The Softest And Cutest Of The Dukes - Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

When I greeted them, they flinched, then relaxed their stony expressions. I thought I was done, but my frail legs were not centered properly, and just as I was about to touch my forehead to the table, Duke Panteur grabbed me from behind. 

Luckily, I was spared the disaster of kissing the table. 

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

Oscar rushed over and plucked me from Duke Panteur’s grasp, inspecting me before finally settling me safely at the table. As I sat there twiddling my thumbs, Vance smirked.

“Our young lady, did you wear a diaper today?”

“Stop it!”

As I watched the oblivious Vance, who seemed to be spreading the woman’s hidden secret to the whole world, I could understand why he hadn’t gotten married. 

He tended to blurt things out without any sense of discretion. With a slightly embarrassed expression, he revealed the secret in front of everyone. 

In front of me, there was a bowl filled with various colorful caramels.

But the mood was somber, and I didn’t reach for the caramels. As I watched the people sip their tea, Duke Panteur turned to Carlos and asked.

“So, have you found anything?”

“I’m afraid not. I’m afraid we’ll have to disband our intelligence unit. There were no leads on the young lady anywhere.”

“So you’re saying that Rafi really was from the sky and then dropped.”

“She’s flesh and blood like any other human being, and certainly not a child of destruction. I’ve seen the strings attached to the temple, and as the Duke said, it was a publicity stunt.”

As fewer people believed in the god, the donations naturally dwindled. Even if the nobles and the imperial family were able to subsidize a certain amount, the donations from ordinary believers were not enough. 

Therefore, to rally the faithful and awaken their spirit, a prophecy was spread years ago that a child of salvation and a child of destruction would be born. 

Fearful that a child of destruction would be born, they flocked to the temple to pray and make donations. 

“So, what is this child of salvation that the imperial palace is expecting?”

Suddenly, the temple began to announce that a child of salvation had been born, and they were not keeping it for themselves, but handing it over to the imperial court. Seeing this, Duke Panteur assumed that the imperial court and the temple had joined forces.

“He was born with innate divine powers, so the priests are running a public relations campaign claiming he’s the child of salvation, rallying the people to their side. Along with the imperial family.”

Hearing Carlos’ words, Duke Panteur smirked. Then he turned to me, who was staring at him, without even getting to enjoy the caramels.

“So Rafi isn’t the Child of Destruction, then, which is a shame, because I was hoping she’d be the Child of Destruction and tear the palace to shreds.”

Duke Panteur patted me on the head, saying in a slurred voice.

“Duke, I have a question for you.”

I had been playing with Duke Panteur for a while when someone raised their hand. 

“What is it?”

Duke Panteur’s question caused a lump in the man’s throat as he lowered his hand to stroke my hair. He swallowed dryly as if he was nervous just looking at me.

“The child has been given the name Seraphina by the Duke, and you wish to place her on the family register of Duke Panteur.”

I glared at Caramel, then snapped out of it. Duke Panteur’s registry was unexpected. 

I’m a scion of the House of Benedict, but before that, I was just an unremarkable middle school student. 

At the man’s words, Duke Panteur was silent for a moment, then stroked my hair. My face flushed again at his touch. Seeing me smiling uncontrollably, Vance held out his hand.

It was a gesture for me to come to him, but I dutifully ignored him, fiddling with the colorful caramel.

“I think you’re being a little harsh, my dear, but that’s for the Duke to decide.”

“But if you’re Duke Panteur, you should have the ability to do it, and shouldn’t you also be carrying the weight of life?”

“That is the Duchess as a child, no matter how you look at it.”

“They simply look alike, so someone magically threw the baby in front of the Duke’s eyes and raised her on purpose…….”

In an instant, conspiracy theorists and proponents clashed. 

I shook my head as I watched a group of people whose names I didn’t recognize, argue verbally. 

“Brother’s family?”

I thought about surviving here, simply holding out until I could regain my magic and do my magic.

As a group, they debated whether to take me in as an adopted daughter of the family or simply consider me a spy. I stared at them, unable to speak, as I was the center of this debate. 

All I could do was blink and see what was going on. After a few moments of silence, Duke Panteur looked at me and said.

“What would you do if I tried to adopt this child?”

What? What a crazy thing to say, all of a sudden. 

I had only been here a little over a month. I’d only been able to charm my way out of Duke Panteur’s presence to avoid being sent away. And now, out of the blue, adoption. 

I hadn’t thought about it, but I never let on that I was surprised. It’s hard to imagine a child knowing what adoption means. 

