Chapter 12

“...What?”

For a moment, it felt as though time had stopped.

Thinking I had heard wrong, I stared at mister with round eyes, and he jerked his chin toward the paper.

No way. Is this real?

Startled, I read the paper as I remained tucked in his arms.

“Application for direct registration....”

To be precise, it did not say adoption. It said application for direct registration.

Was it something like the family register in my world?

As though possessed, I reached out and fidgeted with the paper.

Then a pleasant laugh rang out above my head.

“Sign it. You’re not an ordinary little brat, but I’m doing this because I can handle it.”

It felt as though I might float away.

Mister really must have run away for me.

To save me.

“Mister—!”

I sprang up and threw my arms around his neck as though choking him.

“...All right.”

Anyone would have been startled by such a sudden frog-like attack, but instead he lightly lifted me in his arms.

“From now on, just grow up like this. Don’t hide anywhere.”

Then his large hand stroked my back.

“Hic. Yes, yes sir! I’ll work hard and be good to you!”

“...What does that mean?”

“It means I’m going to become mister gardener’s golden seed.”

Actually, this was not such a good choice.

By taking me and running away, mister had suddenly put himself in danger of being hunted by both families.

But the important thing was that mister had adopted me.

I need to grow up quickly and gain enough ability to protect him.

“Well, if you’re going to become something, become something big. An S-class mercenary would not even satisfy me.”

“Hic. All right.”

Still in his arms, I signed the contract.

“I signed here. Then that means you’re my legal guardian now, right?”

I clenched my little hand and steeled myself.

Mister, no, Father.

I do not know where this place is that Father fled to, but we are going to live pretty well.

With Father’s experience as a gardener who worked for the Kreutz family,

and my skills from being raised as a spy, wouldn’t we be able to make a living anywhere?

“Now that you’ve signed.”

It was then.

His red eyes, resting above the hand that had been propping up his chin, looked down at the paper, and he shook a small bell he had taken out from somewhere.

Jingle—

“Now I should introduce you properly.”

“...A bell?”

That was the sort of thing nobles usually used to summon servants, wasn’t it?

Just as I sensed something strange too late and tried to get up—

“You called for us, Your Grace?”

The huge doors, which I had not even noticed before, swung open on both sides.

And beyond them came people dressed in all kinds of dazzling clothes.

They lined up before us with solemn expressions and dropped to one knee.

“......?”

Was this a dream? Was I having some ridiculous dream?

With a stupid expression, I looked over their faces one by one.

The head maid. The head lady’s maid. The chef. The captain of the knights. And even Knox.

They were all people from the Kreutz family.

“Your Grace.”

It was then.

As the eyes of those greeting mister gardener with bowed heads lifted—

“...Your Grace, the mask!”

Voices rose in shocked murmurs, their gazes shaking.

“H-he took off the mask....”

“Did something happen?”

“I took it off. It was hard to breathe.”

To those asking in confusion, mister answered as though it were nothing.

I was still staring at him in a daze.

“The mask? What does that mean? Mister, is it hard for you to breathe?”

Then mister cleanly ignored my question and lifted me into his arms.

“This is the child who will grow up under me from now on. So treat her accordingly.”

“!”

“!”

“!”

And at that sudden declaration, the eyes that had all been fixed on mister turned to me.

“Understood.”

“We look forward to serving you, Lady Aisha.”

“We look forward to serving you.”

“...Y-yes?”

This was strange.

Mister definitely should have run away from the Kreutz family.

Which meant Assistant Knox and the captain of the knights should not have been standing in front of us.

But at mister’s declaration, every one of them had bowed their heads.

Just as though they were receiving an order from the head of the house.

“.......”

Wait a minute.

Only then did the strange sense of wrongness I had been feeling begin to rise uneasily.

Why was mister gardener, who should have been a mere extra, so absurdly handsome?

Why was his bedroom as extravagant as a noble’s?

...Why had I not died?

“Mister.”

“Why.”

Hic—

I even hiccuped from the tension as I looked at him.

This mister—

now that I looked closely, he felt unfamiliar.

“...Mister, who are you?”

***

The once-quiet Kreutz estate was thrown into uproar.

Because Duke Calypse Kreutz, who had insisted on wearing a mask for five years, was now receiving people with his bare face exposed.

“It feels like it has been so long since we last saw His Grace’s real face.”

“It really does.”

