The Fourth Plan. To increase the intimacy between the father and the son. (6)
“Do you have a brother?”
“Huh. Three of them, actually. You must have seen them too…”
I thought of my older brothers and parents who had rushed to the castle in order to oppose my marriage. There hadn’t even been a proper wedding, so it was unlikely that Gellerhard could remember all the faces of my brothers who had attended.
“Well, I’ll see them again someday anyway. I don’t have any older sisters and I’m the youngest to boot.”
“Right.”
My father as well as three older brothers were all vassals for Count Petrika. My first brother was taking care of the estate on behalf of my father while my second brother became a knight of Count Petrika’s family and lastly, my third brother served as an administrator along with my father in the county. The fact that all of them worked there was one of the reasons why I couldn’t get angry or hostile towards Count Petrika. Viscount Bentta had been an old vassal of Count Petrika and all of my family members were still working hard as Count Petrika’s hand. In the original work, the two families pretended to be with each other due to Amanda’s own greed.
It would be nice for Count Petrika to stop being unnecessarily suspicious of me and instead, start getting along well for Carl’s sake.
“How is it growing up with your siblings?”
After clearing away the onion soup, Carl reached out and shook his bell. He jiggled and tugged onto it before putting it down and smiled at me. Carl’s lips were all smeared with onion soup as well as his own saliva. As I wiped it off, I scanned the wound on his forehead, but the red swelling didn’t seem to fade away easily. As I swallowed an upset heart, I eventually answered the Duke’s question.
“Good. Well, I was good, my older brothers were a bit mean and mischievous, but it was still fun to play with them. And on top of that, they worried about me a lot too…”
Amanda’s father, Viscount Bentta, was very fond of his daughter and his three sons absolutely adored their little sister. There was a fair age gap and the mature first brother had always been kind to me, but the second and third brothers were very mischievous as well as naughty just like the enemies of my previous life had been reincarnated as my older brothers as well.
Nevertheless, when I said that I would become the Duke’s second wife and the fact that I would eventually take Merilyn’s place at the suggestion of Count Petrika, all of my older brothers objected and tried to persuade me. From their point of view, it was much better for the family to not abide by the will of their lord, Count Petrika. Even though it was more helpful for the family that Amanda, an old virgin by world standards, would ultimately become a Duchess. Even if she were to become the second wife of a man with an heir already—even if I felt that I was, too.
However, I couldn’t just say that they were very good brothers in front of Gellerhard since they were those who had even opposed marrying me off in the first place.
“If we were to conceive a child, Carl would definitely have a good brother too—”
Before she could even finish her sentence, a maid had come in and set out the appetizer that was topped with thinly sliced salmon. For this time as well, the maid tasted it on the spot before verifying the demonstration. When Gellerhard took the plate first, Carl instantly reached out his hand while watching keenly at it.
“Oh my, you can’t just eat what your dad does.”
“Ewing—”
“You still can’t have it, even if you do this.”
This time, a separate tray of soft bread and soup arrived for Carl to eat. When I gestured to the maid, she first served Carl some bread and when I tore it into small pieces and gave him a bite, Carl instantly opened his lips as he ate it. Then, I put the bread in Carl’s hand and I eventually received my own plate as well.
Let’s see, what could Carl really eat?
“Does Mandy always prepare meals for Carl?”
“Since he is still very young.”
The maid finally left Gellerhard and I behind with a drink. Usually, one would stand by to attend at all times and refill the Master’s cup whenever it got empty. However, when dining with Gellerhard, the maid came over only when she was called and had been outside during the entire meal. She only behaved like so when I ate with Gellerhard, so I could only guess that there must have been a reason, which I hadn’t known yet.
Lunch, as always, was full and satisfying. When we put some strawberry jam into our black tea and began to drink that dark dessert which eventually came out. Gellerhard followed after me, but immediately put the glass down with a frown.
“Carl, please jingle the bell.”
As I raised my hand and pretended to shake it, Carl, who was really fond of shaking the bells, moved along excitedly. He rang the bell and the maid soon came in before I ordered a new set of tea for the Duke. The tea that came up afterwards seemed very deficient in return.
After the maid left once again, I began to ask the Duke about that long-standing question.
“And so, why don’t you have a servant or a maid to attend you during the meal?”
“Ah—”
Gellerhard, who was just lazily sipping tea with his back leaning against the backrest, seemed to have realized something from my words.
“I guess they don’t have to do it like that anymore.”
“What? Why is that?”
Why would they no longer have to do that now? What? I was curious. As he took another sip, Gellerhard eventually set the cup down. Those long eyelashes fluttered over his purple eyes as he gazed at the cup of tea. Carl, who was currently eating some ice cream, suddenly showed a little bit of interest in my tea, so I scooped a little bit out with a spoon and blew on it.
Nevertheless, Carl also frowned as he spat it out. Why? How delicious this truly was…
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