CHAPTER : 3.7

Audrey fought back tears with all her might. But her once-clear vision of her hands and feet began to blur. She squinted her eyes and tried to remain calm, but her reddening nose was not something she could hide easily.

Kudangtang.

“……!”

The Duke of Fritz leaped to his feet from his uncomfortable chair.

“……, Your Excellency?”

“…….”

He glared at the innocent Audrey for a long moment and then strode out of the Treasury without another word.

The crowd, stunned by the sudden turn of events, remained frozen in place, unable to speak.

‘Dangerous, dangerous.

Derek ran down the corridor at the fastest speed he’d ever run since he was born. If he’d sat in the Treasury any longer, anything could have happened. And it was all because of his dodo.

“I can’t stand it!

As I stared at him, I felt an inexplicable surge of violence. I wanted to rush to the theatre and cut the scarecrow to pieces, and I wanted to break down every wall I could see.

“Am I going crazy?

Something was tickling me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I wondered if this weird tickle would go away if I chanted the Vedas. The adorableness of the dodo was too much for me to handle.

Sukung! Sukung!

Derek went on a rampage, his merciless sword slashes brutally shattering the training scarecrows. Even though he knew they weren’t human, the sight of the straw men strewn across the stage gave him goosebumps.

“Who else has offended His Excellency?

Lucas stood at a distance and watched the scene unfold.

In a fit of rage, the Duke of Frit had not only cut the scarecrow to pieces but had also replaced his sword with his fists.

The reason for this was unknown. Why would a man sitting at the Treasury suddenly become so angry?

Lucas, who had been watching, asked very carefully.

“Your Excellency, I was wondering if there was some kind of offense…….”

“Haha. Nothing. Just.”

“……!”

Derek, not a breath out of breath, stormed over. The way he charged, longsword in hand, with the shattered scarecrow behind him, was fitting. He looked like a warlord coming to choke the life out of his enemies.

“Heh, heh, heh, don’t come any closer!

The pensive aide took an involuntary step back.

But Derek, who was almost in front of him, stopped dead in his tracks and didn’t speak for a long time. He seemed to struggle for words.

“Your hand is…….”

“What?”

“Your hands are the size of maple leaves. It’s a human hand.”

“Your Excellency?”

“……only maple leaves.”

Duke Fritz stared at his aide in disbelief. It was almost as if he was angry.

“You’ve never seen it, but I have a hand the size of a maple leaf.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Hands the size of maple leaves.”

“…….”

So what was he supposed to do, show off by saying, “You’ve never seen anything like that, have you?

Duke Frit stood there for a long time afterward, staring off into space as if trying to think of something.

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‘I don’t think so.

Derek grew more impatient.

He had hoped that having the dodo in front of him would ease his anxiety, but it only made him more impatient, and he worried that others might be after it too.

“I have to hurry.

We’ll have to change the heavy construction on the fourth floor to heavy construction.

“How many laborers do you have now?”

“We have ten people.”

“So there’s a reason it’s been slow.”

Duke Frit scanned the fourth-floor office with a careful eye, then summoned all the laborers on break.

“Do you think you can finish the work by tomorrow morning at the latest?”

“……, I’ll try to hurry, but it’s impossible. Not only are we short on labor, but-”

“How many more do you need?”

“What? Ha, twenty more people would make it easier, but-”

“Good. Lucas, I want thirty more laborers on all four floors.”

“……!”

Duke Fritz was serious.

“I know it’s a lot to ask. So I won’t ask for it out of the blue either.”

“…….”

“I will pay you ten times your salary for this particular job.”

“……!”

“But if you have personal reasons, you may enter as far as you are able.”

Lucas thought that his master must be mad, but very firmly mad. To throw money and men at a project that couldn’t wait a few days! It couldn’t have come from a sane mind.

“I want those who can, to work through the night. I won’t mind the construction noise at all.”

“Yes! Understood!”

The aide’s suspicious gaze turned to my lord.

“……Is it because of Kevelson’s loyalty?

The man who had never known a complaint in his life had suddenly ordered a construction project, and it was clearly for Count Kevelson.

But for some reason, after his visit, the work went on suspiciously.

First, the next room and wall were built. Then a huge cherry tree was brought in from all over the world. The idea of a tree indoors, with no soil to root it in, was a fantasy. But Duke Fritz had the money to make it all possible. Dozens of expensive magic stones were driven into the roots of the cherry tree.

‘It’s the same color as Dodo’s hair.

The momentum of replanting a tree just because it was the same color as his hair gave me goosebumps.

‘He’s …… crazy.

It was meant for the Kevelsons. No one would give a money-grubbing cherry tree to a count who approached fifty. The lord intended to share his office with ‘his’ dodo instead of Count Kevelson.

The strange orders didn’t stop there.

“I want you to build something, like a…… cart or something.”

“What are you going to use it for?”

“I want to give it to Dodo”

“What?”

Lucas’s imagination ran wild.

Why would a young lady from Kevelson need a cart, much less a porter? It was the least romantic of gifts compared to a cherry tree.

Derek, however, was quite serious.

“I think we should get her a mate.”

“What?”

“It’s going to have a hard time walking around on its tiny little feet.”

Something as small and cute as a partridge should be cherished. Derek balled his fists once more, thinking of those cute little feet.

Lucas, meanwhile, looked like he’d heard the most outrageous things.

“A cart and a man?

Somehow, his behavior was suspicious.

Could it be, could it be, that the maiden was trying to carry Lady Kevelson in a cargo cart? Was she afraid her feet would hurt?

“Oh, God!

He could picture Audrey in a cart being driven through the duchy, and it was not at all the romantic scene he had imagined.

The squeak of the wheels and the clattering of the trolley’s tires as it was carried away.

‘They’re just moving a statue!’

I could already see her eyes rolling back in frustration.

What kind of man would woo a woman like this?

“I, Your Excellency, I reconsider-”

“That’s because you’ve never seen one. Your feet are like wholemeal bread.”

“No, not wholemeal bread, rye bread, and-”

“You can’t overwork those little feet.”

Derek clicked his tongue, remembering the portraits of the dukes of old, one by one.

“If it’s a dwelling, they’ll build a modest one.

“What’s the point of building a ducal castle so ridiculously large that the future duchess’s feet will be made of wholemeal bread?

Mottasolo’s head was in the wrong place. If it was a talent, it was a talent.

“A chair-shaped cart would be fine.”

“……, Your Excellency.”

“With a table, we could have a quick dessert on the go. Dodo has a sweet tooth, I’m sure she’d love that.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“…….”

And again.

That condescending look, the ‘what do you know’ look.

“What do you know about Dodo? I’m sure she’ll like it. she’ll love it. It’s wholemeal bread.”

The aide was frustrated to the point of madness.

“The whole wheat bread curse!

Apparently, instead of giving Duke Frit a fighting spirit, God took away all his love cells. Otherwise, there’s no way he could put so much effort into something and have it turn out to be such a shambles.

‘I think you’d be better off doing nothing at all…….’

Crazy clothes. A scowling face that, believe it or not, is begging for forgiveness on your doorstep all night. The hideous sugar flower. A hot stare that could kill. And now, a trolley dedicated to Kevelson’s honor.

How could anyone possibly take this as a courtship?

“You’re lucky if you don’t faint.

There was a difference between courting a war hero and a polite death threat.

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