3. The Orphanage’s Children (1)

This was about half a day before Laviela arrived at the orphanage’s front gate.

“Here.”

Before heading to the Diarmuid estate, Laviela suddenly handed an envelope to Jack, who was adjusting his cravat.

Jack, in the middle of fastening his cufflinks, turned to her with a puzzled expression.

“What’s this?”

“Please give it to my mom. Don’t open it.”

“Hmm.”

Jack accepted the envelope, narrowing his eyes as he examined it.

After a moment of silence, he glanced at Laviela, then held the envelope up to the light as if to see through it.

Laviela, horrified, clung to his leg.

“What are you doing!”

“I’m curious about what you wrote.”

“That’s exactly why I told you not to look!”

“Why? Did you write a love confession or something?”

“Don’t sneak that in! Just give it to me!”

“…Are you seriously out of breath after jumping around for just a second? Impressive. Are you taking your medicine properly? You’re not secretly throwing it away, are you? That stuff’s expensive.”

“I’m taking it!”

Laviela, unusually flustered, jumped up and down trying to snatch the envelope from Jack’s hand.

But Jack simply raised his hand higher, looking down at her with a broad, amused grin.

‘…He’s not usually like this.’

Serpen, who was watching the scene with a jacket slung over his arm, shuddered as if a chill had run down his spine.

Jack Esperanza wasn’t stingy with his laughter, though most of it was sarcastic.

While his sharp features gave him a fearsome appearance, he wasn’t someone who rarely smiled.

But the sight of Jack smiling so innocently, without any hidden intent, was almost shocking to Serpen, who had served him for over ten years.

‘Though it’s clear that expression is still meant to tease her…’

Serpen glanced at Jack, whose grin stretched wide, then shifted his gaze to Laviela, who was pouting and puffing her cheeks.

He couldn’t help but agree with Jack.

‘Seeing that face, anyone would want to tease her.’

After all, the only child Jack had kept close until now was Lucian.

But Lucian, even as a young child, had always been cold and unnerving, to the point of feeling alien.

Laviela, on the other hand, though calm and composed beyond belief, responded when teased—unlike Lucian.

‘…And she’s cute.’

Perhaps it was because she was the daughter of Gretel Diarmuid, who had once been hailed as the most beautiful woman in the empire.

Laviela’s delicate, well-defined features were striking.

Even Serpen had to admit that her frustrated, huffing expression was undeniably endearing.

“If you’re upset, grow taller. You don’t even look nine years old.”

After teasing Laviela to his heart’s content, Jack lowered his hand and ruffled her already messy curls, making her hair even more disheveled.

Laviela glared at him with narrowed eyes, growling softly.

“Have you ever given me a glass of milk to help me grow taller, Your Grace? No, you haven’t.”

“Should I?”

“…Forget it.”

Jack picked up an empty glass from the desk and waved it mockingly.

Laviela sighed deeply, as if she found the argument pointless, and turned her head away.

“Anyway, please give that letter to my mom. As I mentioned, I’ll be at the orphanage.”

“…Are you sure about this?”

Jack’s face, which had been full of laughter, turned serious in an instant.

“Wouldn’t it be better to see Gretel Diarmuid’s face before you go…?”

“You know how ridiculous that sounds, don’t you?”

“….”

“Now that Marquis Diarmuid is considering the possibility of a marriage alliance with the Duke of Esperanza, he’ll try even harder to find me.”

Laviela’s expression turned icy, a stark contrast to her earlier childlike reactions to Jack’s teasing.

She now resembled the elderly figure Jack had first thought of when he met her—a person standing at the edge of life.

Jack had sent a second letter to the Diarmuid estate after his initial correspondence with Laviela.

The purpose of the meeting was ostensibly to discuss a marriage with Gretel Diarmuid, and Jack had expressed his desire to meet her in person.

In the original story, Marquis Diarmuid had sent Gretel to Duke Bryan’s household because the other noble families he had approached had refused to mix their bloodlines with his.

Marquis Diarmuid wasn’t a fool.

He wouldn’t have wanted to tie himself to a newly established ducal family with no honor, wealth, or royal blood.

But the other noble families, including the Esperanza family, had no intention of mingling with a merchant’s bloodline, so they ignored his proposals.

Thus, in the original story, Marquis Diarmuid had no choice but to settle for Duke Bryan’s household.

‘But now, the Esperanza family has become an option. No matter how much he calculates, it’s obvious the Marquis will be tempted.’

For Marquis Diarmuid, who had been forced to settle for a lesser option, this was an unexpected windfall.

If things went well, he might even gain control over the Esperanza family.

So, while he might carefully weigh the benefits of the marriage, his heart was likely already set on marrying Gretel to Jack.

‘To ensure the marriage goes smoothly, I must eliminate myself as a variable.’

The moment Jack expressed his desire to marry Gretel after meeting her, the Marquis would grit his teeth and intensify his search for Laviela.

If Laviela reappeared, and it became known that she was Gretel’s daughter, the marriage discussions with the Esperanza family would undoubtedly fall apart.

Laviela fixed Jack with a calm gaze and spoke.

“The Marquis probably doesn’t think I persuaded Paul to help me escape. After all, I’m just a nine-year-old child. He’ll assume Paul felt guilty and pitied me enough to flee with me.”

Common sense dictated that a nine-year-old child, locked away in a tower, couldn’t possibly persuade a knight twice her age.

It was more plausible that Paul, feeling remorse for his harsh words to Laviela, had decided to help her escape.

“Before becoming a knight for the Diarmuid family, Paul worked as a mercenary in the Kingdom of Tyrenal. The Marquis will likely think Paul is trying to flee to Tyrenal with me.”

If Paul truly intended to escape with Laviela, what would he do?

In desperate and anxious situations, people tend to seek out familiar environments.

Moreover, if they remained within the empire, they might eventually encounter the Marquis’s pursuit forces. It would be better to cross the sea and escape to the Kingdom of Tyrenal, where the Marquis’s influence was weak.

…This was probably the most rational conclusion Paul could come to.

Marquis Diarmuid, though a villain, was also a clever man and would be able to deduce this.

“There’s a port south of the capital where ships to the Kingdom of Tyrenal are available, and it matches the direction of the traces Paul and I left behind.”

Then, how should Paul and Laviela avoid the Marquis’s eyes?

The best method would be for both of them to stay within the Esperanza ducal residence.

With the continent’s strongest Aura Master as its leader and the largest number of knights who were Aura Experts stationed there, there was no safer place than the Esperanza ducal residence.

“But even if Paul could be hidden among the Esperanza knights, if I stay in the ducal residence, word will inevitably leak out in some way. There are only boys in the ducal residence, and the Marquis will have to visit several times for wedding preparations.”

Laviela was a girl. And officially, there were no girls in the Esperanza ducal residence.

If dresses and items for a young girl were regularly purchased for the ducal residence, no matter how much they tried to keep it quiet, rumors would spread.

Even if that weren’t the case, they had to consider the possibility that the Marquis was monitoring the Esperanza family.

“Besides, for our plan to succeed completely, I need to be at the orphanage. Fortunately—or unfortunately—I was never officially registered at birth, so pretending to be an orphan will be easy.”

Right? Laviela concluded her words with a bright smile.

Looking at her face, Jack felt a pang deep in his chest.

‘…What kind of child in this world…’

What kind of child could smile like that while saying they were someone who “shouldn’t exist” in the world?

But pointing that out wouldn’t be polite.

In the end, Jack could only nod at Laviela’s suggestion to plant someone from Esperanza in the orphanage, “just in case.”