Rejected by Anna, Mürten went back to the hotel. Watching him casually drop hints about where he was staying as he left, I was once again reminded that you truly get to know people only through experience.

After mostly finishing the organizing, I went out to the shopping district with Ranson to buy furniture for the storage room. After choosing a desk and a small cabinet, we went to the displayed beds.

‘It seems small?’

Ranson approached and casually lay down on the bed. His ankles stuck out beyond the edge of the mattress.

“Don’t you have anything longer than this?”

The furniture shop owner answered my question while showing a catalog.

“Anything larger than this needs to be custom ordered. If we start right away, it will take about three days.”

“How about it, Ranson? Shall I order one for you?”

“Yes, please.”

He answered while wiggling his dangling ankles. I turned to the shop owner to place a special order, then turned back. Ranson had already gotten up from the bed.

We left the furniture shop and went around to a few more places. After stopping by an art supply store last to finish our shopping district errands, I said to Ranson who looked a bit tired:

“Exhausted? Let’s head back to Black Swan now.”

“That’s the news I’ve been waiting for.”

Since we had a lot of packages and there were two of us, we called for a rental carriage. While Ranson was pushing the bags into the inner seat, the coachman received the fare and said with a grin:

“The gentleman outside seems to care for his wife very much.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what he was saying. So I just stared blankly.

“Haha, it can be like that for newlyweds. He couldn’t take his eyes off you while you were getting the carriage.”

So Ranson was looking at me while I was looking at the road? That’s why the coachman seemed to be mistaking us for a married couple.

“Ah, we’re not married.”

I answered while waving my hands. The coachman gave an awkward smile.

“Really? I apologize then. The gentleman was gazing at the young lady so intensely that I just assumed, haha.”

The coachman urged us to get in quickly, seeming embarrassed. I felt strangely flustered and hurriedly climbed into the carriage. Ranson seemed not to have heard, just staring off at distant mountains.

Arriving at Black Swan, I looked at the clock and saw evening was approaching. Since I had a promise with the kid, I started preparing to return to the mansion, when Ranson and Anna came out of the storage room after finishing organizing the items.

“Are you leaving now?”

Ranson asked.

“Yes, it’s time to clock out.”

Anna said with a bright smile as she gathered her outerwear. Watching her, Ranson cautiously opened his mouth.

“In that case, how about having dinner together with me?”

I felt a pang of guilt. It was his first day at Black Swan, and I hadn’t thought about him having to eat dinner alone at the office. But I couldn’t postpone my promise with Rublion for that reason.

“I’m so sorry. I have a prior engagement.”

“I see. I should have mentioned it earlier, I suppose.”

I watched him standing there blankly, rubbing the back of his head and smiling bitterly. I felt a bit apologetic.

“Ranson, let’s have a welcome party tomorrow with Mürten. We’ll drink and discuss what we should do going forward.”

“Yes, I’ll look forward to tomorrow.”

He erased his bitter smile and grinned widely. It was consideration to not make me feel bad.

After brief goodbyes, I left Black Swan and headed to a bakery in the shopping district with Anna. Perhaps because it was the end of the workday for laborers, the front of the store was crowded with customers buying bread and pastries.

After waiting in line to finally get inside, I chose a cake topped with strawberries and bananas.

While the shop owner was packaging it, I was looking at the glass display case when I spotted palm-sized packaged bags. Three bags remained on the corner of a large tray.

The “not too sweet” phrase caught my eye. The woman of the couple behind me, who were the next customers, pointed at the display case and said:

“Honey, there are limited edition butter cookies left! How about those?”

My ears perked up. I was curious about an actual review.

“They were good. Not too sweet either.”

“Really? Then should we get those too?”

“Sure.”

After hearing their conversation, I made up my mind and said to the owner who had just finished packaging:

“Please give me those limited edition butter cookies over there and some soft candies too.”

I had gotten used to Rublion’s greeting. The butler welcomed my return, saying he had perfectly prepared for the party.

I gave the cake box to the kid and told him to go ahead. After quickly changing clothes in my room and coming down to the dining room, Rublion was alone fiddling with the cake box.

‘Come to think of it, he must have been alone at home all day.’

Since deciding to stay at the mansion, the kid hadn’t particularly asked me to sleep together or play with him. I had been busy and the kid had his own routine, so I thought that was fine, but I was concerned that I was staying to act as a mother yet the child wasn’t asking for anything.

‘Now that Ranson and Mürten have safely come over, I should reduce work a bit and spend time with the kid.’

The back view of the kid sitting up straight suddenly looked pitiful.

