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Chapter 13
Our little troublemaker didn’t fall asleep easily even yesterday. He woke up every two hours, and every time I tried to put him down, he screamed like his life depended on it.
Honestly, I felt like drilling through him with a needle. The little devil, who had turned his pain into rage and tears, had evolved to the next level and was ruining my sanity.
As soon as morning came, the now-quiet Hayden laughed brightly.
“Mamma! Nya, mamma! Nyanya! Bana!”
He meant he wanted banana and milk. So seeing my face makes you think only of food, huh? Look at my dark circles—they’re practically hanging down to my chin.
Hayden, who had been crawling around the rug, suddenly came toward me. Smiling brightly, he reached out his hands.
“Ugh. Yes, yes, you’re cute, so cute.”
No matter how exhausted I was, I always collapsed at that bright smile. But that smile was the devil’s trap.
“Gyaaaah!”
Hayden grabbed a handful of my loose hair and pulled himself upright. My soul shook along with his tiny hands clutching my hair on both sides and his wobbling body.
“This… is not okay…”
When I pried his hands off my head, I found five strands of my hair in his tiny fist.
No wonder it hurt. Our eyes met.
“Mamma mamma!! Nyanyanyanya!”
…Fine. Let’s go eat.
I carried Hayden outside. Lady Ureine, who happened to meet my eyes, flinched and stepped back.
“Duchess, is something wrong…?”
“I couldn’t sleep all night. Hayden has teething pain. I was going to feed him some baby food and put him to sleep…”
“At this rate, it seems the Duchess will collapse first.”
Lady Ureine looked very worried.
“How about you rest for a while? I’ll take care of him. I’ll have the baby food you ordered prepared.”
It felt like salvation.
“Really? The soft beef brisket stew with low salt, right?”
“Of course, Duchess.”
I could trust Lady Ureine. When I handed Hayden over, he flailed his arms toward me.
Hey, stay there.
Ignoring Lady Ureine’s sympathetic gaze, I returned to my room and collapsed dramatically.
My exhausted body was swallowed by the soft bed.
Ah… this is heaven.
May no one come looking for me.
Please.
Later
Chloe looked at Hayden, who was being held by Lady Ureine, with a confused expression.
“Why is Lady Ureine taking care of the baby? Isn’t that the Duchess’s job? I heard she said she would take care of Hayden herself.”
“Oh, that. The young master didn’t sleep all night because of teething, so the Duchess was told to rest.”
Lady Ureine answered casually. In truth, she only thought Roana was amazing for caring for the baby all night without help. So she didn’t notice the subtle edge in Chloe’s voice at all.
“She… postponed her duty?”
Chloe muttered quietly, tilting her head. Her smile stiffened slightly.
‘That’s not how it should be. If she became the Duchess of Bereiden after coming from Hezest, she should behave properly. What kind of family Bereiden is… and what kind of man Cheres is.’
If she came from that filthy Hezest family, she should at least be perfect. She shouldn’t cause even the slightest trouble for Cheres, and she should never fall short of Bereiden’s standards. Chloe bit her lip slightly.
‘This is disrespect toward Cheres.’
She remembered Roana sharply scolding Diane in the greenhouse the previous day.
Cheres was a man with many wounds. He lost his parents when he was young. Then he was left with his nephew. Even that alone was heavy enough, but he had to become the head of a vast estate.
That’s why Chloe thought Cheres should marry a very good woman—kind, able to embrace his wounds, and possessing noble grace.
Someone like herself.
But Roana seemed far from that ideal.
Did she really need to be so harsh with Diane?
She could have spoken more gently. And Countess Yotley had seemed wronged, but Roana hadn’t even listened to her.
Roana was fierce, selfish, and unpleasant. As expected of Hezest.
Chloe wiped her eyes with a sorrowful expression. Why was fate so cruel to Cheres?
She decided she needed to comfort him more properly. As his only friend, she felt she should take care of his household.
“What are you doing, Cheres?”
“Oh, Chloe.”
Borgus glanced at Chloe and organized confidential documents. She had opened the door without knocking.
Cheres sighed.
“You shouldn’t open the door without permission. We’re not children anymore, Chloe.”
“Ah, my mistake. Sorry, sorry. I’ll be careful next time. I guess I’m not used to the ducal house again. Sorry, Borgus.”
“It’s fine.”
Even while apologizing, Chloe stepped inside without waiting for permission. The action was completely natural.
She had grown up freely entering Cheres’s office since childhood, so it was habit.
Even though the master had changed, the office remained the same. That made Chloe feel strangely excited.
Cheres said they were grown now and should keep distance, but seeing unchanged things made her feel like nothing between them had changed either.
Cheres was still the same Cheres from childhood, and Chloe still felt like the same “El” from back then.
“How have you been?”
She sat casually on the sofa, speaking in a sing-song voice.
Cheres finally closed his documents and looked at her.
“Yes. As you can see.”
“I was bored the whole time I was at my grandmother’s house. And she kept nagging me to get married. Cheres, do you think I can just marry any man?”
“That’s your decision.”
Cheres replied coldly.
The Malate family had long-standing ties with the ducal house, and Chloe had been Cheres’s childhood friend.
Occasional playful marriage talks among adults were never taken seriously.
To Cheres, Chloe was just a childhood friend—nothing more.
That’s why he tolerated her even now, out of respect for the Malate family’s long-standing goodwill.
But she was still exhausting.
“What? So you’re saying I can just marry anyone? That’s mean. You’ve become so indifferent to me.”
Cheres looked at her coldly.
She still acted like a child who needed all attention from adults.
“What’s more… the Duchess seems strange.”
Chloe said, twirling her hair with her finger.
The Duchess? Roana?
Cheres and Borgus both looked at her.
Chloe, pleased to have their attention, continued.
At that moment, neither Cheres nor Borgus expected anything good. But Chloe was still a noble lady who had been educated properly… or so they thought.
But they were wrong.
“Recently, she caused a disturbance in the ladies’ society. So uncivilized. She even humiliated Countess Yotley in social circles. The Countess was so wronged… it was pitiful.”
