“Then what?”

“Of course I’m your,”

“Father?”

“……”

The flat words shut the Duke’s mouth.

Whenever he acted like an ordinary father, indescribable rage surged in Arinne. She even wanted to scream bizarrely, thrashing about.

To Arinne, the Duke was a hypocrite. Everything he said was fake and pretense. The way he spoke like he actually cared was just unpleasant.

“What matters to you is ‘Marcedea,’ not me. Wouldn’t I be flustered if you act like you’re worried about me myself?”

When she wanted concern, he looked away, and he was so busy shoving his children out of sight because his own hardship mattered more—what right did he have to play parent now?

Arinne just wanted to end this meaningless, mood-souring conversation and rest.

“Is that what you think?”

“……”

“I’m asking if you really think that.”

“Let go!”

Arinne shook off the Duke’s hand. The Duke, who would normally have backed off, grabbed her more persistently today.

“What exactly do you think your name is? Isn’t ‘Marcedea’ attached to your name?”

The Duke wouldn’t let Arinne go.

His expression gradually disappeared. Anger, anxiety, irritation. All emotions cleared away and became utterly calm.

“What is your name?”

“……Just, let me go inside.”

Arinne bit her lip, avoiding his gaze. Even becoming expressionless when angry—she resembled him in that too, so sometimes it felt like looking in a mirror.

“Say it with your own mouth.”

“……”

“Arinne Sereta Marcedea!”

“……”

“I said speak!!”

When she kept her mouth shut, the desperate Duke shouted. The wide lobby filled only with his anguished cry.

Behind pillars, behind flowerpots, beside the stairs. Startled sounds came from here and there.

Only Arinne remained composed in the middle of it all.

Arinne actually felt more comfortable when he got angry like this, bringing up her name.

Because it felt like he was saying they were bound by name, not blood.

Because she felt a tiny hope that whenever it happened, if she removed ‘Marcedea’ from her name, she’d have nothing to do with him.

“How much more do I have to say……”

“Don’t!!”

Ray blocked the Duke’s path.

“D-don’t scold her!”

Ray trembled, arms spread wide. He looked exactly like a newborn cheetah cub.

“I didn’t scold her. ……I was admonishing her.”

The rarely flustered Duke made excuses with words that amounted to the same thing—not scolding but admonishing.

What was he even making excuses for? That man must be pretty flustered too, she thought.

“I don’t know what that means……”

Meanwhile, Ray said he didn’t know what admonishing meant, so the Duke’s ridiculous excuse could be considered successful.

“Sister didn’t get scolded?”

“No. I’m fine.”

Just as Ray was about to feel relieved after hearing her say no—

“He did scold her!!”

“Huh?!”

Jade shouted from halfway up the stairs, fists clenched tight.

He didn’t have the courage to directly block the Duke like Ray, but it was great courage by Jade’s own standards.

Knowing that, Arinne couldn’t close her mouth, surprised by Jade’s bravery.

“Jade says she got scolded!! Sister got scolded!!”

“Oh, I guess so……”

“You didn’t know you were being scolded?!”

Ray tugged at Arinne’s arm beside her, fussing.

‘What is happening?’

Arinne wanted to scream for everyone to please be quiet.

And then.

“That’s right, Duke! Don’t get angry at Arinne!”

“Good grief.”

Another surprising situation unfolded before her eyes.

“If you’re going to scold someone, scold me! If you’re going to be angry, be angry at me.”

The Marquis burst into the ducal residence dramatically and vigorously, like the vanguard of an advancing army.

In his hand was a paper with crooked writing and strange drawings.

‘What now?’

Arinne, whose hand was held by Ray so she couldn’t even pinch her cheek, bit down hard on her tongue with her molars.

It hurt. It really hurt.

“So this is true?”

“Do I look like I’m lying to you?”

Having arrived at the center of the lobby, he neatly folded the paper in his hand twice and put it in his jacket’s inner pocket.

The Marquis scooped up Ray, who was bouncing with joy, with one arm and came to stand in front of Arinne.

“Did the Duke scold you badly?”

“Not really, Marquis. How did you get here so fast? Myle shouldn’t have arrived yet……”

“You just ride like h*ll.”

“……”

It was a dazed feeling. For the first time in her life, she had this many people on her side.

“Lawrence. Not Marquis.”

