Even if you offer money, you can’t sell your best friend’s information, is that it?

“I don’t want any grand secret. I just want to know what the Marquis has been up to lately, and whether the King’s guard is still searching for the blond boy in Yukanadar.”

What I wanted to know was whether, as in the original story, Reidox had asked Jeremi to disguise some deceased boy as Kian Blake.

In the original plot, Gillian stopped searching for Kian because they had disguised a boy who died young as Kian.

“Yes. They haven’t stopped searching for children with blond hair and blue eyes. They’re capturing every child, whether boy or girl. What about here?”

“There are no children with blond hair in Blake.”

“I see.”

If they haven’t disguised anyone as Kian yet, it wouldn’t be bad for me to suggest a method.

“There’s a way to stop the King from searching for blond-haired children.”

“A way?”

“As you know, Yukanadar has many blond-haired children, and many die daily from illness. Disguise one of them as Kian.”

Jeremi frowned as if appalled by the suggestion.

“You mean to use a dead child?”

“Of course, even I don’t feel good saying this. But for the sake of other living children, this is the only way. You just need to engrave the royal crest you’ve seen onto the back of the dead child’s neck. And that child’s body won’t be cremated—it’ll be respectfully buried within the palace grounds.”

According to the original story, Kian later felt gratitude toward the child’s remains and kept them preserved in the palace.

Still, Jeremi, who until now had always smiled pleasantly, now wore a slightly uncomfortable expression.

“Is this not also for the sake of His Highness the Royal Heir?”

“Of course that’s part of it. To protect the Royal Heir, and to protect other blond-haired children.”

“I’ll relay this to Reidox.”

“Also tell the Marquis this: Lucy’s running away won’t stop. If you lock the child up to prevent Lucy from running away, that would be abuse. If you want to stop Lucy’s escapes, it’d be better to assign the Royal Heir lessons befitting a Crown Prince.”

“That’s something even I can’t quite accept. What connection does Lucy’s running away have with His Highness?”

“Whenever Lucy runs away, His Highness will safely bring her back.”

Jeremi stared at me strangely, then scratched his face as if remembering something.

“Reidox mentioned that the Duchess can see the future. Perhaps…”

Jeremi paused, glanced at me, then looked away while scratching his nose.

“Perhaps… can you see my future too?”

Normally, I might know, but now the future has changed—even I don’t know anymore.

“I can’t see the future of every person or every thing. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I can’t see your future, Jeremi.”

Jeremi truly looked disappointed—his previously hopeful eyes quickly drooped.

Jeremi, who transformed the training room into a magical chamber of all sorts, received quite a sum of money.

And on the day Jeremi left, snow began falling in the evening, followed by a heavy blizzard that trapped us inside the Duke’s manor for several days. It was an absolutely massive snowfall—no carriage could possibly pass through.

I stood by the window with Kian, wondering when this blizzard would ever stop.

Durion came in from outside, arms full of firewood, placing each log into the fireplace while yawning. He glanced furtively at us, then spoke.

“If you need anything, I’ll pull a sled through the snow to go buy it.”

“No, Durion. We don’t need anything. I just wanted Kian to see the outdoors.”

“Ah. Since the young master arrived here, he’s only gone outside once.”

Durion, apparently also concerned about Kian having only gone out once, pondered deeply, then brightened as if struck by a good idea.

“Hmm… how about ice fishing? I guarantee it’ll be quite fun!”

That should be fine. Kian’s never tried fishing before, right?

I readily agreed to Durion’s suggestion.

“That sounds good. What about you, Kian?”

“I’d love to! I’ve only seen fishing in storybooks—I’ve never actually done it.”

We should call Sikar too.

“Where is Sikar right now?”

“He’s in the training room—I’ll go fetch him.”

“Good. The weather outside is very cold, so let’s prepare thoroughly!”

Ughhh… I didn’t expect it to be this cold?

I came out fully prepared, but no matter how warmly I dressed, without a wood-burning stove or even a single hand warmer, it was unbearably cold. I hadn’t even been at the ice fishing spot for thirty minutes before shivering uncontrollably and regretting everything.

“Durion. Is ice fishing always this cold? Is there no wood-burning stove or something here?”

“We’re also new to ice fishing—we didn’t realize it’d be this cold. Haha. Sorry, Madam. I’ll prepare a wood-burning stove right away.”

Durion dashed off to fetch a wood-burning stove.

Sikar stood expressionless, but since his hair was slightly frosted, he must have been just as cold. At this moment, Vika Lamberst—who hadn’t come out at all—was the most enviable.

Still, thankfully, Kian looked very happy.

Everyone’s suffering except you.

