Chapter 506: 13.4

Yunyu was walking around the garden alone. After breakfast, the servants were busy by themselves.

Nobody cared for Jean nor babysit him around. So he took care of himself and walked out of the dining room. Yunyu had something in his mind as he walked to the garden.

[Pupa: What are you going to do next? You know this is not the right path to Maximillien's office, right?]

[Aish, Pupa. Don't you see that we need to melt his stone-cold heart with some sweetness? I thought you would understand my intention.]

Yunyu entered the garden, and he looked around, just to make sure that nobody was watching. Then he intentionally slumped to the ground. He rolled around to make himself dirty like a pig. 

Pupa materialized in front of Yunyu and peered suspiciously, "I know that you're a filthy pig in heart, but do you really have to show it? You know, don't judge a book by its cover. Since you're already ugly inside, at least you need to look good outside."

"What do you mean by that?! I have such a good heart, don't you see how much kindness I did to people around me? Tell me, which master of the world that I hurt?"

"… Xu Jiansheng," Pupa mentioned Xu Jiansheng from the previous world, and Yunyu went silent in an instant. 

"W—Well, he doesn't count, since he's not the master of the world, haha—"

Yunyu kept rolling around in the dirt until he was dirty enough. 

"Okay, the first step is done," Yunyu said. He walked further to the garden and picked a specific flower, which he knew all master of the wolds like, gardenia flowers. 

He picked a bunch of gardenias and smelled it, "Ah, it smells like victory, hehe."

"It smells like viciousness to me," Pupa said. "Are you really going to do this? I feel like Maximillien won't appreciate something so cheesy."

"Trust me, he will definitely accept this," Yunyu explained. "I know that he is actually a good person inside, just by seeing how fast his Fatemeter went up after one try."

"But he is blinded by hatred, which I understand why," Yunyu said as he picked more gardenias around. "He lost his parents after a mysterious illness just a week after they adopted me. It must've hit him pretty hard. Amazingly, he could recover in less than a week as fourteen years old. What an amazing mental fortitude."

Yunyu stopped at the rose bushes before he left the garden. 

He took a deep breath and then grabbed the rose's thorny stalk with his tiny hands. 

Yunyu winced a bit when the thorn pierced his thin skin, but he didn't make a noise. He also did the same with his other hands. 

"Why are you doing this?" Pupa asked.

"This is just an extra step to make sure that I can melt Maximillien's heart. They said love is pain, right?" Yunyu said with a simple smile on his face.

"Okay, stop saying that when you're just a toddler like this. It creeps the heck out of me to see a little kid saying something so sinister. Staying with you for so long will ruin my perception of a cute toddler," Pupa turned invisible again and then opened a portal for itself.

"Tch, Pupa is so soft. I'm just acting like a toddler here!" Yunyu complained. He checked his palms again. After making sure that both of his palms had few blood spots due to the thorn, he left the garden with many gardenias in his hands. 

**

Little Jean walked to the long corridor until he arrived at the big door with two guards standing side by side. The guards looked down to Little Jean and said, "Why are you here? Go play somewhere else."

Little Jean showed the flowers he just picked and said, "Jean wants big brother to feel happy and refreshed. So Jean brings flowers!"

"You, little kid, go away! The Duke hates you, don't you understand?!"

"But… Jean wants to give this to Big brother…." Little Jean insisted. "Please let me in!"

"Yes, just leave now! Or the Duke will get angry at us! Go play in the mud or something!"

Maximillien frowned when he heard the guard yelling at someone, which he guessed was Little Jean. 

He got up and walked towards the door. He opened the door and saw Little Jean was holding a bunch of freshly picked flowers from the garden. His shirt was dirty, and his face rubbed off with some dirt, but he didn't seem to mind. 

When he saw his big brother opening the door, Little Jean jumped happily and rushed to offer the flower for his brother.

"Big brother! Jean brings flowers!" 

Little Jean wasn't tall enough to shove the flower to Maximillien. Thus he did many small jumps, hoping that his big brother would accept it. 

Maximillien observed this little kid with his flowers. He sloppily picked some flowers that Maximillien liked, Gardenia. Maximillien usually hated someone who offered him anything.

He knew that people in this world never gave something for free. It was either as a sign of goodwill for further cooperation, or it could also be used by women who wanted to curry his favor. 

Even since he was introduced to the noble circle, he received many gifts from noble girls around his age or older because they said that he looked amazing, handsome, or stunning. 

Unlike his parents' warm hearts, Maximillien's heart was stone cold. He just ignored them or replied with a perfunctory smile and rejection most of the time. Because he didn't want to get entangled with anyone that wouldn't be beneficial for him in the future. 

He doubted that Little Jean had that kind of romantic feeling for him since he was just a four years old kid, nor did he think that Little Jean had an underhanded idea about currying his favor, hoping giving these kinds of gifts would be beneficial in the long run. 

'I doubt Little Jean's mind is developed enough to think about currying favor to me.'

'And there is no way he can think about romance….'

'Is this truly his way to encourage me? Even after I yelled at him many times?' Maximillien gulped when he saw the beautiful doe eyes that looked at him full of worship and admiration. 

'What an idiot. I don't think I'm this stupid even when I was four years old.'

Maximillien accepted the flowers that were offered by Little Jean. The latter looked so happy when his big brother accepted his flowers, "Big brother! I will bring you flowers often, so you will be happy! I know Big brother is sad, so Jean wants to cheer you up every day!" 

"You little kid, don't call His Highness Archduke as Big brother! He told you many times that you and he don't have any blood relationship! You're just a stranger!"

"Eh, but I like calling him Big brother!" Little Jean insisted.

"You—"

"No, it's okay," Maximillien interrupted. "He can call me whatever. I don't care. He is just a kid anyway."

[Pupa: Ding! Maximillien Eau Saumont's Fatemeter increases to -25%!]

[Hehe, what did I say to you before? Maximillien is an easy mode for the Pro player Yunyu. Bring me someone difficult, or at least make Maximillien a difficult one before it got boring, Muahahaha!]

[Pupa:… Somehow, I can smell the jinx from miles away.]