MDCHC 68

chapter 68

A fragrant scent drifted in through the window. It was a stronger aroma than the tea I was drinking or the sweet smell of the cake in front of me.

When I opened my eyes — which I had closed just to enjoy the scent — I saw the Duchess of Devonshire.

“The lilies have bloomed so beautifully. The blooms are large and lush, and the scent is very strong.”

She read the reason I had intentionally set the table by the window rather than in the middle of the vast drawing room and said it aloud.

“I put a lot of care into them because they’re my favorite flowers. When I hired a gardener, I even chose one who’s good at growing lilies and roses.”

“You like lilies and roses.”

“Yes. All flowers are lovely, but to me those two are the most beautiful. Oh — next year I might plant hydrangeas in the garden. The Countess of Winchester taught me how to get that lovely color.”

The Duchess of Devonshire smiled brightly, clearly pleased that I praised the lilies she had tended carefully. Then, as if remembering something, she drew the smile from her face.

“Oh — how is Lord Winchester’s health? I was so startled when I heard he collapsed at the imperial tournament last time.”

I felt tense as I watched the Duchess of Devonshire ask about Lord Winchester with a worried expression. I had known she would ask that question.

Lord Winchester had collapsed in the middle of the tournament grounds, where an immense crowd had gathered. Nearly everyone in the empire must know that he had fallen. And everyone would wonder.

Why did the empire’s strongest man collapse?

I had to lie to her now.

“It’s a matter related to national security.”

Lord Winchester’s voice flickered through my mind. Recalling it, I made a face to the Duchess of Devonshire that said everything was fine.

“He’s fine now. Perhaps he overexerted himself; there was so much going on, and he was so excited about the tournament that he slept a little later than usual, and it seems he caught a fever that day.”

Lord Winchester’s condition was, they claimed, tied directly to the nation’s security. If it were known that he was unwell, the foreign tribes fighting over the border would strike at once, they said.

Therefore his condition had to be kept utterly secret. His diagnosis had to sound trivial — something one could recover from in a day or two.

So the explanation I could come up with was the flu: a fever so high he could collapse, but something one typically shakes off in two or three days.

The Duchess of Devonshire merely nodded a few times with a worried look but did not press the matter further.

“I heard that the Countess of Winchester nursed him day and night with such devotion. So he must have recovered quickly.”

Huh? That rumor’s out? Goodness… They say society gossip spreads before you know it, but how did word of something that happened within a household spread already?

“Oh, no. It’s just that Lord Winchester is so healthy and robust that he recuperated quickly.”

At my words, the Duchess of Devonshire smiled as if she already knew everything.

What do you know, though?

“You are such a treasure to the Winchesters. At first, I, too, was a bit puzzled by their marriage, but you must have an excellent eye, Lord Winchester. You chose well.”

“You flatter me.”

“Flattery? When I was young I used to visit the Camellia estate often. There was a time our paths didn’t cross, but the last time I visited, it was the most beautiful Camellia house I’ve ever seen. Truly, it had the most beautiful hydrangeas I’ve ever seen.”

As if the hydrangeas were still vivid in her mind, the Duchess of Devonshire smiled dreamily.

“And you’ve been such a good help to your injured husband, and you’re raising the child so well, too. Daniel is so charming and lovely. Brian begged me several times that he wanted to play with Daniel.”

She looked fondly toward Daniel and Brian playing at one side of the drawing room. From what I could tell, they were playing house — the empty teacups and plates arranged like they were having a pretend meal.

At first Daniel had been clumsy with forks and knives, but now he had grown skilled enough to cut a steak by himself. Imagine how neatly he was cutting an imaginary steak even now!

He stabbed the nonexistent steak with a fork and offered it to Brian; Brian opened his mouth wide with an “ah~” and bit at the air with an “ang~.” Then he went “nyam nyam nyam” as if chewing.

Aww! How cute!

“Is it tasty, my love?”

Daniel, perhaps sharing my feelings, watched Brian with a pleased expression and asked in a gentle voice… Wait, what did he say?

“Chew thoroughly, my love~”

I could hardly believe my ears, so Daniel, as if to reassure me, said it again, clearly: “my love.” Honestly, it sounded more natural than how I say it to Lord Winchester.

Usually in pretend play, a two-year-old would be a younger sibling or a baby, but “my love”…?

“Because Daniel gave it, it tastes even better, my love!”

Even Brian? Baby, “my love” is probably too big a word for you — your pronunciation isn’t even there yet!

“You’re an only daughter, but Daniel is very good at playing the role of the older sister. She’s so mature in how she plays with Brian.”

Excuse me, Duchess, but to my eyes Daniel doesn’t seem to be playing the role of an older sister. She is, technically, an older sister, but not the kind you mean.

More like an alluring older-sister type…

I looked at Daniel with a slightly puzzled expression. The way she watched Brian with such fondness was adorable and innocent.

Still, somehow the future of a romance novel’s “dominant guy” scenario overlapped in my mind — perhaps because in a past life I read too many romance novels?

“Well, anyway, as long as Daniel’s happy, that’s fine.”

My mind was muddled, but I concluded that hurriedly.

“Maybe one day when they grow up, Brian will confess that Daniel was his first love.”

E-excuse me, Duchess? Why do you speak of this like a joke? I take that pairing very seriously! Granted, it’s a tiny version of them now, but it’s still sincere!

“Isn’t it better if it isn’t a first love? They say first love never comes to fruition.”

Saying that, the Duchess of Devonshire stared at the lilies in bloom with a pensive expression. The look was… like someone recalling a bittersweet first love. It seemed she had an interesting backstory she wouldn’t want to be asked about, but that I couldn’t resist asking.

“Do you have some wistful memory of a first love?”

Why not — I might as well throw it out there! Nothing is more entertaining than a failed love story from someone else’s past.

“Who doesn’t have at least one? But it’s better not to ask. Especially where men and women are involved.”

The Duchess of Devonshire said that as if it were the most natural thing.

……

I couldn’t laugh.

“…Countess of Winchester?”

The Duchess of Devonshire, having noticed I couldn’t laugh, herself could not laugh either.

“Surely you didn’t ask Lord Winchester about it?”

……

“Surely Lord Winchester didn’t tell the Countess, did he?”

……

“Surely… it was only a puppy love, not some life-and-death kind of love?”

……

I couldn’t answer any of the Duchess’s questions. Yet she understood perfectly well — my silence was the answer.

Finally, perhaps thinking it best not to press further, she stopped asking. Thank goodness.

“Um…”

Once the Duchess of Devonshire halted her questions, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“What should I do?”

To be honest, I wanted someone to whom I could confess this worry and receive advice. But there was no one to whom I could tell such a thing, so I’d been fretting alone.

Now that the Duchess of Devonshire had discovered it, and she seemed to possess the experience that comes with years, I wanted to consult her.

“It would have been best not to ask, but since you already did, the best course is to pretend you didn’t hear it.”

“Pretend I didn’t hear it?”

“Yes. Act as if you heard nothing, as if nothing had happened.”

“And what if that’s difficult?”

“Pardon?”

“What if pretending to be unbothered is difficult… what should I do then?”

Before I knew it, I was clinging to her, begging her to give me a solution.