Obviously, It’s My Child - Chapter 217

“My own selfishness… I would love to have one more adorable child like that. It’s been so long since I’ve heard a baby’s voice in the royal palace. Bettina doesn’t seem to be thinking about it.”

“Prince Linus has now reached adulthood, so he’ll likely be marrying soon.”

Claire responded to Archduke Victoria and glanced at Augusta. Augusta lowered her eyes and took a sip of tea.

“It would be nice if there were more cousins.”

“Erich is an only child. I once suggested to Duke Franz that it would be nice to have at least an adopted sibling, but he just shook his head.”

Archduke Victoria clicked her tongue.

“Whether it’s inheritance or family lines, it’s not unimportant, but raising a child in solitude is quite a sad thing.”

“Children are given by God, you know. It’s not something you can control.”

When Claire said that, Augusta smiled with a sweet and innocent expression.

“It’s a pity. Not only does Duke Klausener have no siblings, but the Duchess also lost her sister.”

“…”

“At this age, I’ve realized that cousins are the people you can be close to without hesitation.”

“Augusta.”

What Augusta was hinting at was likely about ‘the child born by Elisa,’ but Archduke Victoria stopped her, unaware of it.

Claire couldn’t understand why the cautious Augusta would want to bring up someone else’s wounds.

However, Claire answered calmly, with a smile.

“It’s a pity. If she was still alive, she would have loved Elliott so much, truly.”

“Claire…”

Archduke Victoria called her in a voice filled with sympathy.

Losing a single sister was probably like losing one of life’s most important companions.

Now it was Augusta’s turn to remain silent.

At that moment, the final guest arrived.

“Hermann!”

Cornelia called out in a delighted voice.

The young man entered through the garden path without going through the Birchwood annex, holding five bunches of yellow marigolds.

“Thank you for inviting me to this wonderful gathering.”

Hermann first handed a small bouquet to Archduke Victoria.

Next, he gave one to Augusta and Cornelia. Cornelia blushed as she received her bouquet.

Lastly, he handed a bouquet to Claire and smiled.

“Please don’t scold me too much for leaving Madam behind. Now I know how strong the Duke’s hand can be.”

Claire laughed out loud.

The awkward tension in the room softened. Archduke Victoria looked at Hermann with a pleased smile.

“You’ve come to interrupt us ladies having tea, it wasn’t just out of kindness, was it?”

“What do you mean? It’s an honor to be invited. I don’t have anything else to do anyway.”

“A young man should not say such things.”

“It’s rare to get the chance to spend time with such beautiful ladies. And it’s also rare for someone like me to see it as such a fortunate event.”

Archduke Victoria smiled at Hermann’s reply and looked at Claire.

“This one is going to cause quite a stir. If I weren’t this age, it would have been very noisy by now.”

“It does seem like he would have just gone around looking for dance halls in the capital. But how was it, Lord Hermann?”

“I had many more boy friends.I mean my cricket teammate, of course.”

Hermann said quickly, waving his hands defensively as if there had been some misunderstanding.

Raising a single bouquet of flowers in his hands, Hermann said,

“But it seems the Marchioness isn’t here.”

“She went to change, she spilled something on her clothes.”

Cornelia replied.

“Then, this one’s for Lord Elliott.”

Hermann handed the bouquet to Elliott with a graceful gesture.

Elliott’s eyes widened as he took the marigold bouquet with both hands, and then his face lit up brightly.

“I want to practice with this too!”

It seemed like the usual ‘gentlemanly play’ again.

Crunch, crunch!

The sound of footsteps on the gravel path echoed through the garden. It sounded like someone was running toward them.

Archduke Victoria and Augusta both looked tense.

However, the one who arrived wasn’t one of their assistants, but someone from the Ludendorff residence.

“Elder Young Master, a serious incident has occurred!”

“What happened?”

“There’s been an accident with a ship at the port. It’s sinking, but we can’t find the Marquis!”

* * *

Recently, accidents during docking at the Ludendorff port had become alarmingly frequent.

The number of ships coming in had significantly increased, but the pilots guiding the vessels were still insufficient.

Even the crew members who had been working for a while often caused small accidents.

This was due to the fact that the expanding docks still hadn’t fully stabilized the current and depth that was constantly changing.

And the types of ships had changed too.

The Ludendorff port was an old one. The vessels that typically came in were medium-sized merchant ships or fishing boats.

It had never been a major trade route, so large ships like tall-masted sailing vessels rarely entered.

However, now with the port expansion, large steam cargo ships had been constantly coming in to transport materials.

The old docks were no longer sufficient to handle such vessels.

Although some new larger piers had been built during the expansion, the port’s capacity still couldn’t keep up with the increased volume of goods being transported.

This meant that the space available for large ships, outside of the dock and construction areas, was tight.

“I knew this would happen one day.”

The workers at the port muttered as they watched the tilting ship, broken dock, and collapsed crane.

“The pilot was drunk again, wasn’t he?”

“I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve said not to let that guy work.”

“He’s not the only problem, the navigator is just as bad. But still, they should’ve unloaded the cargo first.”

“The Marquis said he’d build a warehouse, but it’s been a year already, hasn’t it?”

“This is bad. If that ship sinks, what will we do? Should we even bother retrieving it?”

The port workers continued to murmur amongst themselves.

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