Red Riding Hood - Chapter 67

As Marianne walked down the hallway, she spotted a grizzly bear stomping toward her and a squirrel scurrying alongside it.

“……?”

Marianne blinked hard and opened her eyes again. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a bear and a squirrel—it was Lantimos and Cinq.

Carrying a tray, Lantimos chuckled and called out to her.

“My dear, why don’t you take a break and have some tea?”

At Lantimos’s carefree suggestion, a faint crack appeared in Marianne’s elegantly composed expression.

“My love! Did you check on the Ternue Bridge yet?”

Lantimos winced.

“Ah, not yet…”

“I told you to make sure the repairs were completed! Did you forget?”

“I was planning to go soon. But first, I thought I’d have tea with you…”

“Do you think tea is more important? I specifically asked you to inspect it before the sun got too hot, and now it’s already midday!”

Cinq, unable to watch any longer, stepped in to mediate.

“Mother, don’t worry. The sun isn’t that hot today. And two days ago, when I passed the Ternue Bridge, the work seemed to be wrapping up nicely.”

Hearing her sweet, doll-like daughter-in-law, Marianne’s frown eased.

“Did it? What did you think of it?”

“Although I don’t know how the old bridge looked, the carvings on the new railings were excellent. The artisans were clearly finishing the work with great care.”

“I see. Well, if those artisans are involved, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Marianne looked at her precious daughter-in-law and managed a soft smile.

“Alright, let’s take a break and have some tea. Cinquerus, could you prepare it for us?”

“Of course.”

They enjoyed tea together in the sitting room overlooking the beautifully prepared garden for the upcoming banquet.

“Mother, would you like to try some biscuits? They’re freshly baked and still warm.”

“Alright, I’ll have one.”

“My dear, I helped make them too.”

“Father’s cooking skills are improving by the day. He made most of this jam himself. Isn’t the color just perfect?”

“Yes, it is.”

Although Marianne’s affectionate expression of approval was reserved, her warm gaze remained fixed on her precious daughter-in-law.

‘To think my useless son would bring home such an angelic wife.’

Marianne had long since resigned herself to the conclusion that she had failed at raising her three sons.

As heirs to the lordship, they should have married early to relieve their parents of succession concerns. But none of her sons had shown any interest in marriage.

Her eldest, Ylfus, had dodged responsibility, insisting on pursuing a “natural encounter,” and eventually fled to join the Order of Holy Knights.

Her second son, Pépinus, had enlisted in the navy and was now wandering the seas, rarely showing his face at home.

The youngest, Nélius, had gone to the capital under the pretense of bringing Ylfus back from the Order, only to enroll in the academy and ambitiously declare his intention to become a central bureaucrat.

Sipping the tea her angelic daughter-in-law had served, Marianne reflected.

‘There was a time I truly thought the Gracian family was doomed.’

She thought back to when her reckless husband answered King Brian’s summons. Ylfus had gone to the battlefield in Lantimos’s stead to uphold the family’s honor.

And when Bétor, the knight captain from Kalasca who had been knighted by Lantimos, delivered the news of Ylfus’s disappearance, Marianne felt like her world had ended. Even with her usual composure, she had been utterly devastated.

But Ylfus had returned—alive, and with an angelic wife who had saved his life.

At the time, Marianne had thought she would give up an arm if Ylfus would simply marry a human woman. To her, Cinq was nothing short of a blessing.

Her eyes burned with intensity as she looked at her daughter-in-law.

‘Cinquerus, I’m sorry, but I can never let you go.’

Cinq’s status didn’t matter. Upon marrying Ylfus, she had received the name Cinquerus, and Marianne considered that matter settled.

Cinq was more precious than life itself—so lovable she would trade all three of her sons for her.

And her beauty was unparalleled.

“Father, the biscuits are delicious.”

“Cinq, little one, eat plenty.”

“You too, Father. And you, Mother.”

Holding a biscuit, Cinq smiled brightly.

Her golden hair, tied with a cute ribbon, gleamed, and her pearl-like face lit up with a sweet, radiant smile.

As Marianne ate her third plump buttermilk biscuit, slathered with jam her angelic daughter-in-law had prepared, she was filled with quiet anguish.

She had a worry she couldn’t confide in anyone—a worry about her daughter-in-law’s upcoming debut in high society.

‘Tomorrow, Cinq will be dazzlingly beautiful. The problem is Ylfus. My son isn’t unattractive, but standing next to Cinq, they’ll look like Beauty and the Beast.’

Marianne grimaced as if suffering from a toothache.

‘Right now, sweet Cinq only has eyes for Ylfus… but what if, at tomorrow’s banquet, she sees elegant noblemen and realizes she made the wrong choice?’