Chapter 41
At that time, Catherine’s face showed a complex state of mind.
I felt like that wasn’t a very good thing, so I had no choice but to look away from her in the end.
It seemed like things were going well as Raynan had hoped.
For a moment, her question was clearly visible on her face, as to how that fire fox had tricked Raynan into making things like this.
“Then, I’ll take my leave.”
Catherine soon returned to her blunt expression and left after saying goodbye.
It was only after she left that my body relaxed a bit. I relaxed my stiff back and leaned back against the couch.
But I felt Raynan’s arm along on the back of the couch. He had his arm around my back.
As soon as his arm touched me, I strengthened my back and returned to an upright posture.
I wanted to go back to my room. I didn’t think about anything, I just wanted to rest.
Will I become more tired than this in the future? Even just thinking about it made me feel even more tired.
Raynan patted my shoulder as if everything was okay and started drinking tea again with a calm face.
*****
After finishing tea time with Renee, Raynan returned to his office.
Roman was working at his desk, as if protesting the large amount of work he had suddenly taken on.
“It suits you quite well.”
Raynan complimented his appearance and sat down on the sofa.
“The person who is suited for this position is the Duke. Please sit down now and do the rest of your work…”
“I don’t feel like working today. I’m worried about my lovely fiancée.”
“You’re not even engaged yet, are you?”
“I’m going to do it soon, so what do you think?”
Perhaps because the commotion that occurred today was amusing, Raynan showed a particularly more mischievous side than other days.
This only made Roman feel bad, but Raynan seemed to be enjoying it.
“Isn’t it fun?Now I can finally see it.”
“What do you see?”
Roman quickly approached the sofa, wondering if he knew who the intruder he had been looking for since dawn was.
I had an expectation that perhaps one of the many things that had to be done by tomorrow might be resolved quickly.
“As you said, Renee seems quite scared.”
Raynan lightly trampled Roman’s expectations with a serious face.
“Now that…?”
Without realizing it, Roman asked back with a shocked face. Raynan was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t see Roman’s expression.
“That’s right. It’s amazing how different emotions can be felt even though the face is clearly the same as before.”
Renee’s face, which instantly turned pale when she heard that someone might be targeting her, came to mind.
The startled and helpless face was familiar to Raynan’s eyes as well.
The face he’d assumed was embarrassed because she liked him was actually terrified.
Raynan admitted his mistake with a bitter expression.
“Anyway, I was surprised at dawn. I thought something had happened.”
“I know. You shouldn’t be able to get in that easily.”
After hearing that an unknown person was wandering around the mansion, especially near Edwin’s bedroom, Raynan rushed there faster than anyone else.
Fortunately, Edwin seemed to be okay, but the problem was Renee. She wasn’t in her room when she should have been asleep.
The moment I saw the empty room, I felt my mind turning blank.
As I was staring blankly at the empty room, Roman approached me urgently.
“Renee is in young master Edwin’s bedroom.”
I don’t know where I would have run if Roman hadn’t appeared just in time.
For a very brief moment, I felt my heart drop to the floor. A feeling he had felt a long time ago.
I promised myself that I would never go through this again.
When I returned to Edwin’s bedroom, I found Renee asleep without a care in the world.
It was dark and she was covered in a blanket so I couldn’t see her properly.
I looked at Renee’s face for a long time, who was sleeping peacefully, not even knowing that such a commotion had occurred.
Edwin, who was next to her, kept his eyes open, as if he had not fallen asleep or had been awakened by the noise.
“It’s late, you didn’t sleep?”
“I like having Renee here like this.”
The two talked quietly, just in case Renee woke up.
“I don’t think she’ll wake up until morning, so Edwin should go to bed too.”
“Yes.”
Edwin answered calmly, snuggled up next to Renee, and closed his eyes.
But judging by the way his eyes fluttered and the corners of his mouth twitched, he wasn’t going to fall asleep easily.
Raynan was overcome with strange emotions as he saw Edwin unable to hide his excitement and happiness.
I may have said it was on purpose, but did I raise the child this lonely?
Still, I thought they took care to ensure that the child lacked nothing.
“Duke?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Now that I had confirmed that the two were safe, there was no reason to stay any longer.
All the way back to the office, the faces of Renee, sleeping soundly, and Edwin, excited, flashed before my eyes.
“Edwin really likes Renee.”
“You knew that, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. I’ve been wondering if I’ve been raising Edwin too lonely”
Roman looked a little surprised at Raynan’s words.
“Wasn’t there some part that couldn’t be helped? Thanks to this, young master Edwin has not received any threats so far.”
“It is.”
“And what would it have been like if a different nanny had come?”
Roman seemed to have similar thoughts to Raynan.
“Hm. Even if it weren’t for this situation, Edwin doesn’t trust people easily either.”
“Yes. I have been constantly telling him to be careful with people since he was young.”
