Chapter 18
“Get married.”
Out of nowhere?
At the grand duke’s sudden remark, Aria dropped the book she had been holding with a thud.
“I’ll have the wedding held as lavishly as the Empress’s.”
Tristan continued on with his thoughts as if he were alone.
Aria tugged lightly at the hem of his clothes and tilted her head, as if asking what he meant.
The grand duke absentmindedly flicked one of her twitching rabbit ears with his finger and said,
“Wouldn’t that be good for you as well?”
Only after hearing that did Aria realize what he meant.
[What about Lloyd?]
“It’s just a children’s marriage anyway. Marriage is merely a means to provide you with a foundation to settle down. If you really don’t like the boy, you can divorce once you become an adult.”
Under imperial law, divorce was only possible after reaching adulthood.
It was meant to prevent reckless marriage dealings among nobles.
‘That’s not what I meant. I was asking about Lloyd’s opinion…’
Aria was flustered.
She wondered if the grand duke intended to force the marriage without even considering Lloyd’s wishes.
She sensed it instinctively.
‘If he does that, Lloyd and I will never be able to go back to how things were.’
She had only just managed to escape being threatened with death.
Aria shook her head firmly while clutching his clothes tightly.
“Why? Do you not like the eldest son? Then how about the second son? He’s at the academy, but he should be returning soon, so you’ll be able to meet him.”
Aria shook her head even more vigorously.
She had come all this way to meet Lloyd.
Rather than marrying someone else, she would rather work as a maid.
[I don’t want to marry someone who doesn’t want to marry.]
Lloyd had been very wary as a child, so she needed to approach him carefully.
Worried that the grand duke might pressure Lloyd unnecessarily, she quickly wrote something to distract him.
[If I can’t marry, I can just play with Father.]
“Hmm.”
The grand duke fell into thought.
Now that he thought about it, he had been too focused on bringing this child in as the grand duchess.
In the end, all that mattered was that she found emotional stability and a place to settle, wasn’t it?
‘Adopting her as a daughter wouldn’t be bad either.’
With a satisfied smile, the grand duke briefly considered proceeding with adoption.
That would be if his son never opened his heart to her.
“I heard from the physician that you have difficulty eating.”
He began again.
Though he had brought up marriage first, this was actually the main topic.
Aria’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s, clearly not expecting him to know that much.
“I don’t really understand what it means to be unable to express emotions…”
His ash-gray eyes, like burned-out embers, flickered with a strange light.
“But if anyone dares to blame you, I will tear their mouth apart.”
Tear what?
Dwayne, who had been nodding approvingly beside him, was horrified.
‘What kind of thought process leads to that?!’
But Tristan didn’t stop there.
“If anyone looks at you with displeasure, I’ll gouge their eyes out.”
“……”
“And if anyone dares to reach out and touch you, I’ll cut off their wrist.”
“……”
Good heavens…
Dwayne covered his face with both hands in despair.
He respected his lord more than anyone else in the world, but he was also a man who could calmly judge when something wasn’t right.
Even someone as fearless as the young lady would burst into tears hearing such words.
“So if your heart allows it, you may cry.”
“……”
“You can laugh, and you can be angry too.”
Your Highness, trying to fix it after saying something that would emotionally destabilize even a normal person is already too late!
Unable to bear seeing Aria’s reaction, Dwayne squeezed his eyes shut, then slowly opened them.
As expected, tears were streaming down her face.
‘See? She’s crying in fear… no, that doesn’t seem right.’
Like falling rain, her tears wouldn’t stop.
Then she burrowed into the grand duke’s arms.
Desperately.
Like a newly imprinted chick following any unfamiliar figure just to survive.
As if it didn’t matter whether that person was a criminal, a murderer, or even a demon.
“……”
In the past, Dwayne would have thought, ‘As expected, she has extraordinary instincts.’
But this time, he couldn’t bring himself to think that.
Watching with complicated feelings, the grand duke’s aide quietly waited for the child’s tears to stop.
[I want breakfast.]
Aria held out a card.
“Of course, here is some soup—”
[Not soup.]
Dana, who had been about to order soup as usual, froze with wide eyes and her mouth agape.
Soon, she covered her mouth with both hands, overwhelmed with emotion. Her eyes shimmered as if she might cry.
“My lady… have you finally found something you want to eat?”
Aria nodded.
