Cordelia looked at Caspian sitting across from her. His long fingers holding the teacup and the entire sequence of his tea-drinking movements were elegant.

Rumors about the young master had been distorted beyond recognition. While some praised him as an angel, others disparaged him as a monster.

Cordelia hadn’t believed any rumors from the beginning. Stories unverified by the person concerned could never be true.

And on that day when she first saw the young master in the garden, Cordelia became confident in her judgment.

Someone who harmed others for the sake of their own honor or feelings could never have such eyes.

Deep in thought, Cordelia suddenly held out her notebook.

「What is the bird’s name?」

“Name?”

Caspian raised one eyebrow slightly. He answered as if she had asked something strange.

“It doesn’t have one.”

Not giving a name to a pet he had raised for 14 years? Then what did he call it?

This time it was Cordelia who looked puzzled.

“What’s the point of giving a name to something that could die at any moment?”

But that bird had lived for 14 years.

Caspian’s indifferent words were all the colder for it. Cordelia felt hurt by his words, even though she wasn’t the canary.

Cordelia was still attempting to communicate with the canary.

She thought that perhaps the reason the canary had returned was because it also wanted to become friends with her, but the bird remained consistently unresponsive even after that day.

Although Cordelia was disheartened by these one-sided conversations that went nowhere, she gradually grew accustomed to them.

Perhaps the canary had truly lost its voice. Not just out of fear, like herself.

There was a knock. Cordelia stood up and positioned herself behind Caspian.

“Come in, Cathy.”

The door opened, and a man wearing a fedora entered along with Catherine.

The man, pushing up his glasses that had slid down to the tip of his nose, looked at Cordelia. His eyes narrowed behind his thick glasses.

“Cordelia.”

Caspian called the child in a gentle voice.

“Step outside for a moment.”

Cordelia, who had been looking at the young master’s back as he lifted his teacup, bowed her head.

The man watched Cordelia as she walked toward the door. His persistent gaze felt somehow uncomfortable. Cordelia left the room with quick steps.

About 30 minutes after Cordelia had begun studying in her room, Catherine knocked on the door. She asked Cordelia to help with kitchen duties.

Becky, the main culprit in the canary incident, had been expelled from the villa that very day. And Maria and Sarah, who had informed on her, received minor punishments and pay cuts, she said.

The two maids were cold whenever they encountered Cordelia, but they no longer picked fights with or mistreated the child.

Due to the reduced staff, Cordelia occasionally filled Becky’s vacant position like this. Even with just one person missing, the shortage was keenly felt in a place that was already understaffed.

Cordelia tidied her desk and left the room.

Had the guest meeting already ended?

Cordelia recalled the face of the man she had seen earlier. Since she had never seen him in the mansion before, he must be an outsider.

Even in that brief moment as she passed by, his gaze scanning her up and down had been blatant. Cordelia frowned.

On her way to the kitchen, Cordelia’s eyes met with the man coming down the stairs. As the child was about to quickly greet him and leave, the man stopped her.

“Are you the new personal maid?”

He asked in an authoritative tone. Cordelia immediately knew. The man was a nobleman.

His attitude of naturally looking down on those beneath him was so obvious that even Cordelia, who had limited experience with nobility, could easily notice it.

However, the young master had never treated Cordelia carelessly. The young master was a kind person even to a mere maid.

He had allowed Cordelia to work at the villa and had been forgiving of whatever mistakes she made.

<Use me.>

Cordelia momentarily recalled that conversation.

<Why?>

<…Because I want to.>

Cordelia had revisited this conversation, which she understood the words of but couldn’t grasp the meaning, several times since that day.

Perhaps in his eyes, the young child being insulted had looked pitiful. After all, the young master was a kind person.

But Cordelia had no intention of acting spoiled with the young master.

Cordelia pushed out her lips in a pout and lifted her chin. The man once again openly looked her up and down.

“Hmm, you look quite young… About ten years old, I’d say.”

