Keeping the Yandere Duke in check chapter 57

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‘What are you looking at? Look ahead.’

Clicking my tongue, I turned my head forward, only to see a child running far ahead, alone.

“Hey, wait!”

I rushed forward and grabbed the back of the child’s collar, causing them to burst out laughing.

“Caught!”

“Caught? You shouldn’t run ahead like that, Gwen!”

Soon, the child’s aunt came over, patting their back with a sigh.

“Honestly… It’s been a while since I brought them out, and they’re so excited they won’t listen.”

Smiling at her light complaint, I reassured the young lady with a grin.

“It’s alright. I’ll keep a close eye on them.”

After my brief response, I signaled to Hernan with a glance.

You take care of this.

Frankly, I wasn’t confident in physical tasks.

I had no trouble using my strength in the kitchen or while working, but I couldn’t compare to someone who’d earned their place on the battlefield.

Naturally, Hernan was the expert in such things.

“I’ll keep a close watch as well.”

Hernan moved closer to me, reassuring the lady, while the child suddenly clung to my leg.

“Me too! Me too!”

“What do you mean, ‘me too’? Geez…”

It seemed like the child had taken a liking to me.

Earlier, during the banquet, I’d secretly given them some sweets, and they’d been thrilled.

Most people assume noble children are spoiled and get whatever they want, but… that’s only in households that spoil their kids.

In stricter families, sweets are often seen as the root of all evil, leading to tooth decay, and are strictly forbidden.

‘Not my family, though.’

I could understand the concern, but not all sweets rot your teeth.

There were even trees here that could be used to make xylitol candy, so I’d often slip some to the children I met.

I’d tell them to blame me if they got caught, and they’d act like they’d just received a secret mission, completely overjoyed.

This child was no different.

“Be careful! Don’t bother the Lord too much!”

Even while saying that, the young lady was absorbed in watching wild pheasants and grouse through her binoculars, fascinated by their round, plump bodies—rare sights in the capital.

“Oh, may I take a sample of this flower?”

Her brother, overwhelmed by the various rare plants, was also eager.

Though he’d looked puzzled at the start of the walk, wondering what could be interesting in a snowy mountain, he was clearly enjoying it now.

“Yes, feel free to take as much as you’d like.”

If I remember correctly, he was the second son of the Scadia family, an omega.

His small frame stood out as he smiled brightly, looking between me and Hernan.

“Thank you!”

Watching him delicately pluck a small flower with hands smaller than both mine and Hernan’s, I couldn’t help but feel impatient.

‘I just want to do it for him.’

I had helped him with small tasks a few times when we were younger.

I think the first time we met was when I was thirteen and he was nine.

He seemed to have been impressed, convincing his parents to let him vacation in Nirvan every year after that.

If he were still a child, I’d have stepped in and helped without hesitation.

But now that we were both adults, I had to let him manage on his own.

I concluded with a sigh, just as his hands, ungloved and frozen, fumbled with the flower.

He looked up at me with wide, pleading eyes.

‘Help me.’

Even without words, I could tell what he wanted.

But… he wasn’t a child anymore.

As I hesitated, he blinked those big eyes again.

‘…….’

Sigh, I give up. Clicking my tongue, I approached him.

“Step aside. The ground is frozen—you can’t do it like that.”

In a place like this, you can’t dig up roots gently like you would in soft soil.

You need to dig them out by cutting around the area entirely.

With a swift motion of the decorative dagger on my belt, I sliced through the frozen earth, managing to extract the flower without damaging its roots.

“You can take this bag, wash off the dirt, and turn it into a specimen.”

After wiping the dagger clean on my winter cloak and returning it to my belt, the second son nodded enthusiastically, expressing his gratitude.

“Yes…! Thank you so much!”

It wasn’t a big deal, really.

As the second son, his eyes sparkling with excitement, led the group forward, I felt an unknown gaze on me, causing the back of my head to tingle.