“I see. I didn’t want to teach him to trust people. It’s a pity for Edwin, but that’s the life you have to lead.”
“As the Duke did?”
Raynan laughed bitterly at Roman’s words.
“Yes. But I’m not disillusioned with this life. Besides, I have you, Roman.”
Roman took a few steps back as he saw Raynan honestly revealing his true feelings on a rare occasion.
“Why are you doing this? You’re scaring me.”
Rather than feeling offended, Raynan let out a small laugh when he saw Roman looking disgusted. Of course, seeing that, Roman took a few steps back.
“Maybe Edwin needed Renee.”
I didn’t find it strange that Edwin had trusted Renee completely. In fact, it seemed natural.
There was no one else, at least not in this mansion, who could see through him like that.
So Edwin would have easily given his heart away. Roman, who is strict, is also kind to Renee in the end, isn’t he?
“Yes. It is a good thing for young master Edwin.”
“Yeah. It threw a lot of plans off, but it’s not bad.”
Raynan remained silent for a moment. He looked like he was organizing his thoughts, so Roman remained silent and waited for him to open his mouth again.
“So there was only one person who saw the suspicious person?”
“Yes. It was Marvin, he is serving young master Edwin.”
“Marvin… Then we need to start suspecting whether someone broke in in the first place.”
“Yes. I can’t believe it because Chase reported it before.”
The day Marvin grabbed Chase and said nonsense, a report came to the two people.
Chase reported that he would keep a close eye on Marvin, although his exact intentions were unknown.
“So you still don’t know who Renee met back then?”
“Yes. No one has seen it, and it looks like Renee doesn’t want to talk about it because she keeps changing the subject.”
“Well, if you watch a little more, you’ll know.”
In an unusually noisy early morning, quite a lot happened and several conversations took place between Raynan and Roman.
In particular, it was an opportunity for Raynan to become aware of things he had never thought about before.
“Duke? Duke!”
It was Roman’s call that brought Raynan back to reality, as he recalled what happened early in the morning.
Looking at Roman’s worried face, he seemed to have been lost in thought for quite some time.
“I was thinking about something.”
“Are you sure you want Renee right next with you? I thought you were going to talk about your engagement first.”
“I guess I was just trying to get a feel for how things are going with Renee… It won’t be bad.”
“You might even notice it.”
“That may be true, but it may also seem as if there is really nothing visible.”
“But since they might be doing what they want, wouldn’t it be better to think about it a little more?”
After hearing Roman’s cautious opinion, Raynan smiled rather satisfied.
“Wouldn’t it be okay to move as you wish? In fact, I think I should show it more clearly.”
Roman’s face turned pale again at Raynan’s words. An ominous feeling came over him.
“I don’t know what it is, but let’s think about it a little more.”
“Would it be great to go on a vacation?”
Raynan said, pretending not to listen to Roman’s earnest request.
“Vacation… You mean at a time like this?”
“Isn’t it even more meaningful at a time like this?”
“Do you really have to do that?”
“If it comes out like this, even the Schneider family will be confused.”
“I think it would be confusing even if it wasn’t to this extent.”
“But in the end, you won’t believe it. I don’t think I would risk that much to show them.”
“What do you mean, a vacation…….”
“Oh, don’t worry too much. I won’t take you with me.”
Hearing Raynan’s words that seemed to comfort Roman, he ended up putting his head in his hands.
“Doesn’t that mean that I have to stay here and take care of everything that the Duke has to do?”
“Yes.”
“Please think again. You’re making enough of her presence here.”
“Now is the time to let the outside world know. Wouldn’t it be better to show it clearly if possible?”
Normally, Roman would have given up and backed off a long time ago. But this time he couldn’t give up.
This was partly because Raynan usually handled quite a lot of work, and there were many difficult things to handle alone without him.
Raynan probably didn’t know that, so there had to be a good reason for doing it this way.
But no matter how much Roman thought about it, he couldn’t figure out how Raynan was going to handle the piling up of work.
So I have no choice but to hang on once again.
“But vacation at this time, the Duke knows better than I do how much work is piling up.”
Raynan was unfazed by Roman’s words.
“If I’m not there, won’t your work efficiency increase because there’s no one to interfere?”
He wrinkled his face at Raynan’s words, which seemed to be thinking of Roman.
“Are you really leaving me behind? What about young master Edwin?”
In response to Roman’s question, Raynan slowly rubbed his chin. After thinking about it for a moment, Raynan answered that he had made a decision.
“I’ll take him with me. It will be safer that way and Renee will feel at ease.”
“And yet you’re leaving me behind?”
Roman asked again, frustrated. Raynan usually hated being asked the same question over and over again.
But right now, he seemed to like the way he was flustered. He gave the same answer again without showing any displeasure.
“You can’t take your vicious mother-in-law on vacation.”
