A shrill scream burst from Arinne’s mouth.

“Mmm, sisterrr…”

Ray had unconsciously grabbed Arinne’s hair in his sleep.

“Ra-Ray!”

The flustered Marquis hurriedly straightened his bent upper body while holding Ray.

Because of that, the grabbed hair was pulled even harder and Arinne made another pained sound.

“That pulls it, more! Ahhh…!”

“I-I’m sorry! Does it hurt?”

The Marquis bent his upper body again. Holding Ray, he was stuck in an awkward position halfway between bending and straightening, unable to do either, floundering.

Seeing tears even appear in Arinne’s eyes, the Marquis took a deep breath. Exhaling long again, he wiped away his stupid expression.

“This won’t do.”

The Marquis soon spoke in a resolute voice.

An uneasy premonition cast itself over Arinne.

“Let’s cut it.”

“…Wh-what are you cutting?”

Arinne, whose spine had gone cold for a moment, looked at him with forced composure.

“Think of it as trimming the damaged part. I’ll cut carefully so you won’t get hurt.”

At the Marquis’s shameless answer, Arinne’s face was losing its smile to the point of turning pale.

“There’s no damaged part on my head…”

“Formington! Hurry, scissors!!”

The Marquis was indeed a madman. With the thought of resolving the situation taking precedence, he tried to cut Arinne’s hair without even asking her permission.

“Don’t worry! The master is skilled with swords!”

The young butler swiftly brought scissors and tried to reassure Arinne with words that were not reassuring at all.

They were even scissors that looked like they’d be used for sewing cloth, so the blade was easily the size of an adult’s head.

“…Aren’t those scissors?”

“My lady. Anything with a blade is the same.”

The Marquis, intercepting the words directed at the butler, looked at Arinne with absurdly confident eyes and nodded once.

“Are you calling that words right now?”

Arinne let out a hollow laugh. She felt her temper, which had lost motivation and died down, trying to flare up again.

“If even a bit of my hair is cut, I’ll cut yours too.”

Even in this moment, enduring the pain from her hair being pulled, Arinne spoke firmly.

“What will you…?”

The Marquis hesitated.

Arinne’s gaze went from his face to his chest, stomach, and even below that.

“Anything.”

At those two short syllables, the Marquis fell silent for a moment.

“…This is the fastest way. Let’s just cut a little. You can trust me because I’ll be careful.”

The Marquis spoke like he was coaxing a child.

Like Arinne was the one being petty when he was the one who’d tried to thrust scissors at her.

“Fine. Let’s cut simultaneously then.”

Arinne, whose expression had briefly turned sulky, turned her gaze to the butler.

“You there.”

“Y-yes?!”

The butler had frozen holding the scissors at their shocking conversation.

“What are you just standing there watching!”

Arinne shouted sternly. It was quite a different tone from when dealing with children.

“Bring more scissors.”

“…!”

The butler flinched and looked back and forth between Arinne and the scissors in his hand.

“I said bring one more pair of scissors!!”

“Formington! Stay still.”

The butler’s face became tearful at the spark that suddenly flew to him and the battle of nerves between the two.

“Today is the day a part of your master’s body falls off, so it would be good to have a container to take it away!”

“My lady. Didn’t I say I’d only cut a little!”

“I said no!”

At this point, it was amazing that Ray, who was at the center of the commotion, slept soundly without any fussing when he should’ve woken up.

“Um… Dad, I think you just need to put Ray down.”

Jade carefully spoke up.

“Ah.”

“…”

Like cold water had been poured on them, everyone closed their mouths. The heat that had filled the room cooled instantly at Jade’s single statement.

The Marquis silently put Ray back down on the bed. As soon as he was laid down again, Ray relaxed his grip.

“Mmm…”

Ray tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position, then plopped his short, chubby leg right on top of Arinne’s leg.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Yes.”

It was an awkward apology and a reluctant answer.

The two belatedly became embarrassed and only looked at empty space, unable to meet each other’s eyes.

“How clever.”

Arinne spoke to Jade for no reason. Jade, who’d gradually come out from behind the door and had somehow made it next to the butler, seemed surprised, then stiffened his expression and hid behind the butler.

“He’s my son.”

“? I know.”

The Marquis somehow looked even more proud of himself.