I quietly approached and covered Rublion’s eyes with my palms. Then I whispered in an exaggerated voice:

“Who is it?”

The edge of my hand covering his eyes slid up his raised cheekbones. It was because the kid was grinning widely.

“What happens if I can’t guess?”

To his question, I answered in the same low voice:

“I’ll stay like this until you get it right.”

The kid took his hands off the box and touched the back of my hand covering his eyes. Then, still grinning widely, he said:

“The head maid?”

“Wrong.”

“Big sister Anna.”

“Wrong!”

“Hmm… This time it’s the butler.”

His small hands were fidgeting and massaging the back of my hand. Realizing he was intentionally not guessing correctly, I said:

“If you guess who it is, I’ll give you a hug.”

“Auntie!”

The correct answer came out at once. I quickly stood up and tightly hugged the kid who was spreading his arms.

“Hehe, Auntie is warm.”

Just before being hugged, Rublion was smiling genuinely happily.

“You’re warm too.”

I rubbed my chin on the kid’s crown, then loosened my arms to release his small body. Then I went over to what looked like my seat and sat down.

‘As for the Duke…’

It was cause for celebration for me, but from the Duke’s perspective, it wasn’t such a good thing. Even if it was a transfer according to contract, he had lost artists who would become future assets to Black Swan.

‘…I might feel even more sorry if I see his face.’

With the Ranson and Mürten situation, and the incident I caused in front of him, I felt a bit awkward about facing the Duke. So I thought it was fortunate that he wasn’t here.

“Auntie, let’s quickly eat dinner and have cake!”

“Shall we?”

Rublion was already holding up his milk cup high. I lightly clinked my wine glass that a servant had filled and said:

“May Rublion always be happy.”

The kid’s golden eyes rippled with joy.

“I wish for Auntie to always be happy too.”

Rublion and I drained our glasses at the same time. Then as if planned, we both exclaimed “Ah!” We burst out laughing after downing the wine and milk like beer. It was at that moment.

“It seems I’m a bit late.”

A huge leopard… no, the Duke who looked like a leopard, appeared in the dining room. He seemed to have just arrived and was handing his coat and gloves to the butler.

“Duke!”

Rublion called out happily.

“I came because you said to come quickly… but you didn’t explain what we’re celebrating, Rublion.”

As the Duke sat at the head of the table, a maid holding a water pitcher approached and filled his glass.

“Auntie said she had something good happen today.”

The kid answered with a grin. The Duke’s golden eyes flashed as if asking me for an explanation.

“Ah… There was some good news for the development of Baron Deli’s household.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell the Duke it was a celebration for bringing over artists from the Artenbach Art Museum. So I gave a roundabout answer, but someone like him would have figured it out to some extent.

‘Wow, it’s fierce.’

There was no expression on his face as he stared directly at me. It looked so frighteningly cold that I felt I might freeze if touched.

‘I only received fair compensation!’

It was him who asked me to stay at the Duke’s mansion. It was also him who held me back when I said I would return to the Baron’s mansion, asking me to act as the kid’s mother.

So there was no need to feel intimidated about bringing Ranson and Mürten to Black Swan…

“Th-that’s not important! The food the chef worked so hard to prepare is getting cold. We should hurry and eat, and then have this cake that Rublion wants to eat, right?”

I pointed at the cake with my hand. The Duke’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“That’s right! We just need to raise our glasses high and wish for each other’s happiness now.”

Rublion’s small hand pointed at the Duke’s wine glass. Recognizing the signal, a servant approached, filled the glass, and stepped back.

The Duke raised his glass as if giving in. Seeing our chance, the kid and I quickly clinked our glasses against his.

“You two are impossible.”

The Duke drained his wine glass in one gulp, defeated by our joint attack. The frozen atmosphere had already thawed warmly.

The meal ended with Rublion’s one-sided chatter and my agreeing responses. We decided to each take only as much cake as we wanted to eat, but the Duke waved his hand saying he wouldn’t have any.

‘Is this the right timing?’

I carefully placed the bag of butter cookies I bought at the bakery on the table. The kid stopped just as he was about to put a strawberry from the cake in his mouth.

“Auntie, what’s that?”

I hesitated for a moment before answering:

“I heard from another customer while buying the cake that men eat these well because they’re not sweet, so I bought them.”

“But I like sweet things?”

The kid tilted his head.

“I also have some things to apologize for and troubles I’ve caused… I bought them to give to the Duke.”

I swallowed hard. I don’t know why my heart is pounding so much just over giving cookies.

“So please accept them.”

He opened his eyes wide. For a moment my heart sank.