When Ludville had just turned five, it happened far too suddenly.
Don’t look for me. I’m sorry.
She vanished, leaving only a short note.
The Duke of Sorpel looked at Ludville.
Seeing his son still sending him that indifferent gaze, he let out a short sigh.
“I searched for a long time.”
But he couldn’t find a trace of Anna anywhere.
As if she had never existed in the world to begin with, she disappeared like smoke.
“I had no choice.”
In the end, he announced that she was dead. He couldn’t let it be known as it was—that the Duchess had left home.
He thought that might wound Ludville too deeply.
A Duchess who abandoned even her child—he couldn’t let his son, Ludville, wear that label.
Even afterward, he pursued her trail in secret, but it was no use.
Time passed; he remarried Camilla’s mother, whom he met by chance, and buried the memory of Anna deep in his chest.
“But then...”
A daughter, all of a sudden.
If you had to pick the most confused person present, it was the Duke of Sorpel.
If Rania truly was his daughter, then Anna had left him while carrying a child.
“You should speak with Rania first.”
“...I should.”
Watching the Duke of Sorpel exhale a heavy sigh, Camilla flicked a glance toward Ludville as well.
She thought he might be as shocked as the Duke...
...What kind of expression is that even supposed to be?
Ludville still showed no particular reaction. He merely drank the tea set out for him.
Then his and Camilla’s eyes met dead on.
“Ah.”
After staring blankly at her for a moment, Ludville seemed to think of something and suddenly searched inside his coat.
Then he took something out and held it toward Camilla.
“Take it.”
“This is...”
A necklace.
Whether it had been custom-made or not, it was set with a gem the exact color of her hair.
“Happy birthday.”
“...Thank you, Brother.”
A gift and congratulations, as if nothing were amiss, in the middle of this situation.
What on earth goes on in this man’s head...
Camilla stifled the sigh that wanted to slip out and kept offering an awkward smile.
****
“My mother... passed away.”
Rania’s mother was no longer of this world. She had died two years ago after a severe fever.
“My mother never once spoke to me about my father.”
Then, not long ago, she had happened to find a letter her mother left behind. A letter to the Duke of Sorpel.
“Here.”
The Duke of Sorpel took the letter Rania handed over, and his eyes trembled without rest.
I’m sorry.
The first words of the letter were an apology.
It said there had been circumstances she couldn’t avoid, and if the child ever came on her own, then it would be because she had done wrong, so please take care of her.
“It is... Anna’s hand.”
With a bitter face, he traced the writing with his fingers.
Though many years had passed, how could he fail to recognize her uniquely flowing script?
“At first I couldn’t even believe I had a father. I just thought he had died when I was little...”
“That bracelet—did she give it to you?”
The Duke of Sorpel’s gaze went to the bracelet on Rania’s wrist. It was the very bracelet he had given Anna long ago.
<To my wife>
With Rania’s permission, he checked the inside of the bracelet, and the inscription he had engraved with his own hand remained just as it was.
“Yes, Father.”
“I’d rather you didn’t call me that yet.”
“I—I’m sorry.”
Seeing the tears brimming in Rania’s eyes, the Duke of Sorpel let out a short sigh. It pained him that the woman he had searched for so long had, in the end, died.
What’s more, it was even harder to believe that when she left, she had been carrying his child.
The evidence she presented clearly said Rania was his daughter, yet accepting it was not easy.
“Rube.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Even so, he couldn’t just turn her away.
Countless people gathered in the ballroom had already seen this girl’s existence; it was far too late to investigate quietly and settle it.
“Give this child a room.”
“Understood.”
At last, permission to accept her was given.
“Fa— Your Grace! Thank you so much!”
Rania’s face brightened at once at the knowledge she wouldn’t have to leave this place.
Watching Rania, who kept expressing thanks with tearful eyes, the Duke of Sorpel let out another short sigh.
****
“Camilla...”
The next day, as was only natural, rumors about what had happened at the party spread far and wide.
“Are you all right?”
She’d expected it, but from the moment she stepped into the Academy, hot stares flew at her without end.
“What?”
“About yesterday...”
