Chapter 19
In the prologue of Bling Bling ♡ Raising a Lady, it shows how Anastasia was picked up.
♡SYSTEM♡ The war—hoped to be the last, yet destined to be just one of many—has ended.
♡SYSTEM♡ Returning home.
Black-and-white pixel characters pass through a ruined village.
♡Duke Cromwell: ……Can you even call that place a home?
The pixels forming his mouth moved slightly, as if in a bitter smile.
♡SYSTEM♡ The place where one spends most of their life is called home.
♡SYSTEM♡ If that is the definition, then Duke Cromwell’s home is the battlefield. A place filled only with blood and slaughter. A source of chaos—and somewhere he wishes to escape.
I skipped the prologue after my third playthrough, so my memory is hazy, but I’m sure this was the gist of it.
Jeremiah Cromwell once again claimed victory in this war.
In the game, Duke Cromwell leaves the ruined village with his knights.
♡???: Waaah—! Waaah—!
At that moment, the cry of a baby echoes from a collapsed house.
♡Duke Cromwell: …….
Normally, he would have ignored it. He had already heard too many screams and pleas.
But Duke Cromwell ordered the baby to be brought to him.
♡Duke Cromwell: Bring the child.
He said this upon seeing the baby.
An uncharacteristic act of kindness.
The short pixel animation then shows Duke Cromwell gazing at the baby.
The prologue captured the bleak atmosphere of war well. It was moving, too.
Amid it all, only the red eyes of the father and daughter were colored, making the scene even more chilling.
That contrast with the soft pink tone that follows afterward made it even more striking.
‘…What’s the point of it being moving? What’s the point of a good atmosphere? In the end, he marries his daughter.’
If you adopt a child, you should take responsibility to the end.
Even if you take responsibility, doing it like that is what makes it infuriating.
Anyway, this is probably something I already know.
Who could possibly understand what Duke Cromwell is thinking?
“I don’t need to know! I’m just curious, not desperate to find out.”
I spoke up mostly to break my own awkwardness.
Ever since Anastasia arrived at the duke’s estate, rumors had spread among the staff.
—Lara, did you hear? The Duke picked up the young lady on his way back.
Since the source of the rumor was the knights who were there, it was quite reliable.
In any case, the reason for the adoption wasn’t that important.
‘It’s not even important for clearing the quest.’
If there were parts skipped in the prologue due to time constraints, it’d be nice to hear them—but if not, whatever.
“I don’t know why he brought her, but… Ah, I was the one who pulled Lady Anastasia out of the ruins.”
“……Mikhail?”
That dot character who had been hopping around and rescuing Anastasia from the ruins—Duke Cromwell’s subordinate—was Mikhail?
No wonder the way he held her seemed so practiced.
“The Duke ordered it. He said he heard a crying sound, but strangely enough, no one else heard it except him.”
Mikhail said he didn’t believe Duke Cromwell until he actually found Anastasia.
“I didn’t know that.”
I said, looking down at Anastasia in my arms.
“If it hadn’t been for the Duke, then Lady Anastasia would have……”
Perhaps realizing it wasn’t a pleasant thing to say, Mikhail shut his mouth tightly.
“It’s a relief that the young lady is healthy! No one would have imagined that such a tiny baby would grow this much in just a month.”
He said, looking at Anastasia.
As if recognizing the one who saved her, Anastasia stared blankly at Mikhail.
“By the way, Mikhail, were you personally assigned as an escort by Duke Cromwell? I only heard that you were recruited.”
Mikhail Cipher seemed like he had fallen straight from the sky, with a perfectly crafted backstory and connection to the young lady.
I wondered if Duke Cromwell had considered all that when choosing him.
Even though I knew he wasn’t that meticulous.
“What you heard is correct. I was selected through recruitment. I was the first to write my name on the application. I hadn’t seen the young lady since then, so I was curious how she was doing.”
“…….”
“Thank you for growing up well, my lady.”
He smiled brightly, meeting Anastasia’s gaze.
“Mikhail, thank you for saving me.”
I mimicked a child’s voice.
If only things with Duke Cromwell were this warm and friendly.
