She nodded and answered his question. Facing such a Giselle, Lucas somehow felt like an unfilial son.

But even so, this time he didn’t want to bend his will, even if it meant being unfilial.

“I…… want just the two of us to go. You and me, alone.”

“……What?”

“We never went on a honeymoon.”

He turned his head to avoid her gaze out of embarrassment and rubbed his innocent brow.

* * *

“We’ll spread a mat, eat packed lunches, and go fishing. We’ll cook the fish we catch ourselves. And…… hmm, what else can we do at a lake?”

Giselle held a pen between her lips with a contemplative expression.

Stella furrowed her brow in thought at Giselle’s question, then soon sighed.

“I’m not sure. I don’t have any particular ideas either. How about taking a book you like? Sitting by the lake and reading doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Oh! Should I? Then a book……”

“Goodness, who reads books on a vacation?”

The nanny who was packing the travel bag interrupted as if she couldn’t stand listening to Giselle and Stella’s conversation any longer. Then, after exchanging glances with the head maid, she returned from behind with something.

“If you’re going to the lake, you should at least go swimming, my lady. This is a gift that the head maid and I prepared together.”

“Huh? Swimming? And what gift…… Oh my!”

Giselle received the gift that the nanny handed her and opened it, only to be startled.

In her surprise, the gift that the nanny and head maid had prepared fell onto the travel itinerary she had been writing until just now.

“What is it that made you so surprised……”

Stella looked at Giselle’s reaction with a puzzled expression and checked the gift, then immediately closed her mouth. The corner of her firmly closed lips twitched as she tried to hold back her laughter.

“Well, it’s certainly surprising…… Pfft! If I’m right, this is a swimsuit, isn’t it, head maid?”

Stella asked the head maid while struggling to hold back her laughter. The head maid bowed her head while trying to compose her flushed expression.

“Yes, grand madam. I should add that it was Mrs. Beryl who first suggested giving a swimsuit as a gift.”

“My goodness! You also agreed, head maid!”

The nanny addressed the head maid as if asking whether she was trying to back out now. Then the head maid pointed with her eyes at the swimsuit in Stella’s hand and spoke again.

“I didn’t say I would buy a swimsuit with such a design, Mrs. Beryl.”

“Well, I didn’t intend to buy something like this from the beginning either. But I heard that young ladies and young wives these days often look for swimsuits like this……”

The nanny blushed as if even she found it a bit embarrassing and trailed off.

It was an understandable reaction.

The swimsuit that the nanny and head maid had prepared together was truly a design that none of them had ever imagined.

“This is ridiculous. This is supposed to be a swimsuit? Not underwear? Nanny, were you perhaps deceived when you bought it? Tell me which store it was. I’ll go there and demand an explanation for deceiving you.”

Giselle listened to the nanny’s explanation and then spoke with a serious expression.

She absolutely detested being deceived about anything. Her expression was even resolute, as if she would never be deceived by anyone again.

But her resolute determination crumbled at Stella’s words.

“It’s probably a swimsuit. The last time I went out to look at painting supplies, I briefly heard that swimsuits like this are becoming fashionable.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Stella nodded at Giselle’s question.

Oh, goodness.

Only after hearing her mother-in-law’s words could Giselle accept that this underwear-like thing was actually a swimsuit.

Of course, that didn’t mean she could wear it herself.

“I can’t wear it. I appreciate that you two prepared a gift with me in mind…… Yes, thank you. I’ll just leave it at thank you.”

Giselle picked up the swimsuit with her thumb and index finger as if even touching it was difficult, and shuddered.

A swimsuit that barely covered a woman’s two intimate areas. No, it was such a small piece of fabric that she doubted whether it would actually cover anything.

‘To think of swimming in something like this. How could anyone do that without being insane?’

Just as she was hurriedly trying to put away the swimsuit, there was a knock at the door.

The head maid quickly opened the door while trying to hold back her laughter, then bowed her head. It was Lucas.

