"……."
What is he trying to do now.
Rellia was sitting at a table with a clear view of the garden.
Dessert was set out on the table before her eyes.
Post-meal dessert time.
It was the time Rellia enjoyed second most after meal times.
But today, she was with Carius.
'Even though he didn't even have a meal.'
Rellia found it strange that Carius was suddenly suggesting they eat dessert together.
"Try eating it."
Carius kindly placed a Maclia on Rellia's empty plate.
Maclia was a round-shaped dessert with chocolate sauce drizzled on the outside.
Just looking at it made her swallow. It was a dessert she'd never seen before.
'Surely he didn't poison it.'
Rellia looked at Carius with suspicious eyes for a moment.
'Honestly, I know he dislikes me, but….'
Still, Carius wasn't the kind of person who would kill someone, especially a child, through cowardly means.
'Besides, grandmother's condition has improved greatly since I came… Surely he wouldn't do such a thing.'
Rellia set aside her suspicions and took a big bite of the Maclia.
"……!"
Rellia's brow furrowed deeply.
Becky the maid, who was watching, had a worried look.
There was a reason Becky had never brought Maclia to Rellia before.
Usually, young children tend to like sweet desserts.
But inside the round dough of Maclia was cinnamon jam with a strong fragrance.
The stronger the cinnamon scent, the deeper the flavor, so it wasn't a dessert young children would particularly like.
'This is too much to do to a child.'
Becky looked at Carius with resentful eyes. She knew well that Lord Carius didn't look favorably upon the young lady.
It was a situation where she could feel like an unwanted stone that rolled in.
However, the servants of the castle all tended to like Rellia.
There was the Duke's order, but Rellia was also a very bright and lively child.
At an age when she should be running around cheerfully, it was heart-wrenching to sometimes see dejection plainly visible on her face.
Perhaps because of that, Carius feeding her a dessert difficult for children to eat didn't look good.
Tormenting her through food so meanly. It was downright petty.
However, Rellia, who Becky thought would spit out what was in her mouth right away, didn't do so.
With a deeply furrowed face, she chewed diligently and swallowed it down.
'Did she force herself to eat it?'
Thinking she did it because she didn't want to displease Lord Carius, Becky felt like her heart was tearing apart.
But Rellia picked up another one and ate it.
"It's so delicious! Becky! This is really tasty! This is real!"
Rellia smiled brightly at Becky and began to eat the Maclia enthusiastically.
"……."
Carius, who had been silently watching that sight, lowered his head.
It was because emotions surged up once again.
Elizabeth and Carius, who had particularly similar tastes, had liked this dessert since childhood.
To the extent they would compete to see who could eat more.
Moreover, seeing Rellia furrowing her face and chewing diligently when eating something delicious reminded him of childhood.
His sister used to frown her eyebrows deeply when eating something delicious, savoring the taste.
It was a truly funny yet cute expression, and Rellia even resembled that expression.
Among the siblings, Carius was closest to Elizabeth.
After Elizabeth died, he fell into serious depression for a while, to the point of developing selective mutism.
It was too late, but from everything he had felt until now, he could finally be certain.
This child was undoubtedly his deceased sister's daughter.
'What on earth have I been doing all this time….'
Yet how had he treated such a child?
He had unleashed killing intent and threatened this child he encountered at the Imperial Palace.
Moreover, it was the same when she came to Superion Castle. Knowing the child feared him, he always looked at her with stern eyes.
Soon, he covered his face with one hand and began to cry, his shoulders trembling.
"……."
Rellia, who was busy eating the Maclia, looked at Carius with bewildered eyes.
When she looked at Becky, she also shrugged as if she didn't understand what was going on either.
That was when it happened.
"Was our little one having dessert?"
The Duke of Superion, having returned from going out, approached and spoke in a gentle voice.
Surprised Rellia looked at her grandfather with round eyes.
The Duke interpreted that look as asking 'Where's grandmother?' and answered as if finding her endearing.
"Your grandmother fell asleep in the carriage, so I escorted her to the bedroom…."
But the Duke's expression, as he approached Rellia, stiffened rapidly.
What came into the Duke's view was his son Carius, crying with his head buried.
The Duke of Superion blinked, finding this situation hard to believe.
No matter how many times he looked again, he was crying.
'What is this fool doing. This guy… why is he crying in front of a child?'
The Duke looked back and forth between Carius and Rellia, who sat across from him with dessert crumbs all around her mouth.
He seemed curious about what on earth had happened for such a situation to occur.
Rellia, flustered by that gaze, involuntarily exclaimed.
"I-I didn't do it! I didn't do that!"
"Hahaha… haha!"
But strangely, at those words, Carius now began to laugh with haha sounds.
When he fought bickering with his sister in childhood and their father came in, his sister would always say 'I didn't do it! Carius just cried on his own!'
Even so, fearing punishment, she would quickly approach Carius and hug him, whispering 'Sister is sorry, so please smile!'
"……."
Rellia looked at Carius with a strange expression, as if seeing a crazy person.
The Duke of Superion, and Becky the maid who was watching, also had similar expressions.