"Hey kid, are you all right?" Lilia pats his cheeks to try to make the boy regain consciousness. The poor boy slowly opened his swollen eyes.
"Hurt…. It…." The boy's coherent voice makes Lilia bite her lips, preventing her anger. She might not be the best at healing, but remembering that her late father was the highest and strongest paladin at the temple, she inherited a little bit of divine power that's strong enough to heal outside wounds. Sadly, she can't reach the inside wound because of its limitation, and she never develops her divine power beyond necessity.
Lilia quickly gives the boy basic first aid after healing his outer wound. While Lilia fought the three punks earlier and then healed the child with her divine power, and is now bandaging the child's wounds, the duke stood back and watched her. He feels like he saw a different person earlier, especially when she was fighting. He looks like a great warrior who helps people in trouble. The duke realized that Lilia had really grown. She was no longer a 5-year-old child who cried bitterly when she lost her father. Now the girl has grown into a strong and stunning woman.
After the child regained consciousness, he apologized and thanked Lilia for her assistance. Lilia asked why he does bad deeds like that, and the boy named Arendt told her about his pitiful circumstances. Arendt is an orphan, he lives with his sick younger sister. He can't get any extra money worth it for his younger sister's treatment; thus, he tries his luck with stealing, but today is just his bad day. After hearing the true story, Lilia kneeled in front of the boy with her angelic smile. She strokes Arendt's hair and gives him her pouch.
"Take your sister to the doctor with this, if there is any left, use it to buy edible food and a warm blanket."
"Sister… are you sure?"
"Of course, but you must promise me that you'll never steal anything again."
"I promise, sister... thank you very much... you're very kind to me," Arendt says, giving her a wide and happy smile.
"Yes... If the money in that pouch runs out, just come to this man behind me and ask for some more." Lilia pointed at the man behind her, who had been quiet the whole time. The duke throws a glare at her.
"Lilia…"
"To the sir butler?" the innocent Arendt question makes Lilia laugh.
"Oh... no... He is not, he is the lord of this area, and you know the biggest mansion in this area? That's his residence," Lilia explained amidst her laughter.
"Lord... you are Duke Oldenburg?" The poor kid was trembling in fear, so he just called the noble a butler—not just any noble, it was the Duke.
"I… I apologize for my ru-rude behavior, my lord." Arendt bowed his body and didn't dare to lift it even a bit.
"Goodness, your grace, why do you frighten an innocent boy like that?" Lilia protested to the duke in a mocking tone. She feels amused with how stunned and awkward Carlisle can be just because of this.
"Princess... I don't do anything worth daunting the young boy," the duke sighed. Lilia laughed, amused at Duke's awkward expression.
Upon taking Arendt home safely, Lilia and the Duke returned to the festival. The moon is already so high, and the wind gets chillier. Lilia feels herself getting hungry, but then she remembers that she gave her stolen pouch to the kid who stole it. She stopped her steps when she smelled the delicious aroma of a stall selling kebabs. Duke Oldenburg looked back and saw Lilia staring at the stall with sparkling eyes, and the Duke chuckled. No matter how impressive Lilia grew, there was still the Lilia he knew well all along. The Duke pulled Lilia's hand closer to the stall and ordered a large kebab full of meat.
"Duke… I'm fine, truly... it's…"
"My treat, princess..."
"But…."
"Count it as my compliment for your heroic act earlier," the duke says, giving her the kebab. Lilia accepted it happily and devoured it while it was warm. Carlisle smiled at Lilia, showing how proud he was of her good deed earlier. For a mere second, he forgets about any ruckus that happened a few weeks ago and pats Lilia's head lovingly, giving her silent praise that makes the girl hold her breath.
"Oh, my... Duke... have you... have you started to accept my feelings?" Lilia teases him to cover her flustered heart.
"Just be quiet and enjoy your food, or I'll leave you alone in the middle of this crowd."
"hahahahaa…. Thank you for the treat. it's delicious"
They continue to enjoy the festival together, and as the night falls, Duke Oldenburg prepares a carriage to transport Lilia home. He didn't forget to give Lilia the dagger she bought at the festival before, which makes Lilia's heart flutter uncontrollably. The next morning, Lilia visited the palace looking for her little best friend. She couldn't wait to share yesterday's outing with Evelyn. She found the girl at her office coping with a high stack of papers that had more height than her.
~~
Several days passed after the festival, and before Lilia could do much for the captive Carlisle Oldenburg, his two sons had come back from Raphane with a great harvest report and some exclusive best quality wheat and spices. Thus, the Oldenburg family held a little picnic party with all of their family members plus Crown Prince Raphael, Lilia, and Evelyn, as they now had a closer relationship.
