Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Two: Being Spoiled by Trust
“…Oh? Uncle Sepl—”
“Shh. You’ll wake Cyril.”
Sepl whispered, and Karen, who had peeked in through the open door, pressed her lips together.
It was nighttime. Noticing that the door to Lily and Sepl’s room was open, Karen had looked in to find Sepl holding Cyril, swaying gently to settle him to sleep.
After a while, Sepl carefully laid Cyril down and stepped out of the room with Karen.
“Listen, Little Karen… don’t look at me like I’m something suspicious. Even I know that soothing a baby isn’t exactly my style.”
Sepl scratched his head and spoke with some embarrassment. Karen shook her head in surprise.
“That’s not what I was thinking at all. I mean, at first I did think maybe you and a baby might look a little odd together—but watching you, there was actually no strangeness about it at all, and that’s what surprised me.”
That was why she’d found herself staring without meaning to. Sepl holding a baby didn’t just look fine—it looked completely natural, and that was what had struck her as strange.
“By the way, where’s Mrs. Lily?”
There was no sign of her in the room. Sepl tilted his head as well.
“Doesn’t seem like she’s come back from the annex yet. That’s why I went to pick Cyril up myself—has something happened?”
“Nothing’s been reported to me, so it probably isn’t anything serious. Let’s go fetch her together.”
“Sure. So what did you need? Don’t tell me you’ve brought a new potion.”
“I wanted to consult her about work. More importantly—Sepl, did you say something to Lily again? The other day, she would only accept a stuffed animal sachet after I’d taken the sachet itself out. Well, I secretly put one back in afterward, though…”
“Hey! Is the thing in Cyril’s cradle right now a potion too!?”
“Using potions from childhood won’t weaken the body, so you can relax. Thor’s living proof of that.”
“That’s not what I was worried about… well, if Lily doesn’t know, I suppose it’s fine.”
Sepl let out a heavy sigh and stepped out into the garden of the Ehlertt family’s mansion.
“I just don’t want Lily to change.”
“I don’t want her to change either! But Mrs. Lily—”
“What you are doing is just spoiling her under the guise of absolute trust.”
Sepl said it and patted Karen on the head as they walked side by side. Karen swallowed the words of trust she had been about to add—that Lily would surely be fine.
“It’s one thing for a girl like you to lean on my Lily like she’s your mother—as a husband, that’s something to be proud of. But Lily’s still just an ordinary woman, so go a little easy on her, all right?”
“…I think she’ll be fine.”
Karen said it with a slight pout as she walked into the annex. Both Sepl and Karen headed straight to the room where Lily was without the slightest hesitation.
“There, there. You’re a good boy. It’s all right.”
A sweet, gentle voice drifted out, and both Karen and Sepl stopped in front of the room.
“Ugh… hic…”
“The bad dream is over now. You’ll eat lots of delicious food, study hard, and then dance in the warm sunlight holding hands with everyone. When work tires you out, you’ll have a snack, spend the evening chatting away, and sleep soundly under a warm blanket—”
In the far corner of the large dormitory room for boys, Lily’s voice murmured quietly to a child who was crying in secret. Karen and Sepl slipped away from the spot.
“Looks like Lily’s going to be a while getting back, so would it be all right if I heard what you wanted instead? Once Lily gets like that, she’ll stay with that kid until she’s completely exhausted. Sorry about that.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. That’s also work I wanted to ask Mrs. Lily to do.”
“Work you want Lily to do?”
“I can’t spoil the children, but children need adults who will spoil them.”
Karen had no intention of coddling the children. She was aware of Waltride’s situation, and she had no intention of forcing anyone through a trial as well. But if they wanted to face one themselves, she would let them, however harsh it might be.
Harald had built a unique relationship of trust with the children, but Karen couldn’t imagine the children being able to lean on Harald for comfort. That was why she’d brought Lily.
“Mrs. Lily’s been getting used to life in the territorial capital lately, so I wanted to ask her to take on something else too. I was hoping she might do some cooking as well.”
“You want to hire Lily as a cook too, huh? Now that you mention it, she did say she had too much free time when the kids are studying and working.”
“Do you think she’d agree?”
“She’s been complaining the wages are too good for the amount of work—so I think she’d take it, but… is that alright? Lily’s cooking is good, her father trained her well, but she’s no match for the Ehlertt cook. Haven’t the kids gotten spoiled by that refined noble cooking by now?”
“That part’s fine!”
Karen said it with confidence, but Sepl looked skeptical. Was Karen letting her absolute trust get the better of her again and setting her expectations too high?
“…Well, having kids eat nothing but noble cuisine isn’t great for their upbringing either. Might be time to get their palates used to some commoner cooking.”
Sepl arrived at his own interpretation and headed back to pass the message along to Lily.
Karen erased her presence and slipped back to the children’s room.
Watching a child who feared the night find more comfort in Lily than in the stuffed sachet in his arms, Karen confirmed that her judgment had been right—and returned to her own room.
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