TPOVF 13

Chapter 13

Chester spoke coldly to the stunned Malenda.

“You’ve been embezzling quite diligently all this time. Did you take my instruction to take full charge of Kailus as permission to steal even the money meant for him?”

“It’s a misunderstanding! I—!”

“Enough.”

Chester snapped his fingers, and Enzo, who had been waiting nearby, handed her a large document envelope.

“You’re fired, Malenda Margo. No letter of recommendation. Instead, I’ll give you this.”

Malenda’s eyes widened greatly as she received the envelope in a daze.

The brown envelope Malenda received bore the Imperial Court’s seal with the words ‘Lawsuit’ stamped on it.

A stark gaze pierced her trembling form. Soon, Chester’s frosty voice spread through the room.

“You can clear up your misunderstandings alone in court. All your assets will be confiscated. And even after you’ve served your sentence, I’d advise you not to think about setting foot in the capital.”

After finishing, Chester signaled his aide with a look and ordered.

“Take her away.”

“Your Grace! Your Grace!”

Malenda cried out desperately as she was dragged away by Enzo. But her voice merely echoed hollowly through the mansion.

“……I owe the tutor a debt.”

Leaving Malenda’s fading cries behind, Chester muttered to himself.

The moment he thought of the bold and bright new tutor, warmth returned to his cold face.

Then, thinking of his nephew, Chester’s lips tightened.

He had been turning away from Kailus all this time, using his guilt toward Mave and Lilian as an excuse.

He had thought he was fulfilling his duty by giving the nanny, who was to care for the child exclusively, a substantial sum of money.

That was a mistake.

‘Uncle doesn’t hate me?’

The moment he heard his frightened nephew’s question, his mouth went dry. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he nearly raised his voice reflexively.

If the new tutor hadn’t been there, he might have made an irreversible mistake.

Without her—who had skillfully soothed Kailus and taught the child how to speak—

‘Please don’t forget your dinner appointment with young master Kail today. Definitely.’

The new tutor seemed different from all the other teachers who had come to House Valerio before.

Even with his coaxing, she hadn’t tried to fill her own pockets. Even though she must have been upset about having milk spilled on her, she hadn’t shown any displeasure toward the child.

‘Shall I observe her a bit more.’

Lost in thought, one of Chester’s eyebrows rose lazily.

Still, he couldn’t blindly trust someone he’d only met today. After all, even the nanny who had cared for Kailus for years had stabbed him in the back.

With the nanny incident, he had to be more cautious.

‘First, I should inform my sister-in-law that I’ve dismissed the nanny.’

Chester sat at his desk, trying to erase the new tutor’s face that kept appearing in his mind.

His eyes, as he took out writing paper, had grown considerably softer.

“Teacher, how…… do I look?”

Yurenia, who had been walking toward the dining hall holding Kailus’s hand, stopped.

On their way to have a meal with his uncle.

Kailus was asking the same question for the tenth time already.

Yurenia smiled gently at the excited child. Then she bent her knees, met his eyes, and said,

“Very handsome.”

“Really?”

At Yurenia’s answer, Kailus smiled broadly in relief. The boy’s cheeks, flushed with nervousness, turned peach-colored.

“Then…… how handsome?”

Kailus moistened his lips with his tongue and asked. Yurenia adjusted the bow tie around his neck and answered.

“Like a prince from a fairy tale—no, even more handsome than that.”

“Like the prince in that fairy tale you read to me yesterday?”

“Yes.”

Yurenia looked at the child with a proud smile.

‘Kail has been good-looking since he was little.’

She had thought he was pretty when she first saw him last week, but properly dressed up, the child’s beauty truly shone.

With features perfectly balanced on his small face, he looked just like a doll.

‘Now we just need to get him new clothes.’

Yurenia tugged regretfully at the child’s short sleeves.

Since they hadn’t been able to get new clothes yet, Kailus was wearing the outfit he had brought when he first arrived at the mansion.

Children grow day by day.

Though he hadn’t been here long, his sleeves had already become too short.

‘The tailor’s appointments are all booked, so there’s no helping it.’

Yurenia hid her disappointment and tidied the child’s hair. Kailus stood still, obediently trusting her touch.

Unlike when she’d first met him a few days ago, the child was now every inch a nobleman’s son.

Many changes had come to House Valerio since Yurenia’s first meeting with Kailus.

The duke had kept every promise he made with Yurenia.

First, he fired the nanny, Malenda. She didn’t know what had become of her. All the servants, including Enzo, were tight-lipped about it.

But in any case, the duke seemed to have dealt with her cleanly.

Truthfully, Yurenia wasn’t very interested in how the nanny was handled.

What mattered was how Kailus was treated.

The duke moved the child’s room to the second floor of the east wing, right next to his own bedchamber.

All the furniture in the room had been replaced with children’s furniture made by the Empire’s finest craftsmen.

At last, Kailus could stay in a nursery that truly felt like a nursery.

Additionally, the duke had also moved Yurenia’s room—as the tutor—to the room next to the child’s.

Though Yurenia had been hired as a tutor, she was now also taking on the role of the nanny, caring for Kailus more closely.

The generous pay raise was a bonus.

The duke’s consideration for Kailus was endless. Surprisingly, he had dinner with his nephew every single day.

‘I thought he’d only eat together that one day Kail asked for.’

This was actually the most unexpected.

In typical noble households, parents don’t eat with their children often. They have too many responsibilities—managing territories, household affairs, and so on.

With such a hectic schedule, it’s practically impossible to eat with a child on their schedule.

Yet the duke hadn’t missed a single day of dining with the child since that day.

“Shall we go now, Prince? Your uncle must be waiting.”

“Yes!”

“I was wondering what was taking you so long.”

Just as the two were about to walk down the corridor again, holding hands.

The duke appeared, dressed in comfortable shirt.

“Uncle!”

Recognizing the duke, Kailus called out joyfully. The fear and avoidance he’d shown before were nowhere to be seen.

“I was just on my way to see you, Uncle!”

“Good. I thought I’d been stood up.”

“Huh?”

At the duke’s joke, the child’s eyes widened. Not understanding, Kailus tugged on Yurenia’s hand and asked.

“What does ‘stood up’ mean, Teacher?”

“It means he was worried you might not come even though he was waiting.”

“Oh!”

His curiosity satisfied, Kailus beamed brightly. Then he scurried over to his uncle, grabbed his waist, and said coyly,

“Don’t worry. I won’t stand you up.”

“……What?”

At the child’s innocent retort, the duke’s eyes widened. He looked down at his nephew’s crown, then burst out laughing.

“Ahaha. Alright, thank you.”

Yurenia watched the affectionate uncle and nephew with a contented smile.

The detached palace within the imperial palace.

A massive mansion that stood out even among the individual residences for nobles serving the imperial family.

In a brightly decorated pastel-toned bedroom, a very small girl lay with her eyes closed.

“Lilian…….”

Mave gazed at her daughter with a face full of worry.

When was the last time she heard her child’s laughter? She couldn’t even remember anymore.

Perhaps she might never hear it again.

‘I’m sorry, Marchioness Dalton. It may be time to start preparing yourself…….’

Recalling the physician’s despairing words, Mave squeezed her eyes shut.