"D-DELICIOUS~!" Duke said as he slopped down Vivian's cooking.
Although Duke's way of eating slightly disgusted Vivian, she was still quite moved at how deliciously he treated the food she cooked.
Duke quickly finished eating but decided to stay and wait for Vivian as the thought of her eating alone would be lonely.
Vivian, on the other hand, found it quite uncomfortable to be stared at while she ate. But weirdly enough though, she didn't mind much, in fact, some part of her was simply happy to have someone to eat with.
After finishing her meal, Vivian asked: "Duke, after dinner lets go to my room"
"Ohh~! A-Are you perhaps seducing me? Gehehe" Duke giggled like an idiot.
Vivian stared at Duke silently which made him shut up.
"Sadly, no… I was about to teach you some stuff about accounting and fief management" Vivian indifferently remarked.
"Ehh? Who are you, my mother?" Duke remembered his mother from Vivian's words. She had always been a cold and strict person in Duke's memories. Because of this, Duke felt like that he had never made her proud as she always had this serious face plastered on her that made Duke quite reluctant to ask his mother to teach him about Accounting and Economics. Duke feared he'd just disappoint her more if he ever did show her how incompetent he was…
"You're just wasting your time, you know… I mean, I'm probably too dumb to learn that complicated stuff anyway" Duke protested as he frantically tried to convince Vivian.
"Huh, well if you change your mind, meet me in the study. I'll bring the books from my room" Vivian stood up as she quickly left the dining area, but not before handing Duke an old letter.
Duke was puzzled at the sudden letter that was handed to him, asking himself: "A love letter maybe?" Duke thought Vivian was finally being honest with her feelings.
[But that's not right… this letter's too old] Duke discerned as he started opening it up. The letter was already unsealed, however, as Duke realized it had probably been read by another person other than him.
It was actually Vivian who found the letter hidden inside of the desk in the study in one of its lower compartments.
The letter read:
{To whomever this letter reaches to, as you are probably the person my little Duke ended up marrying or at least someone trusted enough by his grandfather Gwaine to enter the study…}
The Study was commonly a very private and heavily guarded room that only trusted members of a Noble or Merchant's family could enter since it mainly functioned as the family Patriarch's main office and/or as the family's private library.
Since the room would most likely contain sensitive information about the Household, such as the records of its many assets, the Family Register, and even the Noble House's secret hidden history that they wouldn't normally disclose to the public, Duke's mother concluded that anybody who found/read the letter would most likely be a part of the family, or at the least a friend of theirs…
{After my husband passed away, and the only family I have left now are Duke and his grandfather, it is probably safe to assume that the two would never reach nor see this letter as much to my dismay none of the two have the meticulousness nor the care to search every drawer of this study.
Since this letter would probably never see the light of day nor be discovered by those two anyway as they never did show any interest in the study or any of the estate's finances for that matter, I am writing this letter just for the fun of it, so don't take its contents too seriously… Consider these as just the ramblings and complaints of a mother seriously worried for the future of her son and her family.
But if someone does manage to read this letter, then that means I am most likely already gone, and since I'm gone I truly worry for the financial state of those two idiots… The two won't last a second without me here!
Or maybe it is simply my hubris to think the two won't be capable enough to handle themselves, how I seriously wish it is simply my conceited arrogance talking right now, but as my all too pragmatic rationalization already knows, this is most likely not the case.
So if you are reading this right now, o kind stranger, I sincerely beg you, please take care of Duke.
And if you can, maybe teach him a thing or two about Accounting. The sweet little idiot could never focus long enough on my lessons.
And if I could leave one last message through you, please tell him I do sincerely love him with all of my heart.
And that I am sorry. So so sorry I could not show it well enough due to the rigidness of my face. Please tell him that although I never outright said it, he made me very very proud.
- Love, the Countess of Maine"
*Sob Sob* *Sniff Sniff*
Vivian was listening to Duke as he bawled his eye out, thinking there was no one there listening to him.
