Chapter 177

Through the cracks in the pile of stones, something white at first glance caught my eye.

‘What?’

When I tried to approach it out of curiosity.

“Emir, stop looking at the stones and come here! All the fish are grilled. It smells so good. It will taste better than what we ate back then.”

“Oh, really?”

At Maya’s voice, accompanied by the delicious smell that suddenly wafted out, curiosity went somewhere and hunger went up.

‘Well, it’s not a big deal. Let’s eat and then think.’

I immediately turned around and headed towards the children.

Maya’s hand-grilled fish was served by the attendants around us and served on our plates.

‘Wow! The skin looks very thin!’

My mouth was watering to the point of salivating.

I quickly grabbed my fork and tasted the fish.

‘As expected! Tasty. Maya really doesn’t lie!’

When I was happy to fill my mouth with my cheeks chewing, Jake, who was sitting next to me, muttered to himself.

“…… We had a barbecue together back then.”

“What? Jay, what did you just say?”

As if a little startled by my question, Jake widened his eyes, covered his mouth, and shook his head slightly.

“It’s nothing, Mir. Without realizing it, I was talking to myself.”

“Ah…… okay? But you ate only a little fish. Are you feeling unwell?”

I tilted my head.

Or maybe he just ate too much for lunch so he doesn’t have much appetite?

“No. I’ll eat it now.”

“Really? Then…… Go ahead.”

“…… !”

Jake stopped acting like he was embarrassed.

In the meantime, I quickly poked the fish meat with a fork and put it in Jake’s mouth.

“What do you think?”

“…… Yes, it is very tasty.”

Jake laughed bashfully.

* * *

After having a fish barbecue, we went back into the mansion.

It was because of the chief handmaid’s opinion that if we were outside for too long in this cold, we might fall ill.

‘It’s cozy!’

It couldn’t be better than this, coming from a cold place into a warm room.

It felt as if my body, which had been frozen hard, slowly melted in a warm blanket.

For a moment, I thought about the stone I saw in the empty lot earlier and the coldness of the duchy, and then I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, it was already the next day.

It was quite late in the morning, and the sun was shining brightly from the window.

“Yaawn……. hmm?”

“Are you awake, Lady?”

At the sudden voice, I squinted my eyes and looked straight ahead.

Because I didn’t wake up easily as if I was stuck last night.

There stood a well-dressed maid holding a meal tray.

“Young Duke told me not to wake the guests, so I was waiting. I just served you a meal, would you like to eat it?”

I nodded.

No wonder, that’s why I woke up.

I woke up because my nanny always woke me up at a set time.

It was awkward how long it had been since I slept so late.

After breakfast, with the help of the nanny who was waiting for me, I changed and dressed up.

The nanny told me

“Lady, the Young Duke told you to come and play in the greenhouse garden when you wake up. Your other close friends are already there.”

“Oh really? Then I must go.”

I quickly got ready and followed the Duke’s castle’s maid to the greenhouse garden.

Indeed, all the children were there.

“What, you’re here? Such a late sleeper.”

Cedric stared at me and teased me.

Maya, who was sitting across from Cedric, waved to me.

“Did you sleep well, Emir?”

I nodded.

Apparently, the two were playing chess here.

It seems that Cedric, who was playing this game for the first time, had his hair scattered.

I looked around for a moment, and wondered where Jake and Alice were.

“Where are Alice and Jake?”

“Oh, those two?”

Just as Maya was about to reply, I felt someone running up to me from behind and hugging me.

“…… Alice?”

Seeing the long blonde hair hanging down near my shoulder, I knew it was Alice.

“Right! It’s me.”

Alice smiled brightly and nodded her head, seemingly glad that I had recognized her right away.

“Where have you been?”

To my question, Alice pointed to one side of the greenhouse.

“There are a lot of pretty trees and flowers over there, so I came to look around for a while.”

“Ah-ha, I see!”

It was the greenhouse garden that was the only place in the duchy to see a variety of well-groomed plants.

‘Should I take a look? … No, this is not the time. Jake!’

The moment I thought I should ask Jake’s whereabouts, Maya said.

“Looking for Lord Jake? He’ll probably be in the library.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. He said he was bored and wanted to read a book, so I gave him the library pass.”

Read? Then, suddenly, something came to mind.

‘If I go to the mansion’s library, I would be able to find out information about this duchy or folk magic that has been passed down?’

Looking at it like that, I thought maybe I could get a hint about the cold here.

“I want to go to the library too!”

“Really? Then I’ll give you a pass too. Follow the attendant…… No, should I just go with you?”

Maya pondered something with the chess piece, and then he jumped to his feet.

Then Cedric, who was opposite him, grumbled.

“What, I was almost winning. Are you cowardly running away?”

Contrary to that, though, looking at the condition of the chessboard, it didn’t look like Cedric was winning at all.

“Tsk, I want to go too. Then. Why don’t we play games in the library?”

Eventually, Cedric picked up the chess set and got up.

And Alice followed me.

“I will go too! I’m done looking at the greenhouse.”