Selected as the New Stepmother - Chapter 38

“They’re at a hot spring?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Can’t you take me with you?”

“That’s not a decision I can make, young master.”

The knight replied while maintaining a proper posture. Rublion seriously stroked his chin.

Meanwhile, the butler who had brought a bag of clothes busily prepared to leave. As Anna also brought a bag, Rublion spoke to the butler as if he had made up his mind.

“I want to go too.”

“That’s not possible.”

The butler shook his head vigorously. Rublion appealed that he was the main contributor to this date, but the butler did not budge.

“It’s not a place suitable for taking you, young master. Please wait at the mansion.”

“It’s an order. Take me with you.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“I won’t get out of the carriage. I’ll just follow along.”

“Take the young master to his room.”

The maids around the butler rushed over and grabbed Rublion. Anna shook her head as she watched Rublion being taken further away.

“Well then, let’s depart.”

At the butler’s words, Anna adjusted her grip on the bag. Then she immediately went out the door.

After riding in the carriage and arriving at the hot spring, Anna and the butler found the secretary anxiously pacing in the lobby on the first floor of the building.

“I definitely got off work… Why am I here like this?”

He had certainly left work early. So he came to the hot spring thinking of going on a date with his wife, but unfortunately, he happened to spot the Duke’s carriage there.

He didn’t want to see his workplace superior even after getting off work, so he tried to go somewhere else, but his wife insisted on coming here, leaving him no choice but to enter the hot spring.

While trying to ignore the conversations he could hear and enjoy time with his wife, room maids and what looked like hot spring staff were spreading rumors that Duke Artenbach had entered a short-stay room embracing some woman.

In the end, after apologizing to his wife, he came to meet the Duke to confirm the situation.

“Baron Tirel.”

The secretary, who had been muttering about his circumstances while staring at the ground, raised his head at the butler’s voice.

“Baron Dreis? What brings you here?”

To his question, the butler replied with an innocent smile.

“He said he needed a change of clothes, so we came in a hurry.”

“I see… But you can’t go in right now.”

“Why not?”

“There were orders not to let anyone enter.”

Anna swallowed hard with a pale face. The butler looked very satisfied.

“The young master said he taught the Duke and the lady how to date.”

He said, forcibly smoothing out his twitching facial muscles.

“It seems to have been a very effective date course.”

“I wonder what the plan was?”

At Anna’s question, the butler’s wrinkled eyes curved happily.

Anna showed her palm while listening to the butler’s explanation, chattering like a grandfather. It was a gesture indicating she wanted to ask a question.

“By the way, do you think the young master knew what it meant to press bellies together when he wrote that?”

Rimon blinked blankly before answering.

“The young master is still young, so he probably didn’t know the meaning when he wrote it.”

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“They say if you build intimacy physically, the heart will naturally follow. So I wrote it as something that must be done on a date. I want the two of them to like each other.”

Rublion was explaining the date course he had designed to the maid who had come to the room with him.

The maid shook her head at the all-too-adult plan. She was at a loss for where to begin critiquing it.

“Young master, just because a man and woman press their bellies together doesn’t mean their hearts will necessarily follow. It could actually drive them apart, or make them never want to meet again.”

Rublion’s smooth forehead wrinkled slightly. The maid didn’t miss the timing and continued speaking.

“I can guarantee that the more actively you try to do something, the further apart the two of them might grow.”

“Why… why?”

She looked into the eyes of the considerably bewildered child.

“Wouldn’t it be burdensome? How would you feel if someone constantly whispered in your ear, ‘You must get along well with that child’?”

“Ah… no.”

The child’s small hands trembled. The maid said with a slight smile,

“Trust the Duke and wait a little. From what I can see, you and the Duke seem to have the same feelings.”

“The Duke likes the aunt too?”

“That’s how it looks to me.”

Rublion’s face, which had been crumpled as if the world had collapsed, brightened.

“My heart is pounding now. I feel like the Duke and the aunt might really get married at this rate.”

The maid replied, recalling Askal who had been looking out the window more often lately.

“It will surely be possible.”

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I’m very serious right now. I had just closed my eyes for a moment while leaning on the pillow, but when I came to my senses, I was sleeping comfortably with the blanket over me.

I must have slept so well that I didn’t even notice the towel wrapped around my head had come loose.

No, it’s okay to sleep well. That can happen, but…

‘Aaagh!’

