TVBS 09

Chapter 9

I barely managed to cover my open mouth with my hand in shock.

What did she just say? Kneel on the floor and sit?

I must have heard wrong.

Good heavens, who would dare tell the third son of House Kereis to sit on the floor, let alone kneel?

“Hold out your arms.”

“…Okay.”

And then came a sound that made my blood run cold.

Smack. Smack.

I doubted my own ears.

The sound was unmistakable. It was exactly the sound of a teacher striking a student with a cane at school.

And on top of that, I could hear Krimu whimpering in pain.

Haah… no way.

I barely managed to calm the rage boiling in my chest before focusing every one of my senses beyond the curtain again.

“Now wipe the table.”

The nanny’s behavior was absolutely appalling.

She wore a kind mask in front of other people, only to turn frightening the moment she was alone with such a young child.

No, seriously… why?

My anger soon went beyond fury and turned into hatred.

But why didn’t anyone in this household know about this?

The answer to that question came soon enough.

“If you don’t listen to me, I’ll leave you in the Dark Forest. The duke has given me permission, too. Young Master Ron didn’t disappear, either. The duke deliberately threw him away.”

“Whiiiine…”

“Stop. Do you want to be thrown out of this estate?”

“Sniff.”

They were horrifying words.

Threatening a mere four-year-old with being thrown out?

How often had she said things like that for the crybaby Krimu to stop crying the moment he heard them?

And that wasn’t even the end of it.

At the nanny’s final remark, I was horrified all over again.

“Sigh. No matter how much I look, there’s barely anything worth taking. I expected more from the greatest ducal family in the West, but the duke doesn’t seem to care about his own child at all. Tsk.”

That woman…!

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms.

She was probably planning to run away with the man she’d been having an affair with in the storage room.

From what I’d heard, this wasn’t the first time she’d pulled something like this.

Oh, you’re caught now!

Breakfast time arrived as usual.

As always, I took a moment to look at the duke’s impassive face.

His mini-me, the eldest son Shevert, still hadn’t returned from his training.

Feeling the unusually quiet atmosphere, I looked across the table at Krimu.

He’s barely eating.

The little boy normally didn’t eat very much, but today he seemed especially lacking in appetite.

He needed to eat well if he wanted to grow big and strong.

I looked sadly at Krimu, who had his head lowered so far that it nearly disappeared into his bowl of soup.

Then I turned my gaze toward the duke.

Does that man seriously have an appetite for salad right now?!

As if his own child didn’t even exist, he was eating while reading documents.

If this was how it was going to be, why had he insisted that we all have breakfast together?

I wanted to grab him by the collar and demand an explanation.

Eventually, the duke finished his meal and rose from his seat first.

Once he left, an even heavier silence descended over the table.

“Miss, shall I have them bring you some warm soup?”

“Hm?”

I looked at the maid who had approached me, then realized that I hadn’t eaten a single bite and had merely been stirring my soup.

The soup, which had been steaming just moments ago, had already gone cold.

“No. It’s fine.”

I put down my spoon again and looked at Krimu.

The little boy had briefly lifted his head after hearing my conversation with the maid.

I heard the sound of someone being hit yesterday.

She had most likely struck the inside of his arms where no one would notice.

The tender skin of a four-year-old must have been sore and painful.

Seeing Krimu remain silent made my heart ache even more.

“…Krimu, did you sleep well last night?”

After debating whether to say it, I finally let the words that had been circling inside my mouth out.

Instantly, every gaze in the dining room turned toward me.

It was understandable.

After all, I was the one who had supposedly tormented Krimu and made him cry not long ago.

Of course, that had all been a completely fabricated rumor.

I could sense the flustered maids moving restlessly behind me.

Krimu, too, had opened his red eyes wide beneath his blue bangs.

“How did you like the dessert…?”

I didn’t back down and continued trying to talk to him.

This was the best I could do.

The best way I could approach the child.

If he were just a little older, I would have immediately asked him whether the nanny had been hurting him.

But Krimu was far too young.

If I wanted to get close to him, I first needed to become friendly with him.

Please let this be the right thing to do.

I forced the corners of my lips upward and put on the kindest expression I could.

“…Tasty.”

It was the first thing Krimu had said all morning.

“……!”

I felt a tremendous wave of emotion swell inside my chest.

I-I finally had an actual conversation with Krimu.

Yes. From here on, I’d take it one step at a time.

Suppressing my overwhelming excitement, I popped a piece of cake into my mouth, imitating Krimu, and chewed exaggeratedly.

“This is bad? It’s super delicious!”

