Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Despite her babbling, her eyes were full of worry.

“Big Bunny. Daddy will be fine, right?”

“Of course. I’m sure he’ll be awake as soon as tomorrow comes.”

“I hope so. It really…doesn’t suit him. Lying in the bed like this.”

Rere stroked the Duke’s cheek where she had just kissed him.

“Don’t be sick, Daddy. I’ll come again tomorrow, okay?”

“Rere is so strong. I thought you said you were going to sleep next to Daddy?”

“I want to, but I don’t want to make you worry.”

“Me?”

“Big Bunny will be worried if Rere stays here. I’m sure you won’t be able to sleep through the night, so I don’t want to worry you. As for Daddy….he’s got a lot of people looking after him, so he’ll be fine!”

So I picked Rere up..

“No, it’s okay. Rere can stay with Daddy if Rere wants to.”

“No! I know that Big Bunny can’t sleep well without me! I’m more worried about Big Bunny than Daddy. Daddy can’t get sick. He’ll be better soon.”

Rere came up with her own reasoning and grabbed my hand and dragged me outside. I couldn’t possibly stop the child who had been talking that much.

“Don’t worry, Madam. We’ll take good care of His Excellency.”

“Thank you.”

I left the room with Rere after being reassured by the servant.

But I didn’t see Luca anywhere today. Luca had always stayed close to the Duke yet was nowhere to be found.

I couldn’t ask the servants about Luca’s whereabouts because Rere was with me, so I kept looking around until we were away from the Duke’s room, but it was fruitless.

Luca hadn’t visited me since the night I shared wine with the Duke a few days ago. I couldn’t check his whereabouts because I fell asleep as soon as I arrived in the room that day. But it was probably from that day.

After that, I waited for him on the terrace every night after Rere went to bed. But until my hands turned cold, Luca never showed up.

“Big Bunny. Who are you looking for?”

“Huh?”

“You keep looking around.”

“No…I’m just thinking about something.”

“Ah, yes. Let’s go faster. I want to go to bed early and get up early tomorrow! So I can look after my daddy!”

With a wide grin, the child went to bed right away just as she said. Still, I waited for Luca, who did not appear that day as well.

The next day, Rere woke up before me, washed up and had breakfast.

“Big Bunny. Get up.”

“Umm, Rere..”

“Rere is ready, you see?”

Rere used her fingers to push up my eyelids when I was barely looking at her with half my eyes closed. But since I didn’t wake up, she got busy kissing my forehead and cheeks.

“Hurry up and get up. You should eat something.”

“Umm.. I will eat…you can go to your daddy if you are ready. Didn’t you get up early to get to his room as soon as possible?”

“Yeah! But I wanted to greet you first. Big Bunny, don’t worry about me. Return safely, okay?”

When I sat up in my bed, Rere climbed down and cutely rested her chin on both of her hands, as if waiting for me to speak.

“Yeah. Rere, please take good care of Daddy. I’m counting on you!”

“Okay!”

Rere bobbed her head up and down as if she had been waiting to hear it.

The nanny approached us and took Rere’s hand.

“Please don’t worry about the young lady, Madam. I’ll stay next to her.”

“Me, too! We’ll take good care of the young lady!”

May and the nanny both comforted me.

“Then I’ll be counting on you.”

“You know that I’ll be fine without these two, right? After all, I’ve been looking after two people. If you make a slip of the tongue, you must correct yourself immediately!”

“I-I will keep that in mind.”

Rere screamed with the same expression as usual.

“Let’s go right away.”

“Yes!”

So by the time I got out of bed, the three people had vanished from my sight. There was a maid on standby after they left, but the room became unusually quiet.

Perhaps it was because Rere was not present that I felt the loneliness amid this silence.

I hated it, so I quickly got myself ready. I only ate a few bites of bread before hurrying to the carriage.

I thought it’d be better to go to the temple quickly and investigate the disease rather than being alone. However, I was surprised to see someone inside the carriage.

“Luca…?”

Am I seeing a ghost? I missed Luca so much that I thought I was dreaming, so I pinched my cheek as soon as I got on the carriage.

But it wasn’t a ghost or a dream.

It was Luca. And he was smiling.

“Huh….?”

Meanwhile, the carriage door closed, and we slowly set off to the temple.

“Are you really Luca?”

“Yes, I’m Luca.”

“Haa…I see. I…I thought something bad had happened to you.”

Luca would normally approach me and apologize right away but only smiled silently.

