At that same time, Chedman was at the training grounds.
The servants watching him train shook their heads in disbelief, muttering that he was truly relentless, seeing how calmly he continued practicing as though nothing had happened.
The reason Chedman liked swords was because swinging one cleared his mind of distracting thoughts.
But today, his head was noisier than a crowded marketplace even as he trained.
‘Roxina…’
Lately, Chedman had found his youngest sibling extremely suspicious.
The little sister who used to hide in her room and constantly watch others nervously had suddenly started lifting her head proudly and arguing back against Renzard.
He hadn’t spent much time with Roxina, but she definitely hadn’t carried such a bold atmosphere before.
Whenever they occasionally crossed paths, Roxina had always given off a gloomy feeling.
Even when Renzard crossed the line with his words, she would only listen silently.
‘But the Roxina from earlier…’
She had rebutted every single thing Renzard said.
And not only that—she had even used words like “cowardly,” something a four-year-old should never know.
‘Though she wasn’t wrong.’
Of course, he didn’t mean Roxina’s words were incorrect.
As she said herself, their mother’s death was not Roxina’s fault.
Chedman had known that much too, which was why he had warned Renzard for making ridiculous accusations.
Though beyond that, he hadn’t felt the need to involve himself.
‘Still… the temple being responsible for Mother’s death…’
He had never once considered that possibility.
After all, the temple was supposed to always be pure and righteous, and everyone believed that without question.
But after hearing Roxina’s words, there really were too many strange things about the incident.
‘Why didn’t Father summon priests that day?’
The Heinox Chedman knew would have sold entire territories if necessary to bring priests to the estate.
And yet, on the day their mother died, not even a glimpse of white robes had appeared anywhere in House Tanzeric.
‘Even a trainee priest would’ve been enough…’
The excessive bleeding and dangerously high fever beyond normal limits could have been stabilized easily with just a little holy power.
But because the temple never moved, the Duchess of House Tanzeric died without receiving even such basic treatment.
Even while drinking water during training, Chedman never loosened his grip on his sword.
But the realization that his mother’s death might not have been caused by simple postpartum fever made him finally throw the sword to the ground.
In his eyes, the temple had possessed an obligation to help House Tanzeric.
No matter how much payment they had been promised elsewhere, Tanzeric should have been their priority.
“All the donations Mother gave them over the years…”
Priscilla Tanzeric—the former Duchess who gave birth to Chedman, Renzard, and Roxina—had donated enormous sums of money to the temple every September while she was alive.
When young Chedman once asked why she donated so excessively, even for faith, Priscilla had answered him like this:
“If one of us is ever in danger someday, the temple will help our family first.”
Priscilla had donated enough money each year to easily buy two enormous mansions solely for the sake of protecting her family.
And yet the temple had ignored her despite knowing her sincerity.
“Bastards…”
A harsh curse that didn’t suit Chedman’s innocent-looking face escaped his lips.
It was because of both his anger toward the temple and his resentment toward himself.
‘To think I never once suspected the temple until now.’
If Roxina hadn’t spoken today, he might never have realized it for the rest of his life.
As rage continued boiling inside him, Chedman picked up the sword he had thrown aside and swung it violently once more.
Meanwhile, after hearing that Renzard and Chedman had been summoned by Heinox because of the commotion in the kitchen, I had worries of my own.
‘Feels like I’ve seriously gotten on his bad side because of this…’
The true authority in this household was Heinox.
And Heinox hated noise.
That meant the disturbance between me and Renzard definitely couldn’t have looked good to him.
‘Damn Renzard. This whole mess is because of him!’
My plans to uncover the truth behind Priscilla’s death and enjoy a peaceful life in this mansion had already become a disaster right from the start.
Thinking about how stubbornly Renzard had insisted on blaming me made me grind my teeth.
“Renzard… Seriously, he’s never any help in my life.”
“M-Miss…”
Anne looked around anxiously, worried someone might overhear.
“It’s okay. Nobody comes into my room except Renzard anywa—”
Knock knock.
“Young Lady, are you inside?”
…Someone came?
“Who— Ah, Head Maid!”
When Anne opened the door and saw the familiar face standing there, she quickly bowed her head.
“Ah, Anne. Is the Young Lady inside?”
“I’m here.”
As I walked over while sucking cookie crumbs off my fingers, the head maid politely lowered her waist in greeting.
‘She’s so much older than me, yet she still has to bow to a little kid like this… The head maid really has it rough too.’
Feeling sympathetic, I looked at her pitifully.
“Why’d you come?”
And then the next words made me stop pitying her immediately.
“The Duke is summoning you.”
“Ah…”
‘It’s finally come.’
