Chapter 42
‘News really does travel fast with him.’
Cecile, feeling resigned, bared her front teeth again. The duke stared intently at the gap where her tooth was missing, his expression serious.
“Losing your first tooth at eight… that’s quite late.”
“I’m pretty short for an eight-year-old, aren’t I? Maybe that’s why.”
Cecile’s growth was slow. She was so small that she could easily pass for seven, or even six.
Before coming to the ducal estate, she’d been scrawny, but after moving in, she had filled out nicely.
Perhaps remembering that time, the duke’s face darkened.
“Did you get enough nutrition in the imperial palace?”
“Hmm… not really. Just a bowl of soup. Sometimes bread or potatoes… that sort of thing.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Cecile noticed the duke’s clenched fist. His hand, veins bulging, trembled faintly.
She hurried to speak.
“I’m fine! Maybe that’s why I eat anything now, without being picky. Oh, and the food here at the estate is really delicious.”
The duke looked at her anxious face, then closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, as though trying to quell his anger. Controlling himself, he reached out and stroked her cheek.
“We should celebrate your first lost tooth.”
“The maids said they’d make me a will-o’-the-wisp lantern. We’re going to float it tonight.”
“A will-o’-the-wisp lantern, hm?”
The duke seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking.
“Let’s go together.”
“Huh? You’ll come float the lantern with us?”
“Yes.”
Cecile realized her heart was pounding. A ceremony she had thought would just be a nuisance suddenly seemed a little exciting.
She quickly grabbed the duke’s hand.
“I’m so happy you’ll come! Let’s meet at the front entrance at five o’clock.”
He didn’t shake off her hand. Watching her sparkling eyes, a faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at his lips.
“Alright.”
“Then I’ll go make the lantern! See you later!”
Cecile ran toward Nancy, who was waiting for her up ahead. The duke watched her small back until it grew even smaller and was no longer visible.
That evening, Cecile, the duke, and the maids went to the canal.
The setting sun, sinking beyond the horizon, stained the blue river gold.
“Here, miss! I’ve put the candle and your tooth inside.”
Nancy handed Cecile a paper lantern—the one she had spent the afternoon making with the maids.
Cecile looked to the duke, and he gave her a nod.
Despite his stern expression, she could tell he was encouraging her.
“Alright, I’ll send it off now.”
She set the paper lantern gently onto the water. Everyone held their breath, watching.
The lantern drifted slowly away with the current.
As it floated along the orange-tinted waters of the sunset, Cecile found herself looking at it with a strange, new feeling.
How is it? Something like this can be fun too, can’t it?
When Nibelung whispered, Cecile replied in an intentionally casual tone.
‘Well… once in a while, something like this isn’t bad.’
She heard Nibelung’s quiet chuckle, but for some reason, she didn’t mind it.
Smiling, she turned to the duke.
“Shall we head back now?”
“Wait.”
In his hand was a small box.
“There’s something else to send off.”
Cecile peeked inside and gasped.
“This is…!”
Inside the box were baby shoes—the very ones she had found in the storage room.
“Your Grace… are you sure about this?”
She knew what it meant for him to have held onto a pair of shoes without an owner for three years, and she asked with concern.
Duke Bartholomew nodded.
“Keeping them all this time was my own obsession. Now… it’s time. Time to return them to their owner.”
“Your Grace…”
Though he was smiling faintly, he looked like he was in great pain.
But in those golden eyes burned a resolute determination, so Cecile could no longer try to dissuade him.
The duke knelt and carefully set the box afloat.
The act felt almost sacred, and Cecile forgot to breathe as she watched.
The box began to drift away, carried by the current toward the blood-red horizon.
She stared blankly at the shrinking box, then looked back at the duke—
‘Ah…’
She nearly let out a sigh.
The duke was crying as he watched the box vanish beyond the horizon. The tears, catching the sunset’s glow, shone red as they slid down his cheeks.
Unable to bear the ache in her heart, Cecile reached out and took his hand.
He didn’t turn his gaze from the water. Instead, he took her hand in return.
“I’m sorry for always dragging you into my affairs.”
He tried to sound calm, but his voice trembled slightly. Cecile looked at his profile.
“I don’t mind.”
When he seemed to hesitate, she squeezed his hand firmly. After a moment, he spoke again.
“Cecile, just three years ago… I had someone I loved. My wife, Elizabeth… and the child she was carrying.”
“…”
“She wanted to name the baby Jade. She said it would suit either a boy or a girl, and I can still see how happy she looked when she suggested it.”
His voice was heavy with pain upon pain.
That wound would never truly heal.
No farewell could ever be completely ‘okay.’
It could only be accepted.
“Jade…”
Cecile mouthed the name and smiled faintly.
“It’s a beautiful name.”
The duke’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Then, with tears still on his face, he smiled.
“I think so too.”
After placing a request with Lucien’s information guild, Parchment Circle, Cecile still had to visit now and then for opinion exchanges and progress checks.
As expected of Lucien. Their information network is unparalleled.
Flipping through an interim report, Cecile looked up.
Lucien was staring at her with an uncomfortably intense gaze.
“What is it?”
When she asked, he laced his fingers together and grinned.
“I’m very curious about your true identity, Carmen.”
“My… identity?”
“Yes.”
Smoking a pipe, Lucien spoke as though discussing something delightfully entertaining.
“There aren’t many people in the capital who can throw around that kind of money so easily. Only a great noble or a magnate could… or perhaps Princess Susanna, the Star of Commerce.”
“…”
“And yet, Carmen, despite our considerable intelligence network, we could find no rumors about a beautiful woman with brown hair and red eyes among those of such wealth. Do you know what that means?”
Behind his glasses, Lucien’s blue eyes gleamed sharply.
“That your beauty is the result of disguise magic.”
The air turned cold in an instant. Cecile crossed her arms and stared at him.
Perhaps worried she might be offended, Lucien hastily added,
“Don’t misunderstand me, Carmen—I’m not blaming you. A lady’s transformation is no crime, wouldn’t you agree? Besides, I value the beauty of intellect far above mere appearance. And a woman clever enough to use disguise magic—well, that’s rare and—”
“I didn’t realize you spent the time you should be using to fulfill my request digging into my background. Since when is prying into your clients’ personal affairs part of an information guild’s job?”
Cutting him off, Cecile’s voice dripped with frost. Lucien looked a little taken aback.
After a moment of gauging her mood, he finally spoke in a petulant tone.
“What can I do? You’ve piqued my curiosity, Carmen. And for me, resisting curiosity is harder than anything in the world.”
What a hopelessly deranged human…
Even Nibelung sounded exasperated.
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