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A child with an unsociable expression and swollen eyes, making it hard to say that she is not very attractive at best.
Thanks to that, Lennox had to doubt his eyes momentarily.
‘No matter how many lost children there are.’
Was Cedric kind enough to hold a child he had never seen before and soothe it?
Lennox was confused. Ten years ago, he could have said no very categorically, but Lennox also hadn’t seen Cedric for long. It was unclear how the tragedy that befell him in the meantime would affect Cedric’s character.
One good thing is that Cedric also found Lennox.
Cedric put the child down in the wagon, took Lennox to the nearby garden, and opened his mouth.
A few days ago, that child with his deceased wife’s belongings, visited him.
“Then isn’t it irrelevant to just say she’s your daughter?”
“Because there is a possibility. If a child is kidnapped, it doesn’t matter what happens in those 10 years.”
For that, you seem to care about the child a lot.”
Cedric’s gaze sharpened again. However, he seemed to be assessing things rather than reprimanding Lennox’s words.
“Does it look like that to you?”
“Wouldn’t it be quicker to ask the broken railing instead of me? The bill will be sent soon, so know that.”
“…”
Cedric didn’t answer. I wonder if he somehow wanted to use an excuse to deny Lennox’s words.
“… I think it’s because the child called me a dad. I felt like I lost my reason for a moment.”
It’s a fairly reasonable answer. Lennox shook his head in disbelief and nodded.
“Well, when my son first called me a dad, I was so happy that I almost dislocated my shoulder while holding him up. I understand that feeling.”
“… You almost dislocated the child while holding him?”
“Yeah. The child is fragile. A little force could cause trouble. How much I was broken up with my wife at that time.”
“Shit…”
A deep sense of dismay appeared on Cedric’s face when he heard those words for some reason.
It was because I thought I might have hugged her too tightly without realizing it.
“I need to go back.”
“What? Cedric, the story is still–”
Before leaving, Lennox, who was about to invite Cedric to show his face just once before going, hurriedly tried to grab Cedric.
“I don’t know where the child might have been injured. So I have to examine her and get her to a doctor immediately. Since you are also a father, I know you will understand.”
There was no way I could catch him talking like that.
The urgency on Cedric’s face reminded him of Lennox’s past.
Memories of when he was still single.
— Cedric! What is it that makes you leave in such a hurry? Isabel said she would wait for you, but I’ll be in trouble if you go out like this!
At the time, Lennox promoted a relationship between his younger sister Isabel and Cedric. He thought becoming a family with Cedric, his closest friend, and even the number one groom wouldn’t be bad if possible.
Isabel also had a crush on Cedric, and the story wasn’t too bad for Cedric, so it seemed like this would go smoothly. I didn’t know precisely about Cedric’s intentions, but it was all the more so since Cedric was originally a person with few likes or dislikes.
If it hadn’t been that, he seemed distracted by something from a particular moment, and it hadn’t even led to a meeting with Isabel.
Thanks to this, Lennox, who boasted to Isabel that he would certainly bring Cedric to the tearoom, was in a very awkward position.
However, Cedric, who left his seat, also had a face full of desperation and urgency.
— Sorry, Lennox. Tell Her Highness, the princess, I will meet her next time. I have to go right away.
―That shouldn’t be difficult, but lately, you’ve been choosing to do things that aren’t like you. Why are you doing this?
―They said she needed me. After the accident, I need to…
— You said there was an accident? Who?
Lennox also wondered and asked, but unfortunately, he could not hear an answer.
It was because Cedric left a word of sorry to Lennox and ran away.
It was Cedric’s bare face that Lennox encountered for the first time. The first cracks in the iron, fortress-like armor that had never collapsed since I knew him as a child.
In the end, Lennox couldn’t catch Cedric, and naturally, Isabel and Cedric’s attempt to marry was also canceled.
One month after that. Cedric’s love scandal swept the social world hotly.
The opponent is Agnes, a knight without a name with mediocre skills.
Her only characteristic was that she was the illegitimate daughter of a particular county family, and she was in a carriage accident a month ago that she would never be able to lift a sword again.
“If you see something like this, should I say it’s still the same…”
Lennox frowned as he watched the wagon with Maynard’s seal leave.
You expressed the same as you did then and denied what you thought. That was still the case.
‘I really don’t know what’s right.’
Please don’t lose anything again.
Lennox stood there for a long time, thinking about that.
In addition, along with concerns about how to convey the words that he could not express.
Cedric had probably forgotten, but this was a banquet hall. It means that it is a place where people’s attention is quickly drawn to trivial things. And when Cedric made a fuss in the garden, no one couldn’t see it.
Whispers were heard from everywhere as Lennox returned to the banquet hall.
“Did you see it? Obviously…”
“You’re right, Duke Maynard. It’s not common to see that kind of appearance.”
“What the hell is going on with him carrying the child?”
“Isn’t there anything that’s been announced separately? Is he trying to adopt a child?”
“Say something, count. You’re a sidekick!”
“Well, I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything either…”
Nevertheless, Cedric, the rumored Duke of Maynard, appeared with a child in his arms.
Everyone in the banquet hall was whispering about it. Three days will probably be enough to make a fuss in society, including all kinds of gossip.
‘That’s why I told you to show your face before going.’
Rumors will only subside if the person concerned explains to some extent.
But he disappeared like that, so what can we do?
That’s what you get for breaking that railing, Cedric.
Lennox smiled involuntarily as he listened to the banquet hall’s whispers.
Things seemed like they were going to be very funny.
***
“Miss!!”
Upon entering the mansion, Lilian first saw Mary’s weeping face.
The mansion was already in an uproar.
There was no place where the lights were not turned on in each room because they searched the entire mansion during the night, and Duke Maynard was all bright as day to go out to the garden to find the child.
Thanks to that, Lilian couldn’t help but keep her heart racing to the mansion.
It was something I had been prepared for to some extent since sneaking out, but when I was going back, I was afraid.
“I’m sure I’ll be scolded a lot.
Is it okay if I starve for a day or so? Or only be hit on the legs? Come to think of it, I thought I could endure it until my twenties.
If Mary seemed very angry, she would have to volunteer to be in her twenties.
Teachers were satisfied when the children stepped forward and offered severe punishment.
Perhaps adults thought it was a sign of remorse to say that children would be severely punished.
So Lillian was quick to say that she was wrong this time too.
If only Mary hadn’t hugged her and cried as soon as she entered the mansion.
“Where the hell have you been? I don’t know what’s happening with you in this cold weather…”
I could feel Mary’s warm arms even through the chilly hem of my clothes.
She seems to have been running around without stopping even for a second since she disappeared.
The heartbeat beat faster than usual, the messy hair, the firm hand that hugged her tightly, and the sobbing voice spoke.
Since Lillian disappeared, Mary has wandered around the mansion looking for her.