40. Why Are You Here?
Baptiski Smirnov fell into deep concern.
Even though they had been close until now, Nikolai was still the ‘Bloody Grand Duke,’ a tyrant notorious in the North.
While he himself pledged loyalty from the bottom of his heart, his daughter’s matter was different.
If his daughter were to forsake her happiness and marry forcefully because she couldn’t go against the monarch’s will, his heart would be torn apart.
“Ah, Father! Am I someone who would do anything forcefully?”
“Well, that’s true. But why so suddenly……”
“Father, you know my ideal type. Handsome, strong, kind, and respectful towards me. The Grand Duke matches perfectly.”
“K-kind?”
Baptiski muttered, doubting his ears.
His bold daughter was probably the only one who dared to use the word ‘kind’ to describe their ruler.
At that moment, the study door suddenly burst open from outside, and someone rushed in.
“Duke Smirnov!”
“Y-yes?”
“I have something to tell you.”
Nikolai, who had arrived without notice where the father and daughter were, charged toward Baptiski with an intimidating presence.
Then suddenly, he dropped to his knees before him and prostrated himself with both hands on the floor.
“Your Highness! What are you…?”
“Give me your daughter! No, that’s not right. Father-in-law, please give me your daughter’s hand!”
Nikolai, who had his forehead on the floor, raised only his upper body while still kneeling to look up at his father-in-law.
“I heard this is how commoners do it.”
The loyal subject’s face turned pale at the sudden action of his sovereign lord.
Though their positions were completely reversed in terms of master and servant posture, their expressions remained the same.
The one kneeling and looking up was still the ruler, and the one standing and looking down was still the subject.
Watching her father, who was about to faint from the overwhelming honor of suddenly receiving a bow from the Grand Duke he served, and her prospective groom who blinked his blue eyes not understanding what the problem was, Katya smacked her forehead.
‘Oh my, dear God.’
Would this combination of father-in-law and son-in-law ever work in this life?
Meanwhile, Baptiski also knelt before his son-in-law and bowed his head.
“Why are you kneeling? I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“No, Your Highness. I am more sorry that you would take my insufficient and lacking daughter.”
“I should be more grateful that you’ve allowed me to have your precious daughter–”
“No, I should be more–”
“No, I should be more.”
“No, I should be.”
“I should be more.”
Watching the two men trying to bow lower than each other, Katya couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.
“Hey. How long are you two going to keep this up? You’ll end up digging the ground with your heads at this rate. Please get up now.”
When she pulled both their arms, the two men finally stood up from the floor.
Since they weren’t from a culture that sat on the floor like the Eastern Continent, their legs had gone numb from kneeling.
Katya found herself wondering whether to laugh or not when she saw the father-in-law and son-in-law complaining about pain in opposite legs, as if they were mirror images.
“Goodness! Both of you, stay still.”
She bent slightly and mercilessly massaged their calves to relieve the numbness before standing up.
Then she helped her father sit on the sofa first and sat opposite him with Nikolai.
“In the North, everyone’s rushing to marry off their daughters because they don’t want to send them to someone like me, but are you really alright with this?”
“I don’t mind as long as my daughter is happy. And I should be the one asking. My daughter may be precious and beautiful to me, but no man in the South wants to marry her—are you really alright with that?”
“The men in the South all have terrible taste, which has worked out in my favor.”
Nikolai spoke with a warm expression.
Though their time together had been brief, Baptiski Smirnov, whom he had known in Padovangrad, was a loyal man.
He had only heard rumors, but after directly confirming with the people of the territory, everyone truly loved and respected their lord.
When famine struck the South, he not only waived taxes but even opened the duchy’s granaries to feed his people.
When Baptiski learned that Nikolai was traveling incognito, he even stopped meeting with his friends, though he usually loved socializing, to prevent any secrets from leaking.
Moreover, he was a father who cherished his daughters dearly.
To become the son-in-law of such a man—Nikolai sincerely felt he was fortunate.
“From now on, I’ll think of you not as Duke but as Father. Please think of me as your own son too.”
“Yes. I will think of you that way.”
“We should start with how we speak. What father uses honorifics with his son? Ah, I should change too. Father-in-law, please speak comfortably to me.”
“I-I couldn’t possibly. How could I dare to speak informally to Your Highness…”
“If you won’t listen as a son-in-law, then take it as an order.”
Flustered by the Grand Duke’s excessive demands, Baptiski pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his flowing sweat.
He was confused about whether to follow the proper etiquette between ruler and subject or the ruler’s command.
Seeing her pitiful father’s inner conflict, Katya stepped in to rescue him.
