When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

Chapter 61

Ignoring Ava teasing him, he broke the seal of the second letter.

The sender of the letter was Crown Prince Oscar.

The only child of the Royal couple and the sole heir to the throne.

And a friend who cared about Ian.

“It’s His Highness, Crown Prince Oscar.” “What does it say?” “He wishes to visit this mansion in a week.”

The Empress would have killed the Crown Prince if she had seen him close to Ian.

Even if he was her own child.

Whenever the Crown Prince sent a letter to Ian, he had to do it in secret.

He always borrowed a servant’s name to send his message, but this time it seemed to have been sent directly under the order of the Empress.

“Nominally, he would like to express his condolences for the memorial service held a few days ago, but…. I believe the Empress is sending His Highness to persuade me to attend the exchange meeting in May.”

Thanks to Oscar, the letter was joyfully written because he was going to meet his friend, Ian proudly.

Ian returned to his office, wrote a reply, and then visited Laritte.

He stopped in front of her room.

“Laritte, are you inside?”

The door was slightly left open by the maids for ventilation.

As soon as she heard him, she jumped up from the chair.

Unfortunately, her foot getting caught in the chair caused her to trip on the floor.

“Madam!”

The maids were as shocked as if they had just been hit by lightning.

It wasn’t like that, but there was a ‘crack’ sound as if the bone was broken.

Ian, who definitely heard the sound, rushed in through the door.

“Laritte!”

Everyone was in a hurry, but only Laritte lying on the floor looked calm.

She muttered, pressing the floor with her hands as she rose.

“I fell again.”

Her voice was peaceful and undisturbed.

Ian helped her up.

“Are you okay?…… What the heck–!”

He uttered a harsh word.

This was because Laritte hugged Ian, unable to support herself on her feet.

“My ankle hurts. A little.”

Ian easily lifted her off her legs and sat her on the bed.

“You’re hurt. Hang in there, I’ll call the doctor soon.” “Don’t treat me as an emergency patient. As I said, I just twisted my ankle.”

But the wound seemed serious.

As time went by, Ian could feel the blue energy/sensation spread to her knee from her ankle.

He was shocked.

This shouldn’t have happened if Laritte was recently taken care of like a fragile glass.

He clenched his fist.

By how weak she was looking, he couldn’t just relax.

Dr. Colin’s residence was not far away from the Duke’s mansion.

In the case of an emergency, he could always rush to the mansion with his equipment.

Colin asked as soon as he arrived at the mansion.

“She tripped over a chair and received such a serious wound like this?”

Colin was visibly confused.

He did his tests by pressing Laritte’s wound area.

“Though she has weak bones, she seems to have been hit pretty hard. She should avoid walking too much for at least a week. I’ll prescribe some medicine and bandages.”

Laritte objected.

“But, I was supposed to learn horse riding with Ian tomorrow.” “Absolutely not.”

Ian, who was crossing his arms over his chest, blurted out in anger.

“How can you say that so easily? I won’t allow you to ride until you cherish yourself.” “The fact that you’re injured is a big deterioration in itself.”

It was also unfair to Laritte.

She wasn’t clumsy.

She was just unlucky enough to fall twice in one day.

Instead of listening to his nagging, Laritte’s eyes landed on the ink on Ian’s finger. Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

“By the way, were you working?”

It was so obvious that she was trying to change the subject.

Ian wanted to continue his nagging, but he held back.

“No, I was writing a reply to His Highness. He said he’ll be visiting us in a week. Will it be okay?” “His Highness, the Crown Prince?” “No need to worry about it. We are friends. And you’re also the Duchess of Reinhardt.”

In fact, the Duke of Reinhardt never knelt in front of the imperial family.

Even Crown Prince Oscar also envied and followed Ian.

“Okay. I wouldn’t worry.”

As soon as the explanation was over, Ian started nagging again.

“Anyway, if you get hurt again, I’ll be really angry. Promise me that you will be careful.”

Laritte felt her stomach grumbling.

“But it’s time for the meal. Ian, since we met, shall we go to the dining room together?” “Now you think eating is important……”

He stopped talking when he saw her thin wrist.

