On the day of the noble assembly in the palace, Evan, who had business to attend to, returned to the Duke’s residence earlier than expected. Thanks to Fred’s performance, the complicated matters were swiftly resolved.

Fred left everyone silent after he eloquently presented the legal justifications, and only after the results were out did they realize that everything had gone according to Elanie’s wishes.

Of course, Evan, without any interest in this matter, silently observed.

Looking at Fred’s happily smiling face, he only had thoughts like, ‘Our son really doesn’t take after Viscount Rostry.’ Setnin rarely smiled.

With the schedule ending earlier than anticipated, Evan stopped by the city and chose a ruby bracelet for Laria. It was a limited edition with exquisite flower craftsmanship. Since Laria liked limited editions, Evan bought that bracelet right away.

“It’s for a gift, so please take care of the packaging.”

When Evan casually mentioned it, the jeweler asked with enthusiasm.

“Oh, is today a special day for you?”

“Ah.”

Evan, without blinking an eye, responded to the owner’s question.

“The meeting ended early, so I could see Laria’s face for more than four hours than expected. Truly a special and grateful day.”

Nathan, who was preparing to say, ‘Our Duke occasionally buys gifts for his wife even on ordinary days,’ immediately closed his mouth.

“Hahaha… You really know how to make jokes, Duke Icard.”

The jeweler could only awkwardly laugh. It didn’t sound like a joke at all, no matter how one thought about it.

“By the way, do you happen to have any ongoing events?”

“Event?”

“Yes. Presenting a bracelet casually on such a special day may not have the desired impact compared to making a more dramatic scenario.”

The surprise event, passionately planned by the jeweler, unfolded as follows,

First, he invited Laria’s closest maid’s help to present her with the bouquet of flowers, claiming it was a gift. Then, that night, he would ask Laria, who had been in a good mood from the bouquet, if she liked the gift.

If the answer were yes, he would ask why she wasn’t wearing it and retrieve the real gift, a bracelet shaped like a flower hidden within the flowers. Honestly, Nathan thought the event was quite lackluster, but Evan nodded approvingly as if he found it appealing.

Of course, Evan accepted the entire sequence of the ticklish procedure because he liked the term ‘that night.’ He decided he would ensure she only wore the bracelet, not anything else.

Upon entering the Duke’s residence, Evan secretly went to see Lisa with the bouquet in hand.

However, Lisa, who was tasked with Laria’s errands, had not yet arrived at the Duke’s residence. The door was even left open, and as Evan was about to place the bouquet in her room, he discovered a note clipped to a medicine packet.

Evan quickly searched his memory.

He had never heard of a visit from the court physician, Ciel.

Therefore, it was undoubtedly Laria who secretly called Ciel. Given Laria’s calculated personality, there was a high possibility she called deliberately on a day when Evan went out of the Duke’s residence.

[ Be sure to give it before meals. And Madam prefers to keep this prescription a secret. She doesn’t want to cause unnecessary worry. – Ciel ]

A secret.

She didn’t want to cause unnecessary worry… Just reading those words made Evan’s hands tremble with anxiety.

He hastily examined the medicine.

At the age of thirteen, he had extensively studied medical textbooks to understand Garba lung disease diseases. The memories from that time still lingered, so he immediately recognized that among the unfamiliar medicines, there were mixtures of those he had studied before.

“No, no way.”

Evan immediately rushed out of Lisa’s room. He headed to the room of Ciel, the doctor. The door was locked, and a passing servant informed him.

“The Doctor left for the academy due to a seminar. Is something wrong?”

“…What about Laria? Where is Laria?”

“Oh, the Young Lady and Young Lord are in the playroom.”

It felt like his head was turning white.

Evan sprinted towards the children’s room. Indeed, as he approached the children’s room, he heard Laria’s voice.

“Yes, Setnin. Shall we cut the belly and give it to the rabbit doll?”

“Yeah, yeah!”

“Sure, let’s try! No, no. Wait, Setnin. When I said cut the belly, I meant to cut the eating belly with the sword, not the rabbit’s belly.”

Setnin and Laria, holding a toy sword, looked dazzlingly beautiful. Meanwhile, Arienne, beside them, was diligently eating snacks with a gentle face.

Laria, while trying to transform Setnin’s swordplay into a pretend game, kept petting Arienne’s head.

“Arienne, can you give Mom a bite too?”

“It’s not Mom’s snack but Arienne’s snack.”

Arienne was a sweet and pretty baby, undeniably so. However, her concept of possession was very clear, and she never shared what was hers.

Seeing that scene, Laria stuck out her tongue and murmured.

