I Only Want Your Child - Chapter 26

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“Uncle, Uncle!”

Diaz, who had been following the older boys and girls playing on the lawn, came running excitedly toward Jared.

Jared easily swept Diaz into his arms and playfully pinched the bridge of the child’s nose.

“Our little troublemaker sure has a lot of energy today, huh?”

Diaz giggled at Jared’s teasing as though accustomed to it, then glanced toward me.

Then the child leaned toward Jared and whispered. Though for a secret, it was still quite easy to hear.

“That pwetty lady is ouw mama?”

“What?”

I could feel Jared’s startled gaze land on me.

I gave Jared and Diaz an awkward smile.

“You little rascal! Don’t say things that’ll get you in trouble!”

“It’s true!”

Diaz pouted indignantly, and Jared set the child down with an awkward expression.

“Alright, alright. Go play with the older boys and girls over there.”

“But it’s twue…”

Diaz pouted once more, then scampered off in the opposite direction.

Jared scratched the back of his head as he watched the child go, then approached me with an embarrassed expression.

“The child is still young, so I hope you’ll be generous and forgive that.”

“It’s alright.”

At my calm answer, Jared looked almost overwhelmed with gratitude and didn’t know what to do with himself.

“Please speak more casually to me,” he said.

“I’m more comfortable speaking this way.”

That was the truth. I might have been a daughter of Heister, but I hadn’t been raised with the treatment befitting a Heister in the first place.

I had grown up receiving worse treatment than even the household servants. And even after my regressions, I had lived the life of an ordinary commoner more often than that of a noblewoman.

So naturally, I was more comfortable speaking politely to others.

Apparently realizing that my words weren’t an act, Jared glanced at me before turning his gaze toward the children playing nearby and speaking.

“The sponsorship was started by the previous Madam Baldomer, but the director, the children, and I have always been grateful to House Baldomer.”

I had suspected as much, but apparently the orphanage’s sponsorship had indeed been started by the previous Madam Baldomer, Kallion’s mother.

“It wasn’t something I started.”

“But you’ve continued supporting the orphanage without cutting off the sponsorship.”

“……”

He looked so genuinely kind that I found myself wondering whether this man truly was the same assassin I had fought.

If this really wasn’t an act…

Would something happen over the next three years that caused an enormous change in him? Or was his demeanor as a soldier simply completely different from how he normally acted?

Just as I was thinking that, I heard a familiar voice.

“Madam!”

It was Layla, who had finished inspecting the orphanage facilities.

She approached without even trying to hide her displeasure. Since I already knew exactly what she was unhappy about, I greeted her calmly.

“Madam, I heard you told the coachman that we’ll be staying here overnight. What is the meaning of that?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. If we leave now, we’ll have to spend the night in the carriage anyway. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to stay here for the night?”

At my calm words, Layla openly showed her displeasure.

“Have you given no thought to the schedules of the people accompanying us? We already have a fixed itinerary, so it’s extremely troublesome for you to change things however you please.”

Jared, who had been silently listening beside us, frowned in displeasure.

“Who are you to speak so rudely to the Madam?”

Both Layla and I were taken aback by Jared’s unexpected rebuke.

“Are you perhaps the Empress of the Empire?”

Layla frowned in displeasure at Jared’s words before answering calmly.

“I am a secretary of House Baldomer.”

“Ah, I see. For a moment there, I thought you were the lady of House Baldomer.”

“……”

At his blatantly sarcastic tone, Layla’s brow furrowed even more deeply.

I stared blankly at Jared. In all the time I had lived in Baldomer, this was the first time anyone had taken my side, so I was somewhat bewildered.

And the person doing it was the assassin who would one day try to kill me.

While I remained confused, Layla glared at Jared in displeasure.

“This isn’t a place for you to interfere so carelessly.”

“Of course. I’m certainly not in a position to interfere in a conversation between the two of you. But you know, you aren’t in a position to reprimand the lady of Baldomer either.”

Jared, who had no real sense of the deep rift between Baldomer and Heister, treated me exactly as what I was.