This woman needed to eat some meat.

“…..Fine, we’ll go together.”

Ian wrapped his arms around Laritte and pulled her into a hug.

Laritte was only wearing a gown. Though it was large, it was quite comfortable.

“Oh, oh my!”

The maids covered their mouths and held back their laughter.

The viewers themselves were fascinated and excited by the scene.

Meanwhile, it was different for Ian and Laritte.

Ian was worried, while Laritte was mistaken.

It seemed she thought she was being treated like a newborn child who couldn’t do anything.

She didn’t feel bad though.

Since she was very young, Laritte had to look for herself in the back alley she used to live in.

“A baby.”

Ian didn’t catch what she said, so he asked back.

“What did you say?” “I said you’re a baby.” “…….”

Ian shook his head after a brief moment of silence.

She was unique in her own way.

*** For almost a week, Ian looked after Laritte for her wound to heal.

He was so worried to fear her being blown away by the wind or melt away in the rain.

He quickly squashed a spider that tried to approach Laritte.

He found a nail sticking out when she tried to lean against a wall.

It was around lunchtime when he grabbed her by the hand as she walked down the stairs to go to the garden.

“Laritte.”

Laritte’s left shoe heel went into the gap of the stairs.

“It must have formed a groove from moisture because of the rain. If you had taken a step further, you’d have fallen.” “Thank you.”

The maids who followed were now accustomed to his overprotection.

He looked like he would be able to serve a young master or a lady soon at this rate.

“How would His Lordship act if he had a cute child who looked like Madam? I feel so happy just by thinking about it, whether it’s a son or a daughter.” “It’ll be perfect if the child looks just like His Excellency. Ava said he was really cute in his childhood.”

Ian was too focused on other things to hear the maids whispering.

He peered through the groove of the stairs that almost knocked over his wife.

There were many dangers around Laritte.

Even though he protected her like this, she got injured at least once a day.

And the degree and frequency got worse day by day.

‘Am I the only one who’s aware of it?’

Something was weird.

It could be regarded as simply a coincidence.

But he didn’t fail to sense the strange tightening feeling in the air.

***

On the day the Crown Prince Oscar promised to visit the Duchy, he passed through the barren field to arrive at the Duke’s mansion.

He stopped outside a huge door, beyond which was the road to the mansion.

He was supposed to arrive in about two hours, but now it was noon.

Since he came earlier than scheduled, he saw a single pair of gatekeepers guarding the door.

He saluted the Crown Prince and said,

“Allow me to inform the Duke. He is probably getting ready to welcome His Highness.” “Since I came early, you don’t have to hurry and ask the Duke to pick me up. May I go inside?”

Knights guarding the door turned to the attendants behind Oscar.

Prince Oscar wanted to proceed himself, but the attendants were against it.

Oscar was on Ian’s side, but the royal attendants were the Empress’ hands and feet.

Oscar biting at the attendants.

This was what Oscar was aiming for from the beginning.

“If you all refuse to do so, you can stay at a nearby inn.” “Your Highness must not be left alone.”

Oscar wanted to remove the Empress’s snare to talk to Ian comfortably.

He whispered to the attendants, inaudible to the gatekeepers.

“You know I have to please the Duke and persuade him to take part in the exchange meeting. This is to make sure I don’t go against the Duke’s will.”

The Empress could only face her foreign guests if Ian was present in the meeting.

With this excuse, Oscar came to see his friend Ian.

The attendants – unaware of Oscar’s plan – discussed for a while before they nodded.

“Very well.”

Prince Oscar hid his smile under their gaze.

These highly attendants served the Empress.

The Empress, his mother, gave Oscar no power.

Oscar had grown up under the supervision of the Empress.

Even now, when the Emperor was bedridden due to a mysterious disease, everything was run by the Empress.

Oscar entered the Reinhardt mansion alone.

As he walked through a green patch of land in the garden, he found a woman standing beside the road.

“Huh?”

The beautiful woman with silver hair was hiding behind a tree and staring at the mansion.