Chapter 7
Cake, delicious cake (2)
Regardless of the loudness, Luke’s appearance was cold.
Bonita’s pupils fluttered like barley at harvest time as she gripped the doorknob, hearing the Duke for being cold-blooded.
‘I-I wasn’t supposed to come in?’
Such a scary face.
Maybe he would suddenly get angry and kick out a child like me from this mansion.
“Oh my, Bonita. What are you doing not going in?”
“Well, that..”
A voice came from behind Bonita. Luke was involuntarily shocked by the chill contained in those words.
Creak—
When the door was fully opened, a woman with blonde hair was standing. Luke and Aria’s eyes met.
She said sarcastically, pulling Bonita towards her with an uncomfortable expression on her face.
“Hello? He’s an idiot who doesn’t understand what to say.”
“What…!”
Luke looked down in anger and stopped when he saw tears welling up in Bonita’s eyes. His expression changed.
“Yes, I didn’t say that to you. Please don’t cry…”
“Sniff.”
X it’s done.
It was a vulgar word that I don’t usually use, but that was all I could think of. Luke froze like ice on the spot.
It was quite a sight to see a giant nearly 2 meters tall stiffening like an idiot in front of a child. That Duke Lysianthus, who lives with all kinds of ugly rumors.
Ed, the servant who was watching, almost burst out laughing for a moment, but hiccuped at Aria’s face. There were only hiccups.
‘How can you say that to a child?’
Of course, Aria also has a history of accidentally saying harsh things in front of Bonita a few times, but at least she didn’t say those things directly to the child. No matter how much of a mistake it was, I couldn’t help but feel angry.
‘Still, I thought about myself and tried to help you become friends!’
Aria, who had made a cake with a delighted Bonita, suggested that she take it to her father.
“Daughter, how about showing this to your father? A gift.”
“But it’s such a mess… Wouldn’t he hate it because it’s annoying? Moreover, the Duke did not come to see me for three days…”
“That can’t be possible. The Duke loves you very much. He is just a little awkward.”
‘I was so good at persuading her!’
As it turned out, she had hit her right in the face of her concerns.
She had the urge to throw the cake box in her hand Luke had once been hit by Elodie with a real cake when they were dating), but considering her predicament, she held back.
More than anything, I didn’t want to let Luke break down like that in front of Bonita.
“Well, I, I mean.”
Aria’s eyes turned to Luke.
He was still repeating the same stupid things like a parrot in front of a girl who was half his age.
He stuttered when he was genuinely flustered. It was a trait of his that others did not know about.
At this point, Aria decided to help her ex-husband.
“Bonita, come here.”
Bonita took a few steps back and hugged Aria’s skirt. Luke glared at her resentfully.
“Why didn’t you tell me first?”
But this statement was absurd.
“We knocked, right?”
“… That.”
Luke, at a loss for words, looked at Bonita, who was hiding through the hem of Aria’s clothes, biting his mouth. His bitter red eyes dripped with resentment and regret.
If you keep doing this, you’ll ruin it. Aria sighed and urged him on.
“Duke. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to apologize to Bonita?”
“Ah.”
He let out a dumbfounded exclamation.
His hands wandered in the air.
“Hmm, that, Bonita.”
“… Ye-yes?”
The answering voice trembled.
No matter how familiar Bonita was with situations like this, she couldn’t help but feel scared in front of Luke, who was much tougher than other men. Luke recalled that fact carefully and took a step back. Then Bonita’s expression became slightly more relaxed than before.
“I didn’t really mean to say that to you. I thought it was someone else.”
“… Really?”
“Yes.”
Luke tried to sound as gentle and friendly as he could.
“Because you are my daughter, you can come to my office at any time and for no reason. You’re always welcome.”
Bonita’s eyes widened at the unconventional words. The fear in the child’s red eyes faded, revealing her curiosity. Luke internally sighed in relief.
Ed, the servant next to them, cleared his throat. He decided to ask this little girl a question for the Duke, who was completely nervous.
“Lady, by the way, what brings you to the office? If I’m not mistaken, what Miss Aria is holding behind her looks like a gift box.”
“Ah!”
Bonita glanced behind her with a brief exclamation. Aria nodded her head.
Bonita was a little hesitant, but confided in the Duke, who was less intimidating than he had been earlier.