The picnic is quite unique in that the dishes are not made by the cooks but by themselves, indeed, some have been prepared by the chef, but those who want to prepare the sandwiches themselves are welcome to do so. Alicia, the crown princess, does have extraordinary talent, she makes several types of sandwiches, some sweet and others savory, as well as little Evelyn, and she is quite talented for the size of a girl who is busy every day struggling with documents and meetings.
Not to be outdone Lilia also prepared her homemade sandwiches, even though they ended up barely edible. She tried to prepare a simple Panini sandwich, but she messed up the ingredient and pressed the sandwich with too much force, resulting in a crispy sandwich with a weird taste.
Everyone seems to avoid Lilia's sandwich for fear of losing their lives. It was Evelyn who took one slice of the crispy sandwich and munched it calmly, even calmer when she spat 'weird' words lightly but continued chewing the dish. Thus, the Duke picks up one slice too, and despite the weird taste, Carlisle Oldenburg still eats the crispy sandwich without any complaints that make Lilia's heart flutter further. She then teases the duke about that.
"So duke… even if in the future I served you burnt toast or a spoiled dish, would you eat it willingly?"
"You can, princess... Just make sure you are ready for the funeral."
"No... I don't want to be a widow that fast." Lilia faked her surprised look, pretending to wipe her tears in the process.
"What are you spouting now?" Stop it."
Lilia chuckles despite Duke Oldenburg's harsh reply. She then made eye contact with Evelyn, who seemed to enjoy her sandwich so much that she forgot that she had a big task waiting to be done. Evelyn sensed an eerie-demanding gaze thrown at her, then she quickly finished her food and did her part as planned.
"Lu… Sir Luke, I heard Oldenburg Library has a lot of ancient scripture and rare folklore from a distant continent collection in it... can... can I take a look?" Evelyn forced a weird smile; she even stuttered and falsely slipped her greeting toward Luke.
"What… why are you calling me Sir, Eve?"
"I…it's just a slip of tongue. By the way, Luke... I want to visit the library, can't I?" she asked once again
"Well, it's not that it's forbidden, but..." Luke answers it hesitantly while looking at his father.
"You can bring Lady Osborne there, Luke, it's an honor that our library can attract the empire's most brilliant scholar." The Duke said with a pleased smile.
"Then, let's go eve..." Luke reached out to Evelyn, wanting to escort the girl there, but Lilia stopped him.
"Wait… I know it'll be a nice experience, but I think Luke is not that suitable to show you around the library, right Evelyn?"
"Lilia, you!"
"Why not ask the young master too, I think he visits the library more than you, Luke, but because Evelyn is not comfortable with someone who is not close to her, can Luke still accompany her?" Lilia said with a smug face, making Evelyn pout and Luke grumble.
"That's not a bad idea, Luke rarely went to the library at all... I will go, father," the young master replied quickly.
"Great idea... young master... please make sure my beloved Evelyn has a good time with the books," Lilia exclaimed as she pushed the tree away from the garden.
"Thank you for your generosity, Duke. Evelyn must be overly excited now." Lilia thanked the duke, but Carlisle turned his face away, which made Lilia scoff, but she let that pass. Now she needed to get rid of the other couple, but she didn't need to take a big step like before, she just stared sharply at her cousin, and he understood the signal. He let out a heavy sigh.
"Father… I think Alicia needs to take a rest, she seems sleepy just now. I'll take her to her room to take a light nap, do excuse us."
"Yeah, your highness... thank you for your time at this outing. Do take care of my precious daughter."
Lilia is doing little high-fives inside her head. With all the nuisances gone, she is now completely alone with the Duke.
"Your grace... you can have it again in exchange for the kebab at the festival," Lilia said as she placed her crispy Panini sandwich on Duke's plate.
"It's fine, princess... "I'm full," the duke stated coldly. Lilia snickered—where in the hell was the warm and gentle duke she met at the festival just a few days ago? Now he is back to being a cold and distant duke.
For a while the two of them were silent, and the duke completely ignored her, even though he was keeping warm by eating the strange food she served. Lilia was really on edge, soon winter would come and she would be busy with the annual inspection of her territory in the northeast of the empire. She hoped to solve the problem with the duke before she left and, if possible, before the year ended.
"Your Grace… can we talk for a moment?" Lilia gathered up her courage and asked the duke to have a serious conversation with her.