Chapter 32
***
lody stared intently at Claude’s face and blinked a few tis before quietly retorting.
“Get married?!”
Her words were brief due to the shock, but fortunately, he didn’t point that out.
“Is that sothing to ask so surprisedly?”
“Is that sothing to say so nonchalantly?”
“There’s no reason not to.”
He finally straightened up and crossed his arms, slightly furrowing his brow as if displeased.
“My intelligent sister said she wanted it, after all.”
lody was sowhat shocked.
What in the world? Is this terrifying brother-idiot saying he’d agree to marriage with anyone Loretta wanted? Even if that soone is the daughter of a criminal?
No, that can’t be.
The person in question is Claude. The terrifying devil who secretly tornts anyone who shows affection towards Loretta and gets rid of them.
So, if lody naively exclaid, ‘Loretta is cute! We’ll live together forever!’ it would undoubtedly trigger this devil’s full-fledged tornt.
(Although she was already being tornted in full swing.)
“There’s no way I could marry any of the Ducal family’s children.”
lody was on high alert not to fall for this leading question.
“Why not?”
“My background.”
“I don’t care about things like background.”
“It’s not a matter that can be resolved just because you don’t care, sir.”
“It only needs to be okay with the parties involved. Unless.”
He looked at lody with a questioning expression.
“Do you dislike my sister?”
How could he ask such a question…!
“Loretta is cute! We’re going to live together forever!”
lody blurted out her true feelings without realizing it.
‘Oh, what have I done?’
Having revealed her genuine thoughts to this brother-idiot, he was bound to glare at her with his demonic face.
lody stared intently at Claude, completely on guard.
“Miss lody. Why are you looking at
with such a demonic face?”
“…?”
It wasn’t her who should be looking demonic…
For so reason, Claude was only giving her a very benign smile.
“Well, anyway, I can’t get married. Miss Loretta has soone perfect for her.”
lody, flustered, ended up ntioning a bit about the original story.
“The perfect partner? Who might that be?”
The person referred to as the male protagonist. Soone crucial for Loretta’s health and well-being.
“I, I don’t know.”
But since she couldn’t reveal that fact to Claude at this stage, lody quickly fumbled her words.
However, Claude looked at her intently, expecting an answer.
“Hmm, really don’t know?”
Feeling the pressure of his gaze, lody instinctively stepped back.
“It looked like you had soone in mind when you said that.”
“Oh, you’re mistaken.”
“Ah. A misunderstanding.”
lody was worried he would persistently probe further, but to her relief, he neatly backed off.
“Well, that’s good then.”
He turned and began walking ahead, leading the way to Loretta as promised.
When the two arrived in front of her room, before they even knocked, the door swung open.
“lody!”
Loretta sprang up and tightly hugged lody’s shoulders.
Naturally, lody
gently hugged back the sweet girl who seed made of pure kindness.
“lody, did you get a present?”
“A present?”
“Yes, brother said lody has a present, so Loretta waited.”
Loretta’s lips pouted slightly, seemingly unhappy about having to wait.
Could the ‘present’ be the fact that lody’s notebook now belongs to the Ducal family’s library?
Caught up in the sudden talk of marriage, she hadn’t given it much thought.
The notebook, now bound by preservation magic and bearing lody’s na, resting eternally in the Ducal family’s library, was…
Quite… joyous.
The thought of soday being ntioned as ‘lody of the Ducal Family’ in so researcher’s report was also pleasing.
It felt like the happy lody of this ti was eternally engraved in the unvanishing tower of records.
“lody, you seem to like it.”
“What?”
“The present.”
“Well…”
Loretta stepped back and looked intently at lody’s face, expecting a review of the present.
At the sa ti, Claude was looking at lody with the sa expression as Loretta.
It was a bit funny and cute how the already similar-looking siblings were both staring at her side by side.
“Yes,” lody giggled, “I liked it very much.”
Loretta’s face lit up imdiately. ‘If lody likes it, Loretta is happy!’ she said, hugging lody again.
In this perfect mont, lody felt deeply moved. She wished ti could stop right here…
But then she noticed Ronny squatting in a corner of Loretta’s room, cracking peanuts.
His face was dark as he glared in their direction, munching on peanuts with ferocity.
The reason for Ronny’s intense peanut-cracking soon beca clear.
He loved peanuts, but each ti he cracked one open, Loretta would swiftly snatch and eat them all, leaving him with not a single one from the small bag he had opened.
‘He could’ve just cracked and eaten them directly,’ lody thought.
