The destructive power of the squeaky slippers, which shattered the poignant atmosphere in an instant, was truly tremendous.
Lark almost burst into laughter but quickly covered his mouth, remembering he had just made his daughter cry.
Erkin, too, was bewildered by the unexpected squeaky noise but couldn't help laughing when he saw Navia's face turn bright red.
"Ha ha! What fascinating shoes."
With a resigned spirit, Navia squeakily walked over and gave Erkin a big hug.
Thanks to the squeaky shoes, Erkin's heavy sorrow was replaced by a face with a gentle smile as he hugged Navia back.
"Thank you."
Even the child patted his shoulder in comfort.
The consolation offered by such a small child felt immense, like warm rain imbued with sunshine drenching him softly.
So tender and lovely.
He quickly grew to find this child extremely precious.
Navia, hoping her words were not too presumptuous, said,
"Mom was happy."
Erkin smiled, as if he had expected her to say that, and replied.
"My sister is wise. She knows exactly what makes her happy and chooses accordingly."
His candid words provided considerable comfort to Lark as well.
The dining room was overflowing with a warm atmosphere.
Erkin cautiously asked Navia, meeting her gaze once again.
"I'll always be your waffle friend and a strong supporter. Would you please be close to me?"
Navia responded immediately, as if there was no need for contemplation.
"Of course."
As the affection between the uncle and niece seemed overly tender and pleasant, Lark raised an eyebrow and swiftly scooped up Navia in his arms.
"The food is getting cold," was his reason.
"Hehe, please sit down, everyone. I hope the meal is to your liking."
Erkin was taken aback to see Margaret preparing the meal.
"How can this be, Count Romanov? I am sorry."
Although there's only one rank difference between a count and a Marquis, that single step difference split many privileges. [T/N: It seems Vladina is a Marquis family, not Duke]
Even the number of ornaments one could wear in official gatherings was different to that extent.
Nonetheless, Margaret was exceptional. She was a war hero, after all.
Erkin's surprise was natural upon realizing that a person deserving of everyone's respect was personally preparing food for him.
Margaret shook her head.
"There's no need for that. Right now, I am simply a subject of my lord."
Erkin looked at Lark with a strange expression in his eyes.
Despite employing all of Vladina's intelligence resources, there was scarcely anything known about this man. Nonetheless, the priority was the meal at hand.
"Then, I shall eat well."
Margaret felt a refreshing sense of delight upon seeing such a proper and polite young noble.
Though it was a breakfast hosted by the ducal family, the spread seemed pitifully inadequate from Erkin's perspective, given Eseled's circumstances. However, he ate without showing any sign of displeasure.
Navia felt a strange sensation upon realizing that Erkin was her maternal uncle.
They certainly shared the same bloodline.
Hesitation.
Erkin felt the gaze of the child and, puzzled but smiling, tilted his head.
"What is it?"
Navia grinned broadly.
"It reminded me of the time when I first saw you. I was surprised because you looked so much like me."
At that time, she wondered if she wasn't a hidden child of Erkin.
Erkin himself was shocked to see in person how much Navia, who greatly resembled both himself and his sister, looked like him.
He was so flustered that he awkwardly told her to eat some waffles and leave. Looking back, it was a really foolish thing to say.
Then Lark stated flatly.
"You look like me."
Navia thought it was obvious since they were of the same bloodline and must resemble each other, but knowing how childish Lark could be, she just let it pass.
Instead, she asked Erkin something that came to her mind.
"By the way, how did you transfer the poppy farm?"
Erkin answered affectionately.
"Greedy cowards always behave in dirty ways. It's easy for the Vladina family to exploit their weaknesses."
Despite his gentle tone, his manner was quite firm.
He continued speaking.
"The only person who benefits from transferring the Anesthesia Grass farm to Eseled is Eseled himself. One might mistake it for Agnes, but that's a thought only Theorban could come up with."
Navia summarized his explanation briefly.
"They must have mistaken it for a blackmail letter sent from Eseled."
"Exactly. They thought that if they just handed over the Anesthesia Grass farm, the head of the family would look favorably upon them. And we led them to that misconception."
