“All right, then. If it’s what you both want, Young Master and Melody.”
It had gone perfectly.
Permission granted, at last.
Jayden’s and Melody’s faces lit up at the exact same moment.
“But Melody. If you sneak out of your room again like today, you’ll be scolded. What if you’d gotten lost? Next time, make sure you come with Mommy. Understand?”
“Uu!”
Viola added it like a scolding, but the children’s faces were still blooming with nothing but smiles.
In the end, Melody and Jayden played together for a long while after that and finally collapsed onto the same bed, worn out, and fell asleep.
I thought back on the children playing happily—no, pretending to play happily.
Oh, you two. So cute.
Pretending not to notice wasn’t easy at all.
Bickering a little, then the moment they caught my eye, both of them awkwardly smiling as if they were the best of friends—it was all so adorable.
The two of them had clearly cooked up some scheme between them. And I’d decided to play along, pretending not to notice.
A little squabbling between kids at first isn’t unusual anyway.
As long as it wasn’t too serious, they usually ended up fast friends before long.
He doted on his little sister so much in the original, too. Jayden reached out first this time.
He could easily have resented Melody for barging in uninvited.
I gently stroked Jayden’s head as he slept soundly.
His face looked so much more at ease than it had a few hours ago.
It must be having someone his own age around. He seems much less anxious, too.
Melody, too, hadn’t played with someone close to her own age in a while, so despite all her grumbling, she’d seemed secretly thrilled.
I wiped a little drool from Melody’s face as she slept beside Jayden.
Lying side by side like that, they looked just like little angels.
Maybe it was the drowsy, cozy mood. Yawn. A yawn escaped me without warning.
…I’m sleepy too.
Sitting in the chair beside the bed, I forced my eyes open to stay awake.
But I couldn’t overcome the wave of sleepiness bearing down on me, and I soon fell asleep just like that.
Late that night.
Having finished the day’s business, Cain set his fountain pen down on the desk.
Come to think of it, wasn’t it today.
That Jayden’s real treatment for Tamutar disease was beginning in earnest.
Until now, they’d only been suppressing his symptoms; from today, the actual process of curing the disease was supposed to begin.
No report had come up to him, so there seemed to be no particular problem, but he couldn’t help feeling a lingering concern.
He’d thought of it as an incurable disease for so long, after all.
Cain was about to head to his own bedroom as usual when he turned his steps instead.
Since Jayden was afraid of him, he didn’t usually go seeking the boy out first, but…
Still, on a day like this, it seemed worth checking on his condition, even from a distance.
At this hour, he should be asleep.
He’d just check the sleeping face without waking him and head back.
Cain made his way to the third floor, his footsteps silent.
The end of the corridor. The place Jayden had chosen to stay, away from other people.
That room, always kept dark, had light leaking through the gap in the door for some reason.
A sight unlike any other night.
Was something wrong? Cain erased his own presence and approached.
But the person he saw the moment he stepped inside wasn’t Jayden at all.
It was Viola, dozing pitifully, leaning against a chair.
Cain approached her, holding his breath.
On the bed right beside her, Jayden and Melody were sprawled out, fast asleep.
She must have dozed off while looking after the children.
“Mmm…”
The woman mumbled something for a moment, then her head suddenly drooped forward.
Slip.
Her curly pink hair spilled forward. Without thinking, Cain reached out and gently swept it back behind her ear.
Her face, hidden like a curtain, was now fully visible.
Had she been very tired?
She’d said she couldn’t take a walk with him tonight because of Jayden’s treatment.
And here she was, doing goodness knows what.
She must have worn herself out looking after Jayden and fallen asleep.
Come to think of it…
Cain looked over Jayden for a moment.
Far from a frown, his face was completely relaxed. His limbs, always so tense, now sprawled loosely in every direction.
Had he ever seen Jayden sleep this peacefully before?
The medication that had supposedly started today already seemed to have produced a meaningful result.
No—was that all?
His nephew, once so prickly and sharp-edged, had softened considerably these past few days.
He was still afraid of no one but his uncle himself.
What was certain was that a great deal had changed since this woman arrived.
Cain looked down at Viola again.
If she was going to sleep, she might as well sleep comfortably.
