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Chapter 10
“Hmm, this is difficult.”
Ibel rubbed the handle of her parasol as she sank into thought.
Twins, but with different development…
“Your aunt has some minor issues as well, but those can be resolved once the lady of the house properly takes her place. Since she has decided to care for the family, we cannot have her remain in the territory indefinitely.”
“Then once we go down, there are two things to do. Establish order in the household and tend to the nieces’ illness.”
“That’s correct.”
“I’ll go down and meet them first. I think I’ll need to see them myself to determine what kind of treatment is necessary.”
Now she understood why she was needed.
To think that the bloodline of a Grand Duke’s house was imitating beasts.
‘If that ever made the news, it would be a disaster.’
Of course, she had no intention of letting even a single word about the Bavarian Grand Ducal family slip out— not even by accident. She had always been tight-lipped to begin with.
“I heard from old Vanya that they’ve been heating the house with torches… That won’t do. And keeping all the windows shut is also a problem.”
“No matter what my aunt says, I always keep the windows open where I stay. But the children’s quarters are rather dark. As I toured the mansion, I realized there are many things that need to be changed.”
That was the part that worried her the most. If they were coughing, it meant their lungs weren’t in good condition. Still, since they were young, it was unlikely to be tuberculosis.
If they had been coughing up blood, they wouldn’t be trying to handle it internally within the family in such a roundabout way.
‘But lung diseases don’t really have a proper treatment yet. That’s why I’m so concerned.’
Usually, people were advised to recuperate in the countryside where the air was clean, but it didn’t seem likely that the Bavarian Grand Duchy would have air as polluted as the capital.
Then what was the problem?
“Have you ever heard of the Bavarian family illness?”
“Not at all.”
“They say a curse runs through the Bavarian bloodline. It would be best to proceed step by step, so I’ll explain what that family illness is once we arrive at the territory.”
Victor’s profile as he said that had sunk into a cold stillness.
Even a man who seemed to have everything had one or two things he wished to keep hidden.
Ibel accepted his consideration with consideration of her own and did not press further.
And Victor found that extremely comfortable.
Ibel never crossed the line, yet when it came to things she needed to know, she approached them carefully.
Though she normally had no interest in others—or in anything at all—once she had something to protect, she would throw herself into it without regard for her life.
“That reminds me of something. You once argued with your superior, insisting that disinfection was necessary.”
“Ah…! Yes, I remember. Back then, I wasn’t quite in my right mind.”
“I thought it was admirable. That was probably the first day I memorized your name.”
The Bavarian Grand Duchy’s autonomous corps once numbered fifty thousand.
Among them, about three thousand belonged to the medical division.
Some were from Bavaria, but most had been conscripted and assigned from other regions.
And one day, Victor noticed someone shouting at the top of her lungs.
“We must disinfect! I absolutely cannot back down on this. How can you put such a filthy knife into a patient’s body!”
“The more flesh and blood stuck to a knife, the better the doctor! You graduated from a university and don’t even know that?”
“At the university I attended, we disinfected with carbolic acid. Haven’t you learned about the achievements of Miss Nightingale during the Crimean War? She maintained cleanliness even in field hospitals and saved the majority of patients. Please throw away that outdated knife already!”
Pointing fingers with her eyes raised sharply was clearly a violation of military law.
However, the medical corps had an additional rule that other divisions did not.
If one believed their medical skill was superior and could save a soldier, they were allowed to speak freely.
Victor himself had added that rule while leading the corps—to protect the brave in case such a situation ever arose, though in reality, what subordinate would dare defy a superior?
And yet, he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
Moreover, the man lying on the stretcher, groaning, was his longtime friend.
Otherwise, Victor would never have come to the field hospital himself.
“You took my side back then, Your Grace.”
“Yes. Thanks to that, Lucas survived.”
“It wasn’t a fatal wound. I simply couldn’t bear to see him die from infection.”
Captain Lucas Steiner.
He was the man brought in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen on the day of the bombardment.
He, too, had been one of the final twelve.
‘Right… he’s alive now.’
He was someone who cherished cannons, bombs, and gunpowder like his own children.
Thanks to Captain Lucas’s ingenious creations, they had managed to evade pursuit and endure stubbornly.
“I wish… that aside from us, at least one more person carried those memories. Even knowing how difficult that would be.”
“I understand what you mean.”
“It would be better to forget. Better if it had never happened…”
Ibel gently pressed her ear with her gloved hand, as if the ringing persisted. It usually faded after a few seconds like this.
Victor, noticing her action, stopped walking.
“We were family, after all.”
He gently removed her hand and instead covered her ear with his large hand.
It wouldn’t actually block the sound, but it was the best he could do at that moment.
“I know what you’re hearing. I experience it as well, sometimes.”
“…Yes.”
Victor’s low, careful voice was unmistakably comforting.
Ibel quietly looked up at the man who seemed two heads taller than her.
“Your Grace.”
“My name.”
“…Victor.”
His tone was soft, yet firm.
In the end, she spoke his name, but once it left her lips, it somehow felt both trivial and like the gravest disrespect in the world.
Still, Ibel readily admitted that his name rolled pleasantly off the tongue.
“Well done. Is the ringing better now?”
“It’s fine.”
Ibel found herself speaking more bluntly.
Perhaps the tension she had been holding onto had eased a little.
Was it because she had managed to call his name, something that had weighed on her mind?
“Then please stay here and enjoy the scenery for a moment. I have somewhere to go.”
“Alright.”
“Just in case—don’t fall into the river.”
“Me? Do you think I’m a child?”
She scoffed, and Victor let out a small laugh.
He, too, looked much more at ease.
“You do tend to get into trouble the moment I take my eyes off you.”
“As if.”
“You defied your superior… let’s see, about seven times, I think. And once, you even struck a patient.”
He really did suit speaking casually more.
Having spent his life giving orders, it was only natural.
Since she preferred this over formal speech, Ibel smirked just like she used to.
“He tried to ambush me from behind. Instead of striking his neck, I should’ve cracked his skull.”
“You’re right about that.”
The awkward atmosphere that had lingered gradually lightened again.
He truly was skilled at handling people.
Ibel watched Victor heading somewhere for a moment before turning her gaze to the lake.
The gently rippling water, moved by the wind, was calming just to look at. Occasionally, a fish would leap with a thunk! and vanish, while a white bird circled above, watching for its chance.
Lost in the peace, she stood absentmindedly when suddenly, a savory smell wafted beside her.
“!”
She turned—and it was the Grand Duke, no, Victor.
With the brightest expression she had ever seen on him, he was holding out… a bag of roasted peanuts.
“You like peanuts, don’t you?”
“Uh—well, I do… but don’t tell me you went out just to buy these?”
“That’s correct. It looked like they were about to pack up, so I hurried.”
Good heavens.
Ibel couldn’t bring herself to speak and instead alternated her gaze between the pile of peanuts and Victor.
The iron-blooded commander from the battlefield and the man now holding a bag of peanuts simply did not match.
“…Pfft.”
In the end, Ibel failed to maintain her composure.
The savory smell kept drifting toward her.
Something she had never imagined seeing in his hands had suddenly appeared, stealing her attention.
And so, clutching her stomach, she burst into laughter.
