54. A Father-in-law’s Love
Meanwhile, Nikolai and Baptiski soon realized that everyone had left, and they were suddenly alone.
The natural conversation they had been having, thinking others were behind them, had long since stopped.
Their respective buckets were silently filling up with the fishes they caught.
As they both sat in their chairs staring at their fishing rods, Nikolai broke the silence.
“As you know, I have no parents.”
“Pardon?”
“So I was wondering if you could teach me how to be a good husband? You are both a good father and a good husband.”
Baptiski shook his head, saying it wasn’t so.
“If I had stopped my wife when she wanted to have children, she might have lived longer. She must have thought about continuing the family line. If my wife hadn’t married someone like me, an only son… If she hadn’t felt such responsibility…”
“Though I’ve never met Duchess Smirnov personally, and she wasn’t able to bear children, I don’t think your wife had children just to continue the family line.”
“……”
“Anyone in love would want to create a family with their beloved and see children who resemble them.”
Nikolai sometimes imagined such a future too.
Children resembling Katya running through the Grand Duchy’s palace garden.
But it was a vain hope that he shouldn’t be greedy for or dream about.
Listening to Nikolai’s words, a gentle smile like a calm lake spread across Baptiski’s face.
Though they seemed to be doing well, sometimes waves of longing for his wife would crash over him like rough seas.
The Duchess Smirnov had gained two joys instead of extending her thin thread of life a little longer.
There must be different shapes of happiness for everyone in this world.
The Duchess realized it only when she held her firstborn in her arms after the pain of childbirth.
That her puzzle of happiness was completed only with her beloved husband and children who resembled her.
The joy of watching her daughters grow up was something precious that couldn’t be exchanged for anything else.
That’s why until the moment she closed her eyes, she never regretted her choice.
She was only sorry that she couldn’t stay longer with her beloved family.
Just then, something seemed to bite the fishing float as the line beneath the surface pulled taut against the Duke’s rod.
When Baptiski stumbled from the strong force, Nikolai who was beside him threw down his own fishing rod and rushed over.
The two men joined forces, putting all their strength into their hands gripping the fishing rod and leaning their bodies backward.
A mystical creature living in the deep lake leaped above the surface, then broke the fishing line and disappeared below again.
At the same moment, the father-in-law and son-in-law fell backward together with a thud.
“Did-did you see that?”
“I saw it too. A mystical creature that only existed in legends. Have you seen it before, Duke?”
“No, Your Highness. This is my first time seeing it as well.”
The two men, looking at each other with wide eyes, burst into laughter without either being the first.
Nikolai got up first and helped his father-in-law to his feet.
“To think a mystical creature lived in your domain. It seems today is your day.”
“Pardon?”
“You won.”
He pointed to his own wooden bucket that was barely half full.
Meanwhile, Baptiski’s bucket was full of fish, so without needing to count, he had clearly won the fishing competition.
Nikolai quickly wound up his fishing line to clean up.
But the Duke noticed in that moment that there was no bait on the hook.
From the beginning, he had only wanted to spend good time with Katya’s family, with no intention of beating his father-in-law.
“Seems the clever ones just stole the bait and ran away.”
Nikolai muttered as if making an excuse, feeling his father-in-law’s gaze.
Baptiski, who had been quietly observing him, seemed to make up his mind and slowly raised his hand to pat his monarch’s arm a couple of times.
“Though I absolutely cannot speak informally… from now on, I will truly think of Your Highness as my son.”
There was a slight tremor in his voice, but no fear could be found.
“They say a mother-in-law’s love is for her son-in-law, but since there is no mother-in-law, I will take on the role of loving the son-in-law if you’ll allow it.”
At those trembling but sincere words, Nikolai smiled softly.
“Since I have no parents, I have no other family to divide my love with. That means I can devote my whole heart solely to loving and protecting Tia and making her happy without fail.”
Seeing his son-in-law’s earnest gaze, Baptiski couldn’t help but trust that vow.
When he first visited his wife’s family home to ask permission for marriage, had he worn such an expression to his father-in-law too?
Originally, when thinking about entrusting a child’s future to a complete stranger, there would be endless worry and concern.
Baptiski recalled what his daughter had said at the trial.
“A man who loves me as I am without trying to change me to suit his taste. That’s what His Highness is.”
Only then did he realize.
The thought that he was handing over his daughter’s life, which he had been responsible for until now, to his son-in-law was wrong.
Marriage doesn’t make spouses become subordinate to each other, but rather, they live their own lives while supporting each other and walking in the same direction as companions.
