The Princess and the Teddy Bear (1)
A little girl?
The appearance of this utterly unforeseen presence left me momentarily dazed. Sensing my lingering stare, the child stole a quick glance up at me — and the instant our eyes met, she immediately hung her head.
Her hair was golden-blond, but in that fleeting glimpse of her eyes, I caught a flash of grey: the distinctive color of our family.
Ah...
I had been startled by the child's for a moment, but I quickly pieced together who she was.
"Father, who is this child? I don't believe I ever saw her before I enrolled at the Academy."
I asked, feigning ignorance. Father flinched at the question, his expression turning distinctly awkward — as if he had been caught hiding something he desperately did not want discovered.
"Ah? Hahaha. Right, I'd completely forgotten to introduce her. This child is Adele. With you off at the Academy, the house had grown rather empty, so I took her on as a maid from the village below a short while ago — to keep me company in my loneliness, you see."
The cold, calculating demeanor he always wore while handling official business had vanished without a trace. Father was conspicuously flustered. Apparently, this was a man who simply could not lie to his own child.
Who in the world took in a child who looked barely ten as a maid? And what noble would dress a servant girl in clothes that adorable, give her stuffed toys, and let her play in his study?
"I see. Father, I have something important I need to discuss with you. Perhaps it would be best to send the child out for a moment?"
"Ah, is that so? Very well. Adele, my dear, why don't you step outside for a bit. And if you're feeling peckish, go on down to the kitchen. I already spoke with the cook earlier — by now, there should be a whole batch of cookies waiting for you."
Adele had already crept over and was hiding behind Father's legs, listening to our conversation. After a moment's hesitation at his words, she gave a tiny bow, then scurried out of the room with a rapid patter of little feet.
From beyond the door, a voice called out.
"Oh my, Young Miss, where are you going?"
Young Miss? Cookies?
These people clearly had no intention of hiding anything at all.
The door clicked shut behind Adele, and a brief silence settled over the study.
"So, Father. Who is that child, really?"
I was the one to break the silence. If I didn't speak first, Father would have kept his mouth shut indefinitely.
"Who? I already told you. From the village below..."
"Father. Who would believe that? What maid dresses that well and plays with dolls in the family head's study? I have a fairly good idea already, so please just be honest with me. The hair I could let pass, but those eyes are unmistakably our family's."
The moment I put it to him point-blank, the excuses died in Father's throat. He soon seemed to resign himself, and admitted the truth.
"...Very well. If you're going to press me that far, I can hardly keep denying it. That child, Adele... is your half-sister."
"I thought as much. How old is she?"
"If I have it right, she just turned twelve this year."
Twelve. She did look exactly that age. Wait — but if that was the case...
"Father, twelve years ago, Mother was still alive, wasn't she? Did Mother know about this child? Or were you perhaps keeping a second household..."
"No! Absolutely not! A second household?! How could you look at me and say such a thing?!"
Father bristled, vehemently denying it. Then he let out a heavy sigh and began to explain what had actually happened.
"We've come this far — there's no point in hiding it any longer. Let me tell you what occurred..."
According to Father's account, some ten years prior, on the journey home from a military expedition, he and the knights under his command had taken lodging in a certain village. He had drunk quite heavily that night, and when he woke the next morning, the village chief's daughter was lying beside him.
Both of them were still fully clothed, and he had no memory of what had transpired, so he asked her, just to be certain. The chief's daughter told him he had simply passed out from the drink, and that nothing had happened. Even so, he told her to come find him if any trouble arose, then returned home. He had considered telling Mother, but in the end, he never did. That, apparently, was the whole of it.
"...Then, about three years ago, Adele's birth mother — from whom I'd heard nothing, and whose very survival I couldn't even confirm — came looking for me. She had been raising the child alone all that time, but she'd fallen ill and could no longer get around as she once had. After agonizing over it again and again, she finally came to me."
"If she was going to come find you anyway, why hide the pregnancy? Why raise the child all by herself?"
"I wondered the same thing and pressed her for a reason, but she never gave me a satisfying answer. Perhaps she was afraid of being caught up in noble affairs and coming to harm. After all, I was a married man, and I already had you as my heir. At the time, our family was only just beginning to expand its influence in the southern region, so our name wouldn't have been well known among commoners. She could hardly have placed much trust in a man she'd crossed paths with for a single night..."
When Adele's birth mother came to him, Father arranged lodgings for the two of them in the outer castle and looked after them. In the end, her mother succumbed to her illness, and Father, taking pity on the child left behind, had brought Adele here.
This world was full of nobles who could sire any number of bastards without so much as batting an eye. Seeing this, I had to admit Father was a rather warm-hearted man, as far as aristocrats went.
