Chapter 9

I’m finished for.

Calling the head of a ducal house a gardener.

This was the kind of situation where, even if I were punished for insulting a noble, I’d have nothing to say for myself.

Calypse’s eyes were slightly shaken too, as if even he hadn’t expected this.

In the end, my short legs, having nowhere to go, just trembled in the air.

“...M-mister gardener held me like this too.”

“.......”

“I-I guess everyone in the Kreutz family is kind and wonderful and tall and strong.”

“.......”

“Hehe.”

I’m finished for.

The corners of my mouth, awkwardly forced upward, were about to cramp. Cold sweat was starting to burst out from the top of my head too.

It would be better if he got angry instead.

Was he so dumbfounded he couldn’t even speak?

Well, I did call the Duke a gardener.

So now the Duke was going to throw me in prison, right?

Or not? Was he going to execute me on the spot?

I don’t want to die like this again. My dream is just to live until I’m a giggling old grandmother and die of natural causes!

In the end, unable to endure the pressure, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“The gardener, honestly. It must have been a slip of the tongue.”

Contrary to my expectations, a deep sigh came from across from me.

“Huh?”

“Get a hold of yourself and look at this paper.”

When I cautiously opened the eyes I had screwed shut—

Calypse handed me a sheet of paper he had somehow produced in the blink of an eye.

Then he sat down on the sofa opposite me.

It was strange.

A normal duke would have sat in his own seat, but he was acting almost as if he were treating me as an equal.

“...This is....”

Thinking that, I looked at the paper he had handed me.

It was the contract I had written before.

“The contract is still valid, brat.”

“Huh?”

“So there’s no need for you to get scared on your own and start trembling. As long as you bring back the young lady of the main line, I’ll have you adopted as the daughter of a count’s family.”

His words made my eyes widen slowly.

“...I’m a spy from the Pose family.”

“I know.”

“And you’re still treating me this well?”

“Wasn’t your goal to survive? That’s why you exposed the spy named Dorothy.”

“Uh, uh....”

Then... was the story that I had exposed Dorothy’s identity also something that came from the Duke’s mouth?

“Your Grace.”

“What.”

I needed to calm down at times like this.

But instead—

“...You’re my savior.”

My mouth moved on its own, against my intentions.

At that, the quiet red eyes behind the mask slowly widened.

“.......”

For a moment, he said nothing.

Perhaps slightly flustered, his gaze lost its way, moved toward me, then dropped to the paper—

“Stop talking nonsense and get some rest.”

When he turned back toward the desk in the office, he had become the head of the Kreutz family again.

“Yes!”

I answered brightly and left the office.

He had seemed a little surprised by what I said.

Or maybe not. Maybe that was just my imagination.

***

That evening.

“Mister, you know, I don’t think Duke Calypse Kreutz is as bad a person as I thought. I might even have misunderstood him.”

My legs, hanging in the air, swung lightly.

The gardener stared straight at me as I spoke in excitement.

Ever since he had given me that sandwich, I had eaten with him from time to time. By now, coming to the garden at mealtimes had become part of my daily routine.

Resting his elbow on the outdoor table and idly touching his temple, he picked up a handkerchief.

“Really? In what way?”

It had also become routine for him to wipe the bread crumbs from around my mouth with his handkerchief.

I chattered away to him in detail about what had happened that afternoon.

“—So I called him mister gardener, and he let it slide. And not just that, I did something really terrible, but he still trusted me.”

“Something really terrible?”

He had listened quietly the whole time without interrupting, then asked casually.

“What terrible thing?”

“It’s a secret! That’s a secret just between His Grace and me. Even if it’s you, mister, I can’t tell you.”

I answered primly with my arms folded.

Of course, it was forbidden to tell anyone that I was a spy. I wanted to tell mister gardener because we were close, but not allowed was still not allowed.

“...Is that so?”

“Yes. A secret. A secret.”

“If it’s a secret between you and His Grace, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Unexpectedly, mister gardener did not dig any further.

Maybe it was just my imagination.

But the moment I mentioned that it was a “secret” with His Grace, it felt as if he had smiled faintly.

***

After that, things moved quickly.

When Duke Pose heard that Dorothy had been discovered, he denied that she was his spy.

In the end, only after the Kreutz side sent her body together with the fabric bearing the writing did an official message of apology arrive.

As a result, under the pretext that he could no longer trust the Pose family, Calypse decided to head to the Kingdom of Doctia with fifty knights.

This was not permission. It was practically a threat.

Duke Pose couldn’t say a word against Calypse’s one-sided notice.

And after Calypse left—

“So you’re Aisha? Aren’t you hungry?”

As rumors spread that I was the one who had exposed Dorothy, the servants’ attitude toward me began to change.

Especially after hearing that I had been personally summoned by the Duke, they became even friendlier.

Thanks to that, I had grown close enough to the maids that they occasionally gave me strawberry tarts.

“Is mister gardener not here again today?”

But the problem was—

“Yes. I hear he’s on leave again today.”

“Again?”

