He’s definitely the type of person who isn’t fond of animals.

“Throw it away.”

“What?”

The dog? I shook my head while hugging the dog who was having a staring contest with the Duke without fear. What’s wrong with the dog?

“Are you going to raise it?”

“Yes, I’ve already accepted it. If you throw it away now, this child will die.”

“It won’t die.”

“Still, it’s a pity to throw it away. Can’t we raise it?”

“I disapprove.”

How can you be so firm? Someone must be the pumpkin Duke. I shook my head more intensely. I was taken aback to receive it by chance, but it was too late to return it now, and I felt sorry for the dog to throw it away like this. I made a big decision to protect this cute creature.

tl/n Pumpkin- slang for the act of refusing flatly/says no really quickly

“Uncle, can’t we just raise him? Please. Yes?”

I pretended to cry and clung to the duke. I opened my eyes as wide as possible and acted cute.

‘I’m embarrassed because I’m acting cute at this age.’

It has been a long time since I’ve hit a blunder, but it was an inevitable choice for my dog. To be honest, the duke is not someone who would change his mind due to my cuteness, but I made a calculation that if I showed tears even the twins would take my side.

“…….”

The duke stared at the dog for a long time without saying a word. I shouldn’t have acted cute.  I’ll regret it later in the cool carriage without a thermostat. The twins also opened their mouths to take my side, but they couldn’t speak easily. While I was thinking about how to change the Duke’s mind, I heard a deep sigh.

“Instead, it is prohibited from entering your room.”

The duke still didn’t seem to like it, but he allowed it under one condition. My expression brightened at once. I smiled brightly and thanked the Duke.

“Yes! I will only raise it in the yard! Thank you so much, Uncle!”

The Duke’s mood softened. That was fortunate. The dog wagged its tail and licked the back of my hand, not knowing it was almost abandoned. So cute.

“What should I name it?”

“How about black since it’s black?”

“How about ink since it’s black?”

The twins shouted at the same time as they muttered to themselves. They chose a different word for what they had in common: black.

“Who calls a dog Black?”

“What? How about Ink!”

I stepped up before the fight between Ariel and Erial escalated. If it’s black anyway…

“Let’s call it Night. Isn’t it cute? Night from the night sky!”

“Night? My sister’s naming sense isn’t that great either… Ah!”

“If Sister likes it, let’s do that.”

Erial, who pointed out my naming sense, was stomped on by Ariel’s shoes. He buried his head and held his feet in an attempt to endure the pain. My condolences to Erial. Is it that bad? It resembles the black night sky, so the night. It reminds me of a night to eat, but who cares? I didn’t think deeply.

“Night, your name is night from now on!”

“Woof!”

The black dog barked cheerfully as if it understood its name. I think he’s a little smart. Unintentionally, a new family was formed. With this child, sending the twins to the academy will be less lonely.

3. Friendship is Sincere

It started with a single letter.

“My Lady, are you really going alone?”

“Yeah. Ariel and Erial don’t really like them.”

I told Dane as I got into the carriage.

He looked at me with concern, but he couldn’t help it. In the end, Dane said nothing else and closed the door to see me off.

‘I’ll probably get nagged later.’

I was on my way to Count J. Payne’s estate.

Count J. Payne was originally a Viscount family. It was far from the capital, and it had a small and barren land, but it is said that a gold mine was discovered in the estate three generations ago.

The emperor decided to receive 50% of the gold from the gold mine, and promoted the J. Payne family to count.

‘Like a wealthy pawn.’

It was not an honorable thing, a family that simply became count out of luck, so there was no way they were respected in aristocratic society. Furthermore, the behavior of the J. Payne family after being promoted to count was also a problem.

Whether it was because of their sudden success or because they thought that the aristocrats were ignoring their family, their desire to show off increased. They often humiliated the poor nobles and tried to solve everything with money.

‘It feels like a tycoon who doesn’t get along with the nouveau riche.’

So Count J. Payne wanted to have a lineage that even he couldn’t get with money. I looked out the window and organized the information I knew about Count J. Payne.

Suddenly, Count J. Payne came out because of the person I will meet today, Kanarin J. Payne.

The culprit who pushed me at the Crown Prince’s birthday party and later begged for forgiveness! I remembered Kanarin coming to the Duke’s house and apologizing.

That day I forgave Kanarin, who was crying with swollen eyes. I felt sorry for her situation and honestly sympathized with her. I thought about not getting involved with the original characters, but I couldn’t ignore her letters that came every week.

‘Kanarin didn’t have much influence in the original story, so it wouldn’t matter if we became friends.’

