidence. In fact, the dirt on them was not from the stable, but from when I was heading from the Penton house to the Marsen house earlier.

Fortunately, Isabel didn’t have much suspicion and went straight to her room. I also went to my room after watching the four of them gathered cozily in front of the bonfire.

‘Now, let’s remember.’

I took out a sheet of paper from the drawer and the fountain pen I had bought before.

I had to write down the chess game I played with Duke Penton. It was my first time writing it, so the notation was a bit confusing, but fortunately, I managed to write it all down. I smiled in satisfaction and looked at the completed work over and over again.

An isolated pawn. Duke Penton was right. The pawn was isolated.

The lonely isolated pawn is silently watching the pawns that move forward and stick together.

I stared at the pawn for a long time, and when it was dinner time, I went down to the dining table. My father, who had finished work, was also sitting there. As soon as the food came out, they picked up their forks and knives without praying first. Everyone focused on putting food into their mouths.

My father, who finished his meal first, glanced at his watch. Realizing it was too early to get up, he reluctantly opened his mouth.

“What did you do today?”

“I went to the beach with the children.”

Isabel said in an emotionless tone.

“It must have been fun.”

“If Felicia hadn’t knocked me over.”

Bernard grumbled.

“Those twins knocked me over first!”

At that, Felicia flared up.

“It was Swell who started it.”

“What are you talking about? Silke, you agreed too!”

It seemed like a lot had happened. When everyone was shouting something, I was the only one who kept my mouth shut. It’s not that I don’t want to join in on that conversation, but in fact, I had nothing to say.

I can’t join in on that conversation.

Then I realized that this situation was no different from before.

Come to think of it, the Penton family and the people in front of me had families connected by the same blood.

The same blood flows in Yune and Yurik’s bodies. Likewise, the same blood flows through the bodies of the twins, Felicia, and Bernard. I was the only one who didn’t belong to either of those two groups.

Even if I searched far and wide, expanding my territory, there was no one who shared the same bloodline as me.

At that moment, I felt someone’s gaze. When I turned my head slightly, my eyes met Isabel’s.

“What are you doing sitting there in a daze?”

When she asked, I shook my head.

“It’s nothing.”

* * *

It was slightly past the hour. Yurik, who had not yet fallen asleep, was sitting on the couch in the entrance hall, lost in thought about something.

“Yurik?”

“…Father.”

Duke Penton, who had finally come out of his study after a long day’s work, approached his son.

“It’s late, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I was just thinking about something.”

“Thinking?”

Yurik nodded.

“…Father. Do you think Lize wants to have a younger sibling?”

“What?”

“I saw Lize’s lonely face today. I also saw Lize smiling bitterly while looking at me and Yune. Lize is the youngest. So I thought maybe she wants to have a younger sibling, not an older sister or brother.”

At Yurik’s words, the Duke let out a small laugh. The Duke sat next to Yurik and put his arm around his shoulder.

“Hm, you said she smiled bitterly?”

“Yes.”

“It won’t be a younger sibling. It won’t be an older sister or brother either.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t think you can fulfill what Lize wants to have.”

“Why?”

When Yurik spoke up, the Duke laughed as if in a difficult situation.

“Why are you reacting like that? Do you want to grant Lize’s wish?”

“…I.”

“Even if it harms you?”

“I… I just want Lize to smile.”

Always.

Now, and in the future.

That’s all.

“Because that would be the most precious thing.”