“Where’s Daddy? Can’t I go in?”
Edwin asked Charis, the knight standing in front of Lowell’s room, in fluent speech.
Charis wanted to grant the request of the sparkling-eyed Edwin, but he couldn’t allow it, as the illness might be contagious.
“The Grand Duchess is unwell, so you cannot enter.”
Since Edwin met with Angela and Luke every day, it was even more impossible to let him be near Lowell.
“Daddy is sick?”
Edwin’s face instantly crumpled into a look of sorrow.
He had just returned from his studies after seeing Felix off, and the news that Lowell, who had seemed fine in the morning, was now sick in bed was a shock.
“Yes. But the priests are with him, so he will be fine soon. So, Master Edwin, you should eat and study as usual. That is what the Grand Duchess would want as well.”
“I understand.”
A dejected Edwin slumped his shoulders and headed toward his room.
After appearing to accept the situation in his own way, Edwin suddenly wiped away his worried expression and sprang up from his seat.
“Master Edwin?”
Tia, who had been ordered to stay at the Grand Ducal Castle to protect the four of them, approached Edwin, whose eyes were suddenly burning with an unknown intensity.
“I have to go buy an apple pie!”
“Pardon?”
“The apple pie Daddy likes!”
Of course, Lowell did like apple pie.
However, there were chefs in the castle, and even if there weren’t, there was no need for Edwin to go buy it himself.
He could simply instruct a servant who had business outside.
“Master Edwin, I will tell the castle chef to make an apple pie.”
“No, no. It has to be the apple pie from Hugo’s that His Grace buys every day whenever Daddy is sick.”
Despite the logic, Edwin rareley insisted so stubbornly.
That was the beginning of the adventure drama where Edwin was the protagonist.
“Master Edwin, it’s fine for us to go instead.”
“No. Yesterday, His Grace said I have to protect Daddy and my siblings when he’s not here. So, if Daddy is sick, I have to help. I want to go alone!”
Tia gritted her teeth, wondering who the person was that had given him that “etiquette lesson” yesterday.
In truth, it wasn’t Edwin’s first time going down to the village, but she couldn’t simply listen to him without permission when she couldn’t get the okay from Felix or Lowell.
“Then I will ask Lord Lowell.”
“I wanted to give it to him as a secret…”
“Master Edwin, this is my role, so I hope you understand.”
Edwin, perhaps realizing he was being stubborn, nodded quietly this time.
Tia felt awkward asking the unwell Lowell, but seeing Edwin’s expectant eyes, her heart softened, and she felt she had no other choice.
And judging by the experience of guarding Lowell, Felix, and Edwin whenever they went down to the village, she could understand why Edwin was so confident.
Tia stopped one of the knights and ordered him to relay the message to Lowell.
The knight, who disappeared quickly and silently, returned in less than fifteen minutes.
His expression looked somewhat bewildered.
“What did he say?”
“Well, that… he said it’s fine as long as there is enough protection.”
“How did his condition or mood seem?”
“His face was pale, perhaps because his fever was high. But when I told him Master Edwin wanted to go out to buy an apple pie himself, he smiled brightly.”
At that answer, Tia realized why the knight had been puzzled.
Unlike some nobles who didn’t view their family as family, the Grand Ducal couple cherished Edwin deeply, so the knight had preemptively assumed they would be too worried to let him go alone.
“He smiled?”
Unlike the confused knight, Tia thought to herself that it was just like the often broad-minded Lowell.
“Yes. He said Edwin has reached the age where he wants to do everything himself, so he thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea for him to experience it once. He also said we only need to guide him to the entrance of the village…”
Edwin, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, smiled brightly and put on his coat as if he were ready to leave immediately.
“Wow! Then let’s go!”
There was now no excuse to stop the excited Edwin.
“Yes. Then I will have everything prepared so we can go to Karin.”
“It’s Karin! I see the Karin gate over there.”
At the entrance of Karin, the closest and largest village to the Grand Ducal Castle, Edwin habitually spoke to Lowell and Felix.
However, he soon realized they weren’t there and touched his cheek in embarrassment.
“Once you enter the village, we will wait here until you come out, Master Edwin.”
“Okay!”
Of course, that was a lie.
What sane knight would actually do that?
The knights planned to put on hats and disguises to follow right behind Edwin.
There was a chance they’d be caught, but safety came first.
“I understand.”
Edwin put strength into his round eyes, his will burning bright.
The knights had to struggle to keep from laughing at the sight of him making such an adorably determined resolution.
“Then, I’m off!”
The moment Edwin said that and ran into the village, the knights expertly disguised themselves and pursued him from two steps behind.
Fortunately, Edwin only looked straight ahead as he walked, so the tail wasn’t immediately discovered.
The knights began to hope the mission might be accomplished quicker than expected.
However, the bravely walking Edwin suddenly let his determined gaze crumble, smiled brightly, and ran toward a dog standing guard in front of a restaurant.
“Puppy!”
Despite the animal being closer to a full-grown dog than a puppy based on its size, Edwin approached without fear.
Jason, one of the knights, prepared to spring forward in case the dog attacked Edwin, but that didn’t happen.
Woof! Woof!
Like a dog at a restaurant should be, it was friendly and greeted Edwin by rolling over to show its belly.
It seemed quite accustomed to him, as if they had met more than once or twice.
“What was your name again… Ah, Tei. How have you been?”
Edwin was entirely focused on the dog, the apple pie seemingly vanished from his mind as he rolled around playing.
He even fished through his pockets, pulled out a piece of jerky, and popped it into Tei’s mouth.
The knights, who usually spent their time guarding the Grand Ducal Castle, finally understood why the dog had welcomed Edwin so warmly—and were simultaneously exasperated.
“This is going to take a long time.”
Tia spoke to the other knights as she watched Edwin with a fond gaze, her tone somewhere between a warning and a boast.
Only after every scrap of jerky in his pocket was gone did Edwin suddenly snap upright with an “Ah!”
“Apple pie. I have to go buy the apple pie.”
Fortunately, he hadn’t completely forgotten his mission.
Edwin bid a thorough farewell to Tei before heading back out.
However, his focus didn’t last long this time either.
A chocolate shop was wafting the scent of hot chocolate—the perfect bait for children—into the street.
“Smells yummy.”
Edwin walked toward the shop as if possessed.
The aroma of hot chocolate on a chilly afternoon wasn’t just alluring to Edwin; a crowd of children had already gathered in front.
Some were buying it with their own money, while others were just lingering nearby.
‘I can’t.’
Edwin had money in his pocket, but it was exactly the amount needed for the apple pie. He steeled his heart and prepared to turn away.
“You rascals!”
