Dante's Sudden Intervention
Diane's eyes widened in shock at Dante's unexpected interruption. She had been gripping the table tightly, her heart pounding as she tried to maintain her composure. 'This... this won't do!' she thought frantically. If Dante revealed his true feelings here, Idel would never escape her toy box fate.
Without realizing it, Diane found herself staring at Idel. The moment their eyes met, she inhaled sharply. Her pupils had enlarged slightly, making her look even more flustered than usual. 'I'm pretending everything is normal, but Idel must be panicking too.'
‘I have to do something right now!’
The instinct that had lain dormant since the Kopi incident—the one screaming ‘Trust in Sister!’—suddenly surged within her. Diane swung her elbow sharply into Dante’s side.
“As I said earlier, I don’t like Idel at all… ugh!”
Fortunately, both of them had been seated, so no one could hear the outburst. While Dante was stunned by the sudden punch, Diane quickly spun her head and cut him off mid-sentence.
“I-I don’t hate her! Y-yes! We completely hate Idel!”
Diane swallowed hard as the words poured out. The way Dante was staring at her made her feel like he was silently asking, “Why did you say that?”
Ignoring the dryness in her throat, she forced herself to speak again. “I hate this too! If Mom had told me earlier that Idel was coming, I never would have joined her!”
“Diane!”
Her mother’s horrified voice and Patrick’s hand clamped over her mouth caused Diane to squeeze her eyes shut. Her heart was still racing too wildly to utter another inappropriate word.
Fortunately, she didn’t get another chance. Thanks to Diane’s desperate intervention, Idel had been saved from disaster.
“See? Since I don’t like it either, please stop calling her for this useless playtime! I’m not coming!”
“Idel, dear, just wait a moment…”
“Mom is right. I have no allies here!”
Idel’s voice was firm as she dashed out of the dining hall. She spun so sharply that her delicate headpiece nearly slipped off.
“Idel!”
Rowena’s heart sank at the sight of the child’s wounded expression. ‘I can’t let her leave like this.’
Rowena clutched the long hem of her dress and rushed forward. She was about to take a step when a headpiece and a crumpled piece of paper fell at her feet.
“This is…”
Rowena knelt briefly to pick up the items Idel had dropped while fleeing. Unlike the urgency to chase after the child, her gaze refused to leave the crumpled paper.
“Is this… a newspaper clipping?”
She carefully unfolded it, her heart steadying from the anxious pounding. The moment she read the headline, she froze.
‘…An advertisement for the academy.’
It was only part of an ad, but to Rowena it was far more significant. What mattered was that Idel had personally discovered information about the academy.
Memories flooded back as she stared at the ad listing the school’s benefits. From her past to the words Idel had shouted moments ago.
‘I hate it! I hate everything! I hate the duke, I hate the duchess, I hate her, I hate her! I hate the ones who say no, I hate it here, I hate it there!’
‘Rowena told me… she said I can keep hating her. That she doesn’t want love.’
‘Mom was right. I have no allies here!’
Rowena raised a hand to cover her mouth. A storm of thoughts swirled in her head.
‘When did Idel start thinking about the academy?’
The thought of a child heading off alone to a distant place pierced her heart. She had hoped she was at least trying to adapt here, but perhaps she still hadn’t opened her heart.
‘What does “no allies here” even mean? Melissa-sister is there, right? But who is she really…?’
As someone who had missed saving a scrap of the article she’d been collecting while helping Ivan, Idel’s situation felt painfully awkward.
Rowena couldn’t move. The thoughts tangled in her mind left her paralyzed.
Patrick gently rubbed the back of her neck and called out to her. “Duchess.”
“…”
“Duchess?”
“Ah! Y-yes…”
He shook his head after hearing her reply and continued. “I believe you were about to follow Idel. Allow me to find her instead.”
“What? No, there’s no need for that…”
“Since you weren’t the one who rushed out first, it will be difficult for you to search. And even if you try to speak with her now, nothing will come of it. It’s better if I go.”
“Ah…”
Rowena offered a slightly bitter smile and nodded calmly. “Then, please, Patrick. Confirm that Idel has safely reached her room. And… if possible, check on her condition too.”
“Of course. Just leave it to me! Ah~ young master! Don’t disappear somewhere again if I’m not there. Stay with both of you. I’ll be back in no time!”
“…Yes. I have something to discuss with Diane anyway.”
“Hmm… Well, yes! Then!”
Patrick glanced at the restless Diane and turned to leave, walking briskly away.
‘Well, then. Shall we go find Melissa’s daughter?’
His golden eyes swept the area where Idel might have gone. In truth, volunteering to search for her had been a spontaneous decision.
‘Originally, I just wanted to draw her attention.’
There had been warnings from Melissa, and the girl had always guarded herself like a cat with its fur raised.
Yet here he was, acting impulsively. No matter how he thought about it, it was because of those eyes.
Those stubborn, violet eyes.
With thoughts of useless things pushed aside, Patrick slipped both hands into his pockets. If his hunch was correct…
‘Oh, there she is.’
A flash of red hair stood out against the dense green foliage. The tense, furrowed brow beside it.
‘But what exactly is she doing?’
Hiding after a quarrel seemed unlikely given her hunched posture. Patrick approached silently, curiosity driving him.
How much farther would he have to go? He reached the edge of the bushes where Idel was hiding and immediately understood her reason.
“In the end, Diane couldn’t hold back, huh?”
“Yeah, her face turned bright red, so I asked. She spilled everything—every little complaint, every tantrum.”
“Even though she’s still young, if it’s this bad now, it’ll only get worse. Are you even trying to comfort her?”
“……Hey, I’m only telling you this because we’re alone. If you get sent back to the annex again…”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know either. There must be a million reasons. Anyway, that’s what the people in the area were saying. Ah, let’s go before anyone notices.”
Rumors spreading openly like this…
‘Is this the plan Melissa mentioned? The brainwashing thing?’
He watched the servants’ retreating figures and the unmoving Idel, then closed his mouth quietly.
A sudden question rose in his mind. If Melissa’s brainwashing took full effect, would those furrowed brows and stubborn eyes disappear?
‘Like the dead eyes I’ve seen many times in Nox?’
The image wasn’t pleasant. It felt like the fleeting feeling of a cat that had always appeared and then vanished forever.
As he stared at Idel with a neutral expression, she turned away, having seen enough.
And the instant her gaze lifted to find him…
“Eek! Kyaaah!! Aaaah!!”
Idel let out a massive scream and hurled sand from the ground straight at him.
Patrick burst into laughter as the sand rained down. “AhaHAHA! Haha!”
“C-crazy…! Y-you, Pat-Patrick?”
Her dazed expression was oddly endearing. The stubborn resolve to change her face right away because she felt embarrassed.
‘Ah, I see. It’s decided.’
He didn’t want that eye to turn into dead eyes without him knowing.
‘But ignoring Melissa’s warning would put me in danger too, so I need to throw out a small riddle.’
Whether she picked it up and solved it, or solved it well if she did, was entirely up to her.
Well, even if he failed to get an answer, it couldn’t be helped. He smiled as he approached, looking at the tiny sympathy and whims as if they were nothing.
Suddenly leaning forward, he asked her, “Auntie, have you ever heard that a rabbit digs multiple holes?”
I found one under a tree by a well the other day.