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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: I'll Name You Silver, the Prince's Familiar!
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“Why don’t you give it a name, then?”
“C-Can I really?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Joshua spoke lightly, but Rosette was serious.
‘I want to give it a cool name.’
A name just as cool as Pipi!
Even the wolf seemed to be waiting in anticipation, gazing at her intently.
After staring at the wolf and pondering for a long while, Rosette exclaimed confidently.
“Silver! I’ll name it Silver.”
“…What?”
[Pii?]
[…?]
Receiving the bewildered stares of one person and two familiars, Rosette blinked as if to ask what the problem was.
Joshua asked in a tone that said, ‘Don’t tell me.’
“Why Silver? Is it because its fur is silver?”
“That’s right. How did you know?”
“You’re even simpler than I thought.”
“…You don’t like it? Should I think of another name?”
“Well, it’s not bad. What do you think?”
Joshua asked the wolf, which growled, seemingly pleased.
“It seems to like it. Let’s go with that.”
“Yay!”
Rosette threw her arms around the neck of the wolf, now named Silver.
“Silver, it’s nice to meet you.”
* * *
The next day, Duke Adrian visited the Sapphire Palace alone, without even Daniel accompanying him.
Joshua, who had already received a message from the Duke and a heads-up from Rosette, greeted him without surprise.
“Welcome, Master. Please, have a seat.”
Joshua led him to a table where refreshments had been prepared.
Joshua reached for the teapot himself, but the Duke insisted he couldn’t let him and poured the tea.
“The reason I’ve come today is…”
“I know. It’s about the young lady, isn’t it?”
“Yes. To be honest, Your Highness, I was a little upset with you.”
It was a conversation Joshua had anticipated.
‘He says “a little,” at least.’
Frankly, he had expected the Duke to be much angrier. That was how much he cherished Rosette.
“What were you thinking, orchestrating something like that? If you’d found something strange, you should have told me.”
“To you, Master?”
Joshua asked as if he had heard something unexpected. This seemed to anger Duke Adrian further, as he spoke in a slightly lower voice.
“Yes, Your Highness. Had you told me, I would have investigated thoroughly. I would have been able to find out who was behind it.”
“But time was of the essence. Sir Largo was involved. However, with only circumstantial evidence, it wasn’t easy to apprehend him.”
“Your Highness. For some time now, I’ve felt that you’ve become much more mature.”
That was inevitable. The person inside Joshua’s body was a twenty-four-year-old man who had struggled to survive and even lost those he loved.
As Joshua smiled bitterly, the Duke continued.
“Growing up is a good thing, but you are still only twelve years old.”
“But, Master.”
“When things like this happen, can’t you trust the adults a little more?”
This time, it was the Duke who smiled a little bitterly.
“Or have I been an adult you can’t rely on?”
“No!”
Joshua shouted, a little defensively.
“You are a more wonderful and good person than anyone, Master. Thanks to you, I am who I am today. You are my master, but sometimes you’re like a friend, and other times, like a father. I just…”
Joshua fell silent. In truth, the Duke’s words had just hit him like a ton of bricks.
‘Why did I think I had to solve everything myself?’
While investigating this matter, it had never once occurred to him to ask Duke Adrian or anyone else for help.
He simply believed he had to handle everything on his own.
In this imperial castle where he didn’t know who to trust and who to be wary of, he felt the only person he could truly rely on was himself.
That was a separate matter from looking up to Duke Adrian as a father figure. He hadn’t wanted to drag him into this affair.
But talking with him now, he realized it once again.
‘I still haven’t fully become an adult.’
Twenty-four years old. He had become an adult and thought he knew everything. But before Duke Adrian, he was still an immature child.
To be precise, in front of Duke Adrian, he could forget all his worries and anxieties and just be a child.
In the past, he had only realized how fortunate he was to have someone who could support him like this after he had lost Duke Adrian.
As his thoughts reached that point, Joshua could understand, if only a little, what had been in Rosette’s heart when she turned back time.
From the moment he saw Rosette, he had suspected she had some ulterior motive.
She said she wanted to right all her wrongs, but he hadn’t completely believed her.
Joshua was still keeping a close watch on Rosette. His threat to kick her out if she did anything even slightly strange was genuine.
But, thanks to her, he had been able to return to the past.
Rosette had saved Duke Adrian and Daniel, and she had saved Ophelia too.
She had given Joshua another chance.
That much was certain.
‘Come to think of it, I never thanked her.’
Of course, he had thanked her for saving Ophelia. But he hadn’t thanked her for something more fundamental.