“Arianne… Who do you resemble to have such a strong desire for what’s yours.”

“Mom.”

“….”

Evan bit his lower lip tightly as he observed this beautiful dialogue and scene. The moments of happiness, even though they were being captured by his eyes, felt insufficient.

Though he never told Laria, he had occasionally had nightmares before.

It was a dream where Laria died.

It turned out those dreams were manifestations of past events before time regressed, but at the time, he only thought of them as vivid nightmares. Therefore, Evan’s consideration of the possibility of Laria’s death was not a new thought.

However, as too many peaceful days continued, he had pushed those horrific imaginings aside. Yet, upon seeing the medicine bag, the dreadful visions from the past began to infiltrate his mind.

At that moment.

“Dad?”

Setnin, who was highly sensitive, was the first to lift his head and look towards the door. Only now did Laria, with her round eyes, raise her gaze to see Evan standing at the doorway.

“Oh? Evan, you’re here? You came so early. There were many talks that today’s agenda would be quite complicated…”

Laria, who had been happily greeting him, stopped abruptly at Setnin’s words.

“Daddy hoohoo! Dad ouchie?”

Laria, surprised, quickly stood up. The tears that didn’t suit Evan’s somewhat intimidating appearance were streaming down his cheeks.

It was the first time Evan had cried since Setnin’s birth.

* * *

I was surprised, leaving the children in the care of the nanny and rushing out into the corridor. Evan, who had struggled to speak for a while, was breathing heavily.

“Evan, Evan, what’s going on?”

What happened at the palace?

However, to my knowledge, this matter had nothing to do with Duchy Icard. Moreover, even if it were an issue related to Duchy Icard, Evan wouldn’t cry like that just because things weren’t working out.

“Say something! Why are you like this?”

“…Laria.”

He hugged me tightly, not bothering to wipe away his tears.

“I… I actually used to think that if you died, I’d follow suit, though now I realize I can’t do that. We have children….”

“What?”

I blinked in confusion.

“But, Laria… I-I can’t imagine living happily without you….”

Only then did I vaguely guess the situation of all this.

Roughly, it seemed that my secretly calling for Ciel had become the cause of his misunderstanding, leading to a bigger misconception.

“Evan, let go for a moment… You’re misunderstanding something. I’m not going to die. I won’t die!”

“…Huh? But, but I saw Ciel’s note in Lisa’s room, and I thought—”

Seeing Evan’s puzzled face, I smiled helplessly and quickly started to explain the situation. As his expression began to relax, I suddenly had another thought.

Immediately, another statement from my memory floated up.

“Tell me.”

“What?”

“What does it mean to be happy at the Duke’s residence? Evan and I, how can we be happy?”

The first time I went to pick him up on the day of his enrollment at the academy, Father said that to me. Back then, I just felt like Father was interrogating me, but thinking about it now, he seemed genuinely curious.

He was probably wondering how he could be happy at the Duke’s residence without Matilda.

Maybe Father wanted to follow Matilda after she left, but seeing Evan, he must have realized he couldn’t.

Others may be different, but Evan seemed like someone who wouldn’t speak ill of his father. If I were to leave this world, Evan would probably do everything in his power, even resort to dark magic, to save me.

“Ha…”

Evan grabbed my arms and checked multiple times.

“Really? Are you really healthy?”

“That’s what I said! If you can’t believe it, call another doctor. Don’t bother Ciel for no reason.”

I tapped Evan’s shoulders before I tilted my head and asked.

“But why did you go to Lisa’s room?”

“Oh, that… I was preparing for an event…”

“Event? What event?”

Only then did Evan wipe the tears in his eyes and begin to explain his situation. Just hearing the content of the lame event, planning to give a limited edition flower-shaped ruby bracelet from a bouquet, made me burst into laughter just hearing about it.

“So… where did you put that bracelet? Let’s take a look at it.”

“Uh… It’s still in the bouquet…”

“Huh? Then where’s the bouquet?”

“Um… I probably threw it in the corridor?”

“Are you crazy?!”

I shouted sharply and clenched my dress. It was time to run.

“Is it the corridor near Lisa’s room? Let’s go quickly! If it fell and got scratched, its value might plummet!”

Watching me run towards Lisa’s room, Evan chuckled. It seemed he had determined that I wasn’t pretending to be okay while being sick.

Fortunately, the flower-shaped ruby bracelet was perfectly fine. Throughout the afternoon, I had to get diagnoses from several doctors he had called, but none of them prescribed anything different from Ciel.

Evan finally looked completely relieved, and peace returned to the Duke’s residence.

Of course, that night, I had to once again prove my health to him in bed, with only the ruby bracelet on.

__