Chapter 39

“I want to get along with the Lord.”

“Uhhh…”

“Of course, it would be difficult to think of me like a real mother. No, this is a mistake. Anyway, I don’t have a good relationship with the First Lord. I know you have a lot of worries about how to treat me.”

“…..”

“I still want you to not completely close the door of your heart. Even if I am not confident that I am a good person, but I know how to keep the least of my principles, and I want the Lord to grow up just as you are like now.”

“….”

“Would you please allow me to prove that I am not a threat to you? Even by seeing Aedis, who chose me as the Grand Duchess.”

I confessed my sincerity to the best of Regen’s understanding.

I didn’t want him to run away, be waken up by evil spirits, or blame himself when others got hurt.

I didn’t know what happened in the novel, but I didn’t want him to go through that same trauma.

I’d be good to him! Trust me!

“……Your Highness, I think you have a slight fever. Please wait a minute.”

“I’m fine…”

“It’s not fine.”

Regen was determined. He pulled the cramped little blanket to my shoulder, covered it all the way to my neck, and then went out.

Um. I put one hand on my forehead.

It was a little hot, but maybe Regen was just overreacting.

Regen didn’t come back for a while. It seemed like he was actually trying to find a doctor.

I got up and looked around. Having come in a few times, I felt quite familiar with the surroundings, even the cat-patterned curtains.

Most of the cat decorations inside the castle were replaced with other ones, but that curtain was left alone because Regen liked it.

Well…I supposed it was cute.

I left the bed and walked towards the window.

The sun was melting the frozen world. Although it would snow again before all the ice melted, the flash of light was just pleasing in the north.

“What time is the next class?”

How much time does Regen have left?

I looked around the desk, looking back on my memories. The books were neatly stacked on the bookshelf to see if the next class was a subject requiring preparation for study, and a piece of paper was sticking out between them.

Umm.…It said something.

I pulled a piece of paper and made a sentence with the winding letters written on the back.

[Let’s get the things we need to run away from home!]

“….”

[1. Pocket money]

My hand slid. My head really started to throb.

I was fucked.

***

Regen brought the doctor, and I was diagnosed with a mild fever, so I was told to take a break, and that brief commotion ended.

But as I was resting, I self-reflected while pacing around the room.

“I’ll admit it. I was too greedy. I think it will take a little time to get to know the Lord well.”

“A little?”

“…A little bit more.”

Where on earth had it gone wrong?

What was I doing wrong?

No, it was useless now.

It wasn’t like I could turn back time.

“Eve, no one is perfect. It can be difficult to get acquainted with kids,” said the one with a good-looking face, a lot of money, a lot of ability, and is loved by Regen, the only Grand Duke of the empire and the strongest in the world.

“Wow, thank you for your comfort. I’m really touched.”

I sighed and sat on the couch.

Aedis quietly called out to me, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Eve? That’s my knee.”

“I’ll borrow it for a minute.”

As I said something out of my mind, Aedis didn’t push me but instead put my chin on his head.

He didn’t forget to hold me so I wouldn’t slip.

As a result, I was naturally sitting on Aedis’s lap and in a wide hug position.

Oh? I felt Aedis’s body temperature in a puzzled state.

“….Well, it’s not bad.”

There was no sign of displeasure.

I relaxed on my shoulders after being absent. Aedis’s heart was wide and firm enough that I had no lack of expectations.

Wow, it’s much better than a knee blanket?

Even if I hugged Aedis a few times in my sleep, it was only a light hug. It was the first time I had been in contact with him this earnest.

Ah…No… First of all, Regen was the first. Let’s shake off any other thoughts for a moment.

I had to change my tactic.

As long as Regen was already thinking about running away, we didn’t know how and when the sudden incident would happen.

In the novel, Regen, who ran away about a month later, woke up a demon in the forest.

But what if the time moved forward? What if Regen ran away sooner than in the novel?

You could have knights monitor Regen, but that was just a temporary measure.

And the number of cases still remained countless.

If you’ve been holding Regen for a month and then another tough guy wakes up the beast in the forest, it couldn’t be worse than that.

Should we just do it now without waiting?

“Oh.”

It came to my mind, but it was quite tempting.

I thought that would be safer.

Because the beast woke up and it became a problem, so what if it didn’t exist in the first place?

Regardless of the choice Regen made, it was a matter of clearing the road ahead.

It was a satisfactory conclusion.

I sweetly put my husband’s name on my tongue.

“Aedis.”

“Yes.”

“I really think I’m a genius.”

“I can’t keep up with the flow of my wife’s consciousness.”

Ho-ho. I did hold back my laughter.

“If I use my head, but it doesn’t work, I can use my fist, right?”

“I don’t know how that’s a genius idea.”

Aedis’s voice, mixed with laughter, was too low and too close.

Maybe that’s why, just by listening to it, my mind was calmed, and my mood improved.

“There are many kinds of geniuses, right? It’s just that.”

However, there was one problem left, justification, and excuse.

It had been a while since I’ve been to the North, and if I asked to eradicate a beast in the forest, I would be misunderstood.

The first few times, even if I seem to have ulterior motives, I can hang out with him as a little entertainment. But if this coincidence continued, it was no good.

I don’t know if I fall in love with Aedis to the point that I want to tell my story about my previous life.

For now, the most plausible reason is the land inspection. It’s one of the ways to get information about the beast.

I sat on Aedis’s lap and thought about it again.

Suddenly, the butler opened the door.

“Your Majesty, Count Elliot is asking for a meeting. He said that he brought the previously promised accounting ledgers, estate management reports, and civil complaints.”

“…Civil complaints?”

My mind went round in a hurry.

“Get it quickly, no, bring it.”

Aedis asked if there was hope in my voice. “Why are you so welcoming?”

“I’m just happy I can contribute to the development and safety of the Kallakis estate.”

“By beating the count?”

“Well.”

When I tried to refute that it was not true, I suddenly felt strange and closed my lips.

Although we are saying completely different things from each other, it was curious that the conversation continued.

“I’m going down now.”

I came down from Aedis’s lap.

Just in time, the Count arrived.

Count Elliott teased his greased tongue even before the door was fully opened.

“I waited for the day when I would meet again with Your Highness The Grand Duchess, who is greater than the hero and as beautiful as the goddess…Castellan?”

He looked at Aedis and me as we sat on the wide sofa. With his mouth open and unable to manage his facial expressions, Aedis’s eyes narrowed and he barely picked up the sound of his throat.

“The relationship between you two…looks very good.”

If you had seen me sitting on Aedis’s lap, you would have gone back.

“It’s nice to meet you too. What about the documents?”

“Oh, yes, here it is.”

The count arranged neatly classified documents one after another.

Accounting books and estate management reports were not readily available anyway, so I picked up the civil complaints documents right away.

I was a bit worried because the thickness was too thin. There should be at least one thing related to the forest.

It was only a moment when I searched for the word forest as I flipped the hard paper. Soon I found a ridiculous complaint.

It was intense from the title.

“You accused the director of feeding thirty orphans with one sick chicken?”

“It’s a great ability to cook 30 servings with one chicken. Are you a priest?”

The count admired, and I narrowed my eyes.

‘You must be a child abuser.’

The complaint recorded in the was more spectacle.

“Does anyone know the mystery building built by poor construction that did not collapse for 10 years?”

“Oh, that building is famous. I also went to commemorate it.”

Was this man really competent?

I threw a cold gaze at the count and scanned the complaint.

Just one thing related to the forest. Then, let’s solve other complaints with sincerity…

“A mysterious bloodstain appearing in the forest, this is it!”