________________________________________
In other words, Lucas had figured out that Kyle was not a bad kid.
After that, he stopped shoulder-checking Kyle and stopped glaring at him.
Hyung Lucas. Morning.
Every time Kyle greeted him before class, Lucas would scratch the back of his neck with a slightly embarrassed look—then mutter:
Yeah. Morning. You too, Dandelion.
And sit down quietly for lessons.
There was one other change worth noting.
The length of time Kyle could stay in human form had grown.
What had started at one or two hours gradually extended to half a day, and then a full day, and then a full week.
So it was that one evening, just as I was opening my bedroom door to go to sleep—
I want to sleep too. In Aisha’s arms.
Kyle, in human form, had been trailing after me and was caught by Father before he made it through the door.
You—Kyle. Come with me for a moment.
Calypse pinched Kyle by the scruff and regarded him with a brief, thoughtful look.
Then—
From now on, you’ll stay with Knox. You’ll sleep in the room next to his.
No! Knox is boring! I like Aisha!
Even so. You’re going to Knox’s room.
And my opinion on the matter…?
Is not being requested.
In the end, Calypse hauled a vigorously protesting Kyle to Knox’s quarters and deposited him there without ceremony.
Naturally, no one answered Knox’s final, plaintive question.
And so the peaceful days continued.
See you later, Aisha.
I would walk Kyle to his lesson at the appropriate time—
On some days, I watched Lucas clumsily practicing the aristocratic table manners he had learned in class and applauded him warmly.
Clap clap clap!
Dandelion! I’ve finally mastered basic table etiquette, just like you—is what I’m saying!
On other days, I sat beside Father in his study while he worked on his reports, drawing in my sketchbook.
And on days like today—when neither Kyle nor Lucas was around—I found my thoughts drifting back, with quiet but persistent force, to House Foss.
A question I’d been setting aside had begun to resurface.
What exactly is he planning to use the Affinity Amplifiers for?
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Ever since the incident with the creatures going berserk, Father had done nothing to Duke Foss in return. No response. No retaliation.
At first, it had seemed as though he might confront Foss immediately—but he had gone surprisingly quiet instead. He hadn’t made use of the vials, hadn’t sent any messages to House Foss.
Come to think of it, Duke Foss hasn’t reached out either.
There had been no word from him since that day at the royal palace. It could mean he’d given up on me—but somehow I doubted it.
You’ve become a very interesting toy that I cannot under any circumstances discard, thanks to her.
There was definitely something hidden here.
In the original story, there had been no revelation about Aisha’s secret. But the duke had said it himself—something about ‘a certain woman’ had made me indispensable to him.
Who could that woman be? Dorothy?
I was curious, but also reluctant to dig any deeper. If the secret that the original story never revealed were to come to light—
The closer you and the ice duke grow, the more completely he will collapse in the end.
Dolly’s warning rose like a shadow across my thoughts. The crayon in my hand slowed against the page.
If that were truly to happen—if something irreversible were to come between Father and me—
…I just didn’t want to know.
Better to leave it buried.
I decided to stop chasing the unease and focus on the peaceful days I had.
Then, one afternoon—
“Lucas. Aisha.”
“Yes?”
“What is it, Father?”
Father called both of us into his study. He held out an invitation—one bearing a seal crafted from what was clearly real gold, shaped in the form of a lion.
“This is…”
Lucas recognized it at once, his eyes going round, and looked to Father for confirmation.
Calypse nodded.
“An invitation from the royal palace. The annual formal banquet. The three of us will be attending. And—”
He paused, and his gaze settled on me with quiet deliberateness.
“Duke Foss will also be there.”
A brief silence followed.
Calypse continued to look at me with something new in his expression—a particular firmness.
“…Duke Foss?”
Lucas, who had learned the truth of my situation from the incident with Marchioness Lilith, interrupted with a bewildered frown.
“That man is thoroughly rotten, and he’s a duke of another kingdom besides. Why would he be at the Kingdom of Frozen’s banquet?”
“It hasn’t been made public yet, but His Majesty intends to invite high-ranking nobles from the Kingdom of Doctia. The goal is to strengthen the rather strained relations between the two kingdoms.”
“But that means Aisha will be—”
“I know.”
Calypse’s eyes didn’t waver.
“That is precisely why I intend to bring Aisha with us.”
Lucas looked like he still didn’t understand. In his uncertainty, he reached over and squeezed my hand tightly.
The warmth of it traveled through my palm.
So this is what family feels like.
And—
“Aisha. Don’t misread what I’m about to say. Listen carefully.”
Father—the man whose presence in my life had become irreplaceable—was also my family.
“…Yes.”
I nodded carefully.
“I’m bringing you to an event where Duke Foss will be present—but that is not the same as surrendering you to him.”
Of course. I trusted Calypse.
“I intend to separate you from that man as quickly as possible.”
“How?”
“I’m going to bring down House Foss at this banquet. And so I need one promise from you.”
He walked to me, lowered himself to one knee, and met my eyes at the same level.
“No matter how brilliant an idea you come up with at the banquet—trust me, and wait.”
A long finger extended into the space between us, offered as a pinky.
“In plain terms: please don’t cause a scene.”
I had been looking frightened, and he smiled—just slightly—clearly trying to lighten the mood.
“…….”
When I thought about it, Calypse had had reason enough to lose sleep many times over since taking me in. I had vanished without warning at the royal palace. I had turned up in the middle of a creature extermination. I had wept and stormed off to the edge of the world because Kyle had disappeared.
…I really have caused quite a lot of trouble.
I was supposed to be a spy by trade. I was supposed to be better than this. Instead I had managed to be a source of constant anxiety for my father.
Several ideas had already sprung to mind the moment I heard about the royal palace visit—but—
“All right. I promise!”
I shook my head to clear it and caught his pinky finger with mine.
* * *
At that same moment, in Foss Duchy.
A long finger tipped over a pawn on a chessboard, and then another—both tumbling at once.
Duke Foss looked at the string of fallen pieces before him and turned to the figure standing nearby.
“It failed again?”
“Yes, Your Grace. It did.”
His knight nodded.
“That makes nine now.”
In all the years since he had become head of House Foss, there had never been a single incident that consumed resources like this.
What on earth is that child doing, that every single person I send comes back dead?
At first, when Dorothy’s identity as a spy had been exposed, he had written it off as one agent’s misfortune. At the time, Aisha had done nothing more suspicious than alert him that a direct heir of Doctia was living in a Frozen orphanage—which had struck him as curiously devoted.
But one by one.
Every spy he sent came back dead without accomplishing a thing.
After the incident at the royal palace where one agent had died, the rate of loss had accelerated sharply. Agents who had been dying roughly once a month were now dying every three days.
Something about Aisha was different. Something had changed.
Or rather—the more remarkable thing was that Aisha hadn’t defected yet. By any rational accounting, she should have.
“She was supposed to play the loving daughter. And instead, she’s decided to actually become Calypse’s daughter.”
“While we can’t be entirely certain, it does appear that she has resolved to attach herself to House Krost.”
“Tch.”
The situation had become inconvenient.
Duke Foss exhaled and ran a hand across his face.
“What shall we do, then? Shall I attend the banquet myself and retrieve Aisha directly?”
