The Villainous Noble Lady Turned Into a Child, and Her Cold Duke Husband Became Kind - 2 - White Wedding (2)

Leonhardt Alvis was the head of House Alvis.

His black hair and red eyes were rare in this country and had been passed down in his family. His son Julius had the exact same appearance.

In recent years, tensions had worsened between the royalist and noble factions. The royal family struggled to govern the country.

To avoid instability, a political marriage was arranged between the royalist Alvis house and the nobleist Vander house, who had significant influence.

The top noble family, a marquis house, had no daughters—so this was the result.

But the eldest Vander daughter was infamous in society as the “poisonous woman.”

She was said to be wasteful with money, constantly surrounded by men, abusive toward her sister, and too wild to marry even past age twenty. The family was troubled by her behavior, or so the rumors went.

…They pushed a problem child onto me.

Leonhardt sighed quietly as he read through some documents.

His ten-year-old son hadn’t attended the wedding. But eventually, he’d have to meet his stepmother.

She was a bad influence for a child. Julius likely wouldn’t care about her at all.

Julius had a personality similar to Leonhardt, so it wasn’t hard to imagine.

Footsteps came from the hallway and stopped in front of the door. Leonhardt set down his pen.

A knock followed, along with the steward’s voice.

“Come in.”

The steward entered—but something seemed off.

“M-My lord, the madam has…”

…What? Has that woman already caused trouble?

Leonhardt frowned—but the next words stunned him.

“The madam has… shrunk…!!”

“…What?”

Shrunk?

That made no sense. But standing here wouldn’t solve it.

Sighing inwardly, Leonhardt stood from his chair.

“Where is she?”

“In her private room, my lord.”

Leonhardt left the room, the steward following behind.

He had told her to do as she liked—but not to cause problems.

He grew more irritated.

When he neared her room, servants were peeking into it from the hallway. Once they saw him, they scattered.

At the doorway, which was left open, Leonhardt froze.

On a large sofa sat a small bundle of blankets.

The dress she wore this morning was lying nearby. From the blanket poked the face of a little girl with bright red hair and large green eyes.

Leonhardt stopped in his tracks. The steward behind him spoke.

“…That girl is the madam.”

So that’s what “shrunk” meant.

The little girl—presumably Elicia Vander—blinked at him.

“Who are you?”

Her young voice rang clearly in the quiet room.

No one else was there.

…No one at all?

Not even a maid or guard. That was wrong.

“…Why is this happening?”

Leonhardt asked. The steward hesitated for a moment, then spoke nervously.

“W-We had asked the madam to check the wedding gifts herself… and when we heard her scream, she had already become like that…”

“You made her open them herself?”

“…I am deeply sorry…”

Normally, servants check all gifts first. If nothing is wrong, then the master sees them.

But they had made the duchess do it herself.

…Unbelievable…

The staff had failed in their duties.

…No. This is my fault.

Leonhardt coldly rejected her, and the servants who saw it acted the same way as their master.

For some reason, the maid who the lady had brought from the count’s house was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is the lady’s maid?”

“She was so shocked that she ran out of the room, fell down the stairs, and got hurt…”

“…”

Instead of protecting her mistress, she ran away to save herself.

“Send that useless maid back to Count Vander’s house.”

“Understood.”

While Leonhardt was speaking with the steward, the girl kept staring at him.

She looked even smaller than ten-year-old Julius.

Holding back a sigh, Leonhardt stepped into the room and stood by the girl.

She looked up at him with a blank face, showing no fear or worry.

But when he reached out his hand, she trembled and raised her small hand to protect her head.

Leonhardt wasn’t sure what to do with the shaking girl.

But he couldn’t leave her in the room like that.

When he picked her up, she felt very light, small, and soft.

There was a faint trace of dark magic coming from the box that had fallen on the desk.

“Have the court mages search the room. Also, call one mage to the living room.”

“Yes, sir.”

Things were still confusing, but he couldn’t just ignore her anymore.

Holding the girl, Leonhardt walked to the living room.

In his arms, the girl looked around with a curious expression.

If he looked closely, she did resemble Elicia Vander, but there was no trace of her poison-like aura. Her face was cute and gentle.

When he placed her on the sofa with the blanket, she looked around the room in wonder.

“Where is this? Who are you, mister?”

“…You don’t remember anything?”

“Remember?”

She tilted her head with a little “tilt” motion.

Staring into those pure eyes that didn’t match the infamous Elicia Vander, Leonhardt felt overwhelmed.

Was this girl really Elicia Vander?