As a companion to walk with his daughter, Nikolai was the most suitable person one could ask for.
“We caught so many mullets. When we return home, I will personally make Your Highness some fish soup.”
Baptiski often cooked for his wife when she was alive, and he was especially confident in his fish soup.
But besides being confident in the dish, there was another reason.
In Hersen, there was a culture of mothers-in-law personally cooking for their future sons-in-law before marriage.
For a father-in-law to personally cook for his son-in-law was practically unprecedented.
Baptiski was truly trying to fulfill his promise to take responsibility for loving his son-in-law.
Nikolai smiled brightly, recognizing his father-in-law’s intentions.
“A dish made by you, Duke? I’m already looking forward to it.”
At that moment, far away on a hill—
An assassin was hiding in the grass, aiming their gun at the two men standing by the lake.
It had been worth discovering the fishing spot the Duke frequently visited after seeing a fishing rod seller enter the Duke’s mansion yesterday.
By arriving early and securing a good spot, they managed to evade the sharp eyes of the Grand Duke’s knights.
In the critical moment as they were about to pull the trigger, before their brain could register the presence approaching from behind, a foot in a shoe flew at their face.
The assassin, knocked down by one kick with full body weight behind it, reflexively reached for the gun they had dropped in surprise, but their opponent was faster.
The attacker who had instantly kicked the fallen gun far away pointed their gun at the assassin’s forehead.
The person was dressed in pants, so they naturally assumed their opponent was a knight. The assassin looked up, only to be stunned by the sight of their face.
It was the strawberry-blonde woman presumed to be the Grand Duke’s lover.
“Who sent you? If you want to live, you’d better tell the truth.”
Katya removed the assassin’s mask and pressed the gun barrel firmly against their forehead for pressure.
At the inn it had been an empty gun without gunpowder, and she had been caught off guard, but now the situation was in her favor.
Though the grass was slippery from dew, it also muffled the crunching footsteps that would have sounded on a dry day.
The sound of Boris and the knights waiting nearby running towards them grew closer and closer.
“Over here!”
In the brief moment Katya turned her head to shout that, the man swallowed the poison hidden in his cheek.
It had been a condition set by the client when they first accepted the assassination contract.
Commit suicide immediately if caught.
It was an unavoidable choice for assassins, as their families and associates would suffer if they were caught and confessed about their employers.
“Hey! Wake up!”
Katya, belatedly realizing something was wrong with the man’s condition, lowered her gun and slapped his cheeks several times.
But after coughing up dark red blood with his eyes open, he died right there.
“Your Highness the Grand Duchess!”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
The knights who rushed to surround her separated the Grand Duchess, who had frozen like an ice pillar, from the corpse.
Katya collapsed to the ground, still in shock.
What kind of assassination mission would make someone commit suicide?
No, who were the people who made this man choose to take his own life without hesitation the moment he was discovered?
‘How cruel must someone be to play with human lives like this?’
Katya felt she was starting to understand what kind of place the Grand Ducal household she was about to enter really was.
A place where such evil people who treated human lives like flies lurked everywhere.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?”
Boris asked carefully in a voice full of concern.
While some knights went to search for the assassin’s companions, the rest took care of the corpse.
As if this wasn’t their first time, everyone moved naturally and efficiently.
Katya actually didn’t know that the assassin from the inn that day had also committed suicide.
On top of that, she had directly witnessed the death this time, so it was natural to be shocked.
“Who sent this assassin?”
“…I don’t know.”
Though Boris had his suspicions about who sent them, he held his tongue.
It was a crime to falsely accuse the former Grand Duchess and boyars without evidence.
Nikolai had strictly ordered his subordinates to keep quiet even if circumstances suggesting who ordered the assassination emerged, worried that his subordinates might face consequences.
Meanwhile, Bianca was walking on the opposite side of the lake with Luka and Laika.
Though Luka was still somewhat afraid of Laika, he seemed to have adapted after seeing her often, as he could now be in the same space with her given the premise of maintaining a certain distance.
Many conversations beyond lessons passed between the two young people.
Though it was closer to casual chatter about nothing in particular, Luka found endless joy in this time spent with her.
“So you traveled around working as a tutor in the North?”
“That’s right.”
“Then you must know many nobles.”
“I suppose so.”
While Luka was thinking about what intention she had in asking such things, Bianca posed another question.
“Have you perhaps heard about a boy who saved a girl from drowning 13 years ago?”