In truth, as soon as she woke up that morning, a dish from the cookbook Dana had shown her before came to mind.
She didn’t know why.
She just wanted to eat it.
[Scrambled eggs.]
With that single card, the kitchen went into emergency mode.
After learning that Aria had trouble eating, the grand duke had already overturned the kitchen once.
‘We must make the best scrambled eggs in the world…!’
With his soul poured into two eggs, Head Chef Baker personally came to Aria’s room, his face tense.
A trembling kitchen assistant pushed in the trolley and set the food on the table.
It was the scrambled eggs Aria had requested.
‘It looks delicious.’
They were fluffy and moist, just like the illustration in the cookbook.
But unlike the picture, they carried a sweet, warm scent of milk.
Strangely, they looked appetizing.
After hesitating briefly, she scooped a small bite and put it in her mouth.
The soft texture melted instantly upon touching her tongue.
‘I never tried to understand what “taste” really was.’
She had just eaten.
To survive. To stay alive.
‘So… this is what it feels like.’
Aria pressed her lips together.
For some reason, it felt like she might cry again.
But perhaps because she remembered the grand duke quietly patting her back to comfort her, she quickly steadied herself.
She swallowed and took another bite.
This time, a big one.
Stuffing her cheeks full, she chewed slowly.
Before she knew it, the plate was empty.
“How is it? Does it suit your taste?”
Baker asked solemnly.
Even if he were to have the Emperor himself judge his cooking, he wouldn’t be this nervous.
After thinking for a moment, Aria answered,
[It tastes soft and fluffy.]
She had done her best to describe it.
That was her limit. She had never truly savored food before.
At that moment, the kitchen assistants who had been silently watching suddenly burst into action as if awakened.
“My lady, would you like dessert?”
“We have chocolate ice cream!”
“What about the chef’s special macarons?”
“How about cheesecake?”
“We also have pears soaked in honey!”
“At least some candy…!”
Everyone shouted at once, as if they couldn’t bear not to give her something.
Aria accepted the candy that the last assistant desperately offered and put it in her mouth.
A refreshing mint flavor gently filled her mouth, not too strong for a child’s taste.
[Thank you, always.]
She took out a card from her bag.
It had been used so much that its edges were already worn smooth.
“To think I’d finally get to see that card…”
The assistant who gave her the candy trembled with emotion, then suddenly punched the arm of the person next to him.
“What the—what was that for?”
The servant who got hit looked baffled.
They had just met.
But soon, the servant nodded in understanding and patted the assistant’s shoulder.
Before long, spring passed and summer arrived.
With the first semester of the academy over, Lloyd returned to the estate for vacation.
“So, you came as well.”
“Of course. It’s a rare break, after all.”
Lloyd’s carriage arrived at the exact same time as his stepbrother’s.
Coincidentally.
Vincent Valentine.
He smiled smoothly, like velvet, as he met Lloyd’s indifferent gaze.
“You’re the same as ever.”
“And you as well, brother.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Haha.”
Vincent chuckled lightly as he leisurely followed behind Lloyd, who walked ahead.
“The estate seems unusually busy today.”
It made sense that things were hectic with both young masters arriving at the same time.
But the Valentine estate seemed busy in a different way.
“It looks like they’re constructing something new.”
At that moment, a man who appeared to be an architect passed by carrying several rolled-up blueprints under his arm.
Lloyd tilted his head slightly toward him.
Without a single word spoken, the architect hurried over.
“Y-Your Highness, did you call for me?”
“Let me see.”
“Pardon? Y-Yes, yes!”
He quickly unrolled the blueprints.
Even to someone unfamiliar with architecture, the scale was enormous.
It was large enough to make one wonder if they were building another castle.
“Are you planning to make an amusement park?”
Vincent, who had been examining the blueprints, asked.
As someone who studied alongside professors at the academy, he was knowledgeable in many fields.
“An amusement park?”
In the grand duchy?
Lloyd asked incredulously. Why build such a thing in a place no one could enter?
“It’s like building a luxury cruise ship in the mountains.”
Vincent agreed with him.
Watching their reactions, the architect cautiously spoke.
“His Highness ordered us to build a playroom for the young lady…”
“The young lady?”
Lloyd cut him off mid-sentence, fixing him with dark eyes.
“She’s still here?”
There was no emotion in his voice.
But the one receiving his gaze felt as if their breath was being choked.
