"Ugh, this... Ugh... How... Ugh."
Elisa Winterwald pressed a hand to her mouth, bewildered.
She was known as the Ice Duchess on the outside, but that was just a fabricated image. In reality, Elisa was a woman who was very honest with her emotions.
"The snow-flower dragon crest is clearly imprinted, so that video orb isn't fake! Oh, dear, what should we do! Pinkie. How on earth did you meet Callex? Huh?"
"Five years ago, when I was 3 years old, I was abandoned... and Dad picked me up and raised me."
"I'm going crazy. That bastard doing something so humanitarian? Isn't it really kidnapping?"
Murmurs rippled through the room.
No matter what people around him said, Callex let out a short breath and calmly drank his tea.
The shock, which felt like being hit in the back of the head with a club, subsided a little.
It seemed to be roughly true that he had raised that child as his daughter for the past five years.
If that were the case, how should he handle this situation now?
'One, three, six.'
He calmly counted the number of people inside the reception room. Excluding Elisa and his assistant, Ruska, he might have to kill four maids. It was an unconscious calculation.
"......"
How much time had passed? His eyes, which had been cold and distant, finally regained their light.
'...*Whew*. Get a grip.'
Callex recomposed himself again.
The servants in the main mansion of the Duke's residence were highly loyal people who had served the Winterwald family for generations. Moreover, they had recently undergone a major reshuffle, making them even more trustworthy. That was why they were short-handed...
In any case, they would never blab about the contents of the video orb and reveal to the outside world that Callex had lost his memory.
Callex reminded himself of that fact once more and suppressed the rising murderous intent.
'This is truly unpleasant.'
Losing his memory made him feel like there were too many things slipping out of his control. He hated situations he couldn't control.
Of course, the most difficult to control among them was...
"Okay, I'm going now!"
That tiny little kid.
"What? Where are you suddenly saying you're going?"
Elisa asked the child, jumping up from her seat.
"Theo... To pick up my brother! He briefly appeared in the video orb earlier."
"...Don't tell me, he's too?"
"Yes. Dad took Theo in too."
"Ha! What a happy little family."
"We were very happy..."
Elisa looked like she'd given up trying to understand.
"But, um, excuse me."
The child opened her backpack, which looked like a turtle shell, wide open and started packing the video orbs, then spoke.
"You'll open the door, right...?"
"......"
"Well, if the door is closed when I bring Theo, we'll have to sleep outside..."
"......"
"I'm okay, but Theo is only 3 years old. It's early spring here, so it's a bit cold outside, and 3-year-olds can catch a cold..."
Don't 8-year-olds get colds too...?
Someone seemed to mutter that.
Callex became even more dumbfounded.
It was because the child was shamelessly hinting that she would live in the Duke's residence.
'Absolutely not.'
Suddenly taking in a kid he didn't even remember?
It would be more beneficial for him to hire ten more maids instead.
Callex thought cynically and quietly watched what the child was doing. He was planning to tell her to get lost, firmly and coldly.
But...
"Is it... not okay?"
'Ha! She was so confident until now, and now she's reading my mind?'
The sight of her biting her lip and fidgeting with her fingertips was very irritating. For some reason, words seemed to be stuck in his throat and wouldn't come out.
Elisa gave him a look as if urging him to decide what to do.
"Um, if it's difficult to live here right away, I don't mind sleeping in the front yard. You can just think of me as a weed planted there, right?"
As the silence lengthened, the child seemed to become anxious and started rambling.
A kid who knew about his lost time.
A kid who had the Winterwald ring.
A kid who was irritating to look at, and made him feel inexplicably anxious.
Finally, Callex made up his mind.
His tightly closed lips parted.
"Fine. The ring, the video orb... I can't deny it. Even though I don't remember, I must take responsibility for what I've done."
"......"
"Bring your brother back. I will provide you with a place to live."
The child's expression brightened instantly.
Elisa and the others looked surprised at Callex's decision.
"Okay! Then I'll be back!"
"Wait."
"Why?"
"Leave that ring here. It's mine anyway, and you don't need it to prove your identity anymore, do you?"
"But... Dad gave this to me. It's mine. Once you give something, that's it. Dad said taking back something you gave is petty. And the person who said that is right in front of me. Of course, you don't remember, but it's true..."
She muttered on and on.
A vein popped out on Callex's forehead as he watched the kid indirectly refusing.
The little thing really didn't back down.
He, however, forcibly regained his composure.
"*Whew*, I'm saying I'll keep... it for you. I'm not trying to take it from you. I'll keep it safe and return it to you when you can take responsibility for it."
A pointed look returned.
Sparkling green eyes stared at him blankly, then soon broke into a bright smile.
"Ah, I see! Okay!"
Clatter, clatter.
After rummaging through her heavy turtle-shell backpack for a while, the child took out the ring box and handed it to Callex.
"Then I'll be going!"
She gave a quick bow and dashed out.
With her pink head of hair, she ran out before he could even stop her.
The mansion, swept by a small storm, was truly devastated.
Callex stood by the window, lost in thought.
Elisa, who had a disgruntled expression, approached him.
"Callex, is it real? Are you really going to take the kids in?"
"Of course not."
He laughed sharply.
"Huh? But you just said you'd provide a place to live for that kid?"
"Yes. But I didn't say it would be in my house."
"...Then, what."
"It seems to be true that I lived with that kid in that raggedy house... I will clean up the mess. I just need to prepare a suitable compensation package."
To Elisa, that sounded somewhat like he was going to 'buy their silence' with money.
'She was cute like a squirrel, what a shame. My husband would have fallen head over heels for her if he saw her.'
The old lady was about to add something, but stopped.
She was no longer the head of this family. So she didn't want to meddle now. At least, for now.
Callex turned to his secretary, who was standing nearby like a shadow.
"Ruska, buy a suitable house outside the capital. If that kid comes back, take her there."
He had just become a Duke and had many problems to solve both internally and externally, and now he had to raise children out of the blue?
He wasn't the type to force himself to do things he didn't want to do.
'And if I keep seeing her... something... something will become a headache.'
His large hand tightly gripped the ring box.
"Anyway, the ring is in my hands, and if I send some servants who can keep their mouths shut to watch them for a while..."
Clatter.
At that moment, Callex, who was opening the box aimlessly, froze stiff. His secretary Ruska raised his head.
"I've written down 'surveillance'... what's next?"
"......"
"Your Excellency?"
He was frozen stiff.
Elisa, wondering what was wrong, peeked over his shoulder. And then.
"Pfft."
She burst out laughing.
"Pwahahaha! Callex!"
"......"
"You tried to be mean, but you got properly backstabbed!"
No wonder she was hiding her hand inside that turtle-shell backpack and hesitating so much.
'*Did* she run off with the Duke's family treasure as a hostage?'
"Hey! I think she really is your daughter?"
Elisa said, unable to stop laughing.
Callex gritted his teeth as he looked at the empty box.