“Let’s set aside such matters for now and eat first. I’m hungry.”
She said while gently rubbing her stomach with her right hand.
“Shall we? You shouldn’t go hungry.”
Nikolai spoke tenderly as he watched her hand fidgeting over her stomach.
Following Nikolai’s gaze to his daughter’s stomach, Baptiski suddenly turned pale and gaped.
“D-don’t tell me…”
“Huh? Father, what’s wrong?”
Looking down to where her father’s eyes were fixed, Katya finally realized what he was thinking and waved her hands frantically.
“Oh no, it’s not that! Absolutely not, Father!”
When she desperately insisted she was untouched, Baptiski let out a sigh of relief.
“Is that so? I was needlessly worried because I heard young people these days are different from our generation.”
“Of course. Father, you know me, right? It’s impossible for me to share a bed with a man I barely know.”
“But we did sleep together, didn’t we?”
Baptiski’s jaw dropped again at Nikolai’s sudden remark.
“P-pardon?”
“Don’t say it like that, you’ll cause misunderstandings! No, Father! We just shared a bed, only shared a bed!”
“Shared… a bed?”
“No, I mean, when you hear it like that it sounds strange. We really just lay next to each other?”
The more she tried to explain, the stranger it sounded.
Her shocked father couldn’t calm his heart easily and pressed his chest while taking deep breaths.
Just as Katya was glaring at her tactless fiancé—
“Aaaah–”
The study door suddenly burst open and people who had been leaning against it came tumbling in like dominoes.
Bianca, Alyona, the butler, and the duke’s household staff had been pressing their ears against the door crack in the hallway, eavesdropping on the conversation.
Witnessing this scene, Nikolai suddenly stood up and approached the door.
“Since everyone’s gathered, let me formally introduce myself. I am Nikolai de Vasily, soon to be this family’s eldest son-in-law.”
“N-nice to meet you, Brother-in-law.”
Bianca accidentally misspoke out of nervousness.
It was her first time seeing him up close, and his imposing presence startled her.
“Brother-in-law?”
“Ah, no! I’m sorry, Your Highness!”
“I like the sound of that. Keep calling me that, Sister-in-law.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Bianca quickly bowed, overwhelmed with honor.
“I said call me brother-in-law.”
“Yes… Brother-in-law…”
“But why was everyone gathered out here listening to our conversation?”
At the Grand Duke’s question, the duke’s butler spoke up.
“Actually, today is the interview day for Lady Bianca’s private tutor, and the candidates are waiting in the reception room. Since Duke Smirnov was supposed to conduct the interview with Lady Katarina, we came to check when your conversation would end, and then…”
“Private tutor?”
“She’s recently become interested in ancient languages and music, so we’re looking for a live-in tutor.”
“Is that so?”
Nikolai crossed his arms and stroked his chin as he turned around.
“Father-in-law, if it’s alright, may I conduct the interview instead? We can’t carelessly bring just anyone into our family.”
He naturally referred to the Smirnov ducal family as ‘our family.’
Though his speech was oddly mixed with formal titles and casual language, no one seemed to notice anything strange.
“Please do as you wish.”
Nikolai grinned after receiving his desired answer from his father-in-law.
He already felt like they were family.
***
Meanwhile, Luka had been waiting in front of the duke’s residence for Nikolai, as their earlier conversation hadn’t properly concluded.
“Oh my, why are you standing out here?”
An elderly gardener noticed Luka and opened the main gate in surprise.
“Pardon? Are you talking to me?”
“Please come in quickly. It’s already started.”
“What’s already started…”
“This way is the shortcut.”
The gardener, mistaking Luka in his commoner’s clothes for one of today’s interviewees, took him inside the building without hesitation.
The gardener immediately asked a passing maid,
“Is it over already? This fellow arrived late, and that useless gatekeeper didn’t even guide him properly. Where did he go?”
“We thought everyone had arrived—he went to the bathroom earlier. Oh my, what should we do? Please come this way quickly.”
Sympathetic to his plight, the maid took over from the gardener and led Luka away.
When she saw the duke’s attendants carrying tea to the interview room, the maid quickly explained the situation to them, and they nodded before leading Luka to the interview room.
Everyone was serious about the hiring process, so they all worked together to help this pitiful young man as if it were their own business.
“Showing in the final candidate.”
As the butler announced this and opened the interview room door, Luka finally realized something had gone wrong.
But it was after he had been pushed inside by the butler.
His eyes widened as he was about to apologize for entering the wrong room and spotted a familiar face.
Sitting in the center of the interviewer’s seats was his friend and ruler whom he followed like an older brother, Nikolai.
Why is brother here?
