Chapter 16 - The Little one and the Duke, the Daughter and the Father

A bite of cookies and a sip of milk.

This time, a bite of the crispy cream strawberry pie. And I can't forget to take a bite of cookies.

Then three sips of milk.

"…"

I was eating the dessert hard, and Henriette's eyes, which were closely watching me from the side, kept bothering me.

Is it amazing looking at me eating? He used to look at me often at meetings.

Nevertheless, I ate all the cookies he made with milk, and I ate all the tart and pudding.

Then, unable to ignore his gaze, I looked back at Henriette and asked.

"W- why?"

His mouth was about to open, but it closed.

Then Henriette frowned. I'm nervous.

"······ How can such a small body contain that amount."

Oops, I guess I ate too much.

Come to think of it, even if I was very hungry, I must be out of my mind.

I can't believe I'm the only one eating all this delicious food. Of course, Henriette's handmade cookies tasted awful.

However, the food made for one child was not that much for adults, so the only dessert left now was chocolate doughnuts in my hands.

In addition, there is a small bite mark in it.

But a dirty man is better than a cheap man.

Therefore, I courageously offered a doughnut to Henriette.

Seeing it, he looked at me.

"You've already had your fill but you need to have it again?"

I shook my head.

"Eat, Duke. It's delicious, but I'm the only one who keeps eating it…"

"…"

"Well, I'm all right because I'm full."

There was a sigh coming out nearby for some reason.

Some of the servants held onto their chests, and others buried their faces in their hands.

Peina can be heard muttering against a nearby tree with a troubled face. She said something like 'My Lady is the best.'

Confused, I looked alternately between them and Henriette, his expression finally caught my eye.

"… Avel despised me, Camillean refused to come near me, and Carlix burst into tears when he saw me."

His long, straight fingertips touched the doughnut I held out.

Then he pressed the doughnut down and pushed it forward.

"The more I see it, the more unique it is."

After that, Henriette was smiling.

The thick eyebrows that were always frowning, softened.

My eyes were wide with surprise, and he asked me.

"Come to think of it, you…"

"Yes?"

I got nervous and lowered the doughnut I was offering towards him.

"… haven't been named yet?"

A faintly cool wind permeated through the warm air, and even that was suppressed by the power of the boundary and became soft and warm.

I nodded after thinking for a moment.

Is it too much to say that the names they used to call me at the Count of Semond was "dumb" or "trash?"

I'd rather have none than that.

The name that the maids call the most.

"Peina, Shelia, and Mary call me 'Lady'."

"Huh."

Peina suddenly clasped her chest tightly and was seen banging her head into a tree.

She sometimes does that when she feels overwhelmed, and now it turns out she had to do it too.

Henriette looked at them with an indescribable expression and was stunned.

"… Why didn't Count Semond even give you a name?"

"A name is important, so he can't give it to me carelessly."

It was a good excuse, though it was what the Count of Semond said when they named Shady.

There was such a custom in this country.

When naming, make sure to give the best name to the dearest person so that the child can be happy in the future.

Of course, it was simply a bother for Count of Semond to name me.

Still, it was horrible that I was not given a name until I was seven.

Thanks to him, I still don't know who I possessed.

In the first place, Duke Wensgrey's youngest daughter wasn't even in my novel.

Maybe I didn't exist in the story, maybe I was newly born. I was thinking like that.

"If you don't have one, I'll give you a name at least before the awakening."

Every child in the Empire is awakened almost at the same time as they turn eight.

In other words, he will give me a name next summer before my birthday.

I thought it was a little far, but I also thought it was sooner. And now Henriette has announced that he will name me himself.

"T- thank you."

It'll be a lie to say I'm not happy.

So when I smiled, frankly saying thank you, he gazed at me and soon turned away.

"Finish the leftovers. There's something left for you to do a little later."

"Yes!"

You mean there's more to play with? I was excited and quickly began to eat up the remaining doughnuts.

But when I finished eating the doughnut and emptied a cup of juice and milk, I began to feel drowsy.

It's because the air is warm and we played for a long time.

I was yawning while holding an empty cup and rubbing my eyes, and Peina, who was watching me, whispered and asked.

"Would you like to go back to the carriage, lady?"

"No…"

If I went back to the carriage as it is now and slept, I felt like I would be in the castle again when I opened my eyes.

It's been a long time since I've been in an orchard, so I don't want to go back already.

