The Suspicious Existence, My Younger Sister
Yes, this was exactly how it should be. She could never return to those old days when she was merely a viscountess in name, struggling with just one maid to help with the household chores.
From the very beginning, her path had always led here.
Dot carefully concealed the sinister glint in her eyes, born of endless ambition.
“Mother…”
“Yes, yes, I understand. From now on, I will dedicate the rest of my life to you. You need not worry about anything.”
“Yes…”
Dot nestled into the Duchess’s embrace and let out a languid sigh.
She could only hope that Crown Prince Silas, who had been too far away at the harvest festival to even glimpse the face—let alone the hair—of the lovely Klein daughter, would soon receive word of their marriage.
After all, he had been alone for over three years now. Was it not time to make a decision?
That night passed, and the next morning dawned, yet Morris still did not return.
But Dot had no need to worry.
He was a grown man, the second son of a ducal house, with money and credit at his disposal. He would manage on his own. The longer his rebellion lasted, the better. Fool.
As for the matter at the main temple… the rumors she had heard at the dark guild were likely true.
In recent decades, not only the Saintess but even the priests had seen their holy power plummet. Prophecies and divine oracles had all gone awry, and high-level holy magic had become nearly impossible to wield.
So they had simply looked at the expensive items and declared her the Klein daughter?
Well done, you fools. You have seized the thickest rope you could possibly grasp.
Dot smiled at her reflection in the ornate round mirror adorned with white swans.
“……”
“Commander.”
“Give this to the servants from the Klein ducal house and send them back.”
“Yes, sir.”
After handing the letter to his adjutant, Cassel let out a deep sigh.
Ever since the Crown Prince had asked him to take command of the Blue Rose Knights upon his return to the capital, the day of his inauguration ceremony and the winter ball had drawn near.
More important than the ball itself was the Crown Prince’s decision to finally end his seclusion.
Pay was deeply involved in the matter, and he needed to focus on that alone. Yet while he had been away at the palace, something significant had occurred within the family.
‘Dorothea is Tiana?’
The Duchess had gone all the way to the main temple and received confirmation that Dorothea was indeed Tiana.
But even after hearing it, Cassel felt no stirring in his blood. It seemed like nothing more than an unreal, bizarre tale floating in the clouds.
Rather, it was the Duke’s pitiful voice saying “our Tiana…” that had saddened him more.
Honestly, he did not believe a word of it. Or rather, he did not want to believe it.
The current Saintess Capia had a long history of issuing prophecies and oracles that turned out wrong.
The holy magic for paternity testing, once reserved for high nobles and royalty at great expense, had been replaced by the Truth-Reading Statue. Yet even that had sparked controversy. Those who had used it claimed that by framing questions cleverly, one could avoid giving a clear answer.
There had even been an incident where someone used it to deceive a spouse weakened by illness or poison and successfully registered a fake family member—only for the truth to come out later, causing an uproar among those in the know.
Thanks to the temple’s reputation, the matter had been quietly settled. But the sudden suspicion that Dorothea might be Tiana was strange from the start.
‘According to Mother, a servant found something unusual while organizing Dorothea’s wardrobe and reported it. But why would anyone search the wardrobe of a child who arrived in summer, now in the middle of winter? And how did they determine that the silk had been ordered by our family? It is not as though the silk came with a label.’
In Cassel’s estimation, the servant who claimed to have found the silk robe was suspicious. He needed to investigate thoroughly—when and how that person had entered the ducal household.
Still, the Duchess had made a separate request, firmly believing that the girl once known as Dorothea was her daughter.
At the winter ball marking Cassel’s inauguration as knight commander, she wanted him to escort the girl and formally announce her as the Klein daughter, holding a grand return ceremony at the same time.
‘Since this happened while I was away from the family, I cannot inquire in detail by letter. If the servant who searched the wardrobe has ulterior motives… I must be all the more cautious.’
Therefore, Cassel had not poured all his suspicions into the letter. Instead, he had written a polite reply suggesting that since the ball was hosted by the imperial family and the reconciliation between the Orleans ducal house and the Huante marquisate took priority, it would be better to hold Tiana’s official debut at the spring ball next year.
He had drafted a firmer version—warning against mixing personal affairs with imperial matters—only to crumple it up, fearing it would unnecessarily anger his mother.
‘Haa.’
When he looked up at the window, dark clouds had gathered unnaturally for the season, mirroring the heaviness in his heart.
Setting aside the matter of Tiana, there was Morris.
His younger brother Morris had applied to become a squire in the Crow Knights and was now staying in the lower dormitory.
According to the butler, right after Dorothea had been recognized as Tiana, Morris had raised his voice against the Duchess and left the house.
