The Villainess Lives Twice: Butterfly's Dream (IF Story) - Chapter 56

Graham was secretly frustrated.

He wasn’t naturally good at being affectionate or kind with words, but he did care deeply about his family. And Cedric was his family, his brother. Not Lawrence, the illegitimate son.

Cedric, being still young, likely didn’t enjoy the situation either—taking responsibility for a child that wasn’t his own, in circumstances that weren’t ideal. 

Graham hadn’t liked the idea of Cedric dealing with an unpleasant situation just to accommodate his father. He still believed that Cedric shouldn’t have yielded to his father’s demands, and that neither his mother nor his father should have insisted.

What bothered Graham most was how suddenly Cedric had matured. Back then, he couldn’t quite express what he felt, but now he understood. He had felt that Cedric seemed to lose something of his childhood to that little girl.

As an older brother, Graham had lost his chance to teach Cedric the mischievous, fun things he had grown up doing.

Graham knew that it wasn’t Artizea’s fault. Five years had passed, and he had accepted that Cedric was now managing family matters and taking care of those kids, which seemed to make him content. 

But Graham couldn’t help but feel that Artizea was a hindrance in Cedric’s life. Cedric should have been out there, enjoying life with his peers, hunting and playing, not tied down to responsibilities and looking after children.

As if he had read Graham’s mind, Cedric smiled.

“I enjoy this too.”

“Oh dear. It’s really surprising that you and Pavel are such close friends.”

He walked over to Cedric and ruffled his hair, messing it up. If it were Pavel, he would have resisted and told him to stop, but Cedric simply smiled and allowed him to do as he pleased.

Graham turned his gaze to the two girls.

“You guys, listen to Ced.”

“Yes.”

“Grow up quickly.”

He meant it as a suggestion that they should take some of the burden off Cedric once they became adults. However, when Artizea blushed, it was clear she hadn’t taken it that way.

“Well then, we’ll go ahead.” 

Cedric said politely, gesturing for Artizea and Lysia to follow him. Graham watched the three of them walk away and mumbled to himself.

“Our youngest is like that and him too. Neither of them ever seem to go through puberty yet. Lawrence is out there making a gang and leading them around.”

“They’re just nice people.” 

The guard said with a smile.

“That’s the annoying part.” 

Graham sighed, then turned to leave.

* * *

The weather was perfectly clear.

Pavel rode ahead with a lighthearted, carefree pace. The breeze was just cool enough to dry the sweat before it even began to form, making it a very pleasant day.

Since they were already out in the countryside, with the good weather, he wanted to ride a little longer. But a promise was a promise. He slowed his horse as they approached the ranch, tugging on the reins to bring the pace down.

“The ranch? We’re not kids.” 

Pavel muttered to himself. He was reluctantly here to play with the younger ones, though. He knew it couldn’t be helped.

At eighteen, there was no real enjoyment in child’s play. It was only now that Pavel understood why his older brother hadn’t often played with him when he was about twelve. Recently, Pavel had gotten deeply into polo, but there was no way he was going to play with a group of thirteen-year-olds.

Still, that didn’t mean he could just be a cold older brother to abandon his cute younger siblings. He wasn’t the type of older brother to do that.

The pasture wasn’t very large, but it was big enough to enjoy the sunlight and the green fields. Pavel left his horse with the stablehand and strode in confidently.

“Ah, Pavel!”

Artizea waved to him from near a wooden table and a sunshade by the cattle pen. Pavel waved back and approached her.

Cedric, who had been unpacking the picnic basket and laying out food, casually greeted him as he noticed him.

“You’re late.”

“Sorry. It just happened. Where’s Lysia?”

“She went to wash her hands.”

“We were thinking of eating everything ourselves if she didn’t show up.”

As he stacked the food on the table, Pavel’s curiosity piqued. The spread included sandwiches with various fillings, meat pies, potato salad, thinly sliced roasted meat and cheese, a large batch of fried beans, and big calzones. The main dishes alone filled two baskets. There was even another basket.

With a grin, Pavel asked. 

“Aren’t you going to open that one?”

“This is for dessert.” 

“Ah, you packed well.” 

He had been hungry so it’s good. Pavel knew the cooks at Grand Duke Evron’s residence were experts at preparing simple, yet delicious, meat dishes rather than full meals.

Artizea, although accustomed to it by now, looked slightly overwhelmed by the never-ending food.

“Can you really eat all this?”

“Hmm… Yeah.” 

Pavel answered confidently after briefly assessing the portion sizes. Given his current mood, he felt like he could eat even more.

Cedric laughed as he said to Artizea.

“You said you’d eat a lot, right?”

“Oh.” 

Artizea flinched slightly when Pavel looked at her with a surprised expression. She was indeed hungry and planned to eat a lot, but there was no way she could eat a whole portion.

Of course, neither Cedric nor Pavel had any intention of forcing her to do so. Pavel sat down beside Cedric.

Lysia, who had been washing her hands, came over with a large milk bottle and cheerfully greeted Pavel.

“Hello!”

“Sorry, I’m late.” 

“It’s okay. I was worried that if you took much longer, there wouldn’t be any lunch left!”

If Cedric hadn’t been there, it would have been entirely impossible.

“I ran into the ranch owner just up ahead, and he said this is freshly made milk.” 

Lysia said, placing the milk bottle on the table. Cedric gave her a warm compliment.

“Thank you for bringing it.” 

Lysia gave a kind smile. Pavel stretched lazily and then asked. 

“So, after we eat, what are we going to do? You’re not planning on milking cows, are you?”

“We’re not that young.”

“Right, right. At thirteen, riding horses is much better.” 

“They said we shouldn’t ride inside the fence because the cows might get scared.” 

At that, Pavel’s face turned slightly disappointed.

“I know.”

“It’s not like we have to do something. Sometimes, it’s nice to just sit in the sun and relax.”

Though Pavel thought it sounded a bit like something an older person would say, he didn’t respond, as it wasn’t something new. Lysia spoke up in a lively voice.

“They said we can play with the shepherd dogs! I brought a frisbee!”

“Oh, that could be fun.” 

Now, it was Artizea’s turn to look disappointed. Pavel spoke kindly, trying to cheer her up.

“You can just play with the puppies. You can brush them too.”

“Yes…”

“We’ll go for a walk.” 

Cedric said, filling a wooden cup with milk and handing it to Artizea.

“Sounds good.” 

She replied with a bright smile. She was happy with anything, as long as she could spend time with Cedric.

Except when it came to exercise.

Stretching was off the list too.

* * *

The hunter blew his hunting horn. The panting dogs ran out from the bushes and sat down.

Nicholas, the seventeen-year-old son of Count Aeson, glanced over at the bored-looking Lawrence and finally spoke up.

“What’s wrong? Not having fun?”

“No. I just feel like today’s hunting isn’t going so well.” 

It was true.

“I think we might need to change hunting grounds soon,” another boy added, walking over.

The hunters on Count Aeson’s estate gave the boys looks full of disdain. Fox hunting was common in the central region, but it was a bit too intense a sport for teenage boys to enjoy. These boys seemed less concerned about reducing the fox population and more determined to wipe them out entirely.

The overworked dogs were clearly exhausted. However, since Count Aeson didn’t say anything, they couldn’t stop the young master from doing as he pleased.