As Vivian watched Duke's small interaction with his mother, she remembered her own mother.
The mother she too missed dearly, thinking to herself at that moment:
[Mothers are nice…] as she headed towards the study.
*Bam!* The door loudly opened as a fat man entered the room.
Vivian was reading on some of the Account Books there as Duke came in the study filled with complete resolve.
"Vivian! I am ready to learn! Let's start some studying!" Duke shouted as he felt like he was about to enter a battlefield.
"AH?! Would you knock or at least enter quietly as a normal person would?!" Vivian eeped in fright from the sudden loud noise Duke had made.
"I am now ready to study!" Duke shouted back, completely ignoring Vivian's scolding. Duke you see, had a very skewed understanding of what it meant to study Accounting.
All of the Accounting and Economics teachers Duke went through in the Academy, for the most part, would only lambast him or ignore his sincere questions opting instead to call him ignorant or stupid whenever he raised a simple question, egging the whole class to laugh at his stupidity, he was after all the Imperial Academy's punching bag back when he was at school.
But contrary to his expectations, Vivian taught him in a gentle and understanding manner, neither calling him stupid nor shouted at him the moment he raised a question at her.
Vivian slowly guided him through the basics with enough patience and care that she would've given if she was the one herself being taught.
Through this, Vivian realize that Duke was a complete beginner in Economics. No, it was as if he was never even exposed to the subject!
Duke's mother could never really get him to concentrate during her lessons when he was just a child. And after she died, despite him claiming that he had graduated from the Imperial Academy, which mandated its students to take a few courses in economics, since Duke was too slow to understand things from a textbook, and since no teacher there ever took the time to actually teach Duke anything, you know like what their job entails for them to do, Duke was worse off than a beginner and was more akin to someone who has never even been exposed to the subject.
Through Vivian's help, although slow and needed constant repetition, Duke slowly but steadily learned more and more about Money, Trade, and the Economy in general from Vivian.
Although sometimes she too couldn't help but be annoyed at his occasional dumb and misplaced questions. Sometimes wondering to herself: [Was he an idiot? Or an evil genius messing with me?!]
"Ohhh! So that's it! If the Empire takes taxes according to your fief's income, then what if we say we had a drought! Or maybe even a great famine of some kind! I mean Maine's summers are pretty hot ya' know… We tell them this and they only go for half of our income!" Duke gleefully thought as he imagined scamming the Empire out of its tax money.
"No! That would be Income Tax Fraud, Duke..." Vivian stared at him in both wondering bewilderment and disappointment.
"Oh! OH! What if, what if we give our income to another person then~, we make him put it in another Bank Account, send it somewhere outside of Brune, THEN say we had low income this year! Eh eh~? I don't think that would be something illegal! Gahaha!" Duke suggested, trying his best to find a loophole in Brune's tax system.
Vivian: "No Duke… that would be Asset Misappropriation and Illegal-Offshore Banking..."
Duke: "Awe dang! I guess there are no shortcuts in money, huh…"
Vivian continued to laugh at the wild and sometimes illegal ideas Duke gave her. Luckily for Duke, he was only talking to his wife not-wife friend. If he had said this to a state accountant he'd probably be charged with treason under the dereliction of his duty as a City Lord…
Duke looked at Vivian who was continuously giggling at his idiotic words, Vivian didn't normally smile, so he found her brief moments of happiness to be precious. Thinking to himself:
[I guess being stupid isn't half bad, haha. If I could see her laugh at least]
Vivian stared back at Duke, surprised he was quite fast at reading as he quickly skimmed through the papers she gave him, even if they didn't get stuck to his memory the speed at which he read them was still quite notable.
"I never expected you were a quick reader, or if you could read at all…" Vivian sarcastically joked.
"What?" Duke was puzzled at the compliment(?) he received. (Well at least he took it as a compliment)
"I thought you were the type of Noble who'd eat all day or find some pitiful peasant to torment" Vivian giggled as the decadent outward appearance of Duke was quite different from his actual tender personality.
