Chapter 25

The third method. Making my side. (5)

DeMancier’s Duchess Dowager was not from the North. Blessed with warm sunshine, she was a daughter of a southern noble family, and about 25 years ago, she said that she fell in love at first sight with the previous Duke of DeMancier, who was then the Duke heir. Half a year is at war and the other half is winter in the harsh North, and even at the forefront of the front line, the whole family tore up the southern noble girl who offered to marry the Duke of DeMancier. She came to the North with a heart full of love and anticipation. People thought that an immature southern aristocratic maiden would soon be unable to withstand the harsh cold of the North, but she continued to reign as the Lady of the North until her husband died.

It is said that the previous Duke and Duchess of DeMancier were very good. I had never seen her in person and had only been told about her by others, but the former Duke of DeMancier had loved and cared for his wife in the North, saying that it was love at first sight. The couple had a happy marriage, but the previous Duchess of DeMancier, who had no base in the North, was said to have been pretty tough at the time. With the full help and support of her husband, in any case, her husband was a man who spent half a year on the battlefield, and she had no special connection among the northerners. Despite the cold and harsh territoriality, she established her position and, after her husband’s death, took her daughter-in-law and taught her all the duties of the Duchess. After completing her duties, she left the North. If she was an office worker, she would have retired after the takeover.

The Duchess Dowager, who had come a long way to Duke Castle in response to my letter, had brought only a very handy suitcase along with a companion.  She didn’t have any of her items in the Duke’s castle as she took all her belongings with her when she left. That modest suitcase was an unspoken expression that the Duchess Dowager would stay in the castle for a short time or a few days. Even in the letter, she said she would ‘visit’.

Hiding my disappointment, I approached her as she was getting out of the carriage with a soft expression on my face. Carl, standing next to me, toddled with me on short legs.

“Nice to meet you. Duchess Dowager. I am Amanda Edith von DeMancier. Please call me Amanda.”

“Oh, Amanda. Sure. As the Duchess Dowager, although we are not mothers and daughters by flesh and blood, Amanda, the wife of my son Gellerhard, you are like a daughter to me too.”

“Can I call you mother?”

“Well then, of course.”

The Duchess Dowager gently softened her stern-looking blue eyes, as she said. Perhaps the Duke’s purple eyes were inherited from his father. The Duchess Dowager was a lady with shiny blonde hair and blue eyes, and her stature was quite small. One seemed to be able to guess from the bitter wrinkles around her eyes how she would have commanded her big ball filling with her tiny body. Her voice was very high, and her pronunciation was good. She had a good voice.

“My mother also speaks casually to me. Please treat me as comfortable as you treat Gellerhard.”

The Duchess Dowager nodded her head as she held my hand tightly. Seeing the godfather more cooperative than she had thought, I was convinced that she had read between the lines in my letter. She didn’t come to Carl’s birthday or any other event, but if her new daughter-in-law sent her a letter asking her to come to see her cute grandson, she must have realized that there would be something else that needed help too.

“Mother, let me introduce you to Carlos, your grandson. Come on, Carl, it’s Grandma. You should say hello to your grandmother?”

“Hi-”

It was a muffled pronunciation, but his voice was cute. Carl bowed his head slightly awkwardly as he said hello. Then, looking up at me, he gently grabbed Carl’s fern-like hand that stretched out his arm to me, I put my hand under Carl’s armpit, and held the baby in my arms. Carl, who was held in my arms, made eye contact with his grandmother, whom he had seen for the first time.

“Oh my gosh, you are so cute!”

His black hair and high nose he inherited from his father, and the sparkling green eyes and pretty lips she inherited from his mother. Carl, with her unique plump cheeks and red cheeks, was so cute that the moment she saw it, she burst out with glee. The Duchess Dowager smiled brightly at the sight of her very cute grandson.

“Yes? And you don’t know how nice and gentle he is. Let’s not stay here, and go inside, mother.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Before that, let me introduce my companion.”

The woman standing behind the godfather stepped forward slightly at her words. With her stern posture, she bowed her knees slightly and greeted her.

“Charlotte, the daughter of Count Emile. She is always with me because she cares for my health.”

“This is Charlotte Helen von Emil, Count Emile’s daughter. I see the Duchess of DeMancier.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Her name was somehow familiar. I looked at her face, her dark brown hair wavy, to see if she knew me, but she didn’t pretend to know me. The Duchess Dowager added her praise for her Charlotte.

“Charlotte is a master at herbs. The headaches that have always bothered me, are gone thanks to her Charlotte.”

Ladies of high status and a certain amount of wealth, such as the Duchess Dowager of DeMancier, would have an aristocratic lady by their side, and then they would find someone to marry, but the higher the status of the lady, the more fierce the competition for the position. They felt like the Lady’s secretary, her friend, and sometimes the caregiver for the Duchess Dowager. They entertained the Lady by carefully examining their health or sleep and recited poems or played musical instruments if they had a talent in literature and arts.