Supporting Characters Also Need Some Love

SPECIAL CHAPTER 25

Part 147

 

It was a day when Irene had just turned six and Crown Prince Daryl had just turned eight. The King greeted her with a table full of sweet snacks. He started talking about various aspects of the situation, but after a while he cleared his throat and got to the point.

“Yes? Swordsmanship for Adrian?”

“Isn’t the Duke’s Bigor style swordsmanship one of the finest swordsmanships on the continent? The crown prince is very greedy for swordsmanship.”

“Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is eight years old this year.”

“They say it’s the right age for a man to hold a sword.”

Was that possible? Eight was the age when you should be holding cotton candy, not a sword.

“I heard that Master Guk is teaching him swordsmanship.”

“They also say that it is good to learn various sword techniques at a young age.”

Why did the more she listen to it, the more she felt like swordsmanship was not the problem? Was the goal Adrian’s swordsmanship, or was it Irene, who Adrian always carried around?

“…”

“Hmm, hmm.”

When she just stared at him without answering, the King avoided her gaze and cleared his throat. Although the King, who was always cool-headed and fair, loved Irene so much that he had to ask for a favor from His Majesty the Crown Prince, it was already difficult for him to be eyeing her so blatantly. She didn’t know anything about swordsmanship, but her common sense told her that six- and eight-year-old children should stay away from dangerous objects such as swords, but it seemed that wasn’t the case in this world. In fact, Irene also started learning swordsmanship from Adrian a while ago. It wasn’t something serious enough to involve swordsmanship or training, but ever since she was young, she especially enjoyed watching Adrian and the knights sparring or training and imitating them. And she thought it was cute because she was clumsily swinging a wooden stick, but Adrian, the best hedgehog in the world, said that Irene seemed to have a talent for swordsmanship and started teaching her that it would be difficult if her strange posture became ingrained from her childhood.

Adrian and Irene, wearing identical training uniforms while teaching swordsmanship, were laughing ‘hahaha’ and it looked like they were playing hide-and-seek in the training hall. Adrian was an expert, so he would be good at it, right? Since he had 151 taggers, she thought he would do well even if His Majesty the Crown Prince joined him. 

‘Oh, I guess you said he was a swordsman, not a tagger.’

She felt a strong desire to see Irene, who had stopped going to the palace, but she couldn’t refuse the King when he asked for something like that, and the two children got along very well, so there was no reason not to accept.

“So, training with Adrian? I’m not sure what it is, but I’ll tell you to adjust the time.”

“Daryl will be happy. Thank you.”

“It is an honor for our family, Your Majesty.”

“And this is a congratulatory gift.”

“Yes? Congratulatory?”

“You say the young lady will have a younger brother?”

She was about to announce her second pregnancy, and she hadn’t even told her finance department colleagues yet. How did he know? When she looked at him with wide eyes and a surprised face, the King smiled and said,

“Duke Bigor has kidnapped the royal midwife.”

‘Adrian…’

“Besides, the Bigor Knights have started to move. Sir Homet informed me that the agents of ‘The Moon’ have also dispersed abroad and begun espionage activities. It was the same movement as six years ago, so I could tell.”

‘Knights…’

She couldn’t help but laugh along with the words he said with a bright smile. She barely said her thanks as she received the gift box.

“Okay, thank you, majesty.”

When she returned to the Duke’s residence after tea with the King, Adrian was waiting for her at the front door, holding Irene in one arm, as usual today. And again today, he held her in his other arm and greeted her. She was carried into the room, held in Adrian’s arms, kissing her and Irene’s cheeks.

* * *

Sitting on both sides of Adrian’s legs on the sofa, Irene chattered with her about what she had been doing today.

“Sir George gave me a ride on a wooden horse today.”

“Did you? Did you have fun, Irene?”

“Yes, mother. The butler chased after him and Sir George just ran. It was more fun than riding his horse.”

She heard ‘Blue Moon’ was busy these days, but it seemed that’s not the case. The image of George giving Irene a ride on a wooden horse and Ethan chasing after her, saying he could ride it well, naturally came to mind.

“That must have been fun. Did you give Ethan a ride on the wooden horse too?”

“No, mother. Jenny came up and slapped Sir George and Butler on the back.”

The image of the invincible head maid smashing George and Ethan’s back while screaming at them, “What are you doing in such a dangerous way,” was also naturally depicted. 

‘Just having fun while I’m away.’

“By the way, mother. Why doesn’t Jenny have a sword?”

“Huh? Irene, do you want Jenny to have a sword too?”

“Jenny is the strongest after father, but she doesn’t have a sword so she can’t train? Can I give Jenny a sword as a gift?”

She was perplexed by Irene’s question, her eyes shining. Of course, her kind-hearted daughter, Jenny, was the strongest in this mansion after Adrian, but if she learned swordsmanship, it would be difficult in many ways. She might actually get a scouting offer from the Royal Guard. It was obvious that if Irene bought her a sword, Jenny would be so thrilled that she would immediately learn swordsmanship. Jenny, who was good at everything, was definitely good at swordsmanship. She could also say that he would lead the ‘Lady’s Shadow’, a special task force to protect Irene that was being prepared for launch. Then Franz, who just became a new groom, would cry.

“Irene, Jenny still has a lot of work to do. Wouldn’t it be too hard to even train in swordsmanship?”

In response to her question, Irene folded her fingers one by one as Jenny listed each thing she did.

“Growing herbs, making snacks, combing hair, making training clothes… That’s right, mother. As expected, there’s nothing mother doesn’t know.”

After folding all ten of her fingers, Irene nodded her head and looked up to her.

“That’s right.”

