“Why did you go to the forest? And what happened to your hands?”

“Ah….”

Noah’s face turned pale at my question.

“I went in by myself, just because.”

“You’re saying you went into the forest without any reason and endured until nightfall? And got your hands injured like this?”

“U-um. Yes…”

I narrowed my eyes.

But despite my sharp gaze, Noah only avoided eye contact while keeping his lips tightly sealed like a clam.

For whatever reason, he was trying to hide whoever had tormented him. But I had no intention of letting this slide.

* * *

Noah came out to the small training ground when it was time.

Having eaten and rested well in Calliphe’s annex, and changed into clean clothes, Noah was in good condition despite what happened yesterday.

‘It’s still amazing.’

To think he ate with Lady Calliphe. Well, technically it was tea and cake, but that was wonderful too.

‘I wonder how long I can stay in the annex?’

He wanted to stay as long as possible.

If he could show that he was learning well as a sponsored child, she might let him.

‘For that, I must attend the lessons.’

It was then, as Noah was strengthening his resolve.

“You’re here early.”

“Teacher.”

Baron Colven, who looked pleasant, smiled gently.

He was the swordsmanship instructor assigned by Calliphe when she first brought Noah.

There were other subject teachers too, but they all left when Noah was abandoned by Calliphe. Only Baron Colven remained.

“I heard you were in the forest until late at night. Swinging a wooden sword isn’t that difficult, so why were you so slow?”

“Well…”

Even simple sword swings become torture when done a thousand times. Especially for a young child.

Nevertheless, Colven clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“You didn’t tell Lady Calliphe about me, did you?”

Noah gave a small nod.

Colven looked satisfied.

“Good. You were being punished for failing to properly run book errands, so you shouldn’t blame me. Now then, let’s begin the lesson.”

“Yes.”

“But before that.”

Colven’s eyes glinted maliciously.

“Hand over the lesson fee first.”

Noah’s face turned pale.

“The earring from Lady Calliphe that you brought last time wasn’t enough. I gave you time, so you must have brought something better?”

“……”

When Noah couldn’t answer, Colven’s smile slowly disappeared.

“Don’t tell me you came without the lesson fee? Are you saying you don’t want sword lessons?”

“N-no! I want… the lessons.”

Colven crossed his arms and sighed in frustration.

“I’ve told you many times. Lady Calliphe hasn’t been paying me lesson fees for a while now. If you don’t pay either, I can’t teach you swordsmanship.”

“……”

That was a lie.

Even now, Baron Colven’s salary was being paid under Calliphe’s name.

He had simply developed a taste for the high side income he could get by exploiting the child.

But Noah had no way of knowing this.

“If you don’t want to return to the orphanage, you need to become a useful child somehow. I’ll put in a good word with the Young Viscount even if Lady Calliphe abandons you.”

“…I don’t want to touch Lady Calliphe’s things anymore.”

“What?”

Why is this kid, who always went along with it before, suddenly acting like this? An irritated Colven threatened him.

“Oh really? Then will you bring Young Viscount Caiman’s valuables instead?”

“…!”

Young Viscount Caiman would soon be called Viscount Offensa. He was not someone a mere sponsored child should dare to touch.

When Noah couldn’t give any answer, Colven patted the child’s shoulder with satisfaction.

“That’s right. Even you should know your place.”

“……”

“Besides, Lady Calliphe will soon have to leave even the annex. A defeated direct line can’t stay here.”

Colven kept insisting that Noah bring Calliphe’s valuables.

But Noah, with his head down, was thinking in a different direction than before.

It’s true that he had been scared of and resented Calliphe until now. Those feelings hadn’t completely disappeared even now.

However, Calliphe was also the only person who came to get him from the scary forest.

She was also the first person he’d ever eaten with.

Remembering that fact, he could no longer act like before.

‘…Rather.’

Noah’s gaze flickered briefly toward the distance. Toward the main building where Young Viscount Caiman’s room was located.

* * *

While Noah was away, I called in the muscular maid.

“Maid, report.”

“Yeeees…”

The muscular maid looked a bit pale.

It was evidence that she had worked hard to fulfill my order to find out why Noah went to the forest.

“Three servants knew about Noah going to the forest.”

I received the list of names and incident report that the maid had written.

Though the format was awkward due to her inexperience with such tasks, it contained the necessary information.

“Did they confess?”

“No. Other servants told us. Even when I said it was Lady Calliphe’s orders, those three kept denying it…”

These fools still haven’t come to their senses?