“Mother and I made a cake… She said she thought you’d like it, so I came to give it to the Duke.”
Luke looked at Aria in surprise. To be exact, she was carrying the gift box that Aria was holding.
‘A gift for Duke.’
For a moment, he was at a loss as to whether he should be saddened by the extremely distant title or happy about the gift his daughter had brought him for the first time. Meanwhile, Bonita was watching Luke with her anxious eyes.
“That, you might not like it. Now that I think about it, I don’t think this is a very good idea-”
“No way!”
Luke shouted in surprise. He took the box from Aria. Then, he placed it on his office desk as if it were a precious treasure.
“I really like it. Can ‘Dad’ open your gift now?”
He asked, partially accenting the word ‘dad’. But unfortunately, Bonita was so distracted by the Duke’s friendly smile that she did not notice his earnest signal.
Bonita blinked her eyes and slowly nodded her head.
After permission was given, Luke carefully opened the wrapper. As he was untying the carefully tied ribbon, he felt a sense of déjà vu.
‘This…’
“Elodie, how on earth did you tie the ribbon? It doesn’t work out at all.”
“I tied it tightly with my love!”
“No, it really won’t work out.”
“Can you just cut it with scissors?”
“That is absolutely not possible! I will keep and display everything you gave me without a scratch. Even if it’s a gift wrapping ribbon.”
“… Isn’t that so gross?”
A unique ribbon knot that you don’t know how on earth it was tied.
Luke, who had paused for a moment in a distant memory, now unraveled the strange knot with his skillful hands.
Then, a sweet-smelling cake came out of it. Luke’s eyes looked inside the box.
The surface of whipped cream is rough when applied directly. Strawberry pieces cut crookedly were decorated with clumsiness.
It was a very shabby and plain cake compared to what he usually eats.
Still, when he imagined his daughter’s tiny hands making the cake, he felt as if someone was squeezing his heart with their hand.
Luke was silent for a moment as a wave of emotion suddenly rose up, and then carefully bent his knees.
As he dropped to one knee, he was barely eye level with Bonita. He had to be delicately careful not to frighten her. He placed his hands on his knees and smiled.
“That’s a very nice cake, Bonita. It’s a really nice gift.”
“Oh.”
Luke extended his hand very, very slowly. Bonita was momentarily startled by the approaching hand, but instead of avoiding him due to her caring attitude, she kept her place.
When the large hand touched the small head, Luke, who had been very nervous, internally sighed in relief.
Meeting my daughter was ecstatic, but I was so nervous that my heart sank and my lifespan seemed to be shortening.
“……?”
And in that state, the hand stopped.
Bonita looked at Luke’s hand resting on her head with bewildered eyes. Aria touched her forehead.
Ed, who was watching, cleared his throat again and slapped the Duke.
“Your Excellency. You weren’t going to pet her, were you?”
“…….”
Petting?
After hearing those words, Luke seriously wondered if he could really do that, and then made eye contact with Bonita.
Pink eyes.
A face that closely resembles Elodie.
When he saw Bonita, who proved with her whole body that she was his own flesh and blood. To him, her daughter was like a mirage that would disappear at any moment if he touched it wrongly.
He eventually quickly retrieved his hand. I couldn’t even dare to touch her anymore.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Silence fell in the office.
The reasons were varied.
‘What should I say?’
Luke’s mind went blank like an idiot when he saw the ‘object of concern’ that had appeared for the first time in a long time.
‘What was that just now…?’
Bonita was thinking hard about what Luke had just done.
‘How did he get so stupid while I was gone? I can’t leave him alone like this!’
Aria was thinking that she would have to keep an eye on her ex-husband’s stupid behavior, whom she wanted to punch.
It’s literally a different dream.
And Ed, the servant watching it all in real time, groaned. He wished he could ask him to leave, but he felt like it was going to be overwhelmed by this awkward, uncomfortable silence if she stayed.
He couldn’t help himself.
“Um, Your Excellency?”
“What’s going on?”
Ugh.
With his face stiffer than usual, Ed screamed inwardly and broke into a cold sweat.
“No, that’s… Since the lady already made a cake, how about having a tea time together?”
“Tea time?”
The Duke’s eyebrows twitched wildly. Ed swallowed his saliva as he felt like he was going to kill someone.
