Episode 60
Your Grace the Grand Duke…
‘Please, could you at least signal before you come in like that?’
I pressed a fist over my startled heart and moved my lips, but ultimately, no words came out.
“There’s one thing I want to make clear.”
Callisteon watched the meaningless movement of my lips, then chuckled and spoke first.
“I clearly intended to propose to you before I knew about your pregnancy. Even now, I would do so at any opportunity.”
“Cal…”
I quietly reached out my hand, and he grasped it.
His large palm was unusually warm.
“Because it’s ‘Lu’s’ baby, it’s precious. You know what I mean.”
Only then did I realize what he was trying to say.
Perhaps I had been too mischievous.
“I was just teasing earlier, Carl. I’m sorry if it bothered you.”
His rough fingers gently stroked the back of my hand.
He was the kind of man who would have always understood me and forgiven me countless times.
I mustered my courage and added.
“Even if it’s ‘my’ baby, I’d like it if you cared for it too.”
As soon as I said it, I realized it was too greedy.
But Callisteon’s blue eyes instead shone with a unique brilliance.
His glossy lips curved into a long, smiling line.
“If I were to arm wrestle you, I would lose. If we raced, or even jousted, no matter what we did, I would somehow lose.”
I looked up, wondering what he meant. He answered confidently.
“Just as always, I’ll let you win until the very end. So of course, I must care for ‘Lu’s’ baby too.”
His arrogant voice was as firm as someone who had never once given a wrong answer.
Just then, a soft breeze passed between us.
The black cloak he wore billowed in the wind and then settled back down.
When I raised my head, I saw the west wind had tousled his silver hair.
Under the clear, cloudless sky, Callisteon stood with the sun encircling him like a halo.
‘Would that man ever say something untrue?’
Overwhelmed by his unique aura, I suddenly realized.
‘He’s saying he’s letting me win right now, too?’
In other words, he was as certain that the baby in my womb was his as that vast lake was wide.
“You bought Lucky Bread?”
Ernst asked in a tone that sounded somehow incredulous.
I shrugged.
“Yeah, it’s fun.”
“For fun… you bought Lucky Bread.”
While Ernst was unnecessarily lost in thought, Phoebe clapped her hands and said.
“His Grace and I both got fortunes about travel, so I thought none of them were accurate! But guess what? Our Highness got a son fortune!”
Ernst’s handsome face twisted abruptly.
“A son fortune?”
Thinking it might be a keepsake if it really was a son, I took out the small note I had saved and showed it to him.
You will bear a son.
Ernst suddenly looked at me with a serious gaze.
“So… you think it’s a son?”
“Huh?”
I looked up at him, baffled.
“It’s just for fun, Erni. If it were real, then Phoebe and Carl would have to go on some long trip together or something.”
Phoebe burst out laughing again, but Ernst’s serious expression remained.
Phoebe, seemingly trying to lighten the somewhat awkward mood, said.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, by the way, it seems Her Highness’s morning sickness has stopped.”
Ernst’s already round eyes widened even more.
“Suddenly?”
As he blinked, his golden eyelashes swayed elegantly.
“Yes. We passed by a fish stall earlier, and she was fine. She hasn’t taken any anti-nausea medicine today either.”
“What a relief…”
Ernst replied, sounding relieved, and deftly took the note I had shown him.
“If it’s just for fun, can I keep this?”
I hesitated, unable to agree immediately.
“Huh? But I was thinking of keeping it as a memento if it really is a son…”
The doll-like blond beauty smiled like sunshine.
“Whether it’s a son or a daughter, I’ll give it back after the baby is born.”
I looked at his hand with reluctant eyes, but Ernst was being so resolute for the first time that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.
“Alright, Erni.”
The lucky note predicting a son ultimately ended up in Ernst’s possession.
Ernst then excused himself, saying he would have dessert made with the new fruits.
“This is absolutely delicious…”
It seemed my appetite had truly returned.
As if making up for all the times I couldn’t eat well, I was already on my… well, let’s just say I’d lost count of the mango coconut milk pudding bowls.
“It’s really delicious…”
Of course, thanks to Ren’s excellent anti-nausea medicine, I hadn’t starved.
‘But it’s been a long time since I could actually taste food.’
Callisteon looked utterly satisfied watching me repeat the same words like a fool.
Yet, still concerned, he called the chef and asked.
“What ingredients are in this pudding?”
“Coconut milk, mango, and sago tapioca pearls, Your Grace.”
The chef was one Callisteon had brought all the way from Babenberg.
He’d apparently fallen head over heels for the ingredients from the southern territories since coming to Edessa.
“What are sago tapioca pearls?”
“They’re small grains made from starch extracted from the sago palm trunk, I’m told. It’s not harmful even if you eat a lot.”
Callisteon, seemingly uninterested in sweets, looked at the pudding with skeptical eyes and scooped up a very small amount of the pearls with a teaspoon.
Be that as it may, after about five bowls of pudding, I turned my attention to other desserts.
“This is delicious too, Your Highness.”
On the plate Phoebe handed me was a small tart decorated with grapes cut in half.
I ate the tart quietly. Phoebe asked.
“But it seems His Highness the Crown Prince isn’t joining us? Or is he still preparing something else?”
“If I eat this, I’ll be full…”
Even as I said that, my hands didn’t know how to stop.
Callisteon said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
“You should drink some tea too, Lu. If you eat too much too quickly, you’ll get sick.”
“Okay.”
I sipped the lemon tea he offered.
After eating my fill of sweets and drinking the sour tea, I felt elated.
Just as Phoebe had said, another new dessert arrived shortly after.
“Wow…!”
We sat side by side and marveled, but Ernst still didn’t appear.
‘But why did he take that lucky note earlier?’
That same night, Ren’s name finally reappeared in the diary.
It was possible to sneak in and sit at the very back, pretending to be late once or twice, but it seems Ren noticed.
Feeling as if I’d been caught having a perfectly enjoyable day after sending him away, I clutched my prickling conscience and read on.
But, it seemed the way he was referred to had become a bit more familiar?
I deliberately approached the back door stealthily a little after class had started, but today, even before I could open the door, my wrist was grabbed.
“Are you avoiding me?”
When he asked that, those purple eyes shone so eerily!
It seemed Louise had been actively trying to avoid Ren all this time.
‘She probably did that because she thought he was trying to extract information from Moghold!’
Please go easy, Ren.
Of course, it was probably useless, but I pleaded with the Ren of the past.
I was so startled I just stared with wide eyes, and he frowned.
“Do you really not know me?”
It was the umpteenth time I’d heard that question, and I wanted to get to class quickly.
“I said I know you!”
When I shouted, he let go of my wrist with a frustrated look.
But just as I opened the back door and stepped inside, I heard a small voice.
“I’m Lenny.”
Lenny?
It was a name I had never heard before.
I ignored him and went to my seat, and Len also sat next to me as usual.
In the middle of class.
While sneakily looking at his profile—he was staring straight ahead discontentedly, no longer looking at me—I suddenly remembered someone!
‘That’s right, you guys knew each other originally, didn’t you?’