“Lucas, come in.”

“I heard laughter all the way to my study. I came because I was curious what was happening.”

He smiled as he spoke to his mother, then approached and sat beside Giselle. The head maid and nanny quickly excused themselves to prepare refreshments.

“But what were you laughing about…… Hmm? What’s this?”

“Ah! That, give it here!”

Lucas’s gaze fell on the swimsuit that Giselle hadn’t managed to put away. But before she could reach out her hand, he snatched it up more quickly and raised one corner of his mouth.

“Aha……”

While she couldn’t even tell whether it was underwear or a swimsuit, he seemed to have recognized what it was at a glance.

Giselle felt somehow wronged and reached out her hand to him again, exclaiming as if in self-defense.

“Give it here, Lucas! I’m not taking that with me!”

“Why not? Since we’re going to the lake anyway, wouldn’t it be nice to swim together?”

“No! Swimming? I’ve never even swum before.”

Giselle jumped up and shook her head at his suggestion to ‘swim together.’ But Lucas looked at the swimsuit in his hand, chuckled, and then spoke with a mischievous expression.

“It’s alright. You can learn. I’m actually quite good at teaching.”

“No. It won’t be easy. I’m generally not good at physical activities……”

“I find that hard to agree with. You might have been clumsy at first, but you did well with everything I taught you, didn’t you? Like that time in the study……”

“Wh-what are you trying to say! In front of your mother!”

Giselle realized what Lucas was about to say and jumped in alarm, covering his mouth with both hands.

The embarrassing memory of that day flashed through her mind—the day that had shocked her when she discovered that a study wasn’t just a place for reading books.

“……Pfft. I think I should be going now.”

Stella burst out laughing at the sight of her son and daughter-in-law, then stood up.

“Oh, no! Mother! Don’t misunderstand. What he just said was… well, that is……”

Giselle rolled her eyes around trying to find words to explain, then buried her bright red face in her hands.

Stella looked at Giselle, smiled quietly, and then addressed her son in a reproachful tone.

“Don’t tease your wife too much.”

“Haha, yes, I won’t.”

Lucas nodded with a smile at his mother’s words. Seeing this, Stella’s face showed relief.

It was fortunate to see her son and daughter-in-law regaining their smiles after overcoming the shock of losing their child. Of course, that sorrow wouldn’t easily fade away.

But she believed they could overcome it together since they were both making an effort.

Just like now.

She smiled at them once more and left the room.

* * *

“You know you’re really mischievous, right? How did you manage to hold back your playfulness all this time?”

“Indeed, I wonder how I managed to hold back myself.”

Lucas placed a light kiss on Giselle’s lips as she grumbled, then trapped her in his arms.

He could see their clothes entangled on the floor. Traces of their lovemaking, which hadn’t even made it to the bed, remained throughout the room. For example, the sofa with dried white fl*id on it.

“……I’m going to replace this sofa. Don’t you dare complain about waste.”

“Why?”

He asked while holding back his laughter, even though he could guess her answer. Giselle looked up at Lucas, then hit his chest with her face turning bright red as if about to burst.

“Haha! Ah, alright. I won’t ask.”

Lucas held her in his arms and turned his body. This trapped Giselle between him and the back of the sofa.

She frowned as if the feeling of the leather sofa against her bare skin was embarrassing and awkward, then tried to get up, squirming.

“Stay lying down a bit longer.”

“But it’s almost dinner time, what if someone comes in?”

“No one will come in. When it’s just you and me. You know that, right?”

At his words, accompanied by a smiling gaze, Giselle’s face flushed red again.

It was because she remembered the embarrassing scenes witnessed by several employees, including Stella.

“Oh, really…… I wonder who you take after to be so mischievous.”

Giselle muttered while pushing his chest again, then suddenly fell silent. After maintaining silence for a moment, she spoke.

“Come to think of it, that child seemed to take exactly after you.”

“……”