I think it'll be okay if I doze off a little.

Suddenly Henriette caught my eye as he sat next to me and looked into the documents he received from his aide.

To be exact, his shoulders caught my eye.

I took a peek, and decided to pluck up the courage.

"Haam·····."

After a blatant yawn, I leaned my head gently against his shoulder and closed my eyes.

I thought this would be okay.

When I hear something go wrong, I'll quickly raise my head up even if I'm so sleepy since he might get angry.

I thought like that, but I didn't hear anything.

Only Henriette, followed by the sound of casually flipping over the document to the next page, was heard.

In addition, he adjusted his posture a little so that I could lean more comfortably on his shoulder.

It was unexpected.

Soon, a shadow that had been wandering above fell on the top of my head.

It was an unfamiliar touch, moving lightly and falling.

Even though it was unfamiliar, it didn't feel bad.

I'm rather relieved, so I slept easily.

Only the sound of Henriette's soft breaths was heard.

"····· Are you sleeping?"

It was a faintly grinning voice.

Even the surroundings were still.

I felt his gaze on me while holding his breath, but I was too sleepy to care about it.

'Grow up a little.' I heard Henriette's voice.

I fell asleep leaning on his shoulder.

***

"How are you, lady?"

"I will pray to see you again."

"May the Duke of Wensgrey be in good health."

The long-running meeting ended the day after the visit to the orchard.

Before leaving the castle, the nobles shook my hand and greeted me, gave me food, gave me toys or dolls.

I packed it all up excitedly and came back to the room.

Since I don't have enough hands, Peina and the other maids, even the butler, helped. After collecting them all, my room felt like a treasure trove.

I knew Henriette wouldn't call on me to call anymore.

Now that the meeting is over, I thought he'd only call me sometimes, but I'm wrong.

He started calling me out at lunchtime now.

"It doesn't suit your taste?"

"Oh, n- no."

However, the venue was not a conference hall.

The seat where I'm now sitting facing Henriette was in front of the tea table located in the back of the castle.

We were enjoying a sweet dessert with tea, in a snowy landscape.

No. To correct one thing, I'm eating alone.

Henriette was watching me eat, having only a cup of tea.

In addition, there were several crushed cookies made by Henriette, just like the last time I went to an orchard.

Now the fear of poison has gone away, but Henriette's cooking skills have become my new fear.

The poison was avoidable, but his cookies were unavoidable.

I felt like I was going to have an upset stomach. But I picked it up and ate it.

"You don't seem to like it. You ate so well at the meeting."

Henriette noticed at once and brought it up.

I said hastily, picking up the cookies he made, which were still a little less crumpled than last time.

"Oh, no, it's not. It's delicious."

With that said, I took a bite of Henriette's handmade cookie, and it almost crushed my face reflexively.

Ugh! It's too salty! Why is the cookie so salty?

Don't tell me you confused sugar and salt.

"Or maybe, it doesn't taste good."

His voice is a bit stiff for some reason.

I hurriedly put on a happy face, and this time I'd rather looked teary rather than forced to laugh.

"No, it's very, very delicious…"

"…"

"I've never had anything like this before, so…"

Then, sniffle. A little bit.

It was salty enough to make me cry, but I couldn't be honest, so I acted with all my might.

Only then did his expression seem to soften a little.

"We'll make more next time."

I certainly felt like I had already lived my life hard but why are there trials everywhere I go?

I had no choice but to eat salty cookies and sweet macarons at the same time.

Henriette gazed at me for a long time, then suddenly said something.

"…Labelcia."

Looking at him with wide eyes, he frowned on whether he disliked something.

"Elrien."

He's calling me something weird again. As I turned my head up and tilted, he frowned with a more serious face and moved on.

"…Anne…"

For the last time, he said so, and eventually closed his mouth as if he didn't like it.

Maybe he's trying to give me a name?

"…Simone."

From the beginning, Henriette continued to devote himself to naming.

As if there wasn't any name that suited her, he kept his mouth shut, frowning.

When I was done with the green grape tart, I put whipped cream on and tried to eat a chocolate-coated slice cake, but I couldn't stand Henriette's gaze and eventually had to pick up the handmade cookie again.

Oh, I think I'm going to have an upset stomach.

I thought he'd get tired of being like that soon.

He's the villain duke, so I don't think he's going to try to name a kid.

I thought he'd stop making handmade cookies.

But I soon realized that it was all my delusion.