The butler wrote down the things that Merce ordered. On the other hand, she was thinking that she should contact the shoemaker and the tailor for the uniform and shoes she wanted. Everything had to be as good as new and pleasant for the eyes.

It was when Merce was taking care of things with a confused mind.

Alexid was back.

It looked like he cried when he was in the carriage as he came back with a swollen face.

“Alexid”?

Merce called Alexid’s name with a surprised face. Obviously, as a child, it was normal for Alexid to greet her and treat her with respect, but seeing that he opened Merce’s drawing-room without knocking, it seemed that there was something more serious than she had known.

Merce ran to Alexid.

First of all, she had to ask what was going on.

“What’s wrong, Sid? What happened? Are you okay?”

“Oh, my! Mom . . . Veronica . . . With Veronica . . .”

But she never saw Alexid crying that much. It must have been because he was a boy and the eldest of the family. Seeing him cry broke her heart. What’s going on? Merce hugged Alexid with a worried face.

“Yeah. Didn’t you say you were going on a picnic?”

“But . . . I fell in front of Veronica. Now Veronica will think I’m a complete idiot. I will appear like an idiot in front of her!

Merce held back her laughter.

So you’re upset that you fell down in front of a girl you like?

He was young enough to feel as though something like that was already a big deal. Merce wiped away Alexid’s tears.

“It’s okay. Veronica won’t think so.”

“Mom, I hate you! I’m so upset . . . Why are you talking like it’s nothing?” Alexid put his face on Merce’s shoulder, sniffling.

Holding his cute son in his arms, Merce tried to suppress her laughter.

Oh, she couldn’t — Her son was just too adorable.

* * *

Why are you so sullen?

Alexid was a puppy-like child who couldn’t hide his bubbliness when he was young.

That’s why I was always being tailored to Alexid even though I’m an adult now.

How can I stay still when he’s making such a fuss around me? When the day comes that he doesn’t make a fuss, it will become a fairy tale without realizing it.

But why was he acting weirdly today? I don’t know.

Usually, when I meet Veronica, I run around the house like a child who saw an ice cream tailor shop.

Gerald was sitting next to me, leaning on a chair, cutting a snack and shoving it in my mouth.

“Is it good?”

“Yes.”

The cookie was not the problem.

Gerald has a handsome face and a sweet smile. That was pretty. He was pretty. Gerald picked up the momentum and put another cookie in my mouth.

I sighed as I ate it.

“Stop it. I want to stop eating.”

I pushed Gerald away.

“Why? Is the cookie bad?”

“. . . I’m full.”

Gerald nodded with a crestfallen look.

“Then what about in a little while? Will you eat more cookies?”

“I don’t know.”

While I was talking to Gerald, Alexid, who was sighing deeply without eating a cookie, raised his head.

“You guys! Can’t you be quiet?”

Now it seems that Alexid is thinking of opening his mouth.

I looked at him and said, “What’s wrong? What happened with Veronica?”

It was Veronica that Alexid went to meet today. When he went out, I saw him dressed up with a big grin on his face. When he returned, he came in drooping like a defeated soldier.

And it was obvious that he cried.

My mother coaxed Alexid and took him in front of us, but the traces on his face couldn’t be helped. He had swollen eyes and a runny nose.

“What’s wrong?”

Veronica was the only one who can save Alexid, but it was already difficult when it was getting like this.

“It’s just that . . .” Alexid was in tears again. “I fell down in front of Veronica.”

Alexid teared up because he was sad and thinking about it again made him extremely stressed.

“Now Veronica will think I’m an idiot!”

You’re an idiot by nature, okay?

“I don’t think so. Alexid. Don’t worry, okay?” Gerald consoled Alexid maturely.

Alexid stared at Gerald with tearful eyes. “Really?”

“Of course. I think I would fall with my face first too. It’s normal.” Gerald nodded gravely.

I can’t believe that Alexid’s crying over something like that. It was nothing compared to the fact about the turbulent truth in the future, you know?

Veronica will always be a saint who married Alexid*, after all.

Hallelujah.

I told you to run away. Veronica smiled as she saw Alexid walking like a four-legged beast, drunk as hell.

“Doesn’t that make you laugh, Veronica?”

“Why? Isn’t it cute? Alexid is always desperate. He’s always trying to look good in front of me, too. Even now, he’s pretending not to be drunk. But it’s always obvious because he’s so clumsy.”

Now that I think about it, Veronica was a few moves ahead of Alexid. Alexid will never beat Veronica in his lifetime.

+++

*T/N: The raws stated Gerald. Perhaps, it was a typo from the author and meant ‘Alexid’.