Chapter 10
Aisha was truly a clever child.
Hiding in the sewer pipes, the girl knew all too well that no one would enter such a filthy, cramped space.
But Calips ducked his upper body inside without a second thought.
His well-pressed suit trousers and shoes were ruined by the grime and dust, but he didn’t care.
“Aisha.”
He would willingly do far worse.
“Take my hand. It’s dangerous in there.”
Because he was her only hope.
“Don’t you dare think of doing anything foolish.”
Ironically, he was the one who had once longed for death.
“I can’t even die because I’m too busy cleaning up your messes.”
At his warning, the golden head flinched and looked up.
Had she been crying until just now?
The area around her large eyes, which took up half her face, was stained red.
The girl’s mouth parted slightly, looking surprised by the hand extended toward her.
But soon, as if realizing something, she shook her head firmly.
“…If you help me, you’ll get in trouble too, Mister.”
To think she was worrying about him at a time like this. She was a selfless little thing.
In the first place, this wasn’t the kid’s fault.
Considerable time had passed since the girl had told him that story.
Anything could have happened to the Lady in the meantime; perhaps the House of Pose had moved her elsewhere.
Even if the story itself was a lie, the child had her reasons for telling it.
“Adults take the responsibility. Those damn adults who pushed you into this situation are the ones who should pay.”
His low voice, cracked from desperation, broke at the end.
He was so close he could reach her if he just stretched a bit more. Unfortunately, the sewer pipe was too narrow for him to enter any further.
“So take my hand, Aisha.”
His breathing grew ragged with frustration as he reached for her, his body unable to bridge the final gap.
Rustle—
The sound of something moving came from inside.
Calips, who couldn’t see what was happening below while reaching out, froze. That moment felt like an eternity.
‘Please, please.’
While he was desperately murmuring to himself, something small gripped his thumb.
“Don’t let go. Keep holding on.”
There was no time to be surprised.
Pulling the small body out in one motion, Calips pulled Aisha into a crushing embrace.
“!”
Startled by the sudden contact, the girl’s palms flew open. But he didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that right now.
If he had been a moment later, he might never have heard this child’s small heartbeat again.
No one might have ever heard her sobbing alone.
‘…The Duke is my savior.’
The words the girl had confessed to him suddenly came to mind.
But as he felt the small heartbeat against his chest, he realized one thing.
It wasn’t true that he was her salvation.
Rather, it was her small, desperate wish that had saved him.
So, he was the one who had been saved.
A while later.
Time passed, and a red sunset began to shimmer below the horizon.
“Aisha!”
“Aisha, where are you!”
The knights were still searching outside the castle, never imagining that Aisha would dare hide inside the Ariena garden.
Knox, who had been circling the castle perimeter with them, let out a sigh.
“…I should have just kicked her out then.”
It had finally come to this.
The kid’s claim that the Lady was in the Pose Duchy turned out to be a lie, and now the brat had run away.
‘Of course she did. She even signed a contract saying she’d be beheaded if we couldn’t find the Lady.’
He hadn’t believed her from the start.
What kind of judgment could a five-year-old whose brain wasn’t even fully developed possibly have?
Calips had been far too emotional, and Knox felt he had failed to properly assist him.
“…Your Excellency?”
It was then.
He had been lost in his troubled thoughts for a moment when the mutterings of a knight searching the bushes snapped him back to reality.
“His Excellency…?”
Hurriedly following the knight’s gaze, he saw a tall man walking from the garden entrance, cradling something in his arms.
No way.
Knox raised his monocle with a sense of dread, and his jaw dropped.
The small “something” was Aisha.
And it was an Aisha who had her eyes closed as if she were dead.
“Your Excellency!”
Horrified, Knox pushed past the knights and rushed forward.
“Have you already carried out the execution? No matter the contract, she’s just a child! If word gets out that a brat was beheaded, the reputation of the House of Crost will—”
“Shh.”
Calips’s red eyes, visible behind his black mask, shifted toward Knox.
“You’ll wake her.”
“Pardon?”
“And what do you mean, beheading? What if she gets scared and cries?”
“Excuse me?”
Just what was going on?
Loss for words, Knox pinched his cheek, wondering if he was dreaming.
It hurt quite a bit. That meant this was reality.
“Your Excellency. For the record, you were the first one to bring up the word ‘beheading’—”
“That word again.”
“Pardon?”
He was simply pointing out the Duke’s own past mistake.
Calips sighed as if Knox were being tiresome.
“The child has been through enough. Do you really have to go looking for trouble? While waking her up, no less?”
He was even being scolded.
By the very man who had written the beheading clause into the contract and stamped it with his seal.
“Your Excellency. Have you lost your mind?”
Knox was stunned by the unexpected betrayal.
