“Ratchet.”

When I called Leo, he responded with “Yes, Lady Belinda” and looked up at me intently.

It felt like it had been ages since our first meeting, when he was so stiff with nervousness that he couldn’t maintain eye contact with me for long.

After calling Leo, I spent a while choosing my words.

How should I convey that he’s precious to me in a way that would reach him without any misunderstanding?

I carefully selected my words, like polishing a rough stone into a gem.

“Have you ever heard of unconditional affection?”

“That’s…”

Leo tilted his head as if he didn’t quite understand.

I felt heavy-hearted because I could guess what Leo was about to say.

“…that sounds a bit scary. If affection has no reason, then couldn’t it disappear without reason at any time?”

“I think so, too.”

I smiled bitterly as I gently stroked Leo’s head.

I couldn’t force something the child found frightening.

So I needed to convey my feelings in a way that wouldn’t cause anxiety or fear for the child.

“Ratchet, I was originally a very, very mean and terrifying person.”

Thinking of the many evil deeds Belinda committed, calling her “mean” was actually insufficient.

Just as I was about to continue…

“N-no, that’s not true.”

Leo shook his head, cutting off my words.

“You’re always good to me. Lady Belinda is just misunderstood. Even the knight said so.”

Leo’s face turned bright red as he denied my words, as if he were the one being falsely accused.

What a sweet trap those words were.

I wanted to explain to this child, who would believe anything I said unconditionally, that there were reasons why I had no choice but to be that way.

But I knew I shouldn’t do that.

I am now Belinda, and nothing is more unsightly than pitying and feeling sorry for oneself.

‘Even if everyone else pities me, I shouldn’t pity myself.’

Don’t I already know how much of a self-pardon that gives?

Because I’m such a pitiful person.

Because there are reasons why I became this way.

With that magical phrase, all one’s evil deeds feel justified.

That’s how Belinda became the villain in “Hirome” and ended up treating this child before me carelessly without reason.

Therefore, even if it frightened Leo, I had to speak the truth directly.

“No, that’s not true. I committed many bad deeds before meeting you. Those weren’t due to misunderstandings, and there are many people who were unfairly driven out of this mansion because of me.”

“But…”

Leo pressed his lips together tightly, wanting to argue but unable to find the words.

To prevent Leo from biting his lips any further, I playfully tapped his lips and continued.

“Yet if you think I’m a good person, it’s because I wanted to be a good master to you.”

“To me?”

“Yes, Ratchet. You make me a better person. That’s why you’re precious to me. Because you make me a better person.”

After learning the truth about Belinda, the reason I could avoid crossing the line was actually because of Leo’s existence.

Because I wanted to be someone who could be proud in front of Leo.

“So you don’t need to become someone I need. You don’t have to be a good child or a useful child. You are precious to me just as you are.”

“I don’t… really understand.”

Leo fidgeted with his hands, furrowed his brow, and then quietly placed a hand on his chest.

“It’s too difficult, Lady Belinda. But somehow… my chest…”

After curling up for a moment with visible chest tightness, Leo’s face turned bright red as he whispered.

“Lady Belinda, just this once… can’t you hug me just once? Like you do every morning?”

Like a persimmon too ripe and soft, Leo spoke with all his facial muscles tensed.

Leo probably didn’t know what expression he was making right now.

He looked angry, like he was holding back laughter, and perhaps like he was crying.

This was the first time Leo, who didn’t know what expression to make when craving affection, had asked me for a hug.

I gladly lowered myself, spread my arms toward Leo, and grumbled.

“My Ratchet has so little greed. If you’d just ask, I’d hug you not once, but twice or three times.”

Unlike before, Leo rushed into my arms without hesitation.

The time spent with the child has been only 5 months.

Compared to the years I’ve lived and the lifetime ahead, 5 months is an absurdly short time.

However, Leo has become precious to me regardless of the passage of time.

***

“You are precious to me just as you are.”

Those words cast a stone into Leo’s heart.