♡ The young lady must be stopped from marrying her father
: Day 26 of being transmigrated into a broken game, Day 25 of the tutorial
Time passed quickly.
I could feel the tutorial period coming to an end.
If I had to guess, it would end when March begins.
As if to prove that, the Cromwell estate had finished preparing for spring.
(Though I was excluded due to being busy raising the young lady,) the servants busily polished every corner of the mansion.
The luxurious estate that once felt impossible to get used to was starting to feel like an ordinary home.
Well, actually, that’s a lie. I’ll probably never get used to this place even until the day I die.
Anyway, thinking of the remaining tutorial period as “preparing for the main game” made me feel more at ease.
♡SYSTEM♡ You drank a mid-level stamina recovery potion!
50 stamina has been restored.
I had gotten better at timing when to drink recovery potions, and my weekly pay was coming in steadily.
Even if it’s game money, money is still money. Money is the best.
Breakfast with Duke Cromwell was also going smoothly.
Things were going better than I had expected.
“……It seems the soup suits your taste.”
Except for moments like this.
For the past two days, Duke Cromwell had been obsessively fixated on how much I eat.
“You’re eating more than yesterday.”
Does he keep records or something?
“I just can’t stop eating it.”
The only thing going down my throat is soup, you know.
Swallowing my true thoughts, I forced a smile.
“Do you eat well at dinner?”
“Um… I guess?”
Truthfully, I hadn’t had dinner in a while, so I didn’t know.
After sleeping soundly in his bedroom, the emotional distance between us seemed to shrink by about one centimeter.
The strange discomfort lingering in the air had eased a little.
Aside from having to force food down my throat every morning, it wasn’t bad.
‘I want to finish eating faster than Cromwell…’
Since food barely went down, leaving the dining room together with him was torture.
‘My stamina… still hasn’t gone up today.’
I shoveled soup into my mouth while staring at the unmoving stat.
“…….”
Ah, I thought it was a tomato, but it’s a carrot.
As I frowned at the strange texture, Duke Cromwell spoke.
“……From tomorrow, we’ll dine together in the evening as well.”
“Yes, then in the evening too… Wait, what?”
His tone was so indifferent that I thought he had just given a short reply like usual.
‘…Did he just ask to eat together?’
Whatever the reason, what does it matter?
As long as he spends time with Anastasia, I’m grateful.
This tiny bit of progress slightly raised my expectations that had been scraping the ground.
✧ʚ .·:¨༺♡༻¨:·. ɞ✧
My worries that Mikhail, as an escort, would be inconvenient in many ways completely disappeared.
“I’m sorry for making you do chores.”
“Not at all! Lady Lorelai, please rest in your room.”
Mikhail helped return books to the stag statue without a word.
A subtly annoying daily task disappeared thanks to him.
“…….”
I looked at the closed door.
Anyone who isn’t an idiot can tell—this is completely different from my usual gameplay style.
I had tried to play irregularly to avoid the “marriage ending with Jeremiah Cromwell,” but…
Since it’s still me playing, some habits inevitably show.
But this time, it’s truly different.
‘I’m now eating breakfast and dinner with the Duke, and I already have an escort.’
On top of that, the tutorial period has been extended to a full month.
I felt confident that everything would go well.
‘At this rate, won’t I reach the princess ending before the time limit?’
With swelling anticipation, I smiled.
Foolishly.
✧ʚ .·:¨༺♡༻¨:·. ɞ✧
“Waaah—! Waaah—!”
Hearing the crying, I opened my eyes.
Now that I had gotten used to it, Anastasia’s crying didn’t stress me out as much as before.
“Waaah!”
Well… babies cry at night. That’s just what babies do.
And Anastasia usually stopped crying quickly.
“It seems the young lady is very hungry. Just a moment.”
Dragging my heavy body, I approached the cradle with a fresh diaper and a bottle.
‘She’s crying more than usual today…’
Is it just my imagination?
It felt different from her usual cries.
“Waaah! Waaah—!”
“…….”
It sounded more… painful.
“Tasha…?”
I carefully reached out my hand.
Her small, fragile body was burning hot—like it had been scorched by fire.