“It’s fortunate Jade doesn’t resemble you, Lord Marquis.”

Arinne glanced at Jade and lowered her voice so only the Marquis could hear.

The Marquis leaned his upper body toward Arinne and likewise lowered his voice.

“Jade is my spitting image.”

“I wonder.”

Saying someone resembled or didn’t resemble someone. Such words were as easy to wound with as they were easy to say.

Whatever the intention.

So one had to be careful with words in front of children. Children’s wounds lasted longer than expected and often continued into adulthood.

“I meant his head. His brain.”

“Brain?”

He raised one eyebrow disapprovingly.

“Unlike you, Lord Marquis, Jade’s brain is definitely well-wrinkled. Is your brain muscle, Lord Marquis?”

Though she had the thought to be careful with words in front of children, that didn’t mean her desire to pick a fight with the Marquis to vent disappeared, so Arinne teased him gently.

“How can a brain be muscle?”

“Looking at you, Lord Marquis, makes me think it might be possible.”

Arinne gently curved her lips into a smile.

It would be troublesome to take lightly the woman who’d once dominated (physically) high society.

She wouldn’t rush at him when angry like before, but if she was angry, showing she was angry was human nature.

“My lady. That’s rude to say.”

“Not words I want to hear from someone who tried to cut someone’s hair out of the blue.”

The battle of nerves between Arinne and the Marquis, both holding grudges, continued.

The servants who’d remained watching the situation tidied up the mess and quietly withdrew.

“I’ll be going…”

The butler, who’d wrapped the scissors well in cloth, greeted them with a face that had become haggard.

Jade, who’d been staring at the two, also followed the butler and took his leave.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

Arinne tilted her head sideways.

“I’m going!”

At the blatant words telling him to leave, the Marquis, whose expression had become more crooked, walked out with somewhat angry steps but hesitated at the door.

“When Ray wakes up, please send him.”

It seemed he’d belatedly remembered he wasn’t in a position to be angry.

Arinne deliberately shrugged her shoulders annoyingly.

“No way!”

The Marquis, with a face full of irritation, tried to say something more but stopped and bit his own lip.

* * *

“What kind of woman is that?”

Lawrence, sitting in his office, revealed his uncomfortable mood by tapping the desk with his pen tip.

“Formington. That lady seems crazy.”

“Pardon? Not particularly…”

“Who’s your master? I saw earlier you prioritized that woman’s words over mine? You were ready to run and get scissors, really.”

“Why are you being like this?”

Lawrence picked a fight with Formington, his butler, for no reason.

“Honestly, what kind of gentleman thrusts scissors at a lady out of the blue?”

Formington was a butler with a gentle personality, but he was also brave enough to say what needed to be said, at least to Lawrence.

“If it had been another lady, she would’ve fainted right there and then some. You pretended to be polite and then fought childishly, unlike yourself…”

“You’re especially irritating today.”

Lawrence, who threw some crumpled documents at Formington, clicked his tongue saying he would’ve fired him long ago if there were a replacement.

“Get out. Before I throw you out.”

Formington, who’d been mistreated, grumbled “Who would be the butler if not me?” and left the office.

Formington was the only vassal who’d followed Lawrence when he received the Marquis title, fell out with the Count, and moved his estate from the west to the capital. Except for Calon.

With just that, Formington had earned immunity for most things he said.

After Formington left, Lawrence, now alone, fell into thought, mulling over the earlier situation.

“Does he like her…”

The image of Ray sleeping soundly beside that lady named Arinne came to mind.

They say no finger hurts more than another when you bite all ten, but there’s always a finger that hurts more, and for Lawrence, that finger was his eldest son Jade.

Compared to Jade, Ray was a less worrying child. He had such a cheerful and warm personality that it was hard to believe he was his son.

So if there was a worry, it was that the child had no wariness and easily approached even strangers if he liked them.

He’d even told Ray, if not Jade, to always carry a protective charm.

It was admirable that he’d smartly worn the protective charm even when sneaking out…

But that had become the reason for giving a guest room to that strange woman.

While it seemed natural for innocent and curious Ray to be interested in her, he became curious about what it was about her that Ray liked.

“I should look into it.”

Lawrence put down the pen that had been busily tapping the desk.