Certainly, under normal circumstances, I would have accepted such a proposal with open arms. But right now, I wasn’t running this café with my own money.

‘In reality, Duke Baniche set it up for me. Joining hands with another high-ranking noble family makes no sense.’

As regrettable as it was, this was an offer I had to decline. I tried to hand the paper back to him, but Marquis Cavodin shook his head and refused to take it.

“Think about it for one more week.”

“…It won’t change anything.”

“That remains to be seen.”

The Marquis confidently pointed to his carriage.

“Shall I take you to the Duke’s mansion?”

“Someone from the mansion is coming for me. I’ll be going now.”

I hurried toward where the Duke’s carriage was waiting. Was it my imagination? I could feel the Marquis’s intense gaze fixed on my back until the very moment I boarded the carriage. My complicated thoughts during the entire carriage ride were instantly forgotten the moment I entered the mansion.

“Waaah, waaaaaah!”

I heard Elodie’s crying. My heart sank.

“Elodie!”

I rushed toward the source of the crying. Elodie, her face covered in tears and mucus, looked at me with reddened eyes.

Beside her, Sonya was flustering about with several handkerchiefs, but my eyes were fixed only on Elodie. My most precious child in the world.

“Waaaaaah, Aria!”

“Shh.”

I sat down on the floor and hugged Elodie, trying to comfort her.

“What made our Elodie cry like this?”

But instead of answering, Elodie just continued to sob.

“Huu, huuuuuuh…”

I didn’t need to ask Sonya about the situation. The flustered maid immediately began explaining.

“The young lady was taking a nap with the other children, but she seemed to have had a nightmare. Since waking up, she’s been like this. Neither Mrs. Salamander nor Mrs. Devaka could calm her down…”

I could roughly guess the situation.

“Elodie, did you have a nightmare?”

“It wasn’t a nightmare!”

Elodie shook her head vigorously.

“Really, a black monster… came to catch me.”

“I see.”

I looked into Elodie’s eyes. Now I noticed that the child’s red eyes were filled with terror.

“Where did the monster come from?”

“Fr-from the window.”

“From the window? Which window?”

“Scared…”

Seeing how she buried her face in my chest and wrapped her small arms around my body, she clearly didn’t want to go near the window that was the source of her fear.

“It’s okay.”

I calmly comforted Elodie. Her hair was completely disheveled, making it easy to imagine how much she had thrashed about.

“Any monster that dares to appear, I’ll drive it all away.”

“Really?”

Elodie looked up at me, still whimpering.

“Will you really chase it away?”

“Of course. And while I’ll just chase it away, the Duke would probably hunt it down and defeat it completely.”

“……”

Elodie pressed her lips together and fell into thought. She seemed to be weighing how truthful my words were.

“…I’ll show you. But we have to be quiet. The monster might come to catch us.”

“I promise.”

Shortly after, the window Elodie showed me was an ordinary one, not far from the children’s playroom. I tilted my head in confusion.

“Elodie, there’s nothing here.”

Naturally, I spoke in a small voice as Elodie had requested.

“It was outside earlier!”

Elodie shouted in a startled voice. She seemed to have forgotten the condition she herself had set.

“And now?”

“Oh, it’s gone.”

“See?”

I looked at Elodie carefully. Fortunately, she now looked confused rather than terrified.

“Monsters may look scary, but they’re actually very cowardly and run away easily.”

“…It was so big and black that I thought it would swallow me whole.”

“Come now.”

I smiled slightly.

“Did it open its mouth? To eat you?”

“…No.”

Thankfully, Elodie stopped crying and wiped her face with her sleeve.

“You’ll hurt your face doing that. Let me wipe it for you.”

As I was carefully wiping Elodie’s tear and mucus-covered face with a handkerchief…

“Elodie!”

Looking up, I saw Duke Baniche running toward us in a fluster. Elodie’s face turned red up to her ears, and she tried to hide her face behind me by stretching her body.

‘She must be embarrassed.’

I adjusted my hold on Elodie and slightly nodded toward the Duke.

“Your Grace.”

But the Duke seemed to have eyes only for Elodie. His gaze was fixed solely on his daughter.

“Elodie.”

The Duke immediately bent down to examine Elodie.

“Are you alright? Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“……”

“She’s fine, Your Grace. While Elodie was napping, a monster appeared that looks scary but doesn’t actually harm people.”

“…A monster, you say.”

The Duke’s eyes narrowed.

“Not a person, I hope?”

“Mrs. Salamander and Elodie’s friends were there too. If they had seen a suspicious person, they would have reported it.”

I mouthed the word ‘nightmare’ to the Duke so that Elodie wouldn’t notice. The Duke’s face, which had been stiff with worry, softened.

“That’s a relief.”

“…I didn’t cry.”

Elodie mumbled in a small voice, but considering she had just been blowing her nose into my handkerchief moments ago, her words lacked credibility. The Duke smiled faintly at Elodie.

“Of course not. You’re my daughter, after all.”

“……”

Silence fell. The Duke, perhaps thinking he had made a mistake, froze without properly reaching out to Elodie, while Elodie nervously rolled her eyes. I quickly spoke up.

“Elodie, are you thirsty?”

“…Yes.”

“How about some cool lemonade?”

“I’d like that.”

“Your Grace, Elodie would like some lemonade. It’s a bit early, but shall we start dinner?”

“Dinner time has long passed, but I’ll immediately have lemonade prepared.”

I gasped and checked my pocket watch which I always carry.

‘It didn’t seem that late! I was held up by Marquis Cavodin for too long.’

But as soon as I checked the watch, I felt deflated. Contrary to the Duke’s words, it was exactly dinner time.

“…Your Grace!”

The Duke let out a small laugh.

“I didn’t know you could make such a face.”

Was Duke Baniche someone who could play such pranks?

“Well, being even a little late is still being late.”

I shrugged.

“Anyway, I would appreciate it if you could prepare lemonade for Elodie. Oh, and for me too. I’m quite thirsty.”

That evening’s meal proceeded in a much more relaxed atmosphere than usual. Elodie, perhaps because she had cried so much and then stopped, seemed to be in a better mood, and a common topic had emerged between the Duke and me.

“If there’s any problem with Elodie, please send someone to let me know. I’ll come as quickly as possible.”

“Miss Bertin, you’re busy too. We can’t do that.”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t mean I’d abandon the shop and rush over immediately. Just that I would have hurried. Even today…”

I hesitated for a moment. Should I tell Duke Baniche about Marquis Cavodin now?

Glancing at Elodie, I saw she was nodding off while barely touching her dessert, which put me at ease. With Elodie dozing, it seemed appropriate to discuss something a bit more serious.

“…Marquis Cavodin came to see me.”

“The Marquis?”

The Duke’s eyes narrowed.

“For what reason?”

“He said he wants to start a joint business with me.”

“…Hmm.”

The Duke groaned softly.

“He’s moving faster than I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

I asked sharply.

“I knew he would approach Miss Bertin eventually. See, didn’t he try to attach his younger sister to Elodie as well?”

“…Ah.”

I bit my lip. Despite having just eaten a sweet vanilla pudding that melted in my mouth, a bitter taste lingered.

“But it certainly could be a good opportunity for Miss Bertin.”

“…Yes.”

I nodded.

“But I have no intention whatsoever of joining hands with him. It could pose a threat to Elodie.”

“Well.”

The Duke replied in a monotone voice.

“I think this could be a good opportunity for Miss Bertin.”

“An opportunity?”

“Yes.”