“……”

“Did you come from Obenhart? How long have you been working? Have you noticed anything suspicious about the young master during that time?”

The man bombarded Cordelia with questions without pause.

When conversing with someone for the first time, one should first identify oneself, but he treated the child condescendingly as if it were only natural.

Above all, Cordelia found the man’s narrowly slitted eyes extremely unpleasant.

「Who are you?」

The man looked at Cordelia’s notebook, remained silent for a moment, then muttered:

“What, she’s a mute.”

He rubbed his chin as if thinking about something.

Not understanding the man’s words, Cordelia wondered if she really needed to wait for him.

However, this rude and arrogant man was still the young master’s guest. Cordelia didn’t mind offending the man, but she didn’t want to disappoint the young master.

As she was keeping her mouth shut and enduring her dissatisfaction, someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You haven’t left yet, Dr. Hugo.”

“Ah, Catherine. I was just about to leave.”

“Then I’ll see you next month. Take care.”

“I will.”

The man looked down at Cordelia once more, then placed the fedora he was holding on his head.

As the sound of his footsteps faded away, Catherine took Cordelia to the kitchen.

“What did you talk about with him?”

“I don’t know.”

Catherine, stroking the child’s head, let out a brief sigh.

“He is the young master’s personal physician. He comes regularly to check on the young master’s condition.”

When Cordelia blinked and tilted her head in confusion, Catherine explained once more that he was a doctor.

To think that such a person was in charge of the young master’s health.

Cordelia frowned as she tried to erase the man’s unpleasant gaze from her mind.

* * *

Standing in pitch-black darkness, Caspian realized.

This is a dream. A nightmare that visits in the same form like a repeating daily routine, reminding him of reality.

In the dream, Caspian wanders through darkness for a very long time. Walking, walking, and walking more, until he discovers a faint light.

He runs breathlessly to catch up with the flickering light that seems about to disappear at any moment. Suddenly, everything around him brightens, and Caspian finds himself standing alone in a room.

An unchanging landscape. Like a picture framed in a large frame, Caspian wanders around the room. He neither opens the door to leave nor reaches his hand out the window.

The sun rises and sets, rain falls, strong winds blow, but Caspian continues to stay only in the room.

Suddenly, the door bursts open. A large, blonde man with gleaming red eyes appears. All at once, everything around turns pitch black.

Caspian tries to say something to him, but not even the smallest breath escapes from his throat.

The man turns around. Caspian tries to hold him back, but his entire body is stiff and won’t move.

With his mouth moving endlessly but unable to make a sound, Caspian watches the man leave.

He slowly lifted his eyelids. His blurry focus gradually found its place.

Even before his vision became completely clear, Caspian unconsciously felt relieved at the blue eyes filling his sight.

Caspian sat up. Before his parched lips could part, Cordelia handed him a glass of water. His hand trembled slightly as he took it.

Cordelia wiped away the cold sweat on Caspian’s forehead with a handkerchief.

The room was dark. When he had lain down on the bed after Hugo left, it had been afternoon with the sun still up, but outside the window it was already pitch black.

Cordelia wrote by the light of only a small lamp on the bedside table.

「Are you alright?」

“…Yes.”

His voice cracked. Instead of clearing his throat, Caspian closed his mouth.

Although it was clear from the time that he had slept for a long while, he felt only tired due to the nightmare.

Caspian took a long breath, almost like a sigh. Cordelia took the water glass from his hand and placed it on the bedside table.

「Tell me anytime if you’re uncomfortable.」

Cordelia seemed to have no intention of leaving until Caspian fell asleep again.

Caspian didn’t want to sleep. With this feeling, he would undoubtedly repeat the same nightmare.

“Go to bed now. I can’t sleep anymore.”

His hoarse voice couldn’t travel far and lingered around his lips. Caspian deliberately put strength into his throat, worried that the child might find it difficult to understand his words.

The fountain pen rustled as it moved. He expected a response saying she understood, but the fountain pen continued to make sounds for quite some time.