***
Clop, clop
With the sound of hooves of horses, the carriage left in front of the duchy.
When the carriage was far away, a black dot to the eye, after several minutes passed.
“Haha, Hahahahahaha…..”
From the servants who saw off the priest to my parents, everyone burst into laughter as if they couldn’t stand it anymore.
“To think that the priest is bald!”
A maid opened her mouth, surprised,
“But why is the person who is so eager to serve the lord covered up?”
“Right, I heard they used to shave the top of their head only, leaving their side hair.”
“That’s right, there was a rumor here that the ring of the lord is sacred.”
“Yes! These days too, I heard something like, if your hair naturally falls off, the lord has chosen you.”
The maids whispered as they giggled, unable to hold it in.
My mother remained silent, but when my sister Laurentia approached them with curious eyes, she dissuaded the maids.
“Everyone, go in and clean up the drawing room. Since it’s a mess with the water.”
“Yes, madam!”
As a result, my older sister, who did not hear the funny stories by the maids, puffed her cheeks for a moment, but was quickly excited when she heard that her mother was giving her snacks.
“Lara wants pumpkin pie!”
“Yes, Mom will cut it nicely for you.”
My mother said as she beckoned brother Damian, Mikhail and I to eat the snacks.
I followed after her and peeked at Mikhail’s face.
Mikhail waited for me to move on habit and as I came to his side.
‘His expression had gotten better.’
Mikhail, who was walking silently, gently touched my fingertips.
“May I hold your hand?”
Normally, I would have said no but.
Instead of answering, I clenched Mikhail’s finger tightly.
The boy’s mouth formed a smile.
“To be honest, baby.”
“Hm?”
Mikhail opened his mouth, worried I would actually comprehend his words.
“I heard that the priests are purifying me for my sake but.”
What?
Did I hear it wrong or something?
That’s purifying?
“I hate it because it hurts and it feels awful.”
Obviously!
That’s not purification, that’s just violence.
It hurts more because he has mana, but even ordinary people have no choice but to feel pain if the priest injects his holy power in such a messy way.
…… But they call that purification?
The picture is becoming clearer.
The temple used Mikhail as a scapegoat to keep the Grand Duchy in check.
But the boy is actually.
“But, just a while ago, when the priest kept making mistakes.
“Yeah.”
I answered half pretending not to understand.
Mikhail gently waved my hand; pleased even at my robotic answer.
“For some reason, I felt a very good feeling coming from your side.”
‘Wow, you can feel the flow of mana? You?’
He may have more mana than I thought.
While having such serious thoughts, Mikhail smiled brightly and said to me,
“Baby, I feel like everything will be fine if you’re by my side.”
He definitely had a bright face.
Strangely, I felt sadness buried in his words.
‘….. He was like family but…’
The reason why I was even more upset and displeased seeing Mikhail suffering like that,
‘It’s because it feels like I’m looking at me.’
I feel like I’m seeing the me who had repeated a similar life ninety-nine times.
The words of hope that Mikhail gave me as he smiled brightly seemed to be mixed with the feelings I held long ago.
It pains me a lot.
“Woong.”
That’s why, to the boy who is only six years old.
“Evrything wiw be owkay.”
[Everything will be okay.]
I thoughtlessly said something to be responsible for.
Even if there is one more thing to protect, it’s not a big deal for me.
Perhaps Mikhail took my words as baby babble.
“Thank you, baby.”
He just replied with a happy smile.
* * *
After the celebration, Grand Duke Leventis took Mikhail and left for the Grand Duchy again.
“You’ll be very busy at the end of the year, since you’ll have a lot of work to do before you go back to the capital.”
“It’s alright since it’s something I always do. Only the picking out of companions has been added to my work.”
The Grand duke opened his mouth with a bitter face at those words.
“That’s right, we’ve also reached that point, though I don’t suppose someone will want to be Mikhail’s companion.”
Grand duke Leventis opened his mouth with a bitter face.
“It’s something that has to be done after all.”
“Still we’re a grand duchy, I have my own thoughts, so I think it’ll be okay.”
The Grand Duke said so as he covered Mikhail’s ears with both hands.