After hearing that Chedman and Renzard had been called, I had relaxed a little when nobody summoned me afterward.
But of course they wouldn’t simply let things slide.
Even if I wasn’t the cause of the disturbance, I was still involved.
“Miss?”
The head maid’s gentle-looking face calling to me now resembled a grim reaper from hell.
“Nooo…”
It made sense that they would call me too, but…
“What am I supposed to do if I don’t wanna go…?”
With my emotions completely at odds with my reasoning, I followed behind the head maid looking utterly miserable.
‘I feel like a monkey being dragged into a cage…’
For some reason, the long hallway felt terribly short today.
The servants who already knew about the incident looked at me with pitying expressions.
‘Ugh. You don’t have to look at me like that—I already know how doomed I am…’
And the head maid walked so quickly that before I knew it, I had already arrived in front of Heinox’s office.
“My Duke, I have brought the Young Lady.”
“Send her in.”
“Young Lady, please go inside.”
Then the head maid stepped aside and stood silently by the wall as though her task was complete.
“Hoo…”
I took a deep breath to calm my trembling nerves before opening the office door.
And the first thing I saw was—
“You’ve arrived.”
Heinox smiling.
“H-Hello…”
‘Mother of God…’
I instinctively lowered my head while nervously darting my eyes around.
‘Why is he smiling? That’s even scarier…’
I took another deep breath, trying desperately to calm my pounding heart.
“Hoo…”
‘Even if you enter a tiger’s den, you just have to stay calm.’
Besides, I didn’t even do anything wrong.
I just need to apologize for causing a disturbance and walk out confidently!
I flared my tiny nostrils and lifted my head.
But by the time I looked up again, Heinox had already returned to his usual cold expression.
When I immediately lowered my gaze again and began fidgeting with my fingers, Heinox sighed heavily.
“Sit down first.”
“Yes…”
The sofa was still too tall for me, but unlike usual, I couldn’t complain.
Even if I had only defended myself against insults directed at the late Duchess, it was also true that I had caused a major disturbance in the estate.
‘Honestly, I wish the sofa were even taller.’
If it had been so tall that I couldn’t climb up no matter how hard I tried, I could’ve pretended to struggle until I got exhausted.
‘Then Heinox probably would’ve said we’d continue later and sent me back to my room.’
But pretending I couldn’t climb it now was impossible.
I’d already climbed onto the sofa several times before, and Heinox wasn’t careless enough to fall for such shallow tricks.
Silently scolding my past self for practicing sofa climbing too diligently, I gripped the seat cushion tightly.
Heinox quietly watched me struggle up onto the sofa with my short little legs before speaking.
“Roxina.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know why I called you here?”
“Yes…”
“And why is that?”
“B-Because I did something wrong…”
“……”
I answered in a tiny voice, but no response came from Heinox.
‘He’s way angrier than I thought.’
Since I had my head lowered, I couldn’t see his expression, and all kinds of terrible possibilities began filling my mind.
‘Did he call me here to scold me? Is he angry because I caused trouble? Or maybe he’ll reprimand me for talking back to an older brother.’
Fundamentally, Heinox was indifferent toward everyone.
But despite that, he was still the head of an influential family.
He strictly controlled his household and valued the clear boundaries between a cold master and obedient servants.
‘Even in the original story, he was described as the perfect example of a strict lord.’
The orderly estate operating under his rules was one of the things that upheld the family’s reputation.
‘And I completely overturned the atmosphere of the estate.’
Thinking about it now, maybe becoming so close with the servants after leaving my room wasn’t entirely a good thing after all.
‘He’s not going to hit me, right?’
I cautiously glanced at him.
‘Or maybe house arrest?’
The possibility shocked me so badly that my shoulders jerked.
‘Absolutely not!’
I still had so much to do.
I needed to continue learning the Imperial language from Dikal, eat more of Puichi’s apple pie, and go on walks with Anne…
And someday I needed to visit the temple, uncover its secrets, discover the mine, and help House Tanzeric.
Those goals were still far away, but for now, I had intended to slowly improve my relationship with Renzard and Chedman.
Panic suddenly filled me, and cold sweat began trickling down my back.
But if you openly show resistance, people only want to torment you more.
And Heinox was frighteningly perceptive.
Even the slightest twitch in my expression would probably give me away immediately.
So to keep him from noticing how nervous I was, I lowered my head even further.
After I remained like that for a long while, Heinox let out another deep sigh.
“Lift your head, Roxina.”
“Y-Yes…”
‘Hoo…’
Fortunately, Heinox didn’t actually look very angry.
If anything, he seemed conflicted.
Like he had many things on his mind.
“I did not summon you because you did something wrong.”