Duke: "Hehe, is that a compliment? I might not look like it but I quite enjoy reading books, ya' know! Although I only read novels…"
"Really? Huh, I guess you should never judge a book by its cover… I guess I'm sorry for judging you that way" Vivian awkwardly apologized.
Duke then proceeded to show Vivian the large novel collection he brought from his room that he had kept lying around as they started talking about the novels they've read and liked as they rested for a brief moment.
After a short rest, Vivian then proceeded to Duke's History education. For which she gave Duke the Diary of the First Emperor of Brune: Emperor Vasuvius I, with the astute title of 'The First'.
Duke giggled when he read of the Emperor's troubles in foreign countries as they pronounced his name and his title making it sound like:
"We now welcome, His Majesty, Emperor Vasuvius Alastor Brune the first, The First"
Duke, the child that he was, also laughed at the Emperor's sexual orientation and preferences that were recorded in his diary.
"Look, Vivian! Look, the Emperor was 'GAY' GAHAHAHAHAHA, he was GAY!"
Vivian stared at Duke and his immature sense of humor and replied: "You know a lot of historical figures were gay right?" as she listed a number of men who married other men in history.
Duke: "Oh really?! Wow, that puts a lot of things into perspective, huh. Didn't expect the Emperor who perfected both the Dragon Knight's Sword and the Emperor's Sword styles would like other men..."
"The Dragon Knight's Sword Style?" Vivian asked.
"Yeah, it's my family's Sword Style. Hehehe, did you know Vivian, our family's line could be traced to the First Emperor's second son!" Duke flaunted the little trivia he had of his family's lineage.
"That's cool I guess. But you should know a lot of families come from royal origins" Vivian giggled at Duke's immature knowledge.
"Still, I don't quite get why the Royal Family would let their First Emperor's secrets get published like this. Doesn't the Holy Church detest homosexuality?" Duke wondered as he brought up the topic.
"Oh, well, that's because this book is one of the illegal original versions. The version out in the public is actually quite dumbed down and glorified for the sake of stability. The Holy Central Church hadn't always been the main religion of Brune… And the 7 Divines weren't the only pantheon of Gods we once worshiped" Vivian explained.
Vivian continued to explain to Duke the importance of published diaries and how they looked into the inner workings of a person's mind during the time period he was in.
"Ohh, I never thought of it that way… You're really smart aren't you Vivian!" Duke was genuinely amazed at Vivian's show of intellect.
"S-Smart?" Vivian slightly blushed from Duke's minor compliment. It had been a long time since anyone has ever genuinely complimented her like this. Considering her situation in the Imperial Palace and all that.
"Yes, well I guess I am quite smart" Vivian was happy with the genuine praise she received. The strict teachers within the Palace she once had were quite snobby and were all very irritable, thinking to themselves: "Why am I even teaching little girls?!"
Because of that, Vivian never got to experience getting praised for something she was actually good at. Except for cooking, Vivian had never heard someone in the field of Academic Study actually give her genuine praise that came from their hearts.
As a young girl, the people teaching Vivian, as the contrived pricks that they were, would never let themselves get outshined by someone younger than them, and much like what Duke had experienced in the Academy, they would either lambast Vivian or nitpick at every small detail that she had said just to show off their superiority towards the small and innocent young child, over time turning the once hopeful Vivian into the cynical and sarcastic persona she had today, wary towards anybody who conversed with her in order to fend off their any of their aggressive remarks and also to protect her fragile self-confidence.
For the first time in her life, Vivian felt a relaxed sense of release at expressing herself towards someone who'd actually listen and support her, and not try to belittle nor out-compete her.
Vivian didn't know why but she suddenly felt like crying as she looked at Duke's idiotic mug. But she forcibly held the tears before Duke could see them.
For the first time in a while, Vivian could connect with someone intellectually as she shared with Duke all of her thoughts and ideas…
Maybe it was a special talent of Duke's. That honest and sincere interest he showed to other people, disarming their weariness towards him as the sincerity he had made them more honest to themselves and to Duke.
