Chapter 80

* *

While the duke's castle was bustling with wedding preparations.

'Hmm.'

I looked at the documents in front of me with a serious expression. They were the sales reports for the pads that had been sold so far.

'The sales rate is indeed increasing day by day, but...'

It would take quite some time for them to become a common household item.

Especially, the perception that menstruation should be hidden and concealed was still prevalent.

'Changing the social atmosphere is not an easy task.'

Moreover, currently, more were being donated to orphanages, poorhouses, and academies than sold.

Without the endless capital from Clyder and Schuetz, the business might have had to be shut down.

'I'm glad I made them usable for babies and the elderly too.'

I tapped the documents with my quill pen and fell into deep thought.

'The current sales rate is quite high...'

But it still wasn't satisfactory.

A larger and more stable source of funding was needed.

A product that could earn a lot of money without failing.

In fact, there was one thing that met that criterion.

'Mana stones.'

There was no item in the market with a more certain demand than mana stones.

But that was only possible if one had a mana stone mine.

'It's easy to say, but where would you suddenly find a mana stone mine?'

I sighed heavily and buried my face in the documents.

With only a few days left until the wedding.

The adults seemed to have a lot to prepare and were busy every day.

I wanted to help, but every time, Ivana would smile and say, "I don't want to die in front of the duke."

'So I tried to focus on work, but...'

My heart felt uneasy.

Maybe it was because of the children's wedding.

'Or maybe it's because I haven't seen Damian lately.'

Recently, Damian had been diligently taking lessons from Heron.

Starting from the basics of the empire's history, to commerce, conversation, and other aristocratic subjects.

We used to have meals together as a trio, but even that was taken away by Heron.

In the end, the only time I could talk to Damian was when he was sleeping.

His sword training started early in the morning and was immediately followed by Heron's lessons, which seemed quite exhausting. As soon as he returned to his room, Damian would start nodding off.

"Damian, if you're sleepy, just go to sleep. There's no need to force yourself to stay awake."

"No, no. I'm not sleepy at all... Huaa..."

Feeling sorry for him as he tried to stay awake with his sleepy eyes, I made an excuse, "I just want to sleep with you," and only then did Damian fall asleep soundly.

I wanted to touch his soft cheeks, but I couldn't wake him up, so I had to put my hand down with tears in my eyes.

'From Heron's perspective, he must want Damian to be a proper heir...'

But he's only 11 years old, isn't it too much?

Successor lessons are, of course, important. Important, but a child should be allowed to run around outside freely.

Fine.

I sprang up from my seat.

I opened the window and looked down. It seemed safe to jump from the first floor.

"Yah!"

With a shout, I landed gracefully on the snowfield and ran off.

* * *

Heron, as always, looked at the boy in front of him with a blank expression.

The blue eyes, just like his father's, were still fixed on the book.

The lesson, which was supposed to cover only the basics, had gradually moved on to more advanced topics.

Because Damian's level far exceeded his expectations.

The boy's outstanding concentration and comprehension made it impossible for the teacher not to be tense.

However, there was one time when Damian's concentration would inevitably falter.

"......This is a new product created through Lady Eli's idea."

It was when Eli's name was mentioned.

The boy, who had shown unwavering concentration, suddenly lifted his head and searched for the source of the name.

To be precise, it seemed he was looking for who had mentioned Eli's name.

"......Ah."

"......"

"I see. It's Eli, as expected."

When he thought the person was trustworthy, he would suddenly soften his sharp gaze and smile gently.

This made Heron naturally recall his conversation with the duke.

When Heron asked if Damian was truly the son of the late Duke Clyder, Duke Schuetz said this:

"That child is the perfect Clyder. You will soon see for yourself."

The duke's words clearly referred to this.

True to the Clyder family's emblem, a blue wolf looking up at the sky, all the heads of the family were, without exception, terrible romantics.

They could pretend to die in the streets, disregarding their noble status, just because of their wives' words.

Their love was so blind.

Some nobles sneered at such Clyders, calling them unseemly.

Of course, no one dared to criticize them after learning how the families that spoke ill of them paid the price.

But the truly frightening thing was that they thoroughly hid their true nature in front of their wives.

'This is what the duke meant.'

So that's why he poured the tea water on Salome without hesitation.

It made sense.

Damian was the perfect Clyder.

'Did Lady Eli see that?'

Heron, who had heard how Duke Schuetz found Damian and why Eli brought him, couldn't help but feel amazed.

'How did Lady Eli recognize the young master?'

It could have been a coincidence. Eli was still a child.

But since Eli arrived, everything had been going smoothly.

They uncovered the covert operations of Corvino, a vassal of Schuetz, and also discovered that Salome, a Clyder loyalist, was eyeing Damian's position.

That wasn't all. His commercial acumen was also exceptional.

Eli said it was all thanks to Jerit, but the ideas about employee welfare would never have been thought of without her sharp mind.

'But...'

Whether this would lead to steady profits was still unknown.

'This is just the beginning.'

Heron came to a cold conclusion, but he didn't notice that the corners of his mouth were already curving into a gentle smile.

Knock knock. Suddenly, a knock was heard. A servant entered and looked for Heron.

"Excuse me for a moment, young master."

Damian nodded, and Heron left the room.

As the door closed and the surroundings became quiet, Damian lowered his gaze to the book to review Heron's lesson.

How long had it been? His hand, which had been moving the pen diligently, suddenly felt unusually warm.

A beam of light was caressing Damian's hand. The boy's gaze followed the light.

The sunlight streaming through the window tickled the boy's eyelids.

'Eli's color.'

Damian thought absentmindedly.

A small, white hand floated in the air, gently brushing against the sunlight.

'What is Eli doing right now?'

Even though they were in the same place, he didn't want to be apart from her for a moment.

Damian couldn't understand why he was having such thoughts.

He just wanted to be by Eli's side. That's why he started studying.

To be with Eli, not to be separated, together, forever...

That's when it happened.

Tap tap. The sound of something tapping made Damian shiver.

In the first-floor study room, a blonde head peeked out from beyond the window.

"...Eli?"

The boy, eyes wide, approached the window.

Because of the different elevations, the window was a bit higher, putting Damian in a position to look down at Eli.

"Why are you outside the window?"

Damian asked, but Eli only tilted her head. The window was closed, so she couldn't hear him.

Tap tap. Eli tapped the window again and moved her lips widely.

Open the window.

Realizing this, Damian quickly opened the window.

A cold breeze brushed against Damian's cheek, and the cold winter scent spread.

"Are you doing well in your lessons?"

Eli looked up at Damian and smiled broadly. Damian blinked in a daze.

"...Did you read my mind?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

A question mark appeared on Eli's face.

Damian, realizing what he had said, blushed and shook his head hastily.

"No, no. Nothing."

"Tsk. Studying is tough, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh."

Damian shook his head. If he could be with Eli, this was nothing.

"But Eli, why did you come through the window? It's cold out here..."

"We can't be caught!"

Eli, answering playfully, reached out her hand.

"Come on, hurry. We don't have much time."

"Time?"

"Lord Heron will be back soon. The servant must have been caught talking nonsense."

The servant, who had been asked by Eli, was not very articulate.

He had to be satisfied with just buying them some time.

"So let's get out of here before he comes back."

Eli extended her hand.

It meant to grab her hand and climb over the window frame to come down.

"Where are we going?"

Eli smiled at Damian's slightly anxious voice.

"Let's go play!"