The Duchess of Carca, Eurene, took the water cup her son offered and asked.

“Why?”

“I broke something.”

“What was it?”

“Just…… some vines?”

Ryun nonchalantly described the vineyard worth hundreds of gold as “some vines.” Eurene tilted her head.

“Van gets angry because you broke some vines?”

“He’s been tired lately, hasn’t he?”

“Has he?”

When Van returned late from work, Eurene was often already fast asleep. ……Or is it? Maybe I’m just going to bed early these days? Come to think of it, I’ve suddenly been sleeping a lot more recently. Eurene tilted her head while massaging her stiff body. Clinging to his mother’s arm, Ryun smiled slyly like a small fox cub.

“Mom, please stop Dad. Is that more important than his son?”

“I suppose not.”

With light pink-tinged blond curly hair, a plump heart-shaped cute face, delicate features, and large blue eyes looking up as if to say, ‘I don’t know how to tell lies.’ He looked exactly like a young Van, but with hair and eyes resembling Eurene, exuding an innocent and harmless charm. That’s why his father Van clicked his tongue, saying the boy was even more dangerous than himself.

Anyway, when Ryun acted cute with such an adorable face, Eurene readily agreed. Ryun smiled brightly at this, but then made a sad face at her next words.

“But you still need to be punished for what you did wrong.”

“Uwaah, Mom. Dad is scary. He might spank me.”

“Did you cause that big an accident?”

Eurene, who had been listening to her son’s words as leisurely as a sloth, tilted her head and spoke. Though she seemed more lenient than Van, she occasionally caught people off guard and never quite crossed certain lines, making her formidable in her own way. Ryun quickly said,

“No, not that big, just a tiny bit.”

“How tiny is it?”

“Umm. Actually, I burned a little bit of the vineyard……”

“The vineyard? Where the wine comes from?”

Eurene knew about the vineyard her husband, the duke, cherished. Even though she was less interested in alcohol than cake, she had to admit the wine from there was delicious. Only then did Eurene vaguely realize through her still sleepy mind that her son had caused a major accident. The Duchess of Carca scratched her cheek.

“Hmm, son. You caused an accident.”

“It was a mistake.”

“How did you make this mistake?”

“Well…”

Unlike her results-oriented husband, Eurene would listen attentively to the end, blinking her eyes as the children chattered away. Living a much more comfortable life after marriage, she was thoroughly practicing the aesthetics of slowness. Thanks to this, whenever her children felt wronged or overwhelmed with emotions, they would come to their mother—who sat knitting in the rocking chair or sprawled on the sofa eating snacks and giggling over romance novels—and pour out their grievances. This helped ease the small emotions that had grown large in their young hearts. Even if Eurene couldn’t (or wouldn’t) completely shield them from Van’s anger, they could tell her all sorts of stories they couldn’t comfortably share with their father, who would enforce discipline and punish them regardless of the circumstances.

“So, you set fire to catch a rabbit that ran there?”

“I read in a book that they would come out if you did that.”

“What if it burned to death?”

“I’m not stupid, why wouldn’t it come out? It would die.”

“So did it come out?”

“……I don’t know.”

The fire must have grown too large to see the rabbit or anything else. He had panicked, not knowing what to do, and fled here. Now remembering the rabbit, Ryun’s eyes welled up with tears and he whimpered.

“What should I do? What if it died?”

“What else? It would have become rabbit meat.”

“Waaah!”

As Ryun cried, Eurene stroked his fluffy hair and said,

“Or maybe it escaped while you weren’t looking.”

“Sniff. Do you think so?”

“I don’t know. As you said, if the rabbit isn’t stupid, wouldn’t it have done that?”

“Bunny isn’t stupid.”

“Then it probably survived.”

Somehow, listening to her casual remarks naturally calmed his anxiety. Eurene wiped her son’s tears with her sleeve. After thinking briefly, she said,

“Don’t do that again.”

“Yes……”

“Ask Dad to catch it for you, or let it go and buy a new one. Why go through all that trouble?”