‘Do your best, you fool.’
For once, Cassel did not look down on Morris.
Having started late with such determination, he hoped Morris would achieve something. Cassel did not even mind that Morris had chosen the Crow Knights over the Blue Rose Knights.
Raphael was there, so he would occasionally look out for him and prevent any unfair treatment.
‘I am no more rational than my parents.’
Cassel knew he should not feel this way.
Tiana had grown up pitifully, disappeared, and returned after countless hardships and coincidences. Instead of scolding Morris for turning his back on their only sister and sending him home, Cassel was secretly cheering him on?
Yet his heart leaned toward the Tiana who had lived as Dorothea, not the one he had imagined.
The little sister he had vaguely pictured would never have spoken properly in front of them.
Would she not have trembled, overwhelmed by the prestige of the ducal house she had only heard about?
She had been promised to return around the age of six. Since she had been ill for so long, she probably would not have smiled brightly like sunlight.
With a pale, awkward face, she would have looked around, wondering if this was truly her home and who these people were, before burying her face in the nanny’s skirt and bursting into tears.
The sudden change in environment would have been strange, frightening, and terrifying.
If she had cried “Waaah!”, he, his mother, Morris, and their father would have scrambled to comfort her. They would have done everything they could.
He might have even lain flat on the floor pretending to be a frog. He would have picked flowers from the garden and brought her sweet puddings and muffins from the kitchen.
Even then, she would have remained sulky for a moment before smiling.
Poor thing.
Whom would she have resembled?
Their father? Their mother? Would she have inherited the strong black hair of their ancestors, like him?
No matter what she looked like, she would have been adorable and lovable, Tiana. Even if long illness had left visible scars on her.
‘The Saintess always frightened the nanny and the four maids by saying Tiana was often critically ill, so they stayed at the temple for nearly five years.’
Looking back now, no matter how poor her condition, they should have at least commissioned a portrait when she was around three.
There was not a single tangible object to help him picture the child he missed so dearly. Dwelling on the past only filled him with regret.
Everything concerning Tiana was a painful memory laced with remorse. That was why the present moment, which should have been joyful, still felt unreal.
“Haa…”
In the end, a heavy sigh escaped Cassel’s lips.
The heart that had seemed destined to warm upon finding Tiana remained frozen in winter.
On the day of the winter ball.
Cassel’s inauguration ceremony ended early, and the attendance of the heads of the two deeply estranged families was confirmed without incident. The Duchess, greatly disappointed by her eldest son’s reply, had apparently come alone without the daughter.
After all, it would be better to make a proper announcement in the warm spring when everything was certain.
Cassel tried to console himself with that thought, but something unexpected happened.
For some reason, people began gathering around him and the Duchess one by one, offering congratulations on the daughter’s return.
“Congratulations, Commander Cassel. I heard you finally found your sister?”
“How did you know?”
When Cassel asked in surprise, the other person shrugged.
“Good news travels fast, does it not? I look forward to seeing the beautiful daughter soon.”
Quite a few families came to offer congratulations—more than just a handful could have known. Everyone seemed to assume the delay was due to verification at the main temple.
This was no ordinary matter. Already suspicious, Cassel approached the Duchess and asked.
“Did you inform others about the daughter, Mother?”
“Me? No. But there was an incident at the main temple, and I made no effort to hide it.”
“Do you have any idea how the news spread?”
“Well, this and that. Recently, I commissioned a jeweler to prepare several items for our Tiana all at once. People must have noticed on their own.”
“……”
“Since it has come to this, it would have been better to bring Tiana to this ball after all.”
The Duchess maintained her composure, befitting a central figure in high society.
Yet she did not forget to cast a hint of reproach toward Cassel.
Even the Crown Prince, who had come to mediate between the Huante marquisate and the Orleans ducal house during the ball, mentioned the matter.
“I heard you found Tiana Marietta Klein.”
“…Yes. For now, that is the case.”
Silas noticed the subtlety in Cassel’s answer but did not show it.
“I see. I suppose I shall meet her around next spring.”
With that, Tiana’s official debut was quietly set for the spring ball.
Since it was the Crown Prince himself who had mentioned it, the Duchess was rather pleased.
“Yes, it would be far better to present our Tiana in the warm spring rather than the bleak winter. My thoughts were short-sighted. We must dress her up to surprise everyone and make them regret how they neglected her! We must show the world what a ducal daughter truly is.”
“……”
During the time Dorothea had served as an Eina, most of the lack of favor had been her own fault.
Never once receiving praise from Professor Pochette was no great achievement.
At first, her table manners, walking, and sitting posture had seemed passable, but the fact that she showed no further progress in learning was a clear sign she had not put in any effort.