Published: August 10, 2026
My name is Elisabeth Granado.
Most people call me by my nickname, Lisa. I am six years old. A beautiful girl with abundant red hair like the sun goddess and mysterious emerald eyes like a magician.
I am the strongest. After all, first of all, I have a great face. When I smile, most adults end up smiling too, so I am very cute.
And my home is here in Granado Castle, the largest fortress in the Dirts Kingdom. My father is the lord of the castle—a duke, Cyrus Granado.
He has brown skin, the same green eyes as me, and glossy black hair tied at the nape of his neck. Even after passing his thirties, he is still such a handsome man that anyone would stare at him. To put it mildly, Papa is the coolest person in the world.
In this vast castle, the most important person is Papa. Then comes me. Other than that, more than a hundred attendants live here together with us. Papa is the king of this castle. So he should act even more important and sit back like he owns the place, but he never really feels that way. When I called the gatekeeper boy "Gatekeeper-kun," Papa scolded me with a sharp, "Hey."
He knelt down with his large body, brought his eyes level with mine, and spoke to me with a serious expression.
"Thomas is an employee of this castle, but he is not your subordinate. Show respect to the person protecting the entrance to this castle. Make sure you remember his name properly."
Papa is usually kind, but sometimes he lectures me like this. I nodded, saying, "Okaay."
Then Papa immediately smiled. He picked me up and lifted me high.
"Good. You're honest, Lisa. That's very good."
Papa is the kind of person who smiles a lot like this.
He is almost always in a good mood, and even when he has a difficult look on his face for work, he breaks into a smile the moment he sees me.
"If you're here, Papa can keep trying as much as he wants!"
Shouting that, he rubs his cheek against mine—Papa, Duke Cyrus Granado, who is a little too affectionate.
Papa is so bright like that, but... sometimes he isn't bright at all.
At night, there are times when he stands motionless by the window. Looking up at the pitch-black sky, his green eyes stare off somewhere far away, as if searching for something distant... and he looks very lonely.
And sometimes, he murmurs.
"...Marie..."
The name of someone who isn't here.
The woman named Marie Shadelan Granado—Cyrus Granado's wife and my "Mama"—is no longer here.
She left me and Papa behind and went somewhere far away. I've been told she is in a distant foreign land, on a "very, very long trip."
—A trip? What for? Why didn't she take Papa and me with her?
No matter how I asked, no one would tell me. "You'll understand someday," they would whisper, as if sealing my lips, and then walk away.
I had stopped asking as well, because Papa always looked so sad.
I'm sure Mama must have left this castle for some sad reason... or maybe for a reason that made Papa sad. The truth is, no one tells me that either.
Even though they won't tell me, Papa often talks about Mama.
"Lisa really does look like her mother. Except for the green eyes, you're just like Marie."
"This year's a great tomato harvest. I wish Marie could eat these delicious tomatoes too."
"Lisa, do you remember? Long ago, Marie picked flowers here and made a hair ornament for you—"
In the middle of speaking, he would notice that I was having trouble responding, and then fall silent. That was Papa's routine, the everyday life of our father and daughter.
It wasn't just Papa. Marie's departure seemed to have left a heavy sadness in the hearts of all the attendants in the castle.
Thomas the gatekeeper, Tunic the bath attendant, Johan the gardener, Toppo the head chef, Adam the stableman, and even Head Maid Audrey—everyone who knew Marie would sometimes reminisce about her.
And then, noticing that I had gone quiet, they would let out an awkward "Ah..." and look away, embarrassed.
I'm sure... Mama must have been a much bigger, more important presence in this castle than I, her daughter, could imagine.