Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The older child was too frightened to raise his head, and whatever he did, he kept half-hiding behind Maya.

‘He looks perfectly normal on the outside, but I guess there’s something wrong with him mentally?’

As expected. If his younger brother was in that condition, it must have been difficult for her to talk about it.

I had no intention of frightening the children, so I simply greeted them and told them to go into their room and rest.

Perhaps because she was now staying somewhere safe, or perhaps because she had her younger siblings by her side, Maya looked far more lively than she had yesterday. No, rather, it seemed more like…… an intense emotion.

“Baron. I will truly be loyal to you. I will never forget this kindness.”

“Yes, yes. But don’t stake your life on it or anything. There’s no one in this world important enough for you to give your life for.”

“Pfft.”

It was the first time I had seen Maya smile since we met, so I was a little taken aback when she said,

“I think you’re really unusual, Baron.”

After saying that, Maya panicked and hurriedly explained that it was an impertinent thing to say and that she had absolutely meant no harm, but I was only a little taken aback, so I didn’t mind.

‘For some reason, my insides feel all ticklish.’

In any case, my life in Herona had entered a new phase.

***

“Hmm, the taste is quite good.”

“We changed butcher shops. The quality of the meat from the previous one kept getting worse as the days went by.”

“You did well, Grace.”

At the dining table where tender veal dishes had been served, trivial conversations—things that could be said or left unsaid, yet could soften the atmosphere—were exchanged.

When Count McCallen praised his wife’s decision, his eldest son and his wife and his second son chimed in as well.

After the conversation about food passed, it moved on to talk about the Dartmouth family’s tea party held not long ago, the news that three calves had been born on the estate at the same time, and the news that some relative or other had become a grandfather.

Although there was nothing particularly interesting about the conversation, they occasionally burst into laughter. Everyone except Ash.

He merely nodded lightly and continued his meal without adding a single word to the conversation.

Grace, who was conscious of this yet had quietly been waiting, cleared her throat near the end of the meal and turned her head toward Ash.

“Ash, is the work you’ve been doing lately going well?”

“It’s still difficult to say how things will turn out, but it will go well.”

At that, Karl, who, like Grace, had been uncomfortable with his silence, glared at him.

“I thought you were mute, but you can talk? Then don’t ruin the atmosphere at every meal and just open your mouth and……!”

“Karl!”

It was Grace who stopped him.

“What kind of way is that to speak? Have some dignity.”

At his mother’s rebuke, Karl did not talk back and closed his mouth.

Count McCallen let out a low sigh, while his eldest son, Joel, wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin, wearing an awkward smile.

The meal was over.

After returning to his room, Ash loosened the tight collar of his shirt.

Although he rarely came home under the pretext of investigating cases, he had to return to the mansion at least once a week to attend the family meal.

At every meal, he had to confirm that he was the only blemish on this perfect family.

The dignified head of the family, his wise and benevolent wife, his dependable eldest son and his second son who kept the atmosphere lively, the eldest daughter-in-law from a good family who doted on their two-year-old daughter……. Wasn’t it a beautiful family, as though it had been drawn to perfection?

And yet, sitting among them was him, the evidence of the head of the family’s betrayal of his wife and the very embodiment of his wife’s deep wound.

‘Why do these people keep doing this to themselves? Does this make them look more perfect?’

There wasn’t even anyone watching, so what was wrong with simply ignoring the illegitimate child?

Besides, if they wanted him to participate in the conversation, shouldn’t they stop going on about things only the three of them knew?

‘They don’t even enjoy living together, yet they say I can’t become independent before marriage……. Maybe these people are the biggest mystery I have to solve.’

Ash shook his head and listlessly skimmed through the envelopes piled on his desk.

Most of them were invitations to parties or gentlemen’s clubs.

He wasn’t particularly fond of such gatherings, but there were times when he attended them to obtain information about high society or suspects, so he had to pick out the decent offers among them.

However, his hand rummaging through the envelopes suddenly stopped in front of the name of a sender.

「D. Hamilton」

Ash clicked his tongue briefly, pulled out the envelope, and tore it open with a letter opener.

The contents of the letter were simple.

「My dear son. Let’s have a meal together sometime soon. Let me know when you’re free.」

It was a letter from his birth mother, Dolores.

He wasn’t pleased. He was no longer at an age where he longed for his mother’s embrace.

