Chapter 58

The Duke stared at one of the maids in a stance position from the nearest place.

The maid, who had received his sharp gaze, trembled and carefully opened her lips.

“Your Majesty, we didn’t expect you to come home so soon.”

“Astel…” Duke Anais went straight to the point.

In the first place, the owner of the castle, the Duke himself, was not compassionate enough to have useless conversations with the castle’s employees.

“Where is she?”

Seeing the maid’s gaze full of tension, he twisted his lips.

Something must have happened.

“Well… she went to the city with Sir Retro for a while.”

‘Sir Retro?’

As his eyes narrowed, perhaps something urgent had happened, the maid Rudel, who came out a little late came forward and spoke.

The Duke opened his mouth,

“She has gone to buy a gift for your Majesty’s return.”

“…Is that so?”

It was then that the cynical atmosphere softened.

Rudel, who noticed the atmosphere, spoke cautiously. “There’s no problem with Miss Astell, Your Majesty.”

‘If so, what was the meaning of the ambiguous letter that Retro sent?’ Duke Anais’ thought.

Retro’s gone, so I’ll have to hear it later when they return.

Still, when he heard that Astel had gone out to buy his present, his steps became much lighter.

After arranging the situation, the Duke calmly entered the mansion.

However, unlike the Duke’s expression, the employees of the Duke’s castle could never be at peace.

In particular, Rudel, who was in charge of the employees, was added.

As he entered the house, Rudel watched the back of the Duke of Anais, and looked kindly at the shivering number of maids around her.

It was the first warm gaze she had ever made.

She swallowed tears inside, praising the beautiful sky and the perfect castle she had managed so far.

Ah, thanks to Astel, it’s been a long time since she had a honey-like peace…

It’s short and fleeting…

First of all, Sally and Jenny are taking good care of the baby, so should I say that they are still alive?

Although her neck was dangling and Rudel was on the verge of death.

ꕥ

While the maids were delayed for a moment, the Duke of Anais quickly passed through the stairs of the mansion.

The Duke climbed all the stairs at once and came near his room.

It was right next to the Delphinium room where Astel stayed.

The maid, who had finally followed him, spoke carefully to the Duke of Anais, who was about to slip past the door of Astel’s room.

“Your Excellency, I… I have something to tell you.”

Even with nostalgia, the maid remembered Sir Retro, who was not here at the moment.

As a knight, Retro said that he would bear the burden of death…!

‘In the end, why was it that I’m the one who’s facing the Duke?’ The maid thought as she face a death-like situation

“What do you mean?”

The maid bowed her head grimly.

Looking down at her, the Duke muttered with a sinister look.

The maid swallowed a gulp at the sight.

Contemplating whether to make a statement right now or later, which would plunge this mansion into chaos, destruction, and mayhem.

‘…But wouldn’t it be better to do it when Miss Astel arrives?’

Just when she was trying to calmly settle this situation, the door to the Delphinium room swung open.

❆

The maid didn’t notice, but the Duke, whose all nerves were focused on Astel, was different.

There was no way that he didn’t know that the door to the delphinium room where she was staying was slightly opened.

The Duke of Anais’ gaze reached over the shoulders of the maid.

At that moment…

“Mom?”

A small, wriggling child peeped through the door.

It was a three to four-year-old baby with a magpie nest like in his golden hair as if he had just woken up.

‘I was told to keep the child safe in the Delphinium room!’

The maid’s expression distorted as she turned around and found the baby.

Regardless, the baby’s round green eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Huh?”

The baby tilted his head, rubbed his eyes with his plump finger, and looked back at them again.

“Clothes!”

Sally hurriedly sprinted after the baby, shouting.

“…Baby, baby!”

The baby pointed at the Duke, who had stopped nearby with his fingers rubbing his eyes, and said again,

“Clothes!!”

Soon Sally, the maid who had left the Delphinium room, glanced at the baby’s chestnut-colored back of the head and breathed out in a hurry.

“…Oh, no. You keep disappearing somewhere…”

She didn’t know where the child was going. She was anguished and frustrated for a moment.

Sally noticed a strange dark atmosphere and looked around hastily.

Just then, Duke Anais, who was standing still with an expressionless face, came into sight.

“Ugh.” Sally gasped and retreated.

“Your Excellency…”

The baby looked back at her walking backwards like that, and tilted his head for a moment as he wrapped his curly hair with his finger.

And then, something that no one could have predicted happened.

The baby was running wildly towards the Duke.

White bare feet with no socks or shoes on, but with a few scratches or scars.

“Clothes!”

While no one was able to stop him, the baby, who ran out quickly, grabbed the Duke’s black uniform carefully with his small hands.

The black velvet fabric was gently wrinkled in the baby’s ruthless hands.

And even then, Duke Anais was frozen.

He looked as calm as usual, but there was only chaos and confusion in his mind.

To the extent that he can’t even hear the voice of the child who keeps shouting ‘Clothes‘…

“…What’s going on?”

Not knowing how the frightened adults felt, the child only smiled brightly and looked up at the Duke.

The pink blush that glistened on his shiny cheeks and his twinkling eyes, along with his lush green forest-like eyes stood out.

“Hello!”

Unlike the child’s lively and refreshing voice, the maid’s face began to turn pale.

Duke Anais, who heard a voice that shouldn’t exist in his Duke castle, immediately came to his senses and looked down with a piercing gaze.

As his eyes grew colder, the maid’s eyes widened.

A voice that sounded like hallucinations echoed in her ears.

-‘I don’t like young people who are weak.’

What did the Duke say when the heirs of each family entered the main residence where the Duke resided?

-‘I don’t care if it’s a successor or anyone else. Only a very few people should enter the main building.’

Anyone would be interested in a young and cute being, but the Duke just stared at the baby with a cold gaze, as if his gaze

That feeling was still the same now.

But the baby didn’t know anything, and smiled softly like the sun, observing the new figure that appeared in front of him.

“Hey…”

As he stared down at the baby, his voice fell gruesomely.

“Looks like something strange has entered my mansion.”

“Yo, your, your Excellency…!”

“I need an explanation as to why such a thing is here.”

Receiving his gaze, the maid hurriedly kneeled down.

“Please, let me explain, Your Excellency.”

Duke Anais did not answer the maid’s pleading.

Because the child moved again before he could even speak.

Despite the extreme chill, the child moved his fingers and grabbed his uniform again and again.

Then, covering his face with one hand, he grinned and smiled, and showed the Duke a half flower.

“Ta-da!”

For a moment there was a dreadful stillness.

The Duke of Anais thought as he looked down at the baby, who seemed less than half his height.

‘Aside from the fact that this strange thing I’ve never seen in my life was here, why did it come out of Astel’s room?’

For the first time in his life, he faced a completely unprecedented situation.