“That’s the Duke’s decision and I’m in no position to argue for or against it.”

Carlos spoke first, shaking his head. Then he smiled at me. 

“Neither am I. Even if the Duke throws Lady Seraphina out, I’ll take her in, feed her well, and keep her.”

Is that what you call a keeper? Raise me and feed me, or raise me and marry me off to his future son?

Duke Panteur’s eyes narrowed slightly as Vance smirked. 

“You seem to think that raising a child is like raising a pet.”

“I don’t think I’m so poor that I can’t afford a small child.”

Vance was seated close to Duke Panteur, which meant he was a fairly high-ranking official, so he was unlikely to be short of money. 

“You think you can just feed her and put her to bed and she’ll grow up. This child is still mentally unstable and needs to be kept in diapers.”

No!

Vance, and then Duke Panteur, dug into my heart. 

I had just escaped from diapers. Of course, I never disrespected my diaper, except for that one day when I buried my head in the duvet in deep thought and strained my lower belly and sphincter.

After confirming that I hadn’t wet my diaper since then, Jenny removed the stuffy, stiff diaper. I was so excited about it that I dreamed I was peeing again in my sleep. That day, I unintentionally drew a map of the world and a continent that didn’t exist.

When Duke Panteur heard the news, he ordered me to wear diapers again.

“If that’s what you want, that’s fine. She’s my future daughter-in-law, and I’ll take her and raise her to be pretty and fine.”

He promised that he had a lot of money and would hire people to raise me professionally.

“If she can’t adjust here, I don’t think she can adjust to your people, and if she goes there, she’ll have to adjust all over again.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, given how good I am with young ladies, yes, Lady Seraphina.”

I blinked at Vance, who seemed to suddenly agree.

“Look at this. I can see her eyes, and she’s blinking to signal me.”

Vance was mesmerized by me. 

“Blinking your eyes is a natural thing. Who can keep their eyes open all the time?”

“Duke, you have been glaring at me for several minutes now.”

“That’s just your misconception, thinking that I’m keeping my eyes open while you close yours.”

“Indeed, it seems the future brother-in-law is in sync with me.”

Vance, now calling Duke Panteur his future brother-in-law, smirked, wondering what was so good about that. He wondered if he’d get a few slaps for that. 

“Forget it, I may entrust Rafi to someone else, but I’ll never entrust her to you, so don’t give me that nonsense.”

“That’s too much, and I was just getting ready to change our daughter-in-law’s diaper.”

It seemed to me that it was in Vance’s best interest to keep his mouth shut. I need to be un-diapered sooner rather than later, and my uncontrolled bladder is a nightmare.

I’m going to have to get my keys and go get salt.

Feeling very depressed, I fiddled with the caramel but didn’t put it in my mouth. It would have been better if I had been possessed by this world and known what was to come. I would have been a prophetic child, flavoring the world. 

But now I knew nothing of this world. When I was a Benedictine princess, I frantically tried to change the future so I wouldn’t die sooner. Something that happened after the book’s unhappy ending landed me here.

‘Maybe this is one of the books, maybe I read it and don’t remember it, or maybe it’s a book I haven’t read yet.’

I sighed inwardly as I tried to recall anything about this world. At this point, I was just a kid who couldn’t do anything in this world. 

While I was in this gloomy mood, someone stood up and said. 

“How can we directly involve ourselves in the affairs of the Duke’s household? If the young lady and master allow, we will follow suit.” 

The Duke nodded as if to say that, in a nutshell, he only needed the permission of his family members.

“Then, by majority vote.”

If Duke Panteur’s daughter and son raised their hands, I would become Seraphina Panteur, regardless of my wishes. But if they were saying this, Duke Panteur’s daughter and son must have a temper.

They didn’t seem to like me, and I couldn’t even say no when I saw that they wanted to put me on the family register as a family because I resembled his wife. 

The only way to stay alive is to obey the absolute power in this place.

While I was planning how to survive, I kept smelling the sweet aroma of caramel, so I put it in my mouth without realizing it. The sweet and sour fruit flavor that popped into my mouth immediately made me put my hands on my cheeks and say.

“Delicious!”

There was a moment of silence, and then all eyes turned to me. I sat stiffly, nibbling on the caramel, and quickly covered the basket with my arm when I realized they were looking at me. When that didn’t stop their stares, I had no choice but to get up from the table. 

“Is it because I’m eating? Here, have one candy each.”

I pranced around the table and handed out the caramels in the basket, one by one, like a ration. Those who took them laughed or smiled awkwardly.

“Since you’re having one too, let’s all enjoy it together.”