Lawrence, who’d suddenly left Jade in the care of the ducal family, kept hesitating even after being scolded by the Duke, unable to easily turn away.

He reluctantly gave up only after Jade took the Duke’s hand and disappeared from view.

“I’ll send Calon tomorrow.”

“You’re not coming yourself?”

“I can’t put off work any longer. Even if I don’t want to, I have to do my job. Besides, you won’t be at the marquis’s residence anymore either.”

Lawrence replied weakly, shoulders drooping.

“That last part is a bit inappropriate.”

“Which part……?”

His face was genuinely clueless. Whenever he acted like this, Arinne felt lost about where to start, what to say, how much to explain, and how to explain it.

“Anyway.”

Being with Lawrence made her laugh often, whether from pleasure or displeasure. Usually it was laughter from being dumbfounded, though.

“You should work on your awareness. They say friends don’t need formality, but we do need it between us.”

At her neat words, Lawrence’s face turned sulky. He was displeased with the phrase “work on your awareness” and the ambiguous expression “between us.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the intent. She was an unmarried woman, and he was a man with two children but currently alone without a wife. He knew they were in a position easily misunderstood by others.

‘Still,’

Understanding the words and deeply comprehending their meaning were completely different matters to him.

We’re friends, can’t we be a bit informal? It’s not like I’m being rude to you, and I’m not some loose guy who acts familiar with just anyone……

Lawrence found it hard to understand what Arinne meant by “between us” and “formality.”

He’d felt comfortable defining Arinne as a friend. And she’d become more comfortable. In front of her, he talked more and often acted childish and stupid.

Her indifferent and insensitive attitude toward everything—which had initially attracted him—now sometimes felt cold.

“Leave before it gets later. The road home will be dark.”

Arinne pushed at his back as he kept stalling.

“Why do you keep trying to send me away?”

“You said you were leaving but you’re not going.”

“I changed my mind. Ray and I will sleep over too.”

Even as he took steps, yielding to her, Lawrence stubbornly made unreasonable demands in an aggrieved tone.

If he really wanted to stay over, he should have asked when the Duke gave him the chance. His pointless whining was funny.

“I’ll indulge the kids, but I won’t indulge your stubbornness. Go on now.”

“That’s too much!”

* * *

Jade made an ambiguous face. The room the Duke offered was unusual from the entrance. The door was purple and a strangely shaped eagle held the doorknob in its beak.

“I’m not sleeping next to the Lady? You said there were no rooms……”

“This house has plenty of spare rooms.”

Go on in. The Duke gently pulled Jade’s hand.

It was a completely different warm appearance from when he’d gotten angry at Arinne in the lobby.

“Does the ducal family have children?”

Jade asked curiously as he stepped into the room following him.

The warm, lovely room decorated in soft colors seemed perfect for a child to use.

“This was the room that child used.”

“The Lady?”

Jade’s eyes widened. He could now tell who the ‘child’ he was talking about was.

“That child liked these colors. She only wore bright dresses too.”

The Duke spoke almost to himself, stroking the light purple bedding with careful hands.

Jade watched his lonely face quietly, then looked around the room again.

‘The Lady used a room like this?’

Jade couldn’t believe this gentle, cute room full of soft colors had been the Lady’s room. And he couldn’t imagine the ‘child’ who would have played in this room either.

It was a room that didn’t match the her he knew at all.

“She was so stubborn that she’d skip meals to throw tantrums, and I had to give up completely. She’d grab me and my wife and wouldn’t let go, demanding we stay by her side until she fell asleep, so Luke would chase after us, getting angry, asking when we’d ever come to his room.”

My children were stubborn then and now. The Duke muttered with an affectionate face.

Jade waited silently until his reminiscence ended.

“Seeing you reminds me of that child when she was young. She was bold and cute like you.”

The Duke smiled and poked Jade’s soft cheek with his index finger.

Jade unconsciously smiled shyly along with him. The cheek poked by his finger tickled like a butterfly had landed on it.

