Grand Duke, I Like You, But Please Die! - Chapter 30

“Thank you for the food!”

Kaiel, who was about to chase after her, was stopped by the shop owner.

“Hey, you need to pay before you go.”

“…….”

In the end, Kaiel paid and slowly walked after Delia, who had already run far ahead.

“Kaiel…… I’m sorry, so stop staring at me.”

All the way from the carriage, Kaiel had been watching Delia with a seemingly expressionless face. In fact, according to Delia’s interpretation, it wasn’t a completely expressionless face.

But even she found it difficult to understand what kind of expression it was.

Delia took out the snacks she had bought with a rustling sound. It was a type of scone with less sweetness.

Delia carefully split the scone in half and offered one half to Kaiel.

“Here! Eat this and forget what you heard earlier, okay? Whether you have a son or a daughter later, I won’t care, okay? Kaiel.”

Usually, she could roughly grasp his emotions through his expressions. But now, she couldn’t figure it out at all, which was frustrating.

‘How should I describe that expression?’

As Kaiel remained still, Delia wrapped one half of the scone in paper and placed it on his lap.

“It’s not sweet.”

With that, Delia immediately stuffed the other half of the scone into her mouth and savored the savory and slightly salty taste of the dough.

As she ate quickly due to her hunger, her throat began to feel parched. Just then, Kaiel’s words nearly made her bite her tongue.

“No matter how I think about it, a daughter seems better than a son.”

“Pfft……!”

Startled by the sudden remark, Delia spat out the bread she hadn’t swallowed yet.

As a result, the crumbly texture of the scone caused crumbs to fly and land on Kaiel.

He quickly turned his head to avoid the direct hit from the bread crumbs. The crumbs that hit his cheek fell onto his lap.

When Kaiel straightened his half-turned head, his face had returned to the familiar expression she knew.

“Dirty.”

“N, no…….”

Coughing due to the crumbs stuck in her throat, Delia waved her hand.

‘He says such things without even realizing what he said!’

Now she even started to hiccup.

“Are you okay?”

No, I’m not okay.

Unable to answer, she just waved her hand.

Kaiel, son, daughter, wife, marriage…… and everything else that could be associated with it. All these thoughts flooded her mind, heating up her face.

‘Calm down!’

Barely catching her breath, she looked up at him again.

But as soon as she met his cool gray-blue eyes, the words he had just said replayed in her mind like a village broadcast, and her face heated up again.

‘No matter how I think about it, a daughter seems better than a son?’

It might have been a trivial remark, but coming from Kaiel, it was different.

‘I thought having children had nothing to do with Kaiel!’

The expression she couldn’t understand earlier might have been because he was seriously considering his future sons and daughters.

But remembering how his gaze had been fixed on her face, she couldn’t be sure.

Whatever it was, it was a scene that could never happen in the original story.

Delia quickly came to a conclusion.

‘Daughter! Son? What does it matter! They’ll all be cute and lovable anyway.’

The shock that had been ringing loudly in her head subsided.

So, just when she thought she was okay, an unpleasant sense of unease surged up like a wave as soon as her mind cleared.

Future sons and daughters. It was good. Everything was good.

But hearing him talk about the distant future wasn’t entirely pleasant.

Delia fiddled with the crimson flower Kaiel had given her, lost in thought.

‘I want to see too, whether it’s Kaiel’s son or daughter, whoever it is.’

But Delia had to kill him, which meant she would be taking that future away with her own hands.

“Um…… Kaiel.”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think about falling in love, getting married, having children, and living happily?”

Delia didn’t look at Kaiel. She kept her gaze fixed on the flower petals, her eyes lowered.

Kaiel answered while quietly observing her.

“Why?”

“No reason, just wondering.”

Delia often became gloomy whenever she thought about her duty, which sometimes made her seem abruptly calm for no apparent reason.

It was the same now. Her face showed all her worries and concerns without any attempt to hide them.

She hadn’t expected an answer, but Kaiel readily opened his mouth to speak.

“I used to think it was pointless.”

Only then did Delia slightly lift her head.

“You used to think?”

Delia chewed over his words and asked again.

“Used to……?”

Her heart sank.

“Then…… what about now?”

If he said he dreamed of a happy family, her burden would double.

Please…….

But Kaiel, unaware of her desperation, responded in a calm voice.

“Well. It might be quite nice.”

He was looking into her eyes, but this time Delia was the one who avoided his gaze. She intentionally fixed her eyes on the window outside.

This made his brow furrow.

“Delia.”

“…….”

“Delia. Answer me.”

“Yes. I answered.”

Kaiel, perhaps not convinced by her response, sighed and leaned back against the chair.

Delia still slumped like a wet towel.

Kaiel, who had been watching her quietly, picked up the bread she had placed on his lap.

He unwrapped the paper and brought the bread directly to her mouth.

“Eat.”

With her mouth suddenly full of bread, Delia made a muffled sound behind the bread.

Even though he couldn’t understand what she was saying, Kaiel spoke in a low voice.

“It’s okay.”

She didn’t know what he meant by ‘okay.’

But if she said that his words were quite comforting, would it be a lie?

Kaiel, who had leaned forward to put the bread in her mouth, straightened up again.

Only after seeing Delia chewing the bread diligently did he take his eyes off her.

***

The two returned together to Tranade Castle. The servants were each doing their work, but in fact, they were all paying attention to the Grand Duke and the researcher.

“Dinner…….”

When a servant approached and asked, Kaiel turned to Delia and asked.

“What will you do?”

Delia patted her full stomach and shook her head.

“I’m fine. Kaiel kept feeding me, so I filled up on bread!”

“……So be it. I don’t need any either.”

All the way back, whenever Delia’s expression seemed to harden a bit, Kaiel kept putting bread into her mouth.

Like a happy piggy bank receiving coins, Delia accepted it skillfully.

“Then I’ll just stop by the lab and go to bed. Kaiel, you should go to bed early today too. You must be tired.”

Kaiel loosened his collar and looked at her.

“I’m not tired.”

“Well, then……. Shall we chat all night? Hmm?”

Delia lightly grasped and shook the hem of his clothes with her thumb and index finger.

“Or…… something else……?”

Kaiel’s gaze shifted to her two fingers. When he looked up again, his face had returned to the expression that Delia found hard to interpret.

‘What is he thinking again?’

Feeling bewildered, Delia let go of his clothes.

“Haha, well then, I’ll go! I’d love to stay up all night with you, Kaiel! But I have work to do…….”

Hiding her regret, Delia waved the crimson flower and ran to the lab.

There was no more time to delay.

Researching the antidote for lapocia took more time than expected. The longer it took, the more the plausibility score would drop, and the penalty after helping Lady Langte would be even more severe.

If she succeeded in confirming the antidote’s efficacy on herself today, all preparations would be complete.

On her way to the lab, Kaiel followed her. But his steps were so quiet and leisurely that she didn’t notice.

Delia flung open the lab door.

Come to think of it, she had been carrying the flower Kaiel gave her all day.

Worried that it might wither soon, Delia quickly found an empty glass bottle, filled it with water, and placed the flower in it.

‘Live long, flower. For a long, long time!’

Moving her body, Delia fetched the antidote she had prepared in advance from the corner and took out the lapocia she had bought during the day from her pocket.

Although she only needed one, she bought three packets just in case the drug’s effect wasn’t strong enough.

‘Since I have an immortal body, maybe the drug won’t work well?’

Without hesitation, Delia tore open all the packets and poured them into a shallow dish. Then she stared at the dish for a moment.