Chapter 3

Mar 27, 2021

“You’re gentle, too.”

The vassals, who laughed, soon entered the meeting. In the meantime, I sat still on the Duke’s lap. And in the middle of the story, they heard in the temple or the imperial court, I answered. 

After a while, the meeting ended. The vassals left one by one, and the grandfather, who had remained, approached me. 

“Thank you for telling me this story.”
‘Thank you for saying that. It’s all good for me.’

I had a lot of resentment about the church. When the child of real destiny appeared, they threw me as a victim for the spirits. Besides, you can’t dig up Oriharkon from an old, monstrous plateau

“Here’s a present,” the grandpa offered me a candy. I slipped my hand out the Duke of Dubbled’s arms and pulled out the candy. 

The grandfather left the conference room with a big smile, saying, “As expected, this child is very cute.” 
There’s only two persons left in the conference room, me and the Duke. He glanced at me, and took away the candies.

Shocked, I hardened and looked at the Duke with empty hands and candy several times. And soon I was awfully sad. 

‘Candy. My candy. You son of a bitch, you’re taking a kid’s candy!’

The Duke of Dubbled gruesomely peeled the candy wrapping at once. And…

“Mouth”

‘For me?’

‘As expected, he’s not that bad.’

As soon as I thought so, the Duke pressed my cheek with both hands. Because of the pressure, my mouth opens like a carp, so he put candy in my mouth.

‘Bad guy.’

Still, the candy was delicious. He pressed my cheek, which was swollen by candy.

“When you get back to the capital, if someone gives you candy, tell them who your family is.”

“No.”

“Why?”

‘Why should I tell people in the capital? It’s the Imperial Palace, the Temple, and the other Duke is on the next door, and they’re all the people who have troubled me.’

However, I couldn’t tell you the reason every single time, so I told him in a condensed manner.

“Becwase I’m on thye dyuke side. (Because I’m on the Duke’s side.)”

So far, the Dubbled was the only family that had not left me with a sad heart. The memory of the last few days seemed to bear the torment of going back to the capital four times. The candy was so delicious. Your blanket was warm. Lea’s lullaby was good to listen to.

The Duke of Dubbled wasn’t as evil as I’ve heard. Thinking so, I saw the Duke. Wasn’t that a smile? 

Then, Lea came to pick me up. “Little miss, Master,” said Lea, who was glad to see me, lowered her head.

The Duke raised me up on the table. 

“Don’t let them wander noisily.”

‘Yes. Such a cold-blooded man would never have laughed.‘

Back in the room, I stood in front of the sofa table and fell in love with the block game.

Okay, one more up and it’s on the 12th floor. One more. One more!’

The maids, who watched me play well alone, were chatting before I knew it. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

When Lea nodded, the maids covered their open mouths with their hands. 

“Oh, my God.”

“No way.

“Did the sun rise from the west? The master is worried about the baby.”

Who cares about me? I was surprised and twisted my hand as if I had heard the bolt out of the blue. The wind poured down the blocks. “Heuk!” As I groaned, Lea ran to me quickly.

“It’s all right, little miss. You can put it back up. Now,” said Lea, who gathered the fallen blocks and lifted them up slowly.

“Please tell me more, Lea.”

“That’s right. How did the master care?”

Yes. Yes. Tell me. Lea opened her mouth, building blocks for me.

“It’s dangerous at night, so take good care of the baby.”

‘How do you break down and combine ‘Don’t let them wander around noisily’ to make that happen? I was amazed and impressed by her positive thinking.’ 

“Then won’t he adopt the baby?”

“I hope so, and she’ll be happy to have a brother.” 

Ah, three Masters from Dubbled. They were famous since I was young. They all showed off their good looks, martial arts skills, intellect, and cool personality. I’ve never seen them before, but I’ve heard enough of their names. There was a name called more than the three Masters of Dubbled…

‘Mina’s brothers.’ 

They were as cold and indifferent to others as the Duke, but they were as sweet as honeycomb to Mina. 

