Chapter 27. New Child?

 “Do you truly wish to leave your family’s embrace?”

 “Stop with the nonsense.”

 “What is so nonsensical about it!”

 “We were never family to begin with, so isn’t it strange to forcibly remain within that embrace?”

 “Even so, you are a child of the Odoi family!”

 Grit refused to give up.

 He already knew that backing down here would worsen their relations with the Persi grand ducal family to the worst possible state.

 But more than anything, what concerned him most right now was his pride.

 The tool that always obeyed his commands was now rebelling.

 He couldn’t tolerate a once-useful tool rebelling. Grit’s pride wouldn’t allow it.

 Meanwhile, Clea, watching this, felt like laughing.

 ‘Someone who never once acknowledged me as an Odoi now claims I’m a child of the Odoi family. How ironic.’

 She should have lived a prosperous life as a proper lady of the ducal family.

 Despite receiving support from the Persi family thanks to her, they took it for granted.

 She only shouldered obligations as a member of the ducal family.

 When she tried to act as a family member, they drew a clear line.

 That was Clea’s existence within the Odoi family.

 “You said it first. If I want to leave, then leave.”

 “I have not dismissed you yet!”

 “Then sign here. And we’ll end our relationship cleanly.”

 “How dare you speak to Father that way!”

 “Steve, did you not hear what I just said, or are you stupidly pretending not to hear? There is no father of mine here anymore.”

 As Grit and Steve shouted together, Edmund, who stood beside them, frowned.

 Clea gently stroked his arm with a still gentle expression.

 Edmund briefly relaxed his expression and waited as Clea wished.

 After sending Edmund a grateful look, Clea spoke again.

 “And didn’t I tell you? Do you want me to go to the grand ducal family and confess everything that has happened?”

 Grit narrowed his brow at Clea’s fierce threat.

 No matter what, he couldn’t help feeling intimidated before the grand ducal family’s authority.

 If Clea disappeared, the relationship between Odoi and Persi families would become merely a debt relationship.

 The best solution here was to somehow change Clea’s mind.

 To turn things back as if nothing had happened and return to the original state.

 But the Clea before him looked more resolute than ever.

 And seeing Edmund beside her, Grit gritted his teeth.

 ‘That bastard must have swayed Clea’s heart.’

 Grit, who had no respect whatsoever for the Crown Prince, glared at Edmund.

 Believing that Edmund was the one who had swayed Clea’s heart.

 Thinking that the previously docile Clea’s assertiveness must be due to someone’s instigation, Grit turned his gaze toward Edmund.

 “Your Highness, have you bewitched this child?”

 “Why do you think it’s His Highness.”

 “You keep quiet. Your Highness, please tell me. Did you truly tell my daughter to leave the Odoi family?”

 Edmund found Grit’s gaze ridiculous, but he didn’t confront him in the same manner.

 He didn’t want to disappoint Clea by appearing to be the same kind of person as him.

 On the other hand, he found it absurd.

 ‘Who is he to speak so shamelessly when he’s been using Clea all this time?’

 When he thought about what he had seen of Clea, he felt the urge to slap Grit.

 Though he hadn’t fully grasped everything that had happened between Lloyd and Grit, he knew they had both used her.

 A faithful doll of the Odoi family.

 An existence they could use as needed and discard whenever her usefulness ended.

 That was her position as Edmund coldly assessed it.

 “Duke, do you know what your daughter likes?”

 “Your Highness?”

 “Young Duke, you try answering too. What food does your sister like?”

 “Your Highness, what are you talking about? Please answer my question first.”

 “If you can answer my questions, I’ll tell you anything. So answer.”

 Despite asking first, Grit and Steve grew angry at Edmund’s calm demeanor.

 But since there seemed to be no lie in Edmund’s promise to tell them anything, they thought about it.

 What food does Clea like?

 Grit and Steve briefly glanced at Clea.

 But Clea kept her eyes closed, simply savoring the aroma of the tea before her without giving them a single glance.

 “Do you still need time?”

 Grinding his teeth at her attitude, Grit answered.

 “……It must be apples.”

 He was confident.

