The Grand Duchess of the North Is Obsessed With Me

12 – Village Trip with the Grand Duchess (End)

“Ugh… I will live now.”

“He looks like an uncle.”

“Uncle… He is still a bright six years old.”

Stretching my tired body, I stepped out the door. How long has it been since you felt the outside air?

Actually, it was only three days, but as much as my body was young, I was scolded for not wanting to go outside in less than a day.

Of course, after being scolded by Illencia to stay still, he stayed calm.

I glanced down at Elencia, who laughed and scolded me next to me, and headed to the garden in front of the mansion.

For some reason, it seems that he has lost his sense of distance from me.

The only people I met during the three days were Mrs. Anna, her mother, Illensia and Berman, and my father, and I didn’t see them for a long time except for Illencia, who tried to stick with me.

[Cain is a patient, so he needs to rest….]

Because Illencia kicked them all out.

No, what kind of doctor kicks out a patient’s parents from even visiting them… I’m not a doctor, of course.

Fortunately, Illensia’s status is a grand duchess, and she is still young, so her mother and father laughed and said she had been kicked out.

I don’t know if it’s because she’s been almost stuck with me for three days, but it seems that the emotional distance Ilencia feels has decreased considerably.

Now I know how to laugh out loud in front of me, and I can throw a joke.

‘… Although it’s still clumsy.’

That’s it, it’ll get better.

I walked around the garden, satisfied with the improvement of Illencia.

The garden, which was well maintained by the servants who manage the garden, was covered with colorful flowers.

There was one more thing about Illencia that had changed, and that was that it started walking next to me.

Until now, he always walked behind me, about half a step behind me to be exact, but now he was walking next to me.

The benefit of this was that I could intuit the various faces of Elencia right next to me.

“Wow….”

Illensia looked at the flowers in full bloom and her eyes lit up.

Looking at her bright red eyes, I gently smiled and tilted my head at the question that came to my mind.

“Isn’t there a garden like this at the duke’s house?”

No matter how noble she is, and her mother loves flowers and cares about the garden, she couldn’t do anything better than what the duke did.

However, Illensia had an attitude as if she had never seen such a flower garden.

In response to my question, Ellensia must have thought that she was too excited, so she lowered her head and said.

“I don’t have anything like this in my house….”

“Eh? Why?”

“They said it was difficult for flowers to grow because the weather was too cold.”

I couldn’t help but frown for a moment at Illencia’s answer.

That’s a ridiculous excuse.

There were plenty of flowers that grow in winter, and moreover, if it was the duke’s house, you could use a magic to keep them warm and grow them.

‘Anyway, it’s strict.’

Do you think things like flowers don’t suit the grand duke’s family?

No matter how you say it, you should show your child only pretty things and think about raising them….

I tucked my tongue inside and stroked Illencia’s soft hair, which suddenly became sullen.

“Then next time, let’s go see flowers with me.”

“… Really?”

“Yes. Flowers that are well cared for are pretty, but flowers that bloom naturally are prettier.”

Illensia smiled again at my words.

As expected, Illensia has the style of a cold and cold beauty, but she was the cutest when she smiled brightly befitting her age.

Seeing that he closed his eyes and smiled, as if stroking his hair felt good, I calmly stroked his hair, then thought of something and rummaged through my pockets.

“Ah….”

Illensia looked at my hand as it was leaving.

I thought that Illencia was so cute that even while smiling at her, she didn’t stop rummaging through her pockets.

“Where did you put it… ?”

It seemed like he had taken it with him when he left the room.

The clothes worn by aristocrats don’t adapt to them no matter how many years they wear them. The most inconvenient thing among them is that there are too many pockets.

Searching through all my pockets, I finally found what I was looking for and smiled.

“Come on, take it.”

“What is it… ?”

“A gift.”

Seeing me sticking out her fist, Illensia tilted her head. What new game do you think she’s trying to play? I wanted to, but I held out my hand.

Contrary to her expectations, however, what appeared on my hand was a small ring.

A small ring with a beautiful purple flower engraved on it. Seeing this, Elencia’s eyes widened even more than before.

‘You can grow bigger from there….’

Her big eyes got bigger, but they weren’t weird at all, they were just cuter.