If it had been Leo at the orphanage, those words would have been an empty echo, leaving no trace in the child’s heart.

He would have thought it was a terrible lie trying to deceive him.

But to Leo, Belinda’s Ratchet, those words settled heavily like an anchor with a weighty noise.

It felt like something heavy had settled in the center of his heart.

It was just one sentence, but like when he was held by Belinda, he could feel something gradually filling the emptiness in his chest.

‘My whole body feels wobbly.’

Just like when he was trapped in the attic with a fever, he felt like his entire body would melt away like a snowman.

Pushed by some emotion resembling fear, Leo squeezed out all his courage and barely managed to speak.

“Lady Belinda, just this once… can’t you hug me just once? Like you do every morning?”

And when he rushed into Belinda’s arms.

‘Ah, this isn’t a dream.’

Only then did Leo realize this was reality.

Belinda’s warmth against his entire body told him so.

He was no longer a snowman melting in a single ray of sunlight.

Without realizing it, Leo rubbed his forehead against Belinda’s shoulder.

“My Ratchet is still only the size of a chestnut, I wonder when you’ll grow up.”

He heard Belinda’s playful voice near his ear.

Although Belinda said he didn’t need to be a good child or a useful child, in that moment, Leo made a decision.

It could be called his first real dream.

Something he wanted to become, not as a means to find a place to belong, but purely because he liked it.

‘I must become Super King Ratchet.’

Leo recalled the new words he had learned from Terry and made another promise.

‘I’ll become Super King Ratchet and beat up all the people who are mean to Lady Belinda.’

Despite Belinda’s concerns, Terry’s education had already influenced Leo significantly.

***

“Whew, beating them all up makes me feel so refreshed.”

Terry wiped the sweat from her forehead with a refreshing smile.

Late at night.

In front of her lay men with masked faces, collapsed and foaming at the mouth.

The wounds they suffered were very shallow, but Terry’s dagger was coated with her specially made poison, so even a slight graze would cause unconsciousness within minutes.

While Terry, who hadn’t moved her body in a long time, was momentarily distracted, a black figure silently landed behind her.

Instead of confronting Terry, he quietly placed his hand on the doorknob leading to the interior of the Blanche annex.

“Gack!”

With a choking sound, he collapsed like a tree struck by lightning, blackened as if hit by a thunderbolt.

Terry glanced at the sight and let out an annoyed sigh.

“That magician makes things too easy. It’s no fun at all.”

Thanks to Cheshire’s anti-intruder barrier surrounding the entire annex, Terry actually didn’t need to go out for a stroll every night.

However, that was precisely what Terry was dissatisfied with.

She could easily stop intruders with her own strength without relying on magic.

After checking the intruders’ vital signs by nudging them with her foot, Terry noticed the tattoo on the inside of one’s wrist and clicked her tongue briefly.

“Wild dogs again. What kind of juicy meat did their client throw to them that they keep coming like this endlessly?”

This was already the third attack.

Even without tracking, the culprit was obvious.

Unlike previous attempts when shadow crows were sent or when they tried to kidnap Leo, all the intruders carried killing intent.

That meant Sybel was cornered.

So much that he had no time to care about others’ eyes.

Eventually, Terry casually threw the unconscious intruders over the wall.

If they were assassins who had diligently trained to build immunity to poison, they wouldn’t die.

‘Well… if they weren’t diligent, that can’t be helped.’

After neatly cleaning up the front yard, Terry let out a short whistle.

It was a signal to Penadel, who would be guarding Belinda’s room on the second floor.

No answer came back, but Terry was confident he had heard her signal.

Having stretched her muscles, she was about to return to her room after finishing today’s duty.

Dawn was breaking in the distance, and light gradually began to fill the garden in front of the annex.

And as if chased by that light, a gray carrier pigeon flew in like an arrow and perched on Terry’s shoulder.

It was a carrier pigeon sent by the rat.

Terry checked the code on the note tied to the bird’s leg and smiled with satisfaction.

It contained the location of the missing notary.