Chapter 5

　　There were a few days like this in my life.

　　Days I wore pretty clothes for no special reason. Days when the orphanage teachers showered me with unusual attention.

　　I always knew, instinctively.

　　Today might be the day I get parents.

　　When I was younger, I had been desperate to prove myself a worthy child, someone a family would want.

　　More polite, more kind, more gentle.

　　My entire being was a constant plea for someone to be my parent. But it never happened.

　　Today, however, was different. This time, I was finally getting a family.

　　I stared at the door to the Director’s office, from which a low murmur of voices seeped.

　　Don’t get sentimental, I told myself. This is all part of the story, and he’s only here to use me.

　　My heart gave a needless flutter. Thumping my chest with a fist, I forced it to calm down.

　　Seriously, why am I so excited? Just focus on being used and then thrown away.

　　A wave of old memories left me unsettled for a moment, but I quickly pushed them aside and knocked.

　　“Come in.”

　　At the Director’s summons, I opened the door. My eyes immediately fell upon the man seated in the most prominent chair. His gaze met mine—a gentleman in his mid-to-late forties with an elegant, upright posture and black hair the same shade as Iana’s.

　　“Say hello, Fredia. This is Duke Weiss.”

　　Ivan Weiss.

　　He was the very man who had single-handedly placed Iana, a woman from a lesser branch of the Weiss family, on the Empress’s throne. But whispering his influence into Iana’s ear was not enough; he coveted the position of father-in-law to the First Prince.

　　With only one daughter, the future heir to his dukedom, he had been searching for a suitable girl among his relatives. Then, in the Imperial Weekly, the orphan girl standing next to Prince Harace must have caught his eye.

　　The Duke had likely come here judging that a solitary orphan, free of any bothersome family ties, would be the easiest to manipulate. He was a man so powerful that it was said nothing escaped his grasp. Packaging this marriage as the romance of the century between an orphan and a royal would be no trouble for him at all.

　　“Greetings, Sir.”

　　“Mm.”

　　The Duke gave an impassive nod, his eyes sweeping over me. As if he had little desire to speak with me directly, he turned to the Director.

　　“Is the child intelligent?”

　　“Oh, yes. She’s remarkably sharp. You have no idea.”

　　This, from the woman whose headaches and stomachaches I’d been causing for the past few days. I could practically see her gritting her teeth behind that smile.

　　So, with a heart full of the purest goodwill, I decided to help the Director and quickly interjected.

　　“I am so delighted to finally meet you. The thought of having a family feels like a dream; I can hardly believe it’s real. I heard from the Director that you have a daughter, Duke. Is that true?”

　　The Director jabbed me in the side, a clear signal to stay quiet, but I ignored her and beamed.

　　The Duke nodded. “Yes, I have one daughter. She is fifteen, so your ages are not far apart.”

　　“She’s older than me! I… I should like to give your daughter a gift.”

　　“A gift?”

　　I fumbled in my pocket and pulled out the ribbon I had carefully tucked away.

　　“It’s a ribbon His Highness the First Prince gave me a short while ago. It’s the finest thing I possess.”

　　“And why would you give the finest thing you possess to someone else?”

　　I summoned a memory from my childhood, from a time when I still possessed a shred of innocence and idealism.

　　“I’ve wanted a family my whole life. A family is the only treasure I have ever truly wanted. If you take me in, Duke, that will be more than enough for me.”

　　That’s how I felt when I was little—that if I ever got a family, I would love them forever. That I would share everything I had and live without greed.

　　How naive. Family is nothing but a cumbersome burden.

　　My promise not to be greedy seemed to please the Duke. It made sense. He was surrounded by two-faced, ambitious people like Iana. Of course, people are fickle creatures, so I knew the Duke wouldn’t take my words at face value. But planting a good first impression was all that mattered right now.

　　“Can you keep that promise? Even if you are not greedy, I can provide for your every need. As long as you remain satisfied with what I give you and do not become overly ambitious, you will live a very comfortable life.”

　　I smiled confidently, as if to say he had nothing to worry about.

　　“Duke, I am an orphan. I am not unaware of who His Highness the First Prince is.”

　　My meaning was clear: handing this ribbon to him was no act of pure innocence. I know my place, and I know I’m unworthy of such a gift. I would not part with it for just anyone, yet I am giving it to you.

　　The Duke understood my unspoken message. His golden eyes—the most fascinating and beautiful things I had seen since coming to this world—regarded me intently.

　　I met his sharp gaze without flinching.

　　A soft chuckle escaped him. “You have a fine head for calculations, for one so young.”

　　“Thank you for thinking so.”

　　“Indeed. A calculating mind is better than a dull one.”