The brother-idiot, seeing his sister munching on peanuts adorably, seed to have given up his favorite peanuts and beco a peanut-cracking doll for her.
‘Really, what a brother-idiot,’ lody thought. Ronny grumpily yet diligently taking care of Loretta was quite amusing, enough to make lody chuckle.
Of course, Ronny glared at her with a face full of anger, but compared to the expression Claude made when he tornted lody, it seed rely innocently childish.
lody’s amusent continued into the next day.
A large piece of tender, lt-in-your-mouth at was served for dinner. Being in her growth spurt, lody ate a substantial amount, hoping she’d grow as much as she ate.
Adults who are tall look impressive, she thought as she popped the remaining at into her mouth, only to be served more.
Apparently, lody seed determined to grow a lot today. She ate all the newly served at too!
***
The Duke of Baldwin had a concern.
After keeping it to himself for a long ti, one late night, he quietly shared it with Butler Higgins.
“lody needs a place.”
The Duke knew all the reasons behind what had happened to lody.
It was due to the distorted sense of authority that had long existed in the Ducal house.
lody was too young to fully bear that, and she had nowhere proper to lean on.
Higgins quickly grasped his thoughts.
“You an to show, even formally, that there’s soone behind Miss lody?”
“Yes.”
“There seed to be quite a few potential adoptive families, I believe.”
Higgins recalled so letters that had recently arrived for the Duke. So, foreseeing the Duke’s intentions, had expressed their wish to adopt lody.
However, the Duke didn’t consider them as they were rely trying to gain favor with him by using lody.
“There’s also the option for you to adopt her directly.”
Although there would be opposition, it was possible to push it through, considering the recent incidents involving lody.
“I thought so too. But.”
“Is there a problem?”
“There was opposition.”
Higgins dared to guess who might oppose lody’s adoption.
“Could it be His Majesty the Emperor said sothing?”
“No.”
“Then it must be the elders, right?”
“I haven’t even gotten that far yet.”
“Then?”
He sighed, resting his chin on his hand, his face showing utter incomprehension.
“Ronny was against it.”
“Ah…”
The butler nodded. Ronny was a young master with a very strong sense of pride.
Considering lody’s background, it was unlikely he would agree to such a matter.
“Then perhaps you could officially sponsor Miss lody from the Ducal house.”
“Of course, I’m considering it.”
“It’s not a matter to be hastily decided. It’d be best to take ti and find a proper place.”
“I thought so too, but there’s no ti. That child will need a place soon.”
“Was there another incident?”
“Yes.”
The Duke turned his head towards the dark window for a mont.
“The execution date has been set.”
Though the subject was omitted, Higgins easily understood whom the Duke referred to.
It must be lody’s mother.
Perhaps due to her recent attempt to escape prison illicitly, the execution date seed to be set unusually early.
“Then she must have been moved to the central prison by now.”
“Yes, and she has been granted ‘the last request of a condemned prisoner’.”
“She might ask for jewelry to wear in her death, like the last thief who loved riches and requested the sa.”
“I thought so too.”
A bitter smile crossed his lips.
“She requested to spend her last days with her daughter, in prison.”
The Duke had no choice but to relay this absurd ‘last request of a condemned prisoner’ to lody.
Sitting across from the Duke, lody quietly listened to his story and just nodded her head.
Why is she nodding?
Worried, the Duke continued to watch lody even after he finished speaking.
The child seed to be deep in thought, her large eyes moving back and forth, then she gave a troubled smile.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
And again, she offered him that irritating apology. It was as if there was a mountain of lody’s apologies behind the Duke.
“I don’t want to keep troubling you with my mother’s matters, being here…”
“Didn’t I promise to tell you when the verdict was decided?”
“Oh, right.”
Even as she replied, lody’s expression seed to say, ‘I’m still sorry.’
“lody.”
With concern, the Duke cautiously offered his opinion.
“As your appointed guardian, let
add this: you don’t need to comply with this request.”
“But you just said that ‘the last request of a condemned prisoner’ is always granted.”
“If the request involves another person, it’s different. You have the right to refuse this request.”
He emphasized ‘refuse’ particularly strongly, almost as if it was his wish that she would do so.
“People facing death often suddenly want to atone. There’s no reason for you to be used by that sentint.”
It was nothing more than a selfish desire to ease their conscience before facing the unknown afterlife.
Truly selfish until the end.
“But if you feel even a slight desire to et her, it might be good to see her for a mont.”
“…”
“Take your ti to think. You have two weeks to respond.”
To his words, lody shook her head.
“It’s okay. I realized last ti. To her, a loving daughter isn’t .”
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