Regardless, Calips walked right past Knox and disappeared, still carrying Aisha.
“Did His Excellency find Aisha?”
A knight who had witnessed the two of them ran up and asked.
“That Aisha kid.”
Knox muttered as if possessed.
“Could it be that she’s actually His Excellency’s biological daughter or something?”
“…What?”
Taken aback by Knox’s sudden question, the knight stared at Calips’s retreating back as he entered the castle.
‘…Is he actually serious?’
He didn’t know what was going on, but Aide Knox wasn’t one to talk nonsense.
“Can… men even give birth?”
The knight scratched the back of his neck and asked seriously, but Knox was still too dazed to even answer.
I had a wonderful dream last night.
It was a dream where my mom and dad, who almost died in an accident, miraculously recovered.
I wasn’t left at a relative’s house; I grew up loved in our small but happy home.
One of those common, fairy-tale stories.
Oh, and my favorite part was the bed.
I had never slept in a bed in my life. But I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.
Because,
Because—
…
“Mmm.”
My eyes fluttered open.
I was on a bed.
“……?”
Instinctively, I reached out, but something fluffy blocked me.
When I regained my senses, I realized I couldn’t move my legs or my body properly.
“What is this…?”
I realized I was wrapped tightly in white blankets like a silkworm cocoon.
Only my face and eyes were peeking out.
“…What? Was I kidnapped?”
Wiggle, wiggle—
I could break out of a blanket cocoon like this with some fierce footwork.
But the problem started after that.
‘Is this a noble’s bedroom?’
The ceiling was painted with lavish religious art, and there were white pillars.
Gold tassels hanging from the thick purple canopy over the king-sized bed swayed in the breeze.
For now, it didn’t seem like a kidnapping.
If I were kidnapped, they would have bound me with ropes instead of blankets.
“Brat. You awake?”
At that moment, the sound of a door opening was followed by a familiar low voice calling me.
It was definitely the gardener’s voice.
“Mister?”
But when I turned my head—
“…Wait, who are you?”
A complete stranger was standing there.
Instead of a gloomy robe, he wore a crisp white shirt and neat attire.
He had broad shoulders developed through exercise and an inverted-triangle torso that narrowed at the waist. Thick black hair.
Skin as smooth as marble and red eyes that held a stoic gaze.
He was a handsome man who looked like he had stepped right out of a masterpiece painting.
“Who do you think? I’m the gardener you kept calling for until your voice went hoarse.”
He replied as if he were listening to something trivial.
‘…That handsome man is the gardener?’
Is everyone in this world’s setting this attractive?
Wait, no. The knights didn’t look like that.
Blink, blink—
I rubbed my eyes slowly and marveled at his face once more.
Whatever the case, eye candy was always welcome.
Then, the man, who had brought a tray with a sandwich, sat down in a chair at the tea table.
“You should eat breakfast. Sit.”
Tap, tap—
He tapped the tea table with his index finger, urging me to sit.
Oh, right. I was caught by him while hiding in the sewer pipe.
But.
‘How am I still alive?’
I was a spy.
A spy who was supposed to be beheaded for failing to fulfill the contract to reveal the Lady’s location.
Since I was found by the gardener, the Duke of Calips must have heard about me.
So why am I still alive?
And if he’s a gardener, he should be a commoner—so why is this bedroom as luxurious as a noble’s?
And why is the gardener so handsome?
With a mountain of questions, I hopped down from the bed.
“Mister.”
“What.”
I wiggled into the chair and was about to start my interrogation.
“How exactly did I survi—”
“Eat first.”
A sandwich suddenly entered my mouth, cutting off my question.
Fine. I should eat first.
Munch, munch—
I swallowed the bite of the sandwich.
“I ate, so now—?”
“You have to wipe your mouth if you’re done eating.”
But this time, a handkerchief blocked my question.
He frowned slightly in concentration as he wiped the crumbs from around my mouth, and only then did he smile with satisfaction.
“Right. Now speak.”
This was taking forever.
I let out the question I had been holding back.
“When am I going to be beheaded?!”
“That’s not happening. I tore up the contract.”
“What? Whaaat?!”
My jaw dropped at the shocking statement, but his expression was perfectly peaceful.
Don’t tell me his talk about “adults taking responsibility” meant…
He just recklessly tore up the contract and planned to run away?
“Mister! No!”
I grabbed his collar and shook him.
Well, I tried to. He didn’t actually budge, of course.
“How could you tear up a contract with the Duke’s seal on it?! Mister, did you run away from the Crost Duchy Castle because of me?!”
“…You have quite the imagination.”
He sighed. Then, while I still had a grip on his collar, he held something out to me.
“Calm down and read this first.”
“……?”
“It’s the adoption application you wanted.”
