Instead of trying to persuade Noah further, Riena picked up the book and sat down on the sofa where Chloe was.

Noah remained standing in the corner, only glancing around cautiously without following.

Chloe also seemed used to this, not paying much attention to Noah and only looking at her.

Riena asked in a low voice.

“You don’t play well with Noah?”

“Noah? He hates playing.”

How could children hate playing? Riena observed Noah glancing at the toys.

“Why do you think Noah hates playing?”

“Whenever I say I want to play with Noah, everyone tells me Noah doesn’t want to play with me.”

“I see.”

“Yeah!”

It seemed unlikely that Noah had really said he didn’t want to, and it appeared that the mansion staff had prevented Chloe from associating with Noah.

Riena glanced at Noah before starting to read the book to Chloe.

Noah continued to pretend he wasn’t interested, but soon his eyes lit up with curiosity.

The child hesitated before taking a seat next to Riena.

Riena adjusted Noah’s posture to sit properly before continuing to tell the story to both children.

After some time passed, a maid brought pudding.

On the plate the maid set on the table was a beautifully made yellow custard pudding in the shape of a flower.

Next to it was also a sauce bowl containing caramel syrup.

When Riena drizzled the syrup on the pudding, Chloe excitedly began to eat it. In contrast, Noah just stared blankly at the pudding.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“……”

Unable to stand it anymore, Riena put a dessert spoon in Noah’s right hand, but the child still didn’t move.

Riena eventually scooped up some pudding herself and brought it to the child’s mouth.

“Will you try saying ‘ah’?”

Noah hesitantly opened his mouth.

The child’s lips parted so slightly it was barely enough to call it open, but it was enough to feed the pudding.

When Riena put the pudding covered in plenty of syrup into his mouth, the child chewed timidly.

But soon, the child’s eyes began to moisten.

Riena asked in confusion.

“What’s wrong? Does it taste strange?”

“…yes.”

“Hm?”

“It’s delicious.”

Tears finally rolled down the corners of Noah’s eyes.

“It’s so delicious. I feel like I’m flying to the sky.”

It was a cute expression, but Riena couldn’t smile.

Her expression hardened involuntarily as she looked at Noah’s face, which seemed to have received a great shock.

‘Could it be that he really never ate it before?’

Chloe had very naturally ordered custard pudding from the kitchen. It seemed she knew what it was and had actually eaten it many times.

But why had Noah never been able to eat this dessert?

Riena put the pudding plate in Noah’s other hand.

“Eat as much as you want. You can have mine too if you want more.”

When she pushed her plate towards Noah as well, Chloe pouted her lips.

“Sister, I want more too.”

“Then shall we ask for more? There’s probably some left in the kitchen.”

“Okay!”

When Riena asked the maid, she brought three more puddings. Riena gave two more to Chloe and one more to Noah in a friendly manner.

After finishing the snacks, they started playing again.

Noah, who was unfamiliar at first, soon sat next to Chloe and participated in the play.

Chloe also seemed to understand Noah’s desire to join in and played well together without rejecting him.

Perhaps Chloe had wanted to play with Noah like this all along.

When the children had become somewhat friendly, Cassel entered the playroom.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine. I lost track of time while I was with the children.”

Riena introduced him to the children who showed interest in Cassel.

“Noah, Chloe. You may not know this, but this is your uncle, Cassel Winkler.”

“Uncle? We had an uncle?”

Chloe wondered but showed interest in Cassel. On the other hand, Noah seemed intimidated by his cold expression and became timid again.

“Yes. He says he was too busy to visit until now. You’ll see him often from now on, so say hello.”

Chloe lifted her skirt slightly and greeted according to etiquette. It wasn’t perfect, but that made it even more adorable.

Noah watched what Chloe was doing and roughly followed suit, bowing at the waist.

Cassel knelt on one knee in front of the two children and stroked their heads.

Various emotions appeared on Cassel’s face as he looked alternately at Chloe and Noah.