“I don’t want another rabbit! I want Bunny!”

“And now you’ve lost Bunny, burned the vineyard, and are about to get scolded.”

“……”

“When it’s time to give up, just give up. It’s easier that way.”

“Sniff, yes.”

As her nine-year-old son tearfully hugged her, Eurene picked him up—though he was a bit heavy—and patted his curly hair. She yawned widely. Feeling sleepy again. The rocking chair, which Van had personally selected the wood for and made for his wife, swayed with the mother and son like a large ship cutting silently through the sea. Eurene dozed off.

When she opened her eyes again, Eurene met the violet eyes gazing at her. She yawned slightly.

“When did you come?”

“A while ago.”

It had grown dark all around. As she tried to rise groggily, Van stopped her. Eurene looked down at their son, who was sleeping heavily in her arms like fruit on a tree. The couple silently gazed at their lovely child with the same feelings. It was a sharing that needed no words. Eurene rubbed her eyes and asked,

“Aren’t you going to scold him?”

“Not now.”

Van carefully lifted their son, who was heavily pressing down on his wife. He seemed quite practiced at laying him on the sofa and covering him with a blanket. He sighed softly.

“This cunning boy. I knew this would happen.”

“He cried because he felt bad.”

“Of course. How could he not cry?”

Such valuable land, and just like that. Ah! He ruffled his son’s hair—not painfully—and turned to his wife, who was blinking her heavy eyelids.

“Still not fully awake?”

“Nooo…… I don’t know.”

“You seem to be sleeping a lot lately.”

Are you feeling unwell? Van worriedly stroked his wife’s forehead and cheeks. Then he gave her a peck. Eurene giggled and turned her head.

“No. The baby is here.”

“Should we move somewhere else?”

Van whispered seductively, apparently heated up for some time. Being quite healthy(?) in many ways, he had been constantly frustrated by his dozing wife, work, and the children who interrupted at every turn, preventing him from fully satisfying his desires. Especially the children. Though he adored the children that fertility goddess Eurene had given him, at times like these, it was a bit tiring. Van sighed deeply.

“Who would have known the second pregnancy would result with triplets? I just wanted one daughter who looked like you, Eurene, not this string of children.”

“Hehe. Me too.”

Eurene burst into laughter while touching her husband’s ear as he planted small kisses all over her face. Van’s eyes, gazing at her, were warm like a slowly burning bonfire. He truly never imagined he would live like this. It seemed like just yesterday he was called the playboy duke, but now he had become the head of a bustling, lively household.

Life is truly amazing. In the blink of an eye, you find yourself traveling through completely unfamiliar places. Small miracles had expanded into a grand future. Sometimes when he felt tired and exhausted, he would suddenly realize the reason he lived when he saw the warmth filling his home, his wife and children nodding off like rabbits while waiting for him to return from work, or a single silver spoon clumsily placed on the breakfast table by the children.

“Eurene……”

Just as he leaned toward the blushing Eurene, a loud noise erupted.

“Waaaaaah!”

“Dad! Seia hit Zeon!”

“Shut up! Call me big sister!”

“……”

“Wow. Looks like our children are back.”

Eurene pushed away Van’s soured face with her hand and stood up with a bright smile. The triplets, who particularly adored their fourteen-year-old cousin Shuren, had returned home after a week-long visit to Count Eifel’s family. Following his wife who walked out with light steps, Van rubbed his face with a groan.

Indeed, they had too many children.

* * *

And one month later…

“What did you say?”

Duke Carca Van asked with trembling lips. But the doctor, skilled yet tactless, babbled with a bright face.

“Pregnancy. Congratulations. Both mother and fetus are healthy. Hahaha!”

“……”

“Wow. Van, are we having our fifth child?”

As Eurene, who was no longer afraid of childbirth, blurted out in amazement, Van groaned and buried his face in his hands.

Maybe I should take contraceptives myself.

— Crunchy Apple. The End —