While admiring inwardly, Illensia looked at me and quickly accepted the ring.

“Uh, when did this….”

“Huh? Oh, when the town buys you a necklace. I secretly bought this because I thought it would suit you well.”

I was admiring Illencia’s face while waking up from her thoughts and answered her question.

For some reason, the atmosphere was fuzzy and I felt embarrassed, so I continued talking while scratching the back of my head.

“Originally, I was going to give it as a surprise before entering the mansion, but somehow I ended up giving it now.”

“….”

If it wasn’t for that incident, I would have given it to Illensia a long time ago, but now that she’s willing to give it to her, isn’t everything okay?

I thought, but for some reason, Illencia kept her mouth shut and stared at her ring.

“Um… I don’t like it… ?”

It’s a bit different from the reaction I expected.

Obviously, the usual Elencia I know should say thank you with tears in her eyes, but for some reason, her cold, expressionless expression bothers her.

‘Have you ever heard that you don’t like it?’

If it’s not him, is it a flower with a bad memory?

For some reason, I couldn’t help but stiffen my expression at the thought of stepping on a mine.

I bought it in the hope that a brief walk in the village would remain as a good memory….

Of course, that happened at the end, so the ending wasn’t good, so it was my intention to cover up that memory with that ring.

But if her ring or flower doesn’t mean much to her, then her situation becomes very troublesome.

I hurriedly tried to apologize to her, but her Ilencia’s words were faster than that.

“This… Is it okay to give it to me?”

Illensia raised her head and smiled brightly.

She was so beautiful that I was stunned without realizing it. Even if she had never seen her smile or smile softly before, it was probably the first time she had seen her smile so brightly.

The moment she saw that smile, the moment she saw her smiling face.

Time seemed to stop like a lie.

The corners of her lips smiling brightly, the corners of her eyes gently curved like the crescent moon, the way she carefully wrapped her ring and brought it to her chest, the black hair blowing in the wind.

It was stored in my mind like a photograph.

‘…… Calm down. The opponent is a kid.’

Throbbing, pounding!

It tries hard to hold on to its spirit, but it goes wild as if its heart is out of order.

Will this beating heart come out?

I tried to compose myself, lest Illencia find out about the sound of this strong beating heart.

“Right… Did you buy it for you?”

If I look at it more, I don’t think I can control myself, so I turn my eyes and look at the sky.

“Thank you.”

“Say something.”

We stood there still, repeating our previous conversations.

Suddenly thinking about my expression, I think I was smiling. Illencia was also looking at me, hugging her ring as if it were precious.

“…… But did you know what this flower was and gave it to me as a gift?”

“Huh?”

You mean the flower engraved on the ring?

I blinked at her Ilencia’s question and turned her gaze to her.

For some reason, I was concerned about the reddish cheeks, but I tried not to take it too seriously and answered.

“No? Did you buy it just because it’s pretty?”

“As expected….”

“Why? What is this flower?”

I was curious to see Illencia smiling as if she knew it.

In response to my question, Illencia bit her lower lip and suppressed her laughter, and answered my question within no time.

“It is a flower called BellFlower.”

“Aha… I see.”

“Do you know what the language of flowers is?”

“Of course I don’t know.”

If you don’t even know flowers, how can you know the language of flowers? Besides, all the names here are in English, so they don’t even know what kind of flower it is.

Illencia put her ring on her finger while giving me a small mischievous smile as I answered confidently.

Since the size did not fit the other fingers, the ring was naturally worn on the index finger.

Well, it suits you well.

While she was satisfied with herself, Illensia continued her words.

“The language of flowers is….”

“What is the flower language?”

“…… It is a secret.”

Huh?

Ilensia, who spoke while turning her body around, walked lightly through her garden.

I just stared blankly at it.

I never thought I would be beaten by Illencia. She thought 10 years was too soon….

I stopped for a moment at the sight of Illensia leaving, leaving only my curiosity behind, and hurriedly followed her.

Trying to calm my oddly pounding heart.

#

“Oops… be cute.”

Mrs. Anna looked at Cain and Ellensia through her window with happy eyes.