Saving Ophelia had only been possible because Rosette turned back time. Beyond that, he had been given another chance to set everything right.
Rosette had turned back time for her own sake, but it had ended up helping him as well.
When he first found out she had turned back time, he had been consumed by anger and only lashed out.
*So, next time, I should thank her properly.*
With that thought, Joshua opened his mouth.
“I was shortsighted. Next time something happens, I will speak to you first, Master. And.”
He smiled with all his heart.
“Thank you for always being by my side. I mean it.”
*I don’t want to lose you again,* he thought.
* * *
Inside the carriage leaving the imperial castle, Duke Adrian was lost in deep thought.
‘No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.’
There were many suspicious things about Rosette’s and Joshua’s behavior.
First, Rosette Adrian.
His lovely youngest daughter had been acting oddly ever since the Joseph Oser incident. She had told Pipi to protect the family, but why go to such lengths?
He had found it a bit strange back then, but he had chalked it up to Rosette being a worrier. It was unsettling, but what could he do but trust her?
But this time, too, the child had done something completely unexpected. Far from being frightened upon meeting Prince Joshua, she had worked with him to catch a poisoner.
Is this something an eight-year-old would do?
But even stranger was Joshua Ehrnhardt.
The Joshua that Duke Adrian knew was certainly a prince and future emperor, a child more mature and thoughtful than his peers.
But at some point, he had changed completely. It was probably after he had cried like a child before the Emperor and Duke Adrian, claiming he’d had a nightmare.
It wasn’t just that he had become more mature; it was as if he had become a full-fledged adult. Not just his attitude, but his gaze, his voice, his way of speaking—everything. The aura he exuded, in particular, was markedly different.
Though he never showed it, since that day, whenever Duke Adrian met Joshua, he sometimes felt as though he were having an audience with the Emperor, not the Prince.
And that Joshua had visited the Duchy of Adrian with a ridiculous excuse, saying he wanted to meet Rosette.
When the Duke hadn't permitted the meeting, he had even snuck into the mansion.
It was uncharacteristic of Joshua.
What reason could he have had to meet Rosette so desperately?
‘Don’t tell me he was asking for her help this time?’
Ophelia Ehrnhardt’s sudden invitation for Rosette to the Empress’s Palace was surely Joshua’s doing.
Joshua had probably planned to catch the poisoner with Rosette’s help from the very beginning.
But how? How did he know Rosette’s familiar would be helpful?
What was even more absurd was that Joshua, who had planned so meticulously, had offered such a flimsy excuse.
‘Pipi seemed interested in plants, so we were looking around the apothecary and found something suspicious.’
To dismiss it as a series of coincidences, everything fit together far too neatly.
Perhaps Joshua had already figured everything out and simply pulled Rosette into his plan.
But how did Rosette know that a Kish leaf could become poisonous when eaten with honey? She was a child who had just learned to read.
Duke Adrian’s mind was a jumble.
In fact, Rosette had exhibited inexplicable behavior before.
She already knew she was allergic to shrimp, which she had never eaten at the orphanage, and her progress in her lessons was far too fast compared to other children.
It was as if…
‘As if she already knew everything.’
When his thoughts reached that point, Duke Adrian let out a dry laugh.
‘That can’t be.’
But it was clear that Rosette and Joshua were hiding something.
Duke Adrian decided not to press the matter and to wait until the children trusted him enough to tell him first.
That was what an adult should do.
‘But if something like this happens again, I’ll have to look into it.’
Having reached that conclusion, he stepped out of the carriage.
“Father.”
As he entered the mansion, greeted by the servants, Daniel approached him as if he had been waiting. He said he had something to discuss in private and followed the Duke to his office.
“What is it?”
“Why didn’t you scold Rose?”
“Scold her?”
The Duke was a little surprised. Daniel was soft on his younger siblings, and he doted on his youngest sister, Rosette. To hear such words from him…
The Duke propped his chin on his hand, his expression one of mild interest.
“Daniel, do you think I should have scolded Rose?”
“…Yes.”
Daniel answered after a slight hesitation.
“May I ask why you think so?”
“Rose, that child… she doesn’t know how to think about herself.”
“Hmm?”
Surprised by the unexpected answer, Duke Adrian beckoned Daniel closer. Daniel approached the desk and continued.
“It was the same with the carriage accident, and it’s the same this time. She always takes matters into her own hands. It’s as if she feels she can only trust herself. I just want Rose to…”
Daniel’s voice wavered, on the verge of tears.
“I just want Rose to trust her family a little more, and to cherish herself a little more.”
