Chapter 3

First method. Don’t be a stepmother (3)

Oh, what can I say? I was nosy from my past life and liked to take care of others.

At any rate, I was with Merilyn until she left the Count as a Duchess. I couldn’t go to see her in person after the wedding, but we often exchanged letters. And while helping my mother with work in the house, I managed to pick the right man for myself.

It was Oscar, a friend and colleague of my second brother, a knight. He was a knight belonging to the Count of Petrika, and a handsome and fit knight with a fairly promising future. I have been in and out of the Knights Templar several times as a sister of a friend and of Count Petrika’s daughters, and have recently been proposed to by Oscar. The reason I’m here right now, in the midst of preparing for my wedding, is because Merilyn, who was about to give birth, wanted to see me while she was in very bad health.

I was worried and ran immediately, but I thought it was a good thing that I came. The large belly, which made it difficult for Merilyn to even breathe, fell into disrepair after labor and childbirth, which continued throughout the day. But Merilyn, who gave birth, felt as if she had poured out her soul.

Merilyn will die. Everyone here was expecting that. And Merilyn’s father, the Count, had to fill his daughter’s position as soon as possible for his grandchild.

His number one priority was me. I was a childhood friend who grew up with Merilyn and liked her baby because it was pretty and gentle. However, I didn’t intend to become a stepmother, I’d rather be the child’s godmother. Plus there was a very handsome, well-built knight fiancé waiting for me. Oscar wasn’t a very good man enough to pass all my strict standards, but as a lady from a not-so-rich Viscounty, he was the perfect match to marry.

“Amanda, be the Duchess for Merilyn’s sake.”

My father and I were right on the mark. The Count’s appearance holding the young baby looked sad and I was confident that I would not be a vicious stepmother like Amanda, but I didn’t want to give up my happiness and take care of Merilyn’s child. The Duke did not take care of his son, Carlos, nor his new wife, Amanda. I don’t think the husband’s love is the only happiness of the wife, but the husband’s love certainly contributes to the wife’s happiness. Especially love on the bed.

“She has a fiancé back home who she has already promised to get married to.”

“I’ll take care of the breakup.”

My father stepped up and began to oppose, and I watched the two fathers stand up for their respective daughters. This was the first time he had confronted the Count so strongly because my father was the Count’s Vassal.

The baby, who was still in the Count’s arms, began to cry. The Count, who was the father of two children, including Merilyn, but had never taken care of the child, was in a hurry, and the child was eventually put back in my arms.

“Our Young Master, are you surprised? Is it because you’re surprised?”

Carlos listened to my voice in my arms and began to stop crying little by little.

“Oh, how gentle you are. Aren’t you hungry? Shall we leave the adults to talk?”

“Woo-bu-bu,” When I saw the child stop crying as soon as he was in my arms, I felt proud and happy. Behind the door, the two fathers were still confronting each other.

After that, the Count kept asking me and my father, but I had no intention of going to the Duke’s place and my father opposed his opinion as never before, so the story of me becoming the new Duchess was canceled.

My father told me to go home and prepare for marriage now that I had seen Merilyn and Carlos, but I decided to stay a little longer in the Duchy, foreboding of Merilyn’s increasingly debilitating death. Anyway, Merilyn and I were best childhood friends and I wanted to stay with her for as long as possible. Fortunately, my fiancé Oscar respected my decision. The Count also remained in the Duchy, so my father left alone.

I took care of the child by Merilyn’s side and took care of her too. Since the Duke’s doctor confirmed that she didn’t have an infectious disease, I took Carlos and sat next to her whenever she had time.

Maybe Carlos doesn’t remember Merilyn, but I wanted this child to be with his mother for a moment. And Merilyn hoped to see the child she had given her life in exchange for.

* * *

The fireplace in Merilyn’s bedroom was burning again today with plenty of wood and oil. Even if the fireplace burned so much, the air was not murky because the magic tool, which makes the air clean without opening the window, was working. Merilyn’s bedroom was as hot as summer, so I took off my thick coat and did the same for Carlos. As Carlos came out of the breastfeeding mother’s arms, Merilyn was watching with satisfaction.

“Amanda, Mandy. I’m so glad to have you.”

Coughing, Merilyn said, calling out my childhood nickname. Her green eyes, which were like green shoots, were overcast like rain and wind forests. Her voice was still like a nightingale.

“Car… I’m so worried about Carl.”

The nurse feeding Carl was chubby, unlike the skinny Merilyn. There were two milkmaids for the well-fed child, and Carlos was growing up as a really healthy baby.

“I think Carl should be worried about you.”

A chubby, healthy baby and a skinny sick woman. It was Merilyn who was obviously the one to be worried for. I replied, covering her shoulder again with a shawl that had slipped from her coughing. Merilyn giggled. The laugh shook her body like a dry twig.