　　Hmm, the Duke was more pleased than I expected. A flicker of guilt almost touched me.

　　My apologies, Duke. My only goal is to live comfortably in your house for a few years, become just useless enough to be a nuisance, and then get you to disown me.

　　So please, have high expectations. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

　　Choosing adoption was a calculated part of my plan to eventually be cast aside.

　　I’ll act obediently until I’m old enough, then slowly become a useless burden until he has no choice but to get rid of me!

　　Once I’m adopted, I’ll save my allowance, bit by bit. When I’m finally thrown out, I’ll take the money and start my own business—like that chicken place I was thinking about. I hadn’t given up on my dream of being an entrepreneur.

　　Of course, Ivan wouldn’t just discard a child he’d adopted for a specific purpose.

　　That’s why I’d come up with another idea.

　　A contract marriage!

　　Thank heavens for all those romance fantasies I’ve read. Isn’t that what the heroines always do when they need to escape their families?

　　While living the high life, I’ll go to tea parties, gather information, and find someone like-minded to arrange a contract marriage.

　　Since I know how the novel unfolds, I can offer a few valuable secrets in exchange for a contract. Other romance fantasy heroines do it all the time.

　　Once the contract is up, I’ll ask for a divorce, take the gold I’ve saved, and finally enjoy this new life.

　　Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

　　I buried my greedy, scheming heart beneath a pretty, innocent face and offered a demure smile.

　　“I’m quite pleased with the child.”

　　The Duke’s words were meant as a compliment to the Director, and hearing them made my blood boil.

　　Abuse is all that woman ever gave Fredia and me!

　　Even now, she was still pinching my side, warning me to shut up. I tried to hold my tongue, but the injustice of it all made me cry out. After my petty revenge over the last few days, I had planned to leave quietly, but this was too much.

　　“Ow! Director, that hurts! Stop pinching me!”

　　At my words, the Duke shot the Director a questioning look.

　　The Director stammered, “W-When did I ever pinch you? Duke, the thing is, Fredia sometimes tells these little lies. Children her age are often prone to it. You needn’t believe everything a child says. The smarter they are, the more plausible their stories.”

　　Ah, so that’s her game. I finally understood why the Director, after all she had suffered at my hands, would be brave enough to pinch me again. She was trying to frame me as a liar!

　　She’s trying to discredit me before I can tell him I was abused at the orphanage.

　　Who does she take me for?

　　Instead of screaming and denying her claims, I admired her clever, albeit desperate, move and adopted an air of innocence.

　　“I’m sorry, Director. I must have been mistaken. You brought me here and have taken such good care of me; you would never do such a thing. I’m going to miss you so much when I leave.”

　　At my meek apology, the Director’s smile stiffened. After all my recent defiance, she clearly hadn’t expected me to back down so easily.

　　The Duke eyed me with suspicion. “Has the Director treated you well?”

　　“Yes, of course! She even gave me a special room all to myself—the attic! While the other children have to share bedrooms on the second and third floors, I got the whole attic. It was too small for two people to fit, you see.”

　　I felt the Director flinch beside me. I kept a blissful expression on my face, leaving her no room to argue.

　　“A room all to myself—how could that be anything but the Director’s kindness? Of course, it got so cold at night that I’d shiver constantly, but that just helped me imagine I was the pitiful ‘Little Match Girl’, freezing on a street corner. Getting to be the star of a fairy tale—isn’t that just romantic?”

　　I clasped my hands together, my expression dreamy.

　　I had no idea if a story like The Little Match Girl even existed in this world, but he would get the gist. The tale of a poor, pitiful, yet kind child suffering through hardship is a universal trope, after all.

　　The Duke frowned. “That… does not sound like a lie.”

　　“Of course not!”

　　Time to cement my credibility with a few more details.

　　“Some nights, I would pretend the thin, worn-out blanket was a pile of straw, and I was a hero on an adventure, sleeping in a barn. Heroes in stories always have tragic childhoods, don’t they?”

　　Seeing the sparkle in my eyes, the Duke touched his forehead.

　　“Regardless of your fondness for it, you will not be staying in such a room at the duchy.”

　　He then glared sharply at the Director.

　　“I understand this orphanage receives significant sponsorship. It makes one wonder if the financial auditors are simply blind, or if they’re being paid to look the other way.”

　　The Director’s face drained of color.

　　So she was skimming off the top.

　　The Duke instructed me to pack whatever I wanted to take and get in the carriage immediately. I asked him to wait a moment, then retrieved the new dress I’d extorted from the Director. After folding it neatly, I left it on the floor in front of her office door.

　　You can have this back. I’ll be wearing far better clothes from now on. And Director? You’re looking rather pale. Do try to take care of yourself.