Chapter 4.1 – The Fiancé’s Recollection

Servante first met his fiancée, Carnier, when he was ten years old.  

“Ah, hello…”  

“……”  

He was ten years old, but no one ever said his fiancée was the same age.  

The girl in front of him, wearing a pink dress with lace and a cute red ribbon in her hair, clumsily bowing at the waist, was only three years old.

Seven years younger than him.  

‘…So small.’  

Ten-year-old Servante, taller than his peers, looked down at the child who was said to be his fiancée. His gaze was arrogant and proud, far beyond his years.  

The adults, who had been watching silently, exchanged uneasy glances at his reaction.  

“Y-Your Highness, shouldn’t you return the greeting…?”  

Unable to bear the tension, the young Crown Prince’s nanny whispered to him. She knew the boy she served wasn’t usually unreasonable.  

Although it wasn’t a flaw for someone of noble blood to be meticulous and sensitive, the other party was a young girl. If the little child, who had been dragged here without knowing why, became frightened and burst into tears, it would be utter chaos.  

‘What do they take me for?’  

Seeing through their anxious thoughts, Servante inwardly scoffed.  

Even he had no intention of intimidating such a young child. His harshness was reserved for adults who were neither smarter nor more competent than him but still pretended to be.  

Surely, she didn’t even know what an engagement was or why she was here.  

Servante decided to show some kindness.  

“You’re so small and chubby, like a little pig.”  

The adults around them gasped audibly. The little girl’s round eyes began to tremble.  

“P-p…?”  

“You can’t even pronounce it properly? It’s pig, not…”  

(WORD PLAY: (daeji) vs. (daiji) – The word (daeji) means “pig.” Carnier mispronounced it as (daji), which sounds similar to, meaning “earth” or “land.”)

Servante paused as tears began to fall from the girl’s large eyes.  

“P-pig… got eaten! I don’t want that!”  

“What, what?”  

“Waaaah!”  

“Oh no, Your Highness!”  

Immediate measures were taken to isolate the crying child.  

***

The child, who had cried as if the world were ending, was finally soothed and put to sleep in a nearby room.  

Now, Servante found himself facing a stern-looking man with deep-set eyes, who crossed his arms.  

As the greatest knight in the land and someone even the Emperor couldn’t easily confront, the Duke of Raymore now had Servante feeling nervous.  

“What part of my daughter looks like a pig?”  

“…?”  

Servante’s tension quickly dissipated.  

The Duke of Raymore frowned and asked again, more seriously this time.  

“What part of that lovely angel looks like a pig… ugh.”  

The woman standing beside him jabbed him sharply in the ribs, cutting him off.  

“I apologize, Your Highness. My husband dotes on our late-born daughter a bit too much…”  

“……”  

It wasn’t a light jab—it was a sharp, deliberate one.  

Servante stared at the Duke, who was clutching his side and trembling. 

Wasn’t he supposed to be the strongest knight? How could he be so helpless against his wife?  

As the brief silence stretched, someone else stepped forward.  

“Mother. Father only said that because he loves Carnier so much. Even to strangers, our Carnier is cute and loveable… ow!”  

“Hohoho, dear. Why are you interrupting the adults’ conversation? Is that how I raised you?”  

This time, an older boy clutched his head and trembled. He was the Duke’s son, rumored to have inherited his father’s talents and expected to have a bright future.  

The delicate woman, who had jabbed her husband’s ribs and smacked her son’s head without hesitation, smiled sweetly. Then, she turned to Servante.  

Despite being the frailest-looking among the three, her gaze sent an inexplicable chill down Servante’s spine.  

“Please understand, Your Highness. My husband and son can’t help but dote on Carnier. She is their precious angle, born late in life.”  

“Late in life…”  

The Duke, who had been recovering, staggered again at the unexpected verbal jab. But the Duchess didn’t even glance at him, continuing to smile gently.  

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask what you meant by your earlier words, Your Highness?”  

“…It was a compliment.”  

“A compliment…?”  

Now, not only the Duchess but everyone present tilted their heads in confusion.  

Feeling slightly wronged, Servante grumbled as he explained.  

“I meant she’s cute, like a baby pig.”  

“Like a pig…”  

“Cute…?”  

Normally, wouldn’t people compare cuteness to something else? Like a little bird or a rabbit…  

As the adults exchanged puzzled looks, Servante, unable to bear it any longer, walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a book. It was a storybook he had read as a child.  

“The baby pig. This one here. Don’t you know it? They said even kids outside the palace read it.”  

“This is…”  

The adults, along with one boy, gathered around the book Servante held out.  

