But the difference in age between us isn’t much. You and brother are still young too.
She wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. Today, Daniel and Isabelle looked particularly mature.
Rosette lowered her head and tapped her foot.
Despite knowing it wasn’t the time for such feelings, her heart fluttered at the thought of being protected.
As Lucas teased her, saying, ‘The little one’s face is turning red!’, Rosette silently hoped everything would work out well.
Thanks to Rosette narrowing down the area, Melody was found much quicker than expected. It took less than two hours.
Melody was discovered in a mansion on the outskirts of the capital.
“We found her! It’s here!”
Duke Adrian, who was searching the outskirts of the capital, rushed inside upon hearing a knight’s report. A knight guarding the door had been subdued by knights from the Adrian house.
“Let’s go in.”
Duke Adrian slowly opened the door and entered. Inside, he saw a bulging blanket on the bed.
He gestured for his men to wait and slowly approached the bed, sitting at its edge.
The blanket twitched and a frightened voice leaked out.
“P-Please save me.”
Duke Adrian gently stroked where he assumed the head was.
“I won’t hurt you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I swear it to Goddess Ashela.”
The child cautiously poked her head out.
A blonde girl with blue eyes – she matched the description Joseph had given of Melody Oser.
“Is your name Melody?”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“How do you know my name?”
“Your brother told me. He asked me to come and get you.”
“You know my brother?”
“Yes. He’s a bit busy, so he sent me.”
“But…”
Melody hesitated.
“The other men said my brother was coming to get me.”
“Did they?”
“Yes. But why didn’t he come?”
“Your brother is a little busy.”
Duke Adrian extended his hand.
“Will you come with me?”
Melody hesitated.
“But my brother told me not to follow strangers. And I followed a stranger and got separated from my aunt. So…”
Duke Adrian smiled and praised her.
“That’s right. You shouldn’t follow strangers. You’ve learned well. Then, will this do?”
He showed her the sword he was wearing at his waist. The hilt of the sword was engraved with the emblem of the Adrian family.
Melody recognized it immediately.
“Oh? That’s the same thing on my brother’s sword! Are you working for Duke Adrian too?”
“Yes, that’s right. Do you trust me a little more now?”
Still, Melody hesitated but then seemed to make up her mind and slowly came out of the blanket.
“Okay. I’ll trust you. And to be honest, I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
“That’s a wise decision.”
Duke Adrian picked up Melody and walked out.
“Let’s go see your brother now.”
While Duke Adrian was fetching Melody, his men were busy finding the mastermind behind it all.
They first found the owner of the building where Melody was discovered. Surprisingly, the owner was not a noble but a merchant with average wealth.
Duke Adrian concluded that the merchant could not afford such a mansion with his wealth. Interrogation revealed that the actual owner was Count Shane.
“It wasn’t me! Why would I harm Duke Adrian!”
Count Shane protested his innocence as the guards stormed his mansion.
However, a magical communicator, matching the pair that Joseph Oser had, was found in his mansion, proving he was the instigator.
The emperor, unwilling to overlook this incident, ordered the imperial knights to investigate. Count Shane was imprisoned in the dungeons of the imperial palace.
And Melody was safely brought to the Duke’s mansion with Adrian.
Hearing the news, Rosette, along with the Adrian siblings, went to meet Melody.
‘Wow, she’s beautiful.’
Melody Oser, Joseph Oser’s sister, unlike her rather ordinary brother, was a child of doll-like beauty.
Bright golden hair and blue eyes reminiscent of the autumn sky, and cheeks soft as dough.
Rosette thought of the bisque doll of Elisha she had once seen, looking at Melody.
The child’s already round eyes were wide with fear, trembling noticeably.
But more than Melody’s beauty, something else caught Rosette’s attention.
‘That child, if taught by a good teacher, could become a skilled magician.’
If Joseph was naturally talented in swordsmanship, Melody had a knack for magic.
Her untamed mana was flowing out, indicating a substantial innate mana capacity.
Seeing Melody, Rosette understood why the Dallas family had kept her alive and not killed her.
They intended to raise her and use her abilities. It was also a way to threaten Joseph – killing two birds with one stone.
After stepping down from Duke Adrian’s embrace, Melody looked around.
“Where’s my brother? You said we came to see him.”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
