Chapter 85

 

***

 

“Was I really that cool?”

Ronny couldn’t help but suppress a smile that was about to break out, feeling his shoulders involuntarily rise towards the sky, maintaining the dignity of a respected older brother.

“Uh, umm, to be like me, you’ll have to work incredibly, extremely hard. I study about our family every day, after all.”

“I’m aware. I will also work hard.”

“Good. I’ll acknowledge that.”

Ronny shook his brother’s hand he was holding and grinned.

“You really are the coolest younger brother in the world!”

Before they knew it, the brothers were smiling at each other with the same expression.

 

***

 

The next day, Ronny woke up early in the morning with a face still showing the fatigue from the banquet.

Having woken up at dawn for the past few days, waking up wasn’t difficult. However, moving his body was another matter.

He struggled with his heavy body for a while before finally managing to get up, spurred by the thought of the ‘history exam’ that loomed like a giant wave.

“Young master, you’ve woken up early again today.”

A servant soon came in with water for washing. Ronny, liking to be praised by him, forcibly suppressed a yawn that threatened to escape.

‘You don’t have to hold back your yawns.’

The servant internally laughed at Ronny’s obviously adorable effort.

“Shall I open the curtains for you?”

“Yes.”

The servant pushed aside the thick winter curtains. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the faint light of dawn entered the room.

“Thanks for opening the curtains. I feel a bit more awake now.”

Ronny suddenly said that to him.

“Not at all.”

The servant smiled happily. In the past, he thought of him merely as a noisy troublemaker, but lately, he was amazed to hear him speak so maturely.

‘It seems hosting the banquet himself has changed the young master.’

Thinking this, the servant approached Ronny again.

“A message has arrived by courier during the night. Would you like to read it now, or after you’ve changed clothes?”

“Another message? For me?”

Ronny asked in surprise.

It was understandable, as he thought there wouldn’t be any urgent letters now that the banquet was over.

However, the servant simply nodded, his expression unchanged.

“I’m curious, so I’ll read it now.”

“Understood.”

The servant quickly brought the letter and presented it to him. The white envelope had Ronny’s name on it, as before.

“Could it be from Master Jeremiah again?”

The servant asked, glancing sideways, remembering how the last letter from the young master had plunged Ronny into a sea of gloom.

“This handwriting isn’t Jeremiah’s, though…”

It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he’d seen it.

“Let’s open it and see.”

Ronny didn’t waste any time and opened the envelope. He needed to go and study for his exams soon.

He needed quite some time to review everything he had desperately memorized over the past few days.

“Let’s see.”

He unfolded the thin letter.

The servant closely observed the young master’s face, hoping desperately that it wasn’t bad news.

But it seemed that desperate hope didn’t reach the heavens, as soon Ronny’s face crumpled as if he was about to cry.

“It’s a lie! Impossible!”

He screamed in despair, just like when he had received Jeremiah’s letter.

“Is there some bad news?”

The servant asked cautiously, to which Ronny, with a crestfallen face, put down the letter.

“The professor has caught a cold, so the exam has been postponed again!”

“Uh… isn’t that a good thing?”

At least it meant not having to take the exam today.

However, Ronny vehemently shook his head.

“How is that good!”

He exclaimed, burying his face in his palms.

“It means I have to keep remembering the exam material until next week!”

“…What?”

“How am I supposed to remember all that until next week?!”

The servant looked at Ronny, who was almost in tears.

Just moments ago, he had admired him for being ‘mature,’ but now, he had reverted to his usual self.

He quickly scolded Ronny.

“Young master. What’s the point of studying if you only remember it for the exam? You should remember it for life.”

“I don’t care! I just memorized everything now! I was planning to forget it all forever starting this evening!”

Now, he started stomping his feet and throwing a tantrum.

“I need to take the exam today!”

Of course, even if he was the precious son of a great family, he couldn’t make a history professor’s cold go away.

Therefore, Ronny’s exam was postponed once again, and his words about forgetting everything after today became reality.

And after a week, Ronny spectacularly flunked his history exam.

“…So, I really did remember everything last week.”

Ronny explained with a gloomy face, but the professor seemed not to believe him.

Moreover, the professor gave Ronny a tremendous amount of homework.

