Chapter 6

“Oh, Young Master must have been really surprised. You must have been surprised. Yeah, yeah. You were scared of the adults, right? It’s okay, Daa. It’s okay now.”

While comforting the baby, I encountered Count Petrika on his way to the nursery, apparently hearing the news. Slowly he stopped moving and saw his grandson in my arms, touching my hair.

“Count.”

He dissuaded me from bowing lightly while hugging Carl. Yeah, it’s so hard to greet with a baby in your arms.

“I heard Agatha was making a fuss. You seem to have arranged it well.”

“No, first of all, Carl, I only brought the Young Master out. Maybe they’re still fighting inside. Let’s go in.”

“Oh, I didn’t expect her to fight with the Viscountess Desmond.”

The Count of Petrika lamented in front of me, not entering the nursery where he could hear the roar of the battle still in full swing. I picked a few words, hugging the heavily weighted Carl.

“…Are there any other candidates?”

“You’re the only one in front of me.”

At the words of Count Petrika I realized he was going to play a chicken game with me. I wonder if my family and Agatha’s family are the only Viscount families who can manage things as Count Petrika likes. I just came from a Viscount family, and he could find as many girls as he could with good character and take good care of this child. It’s just that he seemed so confident that I was the best choice and he didn’t move.

There may be some time left for Merilyn, but if I hold out until the end, Count Petrika will put a woman or Agatha who has less than verified her qualifications in a hurry to save her pride. And frankly, I don’t feel guilty about that.

“You’ll have to find someone else, not Agatha.”

With that said, I bent my knees slightly to give courtesy and headed to Merilyn’s bedroom with Carl in my arms. The best way for Carl, Merilyn, and for me is for her mother, Merilyn, to wake up and be healthy, but…

Merilyn’s complexion of greeting us in the bedroom looked more flimsy than yesterday. Her recovery would be an unexpected miracle.

* * *

Agatha was neither evicted nor punished in spite of her atrocities. It made her more proud and the Duchy’s maids began to murmur and look at Agatha, who was more likely to be a Duchess. The discipline of the servants had collapsed a lot even to me, an outsider.

With spring just around the corner, Merilyn’s condition became critical. Merilyn, who foretold death, became more resolute in the face of death. The doctor said tonight would be her last night, and in her bedroom were Carl and Count Petrika, me and Carl’s two nannies, and even the Duke, who was hard to see.

The Duke of DeMancier was sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace and he was silent even as his wife was dying. And Merilyn also didn’t look at her husband. At first, I was somewhat embarrassed and nervous by the appearance of the high man, but I quickly forgot the existence of the Duke sitting there like furniture.

Merilyn breathed heavily with a feverish face. I carefully raised her hand to help Carl grab her finger. The baby grabbed his wheezing mother’s hand tightly and turned around and wiggled on the bed where she was lying. Sometimes my hands patted Carl in the stomach and tickled him in the ribs, making a high laugh. The innocent laughter of a baby with a dying mother next to him made adults smile but also made them cry. I watched my old friend die as I stood by her bedside, wiping away the tears secretly.

“Mandy, Carl, please, Carl…”

Perhaps he already understood my name, Carl blinked his green eyes that resembled his mother with an innocent face. Oh, Merilyn. I couldn’t bring myself to give her the answer she wanted and left vague words that I would watch him like my child.

Then the bedroom door burst open. Everyone’s eyes were on the entrance, and Agatha, an uninvited guest, entered the place proudly.

“This crazy woman…”

A new curse word came out of my lips. God, Agatha, this crazy girl was wearing a colorful winter dress and flashy jewelry. Her look was slightly lowered and her expression looked somber, so her outfit itself was really odd.

“Merilyn, how did you become so weak?”

Agatha, who had never visited Merilyn, sat at Merilyn’s feet with a very worried voice. The seat was very close to the Duke sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace and I saw Agatha, the stingy girl, raising her eyes and scanning the Duke secretly.

The Duke also raised his head to see who the new woman was, and Agatha’s cheeks, which faced him, flushed. He never visited his wife, who was dying after giving birth to a child, but came when she was on her deathbed, and although he was a suspicious person, he was as handsome as his appearance. He was an impressive man with the strength and determination of a knight who always travels through the battlefield, and the overwhelming atmosphere of the northern ruler. Besides, he was young. For Agatha, who wants to be the wife of a powerful man, the Duke of DeMancier is a very coveted groom.

“Oh, is it hot in here?”

Agatha shook her shoulder slightly and slipped off her shawl. To my surprise, she was wearing a dress that showed off her shoulders and collarbone. Merilyn’s room, which always lights up the fireplace, was hot, but it wasn’t enough to wear such an exposed dress. Besides, what she wore was not a home dress, but a dress to wear to a party. Agatha, who showed off her thin and soft shoulders, did not hide it and gave the Duke a candid glance.