The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 161

Chapter 161: Caramel and Conversation Time

“Regarding the compensation for this technology transfer, it was possible to add more, right?”

Alexis, who had been visited by Melfina in the drawing room first thing in the morning, looked surprised but nodded firmly.

“Yes. Since we are receiving technology of that caliber, I will naturally agree.”

“Then, please give me your time this morning, Duke. I think there will be almost no problems if I put Marie and August in charge of the engineers as leaders.”

Marie was familiar with almost everything about the projects being carried out in the Enkar region. Since the beginning of the year, August had also been frequently visiting the Enkar region and connecting with the local figures in various places, so the cooperation would be smooth.

“You want me to do something with that free time, then.”

He was quick to catch on when work was involved. It made her feel exasperated that he couldn’t do this for the little child beside him.

“I know this is an unnecessary intrusion, but I’ll be blunt. I think you should spend more time with Lord William, Duke.”

As if he hadn’t expected that at all, Alexis frowned slightly with a suspicious look.

“I also have a younger brother, but it feels unnatural for a boy around Lord William’s age to be so quiet and follow adults’ work so obediently. The adults around him should pay more attention to him suddenly disappearing and troubling the adults around him, or wandering around in the middle of the night.”

She had only interacted with William for one day. She couldn’t tell Alexis how much she knew about him.

However, she couldn’t have a bad impression of the boy who patiently and quietly listened to the hours-long technology transfer talks, interacted with Rena as an equal, and was so cared for by Ed.

“Children sometimes take unexpected actions from an adult’s point of view, but sometimes those actions contain a cry for help. I don’t know if Lord William is really looking for that.”

It was Alexis’s role to understand that. Melfina, as a nominal aunt, couldn’t change anything by interacting with him for a short time.

“I’m asking this just to be sure, but you don’t dislike Lord William, do you, Duke?”

“He is my nephew and the child who will succeed the Duke’s family. Of course not.”

“…Raising children is not just about giving them enough food, clothing, and shelter. There are things that cannot be fulfilled even with a nanny or a tutor.”

For Melfina, who had not been given the love and attention of her parents, that was not a feeling that was someone else’s problem.

“Even in a small territory like the Enkar region, there is a mountain of work. I understand that you, the Duke, who governs the north, are busier than I am, and I know that this is an unnecessary intrusion. But, if you are his guardian, you are the only one who can give him the affection of a blood relative.”

Even though she had been given a sufficient environment and education as a marquis’ daughter, an empty hole continued to form in Melfina’s heart.

“Melfina” in the game wanted to fill that hole and repeatedly indulged in extravagance in order to get Alexis’s attention in any way, and eventually hated Maria and continued to harass her… and eventually perished.

Loneliness, sadness, distorts people.

By the time William stops taking actions that trouble the adults around him, it might already be too late.

–Maybe I’m just being too sentimental and empathizing too much on my own.

If that was the case, then so be it.

Even if this effort ended in futility, it couldn’t be helped.

She didn’t think that she could heal everyone from the beginning.

“…What do you want me to do?”

“I have my own work to do, so I’ll leave Ed in charge of escorting you both. Please don’t forget that this is an additional reward for the technology transfer, and for this morning, please think of Ed as me and follow his instructions.”

When she said that clearly, Alexis, while trying to suppress his confusion, nodded firmly.

For Alexis, who was born as the eldest son of the previous duke and inherited the title in due course, it was not difficult to imagine that the kitchen was a distant place, and it would have been impossible for him to obey a pre-adolescent boy.

Still, she wanted to think that he nodded not just for the sake of the reward, but out of love for William.

* * *

“Today, I want to make a snack for Lady Melfina! I look forward to working with you!”

The ever-carefree boy… Ed announced brightly, and when Alexis looked at William, he was also looking at him with a confused expression.

“That, is a snack something like a light meal?”

“It’s a sweet treat. Lady Melfina says that if you eat it when you’re using your head too much or worrying, it makes you feel happy. Oh, but she also said that you have to be careful not to get cavities if you eat too much!”

“Cavities…”

William muttered bitterly as if cupping his cheeks with his hands. It seemed that he had suffered from cavities before.

