Chapter 25
TL-Mechatronic
“Du-Duke……No, Father.”
As Luciel’s title almost returned to the Duke’s, his well-groomed golden eyebrows rose.
“Fa…Father-in-law I’m sorry, I’m not used to it yet.”
Luciel was very nervous and corrected his name several times.
“As long as it’s not Duke, I think it’ll be fine. Are you learning magic from Father these days?”
Fortunately, it was a topic that Luciel could answer well.
“I am having fun learning. I haven’t been able to use my magic yet. I heard from Grandpa that Father-inlaw was born with an ice attribute.”
Like a tiny baby bird babbling, Luciel spoke nonstop.
“I think it’s really cool.”
The Duke took a step closer to Luciel, who was looking at him with longing eyes, and stroked the soft and squishy cheek of the child with his finger.
“You too will soon be able to manifest magic. I look forward to it.”
At those words, Luciel raised her spirit a little and said, with strength.
“Yes, I’m working hard.”
“Let’s keep that confidence.”
The Duke’s large hand stroked Luciel’s head. The warm body temperature seemed to soften the inside of his chest.
“Oh, I got compliments….I feel good.’
“I have somewhere to go with you today.”
The Duke was always busy with government affairs, so Luciel became curious.
“What? Where to?”
“It will be a long journey. We have to go all the way to the capital Arte.”
“…… To the capital?”
“Yes, we will go to the Imperial Academy.”
Luciel’s eyes widened greatly. If it’s the Imperial Academy…… It was the place where Kizef went to study.
‘Finally, I can meet Kizef.!
It was our first meeting after returning. How was he in his childhood? My heart was already pounding with excitement.
“Hurry up and get ready.”
The Duke ordered Bessie, who was behind me.
“Yes, Master. Now, all we have to do is make her hairdo and she will be done.”
Luciel, who looked in the mirror, looked back and said,
“Bessie, please make me look pretty.”
“You are already pretty and lovely enough, my lady. Do you want to look good to Master Kizef?” Luciel nodded and touched her hair with her fingers,
“Because we can’t get divorced.”
It was a word that showed some determination, but both Bessie and the Duke just felt that what Luciel said was simply cute.
Bessie tightly hugged Luciel’s little shoulder.
“It’s not going to happen, so don’t worry.”
“At least you won’t get divorced with your face, so don’t worry. Luciel.”
The Duke also added a word to indicate that Luciel was pretty and cute. After Bessie carefully combed her hair, she fixed it in a half ponytail and tied a cute white ribbon.
“It looks like everything is ready, so let’s leave. Come here.”
The Duke lightly hugged Luciel up and asked.
“Did you eat more these days?”
“A-a little.”
“I should upgrade you from feathers to cotton doll. You did well.”
The Duke said close by her ear, with a gentle smile.
His footsteps, who were slowly descending the stairs of the East Building, stopped for a moment, and he whispered in her ear.
“Let’s go before Leoni wakes up.”
“Yes.”
That was something Luciel agreed with. If Leoni found out, it was clear that he would insist on going together. As Eva loaded a basket into the carriage, she spoke affectionately to Luciel.
“Miss Luciel, eat this when you are hungry. Have a safe trip.”
“Thank you, Eva.”
“And here is your wool blanket. Because of the magic inside the barrier, the climate and temperature are rather warm, but it is still slightly cold outside.”
“Ah, yes.”
Come to think of it, back when she first came, Grandpa bought a blanket, so she was able to come warmly.
In the carriage, there was a soft cushion on the seat in consideration of Luciel, beside it there was also a cute brown bear doll with black bean-like eyes, nose, and mouth. And there were two glass bottles containing bear jelly that Luciel liked.
“It’s a teddy bear and bear jelly.”
She grabbed the doll and held the jelly in the other hand. The Duke took a seat next to Luciel and slyly pretended not to know while putting the wool blanket over the child’s lap.
“Did Father-in-law bring it to me?”
Luciel asked while holding the jelly and the doll.
“Who else is there?”
“Ah… Thank you. Actually, I ate all the jelly, and was going to ask for more today. Oh, right, I was going to give this to you.”
She took something out of the carrot bag and held it to the Duke. It was large, fluffy socks with snowflake embroidery and a folded pink letter.
“It’s pretty and warm. If you wear it, you will be able to sleep well.”
“Are you asking me to wear this?”
“Yes.”
He was embarrassed for a while when he saw the socks, but soon a smile spread in his face. Then, he lifted his long legs, took off his shoes, and changed to the socks given by Luciel. The Duke’s eyes were slightly bent.
‘You always give me something just like you.’
“Is it cozy and warm?”
“…Yes.”
It would have been shocking if anyone in the Duke’s Castle saw it. The Duke quietly read the letter from Luciel, feeling the coziness of the socks.
[Did you know?