Having finished his explanation, Father glanced at me nervously and asked, with great caution:
"So... what do you think?"
"About what?"
"About that child. I want to hear how you feel about her."
"Does my opinion matter? You are the head of this house, Father. Naturally, this is yours to decide."
"I believe your feelings matter too. After all, from where you stand, a little sister has suddenly appeared out of nowhere, has she not?"
Father looked thoroughly anxious, as if he feared I might refuse to accept Adele. Given my original personality, that concern was probably warranted. He must have been worried I would start bullying my new little sister.
"Just to be certain — she is definitely your blood child, correct?"
"Yes. I already had a priest perform a Mana Knot to confirm it. Adele is, without a shadow of a doubt, my daughter."
The Mana Knot was a Church spell that bound the mana of parent and child together, examining their wavelengths to determine blood relation. It was extremely expensive, but equally famous for being accurate down to the last degree — which made it a highly popular test among the nobility, a class among whom questions of true bloodline arose with depressing frequency.
If the Church had confirmed it, there was no room left for doubt. All Father was waiting for now was my decision.
Hah...
I let out a long sigh inwardly, then pulled the bell on the desk to summon a servant. A moment later, a maid entered and bowed her head.
"You called, my lord."
"Go and fetch the child named Adele. She should be in the kitchen."
The maid lifted her head slightly at that, glancing between Father and me, then slowly backed out of the study. She returned a short while later with Adele in tow.
Whether she had overheard that I was the one who had summoned her, a flicker of fear seemed to show in Adele's eyes.
"You may leave. And... Adele, was it? Come a little closer."
I sent the maid out and called Adele's name. Left alone, her expression grew even more terrified. She could not refuse an order from the Young Lord, however, and though her legs trembled beneath her, she inched closer — her eyes welling with tears.
I did not feel particularly good about this. Just how thoroughly wrecked was my reputation, how off-putting my appearance, that even a child this young would look like that from a single request to come closer...? My actual feelings were the complete opposite.
Once Adele had drawn near, I spoke to her in the kindest voice I could muster.
"Do you know who I am?"
"A-aren't you the Young Lord...?"
Adele seemed to turn it over in her mind for a moment, then squeezed out a trembling answer.
"No, that's not right. If you were a servant of our house, addressing me that way would be proper. But we are brother and sister, are we not? So you shouldn't call me Young Lord. The right thing is to call me Dear Brother."
"D-Dear Brother...?"
Hearing Adele echo the words "Dear Brother" filled me with a deep sense of satisfaction. I smiled with warm contentment and nodded at her.
"That's right. From now on, that's what you should call me. I'm sorry I haven't been able to look after you until now. I'll take especially good care of you from now on, so don't you worry."
Only then did Adele seem to relax. Seeing this, I stepped closer and gently stroked her hair. She flinched slightly when my hand touched her, but as I continued to stroke her head softly, she soon let her guard down and accepted the gesture.
How could a creature this adorable even exist in this world? This was simply unfair...
"Go on, then. I seem to have interrupted your snack time. Finish eating — but don't overdo it, since we'll be having dinner together later."
Adele listened, then bobbed her head in a bow to both Father and me. Then, just as before, she pattered out of the study on quick little feet.
Once Adele had left, I turned back toward Father. He was looking at me with an expression overflowing with emotion, his eyes so wet it seemed tears might spill at any moment.
A grown man's tears — a middle-aged man's, no less — were not something I particularly wanted to see...
"Is this sufficient?"
I sighed and asked Father.
"Edwin...! My boy..."
"What sin has the child committed? And how could I possibly turn away a child with a story this tragic? Bringing her into the family is the right thing to do."
Adele's existence had never appeared in the original work at all. The only traces of her could be found in Edwin's memories.
I had first learned of the child's existence about two years ago. Father had been visiting the outer castle with increasing frequency, and out of idle curiosity I had dug into it, eventually piecing together Adele's identity, more or less.
But I hadn't paid it much mind at the time. Half of Adele's blood was common, so I had no desire to associate with her, and besides, I was the undisputed heir of House Reed — I felt no sense of threat whatsoever. If anything, I was rather pleased that Father's excessive attention toward me had thinned out because of her.
I had thought that, and then promptly forgotten Adele entirely. But when the memories of my previous life returned, everything changed.
"Edwin... thank you... truly..."
Father clasped both of my hands and kept repeating his thanks over and over.
In truth, I was the one who ought to have been thanking him.
I had always wanted a cute little sister. I had never imagined that coming to this world would make that dream come true.
Perhaps this life really was a new chance for me after all.