Chapter 31

The Fourth Plan. To increase the intimacy between the father and the son. (1)

The Duke had overslept on my bed until it got very late. I opened my eyes to see a ray of sunlight being filtered through the thick drapes and I became a bit surprised to see that the Duke was still sleeping on his stomach right next to me. The Duke, a knight as well as the Commander, who had devoted half of the year on the battlefield, would usually wake up early in the morning. He would then utter his apologies to me before I went back to sleep—no matter how intense the night which he spent before had been.

Actually, he must have been absolutely tired since he had just returned from the battlefield. That morning, I didn’t wake him up as I thought that we could have eaten together once he woke up instead. As I crept out of the bed, I looked at the Duke once again, but his violet eyes still did not open at all.

The Duchess’s bedroom did not comprise a hallway that was directly in front of its own door. In fact, the door to the Duchess’s bedroom had to be opened twice through the hallway and on top of that, there was a rather large space right before the bedroom door. Thanks to that, I was able to leave the bedroom stark naked along with traces of a prior love affair. After ringing the bell and waiting for a while, the maids soon entered. And only after I asked them what time it was did I finally realize that I had overslept as well.

“The Duke is still sleeping, so watch the fireplace carefully and please be quiet.”

At those words of mine, the maids began to move more silently while washing and dressing me.

“What about Carl?”

“He was looking for you, but he soon had his breakfast with the Baroness and now, he is currently in the nursery.”

“So, Mother is now in the office?”

“Yes, Madam.”

“I guess I should go to the office right after seeing Carl’s face then.”

When I went to the nursery, Carl, who was playing along well with his friends, jumped up as soon as he saw me.

“Mandy!”

Right after a moment’s stagger, I quickly regained my balance and Carl toddled even closer. I opened my arms before embracing Carlos, who had approached me, and I could smell the child’s unique scent in return.

“Oh, our Carlos. Did you sleep well? Did you enjoy your food with your grandmother?”

“Mandy—”

“Yes, Carl.”

“Mandy—”

Carl called my nickname while rubbing his face against my shoulder. I greeted all the nannies as well as the other children before he reached out his hand and started playing while sucking on my hair as I patted the childishly cute Carl. The other children—fairly older—clumsily called out to me as the Duchess while giving their greetings. On the other hand, Carl and the other children simply nodded their heads along with their brothers and sisters in return. And amongst them, a child suddenly began to approach and grab a hold of Carl, so he left me before going back to the company of his friends once again.

Even though he was having fun with his friends, Carl kept on coming into my arms and acting like a child, so I had no choice but to take Carl along to the office as well. I guessed he wanted to act very childishly today. But since our Carl had been young and cute, it was still okay to act just like a baby.

When I went to the office, Duchess Dowager, who said that she had not felt really well yesterday, was looking at something with a very usual look on her face. However, she made a puzzled expression as soon as she saw me carrying her Carl in my arms.

“Good, um, morning. Mother.”

It was still before lunch, so it could be said to be morning. Well, it was embarrassing because it had been morning, still—albeit barely. I smiled moderately and greeted her. When I put Carl down, he straight away went to the sofa in the office on his own before he started struggling to get onto the sofa itself. On the other hand, I only watched to see if Carl would accidentally tumble down. The Duchess Dowager’s gaze also turned to her grandson, who was still scuffling to climb up onto the couch. Carl, who seemed to be scrambling all over just to go up the sofa that was only about his own shoulder height, finally made his way onto it as if he had rolled halfway up with his hips instead. The child raised his head and eventually looked at me with cheeks that were flushed from all the exertion.

“Mandy!”

I could already feel that I could hear him saying something like; I did it!

“Oh, look at our Carl. Climbed up on that high sofa all on his own! He looks just like his father as he keeps on trying to use his body well. Wow, good job, our little Young Master!”

I spoke in a high-pitched voice as I clapped. It was no ordinary talent for this little child to climb up a sofa the size of his own self.

At my fuss, Carl’s rose-like lips drew into an arc and his plump cheeks became even rounder. How cute that proud face had been. I quickly approached Carl and took off those tiny shoes that he was currently wearing. Then, Carl rose to his feet and stood upright while clutching tightly onto the back of the sofa itself.

“Yeah, great. Gellerhard too…”

As she looked at her grandson’s antics and recalled her son’s childhood from earlier, Duchess Dowager’s expression started to look a bit bitter. What was going on in her mind? Little by little, doubts began to arise. Then, Carl grabbed along the back of the sofa before toddling all over it. Unlike the hard floor, the feeling of walking on a soft sofa appeared to be rather fun for him.

“I had been told that Gellerhard was still in bed, so I never knew that you would be coming here instead.”

The Duchess Dowager, who looked at Carl for a while, calmly began to speak. I looked at her in surprise before turning away my head in order to hide my blushing face. Well, there was probably no one left in the castle who hadn’t been aware that both the Duke and I had slept in together from yesterday.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know via our discord so we can fix it as soon as possible.