BGFV Chapter 81

It had already been four days since the Frost family arrived at the duchy.

Hestia, who had thought they would leave by now, was dumbfounded to see that they showed no intention of departing and had firmly settled in the duke’s estate.

To make matters worse, just like the other day, they had all gone out for another outing today—mercenaries, family members, and even the duke’s staff together.

The children were playing in the distance, laughing with the mercenaries, while the adults were relaxing on picnic mats under the shade of trees.

“The weather’s getting hot now. Soon, people will start coming down for sightseeing.”

“We’ve already decided to expand the hotel. Looks like we’ll finish it in time,” another responded.

“In this heat, cold drinks are better than tea. Tia, would you like some too?”

“Yes, thank you very much. Master… no! Mom, Dad! Aren’t you going back to Byron?!”

Dragged out of her office and brought here by her parents, Hestia absentmindedly accepted the drink Melvin handed her before snapping back to her senses.

“You must have so much work to do. You really should head back to Byron.”

“My, oh my. Are you trying to kick us out so you can get back to work?”

“Darling, give Tia a tart. She hasn’t been eating properly these past few days.”

As Anna placed a tart in her mouth, Hestia mumbled with her mouth full.

“Mmghh! I’mm ngot tryin’ to—!”

“You need to finish chewing before you talk.”

“Aww, our sweet daughter. Is it tasty? Want to try a cookie next?”

When Derrick tried to give her a cookie, Hestia hurriedly swallowed the tart in her mouth and spoke up.

“When exactly are you going to leave? You’re starting to look like people who are planning to stay here forever.”

“It’s been two or three months since we’ve seen you. Do you really want to kick us out that badly?”

“That’s not what I meant…!”

As Hestia flailed in frustration, Melvin chuckled softly.

“You don’t need to worry about work.”

“What?”

“I’ve already taken care of most important matters and let everyone know I’m taking a break for a while.”

“But…”

Having worked with Derrick before, Hestia found his words hard to believe. After all, she knew better than anyone how things operated in Byron.

“Hestia, after you left, things were chaos for a while.”

“Work kept piling up, and we were short on hands… It was a mess.”

“It only made us realize just how much extra work you’d been handling all this time.”

Caught off guard by the sudden praise, Hestia’s cheeks flushed red.

“So, we hired someone new.”

“They’re so efficient at their job that there’s hardly anything left for us to do now.”

“It’s thanks to that person that we’re even able to take a vacation like this.”

“…If even you say that, Master, they must really be good at their job.”

“Exactly. At first, I was a little concerned because they were from an orphanage, but their academic credentials were impressive. Honestly, if we’d hired someone from a more privileged background, they probably wouldn’t have worked as hard.”

“Hmm…”

An orphanage, huh? That’s definitely a unique background.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t Albert also from an orphanage?’

She had asked Gallian to let her know if he found Albert’s job application, but there hadn’t been any updates yet.

Judging by the lack of news, it seemed Gallian hadn’t found it.

‘Well, he’s been busy with so many things.’

Not much time had passed since the rebellion incident, and they were still short on hands. As the head butler, Gallian was not only managing various areas but also taking care of his own duties, leaving him with barely any time to rest.

“Anyway, that’s that. When are you planning to head back?”

“We were thinking of staying for about a week. Why, do you want us to leave sooner?”

“Not exactly, but…”

“I heard you haven’t taken a proper break either, Tia. While we’re here, take some time to rest. If you keep running like this, you’ll burn out before you know it.”

With that, Melvin refilled Hestia’s empty glass with more juice.

As she silently stared at the orange-hued liquid glistening in the sunlight, Hestia made up her mind and downed it in one gulp.

“Ugh, fine, whatever.”

And with that, she flopped down onto her back.

“The future me can deal with the future.”

“Hahaha, now that’s a good attitude.”

“Exactly. This is the perfect time to relax.”

As Melvin and her parents chatted away in low voices, the cheerful laughter of children echoed from afar.

Though a little noisy, the lively sound brought a sense of peace that lulled her into drowsiness.

But as the sun began to set, a ray of sunlight slanted directly onto Hestia’s face.

‘Ugh, I don’t want to move.’

Already half asleep, Hestia frowned as she thought to herself.

‘Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could just hold an umbrella over me?’

She didn’t feel like asking her parents, nor did she feel like getting up herself. As she mulled over her options with her eyes still closed, a familiar voice broke the silence.

“Ugh, it’s so hot.”

The low, familiar voice brought comfort, and the sunlight on her face suddenly disappeared.

Hestia cracked open her eyes and saw Luciard standing above her.

As his clothes fluttered lightly in the breeze, Luciard bent down to grab a drink and locked eyes with Hestia.

“Are you resting?”

“If I keep playing with the kids, I’ll never get a break, so I escaped for a bit.”

Hestia chuckled at his exasperation.

But as he shifted slightly, the sunlight once again spilled over her face.

Hestia grabbed onto the hem of his trousers.

“Can you block the sun for me?”

“What?”

Luciard noticed how the sunlight seemed to focus entirely on her face.

Seeing her frown without even opening her eyes, he glanced around.

“You could just move into the shade.”

“Too much trouble.”

“Unbelievable. How do you even manage to breathe with how lazy you are?”

“Come on, just block it for me. The sun’s too bright, and I can’t take my nap.”

Block it, block it.

As Hestia whined insistently, Luciard couldn’t help but feel exasperated.

“Seriously, you’re such a brat.”

“Just for today, I’ll act like one.”

Perhaps because it was a rare lazy afternoon spent with her family, she truly felt like a child again.

With a resigned sigh, Luciard sat down beside her and shielded her face from the sunlight. A small smile spread across Hestia’s lips.

Luciard leisurely sipped his cold drink.

