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Chapter 06
“The Little Daughter-in-Law Runs the Household
It seemed the Duchess was not as weak and fragile a person as I had thought.
“Didn’t you always say you wanted a daughter? In the end you couldn’t give birth to one, but if we had a daughter, she would probably be this lovely and cute. I’d like to talk with this child a little more. It’s been a long time since a small guest came to this mansion.”
In short, she didn’t seem to trust me as a doctor. She simply treated me as someone to talk to.
But even that was a good result for me. At least I could stay close to observe the Duchess.
Ricardo uncle looked back and forth between the Duchess and me, then sighed.
“If that’s what you want, I won’t stop you. And you, kid.”
“Yes?”
“You can at least talk with her, right? Take good care of Diana.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
“Just don’t do anything unnecessary.”
“…Well, I’ll try.”
“Not just try… never mind. Then Diana, rest comfortably. Call me if anything happens.”
Ricardo uncle kissed the back of the Duchess’s pale hand and left the room.
The Duchess watched his back with a sad expression, then turned to me and smiled brightly.
I looked into her gently curved blue eyes and thought for a moment.
“Killian Windriche’s eyes look like the Duchess’s.”
The first time I met Killian was when I was thirteen and he was fourteen. Back then, unlike my still childish self, he already had a mature face and body.
Now he would be about eleven years old. So maybe he still had a slightly childish face?
I felt a little curious.
While thinking about his childhood, I snapped back to reality at the Duchess’s question.
“Do you like hot chocolate?”
“Of course! There are no kids in this world who don’t like hot chocolate!”
“Is that so? My Killian doesn’t like it.”
“The young lord will like it too.”
That was true.
After persistently trying to talk to him in the past, I had learned that Killian actually liked desserts, but avoided them because he didn’t want to seem childish.
He had never even told the Duchess, who he occasionally opened up to, that he liked sweets.
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. So next time the young lord comes, please try serving hot chocolate with marshmallows.”
“…Alright.”
A bitter smile appeared on the Duchess’s lips.
“She probably thinks she will never see Killian again.”
In reality, she really never contacted Killian until the day she died.
To lift her mood, I clapped my hands.
“Hot chocolate is nice, but!”
“But what?”
“Shall we start with some light treatment first?”
I first opened the curtains and the windows wide.
“It seems you kept the windows closed because it’s chilly outside, but that’s not good. You need fresh air for your body to feel better.”
I also prepared a diet plan for the Duchess.
“I know you’ve been eating only soup because you have no appetite and your mouth feels uncomfortable, but soup alone is not enough nutrition. You need a variety of ingredients in a way that doesn’t burden your stomach. Also, drink warm tea often so your body can circulate better. But avoid stimulative teas. I’ll also make a list of teas you can drink.”
As my treatment began to look quite professional, the Duchess’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Are you really planning to treat me?”
“Of course! I said I would heal you, didn’t I? I don’t lie about things like that.”
Finally—
“May I take a look at your dressing table?”
“The dressing table?”
The Duchess looked puzzled, but she allowed it.
Guided by a maid, I checked the large dressing table and soon found what I was looking for.
“Silver Lake Wave.”
It was easy to recognize because of its unique appearance that shimmered bluish or purplish depending on the angle.
It was a cosmetic water made in the Holy Kingdom and distributed in extremely small quantities. It was said to make the face look whiter and brighter.
In the past, Ricardo uncle had discovered that a similar condition had also occurred in Baroness Cornell, who later died.
“That was when I first met uncle when he came to the Cornell territory.”
He had found that both women used a cosmetic product called “Silver Lake Wave.”
Ricardo uncle had suspected that some ingredient in that product negatively affected the Duchess’s health.
But no matter how hard he tried, he could not obtain it.
The Duchess had already thrown hers away long ago, and the Holy Kingdom no longer produced or distributed it.
“After investigating with uncle, I learned that this cosmetic was only distributed for a very short time and in very small amounts.”
After the Duchess died, the product completely disappeared.
As if…
“From the very beginning, the Duchess was the target.”
Perhaps the forces targeting Windriche had been planning things for much longer than I thought.
Baroness Cornell’s family was a wealthy merchant house involved in trade.
Because of that, she had barely managed to obtain one bottle of “Silver Lake Wave.”
But by the time I visited her, she had already used it all, so I couldn’t analyze it.
“Is there something interesting?”
While I was staring at the glass bottle, the Duchess spoke.
“I don’t really understand since I only have sons, but I heard girls like secretly using their mothers’ makeup. If there’s anything you like, you can take it.”
“Really? Then can I take this?”
The Duchess’s maid looked troubled.
“That is very expensive…”
But again, the Duchess agreed without hesitation.
“Go ahead. Loti, there’s still one unused product left, right? Give her that too.”
“But, my lady…”
“It’s fine. I won’t be using it anymore anyway.”
I looked back and forth between the Duchess’s faint smile and the maid Loti, who looked like she might cry.
“Thank you, Madam! Next time I’ll bring you cosmetics that work even better!”
“I told you not to do unnecessary things, but you turned Lady Diana’s room upside down like it was your own house.”
“Eek!”
As soon as I left the room after confirming that the Duchess had fallen into a more peaceful sleep, I saw Ricardo uncle’s dissatisfied face.
His eyes moved to the glass bottles I was holding.
“What are those? I saw them on Diana’s dressing table.”
I hugged them tightly, afraid he might take them.
“Lady Diana gave these to me.”
“Diana did?”
“Yes. The Duchess herself gave them to me.”
Perhaps unable to go against his wife’s will, uncle lost interest in the bottles.
“Diana seems to like you quite a lot.”
“I think so. Well, isn’t it strange not to fall for someone this cute?”
“Feels like you’re telling me that on purpose.”
“That wasn’t my intention, but you seem strangely sensitive.”
“…”
Uncle clicked his tongue in disbelief.
I casually shrugged and bowed my head.
“I think you’re going to see the Duchess, so I’ll go back to my room.”
I also wanted to examine “Silver Lake Wave” as soon as possible.
Just as I tried to pass by him—
“…you.”
“Yes?”
I looked up at his side profile. He spoke calmly without looking at me.
“Thank you. For spending time with Diana. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her smile like that.”