Adrian, who was watching them talking, joined in, dripping with honey. As she promised herself once again that she would live upright in front of the father and daughter who were sure that everything she said was right, she thought of something other than a sword that she could give Jenny as a gift. Irene folded her seventh finger and said, ‘Making cotton candy,’ and as she folded her eighth finger, she said, ‘Suni goes for a walk.’

She must have been busy managing the mansion and taking care of Irene, but on days when she was tired from a lot of work in the inspection department, the cotton candy you always had for dessert was made by Jenny. Jenny was also taking care of Suni, who was too busy to look at her often. 

‘Jenny, I thought we should at least give her a vacation, but it looks like she might not be welcome. Should I buy you a carriage?’

After talking with Irene for a while, it was time to take a nap and Jenny came to pick me up. Now it’s time to hang out with Adrian until dinner.

“When this child is born, I will finally be able to walk on my own feet, right?”

When Irene left, she asked Adrian, who was patting her stomach as if he had been waiting for her, and he answered with a grin.

“What are you saying? Damien always comes first.”

What? She thought the great achievement of walking on her own feet with two children was just around the corner? Wasn’t she carrying two babies?

“I can walk. Ad, you need to hug your second son too.”

“There are plenty of people who want to carry children, but I’m the only one who can hug Damian, right?”

‘What, why are you pretending to be logical? Why am I supposed to be carried around?’

Adrian, who clearly knew that she was embarrassed, pretended not to notice and massaged her legs. As her fatigue melts away, she ended up pretending not to notice.

After talking about this and that, she conveyed the king’s request.

“The King asked Ad to become the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship teacher.”

Adrian stopped his hand rubbing the sole of his foot and muttered softly.

“Even though I refused…”

“Ad? Have you already heard this?”

“Yes, I declined because the Secretary of State recommended it.”

“Oh, I also received a thank you note from Your Majesty. Why did you refuse? Is this a problem?”

“No. I did it because I was afraid it would interfere with Irene’s sword training. It’s okay.”

Was he saying that you refused Mr. Gukseo’s request out of fear that it would interfere with six-year-old Irene’s swordsmanship training?

“Didn’t you just not like the crown prince or anything else that was interfering with Irene’s exclusive time, idiot daughter-lover?”

She asked out of surprise, but Adrian smiled brightly and answered.

“You’re right.”

She couldn’t make fun of him because he admited it so confidently.

“It’s not good to grow up surrounded by too many adults. That’s how you get along with your peers.”

“I will try to arrange a meeting with ladies of the same age.”

“Ah, you don’t like His Majesty Daryl that much?”

“He proposed to Irene, right?”

Adrian brought up a story from two years ago with a serious face and she burst out laughing.

“Ah, that’s a story from when Irene was four years old. Daryl, he was only six years old.”

“A marriage proposal is a proposal.”

“Besides, our Irene rejected it out loud.”

Since he hadn’t taken Irene to the palace since the year before last, the little crown prince must have been thinking about his proposal. She flatly refused and boasted that she would not marry anyone who was not as strong as her father, and she believed Adrian perfected Bigor’s swordsmanship in earnest after that. Was this an expression of his will to become the strongest on the continent and not give his daughter away in marriage? Now that she thought about it, did Daryl, who wanted to come learn swordsmanship, meant that he would have to show her what a strong man he was? She wondered if she was attaching too much meaning to the actions of an eight-year-old, but she guessed he didn’t like the crown prince as son-in-law. Irene couldn’t help it if she wanted, but the palace would still be stuffy. 

‘Hmm. Hmm. I guess I should have refused as expected, hmm. Hmm.’

Adrian and she mumbled for a while and ended the conversation by saying they would just wait and see. Anyway, it’s probably a good thing that Irene has someone to play with or train with.

* * *

After talking about this and that, she moved on to the story of the end of the sparkling love affair between her lieutenant Nelia and Prince Frederick Huger.

“Finally, Nelia accepted Pedric Youngsik’s marriage proposal.”

“It seemed like you were worried, but it ended up being that way.”

As soon as Fedric turned eighteen and graduated from the academy, he took the civil service examination. And he proudly took the position of chief and was appointed to the Ministry of Finance’s inspection department. And he publicly declared that he would be her friend, but for a while, he was arguing with Nelia, who was already taking the same course and was active as her deputy, saying that she was the manager’s right hand man and that he was left-handed, so her left arm was fine. Then, they hit it off and became the chief duo of the inspection department, and for the past three years, they had a whirlwind relationship between men.

Everyone was watching to see if there would be talk of marriage between Pedric, now a handsome young man of 21, and Nelia, 24. However, as the health of the duke, who was guarding the Duchy of Rapture, deteriorated, Pedric resigned. At the same time, he proposed marriage, and Nelia was thinking for a long time about whether or not to follow him to the Duchy of Rapture.

“I think Pedric said Nelia didn’t have to write her resignation letter.”

“Weren’t you going to the Duchy of Rapture together?”

“I’m going to go and get married and then come back. He said he would go back and forth between the Duchy and Midok to look after me. I heard that he did a lot of research following someone’s example.”

Someone who heard her story smiled and said it was good. Since he had been the unrivaled head of the inspection department under the leadership of leftist Pedrok and Nelia, she was secretly disappointed to hear that they were both resigning at the same time, but it turned out really well. Nelia was placed on leave and decided to return to work as soon as she returned from the Rapture House.

 * * *

After the celebration party for her second pregnancy, and after Nelia and Fedric’s farewell party, three seasons passed that were similar to, and somehow more unusual than, the time she had Irene. Kids who didn’t make a fuss were said to tremble more easily, and the entire Bigor family was as excited as her bulging stomach. Among them, Irene’s excitement was the highest, as her cheeks flushed at the news that she would be having a younger sibling.

 

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Translator Note: