“Won’t you help me?”

It was a brazen question, as if demanding something that had been entrusted. Yet instead of impudence, the small face wore timidity. Dominic, returning from the academy, stared indifferently at the young girl blocking his path.

‘Was today when they said they’d visit soon……’

Emily Louise’s daughter. He remembered her name was May.

Though he’d been tired of hearing uninteresting information about her since her birth, this was his first time seeing her face. Dominic’s eyes narrowed as he observed her chubby, soft-looking cheeks and height smaller than others her age.

‘She’s even smaller than I expected.’

Moreover, her thin limbs compared to her face weren’t pleasant to look at. Though clean and expensive, her oversized clothes betrayed signs of growing up under negligent parents.

It seemed his foster father’s concerns weren’t unfounded after all. The worry about whether the child was growing well, that is. Of course, even while thinking this, he naturally ignored the girl’s request for help.

He had no reason to feel warmth toward a child he’d only heard about and was meeting for the first time, and he assumed a servant would come soon anyway.

But the tiny thing quickly grabbed the hem of the boy’s clothes as he tried to pass.

“I asked for help……”

Her pronunciation was awkward even considering her age. Perhaps born with strength instead of intelligence, her grip on his uniform was quite firm.

Seeing her eyes starting to well up quickly, he knew she’d definitely cry if he shook her off.

“What.”

At his irritated question, her black eyes grew round and large. Despite being the one who asked for help, her face said ‘I didn’t think you’d really help.’

“Um, could you hide me…?”

And at the hopeful voice that followed, Dominic’s face crumpled.

“Play hide and seek by yourself.”

“That’s not it……”

Finally, sniffling sounds came from behind his coldly turned back.

“When asking for something, include the reason for needing that help. It’s better not to rely on emotional appeals when trying to persuade someone.”

Her face, like a wet white bread, looked bewildered. It was clear she didn’t understand Dominic’s blunt advice. …Indeed, he couldn’t stand children who couldn’t hold a proper conversation. Nevertheless, the circumstances that led to bringing her to his room were simple.

It was because even after he firmly rejected her, she persistently followed him while sniffling. Though Dominic might be cold, he wasn’t heartless enough to shut the door in the face of a child crying while trying to muffle their sobs.

‘No one’s paying attention to the child, leaving her alone.’

Though some time had passed since pulling the bell cord, no servant seemed inclined to come up. He figured it was probably because he’d returned from school earlier than usual. The viscount’s household didn’t have many servants to begin with, with staff assigned according to specific times.

Besides, even if that weren’t the case, unnecessary staff would be concentrated where the master’s most welcome guest was.

Dominic spoke to the child with what sounded like a sigh.

“…Let’s go to your mother once you’ve calmed down.”

And at his words, the small body trembled. Dominic’s eyes narrowed once again, quickly noticing this reaction. Was her mother the reason she wanted to hide?

Emily. Though he was well aware of her instability… surely she wasn’t openly abusive?

Dominic’s expression grew more serious at this plausible assumption. Given the child’s poor nutritional state, it wouldn’t be strange if physical violence was added to that. Finally, he knelt before the hesitating child and rolled up her loose sleeve.

‘Fortunately, there are no visible injuries.’

There were no scars suggesting past abuse either. As he was secretly relieved about this, a small voice reached him.

“Mom hates me. She’d probably be happy if I disappeared?”

Though he’d suspected abuse, it was still an annoying complaint. In fact, Dominic, having grown up as an orphan, couldn’t really empathize with such talk.

As he silently checked her legs just in case, her gloomy voice continued in his ear.

“She said she thought she’d get grandfather’s attention if she had me. But I guess not…. She said grandfather won’t even look at Dad and me……”

“…Did you hear this directly?”

“Yeah, Mom said it while drinking and crying lots…. About… eight times.”

Saying this, she held up all ten fingers. Eight seemed to be the highest number she could think of to say right now. In other words, she’d likely heard these drunken rants even more times. Though just a guess, seeing the child’s state made it easy to be certain.

Physical violence isn’t the only form of abuse. Dominic’s brow furrowed deeply.

‘What a sight.’

As mentioned before, his foster father Herman Vicenti cherished that woman like his own daughter. Because of this, though he seemed to have excessive sympathy, he despised grown adults who couldn’t take care of themselves.

Weakness consumed by self-pity. That was what the young Dominic most avoided, so his disgust quickly rose toward a woman wrapped in self-pity. She was ultimately using her own pain as an excuse to do the same thing to her young daughter.

Glancing at the child, she probably didn’t fully understand everything her mother had said. But she must have felt deeply that her mother regretted giving birth to her.

“What about your father?”

“Dad?”

“I’m asking if your father hates you too.”

“…Hmm, I don’t know about that.”

“Why?”

“Because he rarely comes home?”

A father who rarely comes home. The child spoke of this as if it were perfectly natural, continuing innocently.

“You know, there was this time, I forgot what Dad looked like and accidentally called him mister? It was because his beard had grown so much……”

“……”

“Dad laughed saying he’d have to check if I was someone else’s kid.”

Her face smiled broadly while telling a story too problematic to treat as humor.

‘I heard their relationship wasn’t bad… was that a lie?’

Well, if her spouse had been a decent person, she wouldn’t have been desperately seeking her father’s affection until now.

Dominic looked at the girl who smiled brightly when their eyes met, as if she’d never been crying. She’s quite a gentle-looking child. Though he’d said he disliked children he couldn’t communicate with…. Thinking of the constantly wailing children he’d seen at the orphanage, this one wasn’t so bad.

He unconsciously raised his hand to pat the child’s head. Her face closed her eyes like a well-fed cat. It was a face starved for affection, satisfied even with his not-so-gentle touch.

Dominic began recalling memories he’d classified as unimportant. Though he hadn’t listened carefully at the time….

“I wonder if I should take in that child at least…. Though Emily probably won’t agree easily.”

Come to think of it, his foster father had said something like that before. Since that woman always visited the Vicenti mansion alone, this was probably the first time he’d seen the child since she was an infant too.

Yet he’d said such things, which suggests his foster father had early on judged that woman unfit to raise a child. Perhaps he knew about her relationship with her spouse as well.

And if so, things would be easier. Dominic naturally recalled custody lawsuit precedents. At the same time, he straightened his bent knee and helped the child up. He could see her face, which had been enjoying his touch with closed eyes, quickly becoming dejected.

Dominic looked into her large black eyes and said.

“Let’s go.”

Though it might be misplaced meddling, he thought this child needed the same luck as when Herman took him in.

And for that, he needed to show his foster father the child’s condition. Though they must have already greeted each other, he probably hadn’t seen this kind of face. The timing was perfect, as he’d likely be deep in conversation with that woman by now. To reveal this tear-stained face.

Dominic intended to explain in detail how the child’s face had become wet.

“I don’t want to go……”

So this tiny thing would become family? Thinking this, Dominic lifted the mumbling child’s small body.

“Even if you don’t want to go, you must. There are times when you have to face things you don’t want to see. That’s how you can avoid them. If you keep your eyes closed, you’ll inevitably step into puddles you haven’t noticed.”

His firm voice admonished the child.