As she listened to the conversation of the servants who had worked there for many years, still looking as though she were wandering through a dream, the maid Resa spoke.

“I’m seeing His Grace’s face for the first time. He’s that handsome, so why did he wear only a mask for five years?”

It was true.

Without the mask, Duke Calypse Kreutz looked like the very north he ruled.

Skin like a field of pure white snow.

In contrast, his black hair, together with the blood-red eyes that had been hidden by the mask, gave him an impression that was both decadent and cold.

A chilling gaze that was cold enough even to meet.

And a beauty that seemed only to deepen the artistry of it all.

“The Duchess and all the young masters disappeared. He probably did it to hide his grief.”

I see....

Anyway, it is nice to see a handsome face!

As the servants whispered among themselves with flushed cheeks, the head maid’s face alone remained especially dark.

“...What in the world changed His Grace?”

In truth, it was not only the head maid.

Everyone at the ducal estate was wondering the same thing.

Especially the chef. The captain of the knights. The head maid. And the butler.

Those who had devoted their lives to the ducal estate could not simply stand by and watch this situation.

So they made a decision.

“But isn’t it rude... to spy on them like this?”

“When the Kreutz family is on the verge of being handed over to some common little brat, are we supposed to just watch?”

“That is true....”

They decided to keep an eye on Aisha, the little girl who had changed the Duke.

Secretly, through the window!

A cluster of people gathered in front of a slightly open window.

Inside, Duke Calypse Kreutz and the blond little brat were walking across the snowy field.

“...His Grace is in a very emotional state right now.”

“That’s right. We have no choice but to step in.”

“Leaving aside the fact that he took off the mask, that child is a fraud. Why in the world did he take her into the direct line?”

“Do you think something is wrong with his head?”

“Maybe he’s just lonely.”

“All the young masters are still missing. And you’re saying His Grace adopted a child just because he is lonely?”

No, absolutely not.

They shook their heads with firm expressions.

What sort of man was Calypse?

The hero who had saved humanity from monsters.

The ruler of the north. The head of the Kreutz family who wore a black mask and led the ducal house from the front.

“That little brat clearly approached His Grace on purpose. We should have realized it was a lie from the moment she said she knew where the young lady of the main line was!”

It was then.

“Little brat.”

At the Duke’s low voice, the people lowered their heads sharply and pricked up their ears.

Then they stuck out only their eyes and stared through the window.

“How many days are you going to keep sulking?”

Calypse asked as he followed behind Aisha through the pure white snowy field.

Step, step, step. The child, trotting over the snow with her short legs, stopped.

“This adoption is a fraud! I didn’t know you were the Duke!”

Then she shouted at the top of her lungs.

How dare she speak to His Grace like that...!

Call His Grace a fraud...?

The people’s eyes turned sharp at her brazen behavior—

“Then you should have read the contract properly before signing it.”

And were shocked by the villainous line that came out of Calypse’s mouth.

You should have read the contract properly before signing it?!

Is that really something to say to a five-year-old child?!

Who in the world am I looking at right now?!

Their master was someone gentle with children. Words like that did not suit him at all.

As though speaking for all of their hearts, the child’s blue eyes widened.

“...Is that really something to say to a five-year-old?!”

“Who was it that brought up the contract in the first place? Who was it that said she would not make a contract without the seal of the head of the house?”

“Misteeer!”

“Little brat. Look at this.”

It was then, just as the child raised her voice even more.

Calypse bent one knee and lowered himself to the child’s eye level. Then what he held out in front of her was a top-grade steak.

Sniff, sniff.

“......!”

The child’s nostrils twitched as she caught the smell of the meat.

“I heard you went hungry for days because you were protesting.”

Then Calypse said in a serious voice,

“If you live with mister according to the contract, you can eat steak three meals a day.”

“.......”

“That orange juice you like? I could even buy you an orange orchard. But if you won’t accept that....”

“Hmph.”

He threatened her in a grave voice.

At that, the child glared with eyes full of resentment, but—

Twitch, twitch—

her stubby little radish legs slowly began to move.

“That’s right.”

“Hmph. Hmph.”

“Come inside the castle like that.”

“Grrr.”

Even at the child’s fierce growling, Calypse remained calm, like the ruler of the north that he was.

Then the Duke and the child disappeared into the castle grounds—

“.......”

And the people gathered at the window could not bring themselves to speak for a long while.