Ronny had to face the high wave in front of him with a gloomy face once again, thinking life was as tough as Loretta had once said.

 

***

 

After the banquet, winter at the Baldwin Ducal House passed quietly.

The children took walks in the garden every time the sun was at its highest in the sky and ate well at every meal.

Thanks to that, Ronny, Loretta, and Melody, who lived in the Ducal House, didn’t catch a cold.

Although the adults were too busy with their own work to regularly take walks or exercise like the children, everyone managed to have a relatively healthy winter.

However, just because the body is healthy, it doesn’t necessarily mean the heart is too.

This was particularly true in the case of the Duke of Baldwin.

“Sigh…”

He was sighing every 30 minutes again today.

Just when it seemed that the issue with Jeremiah had been resolved, another problem seemed to have arisen.

“Are you okay?”

Butler Higgins, who served the Duke, shared his complicated feelings.

“I have to be.”

The Duke tore the letter he had been reading until a moment ago in half. It was unusual for him to show his anger to this extent, so Higgins was quite surprised.

“Were there such terrible things written in it?”

“It wasn’t worth reading.”

The Duke threw the torn pieces of the letter into the fireplace. Black ashes fluttered around the light for a moment before falling to the ground.

“…It’s lasting longer than I thought. The backlash regarding Miss Melody.”

Higgins murmured in a low voice.

Higgins had honestly expected that by now, the elders of the Ducal House would no longer concern themselves with Melody, considering the time that had passed and their previous actions against her.

“Not all the elders are against it. It’s just the voices of a few people that are particularly loud.”

Among the elders, there were definitely those who thought, ‘As long as the Duke does his job well, anything else doesn’t matter.’

However, such individuals quietly focused on their own affairs and remained silent, so the Duke only heard voices of opposition.

“They probably want to drive Melody out and send their daughters to be Loretta’s playmates.”

Just as the nobles of the capital wished to send their children to be playmates with the prince or princess, the vassals from the provinces also hoped their children would grow close to the direct lineage of a noble family from a young age.

This was partly for the stable continuation of their family lines and, if the child was promising, to create a stepping stone for them to advance directly to the capital.

“It seems some have already brought their sons and daughters up to the capital.”

“I will ensure they don’t even come near the mansion.”

The Duke had never brought another child as a ‘playmate’ for his children before.

For him to allow the daughter of a slave trader to be close to Loretta, it was understandable for the vassals and elders to find it objectionable.

“Should I consider it, after all?”

The Duke’s gaze landed on another stack of documents. It contained a list of those who had offered to adopt Melody at some point.

“But you don’t wish for it, do you?”

At Higgins’s question, the Duke rested his chin on his hand and said, “Yes.”

Melody had been hurt by her mother for a long time.

Meeting a new family should, at least, happen after some of that pain had healed, shouldn’t it?

“Anyway, make sure the children don’t hear about this. I don’t want them to worry about the petty fights among adults.”

Especially in Loretta’s case, since her memories had not long returned.

He thought that instilling even a bit of unease in her would not be good for the child.

“Of course, I’m always careful. Unfortunately, it seems Master Claude is already aware.”

At Higgins’s words, the Duke briefly thought of his eldest son and smiled bitterly.

Although he had raised him, recently he had become almost frighteningly perceptive, not letting even the smallest doubt pass without delving into it.

The Duke checked the time and rose from his seat. Today was the day he had planned to show Loretta and Melody a performance.

Until now, the two children had almost always stayed inside the mansion, but it was time to gradually start outdoor activities.

It was also a defensive measure against strange rumors.

There were talks because the Duke had found his daughter but hardly ever took her outside. People wondered if there was something wrong with the child.

The Duke wasn’t someone deeply concerned about such matters, but Claude’s opinion was different.

He believed it wasn’t good to leave bad rumors as they were and persuaded his father.

Fortunately, his suggestion was accepted, and the Duke decided to take Loretta to performances or exhibitions in the future.

Of course, it was agreed upon that Melody should also accompany Loretta wherever she went, as both the Duke and Claude shared this view.

The two children seemed happiest when they were together, after all.

Thus, today, the Duke had decided to take both children to a performance.

Knock, knock.

Just as the Duke stood at the door of his study, a knock was heard. Opening the door, he found Melody standing there with a stiff expression, wrapped in a white shawl.