Then I gave him an over-the-top reaction specially designed for children.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but Krimu’s expression seemed to gradually relax.

“I have a cherry on mine. What kind of fruit do you have on yours?”

“…Cherry.”

Yes!

This time, Krimu answered while tightly clutching the cherry in his little hand.

Our cute little conversation continued for a while.

Then—

“Young Master, it’s time for your studies.”

The nanny appeared in the dining room.

For a moment, I narrowed my eyes at her, but quickly turned away.

It’s not time yet.

I immediately went looking for Duvier, the butler of House Kereis.

Duvier and I had only ever exchanged brief greetings when passing each other. We’d never had a personal conversation.

So this was the first time we’d spoken alone.

Duvier lightly pushed up his monocle with the back of his hand and looked at me with a prim expression.

“What can I do for you?”

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

Duvier’s fine brows narrowed slightly.

I could understand his reaction.

A thirteen-year-old girl had suddenly come looking for him and was speaking with a strangely serious expression.

But it was too early for him to be surprised.

“Show me House Kereis’s ledgers.”

“Pardon?”

“The ledgers. I’m talking about the ledgers.”

I repeated the word before he could ask again.

Duvier was one of the people in this household who had noticed that I was considerably more intelligent than girls my age.

He rested his chin on his pale fingers and looked at me as if to say, Go on, let’s see what you’ve got.

“Of course, I understand. But I don’t have time to give you a long explanation.”

“Miss, I’m not exactly so free that—”

His tone sounded as though he were trying to lecture me, so I had no choice but to get straight to the point.

“Hasn’t some money gone missing from the ledgers over the past few weeks? It wasn’t a particularly large amount, so you probably let it slide. But as time went on, small amounts kept disappearing, didn’t they?”

For an instant, Duvier’s monocle trembled.

He stared at me in astonishment, clearly wondering how I could possibly know.

“When is the day you’re supposed to pay Kunu’s shop, the one listed in the ledger? The amount looks like it should be pretty substantial.”

“Miss, what exactly are you—”

“What I’m telling you right now is extremely important to House Kereis. So please don’t ask me to explain every little detail.”

“…Yes, Miss.”

Duvier answered yes, but his beautiful eyes behind the monocle continued to waver in confusion, as if he’d suffered a tremendous shock.

His normally orderly thoughts had become hopelessly tangled.

Everything the young lady in front of him said was correct.

But this was all internal information about the family, and the young lady had only recently entered the household as an outsider.

There was absolutely no way she should have known any of this.

And yet—

How? How could she possibly know?

Duvier’s elegant fingertips straightened his monocle, which had been knocked crooked by the shock.

Then he once again stared at the petite girl standing before him.

He had already noticed that compared to other thirteen-year-old girls, there was something unusual about her speech and the way she thought.

But he’d dismissed it as his imagination.

Now, however, a conviction was gradually taking hold of him.

Perhaps what he was seeing right now was the young lady’s true nature.

“Today is the day we pay Kunu’s shop.”

“What?”

Duvier recognized the urgency of the situation and immediately showed the ledger to the girl.

Showing the family’s ledgers to an outsider was something that simply should not happen.

But his instincts told him that this was what he needed to do.

“If you look here, the date is today. If we add this month’s payment to last month’s payment…”

“Gasp! 100,000 Crow?”

That was more than ten million won in Korean currency.

The butler explained that unlike the other suppliers, Kunu’s shop was paid quarterly.

They ordered such enormous quantities of goods from them.

“Who went to make that payment?”

“A servant named Whale. He’s very good with numbers, and above all, he’s precise… Surely…”

Duvier stopped speaking when he saw my expression darken.

Realizing how serious the situation was, the first place he took me was the duke’s study.

There, the butler told the duke everything I’d said to him.

If I, a mere child, had gone straight to the duke, he probably wouldn’t have taken me seriously.

But when Duvier, who was responsible for managing the household’s affairs both inside and outside the estate, spoke to him seriously, the duke had no choice but to pay attention.

“Is that true?”

“We’ll have to verify whether it’s true.”

The furious duke immediately ordered people to be sent to Kunu’s shop.

“If it’s true, then what a rat bastard. Catch him immediately and tear him limb from limb.”

The duke spat out those terrifying words in a completely emotionless voice.

Listening from beside Duvier, I felt like even the breath leaving my lungs was trembling.

“But why is that child here?”

Because the butler had been in such a hurry that he’d forgotten to mention my involvement.

Duvier finally looked slightly surprised before answering.

“Actually, Miss Marianne was the one who told me all of this.”

“Marianne?”