Thank You For The Confinement, Grand Duke! - Chapter 19
Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi
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Chapter 19
“Frii, come here.”
Tap, tap.
As I tapped the side of the bed frame, Frii poked its head out.
Crazy… It looked adorable, like an angel.
“Do you want some watermelon?”
When I cut the watermelon that Tambor had given as a snack and offered it, it sniffed at it and then started to nibble on it happily.
As I watched it contentedly, I noticed something.
“…Oh?”
Upon closer inspection, the watermelon flesh didn’t seem to be diminishing much.
Then, what on earth was Frii eating…?
When I slipped down to the foot of the bed and lay next to Frii at the thought, I could see its slender, pink tongue darting over the watermelon. Was it only licking the juice?
As I gazed at it, Frii quickly raised its head. The pink nose faced me and twitched.
Uuhh, adorable.
“Is it tasty? Should I make it into watermelon juice for you instead?”
“Coocoocoocoo.”
…Huh? A pigeon?
However, the sound was too close for that. Why would I be hearing that from a weasel?
It was actually a pigeon… No, that couldn’t be it.
…Perhaps it was because it was a magical creature.
“Frii, are you a pige… Frii?!”
Frii went wild suddenly. What happened?
It jumped in my direction, then in the opposite direction. Just when I thought I understood, it suddenly stood up on its hind legs and then dashed off somewhere. What was wrong? It didn’t like the watermelon?
“Frii, what’s the matter?”
“Cookcoocoocookcook!”
Frii, who had been running around here and there, came towards me and started licking my fingers. Ah, perhaps it smelled the watermelon on my fingers?
It was soft and ticklish. Quite enjoyable.
“I heard that weasels are carnivores, but it seems they also like watermelon.”
“…What are you doing?”
Heh?
I jolted upright at the sudden voice. When I looked up, Enfrise was peering down at me with a slightly puzzled expression.
‘…When did he come in?’
“Good afternoon, Grand Duke.”
“Good afternoon. Why are you lying on the floor like that?”
“I gave some watermelon to Frii, and although it seems to be eating it, it didn’t eat it… I was just wondering what was going on.”
Enfrise’s gaze shifted to Frii, and then Frii started making noises.
“Shiiiii—! Shtsht! Shhht—!”
…Oh dear.
Why did Frii dislike Enfrise so much? Was this what they call inter-species animosity?
The two of them looked so much alike, so couldn’t they just get along? All of a sudden, the image of Enfrise with Frii wrapped around his shoulder popped into my mind… and Enfrise looked at Frii with soft and kind eyes.
Kuh, that would be adorable.
“I heard it’s best not to feed fruits. Although they have been magically modified, they retain some basic instincts.”
“Ah, really.”
Why would they do that? If they were going to modify something, why not make it comfortable and capable of eating and doing things well?
It seemed that my confusion was evident on my face because Enfrise continued speaking calmly as if he understood.
“Magical creatures are generally modified for human conveniences. However, excessive modification can result in higher costs. So, except for the necessary parts for their use…”
Ah.
I felt like I knew why. I understood why Frii is so hostile towards Enfrise.
“Grand Duke.”
“Yes.”
“Frii is not an object.”
Enfrise’s eyes widened at my sudden words. Normally, I might have found it cute and smiled, though it was different now. I spoke with a slightly serious face.
“Whenever the Grand Duke talks about Frii, it seems a bit strange. Why do you keep talking like an object?”
“That’s…”
“I understand that Frii was magically modified, but it’s still alive.”
It might be hypocritical. Maybe it was just because I’ve grown attached to Frii.
However, that was what I thought.
Even if it were modified for human convenience, it would be infuriating to be treated like any tool. Wouldn’t it be natural to feel uncomfortable when someone treats you that way? Conceivably, that was why Frii got angry only when it saw Enfrise.
I had that kind of thought.
“I think Frii gets upset because the Grand Duke keeps treating it like an object.”
Enfrise’s gaze shifted to Frii. After briefly looking at the creature that was threatening him with its sharp gaze, he furrowed his brow.
“It’s just a tool that I brought for you to use when you need to call for me. Whether it’s alive or not doesn’t matter that much.”
…No, that was not it!
Even if that was the case, you couldn’t call a living being a tool!
“Grand Duke… I thought you were actually a kind and affectionate person, despite what you said. However, maybe I was wrong.”
I spat out the words, then crawled onto the bed. Despite the fact that Enfrise seemed like he wanted to say something, he opened his mouth and closed it again. His stubbornly sealed lips now looked repulsive.
“I’m going to sleep now.”
“Sleep? But now…”
“Does it matter what time? I’m confined here anyway. I’m going to bed, so please leave.”
