Could it really be Duchess Maria? Her beautiful face was unchanged, and so was her smile. But it no longer felt warm. She looked almost... like a doll forced to smile.

"What's wrong?" Her expression slowly hardened as she watched me. "Why are you looking at me like that?" The smile had vanished from her face. I was sure mine looked much the same.

The power still stirring in my head and body. The way she looked different now. And the inherited ability no one knew she had. I thought I understood what had happened. I was certain enough of who had tried to kill me to ask her outright.

I spoke calmly. "Why are you trying to kill me?" A crack appeared in her expression. "What are you talking about?" "You've been trying to kill me ever since I was born. You still are."

The duchess's expression kept shifting: unease, suspicion, deliberation, then realization. Maria's face hardened as she spoke. "Don't tell me you resisted my ability?"

Just as I'd suspected. The reason I'd liked her—and the reason everyone else did—was her inherited ability. "So it was an inherited ability? Elena's ability treats status ailments, so the Ibiza viscount's family must have mental abilities. Does yours make people like you?" Maria stared at me, appalled. She no longer saw me as a little child. "I knew you were clever, but... I never imagined you were this clever...."

Muttering to herself, she immediately shook her head. "But being clever wouldn't let you resist my ability. How did you do it?" She'd asked me, but she didn't seem to want an answer. "Could it be the ability you awakened? No. You definitely said it was physical enhancement." She continued puzzling it out alone until she seemed to reach her own conclusion. "Are you Andre's son too, then?"

The duke's son. So the duke had escaped her ability after all? "No. Even Brivia's sons never noticed. How could you, when you're only half..." Her words drew a bitter smile from me. Hearing what someone you liked truly thought of you wasn't good for your mental health. I didn't want to hear any more of her talking to herself. When she paused, I spoke.

"The duke escaped your ability, then. It was why the two of you got along at first, too..." She cut me off with a shout. "No! It wasn't because of my ability! He really did love me! Amanda! It's because of that whore you call a mother! That bitch came between us!"

As she shouted, her eyes were full of anger toward my mother. But to me, it was absurd. She knew the truth and was taking out her anger on someone else because she had nowhere else to put it. Since that had made me a target, everything she said sounded like a load of crap.

"So it was all a lie. The kindness you showed my mother and me, and the way you treat everyone else." "Well, being kind to people who liked me became a habit. I enjoyed being liked. And it was amusing to watch you and your mother fawn over me without knowing a thing." She rattled it all off with a sneer, then abruptly changed her expression.

"Ah... I got too worked up. Losing my composure in front of a child...." She let out a long sigh and smiled. The air shimmered again, and her smile tried to wrap me in warmth. But before it could have any effect, it stiffened once more. "Forget what just happened. I was angry for a moment and said things I didn't mean."

Perhaps she'd realized her ability no longer worked on me. Her warm words were followed immediately by a threat. "No one will believe an illegitimate son like you anyway. If you stir up trouble, your mother will be the one who suffers." She seemed to think that would settle the matter. But I had no intention of letting it. That wasn't why I'd set this in motion.

I still hadn't seen a message saying I was out of danger. The duchess still fully intended to kill me. If I went back to not knowing when an assassin would come, nothing would have changed. I couldn't allow that. This time, I intended to choose when it happened. Now, how about I make her a little angrier?

"Perhaps you're right, and no one will care." I nodded and went on. "But I've nearly died several times, ever since I was born. Quite a few people might be interested in that, don't you think?" She answered with a sneer. "Hmph. Who would even remember?"

I pointed a finger at my head. "I remember." "Impossible. You remember that?" Her sneer vanished at my next words. "I did more than remember. I cried my heart out and spat out my food to stay alive."

Maria stared at me wide-eyed. I must have looked like a monster to her. "You're saying you did all that knowingly? When you hadn't even been weaned?" The ordeal flashed through my mind. I never wanted to be a baby again. I leaned toward her, raised a hand to my mouth, and whispered as though sharing a secret. "Didn't you know? People call me a 'genius.'"