‘What a truly fascinating grandparent and grandchild.’
I thought they weren’t affectionate because of the light affection, but it wasn’t like that.
He just didn’t express it, but Grand Duke Leventis cared a lot about his grandson in his own way.
Seeing that he did that just now so that Mikhail won’t hear anything upsetting.
Mikhail yawned with a bored and unknowing face, perhaps aware of his grandfather’s intentions.
‘A companion huh…..’
It is one of the charity activities of nobles which is customary in this continent, and it was a custom to bring orphans of similar age or children from poor families as playmates for their children who are over five years old.
‘It’s a kind of work as a scholarship student…’
Although they’re a servant, their treatment itself was different from ordinary servants.
‘However, Mikhail is being avoided to the point where they would refuse the companionship of the Grand Duchy….?’
For reference, the companion recruitment for my older sister and older brother had already begun before the celebration, and requests flooded through various channels.
That’s how valuable the opportunity is.
‘It means that there are more people who are uncomfortable with Mikhail than I thought.’
For some reason, I became very grateful to my parents.
Because nevertheless, they willingly let him be friends with us three siblings.
To be ostracized by people, I know better than anyone else how difficult that is as I was always in that position.
My parents never even treated him in a special way so that I wouldn’t notice that fact until today.
‘…..I need to come to my senses.’
I thought like that even more, when I saw Mikhail’s smile, kissing the back of my hand and briefly saying goodbye.
Just like a child, growing up without worrying is the best thing.
“See you again in the new year, youngest lady.”
As if he was being conscious that he was in front of the Grand Duke, Mikhail wrapped up his greeting by saying, “youngest princess” instead of baby.
And Grand Duke Leventis.
“Wow, dad. Lara wants to go up, too!”
Before getting on the carriage, as if he was thinking about something and had something to say in a hurry, he lifted me up.
Thanks to this, my dad also lifted my sister up and played with her by lifting her up and down.
Of course, this result satisfied both my father and sister.
As I heard my sister’s giggling voice in the background, I received a strange favor from the Grand Duke.
“The youngest lady is still young, and she may not like that boy but.”
“U, uh?”
“It’d be nice if you developed an attachment.”
Pardon?
Can’t you see how kind I treat Mikhail, Grand Duke?!
After finishing what he had to say, the Grand Duke, who put me down, climbed the carriage as if he felt relieved.
The one who was left was only me who felt wronged, so I just blankly stared at their backs.
‘I promised to protect Mikhail you know…..’
You really have a knack for thinking rudely.
The two people of the Grand Duchy of Leventis.
Well, it still wasn’t a bad encounter.
* * *
Time went by quickly.
No, I was the same as usual, but it seemed like that to my parents.
Suddenly preparing to go up to the capital, the two took care of a lot of work.
They selected two companions at a time for my sister and brother, renovated the mansion, in the midst of that, they even steadily took care of the year-end bonuses for the employees.
After completing all the preparations for a month, my parents began traveling to the capital by the first week of December.
It would only take two days to get to the capital using the gate, but my parents chose to go by carriage.
“I’m sure the children will have severe motion sickness from the gate because they’re young.”
My father looked very sad even though he understood my mother’s words.
As long as he was the Duke of Endeblanc, he couldn’t waste nearly three weeks of time on the road.
For that reason, my father used the gate to head to the capital first, while the rest of us departed by carriage.
The trip for about three weeks went well without any major events.
And I secretly let my hand go as I could feel traces of monsters in the middle.
[tn: means she took care of it easily]
“Amazing, I can’t believe there’s not even a single monster.”
“The sword will get rusty.”
To the point where the knights would cry like that.
Of course, as they said that they received a bonus of fierce glares from my mother and other employees.
Thanks to this, the four people of the duchy were able to safely arrive at the townhouse in the capital.
Unlike Grand Duchy and Endeblanc, which is slightly located in the northeast, the wind in the capital was chilly, but it was not that fierce.
I felt a familiar discomfort in that air.
It’s like -a lot of annoying things is about to happen- kind of feeling—
“This is mom’s hometown. My babies.”
But at that moment, I hurriedly changed my mind after what my mother said.
It seems like a place where a lot of fun things will happen!