Soon, soft breathing could be heard as Hestia quickly drifted off to sleep. Watching her, Luciard let out a faint chuckle before turning his gaze toward the children playing happily in the distance.

As time passed, the sunlight began creeping onto Luciard’s shoulder.

---

“Ugh… It’s hot, and something’s heavy…”

Hestia felt something weighing her down, and beads of sweat trickled down her skin.

She initially thought it was just the heat, but the sensation of something clinging to her was unmistakable.

Groaning, Hestia opened her eyes wide.

What greeted her was the sight of white lace.

“…A parasol?” (A light umbrella used to give shade from the sun.)

“You’re awake?”

Anna’s voice reached her ears as Hestia groggily tried to sit up—or at least, she attempted to.

“What’s going on? Why’s everyone here?”

As she tried to rise, she realized her arms and legs were pinned down.

She quickly noticed children clinging to her arms and legs. Leonhardt, Eric, and Annie had sprawled across her.

Caught off guard by the sight of the children clinging to her, Hestia blinked in confusion.

“The kids insisted on napping with their big sister, even in this heat, so here we are.”

“It looked like you were sleeping so soundly, so when the kids insisted on not waking you up, they just joined you instead.”

Elvin and Anna explained. Realizing what had happened, Hestia carefully got up, trying not to wake the children.

“Yaaaawn… How long has it been?”

“About two hours? You must’ve been really tired. You were so out of it that you didn’t even notice that someone had carried you off.”

“No way, that can’t be true.”

“It’s true. You were originally sleeping over there, weren’t you?”

At Elvin’s words, Hestia looked over at where she had been. Come to think of it, she was in a different spot now compared to where she’d fallen asleep.

“Why am I over here? Did someone move me?”

Looking around in confusion, she saw Anna and Elvin grinning mischievously.

“…I don’t know why, but this feels unsettling.”

“Well, you know… back in my younger days, I had moments like that too. Hohoho,” Anna chuckled.

“Honestly, I think Sir Luciard is a bit too good for you,” Elvin teased.

Hestia frowned even more as they continued.

“It was Sir Luciard who moved you,” Melvin finally said, setting down his book.

“…Who moved me?”

“Sir Luciard.”

For a moment, Hestia’s brain froze.

Sir Luciard moved me? How on earth?

In her mind, she pictured Luciard effortlessly lifting her up and carrying her somewhere.

“N-no way. He probably just dragged me by the arms or something… right?”

Surely, he wouldn’t be so inconsiderate as to do something so undignified in front of her family.

But the mere thought of Luciard carrying her in such an embarrassing manner made her cheeks heat up uncontrollably.

“Not to mention,” Melvin continued, “he sat there for about thirty minutes to block the sunlight from your face. His back and arms must’ve been in the sun the whole time—it must’ve been hot. His arms were even a little red from the heat.”

Hearing this, Hestia’s jaw dropped further in shock.

Sure, she had asked him to block the sunlight because it was bright, but she never thought he’d actually stay there the whole time.

“Oh, and that parasol? Sir Luciard brought it over for you.”

“Seems like Sir Luciard keeps a close eye on you,” Anna chimed in.

“What?!”

“He said you’ve been working late until midnight every day, barely getting any sleep. He told us to let you rest properly and not wake you up. That’s why I lent him my parasol.”

Anna giggled, saying it was all so romantic.

But Hestia, the person at the center of all this, was utterly flustered.

“By the way, Sis, I’ve wanted to ask—are you dating Sir Luciard?”

Elvin’s question was the final blow. Hestia’s face turned a vivid shade of red as she shouted in panic.

“W-what are you talking about?! Of course not!”

“Huhh?”

“Hmmm… what’s that about?”

“Ugh, noisy…”

The three children, woken by the commotion, began to stir and whine.

Leonhard, who had been sleeping near Hestia’s left arm, groggily sat up and leaned against her, his half-open eyes still drowsy.

“Did you sleep well, Hestia?”

Then he looked up at her with a soft smile, and for a moment, Hestia saw Luciard’s face overlaid on his.

“Did you sleep well?”

The image of Luciard, smiling gently and speaking to her in that soft tone, flashed through her mind.

“Ahhh! No, no! Begone, demon! Get out of my head!”

She flailed and shook her head wildly in an attempt to banish the thought.

“Demon? Hestia, did you have a nightmare?”

Completely unaware of what was going on, Leonhard tilted his head curiously. Eric and Annie, still not fully awake, simply buried their heads and drifted off again, while Anna watched the scene with an amused smile.

“What’s all this ruckus?”

Hestia’s shoulders jumped in surprise. She turned her head slowly, almost creaking with tension, and there stood Luciard, his hair damp and slicked back as he looked down at her.

“Ah, Sir Luciard. Why are you so wet?” Hestia asked, trying to mask her nervousness.

“It was too hot, so I took a quick dip in the lake. The sun’s about to set—shall we head back now?”

“Sounds good.”

“Kids, time to get up,” Luciard called out, and everyone began packing up their belongings.

Luciard, meanwhile, removed his shirt to wipe out the water. The other mercenaries who had gone to the lake with him were doing the same, squeezing water from their clothes.

“…What are you staring at?”

Noticing Hestia’s gaze fixed on him, Luciard brushed off his shirt and asked with a raised brow.

Caught off guard, Hestia quickly turned her head away, her face bright red.

“N-nothing! And don’t just take your clothes off anywhere! There are kids here!”

“…Ah, my bad. I’m just used to this.”

Realizing his actions might not be appropriate for a noble household, Luciard quickly pulled his shirt back on and went off to help others.

“Hey, Sis, your face is all red,” Eric said, pointing at her face as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Hestia clenched her eyes shut, her face burning even hotter.

Why does he have to have such a ridiculously good body, too?!