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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: The Princess Carry
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Startled by his unexpected appearance, Lumina ran up to him.
“It's nearly time for dinner. Don't you have the strength to walk to the dining hall?”
*…Didn't you just see me scamper over here?*
When the bewildered Lumina failed to answer immediately, he slipped his hands under her arms without hesitation and lifted her straight up.
“…?”
As always, it felt like he was plucking a turnip from the ground.
It seemed he intended to carry her to the dining hall just like this.
Like a bird, wings mid-flap, frozen in a photograph as it tried to take flight, Lumina was left with her arms awkwardly raised.
It was a moment that crushed her human dignity.
“Ah, Father! Please put me down!”
“So you can stumble again?”
“No, my legs are perfectly fine!”
Lucius eyed her with suspicion.
“The doctor is here, isn't he?”
Walking on her own two feet was out of the question.
Lumina had a gut feeling that he wouldn't listen to a word she said, even if she tried to explain that she wasn't the sick one who needed a doctor.
From Lucius's perspective, Lumina was no different from a paper doll, liable to be blown away by a gust of wind.
Lumina accepted her fate.
“Then please carry me in a different position!”
“A different position?”
“Yes! Please hold me like this.”
Lumina demanded boldly.
She'd decided it was better to be shameless than to be carried around like a sack of potatoes.
“Like this?”
“No, no! Liiiike this!”
“Hmm. I think that's right.”
“This is called a princess carry.”
“Princess, Young Duchess—what's the difference?”
“No, that's not the point. I don't like being held like that, so liiiike thiiis…”
“Right. Like this.”
Lumina instructed him on the proper form.
The doctor and servants, watching from a distance, sucked in a sharp breath.
Excluding the late Duchess, had anyone ever dared give orders to that cold-blooded man?
The sight of him clumsily but faithfully following Lumina's commands was surprisingly heartwarming.
At the same time, it created a sense of cognitive dissonance.
After a few attempts, Lucius managed to hold Lumina in a rather respectable princess carry.
“Perfect. This is the final version.”
Lumina held out her arms, asking to be picked up again.
Letting out a small, unconscious laugh, Lucius supported her from below and lifted her into a stable hold.
The ride was smoother than an imperial carriage.
Now more or less at eye level with Lucius, Lumina brought up the person she had momentarily forgotten.
“My tutor, Mrs. Klein, suddenly collapsed.”
“And?”
“…”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
*Such a heartless Legion!*
She was trying to explain that this was why she was dawdling when dinner was about to start, and why she had called the doctor, but he simply couldn't comprehend her actions.
*Shouldn't she have just ignored the woman and come down to eat?*
That was Lucius's line of thinking.
Lumina wondered where to even begin explaining things to this Legion of Legions.
Just then, a rustling sound came from behind them.
“D-Duke Heart!”
Mrs. Klein had woken up.
Upon spotting Lucius, she shot up with an urgency unbecoming of someone who had just collapsed.
*Ah, this woman.*
In that moment, Lumina realized.
*She likes Father.*
Mrs. Klein hastily smoothed down her hair, which had been mussed from her collapse.
Then she cleared her throat with an, “Ahem.”
Had a hand mirror been available, she would have meticulously adjusted her appearance.
Her actions betrayed more than mere courtesy toward the Duke; they were tinged with a personal emotion.
She was like a fresh-faced teenager standing before her crush.
“Duke Heart, I am—”
*Nora.*
*I've wanted to meet you for so long. When the duchy was hiring a private tutor, I assumed I would get to meet you during the interview. I was so sad when that didn't happen.*
*We actually met over a decade ago. Do you remember? It was spring, at a splendid ball.*
She was about to launch into such personal matters.
But in reality, Mrs. Klein only managed to get out the words, “I am—”
“You feel like you've lost weight. You're light as a feather. Did you have your snack?”
It was because Lucius's attention was focused entirely on Lumina.
He always lifted her as if she were a feather, yet he made the remark as if it were a new discovery.
“I ate too much for lunch! I didn't have any room left, so I skipped my snack.”
It was a lie.
The snacks they provided were always so plentiful that the inner Lumina had vehemently insisted on eating less.