Not only do they show no remorse for abandoning a child in the forest, they’re probably cursing me for forcing them to search.

“And this is additional information that came up…”

“What is it?”

“The anonymous gifts you’ve been sending to Noah – those three servants have been intercepting them.”

“Huh?”

When my eyes shot up, the maid flinched her muscular shoulders.

“They ate all the contents and only delivered the enclosed cards to the child…”

“How infuriating.”

I could literally feel my head getting hot. But there was still the most important question left.

“Were they the ones who sent Noah to the forest?”

The servants had abandoned Noah in the forest. But someone else could have pushed Noah into the forest in the first place.

‘That person is probably the one who mangled Noah’s palms.’

The secretive abuse and Noah’s resigned acceptance of it. This was evidence that such abuse wasn’t a one-time thing.

The maid answered.

“Those three suspicious servants seemed to know something… but they wouldn’t tell. I’m sorry.”

“Tsk tsk. What are all those muscles for then?”

“Heeng.”

At any rate, what needed to be done was clear.

To shake down those arrogant servants and find out who the real culprit was.

“Let’s go.”

“Where do you mean?”

I smiled fiercely.

“We need supplies if we’re going to deal with these upstarts.”

I had tried all sorts of methods to fix my magic incompatibility.

That included illegal potions.

That night, after successfully obtaining the supplies, I sent another anonymous gift to the servants’ quarters where Noah had stayed.

* * *

A few people entered the servants’ quarters, empty as everyone was busy with morning duties.

“Ah~ I’m dying.”

“I heard that Noah kid is staying in the witch’s annex now?”

“Damn. Does that mean we won’t get any more mail for that brat?”

The three servants who were salivating stopped in front of the mail storage.

“Oh? This came for Noah?”

“Really?”

It was an anonymous package for Noah. Seems even that weirdo ‘Supreme Golden-Haired Fairy’ didn’t know his residence had changed overnight.

“Bonus well received~”

The servants tore into the packaging as if it were their own.

Inside were neatly arranged premium desserts that they could barely afford even if they saved up.

“Wow, this is amazing again.”

“Who keeps sending such things to that ragamuffin? I’m dying of envy.”

“Who cares? It’s going in our mouths anyway. Hehe.”

They devoured all the bread and cakes.

The only disappointing thing was that they couldn’t openly dump the leftovers on Noah’s bed like before.

“Ah, my throat’s getting dry after eating almost everything.”

“Here’s some water.”

“Than… huh?”

A woman’s voice?

When the startled servant turned around, a splash of water suddenly hit his face.

Splash!

“Blrghh!”

“What the!? Cough cough.”

The other two also choked and coughed as they looked at the intruder in surprise.

All three froze simultaneously.

It was a woman who shouldn’t be here.

Calliphe, with her honey-blonde hair flowing beautifully, smiled sweetly.

“Hello, vermin.”

“La-Lady Calliphe!”

Dropping the water glass with an elegant gesture, Calliphe looked at the empty box.

“You ate quite heartily. Even though it wasn’t yours.”

“What? N-no way…”

Servant #1, quick on the uptake, began sweating cold.

“The Supreme Golden-Haired Fairy was… Lady Calliphe?”

“What?”

The other servants were shocked too.

Only when Calliphe silently confirmed did they finally feel their predicament.

“P-please forgive us!”

“Should I?”

Calliphe was still smiling, but there was a chill in her gaze.

“You know who sent Noah to the forest, don’t you?”

“Wh-what?”

“Were you threatened? Or bribed?”

“What are you talking about? We don’t know anything!”

Calliphe continued speaking while playing with the tip of her fingernail with her thumb.

“Well, I don’t care about the reason. Just tell me who it was.”

“But we really don’t know anything…!”

“I’ll give you 10 seconds. Only the first one to talk lives, the other two are fired.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“You all have quite a lot of gambling debts. Better watch yourselves.”

Calliphe crafted a smile that appeared to be out of pity.

‘She’s already investigated us!’

This was a trap. The servants realized too late.

“10.”

Calliphe started the countdown.

“9… 8…”

The servants looked at each other.

They had started hanging out together in the first place by taking out their dislike of Calliphe on Noah. There was no loyalty between them.

“6… 5…”

Besides, even if she was a good-for-nothing, as long as Calliphe hadn’t been kicked out yet, firing a servant or two was an easy matter.

“2… 1.”

“I-I’ll tell you!”

Finally, the predicted betrayal occurred.