Published: August 15, 2025
Mio entered Ella’s room—a guest room that I used to use—before any of us. Ella was supposed to be taking care of Lisa there…
From beyond the door that Mio opened first came the sound of a baby’s voice.
“Ah-gi, an-gyah agyah agyah-aaa!”
“Oh, there, there, there, there.”
…The one crying was Lisa. And the other voice… could it be?
I rushed into the room.
“Lady Ryuu-Ryuu!?”
“Oh, Ms. Marie.”
Lady Ryuu-Ryuu turned around swiftly.
Ah… it felt like quite a long time since I last saw her. Though in terms of days, it probably wasn’t that long.
The last time I saw her was just after the duke passed away. Her green eyes swollen from crying, her face utterly exhausted and downcast… But now she had returned to the lively expression I knew.
She was just as cheerful and laid-back as before. Smiling and playfully soothing the loudly crying Lisa by saying, “Hi-hi!”
“Ahahaha, she sure cries a lot, doesn’t she? Crying is a baby’s job after all. Such a hardworking good girl. Truly the daughter of Cyrus and Ms. Marie.”
“H-Hardworking…?”
I was half-dumbfounded as I looked around the room. If Lisa was in Lady Ryuu-Ryuu’s arms, then where was the wet nurse, Ella? I wondered, and then noticed Ella hiding behind the curtain. Lord Cyrus also noticed and poked Lady Ryuu-Ryuu’s shoulder, pointing.
“That’s Ella, right? What’s she doing?”
“Well, I don’t really know either. When I came into the room and asked to hold Lisa, she suddenly screamed and ran away. Do I really have such a scary face?”
Her last question was directed at me. I hurriedly shook my head.
“No, it’s not scary. Lady Ryuu-Ryuu, you’re kind and beautiful!”
“Ahaha, thanks. You know, I’ve never really gotten along with this type of person. But I’m glad she handed over Lisa without a fuss. I was worried she might say ‘I’m the mother of this child’ or something.”
Lady Ryuu-Ryuu laughed brightly. Even as we talked, Lisa kept crying. But perhaps because Lady Ryuu-Ryuu didn’t seem to mind much, the crying gradually quieted.
“Fweh…?”
Lisa let out a curious little sound and stared intently at her grandmother’s face.
Perhaps prompted by Lady Ryuu-Ryuu’s smile, Lisa returned a bright smile. Lady Ryuu-Ryuu’s face melted with joy.
“Oh my, how adorable! Chubby cheeks and dimples when she smiles. Bleh-bleh!”
Saying this, the duchess pinched Lisa’s cheeks hard with her fingers.
The remarkable beauty pulling a ridiculous face left Lisa confused for a moment before she burst out laughing joyfully, clapping her hands.
“Oh, Lisa-chan, you like peekaboo? All right, Grandma’s going to do her best. Here we go—bababa!”
Lady Ryuu-Ryuu was full of energy. As she laughed with Lisa rolling around, she suddenly looked distant. Still gazing at Lisa, she spoke to me.
“Sorry, Ms. Marie. I should have been the one helping the most at a time like this, but my head was full of my own troubles.”
“…Lady Ryuu-Ryuu.”
“My husband passed away, and all I could think about was sadness and loneliness… I made excuses about how a mother-in-law shouldn’t interfere and ended up neglecting things. I’m sorry…”
“N-No, not at all.”
“From now on, please say anything you need. For my dear grandchild and daughter-in-law, I’ll do anything.”
Lady Ryuu-Ryuu thumped her chest firmly.
“T-That’s not true. I heard from Lord Cyrus that you haven’t been sleeping well at night.”
“Yeah, well, since I can’t sleep anyway, I decided to keep company with the grandchild during her night crying. Also, old folks need less sleep than young people because our metabolism’s slower, haha!”
She joked like that. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Lord Cyrus laughed as well, tickling the cheek of the daughter in his mother’s arms with his fingertip. Lisa immediately grabbed his finger and tried to eat it, struggling playfully.
“Sorry for the sudden request. Please lend me your strength at night for the next few weeks until the state funeral is over.”