He had been treating him as his nephew since he was a baby, but it was the first time he had heard that.

“Is it alright for us to make it? The recipe is a cook’s life.”

“It’s a recipe that Lady Melfina gave me, so it’s okay.”

The boy smiled amiably.

Come to think of it, it was this boy who had brought the ale when he had gone to the lord’s residence in the Enkar region. He seemed to have grown quite a bit since that day, but his cheerful nature hadn’t changed.

“First, we’ll prepare milk, butter, and sugar. She said that a copper pot is best.”

Following the boy’s instructions, he put the ingredients into the pot. He placed it on the magic stone stove, set it to a very low heat, and lit the fire.

“Milk, butter, and sugar are all very easy to burn, so please keep mixing them carefully. It takes quite a while, but the important thing is to keep mixing over low heat.”

“Is it necessary to keep mixing it all the time? If we’re just heating it up, we can finish it all at once with high heat.”

“Lady Melfina said that thinking that five minutes at high heat is the same as ten minutes at low heat is the root of failure. If you heat it over low heat and mix it slowly with this wooden spatula, it will work, so please do so. Oh, Lord William, please use this stepladder if you like. Well then, I’ll leave you to it.”

After quickly conveying his instructions, the boy cheerfully said that and tried to leave the kitchen.

“Wait, don’t you have to supervise?”

“Lady Melfina told me that once I teach you how to make it, I can go back to my own work. I’ll come back to check on you in a while, so please do your best!”

After saying that cheerfully, the boy quickly left the kitchen.

Apparently, he was doing the preparation for lunch at a table in the next dining room. He could sense his presence, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention to them.

“Uncle, you have to mix it.”

“Ah…”

Urged by William, he mixed the smooth contents of the pot. He turned the spatula around and around, but he couldn’t understand what this meant at all.

“That white lump that you put in there is sugar, right? Isn’t that a lot?”

“Yes, that alone would be equivalent to the sugar consumption of the entire north for a year.”

Sugar was a tonic and a very expensive item. The general way to use it was to put a small lump in your mouth, or slowly dissolve sugared petals in your mouth while drinking water or tea.

He had been amazed when he was served a sweet drink in the Enkar region before.

“Aunt, you’re really amazing.”

While muttering earnestly, William’s gaze was fixed on the white liquid in the pot.

“…Have you ever had a cavity?”

When he asked that, unable to stand the silence, William answered in a small voice, “Yes.”

“It was a baby tooth, so it was pulled out when I went to get a haircut.”

“I see, that must have been painful.”

“No, I’m a boy, so it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Even boys feel pain when something hurts. There’s no need to cry dramatically, but you don’t have to hide that you thought it was painful.”

“Yes… Do you ever feel pain, Uncle?”

Asked curiously, he couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.

He was sometimes called cold and harsh, but Alexis was also a human being with blood running through his veins. It hurt when he got injured, and he felt annoyed when his mucous membranes and skin were damaged by the magic power of monsters.

“It hurts when a monster’s claws scratch me, and sometimes the tips of my fingers crack and hurt a lot in the winter. It’s a problem that can be solved by seeing a priest, but that doesn’t mean it’s not unpleasant.”

“I see. I thought that because you’re so strong, Uncle, you wouldn’t feel pain.”

As the one who would eventually succeed him, he had never broken down his behavior as a duke in front of William, just as his father had done to Alexis.

He had never thought about the legitimacy of that.

‘I think you should spend more time with Lord William, Duke.’

Perhaps because it was something they had agreed upon at the beginning of their contract, this was the first time that Melfina had delved into Alexis’s personal affairs.

From her point of view, his relationship with William must seem very distorted.

“Uncle, shall I take over mixing?”

“Ah, yes.”

When he handed over the wooden spatula, William, who was still a little short even when standing on the stepladder, was stirring the inside of the pot while stretching.

The movements were clumsy but firm.

He thought that he had grown so much, and he also thought that he was still a small child.

“It would have been nice if Aunt Marie could have joined us.”

“…Is there something special about calling Marie ‘Aunt’?”

He realized only after asking that, even though he had warned him many times, he had never asked why he stubbornly called Marie ‘Aunt’.