I can feel the wall from my father-in-law.
The Wall of Perfection.”]
(TL: It’s a joke using characters. /(wall) and 2 (perfect), only one character changed from one word to another, the joke around means that he’s perfection in itself.)
As soon as he read it, a burst of laughter came from the Duke’s lips as if wind was falling out. It was sly, but it didn’t feel too bad because she was praising him.
“Luciel, where did you learn this?”
“…Heh. Just because. It was a word that came to mind when I saw my father-in-law.”
Luciel smiled shyly, and the Duke clenched his chin for a moment and murmured.
“…Am I that perfect?”
She quietly pulled the wool blanket up to her face. It was embarrassing, so Luciel thought it would be better to pretend to sleep for a while.
The carriage soon departed.
Passing through the gates of the wall, Luciel was really asleep in the warmth of the blanket and the teddy
bear.
A soft footrest was also placed underneath for her, whose feet could not reach the floor. Luciel took off her shoes and raised her feet with only her socks on. It was the perfect environment for sleeping.
How long did they travel like that?
Before they knew it, both of them were asleep in warm socks.
The carriage, which had been running for a long time, arrived safely in Arte, the capital city. Louivid carefully pulled the blanket on the shoulder of the sleeping child who was napping in his lap.
Aside from her silver eyelashes twitching from time to time, Luciel was sleeping like a baby animal.
Compared to Leoni, who moved a lot in his sleep, and Kizef, who was sensitive, she was very gentle. Well, it was because the boys were Louivid’s own blood. He himself had rarely slept in a deep slumber because of his sensitive and rough constitution.
The soft, flour-like white cheeks were so cute that he wanted to keep touching them even though he touched them earlier.
(Who is marrying? I don’t like it. Do you think I’m a doll that moves at my father’s will? She’s not even a Young Lady with good prospects, is she? For the sake of the family, I thought you would bring at least a princess.)
A letter full of rebellion from Kizef flashed through my mind. So, I thought it would be good to pull the schedule and go to the academy earlier.
“If he meets this child, he will change his mind a little.”
The Duke muttered while watching Luciel sleep. She was like a baby bird that fell asleep for a while after folding its wings. A young bird that had just hatched and encountered the world for the first time full of curiosity.
She was soft and small, so he was careful even to touch her. Louivid was careful not to wake Luciel up and ordered the coachman to drive quietly. The carriage moved slower.
Luciel, who had fallen asleep, slowly lifted her eyelids. It was so cozy and warm that she slept smoothly without fail, it was impossible to think she was inside a carriage. She seemed to fall asleep like this the first time she got inside a Bellstein’s carriage. It was so soft and comfortable to sit on.
But before she fell asleep, Luciel definitely slept on a cushion, but when she woke up, she was sleeping on the Duke’s lap.
When Luciel, startled by surprise, tried to get up. His heavy hand patted Luciel’s back. It was a big and
warm hand belonging to a father. The Duke closed his eyes and opened his lips.
“It’s okay, so be comfortable.”
“…Oh no, I’m done sleeping.”
As Luciel got up, wrestling his arm, the Duke also slowly opened his eyes and looked at the child.
“Oh, sorry for disturbing you while you’re resting
Luciel chimed in as she watched the Duke take his hand away as if something was missing.
“It’s okay.”
With those words, the conversation ended abruptly To avoid awkwardness, Luciel hugged the teddy bear and rolled up the curtains to look out the window. The carriage was passing a bridge over a sparkling river. The river water reflected in the sunlight was even more beautiful than jewels.
As she opened her mouth in admiration, the Duke who was glancing at her, asked.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“…I’m a little hungry.”
When Luciel sticks out her lips, he opens the lid of Eva’s lunch basket as if he knew she would be hungry.
A simple table was spread out and he took the snacks from the lunch box one by one.
“First, let’s have a quick bite with this and stop by a restaurant on the way home.”
The Duke said so, but it was a very rich meal for Luciel. Fresh green grapes, red-ripe cherries, sandwiches with crab meat and soup with clam, cool apple juice and even bite-sized cream puffs. It was a perfect meal.
Luciel’s lips swallowed the food with no rest. During the meal, her crimson eyes melted away with happiness.
Suddenly, I thought that I was the only one eating hard, so I looked at the Duke. He ate only a piece of sandwich and didn’t touch anything else.
She forked the cherry prepared for her and held it out to him.
“…I guess there’s a magic trick to make cherries sweeter.”
“……Really?”
His dry imagination couldn’t figure out why she said, something like that. Louivid finally took the fork and put the cherry in his mouth.
Luciel’s eyes looked at him and smiled brightly,
“Am I right?”
“…It seems like that.”
He quietly put the fork Luciel had handed him into the pocket of his coat.
In order to commemorate the day Luciel first gave him something to eat, the fork was framed.