As he said, it was a storybook every child read—“The Three Little Pigs.”  

But it was a little different.  

“Adorable…”  

“Adorable…?”  

The Raymore family blinked repeatedly. The illustrations, revealed as soon as the cover was opened, were not only detailed but also incredibly cute. Even the simple scene of the three pink piglets holding hands and walking together was drawn so charmingly.  

“What, is this your first time seeing baby pigs?”  

“……”  

No one could answer Servante’s question. He wasn’t entirely wrong. They had never seen such cute illustrations of baby pigs before.  

The illustrations in the storybooks they knew were nothing like this. It was clearly a special edition, presented only to the Imperial Family—or perhaps it was more accurate to call it a work of art.  

Unaware of their astonishment, Servante clicked his tongue and flipped through the pages. He then pointed to a specific part.  

“Look. Especially this one, doesn’t she look just like it? Even with the red ribbon.”  

“…Pfft.”  

Finally, the true meaning behind “like a baby pig” equaling “cute” dawned on everyone. Their reactions varied—some were confused, others almost nodded before catching themselves, and some struggled to suppress their laughter.  

“Pfft, my apologies, Your Highness. I’ve never seen… such an adorable baby pig… ahem, before…”  

Incidentally, the one holding back laughter was the Duchess.  

Even though they apologized, Servante felt oddly irritated. 

If they were sorry, why were they laughing like that?  

Sensing his dissatisfaction, the Duchess quickly cleared her throat.  

“The illustrations in the storybooks our Carnier had seen were nothing like this. Moreover, she cried in fear yesterday after seeing a pig get eaten by a wolf.”  

“She cried? It’s just a made-up story.”  

“She’s still too young to understand such things. But surely, one day, she’ll come to understand.”  

The Duchess spoke with a gentle smile before continuing.  

“Your Highness, if it’s not too much trouble, may we borrow this book? The illustrations are beautiful, and I think Carnier will love it. Perhaps she won’t cry anymore when she hears the word ‘pig.’”  

“…It doesn’t matter. Just take it. It’s a children’s book anyway, and I don’t need it anymore.”  

So the illustrations were different. Not all books looked the same.  

For Servante, who had always been handed whatever was given to him, this was a shocking revelation. Still, he hid his embarrassment and grumbled.  

“There are plenty of books I don’t read anymore. I’ll give you all of them.”  

“Oh my, all of them?”  

“…Well, I made her cry, didn’t I?”  

Despite his lingering frustration, he had been quite startled when the little girl had cried so hard. He had even worried that she might collapse from crying so much.  

“…The Empress told me that she’s someone I’ll have to take care of for the rest of my life. So I’ll take responsibility and make it up to her.”  

“…”  

“What?”  

For some reason, the Duchess’s expression seemed strange. After a moment of hesitation, she smiled again.  

“…One book will be enough. If it bothers you, could we replace it with another promise?”  

“A promise?”  

“To cherish my daughter.”  

She hesitated before reaching out her hand. Unable to touch someone of such noble status, her hand stopped awkwardly in mid-air. Servante stared at it silently.  

“It’s okay for her to cry. Please cherish her so that she can overcome sadness and smile brightly again.”  

“…”  

“I’ll raise her the same way. To take responsibility for you, to cherish and treasure you, Your Highness.”  

“…”  

How could that tiny child ever take responsibility for me?  

But instead of voicing the thought that had risen to his throat, Servante reached out and took the Duchess’s hand. Her smile grew radiant, and her hand was incredibly warm.  

Even his nanny didn’t dare touch him. For Servante, it was the first human warmth he had felt in a long time.  

…For some reason, it made his chest feel strange. And so, he ended up giving an unexpected answer to what he thought was nonsense.  

“…I promise.”  

“Thank you, Your Highness.”  

Servante blinked slowly. Seeing the Duchess’s joyful smile up close felt unfamiliar. But it wasn’t just her.  

“…Looking closely, she does look a bit like one.”  

“Father, does that mean you admit our Carnier resembles a baby pig?”  

“Ahem, I didn’t say that. Our precious little Carnier is best described as a ‘baby angel,’ as we agreed earlier. I won’t accept any other description.”  

“Then why can’t you put the book down?”  

“…Where can I buy this book? Or perhaps I could find the artist who drew these illustrations?”  

“Father!”  

Watching the Duke and his son argue over the storybook was just as strange.  

It was different from the “family” Servante knew.  

Wasn’t a father someone who constantly tested his child with a smile? And wasn’t a mother someone who let go of your hand and erased her smile the moment she turned away?