Chapter 59

Still, Duke Anais tried to stay calm.

He took a short deep breath, keeping his gaze on the child.

And he calmly summed up the situation in his head.

Astel’s escort knight Retro sent an urgent message of strange contents.

And a child he had never seen came out from Astel’s room.

Even the servants of the family with the look of despair…

Every clue was pointing to one…

However, since it was related to Astel, I did not intend to make a mistake by recklessly jumping to conclusions.

With a terribly calm face, the Duke spoke,

“So…”

The beast was sensitive. With a glance, he roughly figured out the child’s identity.

Although he appears to be about three or four years old, seeing that he behaves unusually younger than humans of that age, it’s highly likely that he’s an individual who has grown up alone.

At the same time, he smelled like a feeble animal from the child.

If so, there may have been times when animal blood was mixed or forcibly turned into a human figure.

Up to this point, it wasn’t a very important trait for him.

If I had met him by chance, I wouldn’t have delved into it any further, I would have thought that he was just a weak, non-viable existence.

There was, however, one feature that caught the Duke’s eye.

“You look like him.”

The man who had been seen in portraits throughout the capital.

It’s the fact that the child’s face was strangely similar to ‘Cassian Gray’.

Even more because the child was blonde, he looked just like Astel.

Only the maid, who noticed which side the word ‘similar‘ was referring to, spoke carefully.

“…Si-sire.”

Only the baby, who couldn’t understand the situation well, pouted his lips sullenly by himself.

“I greet the Duke, it’s not…”

When he glanced at the whining child, he calmly turned to the maid with a terrifying expression.

“So… What he meant, was it this?”

The Duke pondered about Sir Retro, who wasn’t around, but the maid trembled at his words.

“It’s…”

As the maid’s words blurred, Duke Anais spoke, watching the shivering maid in front of him.

“From one to ten, I can guess, so tell me everything.”

Jenny, who came out of the room in a bloody situation, spoke stuttering as if she were going to carry the yoke with Sally.

“A few days ago, a man wearing a robe came to see Astel. At that time, he obviously didn’t carry a child, but…”

“…”

The maid took over and continued,

“…”

“I think he left and handed this child to Astel… I heard the child calling Astel his mom.”

“Hehee, hee.”

The child, who didn’t even know that they were talking about him, tilted his head and circled around the Duke.

“So… I think there’s a chance that he’s Astel’s son.”

In their lamented voices, they delivered words prepared for death.

They were very serious.

However, the Duke of Anais did not seem to accept the statement.

“You seem to have heard groundless and uninteresting rumors.”

Of course, contrary to what he said, he couldn’t help but admit it.

The Sioux in the Duke Castle are beautiful creatures that could be destroyed by even his petty anger, so they would not dare to deceive him by telling lies.

He looked down at the child once more and confirmed every detail of his appearance.

The child stared intently at him as if he was not afraid, even with that open gaze.

“I greet you! Hello!”

The child with round face and round eyes

In a way, he was cute, but it was visible…

“This child… may be Astel’s child.”

The child tilted his head and laughed.

“Astel? Mom?”

At that moment, the Duke’s eyes filled with murderous intent.

The child resembled Cassian Gray so much that I could not deny it even if I tried to.

“Take him back inside.”

Astel truly trusts him and considers him a good guardian.

But that was all.

She shines more when she sees Cassian Gray than she does with him.

‘I was already aware of that.’

But I thought her heart would open to me, though, as long as I worked hard…

‘I can’t be stupid and hasty.’

I didn’t want to ruin the perfect and delicate relationship with stupid jealousy.

The Duke smiled bitterly and turned around.

“Where have Astel and Sir Retro gone?”

“The- thelma village! I heard they’ve been to the village, Duke.”

Without further explanation, the Duke of Anais walked out of the mansion coldly.

Only those left in the hallway looked at each other with bewildered faces.

If something went wrong, they thought they’d have visited their ancestors directly.

“Oh, dear, why did you suddenly come out?”

Jenny knelt down and patted the child carefully.

But the child that Jenny patted on the shoulder, was clenching his soft fists tightly.

“I found it!” The child shouted.

“Yes? What did you find?”

“Clothes, owner!”

“The clothes owner?”

The clothes the child’s were wearing were the children’s clothes that were brought to Astel when she asked her maids.

A hidden pocket under the bib contained a word card, which Astel had tucked secretly.

-‘Yeah. You have a very cool daddy, too.’

-‘Huh?’

-‘This is what your daddy wears, isn’t it cool?’

The baby couldn’t understand everything Astel said, but he knew one thing.

‘I have a dad, too! Daddy is a cool clothes owner!’

The orphanage teachers said I didn’t have a mother or father.

But there was!

He’s also very strong, so I have a father who can protect me from the scary director!

The baby shuddered at the thought of the director of the orphanage who tormented him in the past.

Then, the child smiled showing his front tooth and clenched his fist.

It was a bonus to gaze and look at the way the Duke had escaped from.

Meanwhile, the maids, who had been sitting on the floor with their weakened legs, stared blankly at the child smiling with his soft fists clenched while pondering something.

He, however, survived the Duke’s wrath.

The members of the Life Protection Committee gathered at the moment were relieved for a short time and swallowed their sighs when they saw the child’s safety, unaware of the situation.

❆

At that time, I was walking along Thelma village with Retro.

“Well, you said you should buy a present for the Duke.”

“Oh, yes, I will.”

Lord Retro tried to pat me on the back for some reason, who seemed weak for some reason.

‘…Anyway, I was planning on giving the Duke a bouquet of flowers.’

Even if the Duke became more suspicious, I shouldn’t have changed my attitude.

I entered a flower shop leisurely. And looked at what to buy for the Duke.

“It’s a Morphina flower.”

“Oh, yes.”

After meticulously choosing flowers, I asked Sir Retro a serious question.

“Hey, do you know anything about flowers?”

“Oh, no. Do you remember the Great thief Ybor? Not long ago, a guy named Ybor stole that flower-processed morphina liquid from Panpania’s mansion. So I did some research.”

Another story of the Great thief Ybor that came out earlier.

Morphina flowers were not such a precious species to steal from others, but they were difficult to process and turn into liquid.

It was also a difficult drug to deal with.

He was a guy who used to steal drugs, and live a dirty life that he once lived.

‘It’s none of my business.’

I skipped the topic of ‘Ybor’ moderately.

Instead, I looked up at Sir Retro and smiled brightly.

“Don’t you know anything about other flowers? Looking at your appearance, you look handsome and must have received a lot of flowers…”

I checked the rest of the flowers, hiding the words, ‘It’s fascinating.’

Sir Retro turned stiff in place.

The owner of the old flower shop sneaked up on me, who was thinking hard alone.

“You must be a newly married couple.”

“Oh, newly married couple?”

I shook my head and tried to respond pleasantly.

However, my plan to answer politely failed.

Sir Retro was too fast, shouting, “No, it’s not!”

What’s with him?

He’s screaming…

I looked at him startled. I feel like I got dumped without even confessing…?