“Seems I came too early. Then let’s go see Theo. Lead the way.”

At this alternative suggestion, Edgar let out a sigh-mixed laugh as if he had no choice.

“The baby might be sleeping too.”

“I’ve never seen his sleeping face, so that’s even better.”

Theodore was already awake, blinking his large eyes.

“…Why is he still no bigger than a pumpkin? Is he small because he takes after Shasha?”

Grace asked seriously while looking at Theodore’s purple eyes. Having seen the baby a few weeks ago, she seemed to find it strange that there wasn’t much change in the baby’s appearance compared to then. Shouldn’t he be growing noticeably every day by this time?

Edgar lifted the baby from the cradle with considerable skill and answered with an amused voice.

“He does take after Shasha. But that’s not why he’s small. He’s only five months old, so it’s not yet time for him to grow all at once. Once he gets a bit older, he’ll probably grow day by day. To the point where we’ll need to record his growth daily.”

He was holding the baby quite comfortably. Last time, he had kept his distance from the baby with an awkward face, even more so than Grace who was just a visitor.

Grace snickered as she saw the large hands supporting Theodore’s body and gently patting his small back.

“You were acting like you were looking at someone else’s child, but now you’re doing a decent job of being a father.”

Though there was no particular sarcasm in her matter-of-fact statement, the wet nurse and maid who were standing at attention seemed startled. Edgar smiled bitterly as he sensed their reaction. It was true that he had only recently started holding the baby like this.

Grace added, unconcerned with their reactions:

“I think it’s fortunate that Theo takes after Shasha.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

It was an answer with many implied meanings. Grace clicked her tongue as she looked at Edgar’s gently smiling face, then suddenly noticed a silver string protruding from under the wooden baby bed.

It was cleverly draped over the protective railing surrounding the bed. Unless viewed from a specific angle, one would easily miss it…

Was it an accessory that Shasha wore? Grace instinctively pulled it. She acted first on the judgment that metallic objects wouldn’t be particularly good for the baby.

Her eyebrows twitched as she saw the pendant of the necklace that dropped into her hand. Glancing quickly, she noticed that the wet nurse and maid were wearing necklaces of the same design around their necks.

Grace was also well aware of Shasha’s unique and efficient household management style. So she knew what this was.

Quietly opening the pendant while being conscious of Edgar, who was now making eye contact with the baby, she saw the face of a youthful-looking blond man. On the other side, where there was no portrait attached, initials were engraved.

C.S.

…Charlotte Sweeney.

Her eyes wrinkled further at the name that immediately came to mind, whether by coincidence or not. Grace quietly began to contemplate. She didn’t want to make excessive assumptions based on just one item. After all, employees dropping things could happen anytime.

However, this was a place where servants had limited access. Of course, there might be occasions for them to enter and exit, but traditionally, the baby’s room was a space with old-fashioned rules prohibiting men other than the father from entering until the baby grew to a certain age.

Even with a wet nurse, it was natural for a noblewoman raising an infant.

Her calm golden eyes rolled quietly once more. Grace examined the face of the man gazing at the baby with a rather gentle expression. It was a face that showed no particular concern.

‘…It’s fortunate that I found it first.’

Grace was one of the people who knew Edgar’s true face well. More precisely, she had early on understood the feelings Edgar harbored for Shasha.

Edgar, who had been accustomed to obedience and endurance since childhood, showed desire and strong obsession only toward Shasha. And it was only a few months ago that Grace fully realized how serious that degree was.

Shortly after Theodore was born, Edgar had visited Ian and asked with a rather calm face:

〈I once read in a book about a curse that could bind one to another’s death. It said that if the subject of the curse—the one who cast it—dies, the person who received the curse would die at the same time. Do you know anything about this?〉

Though his tone was dry and matter-of-fact, it contained desperation. The desire to execute a method he found after much anguish and suffering.

The subject of the curse and the one who received it. It was clear without asking who each referred to. She knew that Shasha had gone through quite a long and painful labor, but…

‘It means that if something were to happen to her, he couldn’t bear even a few seconds without her.’

But curses weren’t called curses for nothing. Ian, who had momentarily lost his words upon hearing Edgar’s question at the time, only gave him the answer that “the subject of the curse might also be in danger,” and Edgar swallowed his tea without asking any further questions.

Who would have thought such a mental illness existed in the family?

Grace suppressed a hollow laugh as she recalled the memory. Since then, she had even come to have the tragicomic wish that Shasha would live even one day longer than Edgar. In any case, given the situation, rather than creating unnecessary trouble, such as provoking Edgar’s jealousy over something trivial…

‘I’d better just quietly get rid of it myself.’

It was indeed fortunate that she had discovered this before the maid or wet nurse who cleaned the baby’s room. Even if, by chance, the owner of this pendant was truly in quite an intimate relationship with Shasha.

Eventually, the hand containing delicate aura slightly crushed what it was holding. The pendant was thoroughly crumpled to the point where neither the photo inside nor the initials could be recognized.

Grace carelessly stuffed it inside her clothes and thought absent-mindedly:

‘Should I just find and kill him?’

That might be cleaner. She looked at Edgar again.

Originally, his intuition was quite sensitive, but now, despite being looked at several times, he hadn’t noticed. It must be because the baby was smiling with a face similar to his mother’s. It was quite a peaceful scene.

In the end, Grace detached her gaze indifferently from that sight and quietly abandoned her thoughts.

‘He’ll handle it himself.’

She would dispose of what she had already crushed and hidden in her bosom, but anything beyond that would be truly unnecessary meddling.

〈Grace, you sometimes judge and resolve others’ matters on your own. But just because the visible problem is solved doesn’t mean everything is. Moreover, there are times when certain matters, though difficult, need to be resolved by oneself. What I’m saying is that not everyone will be pleased when things are easily resolved by an outstretched helping hand.〉

〈Then should I not intervene in your affairs either, Ian?〉

〈Of course you can intervene. Even if things don’t go as you wish and end up in a mess, I’d be happy. But that’s a transgression and interference valid only between you and me. It’s like a right we’ve granted each other.〉

〈I don’t remember granting permission…〉

〈It’s not like a verbal contract. Would you be angry if I intervened in your affairs?〉

〈No.〉

〈That’s it. It’s become natural without saying.〉

〈…I see.〉

Just as Ian, her lover, had told her long ago.

Immediately dispelling all the thoughts that came to mind, Grace extended her hand toward Theodore in Edgar’s arms. The gentle baby reached out his short arm as he saw the hand extended to him. At that, the man’s face, which had been touching the baby all along, became a little sullen.

“What should I do when he has no stranger anxiety like this? He seems too kind, taking after Shasha… At this rate, I’m afraid he might follow anyone when he gets a bit older.”

“I’m not just anyone, am I?”

“Well… Isn’t anyone other than mom and dad considered ‘anyone’? Hmm, at least until he enters the academy?”

Grace snickered at those words.

That’s right, just as Ian and she were ‘two,’ they were ‘three.’ With that realization, she withdrew her hand that had been extended to the baby and folded her arms.

Edgar let out a hollow laugh at that extreme gesture.