Silence fell. A suffocating silence.

“…It was a joke.”

I managed to speak. If I didn’t explain properly now, misunderstandings would pile up and the situation could become irreparably twisted.

“I’m not foolish enough to resent Your Grace over those few words. And how could I possibly start courting Marquis Carbodin? After what he did to Elodie and to you…!”

I exhaled breathlessly. My heart was pounding so hard that I could barely speak.

‘He’ll think I’m being presumptuous.’

When I was too afraid of the Duke’s reaction to look at him properly, a bitter voice pierced my ears.

“…I seem to have become… something else.”

What did he mean? Puzzled, I raised my head to find that the Duke’s gaze had already shifted slightly away from me.

“Just, for a moment… No, it’s nothing.”

The Duke shook his head. Since he himself seemed somewhat confused, I decided not to probe deeper. In fact, for Duke Baniche, it was already quite lenient of him not to reprimand or get angry at me for being disrespectful. But…

‘I should make one thing clear.’

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Your Grace, there’s one thing I want to make clear. My top priority is Elodie.”

I glanced at the Duke, hoping he would be reassured, but his hardened expression showed no signs of softening.

“So until Elodie is fully grown, I have no intention of leaving her or harming her in any way. I would rather avoid that at all costs.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you say such things to me…”

“Because I was anxious.”

Surprised by his unexpectedly sincere answer, I looked up at him.

“In truth, I feared you might want to leave but were staying with us only out of a sense of responsibility.”

Not Elodie, but “us.” I wasn’t foolish enough to miss that distinction. Duke Baniche, who had seemed capable of raising Elodie perfectly well on his own, was actually relying on me quite heavily.

“I understand.”

I sighed.

“But please don’t say such things in the future. I was startled, wondering if I had said something wrong.”

“I… overreacted.”

“I was wrong to joke about such a sensitive topic too, so let’s say we were both at fault.”

Fortunately, strawberry sorbet arrived as dessert just in time. After quickly finishing my dessert, I hurriedly rose from my seat.

“I’ll be going now. There are things I need to take care of while Elodie is away.”

Such as thanking Felicita. Thankfully, Duke Baniche let me go without further comment. When I hurried back to my room, Felicita was waiting for me with a triumphant expression.

“I was right, wasn’t I?”

I nodded. The thought briefly crossed my mind that it might have been better not to go, but that would have been disrespectful to the Duke in its own way.

“Making an impact on your first day, impressive!”

“See? You should have hired me from the start! I’m confident I can serve Miss Bertin better than anyone…”

“Indeed.”

I answered with a smile. Now that I thought about it, Felicita was probably the most honest person in this mansion.

“Actually, I did need someone to help me rather than Elodie. Felicita, would you be interested in working at the café?”

“…!”

In fact, using a mansion maid as a café employee wasn’t my idea but Eric’s. After the Marquis appeared twice in one day, Eric became very concerned about my safety and suggested I always be accompanied by a maid who could also work as an employee. I initially refused, but now that Felicita had appeared, it was time to reconsider that proposal.

“The work will be hard, but I’ll pay you the same salary you receive here. Also…”

Felicita promptly answered as if she didn’t need to hear any more conditions.

“I’d love to!”

Felicita enthusiastically began explaining how much she loved cafés.

“You won’t be able to make drinks or desserts yourself, is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay!”

Felicita nodded.

“Serving is much more fun than just cleaning every day. I actually enjoy parties too… but His Grace rarely holds them. I was disappointed about that, but this works out perfectly!”

One question came to mind: how had such an enthusiastic maid remained in a low position until now?

Well, Eric must have recognized Felicita’s diligence, which is why he nominated her in the first place. I looked at Felicita with a bright smile.

“I’ll be counting on you starting tomorrow, Felicita.”

***

Elodie seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed her outing with Madam Salamander. So much so that she begged me every day to go with her.

“It was really wonderful! Really. It would have been so much better if Aria had come too… Why can’t we go together?”

“I told you. I can’t go because of the café.”

I answered casually while brushing Elodie’s hair. While it would be nice to go on a picnic with Elodie, I had already closed the café several times due to unavoidable circumstances, so additional holidays were impossible. Even though my café was famous enough to be known throughout the capital.

“Hmph…”

Elodie pushed out her lips in a pout.

“What about your regular day off?”

“That’s still three weeks away.”

“I can wait!”

I looked at Elodie with slightly surprised eyes. At this age, a month is usually an unbearably long time for children to wait. Yet she was willing to wait three weeks for a picnic.

‘She must really want to go.’

If that was the case, taking a day off wasn’t a big deal. Of course, there was also the possibility that Elodie would forget about this promise before the three weeks were up.

“Alright.”

I smiled slightly.

“Where would you like to go?”

“The sea!”

Elodie’s eyes sparkled. Oh dear. It seemed Madam Salamander had told her many stories about the sea.

“The sea would be difficult… How about a lake? I’ve heard there’s a lake nearby.”

“That’s perfect!”

Elodie stopped mid-hair brushing, jumped up, and hugged me.

“But we need to get the Duke’s permission. Is that okay?”

“The Duke will allow it.”

Oh. From “uncle” to “Duke”—Madam Salamander’s lessons seemed to be having an effect.

“That remains to be seen.”

That evening, fortunately, Duke Baniche gave his permission on the condition that we be accompanied by three guards and two maids. Mrs. Devaka was also delighted at the idea of going on a picnic with the children, bringing our total number to ten.

‘That’s going to be a lot of luggage.’

But what wouldn’t I do to make Elodie happy? Seeing Elodie smile as if she had the whole world after receiving the Duke’s permission, I felt I could endure any amount of trouble.

***

Three weeks passed quickly as I ran the café and prepared for the picnic with the excited Elodie.

“Four carriages for one picnic… truly befitting a young lady.”

Felicita gazed out the window in admiration.

“We’re returning at night, right?”

“Yes. We agreed to just watch the stars and then come back.”

“That’s a shame. It would be nice to stay out longer at night…”

“I know. The night weather is warm enough now that we could pitch a tent and stay overnight, but His Grace was quite worried.”

“Ah, if His Grace feels that way, we must return!”

Just then, Eric came in.

“Miss Bertin, all preparations are complete.”

“Thank you. Where is Elodie?”

“She should be heading to the carriage with Mrs. Devaka.”

As Eric said, Elodie was already sitting in the carriage waiting for me. However, Mrs. Devaka and the children were in a separate carriage, which the three guards explained was for security purposes.

“It was His Grace’s direct order… I hope you can bear with the inconvenience.”

“I understand.”

I nodded. If I had a daughter like Elodie who had once gone missing, I would be overprotective too. And so, we set off for the lake in the late spring, almost early summer. Little did we know what would happen there!