The first thing that caught my eye when I woke up was the Duke lying at the foot of the bed, using his arm as a pillow. He seemed to have dozed off like me, but due to his posture, his robe had opened, revealing his taut chest muscles.

I squeezed my eyes shut again. My heart was pounding as if someone was hitting it.

“Are you awake?”

The Duke, whom I thought was sleeping, slowly opened his eyes. Startled, I quickly jumped out of the bed.

“Haha, ah, did you sleep well?”

It seemed like the right atmosphere to ask such a question. He got up groggily from the bed and turned around. Then he retied his robe and moved away.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m completely fine now!”

“That’s good.”

The Duke strode to the door and opened it just enough to be barely visible. Then he spoke to the knight outside.

“The clothes?”

“They’re waiting.”

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away. It seemed he had gone outside. Not long after, I heard a series of people entering the corridor.

“Your Grace! Are you alright?”

The first voice I heard was that of Secretary Baron Tirel.

“I took the liberty of choosing a tie and shirt to bring.”

The butler who came along was faintly visible.

“What about our lady? Is she inside?”

Anna was visible through the slightly open door. I got up groggily and approached the door.

“Are you here?”

At the voice that resounded through the corridor, I made sure my robe was properly closed. Then, hiding behind the Duke’s back, I waved my hand.

“I’m here.”

“My lady!”

Anna, who was examining me with just my head peeking out, looked at the Duke and said,

“May I go in?”

At Anna’s words, the butler also snapped to attention.

“I’ll escort the Duke to another room.”

The secretary exchanged glances with the butler and opened the door across the hall. A room that looked identical to the one we were in was visible.

“Young lady, make sure to see the doctor after you’re done dressing.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“And…”

He hesitated, then said as he was leaving the room,

“It would be better to forget what happened here.”

“Yes.”

“Good, then I’ll wait outside.”

The Duke went to the room across the hall, and Anna, who had been standing in the corridor, entered with her bag. For some reason, she was glaring at the door the Duke had disappeared through with her lips tightly pursed. Then she said, trembling,

“Oh my, forget it… Is he saying he won’t take responsibility like that now?”

Anna fumed with a flushed face.

“I didn’t think the Duke was like that, but this is too much! What a beast! Really.”

Tears welled up in Anna’s eyes. I thought I knew why she was reacting this way, so I decided to tell her the truth.

“Anna, it’s not what you think.”

“Everyone says that! That it’s not like that.”

“I threw up.”

“So you… What?”

I walked towards the bathroom. Then, pointing to the dress pushed to one side, I said,

“I got sick and threw up everything, and the Duke cleaned up after me.”

Anna’s jaw dropped. Then, looking at the water-soaked, ruined dress and the stains left on the Duke’s suit pants and the right arm of his jacket, she muttered,

“I didn’t think he was like that, but it makes me reconsider. Are you okay now?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

It was similar to what I said earlier, but the meaning had completely changed. I chuckled at the expected reaction.

“Did something happen? You often get like this when you’re stressed.”

At Anna’s question, Duke Rumps flashed through my mind for a moment.

‘There’s no need to plant unnecessary worries, right?’

She wasn’t the one to watch my back break between whales. She might run to Duke Artenbach asking for help.

“Nothing happened.”

I said, exaggeratedly rolling my shoulders.

“Can you take out my clothes first? The Duke told me to see the doctor, so I should get examined first.”

“Yes! My lady! I’ll prepare it right away.”

The diligent maid laid out the tools from the bag. Watching her, I secretly sighed.

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After the time that was awkward to call a date ended, we returned to the mansion.

The little one who came out to greet us had his lips sticking out for some reason. I could roughly guess the cause of his sulking from the way he occasionally glared at the butler as if to scratch him.

“Did you see the doctor?”

The Duke was the first to speak before parting in the lobby.

“Yes, he prescribed medicine for me too.”

The little one grumbled words I couldn’t understand, then tilted his head askew with his arms crossed.

“Geez, how much did you drag her around? The aunt got so tired she got sick, right?”

This must be what it means to kill someone with just a look. The Duke stared at his nephew Rublion as if he would devour him right then and there. If I received such a look, I think my knees would give out, but the little one didn’t even blink.

“…I apologize, young lady.”

I was about to raise my hand to wave it off. But the little one grabbed my arm and said,

“Auntie, since it’s come to this, why don’t you ask the Duke to buy you a dress?”