“You’re a bit strange today, Luca.”

“Is that so?”

“…Why haven’t you visited me at night lately?”

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

I hadn’t seen him in a long time. Luca’s eyes, however, were filled with sadness that I had never seen before.

“Is there…something wrong?”

“No. By the way, Leona, do you plan to go somewhere else aside from the temple today?”

“I’m going to visit the old butler. I don’t know his name, but I know where he lives.”

I noticed he deliberately changed the subject, so I tried to reply as casually as possible.

“I see.”

“I’m going to the temple first. You’re going with me, right?”

“Of course. I’ll go with you wherever you go. Be it the temple or the old butler’s house.”

“By the way, I don’t know the old butler’s name…do you know, Luca?”

“It’s Alendra Celter. You may call him Allen.”

“As expected, there’s nothing Luca doesn’t know. I only heard from the Duke that he left the duchy quite a long time ago.”

“It’s my duty to know everything. I think we’re almost there.”

Luca drew the curtain back to look at the temple which was not fully visible yet.

“It feels like this trip is always too short. Is it because I’m with Luca?”

“That’s something I always regret, too.”

Luca hesitated as if he wanted to say something more, but soon the carriage stopped.

“Do you have something to say to me? Luca?”

“Let’s talk again later.”

But why did you look so depressed when you said that? Do you really have time to spare later?

A strange anxiety enveloped me, however I had no choice but to take his word for the time being.

Meanwhile, the carriage door opened, revealing the temple in front of us. As he promised before, Isaac was standing in front of our carriage.

“Welcome.”

“Yes, Have you been well?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

Then, Isaac took the lead by turning around right away as if there was an urgent matter.

“Please follow me.”

Luca was still inside the carriage when Isaac hastily turned around. Nevertheless, Isaac walked ahead like a bulldozer, and I had no choice but to follow him closely. Fortunately, Luca quickly caught up with us.

“Are you in a rush, Isaac?”

“Yes! I’ve become a senior priest and was entrusted with the task of training the new priest. I’m a little busy.”

“If that’s the case, then next time the others can…”

“No. It was my pleasure to escort you. Thanks to the Duchess, I was promoted to senior priest, and this temple has also changed. So I wanted to escort you no matter what!”

I couldn’t help but smile at his determined attitude.

“Thank you for saying that. It’s only been a few days, but I think your complexion has gotten so much better.”

“Really? I’m glad to hear that. I don’t think this temple has ever been as good as it was recently. That’s probably why I look this way. More importantly, the High Priest will be grateful if you can schedule an appointment with him next time.”

“Isn’t he busy?”

“Yes, but he really wants to see you whenever you visit the temple.”

“Then I’ll make sure to do so.”

I couldn’t refuse it when he asked me politely like that.

“His Holiness also asked whether the Duchess still visits the library these days.”

“Did he?”

As we walked through the white hallway, I looked at the garden.

The temple that was covered in green exuded a different atmosphere from before, and the number of middle-aged priests decreased significantly.

Instead, there seemed to be quite a few young priests, some as young as ten years old. Wearing a priest apprentice uniform and following the senior priest like a chick. They were adorable.

“Yes. If necessary, he gave permission to the other priests to enter so they can help you.”

“We’ll look for it ourselves first.”

“Ourselves…?”

“Yes.”

“Ahh.. yes. But please let me know if you need anything.”

I was wondering why Isaac was looking at me and Luca strangely.

“Sure.”

After some time, we arrived in front of the library.

“Then I’ll be waiting here by the time you come out.”

“If you’re busy, you can have someone else to escort me. Don’t feel pressured, Isaac.”

“Yes.”

So I left the kindly man and went into the library as usual. Luca was still right behind me.

“Luca.”

“Yes.”

“Should I get their help?”

“I don’t see why not? It’d be fine as long as Leona wants it.”

“Hmm.. should I? I think having a large group of people helping would be convenient, but I’m worried that they’ll find out Rere is sick.”

Only then he nodded.

“That’s true. But I don’t want to see Leona have a hard time alone.”

“So what do you want to say?”

“Let’s get their help from now on.”

“If Luca says so, then we’ll do that.”

As I looked at Luca, who was as calm as ever, my anxiety increased. But then Luca put his hand on my shoulder.

“But I’m here today, so don’t worry too much. I hope we can find it today.”

“Actually, I don’t want to get their help so I can have a date with Luca.”

But Luca only laughed instead of answering.