After breakfast, Aneta prepared for their outing and took Rodion to the palace. Verifying his identity was smooth, as several knights at the entrance recognized the boy’s face.

Aneta led Rodion straight to Carlos’ office in the Lennox wing. Upon entering, Carlos greeted her as he always did.

“Aneta, you’re here. And you’ve brought the young master with you today.”

“Rodion wanted to talk to you, so I brought him along.”

Carlos didn’t seem particularly surprised to see Rodion. Perhaps he had anticipated the boy might seek him out.

“Is that so? Then come, have a seat over here.”

Aneta watched Carlos nonchalantly guide the boy to the sofa, further cementing her suspicion that Carlos had expected this encounter.

Rodion, nodding slightly in greeting, followed Carlos’ direction without a word. His demeanor toward the Duke had softened somewhat.

Noticing Rodion’s furtive glances at Carlos’ bandaged hand, Aneta quickly understood the boy’s feelings.

Despite his lingering doubts, Rodion was genuinely concerned about Carlos’ wellbeing.

“I’ve wanted to have a conversation like this for some time. I’ve been curious about why the young master dislikes me,” Carlos began, directly addressing the topic he had likely guessed.

Rodion hesitated and looked toward Aneta. He seemed to worry that bringing up the rumors he had heard might hurt Carlos again.

Seeing Rodion glance her way, Aneta gave him a reassuring nod and maintained a calm expression. Encouraged, Rodion lowered his gaze and began to speak.

He repeated everything he had told Aneta earlier—the things he had seen and heard after the divorce and the feelings they had stirred in him. Carlos listened intently, nodding as if he finally understood why the boy had harbored such resentment toward him.

“You had every reason to be upset with me,” Carlos admitted.

“I would have felt the same if I were in your shoes. But there were circumstances at the time.”

“What kind of circumstances?” Rodion asked.

“Not long after Aneta left, I fell ill with a fever. I couldn’t learn anything about what was happening outside for a while. It may sound like an excuse, but I would have acted immediately if I’d known about the situation.”

“But there’s no way news travels slowly to the Duke’s household,” Rodion said, his lips pressing together tightly as his lingering frustration surfaced.

“I even sent a letter directly to the Duke’s estate.”

“I only learned about your letter and the rumors the day I returned to work,” Carlos explained.

“The steward and the other staff at the estate all knew, but no one informed me.”

“Why?”

Aneta, observing the situation, had already guessed the reason. However, she chose not to interrupt Carlos. He needed to say it himself for his sincerity to come across fully.

“They were worried I might push myself despite my poor health to handle the situation personally. With you away from the capital, they prioritized the health of the family head, knowing you wouldn’t hear the rumors,” Carlos explained, his tone tinged with regret as he glanced at Aneta.

But Aneta harbored no resentment toward the staff for their decision. She didn’t think they had made the wrong choice—they had simply done what was expected of them as the Duke’s retainers. Rather than feeling slighted, she respected their decision. Even Isabel, who trusted Carlos deeply, would likely have made the same choice in such a situation.

“Of course, the staff didn’t stand idly by until I recovered. They worked discreetly behind the scenes, which allowed me to address the matter directly as soon as I was back on my feet.”

The individuals who had spread baseless gossip were far from upstanding people, and their misconduct became undeniable once exposed. Carlos immediately reported the matter to Russell. While Russell noticed the personal stakes in Carlos’ actions, he didn’t reprimand him—after all, Carlos wasn’t fabricating charges to bring them down.

The perpetrators of the rumors, who had once reveled in their slander, faced swift justice. Their assets were confiscated, and they were thrown into prison. With Carlos taking the legal route to deal with them, the absurd rumors naturally dissipated.

This was why Aneta had never heard about the gossip.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” she asked.

“Because there was no good reason for you to hear about it. I thought it would be better to keep it from you,” Carlos replied, his expression twisting with lingering distaste at the memory.

Aneta nodded, understanding his reasoning. She would have likely made the same choice if their roles had been reversed. No one wants their loved one to hear such vile words.

When Carlos finished explaining, Aneta turned to Rodion. With her assumptions confirmed, all that remained was for Rodion to acknowledge his misunderstanding.

She didn’t pressure him, nor did Carlos. Instead, they gave Rodion the time and space to process his thoughts.

It didn’t take long. Finally, Rodion raised his head, having reached a decision. He stood from his seat and stepped forward.

“I’ve misunderstood you, Your Grace. I’m sorry.”

Rodion bowed deeply before Carlos. The sight of the small boy bending so low stirred a pang of sadness in Aneta. However, she resolved not to intervene, knowing that doing so would only undermine the lesson.

If Rodion could learn from this moment, he wouldn’t need to bow like this again.

“Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared, that’s enough. Thank you for apologizing,” Carlos said gently.

