The child who is like a thorn in his eyes collapsed just in time, so he took this opportunity to hide her completely and show off the rest of his children.

And then, in the banquet hall, he would chatter away and say how upset he was that his beloved daughter was in poor physical condition.

In this room, I couldn’t feel a single bit of the exciting atmosphere the banquet hall would evoke. It was as serene as if it had been disconnected from everything. As expected, it was a little disappointing.

I wanted to meet the Crown Prince. He was my target character when testing the game. Cain.

I moved sluggishly and lay horizontally on the bed. Then, lying on my side, I began to observe the room that could be seen in a magazine or movie.

Glittering chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling, a vanity table decorated with gold leaf and all kinds of jewels, a splendid wallpaper that had no comparison, and paintings that boasted their presence even though the curtain called night was set.

“Ian.”

Suddenly, I called the man. Beyond the arched passage in the wall, Ian, who sat by a window decorated with plants and read a book, turned his head.

“Yes. Is something wrong?”

His face, as he looked at me, was emotionless and calm. But I knew very well. How that emotion broke in front of Mikael.

“Can you tell me something interesting? I’m frustrated.”

“Perhaps… Is it because Mikael is here?”

The voice containing the question was low. I asked back, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“The atmosphere has clearly changed.”

[See? That’s why I told you before.]

‘Hey! You didn’t show up until after I made a mistake!’

I shouted inwardly, but there was no response back.

“How did it change?”

“This may sound very rude, but you seem a little more human than before.”

I couldn’t find the right words to answer back.

‘Ah, hm. Was Celina not a human? Was she a monster…?’

[How could that be?]

Behind the ridiculous translucent chat window, Ian closed the book.

“When I first saw the Young Lady, who grew up in confinement, I thought you were just a well-made doll. You didn’t laugh, and you didn’t get angry. It felt like you were going to die at any moment.”

He rose slowly from his seat and opened the window wide. The curtains shook along the night air that flowed in. The glass ornaments hanging by the window made a clattering sound.

“I can’t keep it open for long. It will be a big problem if you get a cold.”

“Okay.”

I silently watched the night sky that contained the Milky Way as it seemed to pour into the room. It was beautiful enough to want to be able to watch it like this at any time. The moon was casually hiding its face, but I didn’t feel any emptiness at all.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t understand. This may seem impertinent to say as a servant, but the Lord is a person who doesn’t know affection. That’s why you may have seemed emotionless, too.”

He meticulously examined a luminous plant that emitted a subtle glow. Then, suddenly, he summoned a watering can.

“It is certainly like that.”

I roughly agreed with his words.

“It was after you heard from the Lord about Mikael that I thought the Young Lady was becoming a bit more human.

“About Mikael?”

“Yes. Do you remember? Only then, for the first time, did you fight with your other brothers and sisters. You were also very annoyed. Every servant in the castle was delighted to know that.”

“Did I do that?”

“And only then did the Lord properly introduce the Young Lady to the nobles. While saying that you were a daughter that he had been hiding because he cherished you so much.”

Ian watered the plant and continued to speak in a monotonous tone of voice.

“And today. You’ve become even more like a human after you first met Mikael. I was very surprised to see you smiling beautifully earlier. Apparently, your emotional expressions are increasing. I am very happy.”

“…”

No. Really. What is he talking about? Question marks poured inside my head like a sudden rain. But I had to stop there.

When it came to temporarily built fantasies and fabrications, there was no reason and no need to know in detail. If I dug deeper into it, I would be the only one getting tired. I tried my best to stop my interest.

***

I bathed in a pool or something, which was claimed to be a bathtub, in the early morning breeze. It was a place so big that someone could drown, and no one would know. After that, I was sitting in front of a mirror and dressing up.

That’s right. Again, I opened my eyes here. I didn’t know what to do or how to do it, so I just left myself to the maids.