William stared at the inside of the pot and took some time to answer.

“I rarely get to see Aunt Marie, so I feel like if I stop calling her Aunt, I’ll forget that she’s my aunt. That’s, because it’s lonely.”

“Do you want Marie to be your aunt?”

“Of course! Ah, I’m sorry for raising my voice.”

He told him that it was okay and remembered the boy who had been raising his voice carefree just a little while ago.

Nobles and commoners have different positions. Nobles are educated to always be calm so as not to be taken advantage of and to have a perspective that is a step back even on their own affairs.

The same was true for Alexis, and looking at things from a bird’s eye view was now a familiar and natural thing.

“I want you and Aunt to get along, not as master and servant, but as uncle and aunt. Besides, I’m the only one who can call Aunt, Aunt…”

William’s words were faltering, and it was difficult for William himself to verbalize his feelings, and he seemed frustrated.

“Marie is my sister and your aunt. But, that’s not what Marie herself wanted.”

“………”

“I think it would be better if she lived happily in a place other than Oldrand.”

As he said that, he realized now that he had never clearly stated his feelings for Marie either.

Unlike Christoph, who was his close brother from the same mother, his relationship with Marie was complex even within the Duke’s family at the time.

If they respected the duchess who had devoted herself to the north, they would inevitably have a distance from the concubine’s daughter.

Alexis never openly cared for Marie, and Marie never called Alexis her brother.

When he recommended an engagement with his close aide so that she would have no financial difficulties in the future, she even bowed her head to decline the master’s offer as a servant.

Surely, it was too late now. Even if time were turned back, he didn’t think that he could have taken a different attitude towards Marie, considering his mother, who had devoted herself so much to the Oldrand family.

Only bitter regrets would be remembered from time to time, and the ending would be the same as now.

“…Come to think of it, I heard that Marie used to sneak out of the mansion and climb trees when she was a child, which troubled the housekeeper.”

“Aunt did!? I can’t believe it.”

“Yes, that was…”

He started to say, but then closed his mouth.

He had heard that story a little before it was known that Margaret was pregnant.

Marie was about the same age as William now.

After William was born, he stopped hearing stories about Marie like that… no, everyone must have been too busy to care about that.

Before he knew it, Marie had become the quiet girl she was now, suppressing her emotions.

He noticed that and felt a commotion in his chest.

‘Children sometimes take unexpected actions from an adult’s point of view, but sometimes those actions contain a cry for help.’

‘Raising children is not just about giving them enough food, clothing, and shelter. There are things that cannot be fulfilled even with a nanny or a tutor.’

There was probably nothing unnecessary in Melfina’s words.

Including the fact that Alexis and William had created time to spend together like this.

“Ah, Uncle! The color is changing. Um, is this okay? It’s not burnt, is it?”

“Let me see. …I’ve never cooked before either, so I don’t know.”

The contents of the pot were bubbling, the pure white liquid had become viscous, and had turned slightly brown.

Alexis couldn’t tell whether it was burnt and that color was mixed in. However, a violently sweet smell was starting to fill the kitchen.

“I’ll go call that person! Please keep mixing, Uncle!”

Jumping off the stand, William ran to the next dining room. Ed, who had been brought back immediately, looked at the pot and smiled lightly.

“It’s almost done! Good luck!”

“It’s been over thirty minutes since we’ve been doing this, but is this really alright?”

“It’s okay until it gets a little darker brown. It starts to burn easily once it gets colored, so please mix it well.”

“Uncle, please do your best.”

He responded faintly with “Ah” to William’s sincere encouragement.

Keeping the politics of the north healthy, condemning corruption, and fighting off the threat of monsters.

Compared to those, the contents of the pot were surely insignificant.

But that was probably the most important thing at this moment.

“It seems like it’s going to be the Duchess’s snack. If I fail, I’ll be in trouble later.”

When he said that and unintentionally laughed, William had a blank look, and then suddenly smiled.

In response to the child’s innocent smile, he remembered Christoph, who had been under the shade of a tree, telling each other that they would make Oldrand better, filled only with hope.

That, was strangely painful in his chest.