He stepped forward, helping Rodion straighten his back before guiding him back to the sofa.

“Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, can you try liking me from now on?”

“Isn’t that a completely different matter?”

“It hurts my heart to be disliked by someone who resembles Aneta.”

Carlos tried flattery as he watched Rodion quickly raise his guard again. For Carlos, saying that Rodion resembled Aneta was the highest compliment, and it also seemed to hold the same weight for Rodion.

“I resemble my sister?”

“Yes, unlike Vernon.”

The flattery immediately drew a reaction. As Rodion heard this confirmation, his delight became evident. Though he tried to hide it, the blush on his cheeks gave him away.

“Well… I’ll try to like you little by little.”

Though the reply was somewhat ambiguous, Carlos seemed satisfied. Watching Carlos successfully win over the child, Aneta chuckled to herself. She started to feel that they might get along better than she’d initially thought.

***

With the misunderstanding resolved, Rodion took the carriage back to the estate ahead of them. Carlos and Aneta returned about three or four hours later.

The three of them had lunch together at the Marquis’ residence. Carlos continued to look after them as before, and Rodion no longer avoided his kindness.

Now that Rodion was no longer on edge like a wary cat, the staff struggled to hide their surprise. Some of them sighed in relief, thinking, ‘The Duke must have worked some kind of magic.’

After lunch, they moved to the sitting room for tea. Once Rodion finished his plate of tea snacks, he excused himself, saying he had something to do. His actions starkly contrasted with the past, when he would barely leave his seat until Carlos departed.

Aneta, recalling the previous day’s events, made her way to Rodion’s room. It was nearly time for Vernon to come pick him up. Standing in front of the door, she knocked lightly.

“Come in,” came Rodion’s voice from inside.

When Aneta entered, she found Rodion busy packing. He was crouched on the floor in front of an open suitcase, counting on his fingers to ensure he hadn’t forgotten anything.

Initially, Aneta suggested assigning a servant to assist him, but Rodion refused. He reasoned that he needed to learn to take care of his belongings himself.

“Have you packed everything? Do you want some help?”

“No, it’s okay. I just need to finish organizing, so I’m fine.”

As expected, Rodion politely declined her offer of help.

Leaning against the doorway, Aneta watched the boy’s capable hands as he meticulously arranged his belongings into the suitcase.

Watching him handle everything on his own so capably, Aneta couldn’t help but feel proud of him. But at the same time, it saddened her.

Rodion had been born posthumously. After Marquis Raiden passed away, Liliette discovered she was pregnant with him.

As the youngest child, with a significant age gap from his elder brother Vernon, and given the circumstances of his birth, everyone assumed the boy would grow up spoiled. But reality turned out quite differently.

While Vernon had inherited Raiden’s easygoing and carefree nature, Rodion had taken after Liliette’s strong sense of independence.

Aneta knew it was a product of his environment, and it was precisely this that made her feel so protective of him.

Vernon had grown up surrounded by plenty of love, but Rodion had not. Despite Vernon pouring his affection into his younger brother to fill the void left by their parents, the love of a sibling was fundamentally different from that of a parent.

Rodion’s close bond with Aneta stemmed from this shared lack. From the first time they met, they had recognized a mutual void in one another, which became the foundation of their relationship.

“Do you feel sad that Vernon got married?”

Aneta was the only one who could ask such a question. She genuinely wanted to know how the boy felt—it wouldn’t be surprising if he thought he was losing the brother who had taken on a parental role.

“Not really sad, but more like I think it’s for the best,” Rodion replied.

“It’ll be at least six more years until I graduate, so I couldn’t expect my brother to stay alone all that time. I’m grateful if someone like my sister-in-law can stay by his side and support him.”

Even as he spoke, Rodion continued to pack diligently.

“Besides, I’m not so young as to cling to my brother like that, Sister. I already have someone I’ve promised my future to.”

“…What?”

The bombshell revelation caught Aneta off guard. ‘Kids these days really are fast,’ she thought to herself, letting out a stunned chuckle.

“Would I lie to you, Sister? Oh, but please don’t tell my brother. He’d pester me about it if he found out.”
Having finished packing his suitcase, Rodion stood up.

After dropping such a surprising statement, his nonchalant demeanor stirred Aneta’s mischievous side.

“You used to say you wanted to marry me, though. How could you, Rodion?”

“Sister, that was…”

As she brought up the past, Rodion became flustered just as she had intended. Seeing his adorable reaction, Aneta teased him further.

“I still remember how you cried and cried when you found out I was getting married.”

“Please forget about that.”

“I can’t do that. I will tell that person all about it when you bring them to meet me. You’re not planning to avoid introducing them to me, right?”

“Sister…”

Rodion let out a groan, clearly exasperated by her teasing.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Aneta burst into laughter at the sight of his deeply flushed face.

It was a peaceful afternoon.