Erkin also explained all the weaknesses of the vassal families.
Navia found it fascinating as there were things she already knew and others she didn't.
Lark, with an uninterested expression, was focused solely on breaking up an omelette and feeding it bit by bit to Navia. He looked as serious as if it was the greatest task of his life.
For him, a new father, ensuring his child ate properly was a tense affair.
The mealtime wasn't long. As everyone started wiping their mouths with napkins, Lark began to speak.
"Don't you want to see Camilla's video?"
Erkin looked a bit surprised, then nodded cautiously.
"…Of course, I do."
"We can't show everything, but some parts are available. They contain scenes of Navia parenting."
Erkin tilted his head in confusion.
"How do you know about parenting from a short video? Does it mean you are in it together?"
"Ah."
That's when Navia and Lark realized the gap between their knowledge and Erkin's.
'At this time, video cameras were almost no different from cameras, being so brief.'
There were only two video cameras in the capital, and they were enormous. Besides, the maximum length of a video was just 10 seconds, so the performance was abysmal.
'I thought that if it was Eseled, anything was possible.'
Navia was also amazed that Lark's video camera, despite its small size, could record for a long time.
However, having seen so many incredible things here, she didn't find it too strange. And Lark, the inventor of the video camera, needless to say.
Lark explained nonchalantly.
"The video camera I made is different from other shoddy items."
It was a boastful statement.
Erkin nodded his head with an expression that roughly grasped what kind of person Lark was.
Arrogant, but a person with a reason to be arrogant.
That’s how Erkin assessed Lark.
Lark fiddled with the music box, selecting a video to play, and placed it before Erkin.
Click-.
Soon after, the video started.
Then, Erkin watched the video silently, his face expressionless.
Sure enough, the person in the video, holding a baby and talking and moving, was definitely Camilla.
Camilla, his sister, seemed blissfully happy, as if nothing more was needed. It made even the viewer’s heart ache.
"I've never seen her so happy. I thought nothing could be more joyful for her than when our father passed away."
He muttered absentmindedly and then startled himself. He hadn’t meant to say that in front of a child.
Navia understood her mother's feelings well, having a stepfather she wanted to kill.
'A person who sees his daughter not as a child but as a tool would probably be similar.'
When the video ended, Erkin’s eyes were slightly reddened.
"Thank you for showing me."
Erkin thanked Navia and then, after calming his heart, spoke again.
"Ricardo must be waiting."
Without further delay, he headed straight to the drawing room.
Ricardo, waiting inside the drawing room, sprang up as the door opened.
"Good morning……."
Beep. Beep.
"……you?"
Ricardo looked down at Navia with a bewildered expression.
Navia smiled calmly, pretending not to hear the beeping sound.
"Good morning."
"Yes……."
As they sat down, Charlotte came in with a trolley laden with refreshments.
Navia smiled contentedly at the well-prepared tea table.
"Everything looks wonderful. You’ve worked hard to prepare thoroughly, Charlotte."
Charlotte had prepared since last night until late this morning for today’s tea time. Her cheeks flushed with pleasure as Navia recognized her hard work.
'It’s as if the lady can see right into my heart…'
"Just doing my job. Please call me when you need me."
Thud.
The door closed, and a brief silence fell among the oddly matched group of four.
There was a sequence to everything. In this situation, this was the priority.
"May I hear about the relationship between the Marquis and Mr. Ricardo?"
Establishing a relationship.
It was an important step for those who needed to plan the future and build a close relationship.
Erkin spoke frankly.
"Ricardo is an employee of the Campanella Information Merchant."
Ricardo added an explanation.
"My main occupation is a wood craftsman."
"I see."
Navia had already suspected as much.
'The fact that Ricardo was an information merchant employee was unknown until now.'
That meant the Campanella Information Merchant was excellent enough to evade the eyes of a regressor, and Ricardo's own skills were outstanding.
That was good. In a society where kinship, school ties, and regional connections were most important, the fact that her kin was a talented person was a boon.
Navia used her honest feelings as a weapon, just as much as lies.
"I would love to see the Eseled Duchy and the Vladina Marquisate united through marriage."
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