Since Lumina wasn't a big eater to begin with, this assertion was accepted without much resistance.
If she really craved dessert, she could always visit his office and eat under the Duke's unreasonable and coercive orders.
There was always a loophole.
“Hmm. So you ate a big lunch…”
Lucius studied her intently, as if trying to gauge the truth of her words.
“For someone who so boldly declared her ambition to grow twice my size, you're being rather negligent. We'll make it our goal at dinner tonight to double your size.”
*Father, anyone would die if they ate that much!*
The goal was so daunting it made her mind go blank, and Lumina's expression fell.
Her already pitiable and adorable face became twice as cute.
“I'm just saying that's the goal.”
Lucius gently tapped Lumina's adorable little nose, trying to cheer her up.
Just then, Mrs. Klein, who had been watching cautiously ever since being ignored, interjected.
“Your Grace, would it be possible for me to stay just one more day? I'm feeling so dizzy…”
“Do as you please.”
Lucius was in an excellent mood after touching Lumina's nose.
As a result, he hadn't really heard what Mrs. Klein said and gave a careless reply.
He then left the room, still carrying Lumina.
His only thought was to feed the scrawny Lumina until she was plump and utterly adorable.
Just as they were about to reach the dining hall, he remembered something.
He said, “Karayan is skipping dinner again today, I hear. He hasn't left the training grounds in days.”
“…”
“Nothing happened between you two, did it?”
“Of course not.”
Lumina replied with an innocent expression, as if she knew nothing at all.
But she had a suspicion.
*He's been avoiding me on purpose ever since the kiss.*
When Karayan had disappeared for a day or two, she'd simply thought, *He must be busy.*
But as more time passed, she became certain he was avoiding her.
Lucius rarely forced his son to do anything, so he hadn't dragged him to the dining hall.
It was the attitude of a hands-off father who loved his son but also found him difficult.
***
Pat, pat.
After dinner, Lumina returned to her bedroom, patting her now-protruding belly.
She wasn't sure about her overall size, but her stomach certainly felt like it had doubled.
Having been thoroughly played by the wicked Legion's scheme, Lumina changed into her nightgown and ended her day.
Later that night, when everyone else was asleep.
Lumina couldn't sleep. She sat up in her spacious bed.
“Is he planning to sleep somewhere else again tonight?”
Lumina muttered, hugging a cushion with her cheeks puffed out.
Lumina was alone.
She was all by herself in the vast bedroom, a space so large ten of her could play in it with room to spare.
It was because Karayan had been avoiding her around the clock.
At this point, she started to wonder if he was avoiding her because he disliked her.
Otherwise, there was no reason he would have vanished right after her surprise kiss, as if they were never to see each other again.
“Holding hands was fine.”
He didn't seem to have much aversion to holding hands, since it was something they did during her treatments.
In fact, he had been the one to initiate it before.
But a kiss, an act reserved for more intimate relationships, seemed to have been too soon.
“Even if he wanted to get away, maybe I shouldn't have done that…”
Lumina didn't think Karayan disliked her. A moderate level of affection, perhaps?
She had good reason to believe so.
For one, the person Karayan was presumed to despise most after Lucius was Arabelle.
Yet, when Lumina was summoned to the imperial palace, he had come to see her himself.
To the imperial palace, Arabelle's domain.
Considering this was a man who rarely set foot in his own home because he hated breathing the same air as the princess, it was clear he liked Lumina.
“That is, until I kissed him…”
*Sigh.*
Lumina let out a heavy sigh.
It seemed that one kiss had completely undone all the goodwill she had built up.
Karayan's first instinct was to avoid people he disliked.
Considering his disposition, it was a perfectly logical deduction.
*This isn't the time to be playing matchmaker for the Heart father and son. I need to sort out my own mess first.*
Waiting around endlessly wouldn't bring him back.
Lumina hopped off the bed.
*He said he was at the training grounds.*
The old sages always said to strike while the iron is hot.
Determined to settle things tonight, Lumina grabbed a gas lamp and headed outside.
She knew the way to the training grounds.
She was walking from memory when something caught her eye.
Suddenly, a suspicious figure entered her line of sight.
*Mrs. Klein?*
