Unlike me, who was somewhat startled, the Grand Duke remained calm, as if this sort of thing was familiar to him.

“So, about that… Could you let me stay here for just one week?”

Miki grinned brightly and held up one index finger to indicate the number one.

The Grand Duke turned his head with an expression that said he found this unbearably troublesome.

“Use the annex.”

He ran away from home, and you’re not sending him back?

My mouth fell open on its own in disbelief.

“If you can receive permission, that is.”

I wondered whose permission he meant, and it turned out to be none other than mine.

“I can really behave myself. I’m good at chopping firewood, too, and I’m strong, so I’ll be useful.”

For that reason, Miki emphasized several times that he had practical value.

“I’m really, really good at cooking, too. I listen well, and I’m good at pulling weeds. Ah, I’m especially excellent at weeding fields, so you can order me around whenever you need.”

Wasn’t this boy… a noble?

Why were all the things he claimed to be good at things servants would do?

“The thing I’m best at in the world is painting, though. If you let me stay, I’ll paint your portrait. How about it?”

A portrait.

Come to think of it, I had never owned a portrait in my life.

When I was young, I could not have one because they said unmarried women only had portraits painted when discussing marriage between families.

And after I grew up and married Louis, I never even dared to think of having one.

The painters occasionally invited to the estate were all busy painting Louis.

The word portrait tempted me for no reason, but I barely managed to withstand it.

Now that I had become a duchess, if I wanted a portrait, I could simply invite a painter at any time and have one painted.

There was no need to have Miki paint it for me.

“Your grandfather must be waiting for you, so perhaps you should return.”

At my words, Miki, who had been eagerly explaining his usefulness with sparkling eyes, became crestfallen.

“If I go in like this, the servants will definitely see the documents I have and tell my grandfather.”

“But there was no problem yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

Miki tilted his head.

“I didn’t go back to the main house yesterday either.”

“Then how did you receive the invitation I sent to your residence?”

“Ah, I received that at the gate.”

“At the gate?”

At my question, Miki smiled brightly.

“Yes, at the gate of Balthazar Castle.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

In other words, this boy had been sleeping outside since yesterday.

He had been loitering in front of the Grand Duke’s castle, and by chance, he had received the invitation looking for him and come in!

Unlike yesterday, he was neatly dressed, so I had never imagined he had been sleeping rough.

“How impressive.”

People were supposed to mature naturally once they became adults, but the man before me seemed utterly childish.

Why would someone with a perfectly fine home go out of his way to do that?

“Please let me stay for just one week. Please?”

Miki once again made his eyes sparkle and pleaded pitifully for permission.

I had only watched him do that for a moment, yet somehow, it felt as if all the energy were draining out of me.

“Fine, then. Do that.”

When I reluctantly agreed, Miki sprang up from his seat and began hopping up and down.

Watching him, I understood why Rodrigo had once described Miki as lacking.

He was so bright and innocent that it was exhausting.

“You’re kicking up dust.”

The Grand Duke warned Miki, but—

“Yahoo! Yahoo!”

It seemed Miki could not hear him at all.

* * *

I returned to my room and examined the documents Miki had brought once more.

Since records remained of paintings being sold to House Agatha, I wondered whether there might also be something about the sailing ships supposedly sold from House Agatha to House Erinique.

But unfortunately, among the documents Miki had brought, that was the only thing related to my family.

Most of them merely recorded expenditures of unclear origin.

So I decided to have someone investigate House Erinique.

Perhaps because this was a duchy, investigating Erinique, an imperial noble house, was not as easy as I had expected.

I had thought that once I became a duchess, digging up information would be simple.

As expected, there was a difference between ideals and reality.

Knock, knock.

At the sudden sound of knocking, I lifted my head.

I thought perhaps the knight I had asked to investigate had come, but that was not the case.

“Have you never seen a person before? Why are you staring like that?”

The one who barged in without waiting for me to tell her to enter was the child I had seen earlier that day, Mabel.

“Give me some cocoa.”

Mabel strode into the room and sat down on the sofa.

Why had that ill-mannered little brat come here?

“Make the cocoa yourself.”

As I said that, I tossed her the candy Miki had given me yesterday.

“Hey! Why are you throwing food?”

Mabel caught the candy I had thrown in one go and popped it straight into her mouth.

“It tastes better than I thought.”

Perhaps satisfied by the sweetness, Mabel smiled brightly.

I took my eyes off Mabel and returned to examining the documents I had been looking at a moment ago.

Since she had come as she pleased, I thought she might disturb me, but surprisingly, she was quiet.

Thanks to that, I was able to build up my plan step by step without needing to pay attention to her.

“Why did you come here?”

After looking through the documents, organizing them, and repeating that dozens of times—

When I finally finished what I had to do and lifted my head, Mabel, who had been lying sprawled on the sofa, sprang upright.

“Are you done with your work?”

Mabel did not answer my question. Instead, she asked me one of her own.

“Not exactly. Didn’t you come here because you had business with me?”

“I did. But I thought the conversation might get long, so I waited.”

What was this?

Maybe because of what I had seen today, it felt strange for that child to behave so quietly.

What could she possibly have to say that would take so long?

“I can finish this later, so if you have something to say, say it quickly and go.”

“Really?”

Mabel, who had been about to lie back down on the sofa, came trotting over to me.

Then she clenched her fist toward me and soon held out only her pinky finger.

“Then promise me!”

“What promise?”

“Not to tell Brother later that I kept you from working because of me.”

Tell on her?

Mabel had used such strong wording that I was dumbfounded, but I decided it was because she had not been properly educated.

“All right. I promise.”

I hooked my pinky around Mabel’s.

“Ahem!”

It was not as though we had done anything special, but for some reason, Mabel’s expression brightened after the promise.

“Wait here. I’m going to bring a chair!”

Soon, Mabel brought over a stool from one side of the room and set it down in front of the desk.

“Auntie, do you believe in fate?”

She had gone out of her way to come here, and the first thing she brought up was fate.

As expected of a child.

By the way, the Grand Duke was “Brother,” but I was “Auntie”?

Even if I had repeated countless deaths and regressions, somehow, that felt unfair.

Still, in this life, I was not yet old enough to be called auntie.

“No.”

I answered quietly, then waited in silence to see what she would say.

At that, Mabel went, “Oooh!” as if intrigued, then asked her next question.

“Then do you believe in gods?”

“No.”

If gods existed, would they not have looked back at my life at least once?

It was such a trivial question, yet strangely, it stirred many thoughts in me.

Perhaps because there had once been a time when I had begged a god to please end this cursed life.

“What’s with you? Why are you answering so carelessly? Are you even thinking before you answer?”

Perhaps because I had answered so quickly, as if without thinking, Mabel huffed in annoyance.

“But then why are there so many gods behind you, Auntie?”

Then she rested both arms on the desk, propped her chin on them, and stared intently at me.

More precisely, she was looking not at me, but beyond my back.

Did this child perhaps suffer from madness?

Around the time I thought that, Mabel sprang up from her seat with a startled expression.

“Now that I look closer, you don’t even have a heart?”

That made it certain.

This child was very ill.

Otherwise, there was no way she would spout nonsense about my perfectly present heart being gone.

I shook my head slightly and decided I should just humor her a little before sending her back.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

Even while I was thinking one thing and another, Mabel could not take her eyes off me and kept marveling.

Eventually, she came closer and examined me from every angle.

“Auntie, you died and came back to life, didn’t you?”

“Hm?”

For a moment, I thought I had heard wrong.

“And not just once, but a whole, whole lot!”

With an excited expression, Mabel climbed up onto the desk.