Chapter 72: Chapter 72

Translator: Latte Editor: Sasha

Believe it or not, Caville wasn’t that pampered when he was young.

Ever since he turned 10, Elody had raised him strictly.

Whenever Caville did something wrong, she would severely rebuke him so that he could learn from his mistakes.

Just like what she did now.

“I’m sorry…”

Caville admitted that he was in the wrong, he pouted his lips and kept bowing his head, feeling guilty over what he had just done.

Elody was flustered to a great extent. She had never blushed this hard in all of her life. The amount of awkwardness and embarrassment she felt could not be explained with simple words.

“Wife! Please don’t go, my wife!”

Caville jumped up and followed his wife.

As Elody ran to the stairs, Caville stopped her by grabbing her hand.

“Wife! I was just kidding! I went too far… Please don’t leave! I was wrong!” Caville exclaimed, still holding her hand while in panic.

“……”

Elody’s heart weakened at his words.

This was just like when they were children. Her scolding him whenever he made a mistake, and him apologizing his heart out to avoid being abandoned by his only family.

Though in the end, she would always forgive him. That pitiful expression of his had never failed to melt her heart.

When she thought about it, Caville’s appearance might actually be her weakness.

‘I always remember that time when he cried in the market, telling me not to leave him…’

After seeing Elody’s weakened expression, Caville held her hand tighter.

“Let’s go back, alright? Please…”

“……”

In the end, Elody chose to let it all go. She couldn’t help it. This dumb idiot was too cute for her to stay mad at.

Plus, she was also weak whenever she saw his charming smile.

* * *

“An escort?” Elody asked, watching Caville skillfully shearing the peaches with a chopstick.

After the quarrel, Elody was back in Caville’s office again.

“Yes. I know that we have lots of guards here in the mansion, but… There are many knights that both of us are unfamiliar with. Plus, I’m afraid that something might happen since lots of merchants keep entering and leaving the mansion.”

“That’s true, but…”

“My wife, you have to agree with me on this one. Please?”

“.…Alright,” Elody nodded.

Dame Solar was uncomfortable when listening to the conversation between the two…

Dame Solar was a knight who would joke with Elody and tease her endlessly ever since she was young.

However…

Elody stared at Caville who was still slicing the peaches. The cuts he made were perfect. Every slice was flawless and had no rough edges whatsoever. Furthermore, the peaches were cut into pieces of the exact same size! How was he able to cut them with such precision?

“By the way, Caville, when did you learn how to cut fruit?”

“This is my first time.”

“What?! But how are you this good?”

“I handle knives well,” he grinned, “All kinds of blades to be exact.”

“……”

To think that he would say such words with those pure, innocent eyes.

Elody gulped.

Well, Caville did grow up on a battlefield.

“But what’s up with the sudden increase of peaches in our stockpile?”

To answer Caville’s question, Elody stabbed a piece of neatly-sliced-peach with a fork.

And brought it to Caville’s mouth.

“……”

Caville stared into Elody’s eyes and took a bite.

‘Why are his lips so pretty?’ Elody thought as she looked at Caville’s luscious, red lips.

“It’s sweet.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Elody replied awkwardly, looking away from Caville’s lips.

She explained why she was growing peaches in the greenhouse and also about the elemental crystals she obtained from Ifrit.

After seeing his wife’s excitement, Caville smiled whilst saying that it tasted good.

“You’ve finally made good use of Ifrit.”

“Caville, are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“I thought you didn’t like me being close to Ifrit.”

“…I mean, yeah, I guess I do hate it.”

“Well, you don’t have to. I have never intended to take Ifrit away from you.”

“What?”

The temple was aiming for Ifrit’s power. Thus, Elody thought that Caville would be overprotective of Ifrit.

Caville was confused for a while, before finally understanding what she meant and sighed in exasperation.

“……”

His wife was incredibly dense.

He even confessed to her about how much he loved her! Had she already forgotten?

‘…Am I not attractive?’

Caville thought he had to quickly merge their rooms back.

“My wife, I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“That, uh… Our rooms…”

As Caville was about to continue…

Knock-knock!

“Madame! Are you in here?”

Marie’s voice was suddenly heard from outside the office.

“Yes, come in,” Elody said as the maid came in.

“Madame, I got a call from Rhondia. A letter from Sirka!”

“Really?”

Elody jumped up from her seat.

“Caville, let’s talk later if it’s not urgent.”

“…Yes, wife.”

Elody quickly left the office. Marie took a glimpse at Caville who was somewhat depressed before following Elody outside.

* * *

“…This is bad.”

Elody read Sirka’s letter with a stern look on her face.

Sirka was now in the capital to solve the problem of the fake medicine.

It just started with fake pain relievers, but now… they even had to deal with fake red pills being sold in the market!

「 The more I investigated, the more strange it became. It seems that there is a greater force involved in this issue. Sooner or later, I will visit the Cernoir mansion and explain in greater detail. I think I will need your help, madame. 」

After reading the last sentence, Elody sighed.