Her neck, thin enough to circle with one hand, was bent at a precarious angle.
He reached out and gently gathered Viola into his arms.
As he lifted her, supporting her body with both arms, she mumbled something faintly.
“Mmm…”
Then, as if cold and searching for a blanket, she burrowed slightly into his chest.
Ha. Cain let out a silent, disbelieving laugh.
Did she even realize who he was, acting this defenseless?
If she knew and did it anyway, that was a problem. If she didn’t know, that was even more of a problem.
But Cain decided not to correct the problem right at this moment.
He carefully laid Viola down on the sofa beside the fireplace.
“Mm, cold…”
To think there was someone in this world who’d send him on a blanket errand. Whether asleep or awake, she was equally bold, it seemed.
When he spread a thick blanket over her, her expression finally relaxed.
As if dreaming a pleasant dream, the woman’s lips curved into a faint arc.
The very smile she often showed him.
He hadn’t expected to see that expression like this.
Cain quietly watched that expression for a while before finally turning to leave.
Click.
When he switched off the bright lamp, darkness suited to the night settled over the room at last.
He stepped quietly out of the room.
Through the corridor window, the moon hanging in the sky was beautiful.
A few days later.
Knock, knock. At the knock on the bedroom door, Jayden’s voice came right away.
“Viola? Hurry and come in!”
“Yes, Young Master!”
Was it just her imagination? His voice was a full note higher than usual today—he sounded excited about something.
I smiled and opened the door gently.
But the moment I stepped into the room, there was an unexpected guest already there.
Huh. Who’s this?
A woman I didn’t know was standing beside Jayden’s bed. She looked to be around my age, but her aura was quite different.
Tall, with a spine held perfectly straight, and a lean, sturdy build without an ounce of excess. But what caught the eye most was her appearance.
Her features were sharp and clear-cut—less “pretty” than “handsome” would describe her.
The woman seemed to notice me too, because she bowed her head to me in a movement without a trace of hesitation.
“Would you be Miss Viola? It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Sylvienne Barnes.”
Sylvienne? It was a name I’d heard from the maids before.
“The household of the ducal residence is currently managed by Miss Sylvienne, from a vassal house.”
I remembered what Becky had told me.
After the death of the late Young Duke and his wife, the position of the household’s mistress had been left vacant. To fill that gap, Sylvienne, who had been the Young Duchess’s most trusted attendant, had taken on the role of acting head of the household.
…I heard she’d been away from the residence for a while on other business.
She must have just finished handling that and returned. I hurried to bow back to her.
“Hello! My name is Viola. I’m in charge of Young Master Jayden’s treatment.”
“I know. I received reports on the matter even while I was away from the residence. More importantly…”
Sylvienne suddenly bent at a sharp, correct angle.
Huh? All of a sudden…? Flustered by such a formal gesture, I was fumbling for words when, before I could stop her, she spoke.
“I apologize for the great hardship you were put through.”
“Pardon…? No, no! There’s no need for that. It’s not as though it happened while you were even here!”
I waved my hands hurriedly. She seemed to be apologizing for what Celia had done.
How could that possibly be Sylvienne’s fault, when she’d been away on official business? This wasn’t something that called for such a deep bow of apology.
But Sylvienne was resolute.
“Even so, I am the acting head of the household, and I was away when such an incident occurred, so it is right that I apologize.”
Her firm manner conveyed, unmistakably, a personality that placed great importance on principle.
Not making excuses, not getting emotional—simply accepting responsibility cleanly, as the one in charge, and apologizing for it.
What an admirable person.
I waved my hands again and smiled.
“It’s really all right. It wasn’t a personal matter, and you were away on business. There’s no need to trouble yourself over it.”
Despite my words, Sylvienne was about to bow her head again when—
Seeming to find the adults’ stiff conversation tedious, Jayden, sitting on the bed, cut in.
“Viola, Viola. Look at this.”
“Oh, yes. Young Master!”
Jayden called out to me, waving a piece of paper back and forth in his hand.
“Wow. What’s that?”
“My brother sent me a letter!”
Ah. This must be about Noah, off at the Academy.
Noah Asheln.
In the original, he was a character who doted endlessly on Melody—the classic “kind older brother” type.