That is of course if only they didn't belittle him first, arrogantly believing to themselves that Duke and his interest towards them to be worthless much like his peers and teachers did during his life at the Academy...
After a while, Duke and Vivian stretched their arms from the fatigue of studying...
Duke noticed Vivian's eyes were already quite tired, and so he asked:
"Hey, do you wanna walk outside for a while? I have something cool to show you! I like to think of it as my private thinking spot of sorts. Hehe, many a great idea was made there, or… at least they'll soon be!" Duke insisted as a smug look was plastered on his face.
"Well... ok…" Vivian kept herself from speaking any of her usual sarcastic replies as she was almost about to joke: [Oh, so you can think... Well, that's an unexpected surprise] But, in the end, even if she was already tired and grouchy she still held in her sarcastic tendencies as she realized Duke wasn't the snobby professors she had in the Palace. He wasn't there to outcompete her nor find fault in her.
There was no need to be so prickly towards the lovable idiot. After all…
He was her friend.
And for once, maybe she could actually open up her fragile ego towards this friend, and maybe he wouldn't embarrass nor belittle her. Nor would he break and betray the trust she put on him.
Duke and Vivian walked through the forest until they reached a small hill covered in soft green grass surrounded by a thick forest.
Actually, Vivian reached the destination first as Duke was still catching up to her as he panted from fatigue.
Duke: "Wait up" *Huff Huff Huff*
Duke and Vivian laid down on a blanket Duke had brought as they watched the stars twinkle every now and then.
Duke: "This is where I go to when I want to think about things or when my grandpa isn't here to comfort me"
"It's beautiful..." Probably because it was already late into the night, but Vivian felt she could just be honest with herself as she said:
"Duke, thank you... for saving me back then…"
Vivian thought about how hard her life would've been if it was an actual abusive noble who got his hands on her first and not the derpy fat Count, Duke.
Vivian and Duke silently watched the night sky for a while before Duke answered.
"You know... I didn't save you because I was some good-intentioned hero. I was probably just being my usual selfish self. So you don't have to thank me…
I did it because I liked you" Duke said with a calm voice.
The calmness in his voice surprised Vivian.
For the first time in his life, Duke's confession of love wasn't actually met with disgust but genuine shyness from the girl who received it.
But after a while, Vivian eventually responded with:
"I'm sorry. I think I could only really see you as a friend…" Vivian honestly said.
[Oof, friend-zoned! Ouch! Critical damage...]
Duke hid his hurt feeling as he replied "Yeah, I know... Well, I guess at least you aren't disgusted by me now! That's a plus, right? Hehehe"
"Yeah yeah, sure…" Vivian sighed as she saw one of the stars beautifully twinkle.
Duke thought he was kinda like that nice fat side character the female leads always have as a friend/admirer in novels.
[And he was probably always gay and would eventually help the female lead get united with the handsome and dashing male lead… Oof, what a sad role to play as] Duke thought as at that moment he genuinely feared for his future sexuality or his role in whatever story he was in.
[Mr. White Knight whoever you are, if you ever make my Vivian cry I'll make you pay for it!] Duke fiercely thought himself, sighing in disappointment.
[The Hero who gets her must at least be TWICE as handsome as me! Gahaha, those are some really hard shoes to fill in!] Duke thought, thinking the criteria he set out was incredibly hard to fill in. Sadly, it was quite the easy order to fill, but we'll leave Duke with his happy thoughts…
[And he must also be at least 100X nicer than me!] Duke added, feeling that being twice as handsome as him wasn't enough for Vivian. (It wasn't)
[I'll protect you from the bad guys Vivian!] Duke promised, completely forgetting that he was the evil fat Count in Vivian's eyes just about a week ago during their wedding.
As the night continued on, and the two looked at the infinite glittering stars and the beautiful full moon, Vivian's hand accidentally touched Duke's hand without her noticing as she peacefully fell asleep.
At that moment Duke sincerely promised Vivian:
[I'll protect you...]
[I'll protect you]