“Yesterday what?”
“N—never mind.”
Camilla knew exactly what Laila meant to say and what she was worried about.
She’d heard the same question countless times today. Some truly worried for her, but most spoke to her with a sneer.
They say the Duke of Sorpel’s real daughter has appeared?
Oh no!
Right? Poor Lady Camilla...
You won’t be kicked out right away, will you? I’m so worried...
If you end up with nowhere to go, contact me. We do know each other—I can’t just ignore it.
They assumed that with the true daughter of the Duke of Sorpel appearing, the position of the fake—hers—had become ridiculous.
Exactly.
It is a rather troublesome situation.
Propping her chin on her desk, Camilla kept tilting her head.
Strange.
Contrary to others’ worries, she felt nothing to a degree that surprised even herself.
Now that the likelihood that Rania was the Duke of Sorpel’s daughter had risen—no, was nearly certain—Camilla’s heart was calm, unlike everyone else’s worry.
If anything, the way the people around her were making noise about the situation struck her as very strange.
Is this that big a deal?
She didn’t really understand it herself. Why she was so calm.
Handled poorly, she could lose everything to the Duke’s real daughter and be thrown out of the house.
Lose?
Lose? The word rubbed her wrong.
“Will she be staying at the ducal house?”
Laila’s voice burrowed back into Camilla’s ear as she drifted in thought.
“Probably?”
“I see...”
Laila’s expression drooped even more. Then, meeting Camilla’s eyes, she forced a bright smile.
“Camilla, at times like this, something sweet is best!”
I’m really fine. Looking at the desserts that smelled even sweeter than ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) usual, Camilla let out a small laugh.
“Hehe.”
Only then did Laila’s expression brighten a little too.
“I’ll bring something even better tomorrow!”
Listening to Laila’s full-of-fight voice, Camilla lifted a fairly large raspberry pie to her mouth.
Tasty.
Should Father’s snack be pie today?
I should ask Ferrol if he has a good pie recipe.
****
“Ha-ha!”
“Really?”
“My goodness...”
“Kh!”
Camilla, stepping through the kitchen entrance, halted.
“......”
There was a different mood than usual spilling out.
Instead of scolding or frantic orders, the room was full of laughter.
The strange thing was that Chef Jellard’s voice was part of that laughter. The very man who enforced no chatter, no laughter in the kitchen.
“I’m telling you, the pot literally exploded.”
“Ha-ha.”
The one in the middle of the kitchen staff, chatting with them, was Rania. At her words, everyone chuckled.
“Oh? Camilla!”
Rania, who spotted her first, waved brightly.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m talking with everyone! I used to work at a restaurant.”
“A restaurant?”
“Yes! After my mother passed, I had to earn money. I’m really good at washing dishes. I did dishes every single day.”
At the idea that someone with the Duke’s blood had done odd jobs in a restaurant, pity crossed the kitchen staff’s faces.
“Camilla.”
A moment later, Rania cautiously called her.
“I... heard.”
“Heard?”
“That you bring Father a snack every night?”
“And?”
“Could I do it today?”
Hands clasped out of habit, she looked at Camilla with earnest eyes.
“I really want to serve him something I made.”
Her voice quickly tightened.
“Camilla, you might not know because you don’t have your birth parents...”
Birth parents?
“Parents are like that. You want to make them something with your own hands... you want to be with them even a little longer...”
...Am I the only one those words grate on?
Camilla found it a bit absurd, but the kitchen staff took it differently. They all felt sorry for Rania.
“Do as you like.”
“Really?”
Rania’s face bloomed with a smile at once. She even clapped, and everyone looked at her dotingly.
“Jellard.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Tell Rania what Father likes.”
“Pardon?”
“We can’t send up something he dislikes. It’s the first dish his daughter is bringing him, after all.”
“Ah—yes. Understood.”
Chef Jellard shot Camilla a look of mild surprise.
You’re stepping back this easily? I thought there’d be a blowup.
In the past, she would have grabbed someone by the hair.
She’d only ever been meek in front of the Duke of Sorpel or the two young masters. She never tolerated others coveting her place or her things.
