Chapter 07
The Duke didn’t answer. I stared at his crimson eyes. Crimson. Not the blood-red described in books, but more like rose petals.
“If I can gain your trust enough, I hope you’ll speak to me. Though it’s a position recognized only by Lewin, I truly consider him like a son.”
I clenched my hand under the table and then opened it. In the center of my palm remained the faint, soft sensation of a small hand.
“You know you can never truly become his mother, don’t you, Miss Rohela?”
“But as long as he considers me his mother, I am his mother. If necessary, Your Grace, you must also call me ‘mother.’”
“I am also suspicious of what you might be planning with that ‘mother’ position.”
“Do you really think I will become the Duchess? You know that’s impossible.”
“Sometimes, personal relationships can be more dangerous than official titles.”
This man didn’t miss a single word.
Unlike in the consultation room, he didn’t cross his legs or smile lazily. He simply looked at me with a plain, unsmiling gaze.
That meant that everything he was saying now was truth.
“Do I seem that threatening to you?”
“……Because only you can make Lewin speak.”
The Duke raised his hand after saying that and elegantly placed the teacup I had cleared back in front of me.
The jasmine fragrance, which had disappeared, swirled around again. He continued speaking.
“Perhaps you will end up being grateful to me.”
“For the current situation?”
I wanted an explanation, but he didn’t seem inclined to provide one. He calmly lowered his eyes and placed his hand on his teacup.
“The tea has cooled. Drink it before the fragrance fades. Next time, I’ll find tea that suits your taste better.”
He spoke, lifted his teacup to his lips, gave me a slight look as if offering it, and drank.
It was a situation that might warrant a smile, yet there was none.
…This is exactly why I hate aristocratic speech.
I bit my lip and lifted the teacup.
The scent of the tea was sweet.
Dorian watched Rohela leave the reception room.
Though her back vaguely reminded him of his mother, the two still did not resemble each other in his eyes.
Their personalities were completely different, and the mother he remembered was already older, with hair faded by time.
Why did Lewin call her mother? Even considering his memory loss, there was an insurmountable gap between them.
Sometimes Dorian couldn’t understand his younger brother.
“Well, who could understand the heart of a six-year-old?”
“……She drank it all.”
The tea she had claimed not to like, she had finished entirely. It must have been pride that made her lie.
He unconsciously smiled as he remembered her wide, sparkling eyes at the first sip.
But he quickly suppressed the expression and tugged on the leash.
“You called?”
A servant waiting outside the door entered immediately, hand on chest. Dorian didn’t look at him, simply raising his own hand.
“Clear everything here and investigate Miss Rohela further. And……”
Dorian paused. As he stroked his chin, the servant waited quietly for further instructions.
…This much should be fine.
“Prepare flower teas that aren’t too fragrant. Variety of types,”
Dorian finally managed to speak after moving his lips several times.
He felt uneasy, but it wasn’t discomfort. If anything, it was a shameful sort of unease, similar to embarrassment.
He didn’t know why…
Rohela had finished the jasmine tea, so it didn’t seem like she disliked flower teas in general.
He watched the servant bow and leave after receiving the instructions.
Soon, maids came forward and cleared the finished teacups and untouched sweets.
As he watched them lift the opposite teacup, he recalled her long, white, callused fingers lightly grasping the handle.
For someone who could die because of his younger brother, this small courtesy…
…would not be included in that ‘personal relationship.’
“You will certainly end up grateful to me. The moment it’s revealed that you made Lewin speak, they’ll target you too.”
He thought about what he couldn’t say to Rohela and watched as the reception room was tidied, as if no one had sat across from him.
Stepping out of the reception room, I felt drained.
I sighed and headed toward the central door. A knight standing there met my eyes and frowned.
“Where are you going?”
“Just want to look around a bit.”
“I will accompany you as a guard.”
The knight tapped the scabbard at his side. Tired as I was, the thought of someone following me annoyed me.
“I’m not going outside the main gate. It’s just around the mansion. Is a guard really necessary?”
The knight rolled his eyes as if gauging something. After a moment, he said,
“……No.”
“I’ll just be ‘a moment.’ Don’t worry.”
“Dinner will be served soon. Return by then.”
He bowed his head, and I gave a slight nod.
The gardens of the Duke’s residence were vast, including forests and small hills.
The parts actually maintained by gardeners were smaller than what was considered the ‘garden.’
Walking alone, I vaguely remembered the scene in the original story where the protagonists sneaked into the Duke’s mansion.
‘I thought it was quite a thrilling scene, but now it seems doable.’
After greeting the gardener near the mansion, I met no one else.
A sudden chill ran down my arm. Should I have accepted the knight’s offer to accompany me?
But I needed time to walk quietly and think.
I inhaled the scent of grass deeply and recalled the conversation I had just had.
‘…Because I can make Lewin speak.’
That’s why I was considered a threat.
It felt unfair, but I understood the Duke’s perspective. In the original story, Lewin’s death seemed related to the same reason.
‘…Did I come for nothing?’
Unlike my initial worry when I first met Lewin, the Duke clearly cared for him deeply.
From the Duke’s point of view, I could have seemed presumptuous and suspicious.
Wouldn’t it be better to demand compensation and flee to another country?
‘Even if a drug incident occurs, the protagonists would deal with the mastermind anyway…’
But the story was still being serialized, and the author had shifted from harem to a darker plot. There was no guarantee of survival.
I pressed my temples.
Even if I stopped him, if the story progressed as in the original, Lewin would eventually die. Could I stand by and watch?
I sighed.
I had taken in Lewin because he reminded me of my past self—abandoned, an orphan.
But Lewin wasn’t abandoned or an orphan. He was a proper member of the Duke’s family and wouldn’t die from overwork.
Still, he might die young.
“Huuh……”
Did I even need to worry about this? After all, it’s just a damned novel. Just because a character dies according to fate…
“Mom!”
A strong voice suddenly rang in my head. I looked up, but there was nothing around.
Far ahead, I saw the treetops swaying.
The wind shaking the branches brushed against my cheek. Hair flew, tickling my skin.
“Hah.”
I laughed aloud.
‘What’s the point of thinking this is just a story now…’
I tucked my hair behind my ear and took a deep breath. The fresh air filled my lungs.
The scent of wet soil, grass, and leaves, which I hadn’t noticed alone.
“Focus.”
Since picking up Lewin, life outside the story was already doomed.
Even if I succeeded in escaping, would the mastermind leave me alone when my brother died?
Only with them did I truly feel alive in this world.
Could I really ‘live’?
Meeting Lewin wasn’t a coincidence; it must have been fate.
I drew a thick X over the goal I had imagined.
At this point, I had no choice but to save Lewin.
My hands trembled.
Could I really do it? Even the dark mastermind, with high status, wealth, and magic, failed—could I save Lewin?
I turned and looked at the mansion.
Its gray brick walls, towering like a castle, looked magnificent even from a distance.
“Still, it’s a possession I’ve possessed, so maybe I get a possessor’s buff.”
I muttered softly, a form of self-encouragement.
Though I had no mana, maybe some other power existed.
I clenched my fists and opened them, then continued walking through the garden.
When I was close enough to see the flowers in detail, a familiar voice called from the right.
“Mom!”
The same voice that had only echoed in my mind moments ago.
I turned toward the sound.
Lewin stood there, freshly washed, dressed in clean clothes, his cheeks rosy.
“Lewin!”
I crouched and opened my arms toward him.
His dark hair fluttered with each step he took.
