As her consciousness hazily surfaced, the first thing Carol noticed was the rich aroma filling the house.
Carol sat up, brushing aside her messy bedhead. For a while she tried to fully wake up.
She must have been so sleep-deprived these past few nights that she slept like the dead last night.
“Yawwwn.”
Stretching with a yawn, her mind gradually cleared.
Pulling back the curtains, she looked outside. It was early evening.
Her strangely refreshed body, the more disheveled than usual bedding, the peacefully flowing air–
She suddenly realized when she felt these things, it usually meant she had overslept.
“What time is it…?!”
Though being late to the Duke’s mansion wasn’t an issue, it might be too late to have lovingly cooked and enjoyed a long-overdue evening meal with her brothers on this Founding Day.
But what was that wafting, appetizing aroma?
With that thought, Carol swiftly rose and hastily threw on some clothes.
Bursting out, “Kids. What time is it? Did I perhaps not wake up even when called?”
Carol hurriedly emerged, tying her hair up, causing the two putting final touches on the cooking to turn around.
Bursting out in that rush, Carol paused at their composed faces.
“No, you seemed like you could still sleep so we didn’t wake you.”
“I just woke up naturally.”
“We were going to wake you a bit later.”
The aroma wafting through the door crack was from their cooking.
Only then could Carol properly take in the scene in the house.
The two had busily set the rotisserie in the fireplace, turning a browning turkey. The mushrooms and potatoes sautéed in butter glistened.
“You prepared all this?”
“Yup.”
The two transferred the turkey onto the largest platter, placing it in the center of the table.
They had bought ingredients yesterday for today. But these weren’t the ingredients Carol had bought.
Carol had planned to bake a shepherd’s pie with plenty of ground beef topped with mashed potatoes.
“Where did the turkey come from?”
“We bought it.”
“It must be delicious?”
“I guess…but didn’t you plan shepherd’s pie for today?”
Carol looked bewilderedly at the unusually excited pair. She was flustered, not having spent a Founding Day this energetically in recent years.
“Let’s have shepherd’s pie tomorrow.”
“No, where did you get money to buy this?”
While she gave them allowances, due to the household circumstances she couldn’t give much.
Turkey was already pricey, even more so around the Founding Day.
They must have saved up for ages…
At Carol’s puzzled tone, the two said in unison:
“We saved all year.”
“That’s right!”
Actually, they were a bit short so Louis chipped in.
But the money he chipped in was also technically an “allowance”, so not a complete lie.
“Why buy that kind of thing? Get whatever you want.”
“Spending for our family is what we wanted to do.”
“And instead of buying multiple things we can eat anytime, it’s better to splurge on a special day, right?”
The two echoed words their parents often said.
“That’s…”
“Mom and Dad used to say that a lot. Thinking about it, it makes sense.”
The three had become almost consciously avoiding talking about their parents.
The sudden loss had upended their daily lives, and they were barely keeping their current lifestyle going. They had an unspoken agreement not to bring up their parents.
But they all knew. The fact that they couldn’t speak about it was proof they couldn’t forget and were still lost in grief.
It seemed the two could now stand up from the time of only sadness and reminisce about their parents.
“Yeah, that’s right. They did say that.”
Carol felt tears might come but ended up smiling too.
She wanted to let the Duke know too. That family warmth feels so good it brings tears.
There was a time she thought since the Duke had everything, it would be fine if he lived unhappily for a few years before dying, but she knew him too well to dismiss him like that.
“Yeah. Mom and Dad would definitely have said that. They’d say you were wonderful.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
“Then hurry and sit down.”
Kevin stood behind Carol, holding her shoulders to guide her to a seat.
“Hurry and sit! Sis has to leave soon.”
“Just a moment.”
Carol rushed to the kitchen to retrieve the cake layers she had baked yesterday.
The properly cooled layers were better baked than usual.
With a satisfied look, Carol split the layers and generously spread cream and jam inside.
It was a cake her mother taught her.
A cake they used to make more often when their parents were alive.
When Mom baked cakes, Dad enjoyed the happy scent when baking bread.
“Yesterday and today, there’s a happy scent in the house.”
And as if reading Carol’s mind, Dylan echoed their father’s words.
Her nose tingled. A mix of nostalgia for the past and anticipation that the Duke might gain a “family” today – something he never had in the original.
“You two start eating.”
“Just one bite for me now.”
“Dessert before the meal?”
“It’s not an overstatement to say I waited for Founding Day to have Victorian sponge cake, so one bite first is fine, right?”
Dylan hovered excitedly behind the cake.
“You made it big this time.”
“Yeah, I’m taking half.”
“Where to?”
“Where else? The Duke’s Man…sion…”
At Carol’s words, the two simultaneously stopped what they were doing and looked at her.
They doubted their ears but it was unlikely they both misheard simultaneously.
“Why take it there?”
She wanted the Duke to try it.
He always said everything she made was delicious, so she thought her most confident menu item would be too.
And if Noah could not accept the Duke, she wanted to console him not with another dessert, but with her own cake.
As Carol was about to naturally voice her thoughts out loud, she quietly closed her mouth.
The realization dawned that omitting certain things she couldn’t mention here could paint quite an odd picture.
‘I can’t talk about Noah, so saying ‘to console or celebrate the Duke with cake’… I can’t say that.’
Carol’s gaze wandered aimlessly, at a loss for words.
For a moment, no excuses came to mind, but the two were still waiting for her answer.
Flustered, Carol ended up giving the strangest excuse.
“That…I’m taking it to eat myself.”
“Just you, sis? They’ll give you something delicious there?”
“Well, I guess…”
“I thought you meant you became friends with the staff and were sharing it.”
“Ah…”
She should have gone with that excuse. Her face flushed red with embarrassment.
“I’ll leave enough for you two to have plenty, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried, it’s just you’ve been acting suspicious lately…”
The two brothers reacted sensitively to Carol’s change.
Cupping their chins, the two slowly circled around Carol.
“Suspicious? Let’s just eat already.”
Carol swiftly slipped between them and cut slightly less than half the cake into a basket.
Carol’s reaction was completely different from usual. Like something was off but she wouldn’t say.
When did this start? Retracing the past few days when she began acting odd, the two realized one fact.
Come to think of it, Louis, who originally said he’d come early, said he’d come around when Carol was leaving.
‘No way, did we push him to confess and cause this…?’
They couldn’t feign ignorance at this point. Their consciences pricked, wondering if pushing Louis led to this situation.
But since it didn’t work out with Louis, they had to consider other possibilities.
Dylan suddenly asked with a tone of disbelief,
“Sis, you’re not seeing someone, are you?”
“Eh…?”
Her inability to immediately answer if she was seeing someone meant…
‘Why am I thinking of the Duke here, of all times?!’
Seeing Carol’s stunned expression, Kevin continued with a tone of doubt,
“And that person isn’t the Duke, is he…?”
“What!”
Carol abruptly stood up without realizing.
Her eyelashes fluttered rapidly. She wondered what signals she had given for those around her to immediately think of the Duke.
The two gulped dryly at Carol’s reaction.
Maybe Louis was already too late.
“…Someone working there?”
Reflecting, she did seem to pay extra attention when going to the Duke’s Mansion.
However, contrary to expectations, Carol didn’t flush or ask how they knew.
“…Huh?”
So cute – thanks for the chapters!