‘What is this…? I can guess one, but it feels like this is two people’s stares…’

The confusion in my head cleared the moment I turned around. As expected, one of them was Hernan, and the other…

“Hm?”

“Take this!”

It was a child, rushing at me with a snowball tightly clutched in their arms.

“Charge!”

“Waaah, charge!!!”

As Hernan signaled to me with a hand gesture, the child charged forward, delivering a snow bomb straight at me.

What the—?

Why are they suddenly teaming up?

I barely had time to be confused before I lost my balance, struggling not to fall over the child, but ultimately, I flipped backward.

Not because I was clumsy—my heel had caught on a tree root.

“Ugh.”

“Got you!”

The child danced around, clearly thrilled by my fall into the snow.

What’s got them so excited?

Staring up at the sky, having given up, I soon saw Hernan’s face approaching.

“Capture Mr. Everdeen!”

Hernan commanded playfully, causing the child to scream in delight as they dove toward me again.

This time, they hit my chest with their knee, and I really couldn’t breathe for a moment, curling up and struggling.

Then, snow that the child had stuffed down my sleeve began to melt with my body heat, soaking me.

“Ugh, I surrender, I surrender.”

Not that I had ever fought back, but wanting to end this strange team battle, I quickly surrendered. Hernan chuckled and helped me to my feet.

“Now that we’ve captured the prisoner, take him away.”

“Yes!”

With that, Hernan and the child flanked me on either side.

I glanced at Hernan and asked, “What exactly is this?”

Hernan laughed softly as he brushed snow off the child’s hat.

“Isn’t it cute? Just like how you’re weak against kids, I can be good to them too.”

As if. This guy hardly seems like the type. I let out a small scoff and walked forward.

“I’m not particularly weak around them.”

“Yes, you are. You treat kids so well, it’s like you can’t help yourself.”

Not quite. The way people view children in this era is just so outdated… is that too harsh?

Primitive, maybe… No, that still doesn’t feel right. It’s just that they’re far behind.

Besides, I can’t tolerate kids being indecisive or slow.

Since I can’t stand next to them and nag all the time, I usually just prepare everything in advance so they can do things on their own.

That doesn’t mean I particularly like kids.

“It’s not to that extent.”

“Yes, it is.”

Hernan, suddenly acting as if he were sulking, turned his head away and walked ahead of me in long strides.

What’s with him? It’s not like he’s jealous of a kid.

He’s truly a strange, unpredictable guy.

“When did you get so close to the kid anyway?” I asked as I caught up with Hernan.

“You were even leading a joint attack.”

Hernan quietly whispered, “Let’s just say it’s an alliance between those with the same goals.”

“What nonsense is that?”

Scoffing at his ridiculous words, I frowned and distanced myself from him.

Despite that, the two of them seemed to stick together quite well for the rest of the time, so I guess they had something in common after all.

Before I knew it, an hour had passed. I sighed and decided to wrap up the walk, leading the guests back inside.

Despite our thorough preparations for the cold weather, it seemed like everyone had been walking around for so long that the moment we entered, they all eagerly drank the warm tea.

“Perhaps it’s the honey, but the fragrance is stronger.”

“This wildflower tea has a lovely scent too.”

Along with simple desserts, the tea time proceeded smoothly.

As the final activity ended, I signaled for a servant to bring in the trolley to offer the guests parting gifts.

“Now, since you’ve come such a long way, I’ve prepared a small token for you to take home.”

It was the snowberry cordial that had gotten me tipsy.

For the children, I had prepared the snowberry juice served at the banquet.

As expected, the reaction was enthusiastic, and thinking about how much I’d promoted the upcoming opening of the Velon branch during tea time, it seemed like this visit had been quite productive.

‘At least it looks like I’ve secured some initial customers.’

Now it was just a matter of what kind of reviews would circulate after the guests returned home.

‘I’m sure it’ll go well.’

If possible, I should consider holding another gathering like this just before the opening.

I had just come to that conclusion when a sudden scream echoed through the hall.

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