 Apples were his favorite food. It was only natural that his daughter Clea would prefer the same food as him.

 But Clea made an exasperated expression upon hearing his answer.

 Edmund heard his words and became certain.

 ‘Apples must not be correct.’

 Otherwise, Steve’s expression wouldn’t have hardened when he should have supported him.

 Steve knew. He knew that Clea had an apple allergy.

 Steve wanted to stop this conversation, but he didn’t have the power to do so.

 Edmund continued questioning.

 “What’s her favorite color?”

 “Purple.”

 “Her favorite place?”

 “Patra Park.”

 Clea, listening quietly, barely held back her laughter.

 In contrast, Steve gave Grit a desperate look, but Grit didn’t notice Steve’s gaze at all.

 As the conversation continued, Steve’s complexion turned increasingly blue.

 Finally, unable to bear it anymore, Edmund looked at Clea.

 Clea put down her teacup and said.

 “You’re truly amazing.”

 When her first word was ‘amazing,’ Grit inwardly rejoiced.

 He vainly thought Clea had turned her heart around, grateful that he recognized her.

 He was certain that she would change her mind just because they showed this much interest in her.

 In their memories, Clea had always been a child starving for attention.

 But everyone except Grit noticed the sinking atmosphere.

 They also knew well who was causing this atmosphere.

 “How can you only answer with things I intensely hate? If the question had been about what Clea hates most, I would have been impressed.”

 Steve knew all of this.

 Because he was the one who had made Clea hate these things.

 He had played pranks like hiding bugs in apples, locking her in a purple closet so she couldn’t escape. At Patra Park, he had made her fall into the lake.

 Clea’s body vividly remembered the past.

 Perhaps that’s why, even though the current Clea wasn’t the same Clea who fell into the lake in the original story, she couldn’t easily step forward.

 In the past, Grit had heard all about these incidents through Clea’s nanny.

 But he dismissed them as children’s pranks, not taking them seriously and forgetting about them.

 “I wondered if there was any affection left to lose, but thank you for making me feel it so clearly today.”

 Hearing Clea’s answer, Grit realized he had made a mistake, but still didn’t back down.

 “Your Highness! My daughter has a fiancé!”

 “Once she’s left the family, isn’t the relationship already over?”

 “This is not a matter for Your Highness to intervene in!”

 “I don’t understand how long you intend to be stubborn.”

 Edmund moved closer to Clea.

 Grit seemed to think that the interaction between them was a scheme to make rumors appear true.

 But Edmund wanted to help him accept reality now.

 Clea, watching from the side, looked at Edmund.

 Their eyes met.

“Still, I like you.”

 The two faces conversing as if no one else was around grew closer.

 The bodies of Grit and Steve, who were watching, stiffened.

 Even as they saw Edmund approaching, they thought it couldn’t be.

 They thought there was no way the rumors they’d heard could be true.

 But….

 “By the way, my favorite color is red.”

 Clea spoke quietly so only he could hear.

 Hearing those words, Edmund felt his face grow hot.

 Feeling a thirst as if his throat was burning, he kissed her, setting aside the smile he had been forcing.

 Clea didn’t avoid his kiss either.

 At this brief yet intense scene, Grit opened his eyes wide and pointed his finger.

 “What on earth are you doing!”

 Annoyed by Grit’s tone, Edmund pulled away and openly furrowed his brow.

 But Grit didn’t back down.

 He approached Edmund and tried to say something. But his body froze at the voice coming from behind him.

 “I should be the one asking. Duke, what is all this commotion?”

 A low, impossibly cold voice.

 Despite having heard it for decades, Grit and Steve turned to face the speaker, still not accustomed to that voice.

 “It’s been a while since I visited the Crown Prince’s palace, and I heard there were guests, so I came in out of curiosity, only to witness quite a scene.”

 Odin and Oberon were standing side by side.

 Edmund gestured to Oberon, asking why Odin was here, but Oberon avoided his gaze.

 Clea thought Odin looked familiar.

 And she realized who he was when she heard what Odin said.

 “New child, tell me.”

 “Your Majesty?”

 “Are these the ones troubling you?”

 That someone had spoken to her the same way before.