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III.

A few days later, Laegar expelled all the distinguished guests from the Grand Ducal Castle.

He left only the girls under twelve, judging that only that age group was suitable as playmates for Lucy, whose mind had become as clear as crystal.

Having tried this and that, he concluded that Lucy—in her state of absorbing everything like a blank slate while being so easily deceived—could not be left to mingle with adult men and women.

But was Laegar’s judgment truly correct?

“Now, Lucy, this time you play the role of Theo.”

Lucy received a male doll dressed in a tailcoat from the eldest of the girls. The doll’s name appeared to be Theo.

And the girl, named Lianna, herself clutched a female doll dressed in a pale yellow chiffon dress.

“…….”

Vaguely aware that she herself was an adult, Lucy couldn’t understand at first why Laegar had assigned such young friends to her.

She only dimly sensed his anxiousness—his desire to prevent her from growing curious about the outside world beyond the Grand Ducal Castle, even through this measure.

Along with a faint premonition that things connected to her lost memories might lie there.

In any case, after playing with the girls for a few days, she found it unexpectedly quite enjoyable.

They spent time eating desserts together before the fireplace, singing along while playing the organ, and embroidering their families’ guardian beast crests onto hoops.

Even when a stitch went slightly awry, they would burst into giggles, and sometimes they all took walks together.

The great nobles had apparently withdrawn after giving their young daughters firm warnings.

The girls were draped in furs, silks, and jewels excessive for their age, and their postures were always elegant and stiff, as if trying to show that they, too, had a bosom.

But as time passed, even they couldn’t help acting their age.

Lucy understood the saying that they were at an age to laugh even at a rolling fallen leaf. These girls actually did so.

They burst into laughter as if only a romantic future lay spread before them, and before she knew it, the mood had lightly infected her too, melting Lucy’s spirits into a soft haze.

Then she dimly sensed that she had passed through such an innocent, dream-filled age herself—envying it all the while.

‘Me? Did I…?’

She vaguely realized that, deep within, she yearned for those memories she had never gotten to have in the first place—but no concrete recollections surfaced.

‘It’s probably no use now anyway.’

She believed the story that she was an orphan who had come to work at the Grand Ducal Castle early on.

So these things would naturally feel novel and satisfy her curiosity.

As Lucy tilted her head, Lianna, seated across from her, urged her to continue the doll play.

“What are you doing? I handed over the invitation, so now it’s Theo’s turn to greet me like a gentleman.”

“Ah.”

Lucy gently shook the male doll and put on a man’s voice.

“Oh, Lady Lianna. I am ever so grateful for the invitation to your tea party. Whatever the case, I shall make certain to attend on time.”

At that, Lianna, as if finding it funny that she had given her own name to the female doll, giggled and answered primly.

“Very well. I shall see you then.”

After that, a few more lines were exchanged between the dolls, and Lianna, seeming pleased with Lucy’s enthusiastic participation, had already softened the sharp corners of her eyes.

“Now, it’s become the morning of the tea party.”

Having whisked time forward at her whim, Lianna undressed her doll and began grooming it anew.

Not growing bored, Lucy craned her neck and watched intently.

Truthfully, she wanted to play with the female doll if possible. She wanted to braid its hair and change its dress, but Lianna, the leader among the girls, wouldn’t hand it over.

So Lucy made up her mind to ask Laegar to buy her a doll, and waited for the female doll to finish being groomed.

And at last, the moment came for the male doll she was still holding to make his appearance. By the established setting, they drank tea together in a greenhouse pavilion.

Sensing instinctively that a gentleman must endlessly lavish a lady with compliments without pause, Lucy spewed every word and none she could think of.

In particular, when she parroted the compliments she’d grown sick of hearing at the masquerade ball, Lianna’s mood seemed to brighten considerably.

Perhaps because of that, the female doll suddenly linked arms with the male doll. And then—she whispered softly.

“Then, having had our stroll… shall we stop by my room for a moment?”

Lucy was momentarily flustered.

“Eh? …Your room, my lady? Not the drawing room?”

Through the few social gatherings she’d attended, Lucy had dimly grasped that it was improper for a young man to be invited alone to a lady’s bedroom.