It was a famous story that when Mina was kidnapped by another country, they rushed and crush that country. Especially the eldest son had a love triangle with the Crown Prince and Mina.

“But would it be a good thing for the baby to be adopted?”

“What?”

“You know. The master is a man who has even stabbed his late predecessor, and it’s emotionally good for her to be adopted by another Duke–“

“Linda!” cried Lea sharply.

Lea, who glared at the maid, sent the other employees away with a nod. Then she held my hand gently and said,

“He’s not such a bad man.”

“…….”

“It’s a big misunderstanding that you don’t have anyone around because of complicated circumstances!”

“…..”

“The master is not cold-blooded without humanity, as the people say. He loved and cared for his wife. If he hadn’t gone back during the birth, he would probably have a good mother for the baby”

Lea’s eyes darkened with grief. The Duchess was pregnant with her fourth child? I didn’t hear that before in my past lives.

I felt sorry for the Duke.

‘Then I understand the how the Duke is cold like frost in the middle of winter. How can you live properly after losing two people you love at the same time?’

“I hope you are not afraid of him.”

“Yes.”

Lea, who held me carefully, stroked my back with a gentle touch. 

“You’re sweet, too.”

The whispering voice in my ear was sweet, and the wind coming over the window was cool. Thanks to that, I closed my eyes slowly, leaning my face against Lea’s shoulder.

It wasn’t until the middle of the night that I put my head in the pillow and struggled.

‘I’m hungry!’

I rolled my head a lot to remember the memories before this, turns out I didn’t eat until dinner. 

Lea and the maids seemed to have put me to sleep without waking me up. 

I thought I’d wait till morning, but I couldn’t bear my hunger.

‘All I had in the afternoon was candy and a glass of juice.’

The only things that occupied my mind right now was hunger.

In the days of Vallua, I remember being trapped in a lock room every few days and then ran out of hunger. In the days of being a beggar, I remember the pain of defeat when starving and dying.

‘I have to find food and eat it.’

In the end, I left my body to instinct, and I got out of bed with care. I struggled and pushed through the huge door and went out into the middle of the hallway. I endured the fear of darkness and came to the kitchen, but the door was locked.

‘Oh, my God.’

I roamed the castle again. It went on for a long time before I could find a bread in the servants’ waiting quarters. It was cut in half and crumbly as someone left them behind, but I was satisfied with finding something to eat. Holding the bread in my arms, I ran out to the hall excitedly.

‘Return to the early room and eat-‘

‘Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!‘
“Heuk!” 
I hurriedly hid the bread behind my back. The Duke of Dubbled was looking down at me with cold eyes. At night, I was so scared that my hands and feet were shaking. At that moment, I remembered the something Mina said in my past life.

‘So, Jean Valjean is guilty of stealing bread, uh, what was it– Jean Valjean. Yeah, I think it was that name. What did Jean Valjean say about stealing bread? You’ve been executed!’

As Mina’s bright voice came to mind, all colors in my face are all gone.

“What were you doing in here?” 

“Did the Empress Dowager sent you to spy on my family?”

The dry saliva was swallowed up by itself. 

The Duke of Dubbled, was not someone I could deal with.

Unable to answer due to fear, the Duke of Dubbled murmured low. “Child of Fate.”

“Yes…!” 

“I hate people who lie. The naive ones, especially those who pretended to be on my side”

“Their mouth has all been ripped off.”

I shuddered at the back. The Duke bent slightly toward me. 

“What should I do with a little mouse?”

I fell flat in a hurry. curled up in a circle and joined my hands…

“Wo,wo,wro,…wong! (Wro, wro, wro..wrong!)”

“What?” 

“I Styole it…” (I stole it……)”

“Is it money? Is it a holy thing?” 

“………” 

“Military secret?” 

“……………” 

The Duke’s eyes, shining with a blue hue in the dark, was really scary, so I let the words out with a whimper.

“Byead… (Bread…)”

 

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