In the middle of all this, he corrected the title.

“Is that important right now?”

“It’s important.”

He was more serious than when confronting the Duke.

Arinne almost laughed out loud. What kind of person was this—he was truly an absurd and ridiculous person.

“Explain what on earth this situation is!!”

“Let’s have the rest of the conversation with me.”

Lawrence blocked the Duke, who was pressing her.

The Duke’s dissatisfied look—what gives you the right to interfere in another family’s affairs—was worth seeing.

“Dad, dad!! The Duke got angry at the Lady and yelled!!”

Taking this opportunity, Jade came running down the stairs with loud pattering sounds.

‘Jade, running, down stairs?!’

Both Arinne’s and Lawrence’s eyes widened in unison.

“And he tried to eat me!”

Ray quickly backed up his brother.

“You brat!! When did I?!”

“Eek?!! I-I’m being eaten—!!”

The startled Ray hugged Lawrence’s neck tightly. The Duke must really seem scary to the children’s eyes.

“No. What is this……”

In the strange situation where he alone became the villain, the Duke couldn’t continue and stammered.

The three Carentiums plus Arinne—four people banded together, wary of him.

Though Arinne had a face that said she didn’t know why she was included here……

“Ahem.”

The Duke looked back and forth between Arinne, the Marquis, and his children.

“Did you two really develop feelings for each other?”

His attitude had softened considerably, but suspicion clearly lingered in his eyes.

“What?!”

This time Lawrence’s mouth fell open.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s suspicious,”

“Has this old man already gone senile? It’s been one week since we met—what feelings could develop in one week?!”

Interrupted by Arinne, the Duke reluctantly closed his mouth.

“Dad, scold the Duke.”

Ray whispered to Lawrence. He smiled slightly with a troubled face.

“That’s a bit difficult. The Duke is older than Dad.”

“But Sister scolds Dad! Why can’t Dad scold him? Does he only get scolded?”

“……Sorry.”

He suddenly found himself being scolded by Ray.

‘Scold? Arinne? That guy?’

The Duke was confused. Not only could he not follow this flow at all, there was nothing he could understand about what to see and how to accept it.

“Ah. Duke, don’t misunderstand. There were a few times I deserved scolding.”

“……A few times?”

The awkward excuse made it more suspicious. Anyway, wasn’t it true that Arinne had scolded Marquis Carentium, that bas—no, that, that, that tapir-faced b*stard? And it had happened ‘a few times.’

“I was scolded because I deserved it, so please don’t misunderstand.”

“……”

Saying only things that cause misunderstanding while asking not to misunderstand—sure, he’d go along with that.

The Duke found everything he said dubious.

“The Lady is a scary person, so of course she can scold dad. It’s hard to scold adults. Can you scold the Duke? You can’t either!”

Jade defended Lawrence. Ray, who’d been told off and gotten sulky, puffed out his cheeks.

“Jade was too scared to come down from the stairs! You coward!!”

Ray, who’d be offended to be called second in temper, shouted loudly. And he attached ‘coward,’ which Jade hated most.

“What? What did you say?!”

Jade clenched his fist hard.

“Ray. If you talk to your brother like that,”

“Don’t call me a coward!! Today, all of this happened because you did what you wanted!! Dad got scolded because of you too?!”

“Jade??”

Lawrence’s eyes shook mercilessly. He didn’t know how to stop a fight that had ignited in the middle of someone else’s house, not even his own.

He’d always relied on Jade’s maturity at times like this.

“Jade. You need to be patient.”

“I don’t want to!! I hate always being the one who has to be patient!”

“……Jade?”

He’d naturally thought Jade would be patient. Because he was a smart, mature, grown-up child.

And because Jade was a good child who didn’t cause him trouble outside.

What Lawrence had overlooked all this time was that Jade was just a nine-year-old kid.

Jade had his own stubbornness, his own personality. When he wanted to throw a tantrum, he should be allowed to throw one; when he wanted to sulk and cry, he should be allowed to cry.

Lawrence wanted the child to act his age while simultaneously forcing him, without realizing it, to act more mature.

Even though he’d decided not to do that anymore.

“Let’s let it go just once. Let’s be patient just once. Okay? You’re the older brother. Jade—!!”

Lawrence, not yet aware of his own resolution, naturally and automatically hoped for Jade’s understanding.