‘F*ck, I’m doomed.’
That’s what I thought as soon as I saw the badly smashed surprise ball coupled with Recardo stepping on it and glaring at me.
The effects of the ball no longer lasted, and all of the people in the blindsight had regained their senses.
“…….”
Maya’s eyes snapped to me, and she exclaimed, “Oh, Miss! When did you go there?”
Maya rushed at me as I popped out from behind a pillar.
I was glad that unlike last time, I was still in the right place.
Otherwise, I might have raised even more suspicions about me…… No, things don’t look good for me right now…….
“You…….”
Othello seemed to raise an eyebrow.
He hadn’t caught me in the wrong place, had he?
The original Recardo Winchester was sharp and perceptive enough to easily spot the ambush of trained assassins.
My heart pounded as I stared into his dark green eyes.
“This…….”
I flinched as his red lips curled.
The shattered surprise ball at his feet seemed to hint at my future.
Maybe I’d gotten so drunk on the attention that I’d forgotten he was a fearsome villain. Fear rushed through me.
“…..Is it yours?” Recardo finished.
I froze and stared at him, his murderous gaze penetrating my soul despite the considerable distance between us.
I couldn’t make out the meaning of his glare.
Was it an accusation for ruining the party, or did he realize I had done something?
Maya looked flustered and at a loss for words.
“I don’t think any of your toys looked……. like this one…..”
The room fell silent, and I clenched my fists.
Jin’s eyes, Permetis’s eyes, Zestia’s eyes…… all of them were on me.
If I messed up here, I could be in big trouble…….
So, this is the only way.
It was the same moment my mouth fell open. And at that moment, Recardo’s eyebrows twitched.
“Sa…… Sasha!”
This body is just three years old. It is not strange for a three-year-old toddler to cry anytime and anywhere.
It’s natural to cry when you make eye contact with a scary person!
“I don’t know…….”
My eyes quickly began to fill with tears. But I tried not to make a sound.
The point of this move is to look like you’re trying to hold back your pitiful tears.
You look more pitiful when you’re clenching your fists and shedding tears like this than when you’re crying out loud.
It makes it hard to ask for more.
~ Translations by Lurelia | Editing by Valpal | Read only at moonlightnovels.com ~
“Heuk…….” I choked out, engrossed in making my weeping as gut-wrenching as possible.
Jin and Othello, who had been staring at me, looked at Recardo.
“Ah…… Miss…….”
I heard Maya’s voice.
I was so focused on crying that I actually felt nauseous.
‘Don’t ask me anything.’
I hadn’t realized that the surprise ball would shatter so easily on physical impact.
They should have put a disclaimer on it.
Heuk.
Recardo was still looking at me.
“…….”
After a moment, he sighed with a furrowed brow and opened his mouth.
“Come here.”
I sobbed and stepped in front of him, giving him a good look at my face. I must have looked pretty pitiful, because I saw his eyebrows wiggle once more.
After looking at me for what seemed like an eternity, he placed his hand on my forehead and spoke to Maya.
“Take the child back inside.”
Maya bowed hastily.
“Yes, Your Excellency the Duke.”
* * *
After a restless night, I heard the news of the day.
My nervous sobbing in front of Recardo in the middle of the night had made some of my relatives less wary of me.
The sight of me sobbing uncontrollably had even generated some sympathy.
‘She lost her mother when she was born, and she must have had a pretty rough upbringing amongst that fierce duke and her half-brothers,’ they thought. ‘And the way she cried was quite pitiful.’
And yesterday’s ball was discarded.
“Where did that toy come from, seriously…….”
Maya asked me, but I only responded with babbling.
“Everything that comes into the Winchesters is thoroughly inspected, from needles to wardrobes, and that includes your toys…….” Maya said as she tied up my hair. “I’ve never seen anything like that before, and I think the duke was wary that the young miss might be in danger.”
Quality assurance probably wasn’t the only reason for the thorough inspections.
The Winchesters had many enemies. Enemies both external and internal.
And on days like yesterday, it was hard to tell which was which.
‘Is it possible that Recardo…… is worried about me?’
