Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

Morning—it was a bit late to still call it that, the sun had already fully risen.

In the dining room, as I was feeding Lisa her baby food, Lord Cyrus came in.

He pulled out the chair next to me and said with a yawn mixed into his voice,

“Good moooorning…”

I had taken a short sleep and been looking after Lisa before dawn. After taking turns sleeping, not much time had passed.

“Are you alright, Lord Cyrus? Haven’t you gotten enough sleep?” I asked.

“Marie, you too. Besides, I have to leave again before noon. I should be waking up soon anyway…” he replied.

As he spoke, his body swayed from side to side.

I smiled and handed him the coffee I had just brewed for myself.

“Here, I haven’t taken a sip yet.”

“That’s a shame…” he muttered, then took a sip.

“…Did I just say something gross in my half-asleep state? Forget it,” he said.

“Yes,” I replied with a laugh and nodded honestly.

There was no way I’d think that was gross. My husband had held our child all through the night until he was this exhausted. And he was doing his best to let me rest. His feelings and actions made me truly happy. I was grateful and leaning on him quite a bit… but—

“Please, don’t overdo it anymore…” I said.

He furrowed his brows. The aroma of the coffee seemed to refresh him somewhat; his emerald eyes shone sharply. He sighed deeply once and seemed to be searching for words. Apparently, even through his drowsiness, there was something he wanted to say. When I encouraged him, he started speaking with difficulty.

“It’s about Ella, who I’m looking after on behalf of Marquis Dario…”

What he said was already something I knew. That Nanny Ella wasn’t getting along well with the Granado Castle attendants. In fact, it seemed she was even being harassed. After some thought, I told him about the incident yesterday where abusive words were stuck to her back, and how she reacted then.

“I’m worried about Ella…” I said.

“More than that, I’m concerned about the security of this castle,” Lord Cyrus replied, propping his chin on his hand and sighing again.

“At least Ella herself needs to come forward. With no clear situation, culprit, or reason, we can’t come up with a solution. Honestly, I wish there were at least a clearer case of violence to deal with.”

I couldn’t fully agree with that last part, but it was true.

Judging from the bits of information we could glean from Ella’s words, it didn’t seem like there was only one culprit. If it’s a group, even if one person is pressured, they’d just insist the problem lies with Ella. We could condemn them without question, but Ella would probably end up saying “I’m the one at fault” at the last minute, and everything would fizzle out.

What should we do? I had no experience mediating other people’s quarrels, so I was completely clueless. Lord Cyrus probably found it hard to interfere with women’s group psychology as well.

“If only Mio were here now…” he muttered.

At that moment, I felt a heavy impact on my right shoulder. Surprised, I turned to see Lord Cyrus’s head resting on my shoulder.

…Lord Cyrus… had fallen asleep sitting in his chair.

He had been thinking deeply with his arms folded, then toppled sideways and leaned against me.

“Lo-Lord Cyrus…!”

“Guu…”

What a cute sleeping face—no, wait!

“W-wait, you’re going to fall!”

I panicked and tried to support him from the side, but I was holding Lisa in one arm. Lord Cyrus was much bigger and heavier than me. I couldn’t support his weight fully and almost fell over with Lisa in my arms.

As I struggled to keep my balance, Lord Cyrus’s body tilted further… Sensing my tension, Lisa suddenly started crying loudly as if lit on fire. Her piercing screams filled my ears, but Lord Cyrus didn’t wake up—no, this is bad, impossible to hold him up, I’m going to fall, this is dangerous!

“Lord Cyrus, wake up! Heeelp, Mio… no, she’s not here, someone, anyone—!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs, and then—