My mockery seemed to have landed. Watching her expression, I continued. "I did well on my test, too. Starting tomorrow, I'll be training 'alone' at the training ground behind the mansion." Her fists clenched. She knew exactly which training ground I meant—the one reserved for the duke's family. Using it alone, ahead of my brothers and sister, meant the duke had begun to acknowledge me.

'Wait, now that I think about it, that's quite a privilege, isn't it?' The thought crossed my mind as I paused to study the duchess. In any case, her clenched fists had gone pale, and her face was frighteningly rigid. My words seemed to have hit home. It was time for the final blow.

"The duke said he'd come to watch 'in person' starting tomorrow. We'll find out then whether he'll listen to me." Of course, the duke had never said that. But he'd come to see me in the life before last. Now that I'd shown more of my ability in the test, there was a good chance he'd come sooner. At any rate, I wasn't lying about meeting him.

GRIND.

I heard her teeth grinding. The woman seated before me looked at me with an expression I'd never seen on her face: anger and disgust mingled together. Then fear slowly crept in. It was time to leave.

"Well, I enjoyed our tea today." I rose and bowed deeply to her. My mother and the maids always loved that bow, calling it adorable, but the woman before me did not respond to my greeting. I hadn't expected her to. I left her behind and walked out of the sitting room.

As I walked down the corridor, I sank into thought. I'd dug into the wound; now I needed to deal with what came next. What should I do? Go to Miguel? The knight commander, or perhaps the head butler? No. There was no reason to turn back.

* * *

In the sitting room the child had left behind, Duchess Maria sat alone. The room, usually so gentle and welcoming, and Maria herself seemed frozen in time. Time passed.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Someone knocked at the door. At the sound, her frozen expression came back to life. A smile bloomed like a flower, and the bleak sitting room seemed to fill with the scent of spring. She spoke in a soft voice. "Come in."

CREAK.

The door opened, and a man entered. "I was told you sent for me." Maria smiled again—a smile a little different from the ones she gave the child or the household staff. It made the man's face flush. "Yes. It's time for you to do what we put off last time."

"Ah, the matter of the illegitimate son. Understood. It seems a little early, but I'll choose a day and take care of it." "No. Choosing a day will be too late. Please see to it tonight." The man was startled. She had never been one to handle matters so hastily. "Tonight? Isn't that rather sudden?"

Maria shook her head. She clasped her hands and looked at him pleadingly. "No. I don't care how much it costs or what they demand. Please! It has to be tonight." "... Understood." He thought she was being far too hasty, but as always, he couldn't bring himself to refuse her. He left the sitting room at once, and the room slowly became a frozen painting again.

* * *

Afternoon had passed, and darkness was closing in beyond the window. It was long past the time Flora should have retired to her quarters, but she was still with me in my room. She looked at me anxiously. "Um, why did you ask me to stay...?"

I checked the time and stood. "A child can't go wandering around the mansion alone at night. That's why I asked you to stay." She looked even more uneasy. "The sun's already set. Where on earth are you going?" I answered as I stepped into the corridor. "The duke's study." "... What?"

Flora stood stunned for a moment, then cried out as if she were screaming. She looked as though she wanted no part of it, but she led me to the study. The mansion was very quiet now that the staff had retired. A guard on watch glanced at the two of us along the way but did not speak. Since I wanted to see the duke without anyone else knowing, the circumstances could hardly have been better. We went down the stairs, along a long corridor, and reached the door to his study.

The head butler stood guard outside. His presence meant the duke was still inside. He looked at me in puzzlement. "I've come to see the duke." Though still puzzled, he asked politely, as always, "Do you have an appointment?" "No." "His Grace is still working. Please arrange an appointment and return another time."

A polite refusal. But I had no intention of leaving. "I'll wait." The head butler's white eyebrows twitched. Then the duke's voice came from behind the door. "Let him in." As expected, someone as skilled as the duke could easily hear what was said in the corridor. "Yes, Your Grace." Unable to scold me, the head butler gave poor Flora a stern glare before opening the door.

The old-fashioned study was filled with books and documents. At its center sat my father, Duke Andres de Gresia. I had never set foot in the room before. He did not look pleased to see his illegitimate son turn up unannounced. But I wasn't here seeking fatherly affection. This was business. I stepped into the austere study.

THUD.

The door closed, leaving only the duke and me in the room.