No, it would be more accurate to say that it had been a long time since he had abandoned all expectations and hopes regarding her.

‘What is she going to ask for this time?’

Whenever Dolores contacted him, it was always because she needed something.

She needed money, wanted him to contact someone in power, wanted him to bring Count McCallen along to see a performance, wanted him to give her information about the family’s investments…….

She never actually wondered what her supposedly beloved son had been doing lately, whether he was ill anywhere, or whether he was being mistreated at the mansion.

One might ask why he didn’t simply ignore such messages, but doing so would obviously cause trouble. Once before, when he hadn’t replied to her letter, she had gone directly to the police headquarters without warning and caused a commotion.

The former actress who had once held Herona in the palm of her hand had personally appeared, so how much fuss do you think everyone had made?

‘Haa……. How much longer do I have to put up with this?’

He squeezed his eyes shut, then wrote a brief reply. Even if he didn’t want to, it would probably be cleaner to meet her for a short while.

Just thinking about his name appearing in the gossip papers again for a while because of a scene of him together with her made him feel as though the meal he hadn’t even eaten had already given him indigestion.

***

Ah, what nice weather.

I tilted my head back, letting the slightly harsh sunlight fall directly on me.

I wanted to stretch out at length, but I held myself back for the sake of ‘Baron’s’ dignity.

After waiting like that in front of the mansion’s main entrance for a while, a carriage soon arrived and stopped.

As I was about to get into the carriage, Maya, who was fidgeting anxiously beside me, asked in a small voice,

“Baron. We can walk.”

“Then you want me to go and wait? Don’t say ridiculous things, and hurry up and get in.”

Today was the day to go shopping.

The unusual thing was that I was bringing not only Maya but also Kurt and Dylan along.

They climbed into the carriage awkwardly, shrinking their bodies as much as possible so that they wouldn’t touch me even slightly.

Kurt and Dylan looked completely unable to understand why they were going out with me as well.

But the protagonists of today’s shopping trip were not me, but them.

“Listen carefully. I may not be an incredibly wealthy or famous noble, but if the servants I take around with me look shabby, it makes my reputation even worse.”

“Yes…….”

“Today, I’m going to buy you clean, neat clothes and shoes, so at least try to pretend that you’re servants employed by some great noble.”

They still seemed unable to understand what I was talking about.

In fact, it would be the same from an outsider’s perspective. Unless they were extremely wealthy, it was uncommon for masters to provide all the clothing even for their servants.

Anyone who knew my financial situation might point a finger at me and ask what kind of wasteful spending this was.

But this was precisely the survival method of someone who had absolutely nothing. If you let people see that you had nothing, it would only give them an excuse to attack you.

Well, I won’t deny that I was a little excited at the thought of dressing the children up nicely.

In any case, I got off with them in the shopping district for commoners.

“Underwear first! You have to dress properly from the inside for it to look good on the outside.”

I took the children, who had obviously been wearing grimy underwear that had been mended countless times, into an underwear shop and bought them several sets of clean cotton underwear.

There, I bought Maya a chemise with just a little lace around the chest, and I happened to see her carefully fiddling with the edge of the lace with her fingertips.

I even saw the joy lingering on Maya’s cheeks.

‘Come to think of it, when I first wore something like that, I felt as though I had become a princess too.’

When I realized that it hadn’t been for me……. No, let’s not think about that now.

Next, it was time to seriously shop for outdoor clothes and indoor clothes.

Although I invested quite a lot in clothes for Maya, I didn’t neglect Kurt and Dylan’s either.

But, as expected, Kurt was the problem.

“Kurt. I need to see your face to check whether the clothes suit you.”

The real finishing touch to fashion was the face. Things like skin tone and the atmosphere of one’s features had such a huge influence!

But when I asked to see his face, Kurt’s hand trembled and he hid behind Maya.

‘I can’t let him keep hiding like that forever.’

I was a little afraid that I might worsen the child’s condition, but I coaxed Kurt in the gentlest voice I could.

“I won’t let the shopkeeper see. Only Maya and I will see. You can rest assured. No one is going to hurt you.”

Only after several attempts to persuade him, and after he was given a changing room completely isolated from the outside, did Kurt finally manage to summon up the courage.

Not wanting to miss that brief moment, I carefully brushed Kurt’s long bangs back.

“Huh?”