“Can I call you Grandfather?”

The Duke, who’d felt even scarier than his own father and maybe even the Lady, strangely wasn’t scary anymore.

“Grandfather?”

“Ah! S-sorry!”

Jade, startled by his own words, quickly covered his mouth with both hands.

“Have you ever seen your grandfather?”

The Duke’s expression became quite serious. Jade shook his head.

“My grandfather? No. I know he’s at the border with my uncle, but Father has never taken us to the border……”

The Duke clicked his tongue at the words that grew long like an excuse.

For a moment, Jade thought he’d misspoken. If he hadn’t immediately patted his head, he might have shrunk again, taking everything as his own fault.

“Right. I’m better than that blockhead. I’ll be your grandfather.”

The Duke cursed Count Carentium inwardly. He was no better at being a parent himself, but to draw a line even with his grandchildren. That b*stard was no good either.

If his son wouldn’t bring his grandchildren, he should have come to the capital to see them himself! That man was really something.

“Grandfather?”

“Yes. I’m your grandfather.”

Jade’s cheeks flushed. He was simply amazed and pleased that this scary Duke had become his ally.

Until now, he’d hated when people treated him like a child. Being called childish sounded like mockery.

“Grandfather.”

“Mm?”

“I, I just wanted to call you……”

“You silly thing.”

Actually, being treated like a kid was a really good thing. Jade realized this fact just now at nine years old.

Would it have been better to know earlier?

Today he hadn’t let Ray’s antics slide, and he’d thrown tantrums and yelled rudely in front of adults without holding back.

When he didn’t hold back like usual and acted young, lots of good things happened. He gained another home and the scariest, strongest grandfather in the world.

Not only that, earlier his father’s gaze had been fixed only on him. The Lady had kindly soothed him even when he was being stubborn, just like when she’d comforted Ray.

“Are you okay sleeping alone?”

“Yes! I sleep alone at home too.”

Confidence finally attached to Jade’s voice, which had been constantly timid.

“Haha! That’s impressive.”

The Duke laughed heartily and roughly tousled Jade’s hair.

Jade kept feeling ticklish. Earlier it was his cheek, now it was his head. It felt like someone was tickling spots all over his body.

“Your boldness resembles Arinne, and your eyes like yellowing autumn leaves… resemble my wife.”

“We have the same eye color?”

The Duke only answered Jade’s question with a nod. His eyes reddened briefly.

Jade pondered. How he could lift the shadow cast over him. He wanted to say something that would make him happy.

“The Duke is scary but a good person. Only what shows is scary.”

Jade hesitated then added.

“……Like the Lady.”

“Is that child a good person to you? I’m glad.”

What he took in wasn’t that ‘you’ are a good person, but that ‘your daughter’ is a good person.

His complexion brightened a little, but it wasn’t a happy face. There seemed to be some complex emotion still difficult for Jade to understand.

“Thank you. For liking that child.”

“……”

Jade chose not to answer because he couldn’t be honest with him.

He’d known she wasn’t a bad person when she saved him and Ray, and while staying together he’d learned she was surprisingly kind and gentle with children.

Jade knew that his father recently approaching him and Ray warmly and spending time together was also thanks to her help.

She was definitely someone to be grateful for, a good person.

‘But I don’t like her.’

Even so, Jade didn’t like her. He couldn’t like her.

“I’m a little sleepy.”

“Oh my. It’s gotten late.”

So Jade stayed silent. Because he couldn’t bring himself to say in front of the Duke, who loved her, that he couldn’t like her and shouldn’t like her.

“Will you lie down now?”

The Duke, who’d arranged the bedding himself, laid Jade on the bed. He neatly pulled the blanket up to the child’s chest.

The Duke stroked Jade’s hair once more, then lightly kissed his soft forehead.

‘It smells warm……’

That night, Jade slowly fell asleep buried in the cozy blanket that smelled of sunshine. Very comfortably.