“I don’t think he’ll be back anytime soon.... Just stay inside today.”

After Calypse left, mister gardener had vanished too.

At the familiar dismissal, my shoulders slumped.

Seriously, if he was going away on a long leave, he could at least have told me first!

I had come to eat lunch with him.

Before I knew it, mister gardener had become someone fairly special to me.

He was the first adult who had helped me, and the only person who had become something like a friend since I was possessed into this body.

But he probably doesn’t feel that way. To him, I might just be one more passerby.

Trudge, trudge—

Disappointment flattened my eyes into straight lines.

“...The young lady is lucky. She has a father searching the whole world for his daughter. I’ve never had parents like that.”

Not in my previous life, and not in this one either. I had never had parents like that. Or family.

Shivering from the sudden emptiness, I went into my room and ate a sandwich by myself.

No. Things were going well.

Then why was I feeling so miserable?

“Cheer up, cheer up!”

Slapping my forehead, I pulled myself together and unfolded the newspaper lying nearby.

There was no time to mope over mister gardener. Today was important.

Because today is the day I get adopted into the Frisian count’s family!

With eyes sharp enough to fire lasers, I read through the newspapers I had gathered up to now.

I had collected the newspapers the maids read and threw away one by one, and they actually had quite a lot of useful information about the count’s family in them.

Isn’t this exactly the basic quality of a well-prepared daughter?

While the maids braided my hair, I roughly memorized the information about the Frisian count’s family.

And a little later—

“It’s good to meet you. Your name is Aisha, is that right? His Grace introduced you as a clever child, so I very much wanted to meet you. I came so we could have lunch together.”

Just as promised, the Count and Countess Frisian came to visit.

“Oh, yes.”

“What a pretty name. I’m truly glad to meet you.”

Their kindness did not seem false.

The moment she sat down, the fingertips of the countess, who carefully offered me a handshake, were trembling faintly.

Calm brown hair. Green eyes.

Not only their appearance but even their smiles were gentle; at a glance, they were a couple with kindly faces.

Rustle—

Quickly scanning the impression they gave, I clenched my soft little fist beneath the table.

An opportunity had come. A chance to live with wealthy, loving legal guardians.

There was no way I could let that slip away.

“...Hello, Count Frisian. Countess.”

After shaking hands, I rose from my seat and lifted the hem of my dress.

Naturally, I had learned noble etiquette thoroughly during spy training.

“You’ve taught her noble etiquette already?”

“No, I didn’t learn it separately, but I studied hard in preparation for meeting you, Count and Countess.”

When I answered with blazing eyes, the count looked impressed.

“His Grace said you were a bright child, and he was right. Don’t stand there—sit down quickly.”

“Yes.”

Whew. First impressions passed, at least.

I sat down, calming my pounding heart.

“How old are you?”

“I’m five.”

“I see. Have you heard of the Frisian count’s family?”

So the interview was beginning in earnest.

“Yes. Of course.”

I’ve been gathering information on the count’s family for a whole month in preparation for this.

I smiled the polite smile adults liked.

“The Frisian count’s family was the first commoner family in the Frozen Kingdom to be granted a noble title, and His Grace Calypse personally granted them land as well.”

“Oh my.”

“And the territory called Frendia is a fertile farming region surrounding the river. I understand that its main export is wheat.”

“...Oh ho.”

As the words kept flowing out of me like a chain of sausages, the count and countess’s eyes grew wide.

Did that mean I had passed the interview?

No. I needed to drive in the final nail.

I did not lose my smile to the very end.

“If I’m adopted, I want to learn swordsmanship in the Frisian count’s family. My original goal was to become a mercenary, but if the two of you permit it, I’m even considering becoming captain of the knights. Of course, for the glory of the Frisian count’s family, I also intend to marry.”

“......?”

“But all of that is only my personal plan to become Frisian’s golden wheat, so if you have any requests, please feel free to tell me.”

Sip.

I drank milk as if it were tea and smiled brightly.

“Goals can always change, after all.”

“.......”

Then the count, who had remained silent, stared at me in amazement and whispered to his wife,

“...At this point, maybe His Grace was planning to raise her himself and only introduced her to us because he pitied us for having no children.”

“...Exactly.”

Praise given in secret was usually genuine. It seemed likely that I would live a peaceful life in the Frisian count’s family.

That was when it happened.

There was a knock, and soon after, a maid entered and bowed her head.

“Count, I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but His Grace has returned, so I thought perhaps you might like to go greet him.”

“What? Already?”

“When he left for the Kingdom of Doctia, the Kingdom of Doctia did not permit portal use, so he had to travel there directly, but....”

The maid lowered her head and continued.

“They say that on his return here, to the Frozen Kingdom, he came by portal and arrived quickly.”

“I see. Then did he come back with the young lady?”

The count rose from his seat. I also straightened my back, a little tense.

The maid, who looked as if she would answer at once, unexpectedly remained silent.

A moment later.

She closed her eyes tightly for a second, then bowed her head.

“They say... the young lady was not there.”

...What?

The fork slipped from my hand.

The original story had changed.