Leaving only those words, I flipped the blanket over myself before Enfrise eventually left with a low sigh.
“…Ha.”
It was already the fifteenth time Enfrise sighed. Tambor noted while organizing his study. It had been a while since he had seen her Young Master distressed. It was probably because of the Miss locked in the cage again.
After neatly organizing the crooked books, she spoke up.
“What happened with the Miss?”
“…Is it that obvious?”
She smiled faintly, and Enfrise let out another sigh. This made it the sixteenth time. What could possibly be bothering him so much?
Even for Tambor, who had been observing him for a long time, it was hard to guess.
“I might be able to help. What happened?”
“…We had a fight.”
“A fight?”
It might not be strange… in normal circumstances, that was.
Of course, why wouldn’t it be? Despite having a reason, he kept her confined without proper explanation. He even went so far as to put shackles and chains on her.
So, it was only natural for the Miss to resent the Young Master.
Still, maybe luckily or unluckily, the Miss had lost all her memories. She seemed to understand her situation, but she didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable. At first, Tambor had even thought that it was impossible for her to adapt to this life without an act.
Since then, over the course of half a month, the relationship between the two had grown quite strong. Despite the Young Master’s lack of affection as an individual, Enfrise seemed to be satisfied with just that.
Though a fight?
“Your Grace, what could you possibly have done wrong?”
Without a doubt, Enfrise must have done something wrong again. That gentle-mannered Miss wouldn’t have just picked a fight for no reason.
She had thought that his snide comments had been decreasing recently, but had he resumed them?
“That weasel.”
“Weasel? Ah, you mean Frii.”
“….”
As soon as Frii’s name was mentioned, Enfrise’s expression noticeably darkened.
Watching him quietly, something came to Tambor’s mind and she asked, “Could it be… you said something you shouldn’t have out of jealousy toward Frii?”
One might think that it would be unlikely for him to be jealous of a mere animal.
Nonetheless, she knew how special Chaperil was to Enfrise. He had only a handful of places to put his heart within the imperial palace, being despised as a ‘thief of the royal blood.’ There were only a few, including Tambor and Halowell, and the current king, Elmare.
Apart from them, he was openly ridiculed or despised by the former emperor or the then-crown prince, Barca, to look good.
But Chaperil was different…
Enfrise had come to love her to the point of obsession.
“…Why do I keep treating it like an object? Because it was a tool.”
“Oh, my.”
The Chaperil that Tambor had seen was affectionate and kind, and she was also honest and affectionate. It was only natural that she would be upset by Enfrise’s words, given how she had tried to name Frii and become close to him.
“Does it bother you that the Miss keeps showing interest in Frii?”
“That too… Today, she was lying on the floor just because she was curious about what it looked like when it ate the fruit.”
Still, it didn’t seem like that was the only reason. Since the first time he introduced Chaperil to Frii, the Young Master had looked oddly unhappy.
There must be something else bothering her.
“And?”
“And?”
“What else is bothering you?”
“…She said it was no wonder that the weasel was rebelling by biting me.”
Was it because he felt that the weasel was being prioritized over his wounded self? He still couldn’t grow out of his childishness. The Miss’ actions probably didn’t carry that meaning, though.
As Tambor thought with a wry smile, a small voice reached Tambor’s ears.
“And… why does she keep calling me ‘Grand Duke’? If she doesn’t remember anyway, she could just call me by my name.”
Ah, that was probably what he didn’t like the most.
Even Frii’s name was chosen after much deliberation from Chaperil. Everything seemed to have drawn out the Young Master’s jealousy.
“Your Grace, I understand your feelings, but… wouldn’t fighting with the Miss hurt you the most?”
“….”
Enfrise covered his mouth. It meant that he was feeling shaken.
Tambor added a word there.
“Stop acting like a child and apologize properly.”
The Young Master had not learned the important things about forming relationships with people. He should have learned them by forming relationships and getting hurt and hurting others, not just with Tambor, Halowell, and Elmare, but with more people.
How difficult and challenging it must be to learn now. The only reason that frozen heart was swaying was probably because the other person was Chaperil.
It was because she had given him so much.
“A man who is jealous of a mere animal is pitiful, Your Grace. However, what’s even more pitiful is knowing that you did something wrong and not apologizing.”
So, Tambor was determined to help as much as possible.
It meant that the Young Master could learn many things through her. Lost in thought, she left the Young Master, who had started tapping the desk with his fingertips, behind and went outside.
And…
“Shall I briefly stop by the Miss’ room?”
To increase the likelihood of her accepting the apology, she should try to make her feel a little better. Should she make the souffle the Miss mentioned last time? She should ask what kind of fruit would be good to accompany it.
With that thought in mind, the handmaid crossed the corridor with brisk steps.
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