She liked Cain and Balenciaga before, but after Cain saved Illencia, she liked this place even more.

“It’s like a child’s play.”

Clementine also seemed to be more comfortable with Anna, the Duchess now.

No matter how kind and gentle she was before then, she was a duchess, so she was always nervous, but it was also because Anna had stopped her, and because she now knew a little bit about her character.

Immediately after, Anna and Clementine were surprised to see Cain handing the ring to Illencia in the garden, saying “Oh my gosh”.

Clementine spoke cautiously, wondering if she had offended the Duchess by any means.

However, Anna was really happy and looking at it well.

“… Actually, I was worried that our Elencia would not grow well.”

“With such a wonderful wife as her mother, how could she not grow up well?”

“Really. I may not know as a duchess, but as a mother, I was disqualified.”

Taking a sip of the fragrant black tea, Anna said in a low voice.

Clementine, who looked at Anna with pity and comforted her, also felt her mood lowered.

Even in the eyes of Clementine, Illencia was different from her normal children.

‘… I guess that’s the same for Cain.’

However, Cain and Illencia were fundamentally different.

If Cain really didn’t have greed, she could see Illensia suppressing her greed and enduring her life.

“Being young must have been a lot of pressure. I’m also raising her child for the first time, so she knows Illencia is different from her other children… I realized too late that he was having a hard time.”

“….”

Clementine remained silent.

It was because he knew that the only consolation now was to listen to Anna’s candid atonement.

Anna continued her speech, stroking the spout of the teacup with her fine fingers.

“By the time I noticed it, it was too late. Illencia has already locked the door to her heart, and we have already come too far to turn things around.”

“….”

“I know, everything must be an excuse. Parents who don’t care about their children… It was our responsibility.”

Anna had tears in her eyes as she recalled her memories of that time.

Seeing Clementine silently handing her a handkerchief out of her arms, Anna smiled faintly and accepted the handkerchief.

“… Thank you.”

“It’s too much praise.”

Feeling that her mind was at peace with Clementine’s bright smile and effort to change her mood so that it wasn’t too heavy, Anna quietly continued her words.

“I tried a lot in my own way to change my mistakes. But it all ended in failure.”

“….”

“And it was here, Balenciaga, that I came here with the feeling of catching straw.”

“I see.”

“There are already rumors in the social world, right? How clever and clever Cain is.”

“… She is just a child who is still lacking.”

In fact, Clementine was not without worries either.

Cain said she was too grown up to be a child, and she was good at hiding her true feelings.

Perhaps others could criticize that for what to worry about, but well.

Clementine just wanted Cain to grow up as bright as her other children.

“Whoops… Doesn’t it seem to me at all? Not only is he clever and clever, but he also takes care of the people around him and is a cool guy.”

“That’s too much praise.”

“Anyway, I was finally relieved to see Elencia changing here. I also enjoy the time I spend here, and I am happy.”

“It is an honor for the family to feel that way. Princess.”

Anna turned her gaze to see Clementine smiling at her. Then she reached out and took Clementine’s hand and continued her words.

“To my child… And thank you so much for making me a good friend. Clementine.”

“…… Is this normal between friends?”

“Huh, thank you so much for saying that.”

Clementine smiled heartily. So was Anna.

The Duchess, who should have lived her whole life worrying only about her child, and the Baroness, who never went outside of her estate, now have a friend they can’t share.

The cold and emotionless grand duke of the future, who should have lived without knowing each other, and the second son of a baron who lived a normal life and later became independent by forming a top company made a friend.

Clementine was unaware of this fact, and she secretly expressed her gratitude to Anna.

Thank you for making a good friend for my son.

With this one person intervening in this world, the future began to change drastically.

“Come to think of it, since you handed over the ring, are we now in-laws?”

“What… What are you saying…. Wouldn’t it be too soon… ?”

“Huhu, since he doesn’t deny it, I guess Illencia isn’t bad~?”

“If the daughter-in-law is Illencia, we should bow down and support her.”

“If Cain becomes our son-in-law, are we going to bow down at least?”

Anna and Clementine laughed as they shared jokes without hesitation even about things that would not have happened if others had heard of them.

But Clementine didn’t know.

What the Duchess said was true to some extent.