Sadness, longing, anger, emotion, affection, and so on.

He was probably looking for the face of Asher, who had loved him, in these children.

Especially, he couldn’t take his eyes off Noah’s blonde hair, which was exactly like Asher’s.

“I’m sorry I came late.”

The children, who couldn’t possibly understand the meaning of those words, just blinked their eyes.

After staring at the children for a long time, Cassel stood up and nodded to Riena. She patted the children’s backs.

“Kids, I’m going to talk with Uncle Cassel for a bit. Play well together.”

While Chloe simply sent them off saying “Come back soon!”, Noah clung desperately to Riena.

Riena stroked Noah’s head and comforted the child.

“It’s okay. I’ll be back soon.”

“You must come back.”

“Yes, I will.”

Riena barely managed to detach Noah, who was reluctant to let go, and moved to another reception room with Cassel.

“How did it go?”

“……”

Riena watched Cassel, who seemed angry, and then spoke her mind.

“I know it’s not my place to interfere, but I think you should know this, Your Grace.”

Cassel’s gaze turned to her.

“I’m not certain, but Noah… how should I put it, seems to have been somewhat neglected in the marquis’s household.”

“……”

“On the other hand, Chloe seems to have grown up with a lot of attention, love, and support like a child from any noble family.”

She calmly explained what she had seen and felt in the marquis’s household, including Noah’s room that she had just seen.

Cassel listened to her words silently without saying anything.

“I’m not in a position to say this or that about it, but as you said, I think it would be good to bring the children to the Winkler family.”

Riena watched his reaction and carefully asked.

“So may I ask what happened? Did the conversation with the marquis go well?”

Cassel, who had been silent all along, had a contemplative look. Riena quickly added.

“It’s okay. You probably don’t want to tell an outsider about family matters.”

“That’s not it. You are my fiancée, so you’re not an outsider. It’s just……”

He whispered softly.

“I didn’t want you to see such a shameful side.”

“Why is that shameful?”

“Because I had no idea my only blood relative, my nephew, was growing up like this. If I had looked after him earlier, it wouldn’t have been this bad.”

“That was unavoidable. I heard you’ve only stayed in the duchy all this time.”

Suddenly, Riena felt a strange sense of déjà vu. In the dream she had last night, the two of them had a similar conversation.

However, one thing was different: Noah was alive.

‘He was abused all the same, but…’

She wondered how part of what she saw in her dream had happened in reality, but right now, the reality in front of her was more important than the dream.

Riena took Cassel’s hand and sat down.

“As you probably already know, I wasn’t on very good terms with my mother.”

It was an abrupt change of topic, but Cassel didn’t point that out.

Riena continued speaking.

“When I was young, when they first said I was going to have a mother, I was overjoyed. I had never had a mother before. My father and nurse said my birth mother loved me very much, but I had no memory of her at all.”

There was no word from Cassel.

But Riena could tell from the look in his eyes that he was focused on her story.

“I wanted my new mother’s love, but it seems she didn’t want to. There was a clear difference in how she treated Bianca, her biological daughter, and how she treated me.”

“……”

“But I didn’t tell my father. Even if her affection wasn’t directed at me, just the fact that I had a mother was so wonderful. So I always pretended to be happy in front of my father to protect this family. I was afraid that if I complained, my father might drive away my new mother. Looking back now, I wonder if that was the right choice, but……”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“Anyway, every family has its own circumstances. There’s no set way a family should be, and it’s not strange just because it’s a little different from others.”

Riena finished speaking and just smiled.

In fact, from the middle, she rambled so much that even she didn’t know what she was trying to say, but she hoped her sincerity had been conveyed to Cassel.

Riena looked at Cassel, who said nothing, and stood up from her seat.

“Um, the children must be waiting. I should go check on them……”

“As you may know, I was the second son.”

At the sudden start of the story, she sat down again. Cassel’s story continued.