The table where Emily, Hugo, and Jacqueline sat together was enveloped in silence.
Emily spoke little. Hugo kept his mouth firmly shut, too occupied with reading her mood to risk a word. Jacqueline had been sitting at the family table until Jane sent her away.
It was Kayrin who broke the quiet, appearing at the table without warning.
“Excuse me, Emily.”
“Oh, young master. Why are you here alone? Is there something I can help you with?”
“I came because I had a question.”
Kayrin climbed into the empty chair with some effort, legs swinging once he settled in.
“What would you like to know?”
“How are babies made?”
‘Pfft!’
Hugo, who had just taken a large sip of lemonade, sprayed it across the table. Jacqueline, seated directly across from him, received the full force of the unexpected fountain.
Six pairs of eyes dropped to a low, subdued level. Hugo apologized at once.
“S—so sorry…”
Emily’s gaze shifted back to Kayrin.
“Babies, you say?”
“Yes. And also how you make one quickly.”
The waters were growing dangerously shallow.
Emily weighed carefully what might be appropriate to offer a child of ten.
“If a husband and wife hold hands tightly while they sleep, a baby will come.”
“Isn’t that the classic lie adults tell children?”
“You’re correct.”
Emily fell quiet.
Kayrin’s formal education on the subject was still some years away. After a moment of deliberation, Emily sidestepped with a question of her own.
“How much do you already know, young master? My answer will depend on that.”
“Hmm. I’ve heard that if you kiss, hold hands, and hug often enough, a baby comes.”
“That’s accurate. Kiss often, hold hands often, hug often—and a baby tends to arrive fairly quickly.”
“My brother kisses his wife every single day.”
‘Ahem. Ahem.’
Hugo, oblivious to the room, launched into a series of pointed, not-quite-suppressed coughs. Jacqueline looked as though she had just accidentally witnessed her sibling’s courtship in a public street and screwed her face up accordingly.
Kayrin ignored them both and kept his attention fixed on Emily.
“And my brother hugs her a lot too. And he’s always holding her hand. I saw them during the school break. Especially when they think no one is watching.”
Emily and Hugo—the two people who, respectively, attended the duchess most closely and attended the duke most closely—happened to know considerably more than this about the situation. Kayrin’s innocent summary left them with very little to add.
“I want a niece or nephew soon.”
Kayrin heaved a small sigh, world-weary beyond his years.
Jacqueline, who had been watching the boy with an unreadable expression, muttered to no one in particular.
“…A niece or nephew would be… not the worst thing.”
She said it with as much studied indifference as she could muster.
But inside, her heart was hammering.
‘My niece or nephew. My own niece or nephew!’
* * *
While Kael was briefly occupied with his business partners, I found myself, for the first time in a while, wonderfully free.
And so I went straight to find my friends.
“Kyaaa! Kate! Dorothy!”
“Ahh! Ivelina!”
“It’s been so long! Look at you—your face is absolutely glowing!”
The three of us collided in a single tangled embrace.
Kate took both my hands in hers and shook them happily.
“Ivelina! How is life in the duchy? Are you settling in well? Is His Grace treating you right?”
“Yes, yes! He spoils me so thoroughly that I’m permanently exhausted!”
“Look at her face! She’s radiant! I’m so jealous!”
“Oh, stop teasing me!”
Dorothy let out a sharp, bell-clear cry.
“I read about you in the paper! Your face was on the front page of the imperial gazette—’A Warm Wind Sweeping Through the Empire: Duchess Ivelina Hardeion, the Volunteer Fairy’!”
“Oh, please, stop—”
I clapped my hands over my ears before I could help myself.
Articles about me had been appearing in the imperial papers with remarkable regularity—noting my singular dedication to charity and service among the ranks of noble ladies. Apparently my friends had been keeping up with the coverage.
Caught by Dorothy’s bait, Kate jumped in with bright eyes.
“She’s right! You were commended by the Empress herself! A shelter for unwed mothers—how did you even think of something like that? You’re my friend, and you still manage to astonish me.”
“It wasn’t anything particularly difficult, and the money was all my husband’s anyway.”
“Goodness, you… This is exactly why His Grace is absolutely mad about you.”
“…Wait—could that be the reason? I’ve been puzzling over it, actually. He’s been even more intense lately, and I can’t quite figure out why. But it’s not as though I can stop volunteering.”
“Hold on—’more intense’—? Oh! Speaking of which, Ivelina! We have something for you!”
Dorothy suddenly exclaimed, seemingly struck by a thought. Her voice was loud enough to rattle the ears.
“Oh! You gave me a fright! What is it?”
“Ta-da! Ivelina—this is your wedding gift, from me and Kate!”
Dorothy had been rustling about beside us and now wedged herself firmly between us, lugging a tower of boxes nearly as tall as she was, which she set down on the table with a decisive ‘thunk’. They were red gift boxes, each one wrapped neatly in pink lace ribbon.
I craned forward eagerly.
“Oh, how lovely! What is it? I want to open it right now!”
“You absolutely cannot!”
Dorothy’s shriek brought my reaching hands to an immediate halt.
“Not until tonight. Open them in the bridal chamber.”
“…The bridal chamber?”
“Yes. You ‘have’ to open them there. Open them anywhere else and the whole gift falls flat.”
“Hmm. But I’m so curious.”
“Open them in the bridal chamber, I said!”
Dorothy wailed at a frequency generally reserved for distressed livestock. I pressed both hands over my ears and answered her.
“All right, all right, I understand, Dorothy.”
“One box for tonight, and take the rest with you on your honeymoon.”
Dorothy delivered this with all the gravity and furrowed brow of a woman conveying matters of great strategic importance. My curiosity swelled accordingly.
“What on earth is in them to merit all this ceremony? I’m so curious—can’t I just take a tiny peek?”
“Absolutely not! You said you’re leaving on your honeymoon tomorrow, yes?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Then just be patient a little longer.”
I was examining the stack of boxes from every angle when a pair of arms suddenly wound around my waist. My body went rigid—but I recognized the warmth immediately, and the tension left me at once.
“Kael, are you finished with your conversation?”
“Mm.”
Kael pressed a light kiss to the back of my neck in answer. Then he buried his face entirely against my neck and let out a slow, quiet breath—half laughter, half something else entirely—that scattered warmly across my skin. The sharp line of his nose pressed into the soft hollow of my throat.
“W—wait—my friends are right here—”
“Oh, goodness, would you look at that—I’m suddenly terribly parched. Dorothy, what do you say? Shall we get some lemonade?”
“Lemonade? Could we have whiskey instead? I’m much more in the mood for—Your Grace! Won’t you join us and—”
“Dorothy! ‘Read the room!'”
Kate seized Dorothy by the arm and hauled her away at considerable speed.
“Wh—what? Where are we going?”
I reached toward my vanishing friends, calling after them—but they disappeared like smoke on the wind.
The moment they were fully out of sight, Kael pressed his lips to my ear and murmured:
“Emily was looking for you.”
“Emily was?”
“Mm. She seemed urgent.”
“Really? Where is she?”
“Your bedroom.”
“There—there isn’t something wrong, is there? I should go right away!”
* * *
I had been tricked again.
‘Thud.’
“Ah—wait—! Kael! Ugh, you’re undressing me again—”
“Ha. You’re so warm.”
* * *
