#Chapter 22. Belligerent Daughter

The afternoon before, Damian couldn’t quite focus on work even on the deck.

The tutor file he had checked the day before yesterday along with Lucy’s outdoor lesson schedule he received today kept making him worry.

“Excuse me, Your Grace. The preparations seem almost complete. We just need to decide on the departure date, but if you’re worried about the family trip, shall we postpone it a little?”

Charles noticed that Damian couldn’t fully concentrate on work and casually asked him first.

“……There’s an outdoor lesson tomorrow.”

“Pardon?”

They had just come down from the deck.

Damian frowned because of the weather where the sunlight pierced through the skin like prison bars and suddenly stopped walking.

“An outdoor…… lesson?”

Charles tilted his head as if he found it hard to understand what he meant.

“I wondered how impressive it could be even if maids or knights had other intentions, but I heard some worrying words recently.”

“What words did you hear…… Did the servants perhaps side with the noble faction?”

Charles hardened his expression.

“No. She said I was complacent. That keeps bothering me.”

“What? You, Your Grace?”

It was something even a passing dog would laugh at. Calling the duke complacent…… whoever it was, they really didn’t know how to judge people.

“My daughter is smart, you see.”

“Pardon?”

It was a conversation where nothing naturally connected, but Charles couldn’t help but be shocked by the affectionate word “my daughter” that came from the duke’s mouth rather than the previous conversation.

Moreover, naturally bragging about his daughter saying she was smart!

But one must not miss praising a superior’s daughter. This was social life.

Charles quickly came to his senses, smiled and answered.

“The lady must take after Your Grace a lot.”

“……No. She takes after Ariel more than me. But there must be a clear reason why my daughter said that to me.”

“Surely…… it wasn’t Lady Lucy who told Your Grace you were complacent?”

“Yes.”

Damian answered like that with his lips curved up longer than usual.

Charles had been by his side for over ten years and had only seen such genuinely smiling lips twice now.

The first time was when he decided to get married, and seeing that the second time was about the lady, daughters really were amazing.

Certainly, daughters melt fathers’ hearts, and even the iron-blooded duke couldn’t help it in front of his daughter.

Charles smiled and met the duke’s gaze, smiling warmly.

“I hope my second child will be a daughter too.”

“So disguise yourself as a mansion knight and follow along.”

“……Pardon?”

Damian completely chewed up Charles’s words like delicious rice grains and gave an unexpected order.

“I did tell the butler to protect Ariel, but even that might be a complacent choice. My daughter probably knows the inside of the mansion better than I do.”

“Then…… is my role to prioritize the duchess’s safety?”

“No. The butler will be next to Ariel, so follow Lucy. My daughter is a bit belligerent. She’ll step forward even knowing it’s dangerous.”

While nodding, Charles briefly counted the lady’s age on his fingers.

She’s not even old enough to count ten fingers……

Wait. The lady is seven years old…… no, that’s right.

“I checked the tutor file, and there were strange parts. When I asked the butler, it wasn’t Ariel but Lucy who chose him. Probably…… there’s a high probability my daughter already has a plan. No, not probability, she’s probably already executing it.”

The duke’s narrowly opened blue eyes soon folded at a gentle angle.

“Go see. I’m curious too. What my dear daughter is thinking.”

“Yes, understood.”

Charles bowed.

He still had doubts.

*

“Royal straight flush?”

In the club filled with white smoke, Bruno put down his cards.

Those sitting at the table threw their cards with fierce expressions along with surprise.

Because Bruno’s expression had been bad throughout the game, they couldn’t judge that he would have such a hand and had raised the stakes.

Bruno usually had his good and bad hands clearly readable on his face…… Today, even with such a hand, he managed his expression perfectly.

“Sigh…… This won’t do.”

However, even after winning, Bruno’s expression continued to be bad.

He bit his nails roughly, then told the guards behind him to collect the chips and stood up from his seat.

“I’ll be going first.”

“Hey, it’s a royal straight flush, shouldn’t you ring the golden bell once?”

Someone tried to stop him, but Bruno narrowed his brow and shook his head.

“Next time…… I’ll buy next time.”

He left the club like that.

Those left behind tilted their heads watching Bruno’s retreating figure, but soon remembered the reality that they had lost all their chips and sighed deeply.

Bruno came outside and immediately got on a carriage. His anxious eyes shook violently.