He looked at me coldly, his eyes lacking the warmth of concern that they always had. The original Recardo was not a man who trusted or loved anyone.
Even if they were his children.
“No.”
My reflection in the mirror was that of an innocent, cute three-year-old baby.
No one would suspect me of anything yet, but I would have to be careful with my behavior in the future.
“Miss, there’s a ceremony this evening where they put things in the Dark Goblet, and that fire is for burning offerings to the Black Dragon…… I’m sure we’ll have a great time tonight.”
White smoke could be seen rising from several places outside the window.
“I wonder what kind of fireworks young master Jin will show us; I heard they were really cool last year.”
“What?”
It was an annual ritual in Winchester.
“It’s a pretty fire, and when you’re older, you can put things in the goblet.”
The Black Dragon, the eponymous source of the Winchesters’ affinity for night and darkness. When you make a sacrifice to it, you are confirmed as a descendant of the Black Dragon by the color of the flames that burn from the Dark Goblet.
The color and intensity of the flames are used to determine whose abilities are stronger and who is chosen to succeed the Black Flame.
In a family where strength and power played an important role, it was also a way of confirming each other’s strength without staining the clan with blood.
“Oh my, the young masters are back.”
I turned at Maya’s words and saw pink and light blue hair bobbing through the courtyard beneath my window.
Recardo, Jin, and Othello had gone hunting, and only two had returned.
They were both riding black horses, which stood out against the color of their light hair.
I was wiping my cheeks with a white towel when Othello suddenly looked up.
“Miss, is Prince Othello looking here?”
Flinching at the words, I hid my face.
Through the window, I think I caught a glimpse of his smiling face. He quickly turned his head again to speak to Jin.
“Are you ashamed, Miss?”
I turned my head, oblivious to Maya, who was smiling brightly.
Since yesterday, I’d been thinking that I needed to keep my distance from my family.
The more attention I get from them, the more I am constrained in my behavior.
And if they ever found out I was actually a reincarnation……. I shuddered.
The Winchesters are the worst villainous family in the Empire. I’m just sitting on the small tip of the iceberg that has come to the surface.
“Miss, it’s Robin.”
Just then, I recognized the man’s voice outside.
Robin was a knight assigned to me about six months ago. He was supposed to be assigned to me sooner, but an injury delayed him.
He’s actually very friendly, a far cry from the arrogant, harsh knight I’d imagined from reading the original.
“These are presents.”
Maya’s eyes widened at the sight of him.
“Sir Robin?”
I couldn’t help but be surprised, too.
~ Translations by Lurelia | Editing by Valpal | Read only at moonlightnovels.com ~
He was holding a bunch of new toys in his arms.
A toy car and balloons, a stuffed cat, a stuffed teddy bear, a squishy ball of soft material, a giraffe toothbrush that seemed rather out of date to me now…….
There were also three balls that looked remarkably similar to the broken surprise ball from yesterday.
And they all had red ribbons on them. Red ribbons stamped with the words ‘Elle Toy Shop’.
A high-end toy store in Rosento, where most of my toys came from.
“No way – I wonder how Sir Robin has so much money…… this one is probably the monthly salary of a starting knight,” Maya commented, holding up a stuffed cat among the toys Robin had brought.
Heck, is this really that expensive?
I thought my allotted budget was pretty small since I didn’t have a lot of toys, but apparently, it’s not as small as I thought.
But is it because I am a Winchester daughter?
“I didn’t buy it, of course…….” Robin said with a small sigh. “They were all sent to me by her blood relatives.”
“What?”
“That’s just the way it is. I suppose that means there are some people out there who consider her favorably.”
Was it just pity, or was it the fact that my brothers were there to escort me?
I don’t know what happened, but I felt good about having new toys. That’s what gifts are supposed to do.
I hugged the pink ball, which resembled the surprise ball, tightly.
Robin leaned close to my ear.
“That was from His Excellency the Duke.”
A replacement for the surprise ball he had destroyed yesterday.
I suddenly remembered Recardo’s face, looking at me with a complicated expression.
