***

Sarah laid out a large sheet of paper in the garden for Claude and Elexa to play in the mansion and gave them paints.

“Ahaha!”

“You got something on your face, too!”

Claude and Elexa laughed as they looked at each other with their clothes and faces covered in paint. In that state, they rolled over the paper, poked paint in each other’s cheeks, and ran away. The clear laughter of children running all over the paper filled the Ambrosia mansion. The servants of Ambrosia looked at it with a new feeling. Ronda said as she approached Sarah, who was looking at Claude with delight.

“……Young Master Claude is a person who can laugh like that.”

“He’s at an age when he wants to run around like that.”

“That’s true, but I didn’t know because he was so mature.”

Ronda’s voice was filled with faint guilt. She just thought that it was right to say that he was like an old child because he was so mature.

“Fufu.”

Sarah smiled proudly because she seemed to have created an environment where Claude, who was withdrawn, could laugh. In the future, she wanted to create more and more frequent days when Claude could smile like that.

“Which family son is the one who came with Young Master Claude this time?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a kid I met on the street.”

“Yes? But the clothes……”

Ronda once again looked closely at the child, raising her eyebrows when she heard that she met Elexa on the street. Ronda, who has a good eye, immediately saw through that what Elexa was wearing, who came with Claude, was unusual. It seemed like he was wearing something that wasn’t as flashy and inconspicuous as possible, but with a dazzling luster, it was clear that his clothes were made of high-quality fabric. Seeing that even a small button was engraved with patterns, it was clear in Ronda’s head that he was a son of a noble family. However, seeing that Sarah and Claude came in holding his hands without anyone conducting, she was confused.

“It doesn’t matter which family he is from. However, one thing that is clear is that Young Master Claude approached him first.”

“I can’t believe Young Master Claude approached him first, that’s never happened……”

The playmates the Duke had attached weren’t just Ruth Naven’s group. However, Claude never talked to them first or even approached them. He was just enduring the passing of the playtime, which was close to obligation, without saying a word. That was why a person with an extraordinary mind like Ruth Naven was able to hide Ambrosia’s eyes and secretly torment Claude with the guise of favor and kindness. It was because he had been creating things over and over, seemingly to do with Claude. Ronda and Veron thought they were still playing well against the timid Claude. Sadly, that was all.

“There must have been something he was attracted to. I also knew for the first time that Young Master Claude was a child who could reach out like that.”

“It’s largely my fault……”

Ronda bowed her head with a guilty expression on her face. Her tears were dripping down as she jotted down May’s words. It was shameful that she and Veron, who had to know Claude better than anyone else, knew nothing.

“Countess Millen’s eyes are accurate. May really knew everything. That’s why even if May had done something rude, you forgave her and let her by your side.”

“……Umm.”

Sarah smiled meaningfully, not denying Ronda’s words. There were a lot of complicated reasons for having May Chenblun by her side, but explaining it was also very complicated.

‘Well, it wouldn’t be bad to think that way.’

Sarah thought so and looked at Claude and Elexa playing in the distance. The two children were left alone, so they were laughing and playing like the best friends in the world.  Perhaps because he was of the same age, Claude quickly opened up and hung out with him. Only when the one doing it was her, the children got to know each other quickly.

“I think he’ll be a good friend to Young Master Claude. There’s something suspicious about it, but that’s for the adults.”

“……?”

Sarah smiled at Ronda, who didn’t understand what she was saying. At that time.

“Piii-!”

A homing pigeon flew from the sky with clear cries. When Ronda raised her hand, the homing pigeon settled accurately in her hand.

“Did the Duke send it?”

“Yes.”

Ronda, with a slightly nervous expression on her face, untied the letter, which had been tied to the homing pigeon’s leg. She deserved punishment for not knowing that Claude was being harassed. Now it seemed that the time had come to receive the punishment.

Veron was already frantically running through the haze field over there. Ronda should have been running next to him too, but she was still here because Sarah and Claude had returned to the mansion. Sarah couldn’t predict how much Ethan would be angry, so she asked in a voice full of tension like Ronda.

“What does he say?”

“The Duke is coming back now.”

“Now? Doesn’t he still have business left at the Imperial Palace?”

“He does, but Sir Jade said it was to keep his promise to Countess Millen.”

“Promise? What do you mea…… Ah.”

Sarah was then able to recall the promise she had made with the Duke. Asking for an hour once a week to spend with Claude. Even though she had put such a condition herself, she forgot about it because she usually spent time alone with Claude. Due to the issue of the First Prince being overthrown, Ethan almost lived in the Imperial Palace, and Sarah stayed in bed for five days. They didn’t get the timing right to spend their time like that.

“But why now……?”

It was time to properly reconcile the quarrel between the Second Prince and the Third Prince, who were fervently fighting over how to deal with the First Prince. It was safe to say that Duke Ambrosia had everything in his hands, so he was right to stick to the Imperial Palace so that the Second Prince and the Third Prince could not do separate tricks. Because they didn’t know the Emperor’s intentions yet.

‘Does the Duke know that Elexa is the illegitimate son of the Third Prince? Does he know he’s here?’

Sarah bit her lips nervously, recalling that he received reports on everything in the mansion. What if Ethan was in a hurry to come to the mansion because he knew the identity of Elexa?

‘The Third Prince would have completely erased the existence of Elexa without the Emperor knowing, but no matter how good Ambrosia’s information was……’

She felt like she was going to be scolded by Ethan.

“Uh, Ronda. When the Duke gets angry, is it very scary?”

“It’s very scary.”

“How much?”

“Very much.”

“……Then can we hold hands?”

Sarah quietly held Ronda’s hand. Ronda didn’t know why she was doing this, but when she thought about the wrath of the Duke, who would soon return to the mansion, she also held her hand. The scary thing was that Ronda added more and never less.

‘Let’s pretend we didn’t know.’

Sarah thought so and thought about what attitude to take in front of the Duke. It was really a coincidence to meet Elexa when she went out with Claude, and it was fate that Claude showed interest in Elexa, and it was inevitable that the two children felt attracted to each other. That was the only thing she could explain.

‘Because even the Duke wouldn’t think that I knew the identity of Elexa. If I said that I invited the child I met by chance outside, would he believe me?’

Sarah pondered the benefits of lying. First of all, Ethan would not scold her, and she would be able to make Elexa Claude’s friend.

‘What if he finds out that I know that Elexa is the Third Prince’s son?’

She thought about the impact that lie would bring. Unlike Claude, who was just wary of her, Ethan, as the Duke of Ambrosia, did not fully trust her. So, if her lies were discovered, Ethan might not believe her forever. No matter how much Sarah had the power to suppress Ambrosia’s power. His trust, once lost, was hard to regain.

‘If he thinks that I have other intentions, he will never smile like that again.’

Thinking about it that way, she felt her heart sink.

How did I make that smile?

She saw with her own eyes that the light sparkled in Ethan’s dead eyes for a moment.

“I hate that.”

Sarah murmured in a voice full of determination. She wanted to bring back the smile on Ethan Ambrosia’s face, like the smile of the children now laughing in the distance. Ever since she saw Ethan’s sincere smile once, she had been thinking about it all the time.

“Mrs. Head Maid, Countess Millen. The Duke’s carriage has arrived at the front gate.”

Sarah gently grabbed Ronda’s stiff hand and dragged her to meet Ethan.

‘Let’s be honest and insist.’

As always.