“I know every single move of my brother, but…… still, I can’t be certain. If that maid happens to see my brother even before the kidnapping…… Damn, this is ruined! Just in case, I should go!”

Actually, he hadn’t thought as far as kidnapping.

He had planned to drive a wedge between that annoying woman and the child, not to make such a big deal out of it.

But…… after hearing Jessica’s story, the higher-ups suddenly changed the plan.

They said it would be a big problem if the crown prince and lady got engaged by mistake.

“Bastards. In the end, if we get caught, I’ll be left holding the bag. I must make it look like that tutor did it all alone.”

Bruno spat out curses and looked out the window. It wasn’t far from the club to the dock.

It seemed better to hurry and distract his brother’s attention.

If anyone other than the maid found out about the kidnapping plan and his brother knew in advance…… he would certainly not even be able to collect his bones.

“Sigh…… Why that tutor of all people? If it had been someone who just wanted money, there would have been no need to persuade the tutor with such stupid words! Damn it. If that bastard says something wrong……”

Bruno clutched his head, came to his senses again and comforted himself.

“No. Anyway, that will be the first and last time I’m meeting him with the mask. Since he mostly communicated with that maid, he probably doesn’t know much about my existence.”

Bruno nodded finely and swallowed his saliva. Thinking like that, rather positive thoughts came to him.

“Maybe he’s better than those hired for money. Such people can easily betray this side, but Daniel has faith in his actions. If he says the duchess leaked information to other countries and he kidnapped to save the lady…… People will think that guy alone was caught up in delusions and caused trouble.”

Bruno nodded and grinned.

“Right, it doesn’t matter as long as the kidnapping happens. My job is only up to there. If I just prevent my brother from going in the middle…… then it doesn’t matter.”

*

“Let’s have a drink after today’s work is done.”

It was when Charles, disguised as a ducal residence knight, sat down properly.

The knight who was supposed to go on the outdoor lesson together spoke to Charles.

Apparently, because of the helmet, he didn’t notice the person had changed.

Certainly, when inside a helmet, the voice echoed and made it hard to deduce the other person.

When Charles roughly nodded, the knight began polishing his sword.

“Why are you…… polishing your sword now?”

“What? Of course I have to polish it. What are you talking about?”

The knight scolded Charles as if it was very strange.

……Polishing a sword just for going to a hill.

Of course, one could think of him as a knight who did his best in all missions, but even knights who did their best usually didn’t polish well unless they had a determination to cut something.

“Right. I should polish my sword too.”

The time the knight stared at Charles grew longer. To avoid suspicion, Charles also began polishing his sword.

Since it hadn’t been long since he returned from the battlefield, the act of polishing a sword wasn’t unfamiliar. Charles, who gripped the blade tightly and embedded doubts densely, focused on the blade.

“Right. Let’s do it at once. At once!”

Fortunately, the knight who withdrew his gaze patted Charles’s shoulder with meaningful words.

So among the servants, two maids to assist the lady and two knights including Charles prepared to go out.

The suspicious one wasn’t just the knight standing beside him.

As the duke said, the tutor was equally suspicious. The guy’s face seemed to have turned pale white.

The lady smiling beside him seemed to know nothing about the situation.

Indeed…… It was an order he had doubts about from the beginning, but really, seeing the lady right in front of his eyes, he couldn’t believe it at all.

What on earth did the duke entrust to the lady who was only seven years old!

Charles clenched his fist tightly and began to guard the surroundings.

……He would definitely protect the lady.

“Daniel!!”

However, as soon as they climbed the hill, Charles fell into confusion.

The knight beside him pointed his sword not at the lady but at the tutor! He immediately confronted the guy’s sword, but because he was flustered and late, blood spurted from the tutor’s shoulder.

Charles immediately beheaded the knight in one strike and was about to take care of the lady.

Certainly when they left the ducal residence, she was a seven-year-old child, but the lady he met eyes with now had a gaze that could only be described as a different person.

“Lizzy, go to Dad right now, and Bella, head to the ducal residence. And Sir Charles, listen to me well from now on.”

“Yes, understood, my lady.”

“We’ll depart first, my lady.”

The two maids immediately answered and disappeared, but Charles couldn’t answer and met Lucy’s eyes.

How…… did she know that the person inside the helmet was me……?