The duke escaped through the balcony at dawn; where could he have gone?
I suddenly found myself in the position of an elderly housemaid chasing a teenage boy.
The problem is, the one I’m chasing isn’t a child but a fully grown adult.
“Have you seen the duke?”
“I haven’t. Isn’t it your role as a maid to attend to him?”
“······.”
I quickly gave up asking around.
The more I asked, the more it would spread that I wasn’t performing my duties as a maid properly.
If this gets to the butler’s ears, I would be in deep trouble.
As I quietly resumed my search alone, an ominous thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“Ah.”
No way.
I kept repeating to myself that it couldn’t be true, yet I found myself hurriedly clutching my skirt and making my way toward the accommodation.
At this hour, Tia shouldn’t have woken up yet.
Then she must be sleeping in my room.
“I’m going crazy.”
She’s not here.
Tia is gone.
Not just from the room, but I couldn’t find even a trace of her anywhere in the entire accommodation.
In an instant, sweat poured down like rain, and my chest began to feel tight.
The duke disappeared with Tia.
And it was the very next day after hearing that Tia is the daughter of a dragon.
I tried to calm myself, but it was useless.
The small possibility had already transformed into a massive delusion dominating my mind.
“Ha······ haaa······.”
I clutched my aching, breathless chest and rushed to the main gate.
I needed to check the number of parked carriages quickly.
As I rounded the corner and reached the expansive garden of the villa, I heard Tia’s voice, and my body froze.
“Okay! I’ll throw it your way, so do you want to catch it?”
“Mew! Mew!”
“Hey!”
In the vast field, the duke and Tia were standing there.
As the duke threw the frisbee he was holding, Tia leaped into the air as if she were a hunting dog, her gaze fixed on the frisbee.
“Mew! I caught it!”
“Good. Now can you throw it back to me?”
“Like this?”
“Uuugh! The wind is blowing, so aim a bit to the left!”
I wanted to scream and call for Tia right then and there.
However, seeing the frisbee being tossed back and forth between them and Tia laughing joyfully made me hesitate slightly.
The duke was no longer the beast I saw at the party.
The dignified noble was nowhere to be seen; instead, there was just a silly man rolling around in the grass, playing with a child.
After barely snatching the frisbee that Tia threw, the duke laughed for a while lying in the field and accidentally made eye contact with me.
“Hey. That’s your mother. Run away.”
“Huh!”
The duke whispered quietly, and Tia let out a shriek and instantly bolted out of sight.
What a real······.
“Miss Julia. I need your help, so please come over here.”
“I’m just going to talk to my daughter for a moment—”
“Come here right now.”
“······.”
As I got fired up and was about to chase after her, I was stopped by the duke’s gentle smile.
He stood up from the field, dusting off his clothes, and stared at me as if he were waiting.
Reluctantly, I pulled out a handkerchief and approached to wipe the dirt from the duke’s face.
“What are you doing to the employee’s child?”
“What do you mean? I was just playing. Doesn’t Miss Julia prevent her daughter from coming outside?”
“······.”
Who do you think is to blame for that?
I’m keeping her from encountering a rabid dog that’s overly excited because I fear she’d get attacked, and if someone hears that, they’ll think I’m a crazy mom keeping her child locked up.
“Please don’t interfere. She’s my child.”
“And she’s also my employee’s child. A seed of disaster, too.”
“What did you say?”
“······It was a slip of the tongue.”
“Don’t ever call Tia that again.”
“I understand.”
A seed of disaster.
That word nearly made me lose my composure.
I glared at the duke and threatened him clearly, which made him take a small step back.
A seed of disaster.
He must have heard that from Leopard and thought to use it as a leverage against me.
Everyone seems to be trying to twist me into knots.
That thought almost brought tears to my eyes.
“Do you know why Leopard entrusted me with you and your daughter?”
“Because the master is a noble who goes crazy for women?”
“No. I’m not like that.”
“······.”
Yeah, right.
Hearing that from a guy who assaulted a woman in a dark corridor behind a banquet hall seems rather convincing.
“Let’s assume that’s not the case. What exactly do you want to say?”
“Because my side is the safest place in the world. As long as you and your daughter are within my territory, you’re safer than anyone else in the world.”
“I find it hard to accept that. Do you have any evidence that can convince me?”
“I do, but if I show it now, it would cause trouble for Miss Julia. It’s better for you not to know.”
“Hmm······.”
He didn’t seem like the type to lie in this regard.
He must have some other reason to trust, aside from the fact that he is from the powerful duke family.
Moreover, there was a strange sense of reassurance when with the duke, making it hard to shake off my trust in him.
Of course, the sense of security was overshadowed by the anxiety that I didn’t know when he might pounce on me again.
“Are you saying you’ll protect me and my daughter?”
“Exactly. Now that I know of the prophecy, I have no choice. I will do my utmost to protect you both.”