Counterfeit drugs were full of all kinds of side effects. It was purposely messed up!

‘Worst of all, it looks the same as the real ones…’

She didn’t know why someone was trying to mock the medicine she had made.

‘Or… they could just be aiming for easy money.’

“Madame, are you alright?”

Elody smiled at Marie.

“Don’t worry. He said he will come to the estate soon.”

“Phew, that’s great. Oh, Madame! Everyone told me that the peaches are delicious!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! And as you’ve ordered, I gave extra packages to Lord Byron. I’m sure Julia will love it!”

“Haha! Well done.”

Elody pondered for a moment. She remembered that Caville really loved fruit tarts when he was a kid…

“Marie, shall we make peach tarts?”

“Tart? Oh, that sounds good! It will be very tasty!”

Elody headed to the kitchen with Marie.

* * *

Elody was currently baking tarts with the maids.

“Wow, madame! It looks perfectly splendid!”

“Doesn’t it?”

After the tarts were finished, Elody gave a few for Caville and then distributed the rest to the knights and servants.

Caville was immensely touched, saying, “Are these from you, my wife?”

When he was young, Elody made it quite often… However, it was the first time she baked one ever since he returned.

Elody felt bad as she didn’t really care for him as much as she did before.

“It looks delicious!”

“Next time, I’ll make it with your favorite fruit.”

“Thank you, my wife,” he grinned.

Seeing Caville’s pretty smile, Elody left the office with pride.

She was now able to treat him affectionately again, that is… until she realized the feelings in her heart.

Whenever she was with Caville, her heart throbbed and she would feel all sorts of unknown emotions.

But as soon as she left Caville’s office, a small voice kept whispering in her head.

‘He doesn’t love you. Because his destiny is to be with Princess Larissa…’

Yes, that’s right. She shouldn’t be swayed so easily.

Elody nodded as if she was brainwashed.

On the other hand, Caville’s head was filled with rainbows, clouds, and happiness.

‘My wife baked these herself for me…’

He hoped that maybe his wife would love him too. He had butterflies in his stomach.

Caville emptied all the tarts that Elody had made.

As a child, he liked sweets, but as he grew up, he did not enjoy sweets.

But if they were made by his wife, he would not hesitate to gulp them all down.

These were blissful days for Caville.

* * *

On his way to the afternoon training, Caville accidentally eavesdropped on the knights’ conversations.

“Then, did the lord and the princess break up?”

“I see, I was wondering why the duke still hasn’t divorced his wife.”

It was a conversation between the knights who heard the news late because they have been home for a while before returning to the mansion.

At the word of ‘divorce’, Caville jumped at the knights like a beast pouncing on its prey.

Then he called Brien and asked, “The knights are spreading out lies! Why do they keep saying that I’m going to divorce my wife?!”

“…T-that’s.”

Caville actually did not have as much interest in the knights before or after returning to the estate.

So he didn’t know what they were thinking, and he didn’t even try to pay attention to them.

But now, when he heard the word ‘divorce,’ he could not help feeling that his veins would burst from the increased blood pressure at any moment now.

Divorce…

Caville still couldn’t forget the shock he had gotten from when Elody tried to divorce him…

He immediately summoned the knights and warned them firmly.

“If I ever hear you guys talking about me and my wife’s divorce again, I will cut your necks and hang it in front of the gate!”

“……”

The knights were shocked and confused.

What in the world was he talking about?

Some of the knights had only just returned to the estate, so they genuinely didn’t know what he was talking about…

Ever since that day, the knights had to undergo an intense amount of training.

It felt like hell.

And after that terrible training…

“The duchess made these peach tarts?”

“Yes,” Caville said as he showed off his wife’s generosity.

Caville, who was usually infamous for giving the cold-feet, was actually boasting about his wife in front of the knights!

Caville recalled what Brien had said.

“Well, Your Grace had never said anything to us… So how should we know? Do you actually have a good relationship with the madame?”

“Are you saying that it’s my fault?!”

“N-no! That’s not it, but… Please try to understand and think of it from our perspectives. We just want what’s best for you, Your Grace.”

Truthfully, his words did make sense to some extent.

Caville decided to confide his worries to the knights from today onwards.

Mostly about how much he loved his wife.

The knights also needed to know. It would be better if they all watched together to prevent his wife from running away.

“The tart, we were…”

“Shh! Quiet.”

The knight was about to say that they ate the tarts because they thought the maids made them. Fortunately, Heinz’s hand was fast enough to cover his mouth and prevent him from his impending doom.

Heinz quickly spoke to escape from the duke’s wrath.

“Ah! So the madame made these by herself? She’s incredibly skilled!”

“Of course! Who do you think she is? My wife is the best at… Wait, what’s wrong with your forehead?” Caville said as he stared at Heinz’s forehead while raising an eyebrow.