I was just about to suggest going inside to warm up and then coming back out, when Kian’s fishing rod suddenly jerked.

“Look at this! I think I caught a fish!”

It must have been quite a big one—the rod moved forcefully. Kian, with his small frame, gripped the rod with all his strength.

I forgot the cold and ran over to help him pull, but even adding my strength didn’t budge the rod an inch.

Sikar, who had been watching nearby, walked over and grabbed the rod too—and immediately, a large fish hooked on the line surfaced.

“Wow! It’s a huge fish!”

“A big one! A real big one!”

The fish Kian caught was quite large. At a time when no one else had caught anything, only Kian had reeled in such a big fish.

“Kian! You’re so good at fishing. That’s amazing!”

“I’ve never seen a live fish before. It’s so fascinating—I didn’t know fish could be this big!”

“Fish aren’t usually this big. You caught a big one, Kian.”

“Really?”

“Of course. You’re amazing. There’s nothing you can’t do!”

While I praised the delighted Kian, Sikar tossed the fish into the bucket and stood up.

“Now that we’ve caught a fish, let’s head back in.”

Hearing Sikar, Kian looked at me with a pouty face.

“Can’t I catch just a few more? Fishing is so much fun…”

Sikar, who had been moving with the bucket, paused with a tired expression—and I liked seeing that look on his face.

“No problem at all. Sikar! Kian wants to fish a bit longer! You’ll play nicely with him, won’t you?!”

Apparently, Sikar had wanted to go back inside, but perhaps because I whispered to him that this was a chance to grow closer to Kian, he turned back.

No matter how you looked at it, he seemed eager to go inside immediately—but since little Kian wasn’t complaining about the cold, Sikar’s pride wouldn’t allow him to admit he was cold, even if it killed him.

Actually, Kian tolerated the cold better because he grew up in snowy mountains. Sikar seemed to have forgotten that fact.

“Well then, I’m too cold—I’ll head back inside first. Kian, catch lots of fish. Make sure they’re really big ones!”

“Yes! I’ll make sure we have delicious fish I caught for dinner tonight!”

I patted Kian’s adorable head, then happily returned to the manor.

Sitting by the warm fireplace, wrapped in a shawl, sipping hot cocoa—I couldn’t have been sleepier.

Truly, nothing beats warmth and a full belly.

While I unknowingly dozed off, the fishing group returned.

“Look at this, Madam! The bucket is completely full!”

The bucket Durion carried was indeed packed with large fish.

“You caught this many fish?”

“Yes! All of these were caught by the young master! These, these, these—all these big ones!”

When we went to the fishing spot, each of us carried a different-sized bucket. Durion’s and Sikar’s buckets were the largest, mine was medium-sized, and Kian’s was the smallest.

The large fish Durion pointed to were all inside Durion’s and Sikar’s buckets.

I pointed to the small fish in Kian’s smallest bucket and asked,

“Did Kian catch these too?”

Durion flinched slightly and glanced at Sikar, who turned his head sharply as if uninterested and left the living room. Then Durion whispered to me,

“Those were caught by the Duke.”

So that’s why he left. His pride must be quite wounded, losing at fishing to a child.

As the Duchess, I suppressed my laughter and smiled at Kian.

“Thanks to our Kian, we’ll get to enjoy a truly varied fish dinner tonight!”

Kian smiled shyly, clearly pleased.

“When I grow up, I’ll cook fish I caught myself, just for you!”

“Kian, it already feels like I’ve gotten a delicious meal from you.”

This adorable child was impossible not to love. I hugged Kian tightly.

But Kian’s body felt slightly warm. When I touched his forehead—sure enough, he had a slight fever.

“Kian, you have a fever?”

Hearing me, Durion came over surprised and placed his hand on Kian’s forehead.

“Oh? He really does have a fever?”

“Probably from being out in the cold. It’s fine.”

“Now that you mention it, his cheeks are a bit flushed too. Are you really okay, Kian?”

“Yes! I’m perfectly fine, Mother!”

Kian just smiled bravely, so I assumed he was truly fine—perhaps it was just a temporary fever. Even after dinner made from the fish Kian caught, he seemed perfectly normal.

But later that night, after putting Kian to bed and turning to leave, I noticed something odd—when I touched his forehead, he was drenched in cold sweat.

I informed Sikar of Kian’s condition. Sikar’s expression hardened when he entered the room.

“He’s sweating cold sweat?”

“Earlier, he seemed slightly feverish, but now he has no fever—only cold sweat.”

“He might’ve sweated like that earlier just from coming in from the cold. But sweating cold sweat now without any reason seems problematic.”

Sikar gently took my hand.

“This seems more like a mental issue than a physical one. I’ll have to go in. Into Kian’s dreams.”