“And without any cost?”
“Without any cost.”
“······.”
That felt fishy.
He was going to protect us despite knowing Tia was destined to be a seed of disaster?
And without receiving any sort of payment in return?
This guy feels the most suspicious.
“I’m uneasy about this. So please demand something in return.”
“Then can I ask you to marry me?”
“······.”
“I was joking.”
“······.”
“I really was. Trust me.”
“······.”
Seeing my expression sour, the duke immediately started to smooth things over.
To me, it felt half in jest, half serious.
No, maybe his sincerity was around sixty percent.
What a madman······.
“In reality, I’ve received all compensation from Leopard. But if it can ease your mind, I’ll tell you this: when I look at Tia, I think of my daughter I lost long ago. The one I left behind and ran away from due to my cowardice······. I have a poor memory when it comes to people’s faces, and I don’t even know her name, so I’ve had no way to find her until now. If I ever get the chance to meet her again, I want to apologize to her mother. I’m sorry for making her suffer, and sorry for leaving.”
“······.”
Suddenly, the duke looked up at the sky and began to spin a tale of his past.
He spoke with a great sense of nostalgia, but if you strip it down to the core, it came down to him having an affair with an unnamed woman and fleeing in surprise when an unexpected child appeared.
What a madman.
The mother of the child ended up pitiful.
He would be the kind of person I’d never want to deal with unless our interests aligned.
“Even if you protect us both, I need you to ensure this: Tia always comes first. No matter how much my priority is pushed down the list, please make sure to prioritize Tia unconditionally. If there is no room, if it comes to it, then don’t hesitate to abandon me if it means saving Tia.”
“Uh······.”
“Do you understand? Please respond.”
“I promise. In case of emergency, even if it means giving up on you, I will absolutely ensure Tia’s safety.”
Finally, I felt relief wash over me.
Ever since the duke promised not to assault me, he hadn’t made a move against me even once.
So at least he was not the kind of despicable man who would break his word.
Of course, it might just be that he hadn’t yet, and he could be biding his time…
“Alright. That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“Such strong maternal instinct.”
“Indeed. I was surprised too. I never knew I could care for someone this deeply. Could it be the instinct of a holy maiden?”
“Oh, speaking of which, you were a holy maiden······.”
The duke’s mouth momentarily dropped open before he covered his mouth with one hand.
It seems he heard from the hero that I was a holy maiden.
Before that, it really seemed like he had no idea.
“It’s a bit frustrating that Leopard didn’t give me a hint. If I had known your identity beforehand······.”
“If you had known, what? You wouldn’t have assaulted me?”
“I would have taken special care to ensure······ to protect the sanctity of the holy maiden.”
The duke replied, sweating profusely.
He might realize that he did something wrong.
However, among his responses, there was one that was wrong.
And that just happened to touch a nerve.
“You seem to have a misunderstanding. I’m not a virgin. I wasn’t a virgin when you assaulted me, so don’t get any weird sense of superiority.”
“What superiority?!”
“The superiority of having deflowered a holy maiden.”
“I don’t have that superiority! Isn’t it natural? With a daughter, how could I be misunderstood as a virgin? And I also wouldn’t misunderstand that you are not my first!”
“Eh? I never even thought about such a misunderstanding?! Who would think a rogue like you is a virgin?!”
“I was a virgin until about three months ago—”
“I’m not interested!”
After shouting back and forth at each other, I suddenly felt my face flush bright red.
To be saying such embarrassing things right in the middle of the garden······.
What if someone heard us?
In embarrassment, I unconsciously turned my back on the duke.
“Ha. My face feels hot.”
“Should I bring some ice cream?”
“Ice cream?!”
“Hey, come here.”
As soon as the word ice cream escaped his mouth, Tia peeked her head out from behind the bushes.
Seizing the opportunity, I dashed over and caught her by the nape of her neck.
You little······.
Ignoring what your mother says and only listening to that strange perverted uncle.
You need to have a wake-up call.
“Shall we go eat ice cream together?”
“Three of us! Yay!”
“That will spoil the child.”
“That’s fine. Let’s raise her spoiled.”
“She’s not your child······.”
“What did you just say?”
“I didn’t say anything, master. Also, if you’re going to eat ice cream, please change your clothes first. You’re all dirty from the soil. Tia, you should change your clothes too.”
“Mew? I’m fine!”
As I dragged Tia’s nape toward the accommodation, I couldn’t help letting out sighs.
Not knowing the duke’s true intentions behind wanting to protect us.
Not understanding what it meant for Tia to be a seed of disaster.
I was full of worries about the unknown, but for now, I didn’t feel too bad.
I wonder why······.
![[TS] Became a Peach Saint](https://i0.wp.com/cdn.novelupdates.com/images/2024/12/TS-Became-a-Peach-Saint.png?resize=151,215 "[TS] Became a Peach Saint")