I thought about it and replied because I wondered what’s the use of trying not to get involved with everyone except the female lead. It felt like I made a pen pal.

Kanarin had a different charm from Ariel and Erial.

Simply put, a tsundere. She wanted to be loved, but she couldn’t be honest, and couldn’t express that she wanted to be loved.

In the letter, she wrote a lot of boasting about what she did and said, ‘I can give it to you if Lady Sernia asks me to’. That was kind of cute.

‘It seems that Ariel hasn’t resolved her anger yet.’

Anyway, today I was on my way to meet Kanarin, who had come to the capital for the Founding Festival, which will be held a few days later. I opened the last letter from Kanarin on the shaky carriage. A letter that made me visit Count J. Payne.

‘To sum it up, the Count found out that Kanarin and I were exchanging letters and he wanted to invite me to visit the Count.’

It was the content of a three-page long letter. Her situation was written down in phrases, and she tried to avoid it, but her father’s coercion forced her to make this request. The last line says, ‘Maybe my father will offend Lady Sernia. If the invitation is formally sent, please decline it.’ But how could I refuse?

‘I already think of you as a friend.’

Yes! My first friend.

As we exchanged letters, a friendship developed. Like my classmates, we couldn’t meet often because I was far away, but we can keep in touch and tell each other what we’ve been doing. The twins and the Duke were different from friends because they felt like family.

‘I didn’t know I was going to be friends with Kanarin. But Kanarin thinks of me as a friend, right?’

It was Kanarin who firmly called me ‘Lady Sernia’ and I said that it was okay to call me comfortably or speak casually, but she refused because I was older and had a higher status. Hey, I think of Kanarin as a friend too. I leaned over the shaky carriage and closed my eyes. It was shaky, but when I saw the letter, I got motion sickness.

***

“I’ve arrived. Should I wait? Or should I come back on time?”

“It may be annoying, but will you be able to come back in 3 hours?

“All right.”

The coachman drove the carriage back to the Duke’s house.

It took less than 30 minutes by carriage from the Duke of Ardentine to Count J. Payne. I don’t mind waiting, but I needed an excuse to get picked up from the Duke’s house in case I got into any trouble.

‘The fact that Kanarin wanted me to refuse meant that I might be put into a difficult situation.’

And on the other hand, I wanted to see Kanarin’s family with my own eyes. To find out what kind of person he is to eat away at Kanarin’s self-esteem!

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting.”

As I got off the carriage, the Count greeted me. It doesn’t compare to the Duke, but it looks quite remote. When I got off and the carriage left, he seemed somewhat bewildered.

“Are you here alone?”

“Yes. It is an honor to meet you. My name is Sernia Ardentine.”

I lifted my dress and greeted him politely.

First impressions are important!

The count crumpled his face without responding to my greetings. What? Usually, after greeting, I have to raise my head in response. However, after the Count refused to acknowledge his mistake and remained silent, I couldn’t raise my head to finish my greeting properly.

“Hmm, hmm, what do you think about talking inside Count?”

​​”That’s right. Welcome. Kanarin is waiting inside, so come in.”

I was stunned by the Count’s sudden change in attitude, like a coin flipping over.

Only the butler next to me was sweating profusely and didn’t know what to do. His polite manner of speaking had also changed, and only irritation remained in his expression as he looked up and looked at me.

‘Aha. This guy’s purpose was the twins.’

During the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet, rumors emerged that the Duke and the twins cared for me. That’s probably why the Count knew that Kanarin and I were exchanging letters and invited me.

‘You must have thought that if you invited me, the twins would follow.’

The Count must have been annoyed that his plan had gone wrong. I can understand why Kanarin wanted me to turn down the invitation. The Count’s purpose must have been Ariel, who had no fiance yet. If they became the in-laws of the only Duke in the Empire, they would have everything they wanted!

“Please go inside.”

Unlike the count who entered alone, the butler treated me as politely as possible.

‘Well, that’s what I roughly expected from the moment I received Kanarin’s letter.’

I wasn’t particularly offended. It’s exactly what I expected. I followed the butler and looked at the count. The duke’s castle has a long history, so it exudes an antique charm, whereas the Count’s literally gleams. It was filled with expensive luxury items without an interior concept, but it looked chaotic due to the lack of unity.

‘Whew, all of the money that went into this is not worth it.’

I arrived at Kanarin’s room around the time I gave up looking at the golden color that hurt my eyes. Her room was similar to my old room. The room that’s furthest from the entrance and in the corner.

The butler who politely opened the door and gave directions returned, and Kanarin, who was waiting inside, greeted me.