This time, I tried the reverse—pretending to pull my hand back—and his eyebrows drooped into a sorry slant.
By this point, even someone completely oblivious would have had no choice but to notice. What this child wanted!
“Young Master, shall I feed you?”
“N-no! I’m six years old, you know? I’m not a little kid, no way!”
That’s not it? I’d been fairly confident, too.
I tilted my head and was about to withdraw my hand when Jayden hurriedly added:
“I-I definitely don’t want it like some little kid! I’m just willing to go along with it, if Viola really insists on feeding me!”
Pfft.
“What? Why are you laughing? Don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I don’t want it!”
“No, no. I’m not laughing. I didn’t laugh.”
Belatedly, I covered my mouth and struggled to regain my composure.
But my composure didn’t last long.
Because I caught Cain’s eye, and though he was pretending to be calm, his eyes were clearly wavering.
My nephew has this side to him? He looked exactly like someone in shock.
“Uh, n-no! I really am upset about this…!”
Jayden’s ears began turning redder than tomato soup.
At this rate, his whole face would end up cooked too, so I decided to give Jayden exactly what he wanted.
“Yes, yes. Of course I know. It’s because I want to feed you, Young Master.”
Saying that, I hurried to spear a piece of meat with my fork.
“Young Master, say ah!”
“Ahh~”
Munch, munch. As Jayden chewed the meat, a smile crept slowly across his face. An expression as satisfied as if he’d gotten everything he wanted in the world.
I looked at Jayden warmly too, but not everyone was satisfied.
“Mommy! Uu!”
Melody, seeming jealous, began urging me on.
After that, it was a dizzying repetition of the same thing.
Feed Melody, feed Jayden, put a bite in my own mouth.
I only had two hands, but there were three people to look after!
No, let me correct that! One person and two baby birds!
“Mommy!”
“Viola!”
Uwaah, so busy, so busy. With the baby birds chirping away this way and that as if in competition, I couldn’t even tell whether the food was going into my mouth or my nose.
Maybe that was why. Moving my fork mechanically in a daze, I ended up making an absolutely absurd mistake.
“Uu!”
“Yes, Melody’s turn! Ah!”
“Me too, me too!”
“Yes, Young Master’s turn! Here, ah!”
“Viola.”
“Oh, yes! Your Grace’s turn! Here, ahh~”
At the sound of Cain calling my name, I automatically raised my fork and held out a sauce-covered mushroom.
Push. I felt the tip of the fork touch something.
“…”
“…”
For a moment, an icy silence fell over the table, unbelievably. Melody and Jayden, so noisy a moment ago, both fell silent at the same time.
I felt like I must have made some incredibly strange sound…
Only belatedly sensing something wrong, my busily moving body froze in place.
I slowly lifted my head.
I couldn’t make sense of the scene unfolding before my eyes in a single glance. It had no logic to it, like a dog’s dream on an oversleeping morning, somehow.
Cain, watching me with a flustered look.
On the smooth lips of the Duke—a model for nobles everywhere—there was a dab of yellow sauce.
And… my hand, holding out a sauce-covered button mushroom toward his mouth.
What is this?
Is this a dream?
I blinked slowly.
“A six-year-old and a four-year-old are perfectly capable of eating on their own.”
He paused for a moment, then added belatedly:
“…As is a twenty-six-year-old, of course.”
Only once Cain’s low voice reached me did the reality I’d lost track of come rushing back.
However distracted I’d been…
Have I actually lost my mind?
Trying to feed “ahh~” to the noble Dragon Duke himself?
“That… that… I-I’m so sorry…”
To someone who’d probably drunk his baby formula with elegance and dignity, what had I just done!
Humiliated, I wanted to bite my own tongue right then and there. Why did I keep showing Cain sides of myself like this!
I hurriedly stuffed the mushroom into my own mouth, pretending nothing had happened, but the water was already spilled.
Because there was still sauce on the corner of Cain’s mouth.
Thankfully, Cain wiped his mouth elegantly with a napkin and pretended nothing was wrong.
“Let’s eat.”
“Ye-es…”
But once the mood turned awkward, it showed no sign of easing for the rest of the meal.
The one small mercy was that the baby birds had stopped their chirping, sensing the mood…
But by now, that change made no difference at all.
I looked down at the food in front of me and swallowed my tears inwardly.
Ugh.
I was actually going to choke on this, honestly.
Thankfully, no such disaster occurred, and we finished the meal safely.
By the time I came to my senses, we were already riding in the carriage back to the residence.
Ugh. So awkward…
Even though a good while had passed since we’d left the restaurant, facing Cain was still a little difficult.
The carriage wheels rolled smoothly along. Both children, worn out from a whole day of frolicking, had fallen fast asleep, each with their head resting on one of my knees.
And so, in the now-quiet carriage, Cain only kept his gaze fixed out the window.
Haa. This isn’t the time for this.
I had something I needed to say to him, but I couldn’t find any good moment to bring it up.
While I hesitated, the carriage slowed, having apparently reached the residence.
The servants who came to greet us gently lifted the sleeping children into their arms right away. Holding their breath so as not to wake them, they carried them quietly into the residence.
It was at that very moment, when even Cain was turning to leave, as if today’s outing had simply come to its close—
“W-wait a moment! Your Grace!”
I gathered my courage and caught hold of him. Cain stopped, looking puzzled.
His gaze looking down at me kept overlapping with the earlier scene in my mind, and my face burned.
But I couldn’t just stay like this forever.
I took out the box I’d been carefully holding against my chest and thrust it toward him.
“…Here, please take this.”
“What is this?”
“…Gloves.”
Cain raised an eyebrow slightly, as if surprised.
Fidgeting, I added in a voice trailing off to almost nothing:
“It’s just, um, I remembered you wearing gloves before… and it’s still a bit chilly on your night walks sometimes…”
“…”
“Oh, of course! You probably already have much nicer ones, Your Grace, but still! The more of these you have, the better… haha.”
At the awkward silence, more and more nonsense started spilling out of me. I decided to just laugh it off awkwardly and shut my mouth.
Cain looked at the box I’d held out without a word.
Ugh, did I do something pointless? My fingertips trembled with embarrassment.
The truth was, this was what I’d secretly bought earlier, using the excuse of having left something in the carriage.
Men’s silk gloves I’d seen on the way to the boutique.
I’d kept noticing them out of the corner of my eye.
So I’d spent some of my own wages on them, a fine quality item… but thinking about it now, they might be shockingly cheap for someone like Cain to actually use.
Sob. He probably doesn’t like them at all.
I was quietly starting to pull my hand back when Cain suddenly took the box from me.
“Why give this to me?”
“…Um, well. Call it a bribe? It means I hope you’ll keep looking after Melody and me.”
Right, that was certainly what I’d meant when I bought it. I squeezed my eyes shut and added:
“A-and, while I’m at it, if you could just forget about the little incident earlier…!”
Pfft. A sound like escaping air came from above me, like a laugh.
Looking up slightly, I saw the corners of Cain’s mouth curving into a graceful arc.
Ugh, so embarrassing…
My face burned, and I dropped my head again.
“Well then, the bribe’s been delivered, so I’ll be going…! Melody’s waiting for me!”
Using the excuse of the child, surely fast asleep by now, I hurried away from the spot.
Cain quietly watched Viola’s retreating back.
Like a squirrel scurrying off, Viola’s footsteps toward the annex looked hastier than usual.
Even though she had long since vanished from sight, Cain remained rooted to the spot for some reason.
Looking down at the small box in his hand, the corners of Cain’s mouth slowly twisted.
“…A bribe, is it.”
